>> i said it would be legendary. brian and shaq. >> oh, oh! >> jack, new ball. >> watch shaq just swipe at brian. watch, oh, oh! he got you, brian. >> knew he was tall. i didn't know he was stronger. >> he's retired. >> didn't know he was strong? >> like the energizer bunny, you never give up. and you're going to come back tomorrow. log on to foxnews.com. bill: that is one, man, brian, well done. good morning everyone. target rick perry, republican candidates trading jabs at the tea party debate. there they are, all on stage, the frontrunner had a texas-sized bull's eye on

his back with republican rivals taking a turn to get a shot. good morning, everybody, a lot to cover this morning, i'm bill hemmer. how you doing, martha? >> martha: good morning. isn't that funny? he's probably going, was there someone else out there, was there a guy out there with me? good morning, i'm martha maccallum. the gloves are definitely off not only between shaq and brian but with the gop hopefuls, they drew the battle line between perry last night, key issues, jobs, taxes, a very hot back and forth on social security as well. watch this. >> congressman, you're from texas, does your governor deserve all that cred snit. >> not quite. i'm a taxpayer there. my taxes have gone up. our taxes have doubled since he's been in office, our spending has gone up, our debt has gone up nearly triple, so no, and 170,000 jobs were government jobs. so i would put a little damper on this, but i don't want to offend the governor because he might raise my taxes or something!

>> we have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat out wrong. that should never be done. >> but the question is, do you still believe that social security should be ended as a federal program as you did six months ago when your book came out, and returned to the states or do you water to retreat? >> i think we ought to have a conversation. >> we're having that now, governor, we're running for president. >> i'll finish this conversation. bill: it went from there, and a lot more to cover on that, but the question today, did perry take any sha rap nel or did the shots bounce off? chief political correspondent carl cameronlies our coverage, was he playing defense perry or did he go on offense last night? >> reporter: he was playing defense and he did so proudly, he defended his state's immigration polices, he defended his positions on social security, saying that he wants to have a serious discussion about returning some of the powers of social security and authority back

to the states but that he will do nothing to damper or put a limit on services to currently retired seniors, an on immigration he defended his state's programs, which include his opposition to a state-wide border fence and the provision of some services to the children of illegal aliens, and for that he got criticized. listen to this. >> unlike governor perry, i believe we need to build more fence. >> but the idea that you're going to build a wall from brownsville to el paso and go left for another 800 miles to tijuana is just not reality. >> for rick to say that you can't secure the border i think is pretty much a treasonous comment, of course we build a fence and of course we do not gave in state tuition credits to people who come here legal stkpwhraoe what governor perry is provided in state tuition for illegal immigrants. maybe that was an attempt to attract the latino vote. >> perry at one point actually got booed by the

audience, but he defended texas state laws and tried to move on, but it was a clear example of just exactly how all the republican cants candidates -- candidates were going after him. there was a potent moment where he was criticized for executive order implementing vaccinations for young girls in texas to prevent them from a sexually transmitted disease linked to cervical cancer later in life and that was a really a moment wherein michele bachmann took on rick perry and got a lot of attention. watch this: >> the drug company gave thousands of dollars in political donations to the governor, and this is just flat out wrong. >> it was a $5000 contribution that i had received from them. i raise about $30 million, and if you're saying that i can be bought for $5000, i'm offended. >> i'm offended for all the little girls and the parents that didn't have a choice. that's what i'm offended by.

>> reporter: this is a complicated issue. perry issued an executive order adding to vaccine to a number that school children get in texas and his executive order was overturned by texas lawmakers what said not only had he exceeded his governor as -- authority as per kwru -- executive order but sent a message to teenagers. testify the most aggressive moment of the last several debates. bill: here is where the candidates are in the latest polling that was taken before last night's debate but gives you a bit of an idea about poll position, texas governor rick perry, mitt romney, followed by sarah palin, who's not officially in this race and may or may not be in the end, ron paul, 7 percent. we'll see whether or not last night changes anything for any of these candidates in the coming days, martha. martha: it was a very interesting tphaoeufplt we've got a lot to talk about with regard to how

everybody did and meanwhile, sarah palin went on the record last night. a lot of questions about what she's thinking about this race, she told greta van u.s.ern who she thought won. >> the winner in this really was the tea party movement and that validation of what it is that we have been talking about for two years now, greta, where we've been saying obama's big center lie necessary government, his agenda that replicates some of the socialized government polices of the european countries doesn't work, so you saw group tonight, up there on stage, talking about pro private sec to, entrepreneurial, piniering spirit of america, being allowed to thrive and prosper to create jobs. a good debate, especially in those terms. >> she said the tea party was the big winner. we're going to hear from the chair of the tea party express group later in the hour and get her reaction to the big debate last night. fox news is teaming up with google, this is a huge -- this is going to be a huge

night, fox news and google will host a debate in orlando september 22nd, that's the next big venue for these candidates, you can submit your questions for them, go to foxnews.com, scroll down to the spotlight section, check the presidential debate, there's a link there, send us your own questions, so if you're sitting there saying why didn't anyone ask this, this is your turn. click on that, you can write to us the question or submit a video as well. bill: get it online now, while we're on the air, think about it at home. a lot of those questions are going to, too, frankly center around jobs. president obama releasing some of the fine print on how he plans to pay for the jobs bill, and mostly it comes through higher taxes. republicans, not happy about that. saying that would destroy jobs and not create them. house majority whip kevin mccarthy joins us on that, minutes away. martha: we'll look forward to that. in the meantime here's a fox news alert, the u.s. embassy in kabul confirming an attack by a band of taliban insurgents, militants fired

rocket propelled grenades while people inside took cover. dominic di-natale is streaming live with this. describe to us the scale of this attack. >> reporter: this is an unprecedented scale of attacks i think we've seen in kabul, period. not only was the u.s. embassy targeted and nato headquarters but institutions across the city, particularly the kabul security forces. we're talking about the head of police, we're talking about the counterterrorism unit, we're talking about every other law enforcement agency this city has got, reports coming from all those departments. the casualty list is quite low, however, so far, just one police officer dead, one citizen dead is what we're hearing, and two of the attackers also killed in the ensuing gun fight. i can hear gunfire going off in the distance of the embassy where we've had attack helicopters hovering over that for the past two hours, the attack going on for five hours. it's still not over. martha: on sunday, we saw

that attack against the military as well, we saw about 77 people wounded. what can you see of all of this from the embassy, from where you're standing, dominic? >> >> reporter: the emis -- the embassy is probably about a mile 1/2 away from where i'm currently standing. a short while ago, we saw an apache circling close, sort of tightening their circle as they were going over. i did hear that there's a bunch of -- a group of ataerbgs who had holed themselves up on the tenth floor of a building overlooking the embassy compound and those attack helicopters turned to that building, opened fire and pummeled it. we don't know whether the attackers survived that or were killed in that but coming under that amount of fire i imagine they certainly took some casualties as a result of that. further off in the distance above the parliament building, we're also hearing of an afghan show of force there, with the m.i.-35 helicopters, but there are still black hawks circling around the city as well, clearing trying to find

