instead he called police. no sign of his precious faux flamingos. he understands that police have more important things to do. >> more important than pink flamingos. get them back. turn yourself in. "happening now.". >> bye. jenna: we'll start off with this fox news alert. new jobs numbers this morning, signaling a struggling economy. u.s. employers adding just 96,000 jobs last month. job creation now trailing last year's pace when you look at the first eight months of this year, which is the information that we have. the labor department says the unemployment rate is down. it is down to 8.1%. but only because more americans gave up looking for work. steve moore, senior economics writer at "the wall street journal." steve, big news today but only a snapshot of just one month. what is the most important headline to you? >> jenna, you gave the glass half-full which the unemployment rate did fall. that is a very positive

thing. the negative, the glass half empty scenario, you're right the unemployment rate dropped because more and more americans dropped out of the labor force. that 96,000 jobs number may sound good to people but remember, jenna, we need 150,000 job as month to keep pace with the natural growth of the labor force, when people under the labor force graduating from college or new immigrants. so it was a pretty discouraging report coming just 10 hours after the president gave his speech last night talking about how the economy is improving and we're going to move forward. these are not the kinds of numbers most americans wanted to see. jenna: steve, thank you very much. you will take questions from our viewers. we always have good ones on twitter, including one from lee wants to know why, why is the labor force shrinking? is it because of retirement? lee has the question. we'll see if we get him an answer in 45 minutes. steve, thank you. >> thank you, jenna. jenna: america is asking what do the numbers say about the recovery? our panel weighs on that in

a little bit. send questions to happening now@foxnews.com. that is our e-mail. on twitter, happening now or to me. write it down on a friday. we have a number of big stories to get to and breaking news. jon: democrats launching attack after tack on governor mitt romney in charlotte. for the first type the republican presidential nominee is reacting. he sits down with our own bret baier just moments from now. we'll have it here live. plus a scare in the air for passengers on a us air jet. how a hoax got a man arrested and what police are saying what happened. after a five-year legal saga, drew peterson is found guilty of killing his third wife. the state attorney says there could be new charges against him. it is all "happening now." jon: and good morning to you,

after another late night, watching the democrat tech convention last night. jenna: that's right. jon: been a couple of weeks of late nights. jenna: it has been a couple of weeks. now it is over. we can move onto the debates. jon: and the election 60 days or so from now. i'm jon scott. jenna: i'm jenna lee. party conventions are finally over. today the president and governor romney are crisscrossing some very key battleground states including new hampshire where four electoral votes are up for grabs. not a big state but a very key one in this election. jon: they're going at it big-time. highlights from the democrats final night in charlotte. >> it took president obama, against the advice of many, to give that order and finally rid this earth of usama bin laden. ask usama bin laden if he is better off now than he was four years ago. [applause] >> america is not in decline.

i've got news for governor romney, and congressman ryan. gentlemen, never, ever, it never makes sense, it is never been a good bet to bet against the american people! [cheers and applause] never!. >> now i won't pretend the path i'm offering is quick or easy. i never have. you didn't elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. you elected me to tell you the truth. [applause] and the truth is it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades. it will require common effort, and shared responsibility, and the kind of bold persistent experimentation franklin roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than there one. jon: well, while the president only mentioned governor romney by name once, he repeatedly attacked

republican plans for medicare, defense spending and taxes saying their policies would take america in the wrong direction. tom beavin, executive editor for "real clear politics". let's talk with him now about all of this. the president said i'll tell you the truth. those jobs numbers that are out this morning throw a big wet blanket on a lot of what he had to say last night, don't they? >> they do, jon. that is one of the worries of the white house they have known this jobs number would coming out for a long time. >> let me interrupt and the president knew what the jobs number was before he gave the speech. >> that is what some people have said, yes. that he got the jobs number last night. so he knew that before going out. so they knew, if you had a good jobs number would have really reinforced his message and the argument that, yes we're better off or the country is moving in the right direction. bad jobs number like this one, it does, sort of

