rick: we are live right here in the fox news room because this is where the news begins. behind us, the national desk. they are covering this story is breaking all over the country. the foreign desk is covering stories from all over the world. every single picture that comes into fox news comes in right here. that is the media desk. we put it on the air. >> we are going to start with health care debate. president obama on a campaign style push to sell the reform effort to the american people. yesterday, major garrett addressed the issue of unsolicited email during the press briefing. that is when things got a little nasty. >> i have received e-mail from people who did not in any way shape or form seek any communication from the white house who have never registered. let me finish my question.

>> let's be clear. i want to give you a chance to finish your question. you have done this a couple of times and i just want to be very clear. ofa has nothing to do with -- never has had anything to do with -- if you sign up for through whitehouse.gov to receive e-mail. i wanted to raise your questions so that it does not assume the somebody is violating the law. julie: major garrett joins us more on your confrontation yesterday. he is the one who said it first, as you mentioned earlier. do we know how this list came to be and who is on it? >> we do not know anything about it. robert gibbs established a

threshold for me to follow-up on the story, which was to provide e-mail to the white house for people who received unsolicited information from the white house on the health-care debate. i did not have the permission to offer their e-mail addresses to the white house. i have obtained that for many people. we have had more than 800 comments on the story. i had probably an equal number of emailers about the pros and cons. robert gibbs established a threshold for me to provide e- mail to the white house. i have told him that i am prepared to do that as long as we have a substantive give-and- take about who is on the list and how. i have gotten no response. julie: i ask a couple of my twitter followers. one told me that it wrote to the white house asking some question about czars and they received an

e-mail back from david axelrod. do we know how they are getting on list? >> obviously, there are a lot of people. the people who have commented or written to me directly or a sample of the larger universe. i do not know how rep they are. people who have never interacted with the website at all and are very curious as to how they would receive an e-mail -- there are people who say that i have contacted their senator about health care debate or other relevant white house issues, but never the white house. there are others who fall into a third category where they have interacted with the white house website or commented on other issues, but never asked to receive anything from the white house other than a direct response for their line of inquiry or criticism. why did i not get a response to what i asked about? all of these things seem to be part and parcel of this curiosity. i'm just trying to get to the bottom of it.

i am never the story. i'm not trying to be the story on this. i representing people who ask a question. julie: i do not think that you made a weird face. >> it is hard for me not to look funny. julie: of want to turn to the president now. he is on his way to montana for another health care town hall. why montana? is there an expectation for a lively debate at this town hall? >> montana is a historical red state. there might be a bit more of an opportunity for controversy. on tuesday in portsmouth, new hampshire, he solicited more skeptical questions. we will see if that plays out. montana is also the home of max baucus. that committee will be the center of gravity.

when congress comes back in the middle of september, the white house has set this deadline for the committee. if it does not, the white house has indicated, it might proceed strictly on its own without the -- without republicans on board. max baucus is a central figure in this legislative drama. rick: we want to hear from you if you have received an unsolicited email from the white house. tell us about it. for moron this, we have a couple of great guests. we're also joined by an editor for "the national review." everybody hates chain letters. >> particularly, if they are coming from the white house.

rick: what do you make all of this -- what do you make of all of this? what is going on? >> this is really dangerous ground. i am a civil libertarian. liberty is very important. i do not trust the government, whatever you do. when poindexter was doing his proposal, i was up in arms. this notion that they can track people is going to infuriate americans. they should understand, this is dynamite. the faster that to get out there and stop this -- people are going to say, you are after me. it is going to hurt them. rick: first, it was the enemies

list, when they were encouraging people to send in misinformation that they were getting and collecting data on those types of female. what do you think about the white house? >> i thought the exchange, he was incredibly dismisses. if you do not know the answer to the question, just say to you will get back to him. especially in the context of that information being reported to the white house, people are freaked out by this kind of stuff. there is a long tradition of distrust of executive power as long as it is a democrat. it is a very real thing that has to be dealt with. >> can you imagine george bush would be doing and what people would have been doing it this was george bush and karl rove sending the e-mail? rick: they would just lose them. we have president obama 2 hours from now in montana. does he does have to address this right out of the gate? >> i cannot believe how

insensitive they are to public opinion. you should not say that you are for free discussion. this politics -- the president is above it -- let's show you how we do things. >> he has been winning the inside game. he has bought off or bullied almost every special-interest on health care. he is losing the outside game. he has not regained his purchase on that in a long time. >> they bought all the interest groups. the american people have risen up against it. what happened with it was that the interest groups first

mobilized to bully them. >> they have done it on their own. rick: maybe it is the white house that has done it on their own. thank you. nice to see you. julie: brand new developments in the collision over the hudson river. the air traffic controller on duty has been put on administrative leave because he was apparently making a personal phone call during the time of this crash. his supervisor also put on leave. he was apparently out of the building when he should not have been with the tragedy happened. take a look. you can actually see the small plane clipping the helicopter possible aids and both aircraft breaking apart and falling into the ocean. we have david lee miller was more. let's go back to the air traffic controller. what does the faa say? >> it is extremely dramatic as a

headline. he was on the phone at the very same time he was supposed to be talking to the aircraft. we want them focusing on their jobs. on the surface, that is very troubling. this is crucial. did his behavior in any way contribute to the horrific events of that day? more on that in one second. his supervisor has also been put on administrative leave because he was not in the building at the time the incident occurred. we have learned that both of these aircraft were flying at a low ceiling on the hudson river. at this particular altitude, they were engaged in what they call avoid and see rules. the aircraft had be on the lookout for other aircraft. this was not the responsibility of the air-traffic controller. the faa says, while we have no reason to believe that these

actions contributed to the accident, this kind of conduct is not acceptable and we have placed the employee is on administrative leave. so, they have no reason to believe that these actions contributed to the tragedy and there is a statement also from the union. they say, whether there is a rush to judgment about the behavior, bottom line, these guys may have acted inappropriately, but it is not clear yet if there accident -- if their actions contributed to the accident. julie: visual flight rules, they are not necessarily responsible for air traffic over manhattan. david lee miller, thank you very much. we will get a closer look at the story. is there a legal battle brewing here? a must see breakdown coming up in just a couple of minutes.

rick: flames scorching the california landscape. take a look at this. chasing thousands of people from their home. rugged terrain is making this battle very dangerous on the ground. she was a self-described follow or of charles manson who pointed a gun at president ford. now, feeling freedom for the first time in more than 40 years. of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day. reading about washington these days... i gotta ask, what's in it for me? i'm not looking for a bailout, just a good paying job. that's why i like this