targets. one final point, those attack helicopters killed a fresh bunch of suicide bombers who appeared to be making their way again to the u.s. embassy. we believe they are now dead. martha: yeah, all right, a lot of activity over the past few days from the taliban. thank you very much, dominic di-natale. bill: also breaking news overseas, two american hikers being held in iran, finally, they have a chance to come home. iran's president, earlier today, telling nbc news that shane bauer and josh fattal should be released very soon >> we tried last year to free one of the three persons. and we are also trying to make arrangements for their freedom. for the freedom of the other two. i think these two will be freed in a couple of days. bill: so those arrested along the iran-iraq border back in 2009, a woman also arrested, she was released

about a year ago, the attorney saying that bail was set at half a million dollars each for those two men. perfect timing, too. the u.n. *pb general assembly comes to new york next week, he will be there, mahmoud ahmadinejad, and this is probably something they did not want hanging over them. great p.r. move, right? you got an american network in your country doing the interview and this is now the -- >> martha: they've had it hanging over them for some time. just imagine the relief that these families feel, but of course they're not going to feel it completely until they have their family members home and in their arms and away from the situation. it's been a long, long haul. bill: we'll see when they get out. martha: we'll see what happens. all right. those are just a few of the many stories we're watching for you in "america's newsroom". president obama, one of the main targets during last night's big debate among the gop hopefuls, where mr. obama is taking hits now from his own party today. bill: also, have you seen this? >> a crash and fire. the rescuers had only seconds to lift the car off of a victim. one of those heros is here

live to tell us how they did it. martha: plus, heavy security across the states, but one man snuck into an nfl game, causing this huge scene in the stand. >> kind of troubling that someone could get into any kind of a public event like that, because that would be what i would consider not a hard target, but not -- but kind of in between, that soft target, where a person could do a lot of damage.

bill: we now know in part how the president plans to pay for his multi billion dollar jobs plan announced last week and the white house saying there would be a series of tax hikes. here's rick perry reacting to all that last night in tampa: >> he had $800 billion worth of stimulus in the first round of stimulus. it created zero jobs.

four hundred plus billion dollars ithis package, and i can do the math on that one, half of zero jobs is going to be zero jobs. this president does not understand how to free up the small business men and women or for that matter wall street. bill: a bit earlier today i talked about house manageority whip kevin mccarthy about all of this out of california: >> kevin mccarthy, thank you for your time and good morning to you there in washington. >> good morning, thank you for having me. bill: is this plan dead on arrival? >> no. we will look at this plan. i do like the idea of the free trade agreement in the plan but 3/4 of it is just the failed part of the stimulus he offered before and then to go through and offer tax increases in this economy when in 2009 the president said not to raise taxes in a tough economy, i just don't see where that creates any jobs.

bill: take that one point, because the cost is $447 billion. and it's gone up a couple billion here and there, depending upon what article you read over the past couple of days. paid for largely with a tax increase. how are republicans going to work with this white house based on the statement you put out a few days ago that said hey, we'll share ideas? where are the idea that is have common ground? >> well, i think the free trade agreements have common ground. we will look at any transportation project that is actually a real project that environmental rules do not hold it up. we actually want to focus on small business, because small business is where jobs are created, and entrepreneur never takes a job from anybody, they actually create a job, and we've got 11 small business and energy policy bills that have passed the house that are sitting in the senate. we tell the president, take those up. they are scored -- they have scored more than hundreds of thousands of jobs that are created. think for a moment, if we would produce energy in america that would be less

money spent overseas and jobs created in america with revenue coming in. bill: here's what our fox polling indicates and despite all these battles over social security in these debates on health care reform, it still looks like the economy and jobs is number one. two weeks ago, our fox polling showed 60 percent disapprove of how the president is handling this economy, so now you have this proposal where he goes across the country to various districts, if it does not go through, does he get the blame? or are you concerned that republicans get the blame in congress? >> look, republicans think to put people before politics. we produce bills based upon policy, we produced 11hat are sitting in the senate. this president is going back to the failed stimulus. he said that unemployment would never go above 8 percent. it has. and what has he done again? to go back to the same: borrow more money, tax more on the small business, tong he's going to get a different outcome. he will not get a different outcome. we will sit down with this

president, focus on small business, where jobs are created, unshackle what holds us back from regulation and we will continue to pass bills out of the house and ask the senate to take them up and we will talk to the president any moment he wants to about job creation, not more government spending the only job the government ever creates is the irs. bill you mentioned stimulus in three minutes. what did you learn from the stimulus of 2009? >> that it's a keynesian view that failed, it cost us more than a trillion dollars. small business is what creates jobs. if you measure from the end of the last recession, beginning of this recession, 2001-2007, it's the companies with 500 employees or fewer that dollars add 7 million jobs. companies with 500 companies or more outsourced a million jobs. we need to focus on entrepreneurship, empower entrepreneurs, not more government. bill: the next great debate. kevin mccarthy, thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me. bill: you bet, we'll talk

again. thanks. martha: march did you see this when the jets faced off against the cowboys, on 9/11, security was air-tight, president bush was at the game but somehow a man managed to sneak a taser gun, even though their bags were checked on the way in, and then this happened: it's hard to see sort of what transspired at the spot and how they got a taser gun into the stadium. bill: and uses it! the number one player in the world beat number two at the u.s. open. this was a terrific tennis match, wasn't it? >> jakovic took the title in new york city.

martha: a very disturbing incident in the stands at sunday's jets-cowboys game. watch this, then we'll explain it: >> martha: a little hard to tell exactly what's going on, but the fact is despite very high security at these games, dividing men and spwoeupl different lines and checking everybody's bag, as you go in, but somebody managed to get a taser gun

into the stadium, and then they used it! laura ingle is live with the latest on this. laura, fill in the blanks for us. >> reporter: here's what we know. three men were injured in this brawl, none seriously, thankfully, including that marine who reportedly went tumbling down six rows in the upper deck of the stadium after being hit in the neck with a taser gun. allegedly, fired by 59-year-old cowboys fan leroy mcelvey. check out this, this was taken by a fan at sunday's game, you can actually hear the buzz of the stun gun a fetimes while the scuffle goes down. witnesses say mcelvey became annoyed when they wouldn't take off their hats or stand for the national anthem and spoke loudly during amazing grace on the game on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. while he tried to leave his seat, the marine refused to let him get by and that's when the stun gun came out,

according to fans. they were horrified. >> troubling that somebody could get into any type of public event like that, because that would be what i would consider not a hard target but in between, that soft target, where a person could do a lot of damage. >> reporter: security was extremely tight, with former president george w. bush in attendance, met life stadium officials say normal procedures for patdowns were in effect at all the entry gates, at one point in that cell phone video, you can hear somebody say how did he get that thing into the stadium, which is what so many people today would like to know. martha: indeed! the man's son has reportedly spoken out as to what may have sparked his father's reaction here. what did he say? >> reporter: mcelvey's son, who was a local d.j. at the radio station, wouldn't take my questions but has spoken out to other reporters, said he is a devout joe ho va's witness and doesn't believe in standing for the pledge of allegiance. fans say he's not -- he was

charged with aggravated assault and two weapons counts and taken to the bourbon county jail. we'll continue to follow this one. martha: laura, thank you very much. bill: more beer! martha: well -- >> bill: that's what they need! >> martha: can you imagine? sitting at game, suddenly, somebody pulls out a taser gun? i mean, the odds -- i was just at jets stadium, the people who worked it could not be nicer. it's a great, great place to go to a game. but i'm surprised, they divide the men and women in two lines, everybody is getting a patdown from your little children to -- you know, but it goes to that question, there's a big picture on security. i mean, does any of this mean anything, these lines, these patdowns and half hearted look in your bag and close your bag? what's it all for? >> bill and he used it! all right, it has been a democratic stronghold since 1923. voters, heading to the polls in the new york congressional district last

held by anthony weiner. will the very blue seat turn red today? also, there's this: >> you people have no idea what we're going through. you guys don't give a damn, you don't care about me, you don't care about her, you don't care about my granddaughter, you don't care about any of this stuff. shut up. i'm talking. i am talking! i've had it. i've had it with all of you. i'm trying to find my granddaughter, you guys don't care about that. >> martha: a sad story, this whole thing was, right folks? that's george and cindy anthony who you probably remember well, that was three years ago, that scene, when their granddaughter was supposedly missing, now the anthonys are sitting down for a big ber view, of course, that's the way these things go, right? so casey was acquitted for the murder of her granddaughter. now they're talking. we'll have that.