undermines his argument and throw as wet blanket over his convention coming out of the convention heading into the general election, no question. jon: "real clear politics" keeps tabs on all the polls nationwide and especially in the battleground states and average them out and give us and indication how these two candidates are doing. right now you have mr. obama ahead in florida, ohio, iowa, nevada, colorado and virginia. it is my understanding that the only one of the battleground states which mitt romney leads is north carolina. do i have that right? >> that's right. i think we've got, we've got eight races i think, jon, that are less than two points split between the two candidates. obama's leading in seven out of those eight as you mentioned. romney only leading in north carolina but again, very, very close in a lot of these battleground states. so you know, romney didn't get much of a bump out of his convention. we'll see whether obama gets any bump out of his convention but this looks like a locked in to be a very tight race over next

60-days. jon: advertising could be key here and republicans seem to be in a better position. they have more money to spend. we know mitt romney is rolling out 15 different ads in some of these battle ground states today to talk about, well i guess his plan and what the president has or hasn't delivered. >> right. again obama spent a boatload of money early on, hundreds of millions of dollars trying to frame romney and didn't get a whole lot out of it. romney has access to the general election funds. he will be able to outspend obama over next 60 days. the question whether his avalanche of spending will move needle in his direction. didn't really work for obama. we'll have to wait and see whether romney's ads have any positive effect for him. jon: both these candidates are going after the middle class. just about every speech mentions middle class. are you seeing signs that it's working for either side? >> not yet, jon. this race is pretty static. it has been locked in. only movement we've seen really since romney picked

paul ryan, he's risen in the polls certainly at national level and some key swing states like ohio, virginia and florida, tightened those numbers up. right now the race is tied. it is tied at the national level. as we mentioned in eight of these key swing states it is well within the margin of error of these polls. in some cases, less than 1%. jon: some suggest that the choosing of paul ryan sort of helped smooth out what might have been a convention bump for mitt romney? in other words he did it fairly early. he announced paul ryan's selection well ahead of the convention earlier than most and that may have served as his convention bump. do you agree? >> i do. and it did definitely energize the republican base. up until that point there is lot of enthusiasm of republicans voting against obama but not a lot of republicans enthusiasm for mitt romney. the pick of paul ryan helped

energize republicans that way, tom, i'm sure you were up late last night. thanks for joining us. jenna: governor mitt romney visiting battleground states of iowa and new hampshire today. more with carl from the romney camp. we know the numbers are crucial for this election, jobs in general. so far what is the romney camp's reaction? >> reporter: it is critical and comes as all things do in the wake of both conventions and they're making the argument that the president last night made promises that today's job numbers simply can't support. mr. romney is enroute to iowa where he has campaign events and back to a rally in nashua on the board of massachusetts. he wrote, quote, if last night was the party, this morning is the hangover. after 43 straight months of unemployment above 8%, mr. romney says, it is clear that president obama just hasn't lived up to his

promises and his policies haven't worked. we are not better off than we were four years ago. that obviously a big part of the republican messaging during the republican national convention. timing couldn't be worse for president obama which means is hardly could be better for mitt romney. jenna: romney is out with big ads today. what about this ad buy? what is it all about? >> reporter: well there are a couple of things involved with this. this is the first spending romney is able to do as nominee post-convention with $185 million he put in the bank before the convention. it starts owe out very early with eight states. florida, ohio, virginia, new hampshire, iowa, colorado and north carolina. "real clear politics" average of all the polls he trails in all of those with the exception of north carolina where the democrats just had their convention. romney is putting significant new ads. 16 individual ads tailored

for the states. notable to what states are not included. he is not putting ads on native state of michigan. no commercials as part of this purchase in paul ryan's native state of wisconsin nor in pennsylvania. in pennsylvania "real clear politics" average has romney down by 7 1/2 points. romney campaign is not pulling out of the states though the super pacs that support him stopped their ads too. romney campaign says they will spend much more. remain on the air now. full-on sprint with a blitz of ads that bill be tens of millions of dollars in this final 60 days. jenna. jenna: very interesting to see which ad markets they all go shopping in. carl, we'll continue to watch this throughout the next several weeks. thank you very much. bret baier sitting down with presidential nominee mitt romney. the first reaction to the democrats convention. you can see his exclusive live interview 10 minutes from now. what does he think about the jobs situation? it will be here on the fox