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julie: welcome back, everybody.

take a look on the screen. awaiting president obama in montana. the president said to pose a health care town hall. that is michael phelps. i will get to that in a second. it is the home state for max baucus, an important player in passing health care reform. a brand new information on the car crash involving olympic swimmer michael phelps. copps said that he was -- it was absolutely not his fault. the other driver is a female driver who ran a red light and hit his suv. they said that drugs and alcohol were not a factor. in the bottom box, tropical trouble. two patches of severe weather on the brink of becoming tropical storms off the coast of africa now heading for the caribbean and possibly the southern united states. rick: also today, calif. fire

crews are working overtime and battling a fast-moving wildfire as we speak. this video is coming in from the santa cruz mountains, where flames have forced more than 2000 people from their homes. the wildfire first sparked wednesday night. s -- it has engulfed more than six square miles. right now, it is only 5% contained. that is not a whole lot. what is the latest? >> the latest is that this fire is growing. it has grown to 4,100 acres. that is about five times as big as central park. we understand two buildings have been destroyed. we are here on the western edge of the fire. four hundred people from this area remain out of their homes. however, there appear to be fewer homes in danger today. fire officials say that the number of threaten structures

have dropped from 1000 to about 750 today. that indicates some progress. we still have no reports of any injuries here. rick: we mentioned that terrain being very rugged. that has to make it tough for firefighters. >> it really does. the kenyans may look green, but years of drought have really taken their toll here along the coast with vegetation. we have what fire officials call a very receptive few -- fuel bed. when the winds pick up, as they are starting to right now, the fire just rips off through these canyons that are virtually inaccessible, making it very hard for those crews to get in there and build those parameters. rick: how many firefighters total are we talking about here? where are they focusing all their resources? >> we have nearly 700

firefighters from around california that have been called in to help because this fire grew so big so quickly. more crews are on the way. it is a very tough job for these fire fighters. they're using all the tools in the toolbox. some of them will be doing structural protection. they are trying to build those containment lines to keep this fire from getting any bigger. we're starting to see a lot of the air support right now, more than a dozen choppers and tankers making continual water drops throughout the day. so long as the weather cooperates -- as you can see, the winds are starting to pick up. that could affect the air attack here today. rick: any word on the cause? >> not yet. that is the question out here. how did all this begin? the cause of this particular fire remains under investigation. rick: claudia, thank you very much. julie: a charles manson follower

who spent four years in prison is a free woman today. squeaky fromme served time for pointing a gun at gerald ford back in 1975. she was just 26 years old at the time. she was part of the notorious charles manson family. she was granted parole and release from the federal medical center in fort worth, texas. the release coming just days after the 40th anniversary of the murder of actress sharon tate. stunning new developments in that tragic made your collision over the hudson. as we told you, two of the employees in charge of monitoring the skies that day were either on the phone or not even in the building. is the legal backlash coming?

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rick: a fox news alert. we of breaking news. the french defense minister is confirming that the missing russian cargo ship that we have been telling you about, it has been discovered near cape verde. this is a vessel that was carrying a cargo worth around $2 million. it sparked fears after not reaching it poured in algeria.

we will bring you any more details the minute we get them. julie: disturbing details on one of our top stories. the faa placing to employees on administrative leave it on duty at time of the mid-air collision that killed nine people. one of them making inappropriate phone calls. the other, a supervisor who was not even in the building when they should have been. you can actually see the small plane collided with a helicopter ride over the hudson river. in aviation attorney and a defense attorney to join us. thank you so much for coming on. when you watched this video, you can clearly see that the airplane is ascending when it comes from behind the

helicopter. unlike commercial flights, private aircraft pilots must see and avoid. you say it is not the job of the faa's air-traffic control to separate airplanes. do you think that there were wrongfully suspended? >> i do not think that they were wrongfully suspended visual flight rules -- i can tell you that the first job of a pilot, the job that you are ultimately responsible for getting the air flight -- the airplanes safely on the ground. this was a clear day. countless times, you were told that separation services will not be provided. the ntsb will make a determination. based on what i see so far, i am not so sure how you see how the faa was a kid -- was contributing to this accident. julie: should there be air

traffic controllers overseeing these small planes? what is the difference and why should there not be air-traffic controllers? could you potentially see a lawsuit against the faa if, for example, for not setting of those mandatory regulations? >> that is a complicated question. given the enormous aerospace we have out there, you cannot control every aircraft all the time. we have to look at the unique situation that we have in the new york metropolitan area. in this congested airspace, this has been a catastrophe that has happened over and over again. the bottom line is that they have got to separate the airspace. the faa should exercise some control and segregate may be 500 four general aviation and 1,000 feet for commercial operations. nothing is being done. in this area, there should be greater control >> i disagree.

i have flown this corridor dozens of times. there are 55,000 helicopter operators and tens of thousands of general aviation. this was a terrible tragedy, but to come in and insist that the faa now control this corridor, i think is inappropriate at this time until the ntsb has had an opportunity to fully look at this. >> i have been in helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, high wing, and low wing. in the final analysis, you cannot leave it willy-nilly. you have got to have greater control. >> and do you go up there willy- nilly or do you pay attention when you were doing? >> i do not fly now. we have too many sunday pilots out there who are not professional pilots.

>julie: what are the flight rules in terms of where they need to fly? are fixed wing aircraft required to fly above helicopters? >> everybody has to be below 1,100 feet. julie: that leads me to my final question. if everybody is supposed to be below a certain altitude, doesn't that create a problem? why not separate them so that you have the fixed wing aircraft up here. that we do not have to worry about this tragedy ever happening again. >> helicopters have to have a certain air speed. if you lower the distance, you actually increase the risk to the helicopter operation. that is why they might -- that

might not work. >> i disagree. if the faa were to bomb the air space up to 1500, give the sunday pilots and to fight -- fly a certain heading going down and then coming up, you have commercial operations, you could have controlled airspace and you could have controlled flight and you will not have this problem. i predict if we do not do that, there will be another crash and it is not good enough to simply say that everyone should look out for each other. >> if there were smart enough to doubt that suggestion, i will agree with you. julie: thank you both for joining us. rick: as the president flies across the country to sell his health care plan once again, others are taking their own message to the airwaves. we will show you the

advertisement wars and the difference that they could make in the battle over your health care insurance. we will be right back.