bill: at this hour, voters are going to the poll necessary a special election for former new york congressman anthony weiner's old house seat, weiner resigned early ner the year after sending sexually explicit pictures and messages to women he was meeting online. now, the ninth congressional district in new york covers parts of queens and brooklyn. it's -- it's been held by a democrat going back to the 1920s. but this race appears to be especially tight this year. eric shawn is live in queens, new york. eric, what's going on? good morning. >> good morning, bill.

we're at a polls place in howard beach, queens and this is a race in the country that's been portrayed as a referendum on president obama and stunningly polls show the republican is likely to win. he is bob turner, a retired businessman, he's 70 years old, has no experience in public office. he ran last year against immigrant -- against anthony weiner and got 30 percent of the vote but this time turner is ahead of his democratic opponent by six points, according to two polls, he has spent the campaign hammering away at president obama's policy, his economic record, on israel, on the issue of gay marriage, he is facing david weprin, a veteran, new york state assemblyman and councilman that comes from a prominent local family. even though the district is overwhelmingly 3-1 democratic over republican registrants, those here -- and president obama's name is not on the ballot, those here say the president's name might as well be. >> i'm hoping this election

will send a bolt through washington that people, working people, are really unhappy and will do something about it, they'll get out and vote. >> we're not looking for more of the same. i think we definitely need more bipartisanship in washington. there was a lot of gridlock. i think we're all feeling the effects of that. but i blame the republicans in the house, and particularly the tea party element of the republican party. >> both candidates have now voted, they're both campaigning today, both have brought in their big guns. turner, for example, has had rudy giuliani support him, as well as democrat ed koch, weprin has had support from bill clinton and other democrats. weprin doesn't even live in the district. the polls close at 9:00. it will be a heavily watched race and we'll be covering it all day. bill: thank you eric.

eric shawn. there are two special elections today, one in new york and nevada. if republicans win both it could raise fresh concerns about president obama's impact on democratic candidates and the party's ability to keep the senate majority in 2012, it would also raise questions about whether or not the democrats can regain the 24 seats it needs to take back the house. and as we mentioned a moment ago, the new york district has not been represented by a republican going back to 19 # four. watch that. martha: the daughter's murder trial captivated this country for months, especially in the final weeks of those tense proceedings. now the questions that ripple through the whole thing kept arising about the whole anthony family, really. so now casey anthony's parents are speaking out about the whole thing for the first time since her acquittal, they sat down with dr. phil and the first part of that interview is going to air today. here's george and cindy, talking about one of the key parts of that trial, the

smell in the trunk of the car. >> what do you now believe the smell was from? >> truthfully, to this day, i don't know. to be honest. >> do you want to believe that caylee was back there? i don't want to believe it, but i'm going by what investigators have told me. all i know is that caylee isn't with us anymore. i know that. i know that. >> do you believe she was in that trunk? >> martha: they just don't know. joined now by dr. keith ablow, a psychiatrist, also member of the fox news medical a teal and judge alex farrar of the judge alex show, who watched every minute of this whole murder trial. gentlemen, welcome, good to have you both here. i just think their responses are strange. i know, i think grandpa anthony saying the kid isn't with us anymore, judge alex, i think is odd. maybe that's just me. what did you think of their reactions to that question,

judge alex? >> i just have a problem with the whole interview. i would never want to be put in the position of these parents, having your granddaughter murdered and having your daughter be the one who in my opinion did it. that is a horrible position to be in. being subpoenaed to court and forced to testify against your own daughter, that's difficult enough. after the ordeal is over, continuing this saga, going voluntarily on national television to talk about this, what has to be a nightmare in any parent's life, i don't get it. i just don't understand. i mean, i know that they're dysfunctional, but still. martha: very, very odd to me. i totally agree with you that they want to even talk about this dark chapter -- and i think it's weird that they say now we're not sure now what we thought the smell was, i thought to myself well, yes, she was acquitted but i don't know why that would change your mind about what you said at the trial, that you believed there was a dead body in the trunk. dr. keith ablow, what do you make of all this?

>> well, let's keep in mind, martha, these people are very peek you'llar people. when casey anthony was 31 weeks pregnant, she went to a wedding of her uncle, both cindy and george insisted she was not pregnant. they had to be coaxed to take her for a pregnancy test. george is the same man who after picking up the car that casey anthony was supposed to be driving around had been towed, for 31 days, he hasn't seen his granddaughter, he thinks the car smells like death and he walks around checking for scratches and he says to the attendant, at -- at least there are no scratches and argues with the attendant over the price of the towing for an hour. and then you know where he goes after that? he goes to work at the movie cinemas. so if you're talking about two people who are estranged from feelings and created the crucible in which casey anthony developed, you just met them. martha: let's look at

another piece of this, this is cindy anthony. let's watch: >> when you heard the defense in this case say that he was involved in -- not in causing the child's death, but in events that took place after that, did it ever occur to you that he has hidden substantial things from me before, could he have done it again? >> no, not when it came to his family as far as casey and caylee. george would have never put us through those of months of not knowing where caylee was if he knew where caylee was, because i watched his heart break every single day and i watched him as frantic as he was. martha: judge alex, what was your reaction to that? are there at all any legal ramification, does this reopen any issues with regard to this case at all? >> no, absolutely not. all this -- i haven't heard

the interview. that statement doesn't -- let's look at it differently. casey anthony, can she be retried no,. a lot of people say can the feds retry her, no. it's done and over with, as far as casey is concerned. cindy anthony could be tried for perjury, the d.a. is not going to try her for perjury but if she were to get on a show and say i lied and i'd do it again for my daughter she'd have no choice but to be tried for purgey. that's the only way i see anything happening out of this. march a quick thought, dr. ablow. >> keep in mind as you listen to cindy in the future, she told investigators in a legal interview after her granddaughter's body had been found she complained that she wasted $10 at the universal studios parking lot looking for her on july 3rd, what a waste of money that was. that's who we're dealing with here. martha: dr. ablow, thank you very much, judge alex, thank you. apparently dr. phil gave money to a foundation to

help other people in similar situations with similar situations and we don't have the details on that foundation but that's the story from dr. phil. bill: that's the first time they've spoken, too. so the republican contenders have tough talk for president obama, but if he hopes to stay in the white house, there might be an even bigger issue out there. terrific panel with bob and andrea on that. has the president already lost the moderates, we wonder. >> it really isn't that tough if you try. it's easy to turn around this economy, just have the backbone to do it.