news channel. jon: cardinal timothy dolan giving the closing prayer at the democratic national convention. the cardinal prayed openly for life in all forms including unborn children. that is direct contrast to the democratic party's stance on abortion. listen. >> we beseech you almighty god to shed your grace on this noble experiment of liberty which began with the confident assertion of inalienable rights bestowed upon us by you, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. thus do we praise you for the gift of life. grant us the courage to defend it. life without which no other rights are secure. we ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected. jon: the new york arch diocese says the cardinal's appearance was not political. cardinal dolan gave a similar prayer to close out the republican national convention last week. jenna: now to california.

three moderate earthquakes rattling california this morning. magnitude 4 and 4.1. those big enough to wake you up in the morning especially around 6:30 or so local time. 3.2 earthquake hit beverly hills as well just after midnight. the second small quake there in just the past week. today's earthquakes less than two weeks after the swarm of earthquakes hit southern california. the earth is moving a little bit out on the west coast. jon: the stars are rockin' out there in california, right? beverly hills? who knew. some new jobs numbers raising fresh concerns about the state of our economy. what the white house is now saying and what it could mean for your employment prospects coming up. also jurors just found him guilty of first-degree murder. now the illinois state attorney says drew peterson could soon face brand new charges. a live report from chicago next. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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jenna: right now let's take another look at those jobs numbers today. big news today. it will be all over the papers tomorrow as well. the u.s. economy adding 96,000 jobs lastmont. that brings the number of unemployed people to 12 1/2 million right now. but the number of people who have stopped looking for a job is at 844,000. that's a big number and that's one of the reasons why we're seeing the unemployment rate come down. in the meantime the broadest

measure of unemployment, that big number we call the u-6, includes part-time workers, disgorged workers, workers with temporary jobs, that is at 14.7%. a total of 23.1. so one out of seven americans right now are either unemployed or underemployed. big news today. jon: new information just in on the drew peterson murder conviction. attorneys for the former illinois cop now say they will appeal the guilty verdict handed down by jurors yesterday. the jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the death of his third wife, kathleen savio. the state's attorney says peterson could face new charges in the disappearance of his fourth wife stacey. steve brown is live in chicago. how did we go from a jury that seemed deadlocked to a conviction in the space of less than two hours. >> reporter: it was bizarre

out there at the courthouse for two hours. 2:00 local time the jury submitted its, what would turn out to be its final question of the judge, asking for definition of the word, unanimous because jury verdicts need to be unanimous. apparently at the crux of the, at the, what might have been a singular holdout in that jury were those statements, those hearsay statements by stacy peterson which he essentially said she knew drew killed kathleen savio. >> i just had questions about hearsay evidence, some circumstantial evidence that was very compelling. i, and then the, other hearsay evidence. a lot of mixed emotions. the decision i think i can live with to be honest. >> reporter: and you mentioned an appeal. the defense team said there would be an appeal filed immediately and they're going to go after those hearsay statements that were

submitted in this particular trial. jon? jon: i know the savio family overjoyed with that conviction as well as the prosecutor, huh? >> reporter: yeah. the prosecutor, james glascow, who kind of kept it a little quiet. he said he was guardedly confident going into the jury deliberations and is really not the type to cut loose but yesterday he really did and saved his harshest words for the very end for drew peterson. >> he was a thug. he would threaten people because he had a gun and a badge and nobody ever took him on. we took him on now and he lost. >> reporter: now, glascow says he is going to reexamine the stacy peterson case but there is key, real important different ren between these two cases. if you presume stacy peterson is dead, in the case of kathleen savio there was a body to reexamine and reexhume and look at again. in the stacy peterson case there is not. jon? jon: still a mystery what

happened to that woman. steve brown live in chicago. thank you, steve. jenna: brand new information in the case of two missing iowa cousins. what police say about the vehicle the girls kidnappers may have used and how the public might be able to help find these two little girls on your screen. governor romney sits down with our very own bret baier for the first live reaction to the new jobs numbers and the president's speech last night. that exclusive interview just moments away.

