shift their focus to turnout. forget undecided voters. how about that? many indications suggest that most people have already made up their minds with 88 days to go. now the name of the game is rallying likely supporters to get to the polls. we'll talk more about this with bob cusack, managing editor of "the hill." bob, we've been talking about the independents, undecideds, "the wall street journal" says, no, it is not really about them. why is that? >> absolutely there is such a small group that is undecided. we're also right before the convention. both candidates are trying to rev up their base, have turnout because you've got to have turnout until november. i think they will shift right back and forthright before the conventions you want to fire up your bases the both obama and romney they have frustrated both the liberal and conservative base. a lot of conservatives don't trust romney. liberals upset with the president on war policies. they have to make sure they court the base before they

go back to the independent voters. jenna: how do you do that? is it through more ads? is it through more events? is it through more specific policy speeches? >> i think it is a variety of that. you want to give speeches on issues like gay irge ma. remember gay marriage will be in the democratic platform. that's a change from four years ago. on the republican side, you think romney you're going to see attack the health care law repeatedly. recently his spokeswoman said nice things about what romney did in massachusetts on health care law. you will not see that over the next couple weeks. so both through policy speeches and also on the ground operation, that will be very important to rev up obama, seeking to get out african-americans as well as hispanics. i think romney will be focusing on blue-collar workers. jenna: if the country is center right which it is when it comes to political alignment, bob, doesn't that give the edge to romney if this race is truly about turnout? >> you would think so but

republicans are privately very nervous, that the polls you just showed, romney had a very difficult july. if he doesn't have a better august, you know it will be trouble for him. obama recently said if the election were today he would win and the polls suggest that's correct. so romney needs to make up some ground in these swing states, deal with conservative angst about him, while also attracting independent voters. that is a very difficult task especially when you're going against an incumbent. there are so many advantages for the incumbent. it is difficult to beat someone with the bully pulpit. jenna: let me ask you in general about the election. if you look back in 2008, hope and change is what the president ran on. a lot of people were rallied to come out and vote haven't done that in the past. if you look at 2010, you see the tea party movement surface and that was about a different type of hope and change. a little more nostalgic if you will to the fundamentals of the country. that is what they really talked about. what do you think defines

2012? >> i think we're back to an election like 2004 between kerry and bush. so divided right now. obama has to deal with those complaints, that he didn't change washington. democrats, washington is more partisan than ever. so that's the tough task for obama. and he has got to say you've got to be patient. the economy is getting better but at the same time acknowledge that a lot of these promises about transforming politics just have not happened. jenna: well with the president is taking it easy today. so is mitt romney. we're glad you decided to come to work bob. nice to have you as always from "the hill". >> thanks. jon: new developments to share with you too regarding the ad wars in the presidential campaign. we've seen a number of commercial from both sides of everything from health care to welfare to women's rights. there are new questions about what the obama campaign knew about a democratic super pac ad that is drawing fire as the race for the white house gets more intense. chief white house

correspondent ed henry is live at the white house. so what did the campaign know about this priorities usa ad? >> reporter: well, jon there is some dispute about that. this is the ad the romney camp denounced because you remember it basically suggested that mitt romney from his days at bain capital had something to do with closing of a steel plant that led to a worker losing his health insurance and then his wife dying of cancer. the romney camp said this is over the top especially because the woman actually had her own health insurance and mitt romney left bain capital long before she passed away. bottom line is the obama camp said couple days ago, look this is outside group doing this ad. we know nothing about this steelworker, joe soptic's story story. on the obama campaign website they featured the story a number of weeks ago. number two, they had an obama campaign conference call back in may where they highlighted his story as well. republicans jumping on the fact that as the president is campaigning in the

battleground of colorado last couple days he has been hitting pub push super pacs for what they have been doing. take a listen. >> over the next three months you will see more negative ads, more money spent than you have ever seen in your life. i mean these, these super pacs, these guys are writing $10 million checks, giving them to mr. romney's supporters and -- [booing] and basically they all have just the same argument. >> reporter: the president and his staff though have not denounced this democratic super pac ad. basically the obama camp feels that the republicans have made too much about this. they say that as the president was out in colorado, he wasn't talking about all this. he was talking about issues that matter to the american people like health care, tax cuts, et cetera, jon. jon: camp romney says they want to focus on the economy. what about the president's side? >> well, look the bottom line is you had governor romney himself on the bill bennett radio show saying

yesterday the president's allies are using ads like this to attack the governor personally because they don't want to run on the economy. there was a statement put out by one of the governor's spokesman last night, ryan williams, said quote, americans deserve better. they deserve a president willing to run an honest campaign and be honest about that record. clearly president obama is not that person. strong words from the romney campaign spokesperson ryan williams. in 2003 obama said you turn the record into things that you when you don't have a campaign to run on. jon: ed henry, the chief white house correspondent there. ed, thank you. >> reporter: good to see you, jon. jon: coming up at the bottom of the hour our panel weighs in on the ad wars and what it means for the presidential race. we'll take them apart. jenna: today a strong reminder that the war in afghanistan still rages on. an afghan policeman shot and kills three american servicemembers in the

southern hellmann -- helmand province. this is the third attack in a week. this comes two days after a suicide bomb attack killed four other americans. conor powell streaming live from kabul with the latest. connor. >> reporter: jenna, this latest attack is a growing and disturbing trend in afghanistan we've seen grow in the past 18 months, maybe two years or some in the last year alone, at least 30 u.s. and coalition forces have been killed not by the taliban but by their afghan partners. this latest attack happened in helmand province in southern afghanistan the accounts vary but according to afghan officials down in helmand province they say u.s. special forces were on their way to meet with a local afghan police officer. it was supposed to be a friendly meeting, maybe a security briefing, maybe a dinner late last night. but at some point the local commander there and his

officers turned their weapons with on the three u.s. special forces soldiers, killing three of them. we don't know if any others were injured or managed to get away. investigators are stay very quiet. this is disturbing trend we've seen in afghanistan the past year or so. there have been at least 20 attacks, glean on blue attacks where they turn their weapons on u.s. and coalition forces. u.s. troops are training and meant toring and partnering with afghans across the country not only on patrols in the field but also on bases, training them but also here in kabul in the ministry helping them develop supply lines and thinks like that. and we have seen attacks at every aspect of afghanistan here in the kabul, at the ministry of the interior, out on patrols in eastern, southern and northern afghanistan. it is a really concerning trend that the u.s. military says they're investigating. they say this is not a trend, that there are isolated incidents. but the u.s. military

privately will tell you that soldiers on the ground are very concerned about the lack of trust between afghans and their coalition partners and it is really undermining the overall mission here in afghanistan, jenna. jenna: can't forget them on the front lines, that's for sure. conor powell with a very important report for us today. connor, thank you. jon: announcement from the justice department in the more than year-long investigation into the role that goldman sachs played in the financial crisis in this country. the department's decision whether that firm will face criminal charges. plus colorado police hope to bring a county prosecutor's killer to justice. the new evidence they might have nearly four years after the murder hey joe, can you talk? sure. your hair -- amazing. thanks to head and shoulders for men. four shampoos that give men game-winning alp protection, great looking hair... and confidence [ male announcer ] up to 100% flake free with head & shoulders for men.