martha: there is brand new information on the phone hacking investigation involving news corporation the parent company of this network. greg palkot joins us with the latest on that from london. hey greg. >> reporter: martha, apparently the british parliamentary committee investigating alleged phone

hacking, news of the world newspaper is not completely happy, the testimony of james murdoch in testimony in july, at that time, murdoch said he was unaware of the details of an e-mail which indicated the phone hacking was more widespread than earlier admitted at that newspaper. the former editor of the newspaper, former legal adviser in testimony last week said that he in fact was informed of the details of the e-mail and from that discussion, a decision was made to make a rather large payout to a hacking target. murdoch has said he stands by his testimony and we reached his spokesperson today, they said that he is happy to appear again and answer any further questions. the date of that testimony, still not set aside. in fact there is a lot left to play out with this story. the members claim they're tieing up loose ends and they're looking forward to wrapping this up but it could be going on for a

year. there's a police investigation, an internal investigation at newscorp, and there are civil cases out there, too. the latest by another phone hacking target, the mother of the victim of the july 7, 2005 terror bombings here. martha: thank you very much, greg palkot. bill: the hopefuls on stage last night were hitting the president hard on a few issues. former house speaker newt gingrich was asked about the retirement age in social security. watch what he did with that question: >> let me start with i'm not particularly worried about governor perry and governor romney frightening the american people when president obama scares them every single day. >> [applause] >> billion bill so that was from last night and this morning we found a new poll showing 59 percent of those who voted for president obama in 2008 now say he is more liberal than they are today. bob beckel, andrea tantoras,

cohosts of the "five" and good morning to you both. they were trying to figure out how they voted in 2010, they came up with a whopper and this was the left leaning organization, it's called third way? they found 59 percent say you're more liberal now. why is this going on now, and remarks what's your hunch? >> i think when the president ran in 2008 he had tremendous crossover appeal. he painted himself as a moderate, even though if you looked a little deeper, he was admired and left this ideology. he was able to pluck some republicans, a lot of independents and get those swing voters, and what they voted for was very different. i mean this, administration has been decidedly leftist. i mean, they've pursued a very radical environmental agenda, they've expanded the size of government, and i think this is not where the electorate is. bob can even tell you, we're a center-right country as

much as he doesn't like it and we're starting to realize that under president obama, he's going to tack left, he's not going to run in the middle as, say, clinton did. he's always the left. >> i understand you on that. i hear bob breathing heavy. i don't know if that's because of the question. >> probably. >> it's just being on here in the show, bill! >> bill: by the way, you left out socialist. don't forget that. >> be sure to throw that in. here's the reality. given where obama's poll numbers are now, of course eeg he's going to have people who switched over in 2010, not before and right now, but remember, he doesn't have an opponent yet, and one of the things that will drive those people back to obama is somebody who's too far right, particularly ones associated with the tea party and has a 3-1 negative among the group, so the key for obama is to ensure that whoever emerges from the republican nominate be process has got a tea party, at least tends to them. so i think that's where the key to this is going to be and his poll numbers are going to be better next

year. bill: i want to play this clip from michele bachmann, because pros like you guys are saying bachmann needs a big night, some people are saying if she doesn't score big, her campaign is over. keep in mind, we are six months away from iowa. roll this and i'll ask you about it: >> we are never going to get rid of it unless we have a president committed to getting rid of it. and if you believe that states can have it and that it's constitutional, you're not committed. if you implemented this in your states, you're not committed. i'm committed to repealing omabacare. bill: and that is something she will say in every debate. normally she leads her debate with that comment. how did she do last night, was she a winner or andrea, do you score it for someone else on your card? >> she did very well last night and she's one of the only candidates that's talking aggressively about omabacare and that's smart because it's still very unpopular. look, i think she brought the energy that she did in the first debate where she

was a winner. last night, romney also did well. but to bob's point about who the gop nominee is going to be, it is true that somebody like mitt romney arguably could get more crossover support. problem is, he probably won't have the bases energized. but the media has done a job -- >> bill: people see him as moderate, yeah. >> the media has done a really good job of painting the tea party as wackos and they're not. there was a "washington post" poll that showed 56 percent of americans believe government has gotten too big but look at this weiner seat today, real quick, look and see what happens. obama is having a hard time even hanging on to democrats in new york city. so that points to bigger trouble. bill: it doesn't wrap up until 9:00 tonight, we'll see which way it goes. i understand. bob, was there a winner last night, did anyone save themselves? >> there were two in both categories, bachmann saved herself to play another day and it was exactly what romney needed, which is why

romney emerged as the overall winner, but what romney needs is not take perry on one on one, he needs to have the tea party vote divided and bachmann got back into that mix and i think that helped romney in the long run. bill: you have seven hours to catch your breath and we'll see you at 5:00. >> i'll catch it as best i can! bill: thank you bob, andrea. martha: very darth vader. >> this is an incredible act, the amazing rescue, caught on tape, next.

martha: this is an amazing rescue story that was caught on tape, a motorcyclist, trapped you said a -- under a car. look at this scene. after an accident. his fuel line is served and the dash is burning. a group ofby standers, run

over and lifts the car. they push the car off of this man and saved his life. look at this. and they pulled him out from underneath. look at that. oh my. wow! wow. and they saved his life. jeff curtis joins me now, he is the assistant chief of police in logan, utah. tell us, sir, to the best of your ability, what happened here? >> about 11:40 a.m., yesterday morning, we had a motorcycle, traveling eastbound on u.s. 89, which is a state highway that goes through our city, it travels right past utah state university, it was in that area of the school that this accident took place. there was a parking lot on the south side of the highway there, in about the area of 900 east. there was a car, black bmw,

that was pulling out of that parking lot, and trying to go westbound on the highway. they weren't able to see the motorcyclist as he was cresting the hill. martha: right. >> pulled out to make their maneuver to head westbound, and the motorcyclist saw them and took evasive action. martha: we're watching this incredible video. where did this group of people come from, were they standing there, were they close by? and they all get together and push the car off and pull this man out and frankly, it's hard to tell if the man survived, but he is in the hospital we understand in critical condition, right? >> yes. we just got an update on him a few minutes ago. he is still in critical condition this morning. some of the people that show up, the first people that show up with the fir extinguishers are construction workers, they're building a brand new building right there in that same area. they saw the accident, had

some fire extinguishers there. martha: and jumped into action and did an incredible job. >> they got the fire extinguishers, and then there were students and otherby standers. martha: and they jumped in to help as well. thank you for being with us today and we hope this man survives to thank those people who helped him out and saved his life. we thank you sir for being here, chief curtis. bill: amazing he only broke a few bones, right? so jacqueline kennedy like you have never heard her before, what she thought about some of those influential leaders in world history. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