jon: get ready for some commercials. governor mitt romney launching 15 new tv ads in eight key swing states. this on the day after the democrats wrapped up their convention. president obama hopes the three days of speeches and

promises for a brighter future will help win him another four years in the white house but polls show it is a very tight race in most of the key battleground states including new hampshire and iowa. that's where both candidates are headed today. talk about what lies head with monica crowley. radio talk show host and julie roginsky, former political advisor to senator frank lautenberg. both fox news contributors. you had a beaming smile. >> i whole week. talk about the energy gaps democrats are facing this year. i didn't see that i saw completely energized speech, if i can take off partisan hat and campaign manager hat for a second was all about appealing to the base. getting out the vote, to making sure people needs to get the to polls don't get to the polls. jon: those aren't the people need to get to the polls. he needs to sway undecided. >> couple things.

base needs to be energized. needs to tell them what is at stake and make sure they come out in november. secondly only 3 to 5% undecided. very small undecided. pretty much now it is all about candidates, tinkering at margins and make sure their guys go out and vote november 6th, monica, do you agree? >> no, no surprise. it was a faded xerox copy of speeches he has given since 2008. we didn't hear anything new. what he essentially was telling the american people is, trust me the next four years will be better than the four years we went through but my policies won't change. he has never given us any changes, tacking to the center being more pragmatic. there were no new vision there. no new policies there. most of the american people are at least disappointed if not flat-out outraged with the state of the connie and state the nation. if you look at recent polls it shows most americans

believe that the economy is in disasterous dire straits 2/3 of the nation believe that the country is on the wrong track. he spent trillions of dollars essentially for nothing and most of the american people have had enough of that. jon: 13 hours ago he promised a million new manufacturing jobs for instance over next four years. this morning we get the number from the labor department says four types as many people dropped out of the labor force as actually got jobs in august. that is pretty bad number, isn't it? >> listen not a great job creation number. 30 straight months of job creation. look what he inherited to go back to, to go back where the economy was before he inherited it. the last two years of bush's term. the monthly job growth was lower than it is this year. and that is something to bear in mind for people that want to go back to bush policies of the last cycle which is romney-ryan. something to notice under that plan, that is where it will get us. much lower job growth. >> bush economic policies which included two waves of tax cuts in '01 and '03

supported with bipartisan support led to 54 months of job creation and economic growth. most of the american people would love to see that. jon: we'll have to leave it there because we have a great guest coming up. julie roginsky, monica crowley. thank you both. >> thank you, jon. jon: this fox news alert. governor mitt romney now sits down for an exclusive interview with fox news for his first live reaction to president obama's convention speech last night. we were just talking about it with these ladies. you will now hear from governor romney himself. the president telling voters that the romney-ryan ticket would put america on the wrong track. he asked for time to fix the economy. this as the labor department releases those brand new jobs numbers showing very weak job growth in august. let's go to bret baier. he is with governor romney in sioux city, iowa, where the governor is campaigning today. bret? >> reporter: jon, good morning. we're joined by governor romney here in sioux city ahead of an event here in

iowa. governor, thanks for being here. >> thanks, bret. >> i want to talk about the democratic convention and messaging coming out of there in just a second but today the news about job numbers. 8.1% unemployment going down basically because people got out of the job market and 96,000 jobs created. your thoughts? >> obviously another disappointing monthly figure. the white house says you can't just look at monthly numbers if you if you look over the last several quarters, last several years you look at continued pattern we're not creating jobs we need to create to put americans back to work. for every net new job created about four people dropped out of the workforce. so we're going in the wrong direction. this is a very difficult time for the american people and by the way, wages are also not rising. so no increase in wages. declining wages, declining number of people being able to find work, people dropping out of the workforce. it's another continuation of a very bleak news on the employment front. >> do you think this weak