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♪ rick: we have some breaking news and brand new developments on a bunch of stories we're following. there is some new information on the senate's and of life provision. >> the end of life provision in the health reform bill continue to spark interest an outrage. the senate finance committee dropped the end of life provisions, but they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly. at a forum today, senator arlen specter disagreed with him, saying counseling is as pure as ivory snow. >rick: the president is holding another town hall.

here is more of what we can expect. >> that is right. about 90 minutes away from the president's town hall meeting in montana. mr. obama faced a fairly sympathetic audience at a town hall earlier this week. that audience is selected by on- line lottery. today, it is stand in line, first-come, first-served. it could be a different dynamic. the president will go fly fishing after the town hall. rick: do you know where some of the most affordable health care is? in grand junction, colorado. how do they do it? >> this town of 55,000 has figured out how to maintain some of the highest quality health care are round. it is keeping costs to about a third of what other cities pay.

if they were ignored, it would land patient's right back in the hospital. all doctors are a part of this, as well as medicare, medicaid, and privately insured patients. rick: in the meantime, the health care reform battle taking to the airwaves. this advertisement in favor of health-care reform paid for by the americans for stable, quality care. >> what does health insurance reform mean for you? it means you cannot be denied coverage for pre-existing condition, or dropped if you get sick. it means putting healthcare decisions in the hands of you and your doctor. it means lower costs, a cap on out of pocket expenses, tough new rules, and a focus on preventing illness before it strikes. what does health insurance reform really mean?

quality, affordable care that you can count on. rick: here is the advertisement opposing the president's plan. it is from responsible health reform dot gov. listen to this. >> washington's latest health reform idea, $1 trillion health plan and a government run public option with big tax increases even on health benefits. the federal deficit? the nonpartisan congressional budget office projects the deficit will grow $239 billion. in fled to texas, swelling deficits, and expanded government control of your health. let's reform health care the right way. rick: let's bring in bill sammon. good to see you. for the amount of money that is being spent on these ads, we could pretty much get health insurance for all those people who were uninsured. >> we could also do away with

this 1000 page bill. i think basically, they got at the highlights at the conflicting arguments. the question is, will the ads make a difference at this stage of the game? the public is breaking against health care. other surveys have shown that independent voters and even some democrats and certainly republicans are breaking against it. that is because the public has been mesmerized by these town halls throughout this long month of august. that is what is influencing people, not the spin from the white house or the spin from fox news. i think it is the real reality show that we're seeing playing out on our televisions. rick: remember back in the 1990's during the health care reform debate, those harry and louise ads helped to sway a lot

of people's opinions back then. this is just the beginning of these ads. we're going to see them into the fall. maybe they will make a difference. >> they could start to move numbers. the difference i would point out is that you did not have this tremendous galvanizing force of town hall meetings out there during that debate. there was a big public argument over whether we were all going to get hillarycare. i think the town halls are the wild card in this event. rick: the pharmaceutical industry, behind the campaign in favor of president obama's health care reform, spending more money on this bill the and john mccain spent on his entire run for the white house last year. >> it is funny. it is like we're back into campaign mode. we had a campaign last year. we stepped back from that. we at the inauguration and we have a honeymoon. lighting we can now officially

declare barack obama's honeymoon over. we're back in campaign mode. it is back to the permanent campaign. even though obama won the election, he appears to be losing this particular campaign. republicans appear to be winning it. rick: we have a midterm election coming up next november. the republicans in washington feel like they have found the issue that gives them the upper hand? >> i think they feel like this is part of the issue that has given them the upper hand. i think republicans and democrats -- i was talking to my old friend james carville who said, he expects republicans to do very well in 2010. it is a pretty universal conventional wisdom that unless republicans find a way to screw it up, they will pick up seats in 2010. that is part of the bigger narrative, which is the expansion of government under

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rick: a frantic 911 call just released malmo staffer -- moments after in a dash year-old girl was viciously attacked by a neighbor's pit bull. we have to warn you. this is disturbing. a neighbor has to get on the phone to explain what is going on. take a listen.

> rick: it is tough to listen to that. we're happy to tell you she is recovering. not clear how the dog got out, but neighbors said that the dog is not even wanted anymore.

today, they have got to submit their plans for compensating their highest-paid employees to the so-called pay czar. brian wilson is live. it is a hot-button issue with taxpayers around the country. will there still be highly-paid executives? >> the answer is, yes. some people will still be receiving billions in bonus and compensation. it is something that the officials do not like to talk about the thing that maybe these people should not be paid exorbitant sums. the obama administration and many on capitol hill now are of the opinion that you have to keep the people happy if the companies are going to dig their way out of the whole thing are

in. take a listen. >> i do not think the american people begrudge that people make big salaries, as long as they are not jeopardize in the goodwill of the public. >> it is a tough balance to find. rick: week showed a picture a moment ago. he was involved in compensation for 9/11 victim's families. now he is the pay czar. is he the one who makes the final decision? >> politicians do not want to be the one to make that decision. he is well-regarded and very experienced. today is the deadline for the companies to explain how they will compensate their 100 most highly paid employees. he has the final word, though any contract ever signed before february 11 are exempt from his

review. rick: thank you very much. julie: hit the gym, burn calories, and you will lose weight. listen to this. there is a new article in "time magazine" that suggests exercise does not melt away the pound. it might actually packed them on. is this true? we're joined by a life style expert. he joins us live. first of all, is this fact? do you disagree with this author? >> i totally agree with the author when it comes to cardiovascular exercise. there is mountains of research that says it really does one of three things that are all going to prohibit you from losing weight. it is physically going to make you hungry year. it is going to make you not move as much in daily life because you felt like you hit the gym. you reward yourself. how many times have you heard people say, i can eat, i worked

out. not so true when you look at the numbers. weight-loss is all about the numbers. julie: the article suggests that exercise does not melt away the pounds. if i eat a blueberry muffin, which is to reenter 60 calories, what is your recommendation? sit on my couch? >> i would absolutely have you strengths train. i totally disagree with classic cardiovascular exercise. it is wrong. the only reason to exercise should be to maintain your bodies muscle, which keeps your metabolism of. as we all change, our muscle starts to diminish. cardiovascular exercise does literally nothing to help your body maintain its muscle. your metabolism is going down. one way i disagree with the author in the article, he said that 1 pound of muscle burns 6 calories per pound per day.

tufts university and the university of alabama have said that 1 pound of muscle can burn within 35 and 34 calories. that is a big difference. it will make a huge difference for weight-loss. i did see some of them. for the majority of people, the vast majority of people, we have two-thirds of our population overweight. it is not working. we have been brainwashed to believe it is. stop doing it. julie: thank you, crackpot. rick: i thought he was called to say was ok to sit on the couch. julie: i said, what is going on here? rick: do the weight training. coming up, 1935, that date, president roosevelt signed the social security act into law. 74 years later, how likely is it that kids born in this decade