- i amp because it's completely invisible. - i amp because it's designed to help me hear better. - i amp because it's for active people like me. male announcer: introducing amp, a new kind of hearing aid. so tiny, it's invisible. - amp is comfortable to wear. - and easily removable. announcer: and at $1,500 a pair, amp is affordable. - amp: the hearing aid for people who aren't ready for a hearing aid. - i amp. do you? announcer: call toll-free 1-888-379-1405 to find an amp hearing professional near you. at only $1,500 a pair,

you can't afford to wait. that's 1-888-379-1405. call today. martha: we heard the president say he wants it to be passed, now, immediately, this jobs bill, but, republicans today are saying, wait just a minute. president obama sent the bill to congress, but the fine-print

shows taxes will need to go up substantially to pay for the bill and the republicans say it could be a huge deal breaker, creating doubt about whether any part of it can pass muster on the right-hand side of the aisle, good to have you with us, everybody i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. busy morning already, right? 447 billion, the price tag intended to spark hiring and fuel the ailing economy, right? martha: but the president wants to pay for it with tax hikes, on the wealthy and we started to get bits of this yesterday, when we spoke about how it would be paid for and now republicans say they believe, as they always have that that would be a job-killer, and it would not help to create jobs. listen to this: >> if the democrats couldn't pass these when they had an overwhelming margin the congress why should they expect to pass it in a divided congress now. martha: mike emmanuel is live on this for us, capitol hill, what else are we hearing on this from the leading republicans this

morning? >> well, it is interesting, martha, because, leading republicans are saying they like, if you will, the a la carte approach and like bits and pieces of the president's proposal but do not like the white house's all-or-nothing approach, house majority leader eric cantor told reporters off camera, quote, i will tell you that over half of the dollar amount is so-called stimulus spending, and we have been there, done that, and the country cannot afford more stimulus spending. he argues the initial stimulus did not produce the expected results and, so, he is in favor of cutting taxes, and trying to stimulate, if you will, small businesses to hire but is not for more money for bridges and tunnels and highways and that sort of thing, martha. martha: it is interesting, because the president billed this as something that republicans had, you know, been in favor of, many times, and something there had been a lot of agreement on across the board and they would want to pass and

sign right now, but the biggest question is how we pay for it and the answer to that, mike, is something the republicans have never been in favor of. >> that's right, and i should note that senate republican leader mitch mcconnell should take to the senate floor in a matter of moments to get his first reaction after actually seeing the text of the bill and hearing the idea of how the white house would like to pay for it, but, as you said, more than $400 billion of the package they would like to pay for, with upper income itemized deduction money, and they'd also like to, for example, take away corporate jet depreciation and oil and gas subsidies and so a lot of concern here on capitol hill and the republican side of things, about how the white house would like to pay for all of this. martha: thanks, we'll continue with getting details as we move forward this morning. bill: how bad is it in america? unemployment at or above 9% for 26 of the past 28 months, briefly dropping down below 9%,

for a few weeks and bouncing right back, 1 in 3 unemployed americans has been out of work a year or more and more than 16% of the workforce now is either unemployed or under employed. martha: the president's job plan is adding pressure to the so-called super committee, they've got a big job to do and is set to begin hearings this morning, about 27 minutes from now, they'll get underway and they'll be looking for ways to cut the debt and deficit, $1.5 trillion and now are tasked with the additional fees for the president's jobs plan as well and the director of the congressional budget office is expected to update the committee, on the state of our finances so they know what they have to work with and we'll bring you developments as soon as we get those out of the sae same meeting, gets underway shortly. >> the question is, do you still believe social security should be ended as a federal program, as you did six months ago when your book came out and return to the states?

or do you want to trade for them. >> we ought to have a conversation -- >> we are having it now. >> if you let me finish, i'll finish the conversation. the issue is, are there ways to move the... for state employees or retirees, we did in the state of texas in the 1980s. i think those types of thoughtful conversations with america rather than trying to scare seniors, like you are doing and other people... [applause]. >>... it is time to have a legitimate conversation in this country... >> governor, the term ponzi scheme, is what scared seniors. bill: the many debates toings in the debates last night, the republican presidential debate, an event partly sponsored by the tea party express and who came out on top among the 8 men and women and who best expressed the views of the tea party? amy cramer was watching with very close interest, and chair of the tea party express and, amy, welcome back to "america's newsroom" and good morning to you. who do you think -- >> thanks for having me. bill: you are welcome.

who do you think best represented the tea party ideals? >> well, you know, there was a lot of debate going on, on that stage last night, and, michelle bachmann, i mean, she stood out, stood on principle and absolutely stood firm on repealing obamacare and, made it very clear she is not going to rest until that is fulfilled and also came out clear on individual liberty, even when it comes down to states, you know, mandating health insurance and mandating that sort of thing and, she took a punch at governor romney and governor perry. bill: i expected you to say michelle bachmann, total fair opinion, okay? >> yes. bill: were you surprised by anyone last night? >> well, you know, newt gingrich knocked it out of the park, again, showed that he understands the issues, and, articulates them very well. he did extremely well last

night. what concerned us a little bit was obviously, you know, ron paul, congressman ron paul, and how he feels about 9/11 and, it is our fault and that was just... the audience didn't like that at all last night. bill: that was a question from audience, a gentleman from napa valley california and asked the following question and, i'll roll it and i don't know if you were satisfied with the answer or got an answer. listen to this: >> i'm tyler hensley, from napa, california and first of all, thank you guys for coming out tonight. my question is, out of every dollar that i earn, how much do you think that i deserve to keep? [applause]. bill: you heard bachmann saying i love that question and governor huntsman gave his answer, and then it was moving on to the next point. how would you have liked that question answered last night?

>> well, you know, tyler is a 17-year-old, young kid, and he's actually a friend of mine's son, and, i don't think the governor answered the question the way it should have been answered, to tyler. i think it should have been a little more clear. he went into a long, you know, rhetoric and talking about taxes and, whatnot, and, that is not what tyler wanted to hear. he wanted a very simple answer but, bill, that is exactly what we are fighting in washington. there are no simple answers... bill: what would you have said. >> i would have told him exactly what i thought, how much -- >> what is enerpercentage? amount. >> i'm not prepared to give you a percentage or an amount but the people on that stage, that is what they were there to do, and i don't think tyler was satisfied with it, but, as i said, that is exactly what we are fighting in washington. bill: maybe in -- in nine days you'll get an answer and we'll have the date on the fox news channel. >> i know. in order lindy. bill: thank you for your time. i'm out of time but appreciate

you coming in, we'll talk again, okay? thank you. >> thank you, bill, thanks for having me. bill: tea party express. martha: a "fox news alert." of the two jailed u.s. hikers in iran, we're getting brand new information, iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad in an interview this morning, says that shane bauer and josh fattal could be freed in, quote, a couple of days. the two men were convicted on spy charges last month and went through a whole trial process in iran and they were sentenced to 8 years in prison. >> i think these two prisoners will be freed in a couple of days. >> in a couple of days. >> yes. in a couple of days. martha: very interesting. he took the opportunity to throw that out there. right before the u.n. gathering this week in new york. here with me is jenna lee, anchor on "happening now" and i know you have spoken to the families, extensively over the

course of the whole ordeal for them. what is they're response to this? what do they make of this at this point? >> well, there have been a lot of false starts and that is putting it lightly as far that's release of the hikers. it does seem different and the families say they are hopeful but they have not heard directly from their sons, who have been in prison more than two years that they are going to be come home so, as you can probably understand, there is still apprehension about the interview, though, you point out, this is important ahead of the u.n. general assembly. last year at the same time, september 14, sarah shourd, the woman with these other two men, was released. and, the timing of that, again, was ahead of the general assembly, when mahmoud ahmadinejad was coming to new york city to talk about politics inside of iran and how he feels about the rest of the world. so, these three, at one time, were bargaining chips and now