jobs report will spur the federal reserve into action and how do you think, if they do that, that might affect the election? >> i think it is hard to predict exactly what the federal reserve will do. i don't think there is any action that they're going to take that will have an immediate impact on the economy. frankly i think they shot a lot of their monetary bullets and those bullets aren't able to strike at a target that makes a real difference for the american worker today. what we really need is to have policies coming from washington that are fiscally sound and to get america back on track to having the kind of financial stability and foundation of economic growth that puts people to work. >> i've been told that you didn't watch the president's speech last night. that you read it. your thoughts about that speech and the overall messaging coming out of charlotte? >> well i was disappointed with the speech. of course it has been a disappointing four years. there was nothing in the speech that gives confidence that the president knows what he is doing when it comes to jobs and economy. as a matter of fact he

hardly even mentioned jobs or the economy. and for that matter, there is really nothing that he has done in the last 3 1/2, four years that gives confidence he knows what he's doing with regards to the jobs and the economy anyway. this has been a very disappointing time for the american people. he, in his speech laid out a few new promises but the old promises he gave he did not report on. the reason he didn't do that because he was unable to fulfill at the old promises. at the last convention he said he would cause incomes to rise. they have gone down. he would create more jobs. we don't have new jobs in america. we've seen new businesses start up. we're at 30-year low in business startups. he would cut the deficit in half. it's doubled. almost every indication what he would do last time he was running he has not been able to fulfill and what we saw and what we read with regards to last night's speech was a president making new promises which he also will be unable to fulfill and no new plan. no new ideas. no new, here's how we're

going to get the economy going. here are the specifics what it takes, nothing there. >> you know democrats charge that you didn't provide specifics down in tampa. now you're saying the president didn't provide specifics. >> i laid out the five steps would take to get the economy going. i've spoken about them throughout my campaign, about the five key steps that will get america's economy, creating jobs and rising take-home pay the american people want. and i can lab in great depth on those five points. you don't want to hear? so i'm very specific what i wail do to get the economy going. what the president said last night had virtually no new steps, no indication of what he's going to do other than he really wants things to get better and hopes to create jobs but now how he is going to do it. >> i would like to address a few specific things said in charlotte about you. president clinton said that no president could turn the economy around, the economy that president obama inherited in four years. could you have? >> well, i could have done a

heck of a lot better job than this president has. i wasn't elected so that is kind of moot. the point when this president was elected he and his team announced to the american people by now we would have 5.4% unemployment. now, had he delivered on that promise, that was his promise. i didn't demand he put that number out there. he put it out for the american people. had he delivered on that promise there would be nine million more jobs in america today than there are. that was his promise. i'm only holding him accountable by the measure that he himself put out to the american people. >> the auto bailout came out as a topic, arguably more than any other down in charlotte. democrats think they have a powerful attack against you. we have heard your explanation about structured bankruptcy and to be honest it doesn't really fit on a bumper sticker. but, what do you do to attract those voters in ohio and michigan and other states, tied to the car industry that may have been

swayed by the democrats messaging on this issue? >> well there's a nice chance in debates to talk about truth and fiction. i don't think many people understand that the president took the car companies into bankruptcy. they went into bankruptcy, exactly i proposed. the difference between us i would have done it earlier than the president did and saved the american taxpayers about $20 billion. that's a message which will come out in the debates and perhaps in ads. i don't write my own ads but, the message will be communicated to the american people. and i think they recognize when it comes to saving an industry and making more jobs for the american people, i've got a record that shows i know how to do that and president, who has been in office for four years has simply been unable to deliver what he promised. >> a few more things, governor. to hear several speakers in charlotte, and i don't think this is jump, they essentially saying you don't care about the u.s. military because you didn't mention u.s. troops and the war in afghanistan in your