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rick: we're back on desk desk. the consumer price index remains unchanged from june to july. it means you can expect to see low prices and discounts at stores. the news not so good for senior citizens collect approximating social security checks. joining us is eric bowen. so why is this bad news for seniors? >> a lot of seniors' checks tied to the c.p.i., the consumer price index. if it's down their benefits will go down. the issue is, though, long term, really social security is underfunded or almost unfunded

at the time. right now people are paying into social security. that money is being used to pay for seniors right now. it's kind of like a ponzi scheme. it's almost like they should rename it the madoff social security system. technically, down the road there's not going to be enough money. rick: we'll talk about that in a minute. as far as the prices go, the price of things. if seniors supposed to get more things as prices go up and prices are pretty much staying flat, not that i don't want my grandmother to receive as much money as she needs, why would seniors need more money if prices are -- >> well, they won't and they won't adjust those benefits up because prices have been level or down. in this case down 2.1% year over year. the basket of things they use to judge where prices are has actually gone down. the question is, will they go ahead and say, hey you know what, seniors, we're going to adjust down your checks? it may be difficult to do that, especially what's going on with the health care debate. rick: eric bolling, great to see you, as always.

>> we have some pink on. rick: it's interesting we were talking about today because it was august 14 back in the year 1935, which neither eric nor i remember at all, but on this day president roosevelt signed social security into law. part of f.d.r.'s new deal. the first benefit package was paid out more than five years later. the sum, a whooping $24.50. if that's not enough information for you, it's time for our brain room fact of the day. 50 years after the start of social security, the probability of someone born in this decade will receive full benefits at retirement, a whooping 4%. so, kids, start saving. julie. julie: all right, rick, breaking news on senator john mccain. we'll have that straight ahead. stay tuned. the first family is heading to montana right now where the president will hold a town hall meeting on health care. next hour, we're going to bring it to you live. we'll also have a live preview coming up next.

[captioning made possible by fox news channel] rick: senator john mccain in iraq right now meeting with prime minister nory almall key. he's there -- nouri al-maliki. senators graham, lieberman and collins is there part of a senate delegation visiting iraq.

julie: welcome back to desk desk, everyone. i'm julie banderas. rick: and i'm rick folbaum. president obama is heading to belgrade, montana. he's hoping to ease the fears about his top legislative priorities. folks gearing up for a town hall meeting on health care with the commander in chief. there is with his family on his way to montana. and mike emanuel is there. mike, why is this town hall meeting likely to be a little feistier than the one he held in portsmouth, new hampshire? >> montana tends to be a more conservative state. and this community happens to be where george w. bush won twice. president obama carried it in 2008 over a narrow margin over john mccain. but there's some sense that people here may have a thing or two to say of what the government may be trying to do for their health care reform. rick. rick: how was the tickets

distributed, randomly like last time? >> a little bit different than the last time. they were distributed on a first come first serve basis in bozeman and belgrade. the question is who won the tickets, the strong supporter or someone that wanted to tell the president a thing or two about health care? that's the reason why it could be feistier. rick: one of the senators who has been so instrumental in the health care reform debate is actually from montana. wondering if he's expectsed to get an earful from his constituents at today's event. >> well, there is some thought that it's easier to tell your senator a thing or two than it is to tell the president of the united states. senator fox lr here, the chairman of the powerful senate finance committee. it will be interesting to see what he says and how things go down and how everybody is received by the audience of about 1,300 that will be at

this town hall here in montana. rick: like the big sky and the big sky country, mike emanuel in montana. julie. julie: analysts have been saying that the recession is easing. they point to some signs the economy is on the rebound. is the worse still behind us? we're still waiting for the uptick in the gross domestic product. it's down down in each of the last fourth quarters. where do things stand? is the recession still going? wendall live at the white house. is the recession over? >> well, no one's in a party mood here, julie, but the president says we have stepped back from the brink. he also says he's not going to be happy until everyone who wants a job has one. the question is how long that will take. the 2001 recession only lasted about eight months, but it was five years before unemployment fell back to where it was when the recession began. by contrast, the recovery from the 1981 recession took less

than a year, but unemployment was much higher when the recession started. it's still unclear exactly how long the current recession will take, but consumer confidence continues to fall, according to a university of michigan survey released today, and consumer spending, which depends on that confidence, is about 70% of the economy, julie. julie: all right, then, so what do economists say about the likely pace of the recovery? >> well, david from standard & poors says it is likely to be quite a lengthy recovery. ironically he says that's not necessarily a bad thing for the economy. what got us out of the last two recessions quickly was a lot of consumer spending and a lot of debt and that's what led precisely to the recession now. pricing is down, savings is up. that's good for the economy long term. julie: and wasn't there a positive report, wendell, on industrial production? >> there was. thanks mostly to the cash for clunkers program. the fed says industrial production was up half a percent last month. that is a bit more than

expected. it's the second gain, just the second gain since the recession began in december of 2007. the clunkers program caused production of cars and parts to rise 20% after falling for three straight months. and this is a case of actual job creation, both g.m. and chrysler added -- reopened plants that had been closed since may. ford also talked about increasing production in terms of the clunker program. it wasn't just cars that saw an increase. also increase in aerospace products. julie. julie: thank you very much. a fearless warrior for the voiceless. that's how maria shriver recalled her mother, eunice. the mass was held this morning in cape cod. family and friends, including vice president joe biden, oprah winfrey, and stevie wonder fact the church. special olympians led the precession with an olympic torch.