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the hunt is still on for the murderer. harris has details from the breaking news desk. >> reporter: the scene, adams county, colorado. august of 2008, sean may was gunned down. we know from law enforcement days before his death may had warn ad local defense attorney to watch out. somebody that attorney had defended was making threats. in fact right after may was killed investigators quickly checked the backgrounds of more than 4,000 defendants to see if there was any connections. they didn't find any. now, they're taking a closer look and we will too from the video of a 7-eleven store that was three blocks away from where may was killed. police say this surveillance video appears to show possible witnesses, not suspects who were in the store just after the murder. at that time, police said talking with these people would be critical to the case. now they say it still is. the tape also revealedded the suv the killer is believed to have been driving and a black nissan frontier extended cab truck.

investigators say that is key. they hope the driver of that nissan truck can help out with the case and maybe you can as well. there is $125,000 reward for information leading to the conviction in may's killing. call crimestoppers. we'll put the number on the screen. jenna, sean may's wife was six months pregnant, jenna and jon, when he died. now she is raising their son on her own. jon: what a sad story. let's hope the reward and the videotape will bring something forward. >> reporter: we hope so. jon: harris, thank you. jenna: a story about whether the a bank's role in the financial crisis a criminal role or not. these are new developments in the investigation of goldman sachs. the justice department is announcing it will not pursue criminal charges against the wall street firm. mike emanuel live with the story from washington. mike, why did the justice department make this decision? >> reporter: jenna,

officials and relevant investigative agencies concluded they did not have enough to meet the burden of proof to bring forward a criminal case. a bipartisan senate investigation found that goldman sachs marketed four sets of complex securities to banks and investors but failed to tell clients they were very risky. then a senate investigation found that the firm secretly bet against its clients and deceived the investors. though the department of justice is not ruling out action at some point, quote, if any additional or new evidence emerges, today's assessment does not prevent the department from reviewing such evidence and making a different determination if warranted. for now, no charges against goldman sachs or its employees, jenna. jenna: that is interesting, leaving the door open a little bit. probably watching reaction to this announcement as well, mike. what kind of reaction is it getting? >> reporter: well, goldman sachs spokesman tells fox we are pleased this matter is behind us. we know some leading democrats have been anxious to hold some on wall street

accountable for the mess we had there several years ago. a republican who once served as a u.s. attorney offered this reaction. >> it may very well be that there was no justification for a prosecution of goldman sachs, but maybe there was no justification for harassing them to the extent they harassed them either. >> reporter: others are likely disappointed and we do expect to get fresh reaction from the white house probably in about an hour or so. jenna. jenna: we'll look forward to that, mike, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jon: some dramatic new testimony in the drew peterson case. what a friend of the former cop's third wife said kathleen savio told her just one year before she died. also the political ad wars getting ugly. new information in the battle over what's put out on the internet and the airwaves. our panel weighs in on what it all means for this very tight presidential race.

jon: if you don't live in one of hose hotly-contested swing states you might not have seen some of the mud that is flying around on the television ads and also the internet, a fierce ad war waged this presidential election cycle. this week the barrage of negative messages intensified. here are two ads, one attacking president obama. the other attacking governor romney and both raising eyebrows. watch. >> i was not a huge supporter of the federal plan that was signed in 1996. ♪ . i would not probably have supported the federal bill that was passed. >> when mitt romney and bain closed plant i lost my health care and my family

lost their health care. a short time after that my wife became ill. jon: let's talk about these couple of ads with monica crowley, a radio talk show host. she is the blond on your screen. julie roginsky, former political advisor to senator frank lautenberg of new jersey, the brunette. both are fox news contributors. you have mitt romney attacking president obama for his desire to change welfare requirements. you have the obama super pac attacking the obama supporting super pac to be clear, attacking mitt romney and suggesting that he is somehow directly responsible for this woman's cancer death. your reaction? >> if you set aside the content of both ads the reality that negative advertising in politics does work. we hear about this every election cycle how the american people are over it, sick of it. they want positive messaging. while positive message something critical because you want voters to have a positive, compelling reason

to vote for you rather than just against the other guy, the reality is that negative advertising does work because what it does is create the narrative, do a storyline about the other candidate that will make you sort of repelled from voting for that person. so it does work. that's why you're going to see even more of this going forward. jon: you're nodding your head? >> monica is absolutely right. i do this for a living. people peep complaining we hate negative ads. we hate the noise. the bottom line we do it because they do work. they take a whole bunch of ads. cut every five or six ads for everyone they air. they test which ones are most effective. guaranty and romney campaign and priorities usa which is super pac you mentioned, tested four or five ads these are the ones that moved most independent voters and undeclared voters and that is why you seed as today. jon: one thing to suggest that president wants to water down welfare, work requirements to get welfare. a lot of observers say that is not exactly what he is

doing versus suggesting that mitt romney is responsible for a woman dying of cancer. >> well, that's right. over last couple weeks we've seen from team obama in various forms or actual obama campaign or super pacs suggesting that governor romney is a tax cheat, a felon and now a murderer. i think there is, look there is something, we all understand what politics is. it is dirty. negative ads go flying. people lie about the other side all the time but to come from either the president of the united states, or a group representing his campaign or his electoral interests, to put out an ad that is so blatantly false, i mean a direct lie, essentially suggesting that governor romney somehow is spreading cancer and is responsible for the deaths of people is particularly outrageous given standards of presidential politics. jon: julie, you want to rork on that? >> well, you know, to my earlier point obviously it worked and tested it why they did it. to monica's point i'm not a fan of the tactics.

strategy is this. it is larger issue. when you don't have health care, denied health care when you got fired or laid off chances are you will not get preventative medicine you need and would lead to bigger consequences than you would if you had health care coverage. to that point i understand where the obama campaign coming from, not obama campaign but where the ad is coming from. i don't necessarily agree where they go about it. romney campaign never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity, goes out there says, this woman only lived in massachusetts unromney care she would have been fine, taken care of. angering every conservative basically says mitt romney has no core values, and they were skeptical in the first place. makes no sense why their strategy was. jon: reporters talked to joe soptic in the ad. reporters talked to him. he says i don't blame mitt romney for my wife's cancer death but that is exactly what the ad suggests. >> when you get into the actual details of the ad, none of us are naive ear. we understand that campaigns

will really hit the other side hard. this is a blood sport. to go out with an ad where all details are false. governor romney left bain capital years before the situation and the fact that he was offer ad buyout by bain capital and didn't take it. the wife actually had health insurance for a long time until the very end when she had an injury that caused her to lose her job. look there are so many details here. have the obama campaign itself dethey knew anything about the story which was also a blatant lie. jon: we're out of time. a word from each of you. should the white house repudiate it? >> the white house said they didn't have anything to do it. when the romney campaign repudiates all the ads they have done from the coke brothers. to whine about negative ads flying back and forth. jon: monica. >> obama campaign basically not addressed this. they haven't even tried to distance themselves from it, maybe julie's point because it is having traction out there. i think it is particularly

disgraceful that the president of the united states who is also running a re-election campaign engages in this kind of activity. jon: all right. monica crowley, julie roginsky, thank you both. >> thank you. jon: jenna? jenna: the government attacking rebels and civilians who get in the way with attack aircraft and also bombs. tens of thousands fleeing to neighboring countries in the area. the u.n. unable to really do anything. there is a lot going behind the scenes in syria. look at spheres of influence there and telling us about key players in the area and what is to come. we'll take an more in depth look coming up on that. also, what is old is new again. vinyl records making a comeback in a big way. what explains this, next. ♪