these two are bargaining chips, as you said, they are guilty of espionage and have a sentence to serve. but, he would not be mentioning their potential freedom if there wasn't something more behind it, this time. martha: and there is some talk of payment. a payment in sarah shourd's case and i'm sure the families are happy to -- they want those kids out of there. >> reporter: exactly. martha: do we know anything about that? >> reporter: their lawyer inside of iran -- and remember, this is a lawyer that has not been able to meeting, directly, with josh or with shane bauer. there has not been a lot of communication and he's taking an incredible amount of risk to take on the case and he says the courts have posted bail for them. i should say, have named the bail, and bail has not been posted yet. $500,000 each, the same price for sarah shourd's release, and that was brokered by amman and it is important to say we do not have diplomatic relations with iran and not like someone from

the u.s. can fly over with a million dollars and get these kids freed. it has to be brokered by someone in between and turkey and brazil have been active and, countries we have diplomatic relations with, and countries that have diplomatic relations with iran, also, has been asked to bring up the hikers in discussion with iran to figure out if there is something we can do. they say today and we'll see if, thursday, they are free. martha: let's hope. it has been too long. jenna lee, thank you very much. obviously, you know, you want these families -- you wanted to be extremely cautious and you don't want to say anything or do anything and you want to get the young men into your arms, and then deal with how it possibly could have happened. bill: based hope to past we are getting played a little bit. raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for a half trillion dollar stimulus. but, what is the definition of "wealthy"? that is changing quickly. martha: and did a new political ad from democrats violate house

ethics rules? we'll show you that and explain. bill: catastrophic damage in the wake of the epic flooding. why things are getting even wore worse as the raging rivers recede. >> banks gone, 20, 30 feet of the bank is gone, dining room, most of the bar is missing, too much and, it is rubbing the salt in the wound. [ male announcer ] you love the taste of 2% milk.

but think about your heart. 2% has over half the saturated fat of whole milk. want to cut back on fat and not compromisen taste?

try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance. bill: devastating floods followed up by the equally heartbreaking cleanup. northeastern pennsylvania now. they are salvaging what they can in the muck and mud of their hopes and adding to the misery, many of these people don't have any flood insurance. >> it is very disheartening experience, one i hoped i'd never have to experience, but, you know, you've got to fight your way out of it and come back, you know, as strong as you can. >> to watch it all disappears and like i said, within 200 yards either side of my house,

two houses and two garages are missing and an entire business is gone. bill: some roads in that area are still closed and this is two weeks after the storm. martha: all right, the white house now says president obama wants to use tax likes on wealthy americans and we'll talk about the definition of that, to pay for his entire $447 billion jobs plan. so, here's white house budget director, laying it all out. watch: >> the specific offsets in the package are a series of tax provisions. and i think they'll be familiar to most of you, because, they are ideas we have been talking about for the most part for some time. first, there is a limit on itemized deductions and certain exemptions for individuals who earn over $200,000, and families, earning over $250,000. that limitation raises roughly $400 billion over ten years. martha: all right, let's see what steve moore thinks of this, senior economic writer for the

"wall street journal." steve, so, we're not hearing a lot about cuts to agencies or changes in, you know, pension agreements or anything along those lines, turns out the whole $447 billion, basically, will come from the wealthiest in the country, and, that is apparently folks who make over 200,000. you know, what kind of impact will it have on the economy? what is rear action to the whole thing. >> first of all, the big sory here, martha, is it was sold thursday night when the president gave his speech as a big tax cut for small businesses, to get them to hire workers and that was amounting to about $240 billion of tax incentives and now we find out to get the $240 billion of tax incentives through the end of next year starting in 2013, businesses by my calculations get hit with about a $500 billion ten-year tax increase. so, it is not such a great deal for small businesses supposed to be doing the hiring and they get a short-term tax cut in exchanges for a long term tax

increase which is twice as large. martha: you know, it is very interesting to me, when you sort of look at, if you eliminate the tax deductions for one group, right? the group of people who make over 200,000, and areas like the major cities, where, we live in washington, or new york, or d.c. or los angeles, that is a really unfair tax hike because, the equivalent of what it costs people to live in those places, certainly most of them do not feel as though they are in the wealthy category, especially, after they have paid these taxes. >> you know, that is a great point, martha, because... always has been sold as a millionaire tax, but since when is $250,000 a millionaire income. and high-cost area, like new york and washington, d.c. and california, i don't think a lot of couples with 3 or 4 kids making $250,000, think they are living a rich and luxurious

lifestyle, housing costs and health care costs and, there is not a lot left over to pay uncle sam. martha: we should eliminate deductions for this group and this is not class war fare, told by president obama, it is not class war fare, you have a huge segment of the population who pays nothing and everyone should pay something and we should flatten out the tax code and make it a percentage of your income, overall, rather than targeting one group, many of whom are small businesses, that fall into that category of the 250-plus for a family. >> you just nailed it, martha. you get an a in economics today. your are exactly right. if you look at those evil people who make over 250,000, guess what, over half of those people own and operate and invest in small businesses. those are supposed to be the businesses that we're going to have create the jobs and that is true, 70% of the jobs that are created, in this u.s. economy come from small businesses, and, yet the tax increase, that mr. lew just talked about is really targeted at small

business income and the question i'd ask mr. lew if he were here, how will you get more jobs from the small businesses when you take money out of their balance sheets? martha: all right, steve moore, thanks. lots more to talk about with this as everybody continues to go through these numbers, good to see you, as always. >> not the small business tax cut we thought we were getting. martha: many thanks. bill: teacher says you passed today, huge! martha: i got an "a". bill: not just effort but in sight and... well done, martha. martha: i'm done, then. i'm just done! bill: one of the most fascinating figures in american history, jacqueline kennedy onassis like you have never heard her before, revealing tapes just released with very candid opinions about a lot of people. martha: plus a lot of folks out there, when they watched this last night, said that michelle bachmann had a pretty big night and lost steam to mitt romney and rick perry along the way in the polling numbers, so did she do enough to come back last

night? we'll talk about that. >> we have to be an ownership society, where individual responsibility, personal responsibility, once again, becomes the animating american principle, and we can't be ashamed of that.

let's design a vacation on a bumake it work.edia. see what anandra did? booking her flight and hotel at the same time a serious money-saving maneuver. book it! major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can get through selectquote for less than a dollar a day. selectquote found, rich, 37, a $500,000 policy for under $18 a month. even though dave, 43, takes meds to control his blood pressure, selectquote got him a $500,000 policy for under $28 a month. ellen, 47, got a $250,000 policy for under $20 a month. all it takes is a phone call. your personal selectquote agent will answer all your questions ... and impartially shop the highly rated term life companies selectquote

represents for your best rates. give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save.