shriver's brother, kennedy, was unable to attend the funeral. shriver was the sister of john f. kennedy. she got worldwide acclaim. shriver died tuesday at the age of 88. >> -- rick: thousands of mourners for captain spiker in jacksonville, florida, almost 20 years after his plane was shot down over iraq in the first days of the gulf war. a hers carrying his casket -- a hearse carrying his casket before services began at the church where he taught sunday school. an iraqi led an american to the site where his body was. well, we're seeing the first video showing the deadly midair collision over the hudson river last weekend. as the f.a.a. places two employees on administrative leave. here's some video that was shot

by an italian tourist in new york harbor. it shows the moment of impact as the helicopter and the small plane collide over the hudson river. it turns out an air traffic controler at teterboro airport was actually on the phone with his girlfriend at the time of the crash. his supervisor wasn't even in the building. as i said, the plane took off from teterboro. david, how significant is this video? >> the video could be, rick, and i underscore could be very significant because it's now the first video that shows the actual collision. as we talked about this video, and it is horrific to look at, let's be mindful. fact as i speak to you this afternoon, a funeral is takingg place for three members of a family that died in that aircraft. so when you look at this tape you actually are witnessing the deaths of a total of nine people. now, what you actually can see in this video is the left wing of the piper aircraft hitting

the rotor blade of the helicopter. then the two aircraft plummeting into the hudson river. now, this tape could provide very important clues to the national transportation safety board. they're going to have to learn a great deal of where it was shot, what position it was shot and any determination they can make from the aircraft themselves. this could be a clue in helping to determine what happened that day because you know, rick, one of the mysteries here is that the visibility was extremely good that day. you could see down the hudson for some 10 miles. so many believe simply that the operators of these aircraft may have had each other in their blind spot and didn't see there was another aircraft until it was too late. rick: tough to look at that video. david lee miller joining us in the newsroom. david, thank you very much. julie. julie: all right, rick, well, one of president obama's first moves as president closing guantanamo bay. the question quickly becoming, where do we put some very dangerous terrorists now? we're going to tell you about one american town that may find itself hosting some unfriendly

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julie: welcome back to "the live desk," everyone. in your top box we are awaiting president obama to ariff in montana. you're looking at a -- obama to arrive in montana. you're looking at belgrade, montana. home state for finance committee max bacus. in your middle box, new york

giants quarterback eli manning now officially the highest paid player in the national football league. he just signed a massive six-year $97 million contract extension. you should go into football. that's about $15.3 million a year in a 16-game season. that's nearly $1 million a game. not bad. rick: not bad. julie: and in your bottom box, the raging california wildfires. now the state's deploying even more firefighters to the scene. more than 2,400 people already forced to leave their homes in the santa cruz mountains. rick. rick: well, taiwan is still reeling from a devastating typhoon. floods and mudslides killing about 500 and leaving 7,000 people homeless. taiwan's former president is under fire from critics from a slow response to this disaster despite a general prohibition

in arming missiles. france and belgium is putting tuna boats in the indian ocean to try to defend bens piracy. this could lead to even more violence among hijackers. and afghanistan is gearing up for its second presidential election next week amid threats from taliban fighters to retal ate against people who participate -- retaliate against people who participate in the election. hamid karzai is in the lead. taking a closer look at those afghan elections, president karzai leading in the polls but following short of securing an outright majority. his main challengers, both former government officials, they're campaigning hard to try to fill in the gap here. and for more now, let's go to conner powell. he's on the ground in kabul. what does it mean if one candidate doesn't win a majority in the first count of the votes? >> well, rick, if none of the

candidates, there's 41 on the ballots, receive the 50% plus one vote in the first round, there will be a runoff probably in the first week or so of october. now, up until about a month or so ago, most people thought that president karzai would easily win this election. he won by 50% in the last election in 2004. dr. abdullah abdullah the former minister in karzai's government, he's been surging, getting massive crowds across the country. but particularly in the north where it is far more stable, far less violent. whereas karzai's support is in the south which is the center of the -- of this insurgency making many people believe that karzai's vote may be suppressed because of the insurgency. and dr. abdullah's vote may be increased because of the relative stability up there. rick. rick: conor, let's talk about our guys on the ground, the american troops sort of working against the taliban. in the runup to the vote, the election, how are our troops

doing? >> well, the marines continue to operate in this part of helmand province called dama. they have most of the town under control now. there has been some practicedic back and forth in the recent -- some sporadic back and forth in the recent hours. the taliban trying to reclaim that town. the troops we have spoken to they have easily been able to push the taliban back and hope to control the town fully by the time afghans vote next week. rick. rick: conor powell in afghanistan, thanks so much. julie: well, gitmo may be in america's heartland. representatives from the departments of defense, justice and homeland security checking out a maximum security lockup in standish, michigan, yesterday. they were looking to see if the facility could be the new prison for terror suspects. the president is the largest employer -- the prison is the largest employer in this

community but it is going to close in october. joining us now on the phone is tim the news editor for the plokal paper. thank you so much for talking to us. i just got to know, how does the residents of standish feel about the possibility of terrorists moving into their neighborhood? >> well, thanks, julie. it's pretty much a 50/50 split i'd say right now. there are a lot of, like you said, people who instantly say, you know, we don't want these terrorists here, we don't want these people who committed jihad here. but there's a lot of people looking at this as a reasonable plan b because our state is also in negotiations with california and other states to take in their inmates. so while it's kind of a lukewarm response, a lot of the community is also saying, well, we'll take whatever we can get. something is better than nothing. julie: i get the plan b. that would be moving the detainees from gitmo to michigan.

the plan a seems a lot more attractive if i was a resident of standish, michigan, which was to alleviate california's overcrowded prison and move them to michigan. what's wrong with plan a? >> well, nothing's really wrong with plan a. and the reason that's the plan a that's gained the most support was because that would keep our correction officers currently employed in the prison to continue to be employed there. while as if gitmo came here, it would be a military complex and would be military personnel. our officers will most likely be out. julie: a republican said that the prospect of california inmates or ones from other states coming from the standish maximum facility was his top thing should a potential for california fall through, he said. what would happen all the employees working at standish right now if gitmo prisoners would be moved there? >> well, many have been there since the prison opened about 19 years ago and they have

seniority, which means they would be transferring to other prisons. and unfortunately probably be forced to leave the area. but another thing to kind of use on a selling point on gitmo, well, if that happens you'll be able to sell your house because the guantanamo detainee employees would bring about 5,000 people to the area, many military personnel. and they would be buying up the foreclosed homes and the population would grow that much. julie: what if some people lose their jobs, though, if the prison would go to the federal authorities? >> well, yeah. julie: that's a possibility. >> the corrections officers working there now more than likely, especially the low-level ones would probably lose their jobs. many of them, like i said, would transfer somewhere else. but some of the officers who have -- who i've talked with, stupak, and other people saying, by me taking a transfer that will push somebody else. julie: you know, the city

manager noted the prison accounts for 25% of the city's budget. and sewer revenue, apparently. now, if standish is turned over to federal authorities, we know that some low-level jobs will be lost. but what happens to the city if they don't get that revenue? >> well, again, that's the big problem. when the governor signed off to shut down the prison as one of many prisons, he's shutting down in michigan, the city instantly responded. i mean, we were in shock. everyone out here. that's 45% of the city's water and sewer revenue. and as you mentioned, 25% of the city's budget is in some -- in some way related to the prison. and that's why so many people are saying, ok, if we can't get the state, let us have guantanamo, let us keep that revenue, let us keep the funds in the city. julie: all right. tim barnum, thank you very much. the editor of "arenac county independence." >> thank you, julie.

rick: michael vick speaks about his second chance in philly. you'll hear what he has to say. plus, 40 years ago this weekend, the concert that marked a milestone for a generation of baby boomers and a very, very young rick leventhal. >> yeah. and we are live in bethel woods, the scene of woodstock 40 years ago. coming up next, the man who opened woodstock, ritchie havens, joins us live. stick around. - ( rock music playing ) - ♪ oh!