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according to sound scan. that is as far back as their data goes. certainly the record revolution helping some small businesses. also driving more interest in the music business. and as we found out, it is not just no, sir tallgy -- nostalgia driving these sales. vinyl records have gotten their groove back. the 12-inch disks left for dead a quarter century ago, they're a hot commodity in the digital world. >> they go back to vinyl. vinyl is more fun and they enjoy the experience. >> vinyl sales peek peaked in the disco era. first cassettes, then compact discs. most recently, mp3s. over the past few years though, more americans are dusting off the vinyl and putting the needle on the record. u.s. vinyl sales in 2011 jumped nearly 40% from the prior year though still just a fraction of the 1977 peak.

the vinyl resurgence shows no signs of slowing. plus national chains are now selling lps and record players. hard to say if the sales trajectory will continue to skyrocket for albums. but one thing is sure, at least right now it is a boon for business for the f flks who make albums. she and her husband tom run brooklyn phone know, a vinyl record pressing plan. they have seen demand 4:00 their services grow more than they ever imagined. >> everyone is pressing vinyl. before you had a very like niche group of labels come to us that had been doing it for a while. and now you have sort of everyone wants to sort of make a record. >> reporter: the company has said their business has doubled every year for the past decade. in fact they pressed 400,000 records last year. and it isn't just the nostalgic acts, jon. noted indy label merge

records. they have artists such as super chunk. spoon on hand. even younger artists more excited about pressing vinyl records than the older guys. jon: where do you buy it? big chains like virgin records shut down. tower records shut down because you could download music. you can't download a vinyl album. >> reporter: one way around that they're including download codes with the vinyl. when you buy an album get a code and take it with you on the mp3 player and take it with you in that regard. we heard from joseph in the who owned academy records in the late '90s. it is driving business into their shops. indy music shop owners gotten together. they have now five straight years of what they call national music store day. and so they're trying to drive traffic in every april to try to boost sales and doing special products put out by specific artists and the like. you can buy turntables once again at likes of urban outfitters selling vinyl

records and turntables. best buy is doing it as well. jon: really? >> reporter: you don't have to go down to the east village and some of these old record shops anymore. jon: that is great news for me. i have still got crates of college albums but don't have anything to play them on. >> reporter: they may be worth something. jon: that would be nice. got to go buy a turntable. robert gray, good info. >> reporter: you're welcome. jon: i'm all over that. i'm going to be all over that. jenna: we're going to turn to this legal debate now. some disturbing information coming out of the drew peterson. a witness testifying that kathleen savio told her, that peterson once broke into her home and grabbed her by the throat and said, why don't you just die? apparently a month earlier savio told the same friend, that peterson could quote, kill her and make her disappear. that all happened a year before savio's body was found in a dry bath fun in her home. a gash at the back of her head but was ruled an accidental death.

rebecca rose woodland, trial attorney. rebecca you say this case is open and shut? >> i think so. i can't imagine how any jury would hear this information and not find this man outright guilty. even has his sons coming into the courtroom to support him. any juror, knowing what we know about this man over course of the last years, one wife dead. another wife missing. come on, this man is a sociopath and a serial killer and i'm so happy that the judge allowed this hearsay evidence into evidence. jenna: john, you represent the defense in your cases. do you have the same opinion? >> of course i have the opinion that it should not be allowed. i think a prior bad act is prejudicial, always prejudicial. this is a controversial law here in the state of california. and obviously peterson will have a really tough time blocking this out or unringing the bell in front. jury. jenna: john, what is your strategy then? if you're getting a hearsay evidence and the judge is

allowing it in bit by bit and ruling each time. as rebecca pointed out, peterson has his sons coming to the courtroom, sitting in the front row talking to him. i'm sure there is a strategy behind that as well. as the defense you see this goes on. what is your strategy when it is your turn? >> you put on people that say good things about your clients and good character evidence. perhaps the sons the sons are supporting peterson. perhaps they could be witness the in case if they're in the excluded in the trial already. who better to testify than the decedent's kids. if the kids take the stand and say my dad would never do something like that, those are points for the defense. jenna: interesting, rebecca. what do you think about that? could the sons provide powerful testimony would that outweigh testimony from a girlfriend i remember she one time mentioned this to me? >> the testimony is incredibly powerful by her friend apparently the friend broke down on the stand hysterically crying. they had to take a recess. hearing this sort of testimony, when a jury hears

women say my friend told me came and he strangle abouted her and showed the details. she showed her friend, look at my neck. look at what happened. we also have evidence that the pathology report as we just had up on the screen with the graphics, it is inconsistent with falling in a bathtub. there is so much evidence against this man that his sons sitting in the front of the courtroom, i sincerely hope do not affect or sway the jurors to make them feel bad for someone who i just do not think has a decent defense here. i think that the prosecution is so strong, there will be no way that the defense can overcome it. jenna: is the defense, john, that he is just a good guy? that he would never ever do this? or is the defense that he has a solid alibi and there is absolutely no evidence try tying him to the crime scene? >> the defense, jenna, is the burden of proof. can the prosecutor show beyond a reasonable doubt that drew peterson committed these acts, that's all.

doesn't matter whether we're suspicious of him. whether we don't like him. whether he may have done it. maybe he did it. the threshold is the highest level of certainty required under the law. that is what the defense needs to show. they can not meet that burden and therefore he needs to be found not guilty. jenna: interesting. we'll see how this develops. each week a there is new story, something new that comes in. we appreciate your expertise. john, rebecca, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you. jon: some stunning new images being beamed back to earth from the red planet. panoramic views showing almost a either-like -- earth-like terrain. we'll show the pictures next. violence in syria forcing thousands to flee into neighboring countries. now iran says it can help end the fighting. does iran have enough influence in the region to actually do that? we'll take a look coming up. ♪

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take a look at one of our big international stories of the week and that is what is happening in syria. sometimes it is difficult to visualize what is happening in this part of the world. that's why you see some of my notes. this is a map of the region. here is where syria is right here. you can see it is an important point in geography because it has access here to water. that is very key in a region trying to get its oil out all over the world. this is where in turkey where all these refugees are pouring over the border here. we're getting estimates of more than 100,000 people are going into turkey. that is where secretary of state hillary clinton will be this weekend presumably talking more about the crisis in syria because it is having such an effect on turkey and the region. we'll talk about the influence of other countries in syria because as we know this is not just about syria by itself. there is a lot of influence from other countries. one being iran. lots of influence from iran. we saw that envoy go from

iran into syria this week. they're pouring a lot of money and weapons into syria but also key here is russia. we can't forget that involvement or the involvement of china because when we look at issues when it comes to iran and russia, these, this trifecta of countries is very important for power in this region. so as we take a look at this, you can see that the dynamics at play are quite complicated. the president and washington has tried to figure out what to do here and jay carney had something to say about syria and what's going to happen with president assad. let's take a listen. >> the longer assad remains in power, the longer he is helped in his efforts to remane in power, by those who continue to prop him up, the more kay attic the situation becomes in syria, the more violence, the more bloodshed and those are all bad things. that is why it is so essential that assad step

aside and the syrian people be given the opportunity to determine their own future. jenna: mike baker, former cia operation officer and head of a intelligence security firm. we talked about the alliance syria has in that part of the world. where are our alliances? >> you raise a really important point because it is easy sometimes to think of this in terms of opposition fighters, you know, battling against, you know, the assad regime and it is all happening right there in a bubble but nothing in the middle east ever plays out just in a bubble or on a local level. there's always something above that and that's been true for decades and decades and decades going back to the cold war. you look at this, you mentioned russia when you were talking about looking at the map. jenna: sure. >> russia has been shipping arms, back then referred to as the soviet union. the soviets were shipping arms to syria all the way back to the mid '50s. that was the result of the u.s. and the u.k. trying to form a, an alliance out in that part of the world.