nomination acceptance speech. we understand that you went to the american legion the day before and you talked about the service and sacrifice of the military there. do you regret opening up this line of attack, now a recurring attack, by leaving out that issue in the speech? >> i only regret you repeating it day in and day out. >> it came from charlotte. >> when you give a speech you talk about the things you think are important and i described in my speech and my commitment to a strong military, unlike the president's decision to cut our military. and i didn't use the word troops. i used the word military. i think they refer to the same thing. and of course going to the american legion the day before during the middle of our convention made it much bigger statement to our military and our troops than the president who did not go to meet with the american legion. i spoke to the vfw the week before. so i think our american military understands that i'm fully supportive of their effort. unlike the president, who we

understand from bob woodward's book at least from excerpts the president was and white house part of the author of the sequestration idea that would slash our military, i opposed that idea. think it is absolutely wrong to cut our military as the president is doing. >> governor, last thing, what's your sense of this race right now? i mean we're 60 days out. you're traveling the country. you're here in iowa today. what is your sense where things are and how important those debates will be? >> well, i think people will make up their mind as we go along here. i can't tell you when everyone will have settled down. a lot of people won't make their mind up until the day before the election or the day of the election. it is a horse race. we have two candidates that would take our nation in different directions. my direction is one that encourages the private sector again to create jobs. and the history of america has been a powerful and robust economy with great jobs and rising wages based on a strong private sector. the president's plan is to

build a bigger government. i don't know any nation on earth that succeeded in creating a strong middle class with rising wages based on building a stronger and bigger government. so we have got different paths ahead of us. i think people can look at the success of the president's path by looking at his record. over the last four years. if they like the direction they have seen, if they think we're headed in the right direction, why he may be their guy but i think if, if they take a look at the last four years, they will conclude we're not better off than we were four years ago and that means that they will support me. >> governor, we know you have a busy day here in iowa. we appreciate the time talking to us. >> thank you, bret. >> jon, send it back to you. tonight on "special report" we'll have more about this entire day with governor romney. send it back to you. jon: bret baier live in iowa with the governor's first reaction to the close of the democratic convention last night and the president's speech. bret, thank you very much. jenna: it will be a little bit of a domino effect much reaction now. you have reaction from mr. romney to the job

numbers to the democratic convention. just ahead we're going to speak to the head of the dnc. debbie wasserman schultz will join us with her reaction over all. what does the democrat party think about the jobs numbers and what's the plan? we have all that ahead. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america. >> our president understands the value of american opportunity because he has lived it. >> this is not the time to outsource the job of commander-in-chief. >> there is only one candidate in this race who is on our side. >> there is only one choice. reelect president barack obama!. >> if you believe in a country where everyone get as fair shot, then i need you to vote this november. >> i accept your nomination for president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> four more years!. >> final night of the

democratic convention. >> everybody in this room on their feet. >> already fired up in this crowd you can tell. >> reaching a boiling point. >> that is good time. >> the democratic national convention now officially closed. >> your voice must be heard in this election. >> now is the time to restore the promise of america. [ pilot ] now when you build an aircraft,

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jon: "happening now", new criticism of president obama and his jobs council. the group has monthly conference calls with senior obama administration officials but with today's new jobs number showing a struggling economy many are wondering what the council is recommending and what the president is going to do about it. jim angle live in washington with a look at that. jim? >> reporter: hello, jon. though job creation continues to be dismal as you saw this morning president obama has not met with the jobs council he appointed since january of

this year. the council recommended many things the president talked about such as importance of education but the president has ignored other recommendations including one that called for changes in the corporate tax which is now higher in the u.s. than anywhere else in the world. the council specifically called for what is known as a territorial tax system, meaning foreign earnings of american corporations which are taxed overseas are not taxed again when they're brought home. the council said in a release this year, many council members agree that the u.s. should shift to a territorial system of taxation in order to make america more competitive in global markets. it went on to say that most other developed nations have already done that and that adopting a territorial system would bring us in line with our trading part necessary, eliminating what they call the lockout factor. meaning corporations don't bring home foreign posts because they will get taxed again, robbing the u.s. of potential invest funds. last night however vice president biden ridiculed the idea. >> as a matter of fact, in