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julie: you heard of michael vick, he's now back in the nfl. the philadelphia eagles signing him for a one-year deal. now vick, as you know, returning to the game after serving 18 months in prison for running a dogfighting ring. at a news conference today vick expressing remorse for his past and saying he hopes to become a positive influence. >> as we all know in the past, i made some mistakes. i've done some terrible things. i made a horrible mistake. and now i want to be part of the solution and not the problem. i'm making conscious efforts in the community to work with the humane society and hopefully i can do that locally and continue with my diligent efforts and awareness to animal

cruelty and dogfighting in the inner cities and in our communities. julie: the 29-year-old was once one of the highest paid players in the league. in 2002 he was drafted by the atlanta falcons. now, if vick stays with the eagles for two years, they have agreed to pay him $7 million and, rick, you're a die-hard eagles fan. you say this is good. i say as a giants fan this is bad. despite the fact that i'm not proud of his past. rick: it's a good move for the eagles. julie: he's a good player. rick: it's questionable. we'll see if the eagles have taken on more than they have bargained for. julie: you are a die-hard fan. rick: i am a die-hard fan. julie: you are one of the most passionate sports fan i know. rick: all right, julie. break out the tie die. the legend of woodstock lives. the festival is celebrating the 40th anniversary this weekend. but it was more than just about peace, love and music.

it was a snapshot of the 1960's and the impact felt by an entire generation. rick leventhal is live in bethel, new york. good to see you, my friend. what have they got planned, my friend. >> 40 years ago tomorrow was the first day of woodstock music festival here in bethel, new york. and the first performer at woodstock is sitting next to me. ritchie havens. i have heard what it was like for people on this side of the stage. what was it like for you looking out into that field? >> well, i knew one thing for sure. they can't hide us anymore. >> they can't hide us anymore. >> that's right. now we have taken over the lines in the road and all of that stuff. to carry us to something better. >> understand that a lot of the acts couldn't get in here. >> all of them. >> you were the only guy that they could -- you weren't supposed to open the show. >> right. >> but they put you out there

and you ketcht trying to -- kept trying to get out and you played "freedom." tell me about that. >> well, it was a song that -- when i knew i didn't have a song that i could sing, i wasn't going to revert to doo-wop. i was going to go straight ahead and see what happened. so the long int row is me thinking -- intr is me thinking, what am i going to do, what am i going to do? freedom hadn't started. it flashed that my generation has been looking for this for ages. the place to have a platform, to say what you feel, to, you know, i mean, to protect yourself. i mean, we had little kids making records to protect themselves. >> i just wonder, rich, if you knew at the time how big

woodstock would become. >> i thought it would be big but not that big. if it had gone the 50 or something which was bigger than life anyway, then maybe even a level of connection might be different. >> but so many people talk about how you had half million people here and they were expected 10% of that, perhaps. not enough food, not enough water, not enough bathrooms and every got along and everyone shared and everyone had the best of it. >> yeah. what most people won't say is how many of them there really are, you know, but the fact is that i knew that we had won half the race by half a mile. and i walked by and i can see that in everything now. >> ricie havens still performing every weekend. a lot of people don't know this, but he's from new jersey. guys. rick: good stuff.

ricie havens, are you a giants fan? >> no. when baseball left brooklyn i left. rick: and rick leventhal in bethel along with richie havens, the legend. julie: so cool. well, new details in the car crash involving olympic gold swimmer michael phelps. now, some are saying that the other driver was at fault in the accident. it happened in his hometown of baltimore, maryland. police say the woman driver, she was driving a honda accord. she ran a red light, smashing into phelps' cadillac escalade. phelps and the two other passengers were not hurt in his crash. the woman driving the accord was shaken up and taken to the hospital just as precaution. rick: this is belgrade, montana, and right on that tarmac is where president obama's plane will ariff soon. air force one on the way to the site of the next health care

town hall the president will be participating in. he'll probably be asked about the end of life provisions, that story that's been talked about a lot lately. why the senate is now saying that it -- that won't even be considered in their bill. we'll tell you about it and we'll take you back to montana when we come right back. structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. from brink's home security... you can now expect from broadview security - for home and business. call now to get the proven technology of a broadview security system installed for just $99. day or night, broadview is on the job, ready to respond when trouble strikes.

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30 days to try lifelock absolutely free. call now and mention id. call now or go to lifelock.com. ♪ julie: the controversial end of life provision talked about in health care reform debate will be left out of the senate bill. that from senator chuck grassley of iowa. the provision has been the focus of a fierce debate on just how a critical decision like this should be handled. well, you know this will be coming up when president obama arrives in belgrade, montana, where we await him his arrival expected in just about 20 minutes from now. we'll go to carol ine. why did grassley say the provision was dropped? >> julie, the senate finance committee dropped it from consideration a few weeks ago. grassley said this, quote, we dropped end of life provisions

from consideration entirely because of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented i can correctly. maybe others can defend a bill like a pelosi bill that leaves major issues open to interpretation but i can't. he was more forceful in a town hall wednesday when he said you shouldn't determine when to pull the plug on grandma. julie. julie: that will happen in these end of life consultations? >> well, there's nothing written on the senate side. the house bill that passed the house ways and means committee would require medicare to pay a doctor for end of life consultations if a patient requested. that would include things like advanced directives and living also. those usual includes things like, at what point do you stop providing food and water to a dying patient? do you resuscitate them if they flatline? now, grassley thinks that living also are good. but the language in the house bill is just too vague. -- wills are good but the

language in the house bill is just too vague. one said grassley is wrong. and he calls the concept as pure as snow. listen to specter at that forum today. >> i think his position -- i won't characterize it saying that it's not correct. he is not correct on that. it is not a death squad. and it is a sensible provision. >> specter told the crowd he was going to call grassley -- go backstage and call grassley and tell him just that. he did dial backstage. he couldn't get a hold of him. he left a message. julie. rick: well, moments from now president obama will take the stage in belgrade, montana. again, here's a look at the airport where air force one will be arriving pretty soon. he is there. the president will be there to hold another highly anticipated town hall meeting on health care reform. all this as approval for health care overhaul finances to sink in the polls. take a look at our latest fox poll. it shows that nearly half the