it was what was called the baghdad pact. as a result of that russia looked around and said no, we have to have a foothold here. we have to have our sphere of influence abroad outside the soviet union. they started their effort back then, that far again. this continues. this is remnants from the cold war. jenna: is that men talts from the cold war still active. >> absolutely. putin never forget he is an old school kgb officer. there is a lot of self-esteem and national pride in the soviet influence. putin is a big-time buyer in that. jenna: how does that change our strategy then? i know the strategy hasn't been precise at this point about what we're doing in syria. the question is a little bit more complicated than what we could probably answer right now but if russia has all of that influence in both of these countries, syria and iran, what is the play? >> you're being very diplomatic saying our policy hasn't been precise up to this point. you could argue in the cold war it was the soviets, it

was the u.s. and there was a lot happening behind the scenes. if one was trying to influence a particular area the other was working just as aggressively to try to counter that. jenna: are we doing that here? >> no, we're not doing that here. in part because we've seem to have forgotten every nation, particularly rush shuns, the particularly the chinese, certainly iranians they act in their own best interest. we want to believe the u.s. acts according to the world's best interests. that is inconsistent the way the rest of the world behaves. jenna: we'll look at the map again, talk to something about something just breaking, hezbollah being very active and perhaps new sanctions on hezbollah, this terrorist group supported by iran because of their actions inside of syria. we know al qaeda is active inside syria as well according to these reports we're getting. where does this go from here, mike, as far as the terrorist operatives inside that country? >> that is a terrific question and one which unfortunately there is an unsatisfactory answer

because much of tunisia and egypt and elsewhere where the a rabe spring. we don't know where these things play out. obviously it is chaotic. the group hezbollah has always played an important proxy role for iran and longwith the iranian revolutionary guard, reaching outside iran to influence events as they see fit. lebanon is one. prime areas and now hezbollah has a political role in lebanon. in reality, hezbollah is playing this one a little bit hands off because they don't want to jeopardize what they're feigning into lebanon by jumping in at behest of lebanon or syria. if iran, on the other hand, were start to have problems as a result of the sanctions and other things that we're affecting there, i don't think they will have any choice. hezbollah will come to iran's aid. jenna: we had a comment on air the other day every moment we talk about syria and what is going on there

is another moment we don't talk about iran and the nuclear program and that could be part of the strategy. >> absolutely. jenna: look forward to having you back as always. >> thank you very much. jenna: jon? with. >> . jon: we get criticized for bringing too much bad news. here comes an aspiring story of triumph from adversity. a young man battles back from a near-death experience to find success in one of the most grueling sport. iron man athlete, brian boyle joins us in studio to talk about his remarkable come backstory next.

jon: triathlete from around the world are gathering in new york city where the big apple prepares to host its very first ironman competition. known for athletes who

persevered in their story and their life especially one man who battled back from a horrific car accident to return to athletics and were it a book about it. hear is the book. joining us, brian boyle and author of, iron heart, the true story how i came back from the dead. >> yes, sir. jon: you really were. >> yes, eight times. jon: 18 years old you were in a horrific car accident. tell us about the injuries first of all? >> catastrophic. shattered ribs, shattered pelvis, colaps lungs. lost 60% of my blood and medevaced into local shock trauma unit in induced coma, medically induced coma. woke up about month and a half. >> two months into the ordeal. jon: you basically wanted to die? >> i had given up. my parents and support system my medical team believing in me i had to keep going for them. jon: i've been reading the book and it is fascinating

and heartbreaking you could hear them, you could see them but couldn't talk, couldn't move. >> i was very aware having the sounds around me, the sights but i was perilized and i couldn't communicate i was aware of what was taking place which was a living nightmare. jon: and you write very eloquently about how you finally were able to force yourself to smile, to tell your folks, that you were still here and could understand, you know, what it was that they were hoping for you, praying for? >> it was a comeback. that simple, subtle gesture of the face, that smile was my comb back. seeing the joy in the eyes of my parents for once, i was a addicted to it and kept me going. jon: one of the reasons you're wearing a red cross on your lapel, you're a big booster of the red cross for having collected the blood that kept you alive. 36 transfusions? >> that's correct. 36 transfusions and 1 plasma treatments. red cross for five years, this december, national red

cross volunteer spokesperson. this race for me is extra special because i'm racing in behalf of my blood donors and the american red cross so it will be a great day tomorrow. jon: we'll give our viewers update how it goes. >> i appreciate it. wish me luck, we sure will look for you across the finish line. we'll have another seg isment on the ironman next hour and we'll be right back. testing...1...2. am i on the radio?

you wouldn't want your doctor doing your job, hello... so why are you doing hers? only your doctor can determine if your persistent heartburn is actually something more serious like acid reflux disease. over time, stomach acid can damage the lining of your esophagus. for many, prescription nexium not only provides 24-hour heartburn relief, but can also help heal acid-related erosions in

the lining of your esophagus. talk to your doctor about the risk for osteoporosis-related bone fractures and low magnesium levels with long-term use of nexium. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. other serious stomach conditions may still exist. let your doctor do her job. and you do yours. ask if nexium is right for you. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. jon: a scorching week in campaign 20123 you've heard the accusations, right? lying, fraud, big money and tipgerring with welfare reform. also honoring the memories of the fallen from last weekend's temple shooting. live cooak creek, wisconsin, and an olympic-sized conflict, harsh words published in "the new york times." our news watch pane breaks it all down just as she broke down on tv.

those stories and breaking news all "happening now." jenna: well, getting to that scorching week in politics, we have to talk about what's scorching our wallets because that's a big issue as well. we were talking about gas prices, drivers are finding gas a lot more expensive in the final weeks of summer, as hard as it is to believe that. we're glad you're with us, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. prices at the pump are spiking upward after falling for several months, i liked it. jenna: and now it's coming back up. the costs could jump even higher. a lot of that was attributed to some question about what's happening overseas with iran and the like, and some of that's coming back into the market. the national average for a gallon is now $3.67, that's up more than a quarter in the last month. that's quite a bit to coin -- to go in a month.

doug mckelway's live at a gas station in maryland. hey, doug. >> reporter: indeed, i am. and i'm out of gas. so i will get a fill-up while i'm here. you know, everybody, jenna, is hurt by rising gas prices, but i encourage anybody who's on vacation this summer to drive into a truck top and have a conversation with a trucker to get a feel of the incredible impact these rising gas prices are having on truckers. a month ago diesel was $3.68, now it's $3.87, the most precipitous climb since they started measuring in 2000. at this truck stop in millersville, maryland, it's at $3.79 a gallon. for independent truckers like james parker, it is a real kick in the gut. >> right now if i were to fill it up, it'd probably cost me right around 8, 850. and i'm holding 300 gallon tanks. >> reporter: and that's compared to a month ago -- >> a month ago, well, when the prices were down it would

probably cost me about 650, 700. >> reporter: that's money straight out of your pocket. >> straight out of my pocket. >> reporter: we approached another independent trucker just as he was pumping fuel into his 200-gallon tank. you could literally see the frustration on his face. >> 75 gallons so far, almost $300. what's this doing to your wallet? >> killing me. killing my wallet. it's ridiculous. prices go up every day. not coming down. >> reporter: what's happening to you in your business? >> i'm betting it's going to fold. >> reporter: and, of course, many truckers work for big fleets, and they don't directly bear the cost of rising fuel costs on themselves. it quos to the fleets. but they as well as anybody understand the effect this has on the economy. >> you know, when fuel goes up,