martha: the birthday wish come true for the sister of an airman serving in afghanistan. just watch. martha: walked into a school lunch room cafeteria and found her classmates singing and found the giant present right there inside the box with her brother, and he gave his sister the surprise of a lifetime. >> i thought it was something for my birthday and i was waiting for a call from him this morning and i didn't get one and

i was kind of upset... >> that completes things, you know? >> words can't really explain how it makes someone feel. i love them just as much as they love me. martha: so cute. it took jamie and his mom a month to pull it off and they did it. happy birthday! bill: for the first time in nearly 50 years, interviews with the former first lady, jacqueline kennedy onassis, released today, she talks about her husband. president kennedy, after he was assassinated and about their life at the white house together and also offers some opinions on prominent political figures from all over the world. molly line is live in boston, kennedy museum there. what did the tapes reveal, molly? >> reporter: well, they really offer a unique snapshot at a person time and point in history and her view on things at that time. the tapes were recorded in the months after her husband, j.f.k. was assassinated in dallas and were in an intimate session with

arthur j. schlessinger, historian and white house aide and someone she was familiar with and they have an intimate and conversational tone in 1964 and talks about her marriage with j.f.k. and those tense and terrifying moments leading up and through the cuban missile crisis. and talks about many world leaders, leaders of india, civil rights leaders, martin luther king and politicians and reportedly had this to say about her husband's concerns regarding the vice president, lyndon b. johnson, becoming president, possibly one day: she said, jack said to me, sometimes, he said, oh, god, can you you ever imagine what would happen to the country, if lyndon were president? now, it is important to keep in mind these recordings were done 30 years before she actually passed away and her opinion certainly may have changed in the decades following those recordings, they would have been sealed away nearly five decades now and died in 1994 and she was a private person and you don't know how her opinions and thoughts, on those days, have

evolved in the years and this is really a snapshot in time, bill. >> and there's a lot in there, too. when does the public get access to it, molly? >> reporter: well, the book will hit the shelves tomorrow, it comes out, jacqueline kennedy, historic conversations on life with john f. kennedy and also here at the j.f.k. library and museum in boston there will be a beautiful exhibit, the public can stop by and get a first hand look at all of these recordings. bill: interesting history, from the library in boston. thanks, molly. molly line, martha? martha: a fantastic presidential library, if you haven't been there, put it on your list of things to do. a great place to go. here's a question, where is the cowboy's lasso when you need it? check this out, an escaped big croc met his match! bill: and, continues various over the democrats' new ad supporting the president's jobs bill. was it legal under house rules? >> the next election is 14 months away. and the people who sent us here,

the people who hired us to work for them, they don't have the luxury of waiting 14 months. a lot of them are living week-to-week and paycheck to paycheck. [ male announcer ] look down. it's high time to make our floor look better and feel softer. ♪ how 'bout we start with the guaranteed low price on the carpet... the pad, and installation. let's get peace of mind for a lifetime. itll adds up to better carpet at a better price and a great-looking room, transformed.

more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get 12 months special financing on carpet purchases when you use your home depot credit card.

bill: want to follow up this breaking news on these americans held in iran more than a year. hikers picked up along the iraq-iran border. three at the time. the woman on the screen right has been released. the two men according to

president mahmoud ahmadinejad telling nbc he will secure their release soon. the secretary of state hillary clinton reacting to all that. a bit cautious from washington moments ago. >> we have followed this very closely and are encouraged by what the iranian government has said today but i'm not going to comment further than that. we obviously hope that we will see a positive outcome from what appears to be a decision by the government. bill: remember now, that president comes to new york city next week. we'll see whether or not those two still being held get their ultimate wish. martha? martha: been on the job for just a week, david petraeus testifying on capitol hill for the first time as cia director. we get to see him in at light in the public forum. he has a regular suit on. looking very business-like as the cia director.

it is one of the most widely anticipated hearings of the year because it is one of the few public forums where senior intelligence officials lay out how they see our global threat picture. correspondent catherine herridge joins me live from washington. hearing barely started but there is news out of it, right? >> reporter: right out of the gate. the senate intelligence welcomed retired general david petraeus to the hearing. the hearing is wrapping up the first hour. we're used to seeing the general in his four-star uniform but today he wore civilian clothes. the senator, die nan feinstein, told him, since 9/11, half of al qaeda's's leadership has been decimated. >> consider the top aqi leaders captured. osama bin laden. al qaeda's new number two. top aq operative. moritani. kashmiri, one. al qaeda's most dangerous

commanders reportedly killed. number three al qaeda leader, sheikh al-masri. also killed. >> reporter: that is quite quite a laundry list of al qaeda operatives. what we heard from the cia director that the losses created a window of vulnerability but more important to keep up the pressure because we're seeing al qaeda take root in the safe havens of yemen and also somalia, martha. martha: areas to be watch and be concerned about. catherine thanks very much. >> you're welcome. bill: did a new political ad for president obama violate house ethics rules? here is part of that ad. >> the next election is 14 months away. and the people who sent us here, the people who hired us to work for them, they don't have the luxury of waiting 14 months. some of them are living week to week, paycheck to paycheck. even day-to-day.

they need help and they need it now. remember, congress it is time for us to meet our responsibilities. [applause] >> the democratic national committee is responsible for the content of this advertisement. bill: clearly the dnc touting a plan to create jobs before the joint session of congress last week. reince priebus, chairman of the republican national committee. good morning. where is the violation in that? >> in house rule 5, members of congress are not allowed to take footage from floor speeches of congress, which is this a floor speech of congress and use it in advertisements or for commercial purposes. debbie wasserman schultz is a member of congress. she is the head of the dnc. she is obligated to follow the house rules. and this is a violation of house rule 5. bill: how big, how big of a deal is that? what would be the punishment? >> i have no idea what the punishment is, other than the fact that it is a violation of the rule.

you don't see pete sessions at the nrcc, he is the head of the republican congressional committee, he is a member of congress, you don't see him taking floor footage and using it in commercials. the same with dccc. it is not something that's, you know, ticky-tacky. this is something, this is one of the downside of having a member of congress head up a political committee. there is a violation here. more than bill -- go ahead. bill: we reached out to the dnc we're waiting for response on that so we'll follow that up. there is another big issue today i know you're keenly aware of, that is in congressional district 9 here in the state of new york. this is a district vacated by anthony weiner who was forced to resign in the past year. >> right. bill: it has been held by democrats since 1923. now david weferen. bob turner is the republican. the prevoting polling has this race either too close to call or republican with

an edge. now polls are open until 9:00 later tonight. what is the closeness or the tightness of the race tell you about what is happening in america? >> what it tells you not only are republicans, independents, tired of the direction that this country is going, and concerned about the future of america but what it tells you that democrats are worried about it too and they're not buying what this president is selling. they're not buying more money to be spent. they're not buying more stimulus. they're looking for real authentic people to lead this country. and our candidate is one of those folks. the poll something close, there is no question about it. but the fact that we're in this conversation right now, bill, tells you that this country is ready for a change and that this president has got us completely off the rails and we need to turn this country around. bill: we'll see later tonight what the results are. something probably we'll talk about tomorrow regardless of the outcome. thank you for your time today. >> thank you, bill.

bill: all right. martha. martha: certainly one of the tea party favorites. congresswoman michele bachmann fights to stand out last night against the front-runners in the presidential redate, republican presidential debate. watch. >> if you're saying i could be bought for 5,000, i'm offended. [applause] >> i'm offended for all the little girls and the parents that didn't have a choice. that's what i'm offended, sir. [applause] martha: a lot of folks saying that was pretty strong moment for her. did she succeed in her goal? bill: the new american gold rush. it is in full swing and we're live from the golden state where it is the talk of that state. ♪ .

bill: a bit of breaking news on the economy now. we'll keep it short and sweet. the poverty rate in the united states said to be the highest it has been since 1983. just crossing the wires now. that is something that wall street and the economists. that also may become an issue in this election right? martha has more on that. martha: tea party favorite, congresswoman michele bachmann get as warm welcome as last night's tea party sponsored republican presidential debate. hear is the entrance. >> minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann. [cheers and applause] martha: sort of felt like the beginning of a sports event there at the top of that the way they did it. the minnesota congresswoman is fighting to get back into that top tier she enjoyed initially. she has taken some swipes at the front-runners whenever she can. here she is calling out mitt romney over president obama's health care law. watch this.