country opposes the written reform as they stand now. pete is a former spokesman for george w. bush, and he joins us now. as we wait for the president, pete, it just occurs to me august used to be a slow time for politics. certainly not the case now with these town hall meetings. and i understand that you believe that's why the president was trying to push this bill as quickly as he was so he wouldn't have to have any of these town halls. >> well, absolutely. that's exactly why president obama, the white house and democrats wanted to get this bill through before august recess when members of congress traditionally go hope and have town hall meetings with their constituents. i mean, after all, they are representing, you know, their people and their districts and they need to listen to them. and that's what they're doing by going to these town halls. by not passing this bill, it is allowing people to go to these venues and really, you know, give their members of congress a piece of their mind. rick: julie is a former majority counselman for the

house judiciary committee. good to talk to you, julian. as we see air force one landing in belgrade, montana, what can the president do, anything, really, to help turn the tide back to his favor? because we mentioned the poll in the introduction here. it really seems like the air is just sort of flying out of the balloon there for the white house when it comes to health care reform. >> well, i think there's no question the poll numbers have slipped and i think the opponents of health care reform have certainly won the way its ground in the debate in the town halls. on the other hand, polls show overwhelmingly that the public wants reform and there's public support for a public option. i think what the president has to do is two things. i think he has to go back in the campaign mode the way he was during the election of 2008, and i think it's not just a speech or two. i think it's an everyday kind of thing. he's going on vacation the next two weeks. i think they'll want to rethink how long he's on the stump. and the white house leaves a simple message. they've been demagogued on

these death panels. the reason they've gotten demagogued is they don't have a strong consistent message. they need to say they'll expand the medicaid system, which is much more efficient than the private insurance. it far less outweighs the private insurance. and regulate the insurance company so we can cut all of the waste out and get insurance executives out from between patient and doctor. one identified 1.2 trillion a year in waste. we could save $200 billion a year just through paperwork reform. and administrative costs. we could save another couple billion a year if we could get out of things like defensive medicine. there's plenty of opportunity for reform. rick: let me ask pete about this reform. do you think, pete, that republicans who are talking about health care reform, who say that they're in favor of it it, that they're genuine in their beliefs when they said that they really do believe that there needs to be some reform? >> absolutely. i've been hearing from a number

of, you know, grassroots republicans that are very concerned about this. they've seen government-run health care reform in other countries turn into rationing. they don't want to see that come to the united states. and i'll disagree. i don't think that the way for the white house and democrats to go is put obama out there more and more. i saw just today that in the 206 days president obama has been in office, he's only not appeared on camera or in person publicly eight times. so in 206 days we have not seen him eight times. so obviously him getting out on the stump over and over and over again is not working. i think democrats need to actually craft a bill that, you know, people will support. they're listening to their constituents. they should come back to washington and use that to put together a bipartisan plan that both sides can support and pass into law. rick: hey, julian, as far as the president going out sort in campaign mode again, it does seem like the more that he talks the more these numbers slip.

wasn't that supposed to be president obama's strength, sort of coming out, explaining complex issues to the american people? he's having a very tough time doing that when it comes to health care reform. >> i disagree with that. i don't think that he's been out there on the campaign stump on health care reform. i think it's mostly been a congressional process. i think that folks on the hill were a little bit sloppy in writing some things that allowed the other side demagogue the issues. i don't think there's no better salesman than president obama. i think rather than doing less he needs to do a lot more. i think it needs to be like the campaign of 2008. overwhelmingly, the public wants reform. premiums are going to double in the next 10 years. it's soon going to eat up a quarter to a third of our income if we don't change. there's an enormous amount of waste, as i said before. what nichey said, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. i think what this town hall process will be a blessing in disguise for democrats because i think it will tell them they have to get a tighter message, a more disciplined message. they have to go into campaign

mode and, yes, i would agree with pete, they do need to be more bipartisan. i think they could reach out to the republicans, for example, for things only defensive medicine which could be part of the mix and could get some republican votes. i think at the end of the day we'll get health care reform. and this process, as we look back on it, actually made the democrats much smatter. rick: what about tort reform, pete? it seems like every republican i talked to doesn't even want to talk about health care reform unless there's discussion about tort reform. is that something that you think might be, you know, an area where the democrats could actually say, well, you know what, all right, let's get onboard with this and let's get something done? >> well, it's not the only area where they need to get onboard and get some things done. absolutely, a tort reform is something that a number of republicans are very interested in. but i think right now the most important thing is to ensure that we don't get a government-run health care system. and that is why you see these outbursts at town hall meetings, why people are so

upset, because they're concerned and they have the right to be concerned. and it doesn't help matters when nancy pelosi, who thought, you know, iraq war protesters were making america more american. and then last week she came out and said, folks, protesting at these town halls about health care, government-run health care are unamerican. so that just insites the base, it just makes them want to get out there more. rick: julian, we'll see president obama stepping off air force one in belgrade. if i heard the president say it once i've heard him say a dozen time, if you like the health insurance the way you like it now, you can keep it. if you like your deprr you can keep it. doesn't matter how many times he's saying it, people are still not buying it. >> well, i'm not sure about that. rick: not sure about that. julian, you've seen the poll numbers. >> yeah. rick: people are not in favor of the health care reform that's being discussed right now. >> if you look closely at the numbers and who is opposed

versus the other sector of the population there's confused. it's still a toss-up. i think secondly the democrats do need to make it clear that when you hear people talk about socialized medicine and the government taking over, basically those are the talking points of the insurance industry. nobody's talking about a government-run health care plan. health care will continue to remain within private industry. there's no attempt of the government to actually interfere with you and your doctor. what we're talking about here is putting more competition with the health insurance system as opposed to the health care delivery system. and everybody agrees that the health care insurance industry is broken. it's wasting money every year. that's the kind of regulation, if there's an appropriate role of government, is to get the health insurance industry stop abusing its practices, not insuring people because of pre-existing considers, stop the second guessing of doctors. i think there's an overwhelming

public support for regulating the abuse from the health insurance industry. when people talk about socialized medicine, keep in mind these are the talking points of the special interests that want to protect the health insurance. rick: julian just said that people out there who are against this are just confuse about the issues. do you agree with that? >> that's not exactly what i said. rick: well, i heard you say that people were confused about health care reform. >> i heard that too. >> but there's huge pockets of the public right now that continues to support a public option by 60% or 70%. it depends how you ask this question. and the poll numbers are different. rick: when it gets down to polls it depends how the questions are asked . i'm wondering, pete, what you think of people's basic understanding of the kinds of changes that are being discussed in washington. do you think people have a good grip on the issues? >> well, yes. when you see, you know, video of president obama when he was a senator or even before that a few years ago saying, quote, i am a proponent of a