the cost of fuel goes up, the cost of what we deliver goes up because we have to try to cover it, so the stores charge more, and the customer is the one -- the people are the ones end up losing out. >> reporter: economists largely blame this fuel price increase on the rising price of crude and rising demand for crude worldwide, but other factors play into it. there's been a diminishment of refining capacity, a couple places down in the midwest, that fire on the west coast which is going to reduce capacity out there. we've had this terrible drought across the country which means the price of ethanol is going to go up. all of this is occurring at a time when we have new technology that allows us to get at domestic resources of oil unlike never before, but there is not, critics say, the political will in the white house to pursue those reserves. jenna: a lot at play, and the truck drivers see a lot as they drive across this country. nice to hear from them today,

doug. thank you. very much, doug mckelway talking about these gas prices. in a federal investigation now underway into that massive fire at one of the nation's largest oil refineries, this california chevron refinery exploded into plames on monday. -- flames on monday. a lot of the gas and the smoke filled the air in the area, and a lot of folks had to go to the hospital. now hundreds of people in the area are expected to file claims for health issues. >> i'm still feeling kind of lightheaded and dizzy and stomach ache and short of breath. >> everybody that was sick from that explosion thing and the fire, i think they should get paid for something. jenna: there was a fire there on monday, also a smaller fire later in the week. chevron has set up a compensation fund, distributed phone numbers that can be used to file claims in this one incident. jon: two religions that are in the minority here in the u.s. making major news today, and we

have team fox coverage. jonathan serrie is live at the site of a controversial new mosque opening in tennessee. we begin, though, with rick leventhal in oak creek, wisconsin, where sikhs are holding a memorial for victims of the temple shooting. >> reporter: we were told to expect 2-5,000 mourners here, and that number was accurate. we've seen a very long line stretching outside the doors of the oak creek high school gymnasium passing underneath that flag at half staff inside the building where they are queuing up and moving past the open caskets of the six victims who were killed on sunday. the mourners filing past those caskets, paying their respects. a solemn occasion, obviously, focused on healing. it's a wake and visitation with prayers, hymns and speeches from people including victim family members, dignitaries from the punjab government who traveled

from india, and attorney general eric holder. wisconsin governor scott walker and representative paul ryan also expected here. earlier we spoke with the adopted son-in-law of the temple's founder who was kill inside that mass shooting on sunday morning. >> no matter how devout he was, no matter how committed he was to promoting those ideals and living those ideals, he has done more to promote the concept of sikhism, really the ideals of the faith than he could have ever done in his life. >> reporter: after the service here, members of the sikh faith will return to the temple for the traditional 48-hour ceremony to honor the member of victims including reading the holy book cover to cover. we've also learned that the gunman, wade michael page, actually killed himself with a bullet to the head after an officer who was arriving on scene stopped his rampage by shooting page once in his

stomach. the officer that page shot is doing much better. lieutenant brian murphy, who was hit eight or nine times, has been upgraded to satisfactory. two other members of the sikh community are now in critical and serious condition. of course, jon, the hope is as they heal, the community heals as well and that a lesson of tolerance might be learned from all of this. jon? jon: let's hope. rick leventhal, thanks. jenna: while that's happening in wisconsin, a controversy mosque officially opens its doors to worshipers today in tennessee. in the comes after years of lawsuits and court challenges, even bomb threats and arson. a federal judge recently cleared way for final construction, but opponents are not finished yet. jonathan serrie's live in tennessee with more. jonathan? >> reporter: hi, jenna. well, you see the new mosque behind me. this is the islamic center of murfreesboro, and it's scheduled to open later today. for members of this

congregation, it marks the end of a tumultuous two years. listen. >> the supporters are excited because this shows that the constitution of the united states stands any kind of attack from either small or large group. >> reporter: vocal groups protested plans to build this mosque. they launched an unsuccessful legal challenge claiming that islam was a false religion attempting to replace the u.s. constitution with sharia law. a rutherford county, tennessee, judge nearly halted construction in may saying local officials failed to give proper notice of the meeting in which they approved this building. but a federal judge overturned that lower court ruling on the grounds that it created a separate standard for the mosque. listen. >> what the judge in tennessee said was that a mosque has to be treated the same as other religious groups. he said you can't treat a religious group differently because it's unpopular. that's a rule that's going to

protest the mosque today, a synagogue tomorrow and a church on sunday. >> reporter: while the mosque was being built, the construction site was the target of arson, vandalism and a bomb threat, and some members of this congregation say they received threatening letters, phone calls and e-mail. today the anti-defamation league issued a statement congratulating members of this congregation, saying the opening of this mosque was an affirmation that people regardless of their religious persuasion should have the right the worship freely and without fear. jenna, back to you. jenna: jonathan serrie for us in tennessee. thank you. jon: been a busy week for the 2012 presidential campaign. both sides launching attacks and counterattacks. what were they fighting about, and who got the upper hand? our panel looks at who won the week, coming up. jenna: we already talked a little bit about syria, but there is a lot of fresh fighting there. we're going to be talking more about what's going on in aleppo, the biggest city.

the obama administration is getting ready for its next new action. we'll tell you about that. also, here in this country the mighty mississippi in some big trouble because of the drought. we'll talk about that next. ♪ and we're rolling, rolling, we're rolling on a river. ♪ questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'.

jon: here, now, some of the top stories we're keeping an eye on for you right now. in connecticut a hearing is taking place to determine if a woman, severely disfigured in a chimp attack, can sue the state for $150 million in damages. the lawyers for the victim, carla nash, say the state failed to remove the animal before the attack, despite a staff member's warning that the chimp was dangerous. in los angeles an occupy protester in a nighttime street festival ending with no arrests.

organizers pledged to have a peaceful protest after violence erupted at a similar event last month. the usda revises its estimates for u.s. corn crops in light of historic drought conditions. the government expecting the lowest output in 17 years. these latest numbers could spark a further hike this in food prices across the board, nobody wants to see that. jenna: absolutely not. jon just mentioned what's going on with the corn crops because of the drought, but it's not just the drought that's affecting, you know, different parts of the country. in fact, this crowght -- drought is the worst type we've seen in decades, and in one part of the country, along the mississippi, the lack of rain and high temperatures is affecting that river in a very interesting way, stranding a steam boat. harris has more from the newsroom. it kind of shows you, harris, just how bad the drought is. >> reporter: yeah. it's a big illustration. wait until you see this boat, we have several pictures of it. the american queen steam boat is just at a dock sitting in

memphis right now, unable to paddle down on its original itinerary, and moments ago the company spokesperson issued this statement: >> reporter: now, the trip began on august 3rd in louisville, kentucky, with plans to stop in some key river towns along, and you heard me say it, its civil war-themed journey. american queen steam boat officials are saying they decided to stop the journey, though, in memphis, because the sluggishly slow river flow was causing navigation problems. here's a picture of it, there it sits in memphis. by the way, it's not even in its original place because even the water there was too low. they had to move it down river to stick it where it is now. the cruise will now continue on