>> we are never going to get rid of it unless we have a president committed to getting rid of it. if you believe that states can have it and that it is constitutional you're not committed. if you implemented this in your state you are not committed. i'm committed to repealing obamacare. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. martha: she certainly made that the centerpiece of her campaign and brought it back to the fore last night. so how did she do. stephen vase, "weekly standard" and mary katherine hamm. both fox news contributors. >> hey, martha. martha: steven, start with you. everyone who starts with this process when you go in you have a bowl. last night it had to be her to get herself in the public consciousness. did she do that last night. >> she had a strong performance. answers to specific questions that were posed to her as her attacks which were preplanned on both

mitt romney and rick perry came off well for people who actually watched the debate last night. is it going to be enough to get her back into the conversation with the front-runners? i think it is probably is not. there was a national poll out yesterday from cnn showed in a field of, that included sarah palin, she came in 7th, michele bachmann did, at 4%. that is behind herman cain and newt gingrich. if you take sarah palin out of that, michele bachmann came in fourth. she has certainly seen her star fall since she did so well in the aims, iowa straw poll. martha: let's take another look at a piece of her in action last night. i want to talk to mary katherine about that part. go ahead. >> the governor's former chief of staff was the chief lobbyist for this drug company. the drug company gave thousands of dollars in political donations to the governor. and this is just flat-out wrong. the we is, is it about life or about millions of dollars,

potentially billions for drug companies? >> i will let senator santorum hold off a second. you have to respond to that. >> yes, sir. the company was merck and it was a $5,000 contribution that i had received from them. i raised when $30 million. if you're saying that i can be bought for 5,000, i'm offended. [applause] >> i'm offended for all the little girls and the parents that didn't have a choice. that's what i'm offended for, sir. [applause] martha: that was a big moment i thought for her last night, mary catherine. she brought the hpv vaccine back into the conversation. it was a mandatory vaccine for girls as young as 11 years old in the state of texas. she accused him of tying it to a donation from merck. >> i think the gardasil issue has been a weakness for perry. she handed the one-two punch with capital cronyism, plus the family values position

on this that is a place where she is strong. she is strong in debates in general. she is savvy where to hit. she knew perry was weak on this issue and she has a mother could be particularly strong. she is good speaking with a little bit of emotion and really pulling it out of there. i think that is what she was up to. i thought it was interesting she went a little bit softer on romney because she knows he is not pulling from her numbers. i'm with steven, she has some ways to go. women started falling off when perry entered the race from her number and palin's. they continue to do so according to a poll that came out yesterday showing many women are enthusiastic about perry. this answer may have perhaps gained a couple points back for her among that segment. maybe enough to make her part of the larger conversation again but not enough to get her in the top tier i don't think. martha: steven, if she doesn't get back in the top s.e.e.r., how do you see things shaping up. vice-presidential in all of

this, can't fight her way back into the top tier. big for her, she would have to win in iowa, back in there, wouldn't she? >> right. i think she would. unless she makes a start link comeback, unexpected comeback at this point and mounts a serious campaign in iowa. then i don't think she will be part of the bigger conversation. i don't think she will be considered as a vice-presidential candidate. one of the things she did last night after what i thought was a good exchange on television, on this hpv issue with governor perry she then went after the debate and had a conversation which she talked about, she made a link between vaccination and mental disabilities that i think many people in the scientific community don't believe. it is close to settled science. if not settled science. and she left open the suggestion that there is this link. this is the problem. she made a good argument. she made i think a strong and pretty clean attack on governor perry in the debate but afterwards she complicated her second day story because she made these additional comments.

now that is what people are talking about. martha: she would have been stronger if she left it alone at that. that may be. thanks so much, you guys. good to see you. we'll be talking to you throughout all of this, mary-katherine ham and stephen hayes. bill: fox teams up with google to host the republican debate in orlando. you can submit questions for all the candidates. fox news.com, scroll down to the gop presidential debate. there you find a link to submit a question. click on the ask a question tab or write us or submit a video question for the candidates. so a couple of options for you right there on line to participate september 22nd. martha: should make a video and submit it. bill: you and i? think we would make the cut? yeah? martha: martha from new jersey and bill from ohio. bill: here they come. new details into what caused a landslide at an outdoor concert.

chilling eyewitness testimony that saw it all. >> i heard a big bang. talking to people, what was that? and turned back around and she was, face down in the ground.

martha: this is incredible. at least four people are recovering now from serious injuries sustained by falling rocks at a colorado amphitheater. authorities say the rocks came crashing down from a giant rock formation on to concert dpors sunday night. we've seen so many of these bizarre injuries at these events lately. one of the victims suffered a skull fracture that required 14 staples in her head. >> we think we got the rocks that hit her. it was probably bigger than a baseball size. >> people sometimes break the rules unfortunately but we do stress that climbing the rocks is absolutely

prohibited and it is for your own safety. martha: so red rock officials now say they plan to have extra security around the restricted areas to prevent people from climbing on the rocks during a concert. bill: a great place to go. beautiful views. >> beautiful place. bill: there is a new american gold rush happening and adam housley is on that live in sutter creek, california. what is happening there, adam? good morning. >> reporter: bill, hard to belief more than a century 1/2 ago thousands miners were along the foothills trying to strike it rich. this area is known for antique hunters and wine drinkers. this is about to change. first time since the 1950s a gold mine is about to open in california's mother lode. 500 feet below ground the only action in california's mother lode these days is tourism. >> mining is part tourism. why tourists come up here. it is part of the history. >> reporter: what built the

golden state 150 years ago has basically gone dormant until now. with gold prices spikings the rush to start claims in sutter's creek is on. >> the price will continue to go up. that makes our project viable not just for the first five years but 50 years in our use permit. >> reporter: not every one is rushing to welcome back a romantic time passed. >> what we've seen too often, company will come in when the price of gold is high. they're going to start their process. boom, the price of gold is going to drop. these companies will be out. there either bankrupt or just going to walk away. who clones up that mess? >> reporter: mine operators say there won't be a mess to clean up. >> we're going to create environmentally and socially responsible mine in an historic district at a profit and create a lot of jobs here. >> reporter: sutter gold mine here in sutter creek, california, expected to be fully running in about six months. they hope to pour the first gold bar in a year's time. by some estimates they could get as much as 900 ounces

out of here each month. at the minimum. there is one more gold mine trying to open up in grass valley, california, to our north. here in california at least 18 different agencies you have to deal with. not countying county and city age ends to get permits. bill? bill: $1800 an ounce. good work if you can get it. adam housley live in california. martha? martha: hear is the latest on this story. the california sola company that got a massive loan from the stimulus package from the feds, then they went belly-up. they fired hundreds of workers. they're dealing with a black eye to the president's green jobs initiative. house lawmakers are set to grill the executives of this company on capitol hill. the man who will lead that hearing tomorrow, live, straight ahead.

martha:. martha: hear is the crocodile story of the day, folks. workers pull in a crocodile that esc