single-payer system, there's nothing confusing about that. where this bill may not do that exactly right now, it is certainly a step in that direction. and he's also said that, you know, 10 or 15 years down the road after this type of bill happening that it will run private insurance companies out of business. so it's obvious where they're going. i don't think people are confused. if they were confused they wouldn't be coming out to these town hall meetings to voice their opinion. rick: and people show up at these town hall meetings don't seem confused. they have information in their hands. a lot of them have spent a great deal of time reading through these bills that are about 1,000 pages each. these people are showing up and they have honest to goodness concerns about what they're hearing. >> and i think that people that are showing up, many of them, at least at the town hall meetings, are sincere individuals that believe that they have very sincere concerns. let me give you an example of confusion. and lisa murkowski, republican senator from arkansas, all of

this -- rick: arriving there in belgrade for the event which is set to come up in a couple of minutes. julian, sorry to upset you. >> quite ok. i'll take a backseat to president obama any day. when you hear even now republican senators are saying, all of the stuff that's coming from the insurance industry advocates about these death panels is just basically a lie. and a lot of people are confused about that. a lot of people are confused about the smoke machine that has been -- that has been put up by the opponents of reform. so, yes, i think that -- i think that a lot of people showing up for the health -- at the town hall meetings are sincere. i don't think that they ought to be -- at the same time there's an enormous amount of confusion about what health care reform means and what health care reform means really is making sure we have universal health care the way every other industrialized country has. it's an aspiration within their grasp. and stop the abuses and stop the waste. now, people want to call that

socialized medicine are people that are basically throwing up a smokescreen because they don't want a reform. they want to protect the health insurance industry. and they are basically going to run this country into a rut. we are going to be consuling one out of every three or four dollars on health reform. the people that are obstructing this basically have no answer to a health care system that's getting ready to go off the cliff. rick: you know, as we watch the first family there being greeted by the montana congressional delegation, i see both of montana's senators there, tester and bacus there to greet the first family as they ariff, pete, do you think he'll get some tough questions there in belgrade? they have two democrats in the senate, but this is a traditionally republican right-leaning state, are we going to see the president challenged in a way that he wasn't earlier this week in port smith, new hampshire? >> i think the white house is looking for that. they're trying to drum this up so that they get some hecklers or protesters or people

shouting the president down. but you have to remember, people respect the office of the presidency. so i think it's unlikely that folks will come out there and smart shouting at the president. they have not been shy about that leading up to the new hampshire town hall. they said they were fully prepared for protesters. they were ready. i'm sure that president obama has a teleprompter statement when and if someone makes an outburst. julie: i want to jump in real quick. julian, i want to ask you a question. we're seeing senator max baucus who will be introducing katie gibson. it will go for about an hour and take question and answer from the audience. this is tough issues that president obama will be facing today in montana. katie gibson, who will be introducing the president, interesting background on her. is a recurrent cancer survivor who was told in 1995 that she had less than a year to live. in 1998 katie and her husband

apparently backpacked 800 miles across their state of montana. and apparently she had group coverage through hew lit packard. when she and her husband decided to leave the company, her insurance would not transfer with her so she had to leave h.p. to start her own company. these are the stories of americans that are uninsured, americans that pay their taxes, they are employed by large companies like hewlett-packard, and then they're diagnosed with terminal cancer and they don't have health insurance. how is president obama going to -- i suppose, aleve the concerns of -- alleave the concerns of so many like katie gibson? >> well, the two points you made is portability. if you leave your job, can you carry your health insurance with you? in a lot of cases can you under current law. and secondly, pre existing condition. in both the house and senate plan will have the appropriate regulations on the insurance industry so you can have

portability for your health insurance plans and you can't be denied health insurance the way millions of americans are simply because of a pre-existing condition. and that's exactly one of the most compelling reasons why we need to have reform. and, again, the republicans -- and not all republicans oppose reform. but the health insurance industry and their advocates who oppose reform don't have answers to either of those two questions. rick: all right, guys, we are going to keep our eyes on this. gentlemen, we appreciate your time. we are awaiting a town hall meeting, belgrade, montana, is the name of the town and the president and the first family, the entire first family there for today's town hall. there was' a look at the auditorium. it's supposed to start in a couple of minutes. we'll take you back there live when we return coming up on the "live desk." . not long ago, this man had limited mobility.

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rick: all i'm look at the auditorium in belgrade, montana, of seven meeting of health care reform. folks there are anxiously awaiting the arrival of president obama, has blown into montana with his family. he will be the headliner today's town hall. julie: he will be getting a lot of questions, and hopefully coming up with clever answers for an anxious crowd. this is the latest stop on his tour for reform. this is what he needs to sell to the people. this event could get more feisty in portsmouth, new hampshire what can we expect? why montana? >> a couple of reasons. this is part of a week to work by the president and his first family, going through national parks around the country. and they are beginning in

montana, concluding monday in arizona. so that is on the agenda first, the national parks tour. this weekend is the fee-free weekend at national parks, and the president is trying to highlight that. so they decided to have a health care event, and is worth pointing out that among those who saw gritting the president at the airport is max bacchus, chair of the finance committee with a central part in this issue, because they decide how to finance whatever reforms put together in the senate. when you finance something, you decide how expensive it is going to be. those petitions have yet to be made, and as this debate moves onshore august, much of what lawmakers here will influence their ideas, and that is one of the things that will be addressed in montana, i expect. rick: its portsmouth, earlier

this week -- the president was pleading for a tough question. here in big sky country, does the white house into spate an easier time with somebody getting up and being critical of the plan put forth, giving it more air? >> you never know what will happen. 70% of the audience was chosen by lottery, so they do not know who will be there and what they will bring to the table question-wise. 30% will be decided. more than two-thirds, lottery picks, and whatever they do, they can bring it to the table. the white house was anticipating tougher questions, but did not get them. whether they are anticipating them were girding for them in montana, the would like the president be able to do two things. reassure the public about what is and is not in health care,

and if there is a confrontational question, deal with the questioner respectfully, answer some questions. questions to presidents at tends to be more deferential. so that is what you need to keep in mind. rick: major garrett, who was not invited to the national parks tour with the obama's. we're just moments away from the health care meeting in belgrade, montana. újúj

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