land, the company busing all of the passengers to nearby river towns during the day. some of those are two hours away from where it's docked in memphis. they can sleep on the boat or a nearby hotel of their choosing. here's an interesting note, jenna, the steam boat routes bring an estimated $89 million to the local economies as hundreds of passengers at a time get off the boats and spend their vacation money on local museum, restaurants and more. jenna: when you stand next to the mississippi and you look across and see how big the river is, to know that river is so low water really says something about the drought. >> reporter: the mighty mississippi mighty low. jenna: harris, thank you. jon: when there's no water to drain, that's what you get, i guess. new bloodshed is rocking syria right now. syrian government forces are pounding rebel positions in the northern city of aleppo. striking from the ground as well as the air, and we're hearing reports the obama administration is preparing new sanctions

against syria's regime. leland vittert is live in our middle east bureau in jerusalem with that update. leland? >> reporter: hi, jon. the syrian rebels head really hoped that the town of aleppo was going to become their new base of operations where they could resupply from, where they could regroup from, provide medical care to wounded soldiers. day by day, though, the rebels seem to be getting less and less good news. the syrian goth seems to be winning more and more. in fact, just today the syrian government took control of a major neighborhood there in aleppo. the latest amateur video coming out of the embattled city does show us this is turning into an insurgency war meaning the rebels are fighting with ak-47s and mortar rounds. on the other side, though, you have the syrian army with entire battalions of tanks, heavy artillery, helicopter gunships and fighter aircraft to take on these rebels. it has been compared to a very

tragic war of whack-a-mole, remember the old game where the insurgents would pop up in one area as they are doing in aleppo, the government comes in, whacks them down only for the insurgents to pop up in yet another city. the united states, for its part, is trying to do more and more to put pressure on the syrian government to end the blood item shed. we're hearing today that the secretary of state is going to announce more sanctions against the syrian recream and some of their companies they use to get money inside of syria. the problem, though, for western allies and also for the rest of the world is what to do next in syria if, indeed, bashar al assad steps down or is killed or his regime simply crumbles. there's a huge inproduct in of religious extremists heading into syria. their agenda is very different than that of the home grown rebels, and the fear is if you arm one group, then the extremists are going to end up with the weapons, and when assad does fall rather than having a

stable new government side syria, you're just going to end up with a continuation of this very bloody civil war. jon? jon: leland vittert from our mideast bureau, thanks. jenna: well, a man spends 20 hours treading water after his ship sinks, then the sharks start moving in. we're going to tell you about this story coming up. in the meantime, a different kind of shark are circling the campaign trail. we're going to take a look at the biggest political stories of the week and who won the week. >> i'm not aware of the white house speaking to senator reid about this issue. i would simply say that you all probably know senator reid well, and, you know, he speaks for himself. [ male announcer ] let's say you need to take care of legal matters. wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? well, legalzoom came up with a better way. we took the best of the old and combined it with modern technology.

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jon: welcome to america's election headquarters. we're bringing you a new

segment, sort of identifying who won the week in the race for president. let's take you back to monday. there was backlash from the claim that governor romney paid no taxes for ten years. senate majority leader harry reid being attacked for mccarthyism after he made the accusation without offering a shred of evidence to back it up. on tuesday we found out how much money the candidates raised in july. the romney campaign easily outpacing the total raised by the obama campaign. welfare reform jumped into the headlines on wednesday, along with the question once posed by ronald reagan as he ran against jimmy carter, are you better off now than you were four year ago? on thursday everyone was talking about an attack ad featuring a steel worker who blamed governor romney for the cancer death of his wife. the ad, widely condemned by republicans, even some democrats. today republicans have a new ad out asking what else are they lying about? and with 88 days left until the election, the campaigns are

shifting their focus to try to maximize turnout. let's talk about all of this with a couple of old campaign pros. ed rollins once managed congresswoman michele bachmann's campaign for president, he's a fox news contributor. and bob beckel you know as well, he's a former democratic campaign manager, cohost of "the five" right here on fox news channel. so the question we're asking, guys, as yo look back on -- as you look back on this week, and there aren't many weeks left until this campaign is ended, who won the week? ed, let's start with you. >> romney had a big month and had a big day the other day, he's still got to get it back on the economy. i would say the week probably ended up being a tie. the polls weren't good at the end of the week, but i think at the end of the day he's starting to get his momentum. he's got to get momentum is the next two weeks to get to the convention. >> first of all, he and i ran a presidential campaign against

each other. he won 49 states, and i stole the one we had left. >> he'd have had all 50. [laughter] >> notwithstanding the money, the romney campaign has a lot of money, but it sort of fills in to the image of romney as a guy who's kind of a rich guy and sort of removed. on balance, look, harry reid took one for the team on that one. that dominated the talk at the beginning of the week. and here you've got romney, you want to try to get back to the thing that the polls show you're winning the issue, which is jobs and the economy. and all week long they've been arguing about his taxes or this ad by this guy. jon: so you're saying that harry reid did something for the obama campaign that maybe he didn't want to do, but he did it? >> oh, sure. i think you take one for the team. i think obama won this, but i'll keep this in mind, the worm will turn. i mean, you had a bad week in the press, but obama -- they've all got to expect they're going to have this shifting back and forth, and the key to being a

good campaign manager is whether you can take these bad weeks and put them behind you and get some momentum. >> absolutely. one thing they have to be careful of, the obama team, is their credibility. they put an ad up of a man accusing romney of causing his wife's cancer. when you're going to make your ads which now are from here on out it's going to be wall to wall ads, they've got to be credible. romney certainly has plenty, and, obviously, they've done a good job of beating him up along the way. jon: how do you explain, i mean, the spread between the two men on their favorable ratings seems to be growing. president obama seems to be winning the favorability contest -- >> because he's, for three months they have beat up romney, and romney's not responded. and bob and i were talking about this in the green room, why he hasn't had a biography ad, the good things he's doing, this is the time to define himself.

maybe he'll do it in the convention, but right now some of that stuff's stuck. >> be that's right. look, he came off of a very divisive primary season, so he had some negatives in that going into this thing, then the obama campaign beat him up. and and as ed said, why in the world with a wife and family like he has he hasn't put out his positive case, and during the olympics, he doesn't talk about that. i don't get it. jon: here's a statement or a question, actually, asked by the romney campaign. andrea saul, the chief spokesperson, put this out today. where is the outrage for the obama campaign's reckless and blatant disregard for the truth? that's referring to the steel worker ad. the question might be asked, where is the outrage coming from mitt romney? is this something he needs to address head on? >> he was a little more aggressive this week than he's been, but he should be outraged about this, about david buff taking $100,000 from the act keys -- jon: iranians.

>> there's a lot of things he can nail them on. the attack needs to be about the economy. this administration has failed and failed miserably, and you need to keep that focused on that. >> but you know what this reminds me of? remember when bob dole says where is the outrage in '96 about clinton? he kept saying that, right out of the campaign, where's the outrage? where's the outrage? people sat tobacco, and they weren't outraged about it. a lot of these things it's like putting a rabbit out that you have to chase around. the average person doesn't think about those kind of details, but the campaign has got to deal with it. and also let's remember that romney's spokesperson came up and introduced romneycare into the dialogue which is something they've been staying away from scrupulously. and i don't know why they did that. >> no. i mean, i think she, you know, got thrown off guard and, basically, at the end of the day, it didn't have an impact. it made the conservatives very unhappy. >> yeah, i'll bet. jon: we got the scorecard from ed earlier in the segment, he says essentially the week was a

tie. where do you put it? >> oh, i think obama won it pretty easily. but after coming off a couple of losing weeks. so i think he was bound to get one coming back his way. the question as ed pointses out is now it's a week by week slug fest, and you've got about, you know, 15 weeks left, and it's going to be week by week. and it will turn. >> if he doesn't dominate with his vp choice next week -- we can't drag this thing out any longer -- and going into his convention, he needs to own the next three weeks or he's going to have a hard time. >> yes, i agree with that. jon: how, just by dominating the news cycle? >> when we sit here next week and the following week we've got to say great choice, great convention, whatever, and if he doesn't do that, then obviously he's going to be -- to have a hard, uphill battle. >> conventions are archaic to most people for good reason, but they highlight -- you put your best foot forward. if you don't come up with a good vp pick and you don't control that well, frankly, i don't

think you have got must much ofa chance. >> you can't have the donald trumps and rick santorum's taking the play away from you -- >> and don't you think it's got to be willing to take obama on? >> not in his character, i agree totally. jon: ed says it was a tie, bob says it went to the president. we've got about 12 weeks left to go. it'll be fun to talk about it. ed rollins, bob beckel, thank you both. jenna: well, jon, it's a grueling challenge that most of us would not think is possible. and i'm not talking about running for president, i'm talking about this iron man. 150-mile race, just about, over land and water. it's coming to the big apple. it's a historic moment for this race. we're going the get a preview coming up. and home prices rising, but one of the nation's most well-known economists says you can forget about the housing boom coming back anytime soon. he's going to join us next.

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jenna: well, the nation's struggling housing market showing some signs of life. we talked about that a little bit this week. there's some new reports pointing to slowly rising sales and even rising home prices as well. the average home price nationwide is now $181,000, just above that, that's a 7% increase from this time last year, so it is going up a little bit. my next guest says while a boost

in housing will help the economy, the go-go days are not coming back anytime soon. austan goolsbee from the university of chicago's booth school of business, you know him as one of the top economic advisers of the president early on in his term. so what's a better job, being a professor or advising the president? [laughter] >> well, professor at chicago's the greatest job on earth: jenna: oh, really? >> the other's a great experience. jenna: they both sound pretty good. it's nice to have a job these days regardless. >> that's true. jenna: you say the go-go days of housing are over, so what does the new housing market look like, or what can we expect in the years to come? >> well, it's a super important question because we got lulled into a false sense over the ten years from 1996 to 2006 that was totally different than any previous period in u.s. history. we went for 70 or so years before that house prices rose about 1% a year.

after inflation. and over that ten years they've rose about 12-15% a year. so we have a collapse, that was a bubble. we have a collapse, now it's great news that we're turning it around. but it's not going back to growing 12, 15% a year. it's going to go back, most likely, to what was the old underlying, slow trend upward, that houses are not primarily a big financial investment, it's a slow, steady turtle kind of thing -- jenna: interesting -- >> so everybody needs to understand that. jenna: let's talk a little bit about that because it's been such a part of the american dream to buy a house. what does that look like, the white picket fence and having your family in a home, and you just mentioned it being one of the biggest investments most american families have made in the past zell years. so does that remain in the years to come, or is something shifting in the economy where the home for the family isn't the biggest investment, and something fundamentally changes? >> well, i think it's still going to be the biggest investment for most families.

but we've probably got the share of people owning their own home up a little higher than was sustainable, you know, at the peak of the boom. so i think as that's come down it's going to rebound a little. houses are very affordable by most metrics now. prices are down, interest rates are historically low. if you can qualify for a mortgage, it's great time to buy. but i think a little adjustment to not necessarily what is the american dream, but an adjustment to where do we expect the overall economy to be getting its oomph from? in the 2000s the oomph came from two things, building houses and all the related industries to that and consumption growing faster than was affordable, faster than income was growing. and those two things were not sustainable. and so people should get out of their head that we're about to go back to what we were doing in 2005, and that's why it's taken a long time to get out of this

recession is because we can't go back to doing what we were doing right before. jenna: well, as you mentioned, we were living a lot lot on cre, you mention with the the consumption. but to your point where you have these prices that seem like they're affordable in the grand scheme of things, these low interest rates that a lot of people can capitalize on if they can qualify, some have suggested this financial crisis was a housing crisis to begin with, so if you fix the crisis, then everything else gets better, the job market, everything. do you agree with that, or do you think the center of this crisis still is something else and it won't really happen if the housing market completely recovers? >> yes and no in whether i agree with it. yes, it's true, but that can tent you into -- tempt you into doing things that are not very smart. if you could go back to housing construction and house price growth of 15% a year, there's no question that would make people feel a lot better. but we're turning this there was

an actual headline in on on. nation demands new bubble to invest in, and we can't do that. that's not -- going back to the reinflating the bubble will definitely not work. now, you can still have -- and we had for many years -- pretty sustainable, steady, good job creation coming from construction, manufacturing related to the housing sector, you know, furniture, carpet, stuff like that. jenna: sure. >> but that's just not going to be the outsized contribution that it had in the 2000s. we've got to have more investment, more exports, more manufacturing, stuff like that. jenna: i never heard you quote from the onion when you worked for the president, but i'm glad you brought it up now. where is the next bubble, that's a good segment in the future, we look forward to having you back. thanks for the time today. >> where okay. great to see you again, jenna. jon: well, there is the joy of an olympic appearance and the agony of harsh media coverage

that comes with it. our news watch panel breaks down an article in the mainstream media that caused hurdler lolo jones to break down during a tv interview. ♪ ñuó

jon: sports reporters can be brutal when it comes to the perceived failings of professional athletes. brutal also the word being used to describe a story in "the new york times" this week about lolo jones, an american hurdler competing in the olympics. the opinion piece, published two days before her big race, attacks her athletic ability and ripping apart her image. the times' sports reporter writing, quote: jones has decided she will be whatever anyone wants her to be; vixen, virgin, victim, to draw attention to herself and the many products she endorses.

well, jones went on to compete in the hurdles. she finished fourth and broke down in tears the next day while talking about the attack in the times and arguing that u.s. media should be more supportive of american athletes. >> just tore me apart, which is heartbreaking. i'm not, like, you know, he didn't even do his research, calling me the anna kournikova of track. i am the american record holder indoors, i have two indoor titles, and just because i don't boast about these things, i don't think i should be ripped apart by media. i laid it out there, i fought hard for my country, and i think it's just a shame that i have to deal with so much backlash when i'm already so broken hearted as it is. jon: broken hearted because she missed the bronze medal by a tenth of a second, she missed the gold by a quarter of a second. joining us, judith miller, pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter and author, kirsten powers is a

columnist for the daily beast, both are fox news contributors. has either one of you ever been a female hurdler? [laughter] i didn't ask that in my research. >> i wish. jon judy, you think what the times did was terribly unfair. >> oh, i think even the ombudsman of the paper, arthur brisbane, said it was unnecessarily harsh. now, it was marked opinion for those who know, it's called the column by a very experienced, very able journalist, jerry longman. he's very good, but many people didn't know that this was an opinion piece, and they thought it was a news piece, and it was so harsh on her. it was so unforgiving. jon: well, let me bring up specifically the quote that arthur brisbane wrote after that piece evoked so much backlash. he said: sometimes this approach -- the opinion approach -- results in too much opinion appearing in news columns. in this particular case i think the writer was particularly

harsh, even unnecessarily so. so the public editor says we went over the line, but you, kirsten, do not -- >> i do not agree. and i think people might be surprised, actually, because i often would conjure this defense of the woman in this situation. but, look, it was an opinion piece, and the truth of the matter is what he was really writing about and even to her point, he never called her the anna kournikova. he interviewed somebody who said that, so that was not his opinion. but the point he is trying to make is there are actually two other american athletes whose names we don't even know really, you know, unless people are really watching this closely, have gotten no endorsement deals, have gotten no media coverage even though they have medals when this person who didn't each get a medal is getting all this media attention. what about these women? how does she become the victim when these other women have been completely ignored? and then in terms of him talking

about stuff about her, the one who put it out there. she's a woman. she's at least 30, you know? jon: she is 0. >> yeah. she's at least 30. she's a woman who's put herself out there, she's made the best of her situation, and kudos to her. >> yeah, what's wrong with that? >> but she cannot complain about media coverage that's critical of her. >> oh, yes, she can, when she's really being attacked. >> it wasn't an attack. >> it was an attack. the only two people quoted in the entire piece are negative quotes. he left out the fact -- wait a minute, he left out the fact that she had pine spinal surgery the year before, her own extremely heart-wrenching back story -- >> but hasn't that been covered extensively? >> but not in his column. if somebody's reading this -- >> this is what bothers me. i'm a columnist, and this kind of stuff drives me crazy. it's like, i don't know, i had 800 words, and this is what i was writing about, and the entire world is -- >> why beat up on the -- >> he's not beating up on her.

>> he was. >> he's writing an article about that, and why is he not allowed to do that? i don't understand. jon: you pointed out there are other athletes on the team who have notable successes, but she is twice the indoor champion, the national champion in indoor hurdles, apparently, no other woman has done that before. >> that's right. >> and she's gotten plenty of media coverage. his point was what about these women who have won medals who, by the way, have been interviewed about this issue and are very upset about the fact that they are completely ignored. jon: we have been running photos of her competing on the track. let's show the photo that aroused so much, i guess, ire, so much negative attention to her. this was espn, the magazine, back in 2009. this is the pose that so many people find so offensive, but what doesn't get noted is the small type there. that's a quote from her coach at lsu, dennis shaver, who writes: she has the perfect core which is where her horsepower comes from. her abs are like a washboard,

all muscle fibroer and no fat. you don't get like that without proper diet and training, and then even then you'd need lolo's determination. that gets lost in the coverage of that photo. >> it certainly did. and the back story gets lost. and, kirsten, i'm really surprised you can make -- >> what back story? i don't understand. >> you can make the point that the media likes some people and that companies choose to use some people without beating up on her, without demeaning her or her achievements. >> no -- >> and the fact that she's a self-proclaimed christian, virgin and comes from this poor family -- >> as does one of the other girls. an amazing story that's been covered ad nauseam. >> she's beautiful. why should we hold that against her? >> the point he was making is she gets a disproportionate amount of attention even though she's not on the same level as these other women. and, i'm sorry, but the whole born-again christian and posing naked thing, i don't think they

go together, call me crazy. she has to be ready for that kind of stuff. we're not holding her to your standards or my standards, we're holding her to her standards that she holds out to the world, and she has to expect -- >> kirsten. >> i talk about myspace all the time, and if i posed like that, i would expect to hear about it. >> she works six days a week for four years for this moment, and two days before someone chooses to beat up on her? i think it was unfair. jon: you can see why the arguing, the arguing over that article and poor lolo jones goes on. we'll have more of this coverage on news watch hosted by yours truly this weekend. [laughter] thanks for joins us. -- joining us. we'll be back with more "happening now" in just a moment. [ male announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role throughout our entire lives.

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jenna: well, the iron man, famous for its unparalleled test of durability, now coming to the

world's biggest stage, new york city. set to host the first-ever "iron man" triathlon this weekend. you bike, you run, you swim a total of 140.6 miles. joining me now, victoria broomfield, the iron man u.s. championship race director. it's funny, we were just talking about one track athlete. the race lasts 12 seconds, this race can last 12 hours. >> 12 hours. [laughter] jenna: what do you anticipate as far as how long it takes some of these athletes to complete the entire race? >> well, 12 hours is a fast race. our fastest athletes will do it in eight hours, and we have a 17-hour cutoff time, so you'll see athletes crawling across the finish line at midnight. jenna: you actually see them on their hands and knees? >> oh, yeah. these athletes -- as you may know -- jenna: as a disclaimer, my husband is completing -- >> anddown when he's expecting to finish? >> a little bit more than 12

hours. >> these athletes have been training for more than a year, so they're here to finish it. this is going to be a huge accomplishment for them, so even if they have to crawl across the finish line, they'll do it. jenna: i know at this point they will do it. 140.6 miles. why? i mean, why is that even the distance? why does anyone do it? >> it actually started over 0 years -- 30 years ago in hawaii, and those were the distances of three existing races. there was an open water swim, and it still exists, it's 2.4 miles. there's a bike around oahu, and there's the hon lieu rue marathon, and a bunch of guys wanted to decide who's the toughest, so they put it together, and that was the start. jenna: a few thousand people competing, a huge accomplishment to bring this to the city. but we have a storm in the city, a sewage pipe that decided to burst this week into the hudson river -- >> well, nothing in new york is easy. jenna: that's true, victoria. >> yeah. we definitely have some hurdles,

and we're working with all the agencies to make sure that we put on a safe event. clearly, safety's our number one priority with the athletes, we want to make sure that your husband has a great day -- jenna: everyone can follow us, by the way, on twitter. i'll be tweeting throughout the race with pictures. victoria, thank you for coming in. we're excited about the race. >> thank you. good luck to your has. jenna: thank you. we'll be right back. uhuh yep uch let's find you a room. at hotels.com, you'll always find the perfect hotel. because we only do hotels. wow. i like that. nice no. laugh... awe uch ooh, yeah hmm nice huh book it! oh boy call me... this summer, we're finding you the perfect place - plus giving you up to $100 at hotels.com

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when you combine your auto d home insurance wi liberty mutual. security, coverage, and savings. all the things humans need to make our beautifully imperfect world a little lesimperfect. call... and lock in your rate for 12 months. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? jenna: 140.6 miles. follow me on twitter. i'll have 14 hours of race pictures and be all by myself. you've got to keep me company for this race tomorrow. jon is going to do it. jon: not this year. maybe some other time. thanks for joining us. jenna: "america live" starts right now. shannon: with begin with fox news alert on the media fallout. top advisers to the obama campaign now admit -lg they were not telling the truth when they told reporters they had no

knowledge behind the charges in a controversial attack ad that blames governor romney for a woman's death. i'm shannon bream in for megyn kelly. jay carney holding the daily briefing as the controversy escalates. it started when field workers seemed to suggest that governor romney was responsible for his wife's death because he was laid off from bain capital and lost haste health insurance. it didn't ad up. campaign staffers insisted they did not know any details of the man's story. robert gibbs arguing that point on morning television. obama for america deputy campaign manager stephanie cutter said she didn't know the facts except she actually hosted a conference call in may that featured the man in the ad telling his story and she thanked him for it. obama for america traveling press secretary also seemed to be in the dark only to acknowledge late yesterday that, yes he was on the conference

call, he had even been in one of their own campaign ads. what is the media reaction to being lied to by three of the top people in the obama campaign so far? not much. chris stirewalt is our fox news digital politicsed tore and host on foxnews.com. it sounds like that admission was significant but we haven't heard a lot about it. >> you haven't heard a lot about it. part of that comes from the fact that there is a, how do we say, shannon, low threshold of truthfulness to sur mount in a political campaign there is a broad expectation that campaigns do try to spin and deceive, or at least elede reporters and don't answer any more than they have to. there is that. there is the other thing which has been well established over time is that democrats tend to pay less of a price when it comes to negative campaigning, when it comes to these