his budget proposal, in his tax proposal he calls for a new tax. it is called a territorial tax, which the experts have looked at and they acknowledge it will create 800,000 new jobs, all of them overseas!. >> reporter: now the president has also criticized that proposal. the u.s. has the highest corporate tax rate in the world at 35%. mr. obama would reduce it to 28. while romney would reduce it to 25. another recommendation was that the u.s. should increase energy exploration on federal lands but the obama administration reduced permits 39% compared to 2008 levels. the council called for a more efficient tax system by broading the base which means eliminating tax deduction which was recommended by the simpson-bowles commission and one of the proposals of vice-presidential nominee paul ryan. jon? jon: jim angle in

washington. interesting food for thought there. thanks. >> you bet. >> jon's report showing the recovery is still struggling to gain momentum at least when it comes to the employment situation. will the fed intervene? what the truth about these numbers? we have a lot of great questions for our panel today. steve moore, senior economics writer for "wall street journal." mike santoli, associate editor of "baron's" magazine. jeffrey frankel, former member of president clinton's coins sieve economic advisors. welcome to you all. a lot of questions from our viewers about the truth. mike wants to know what is the true number, the real unemployment number all americans should know. >> you should know all of them. should know they're also estimates. right now the number for august of 96,000 net new jobs is an estimate based on surveys, obviously the 8% plus unemployment rate is a real number. basically number of people would like a job and are looking and can't find one right now.

there are a larger number of underemployed workers or stopped working which is somewhere 15%. all of it kind of feeds into the same thing, a very sluggish and stubbornly unresponsive labor picture. one still showing positive job growth in the private sector. jenna: jeffrey one of reasons why the unemployment rate has come down because labor participation has dropped. the labor force is smaller. lee wants to know, why is labor participation going down? is it workers are retiring? giving up not looking for work? going back to school? what are you seeing, jeffrey? >> when you have a high unemployment rate for number of years workers get discouraged. we saw this back in the '70s and long term unemployment rate went up as a result. it is a reason why it is really urgent to get the regular unemployment rate down. but let me just mention how another one of these months where it is confusing that the unemployment rate shows one thing, fall from 8.3% to 8.1% is pretty good. that is usually what the

political economy models say get a president re-elected trend in unemployment rate in months or year before office yet jobs number or employment number disappointing if you look at total jobs rather than private sector jobs. jenna: steve, to jeffrey's point, trend looks better. if you draw a line the unemployment rate is coming down. >> the problem with that, jenna, look what happened this month, i was just raking through the new report before we came on. there was about a 360,000 person reduction in the labor force. that is an incredibly large number. those are those kind of discouraged workers that you were talking about a little bit earlier. and you know that question about what the real unemployment rate is, if you look at people who are discouraged, who stopped working, who can't find full-time work, this was this question arer's point, that unemployment according to new report is 14.7%. that's a lot of americans that can't find jobs.

that is one out of every seven. jenna: mike, one of the other questions we're getting what is keeping hiring down? you talk to a lot of folks every week on wide variety of industries. is it regulation? is it the fiscal cliff? higher costs? not enough skilled workers? we're hearing a lot of variety of things from the campaign trail. what do you lear. >> i don't think there is smoking guns. i don't think a u.s. economy growing less than go% where we are would suggest much job growth than we've seen. the world is in a slow path to say the least. this overhang of political uncertainty and potentially fiscal cliff at the margin maybe one more excuse not to do any hiring. firing levels have stopped. there is not a layoff wave going on here. it is all about companies nursing themselves with what they have. if you tell the average business person the economy will be 1.7% bigger next year than it is right now they could probably do most of what they need to do with who they have on the payroll right now. >> yeah, but mike?

jenna: go ahead, steve. >> you're missing a point which is one of the real negative overhangs on economy holding down employment is this big tax time bomb that will go off january 1st. businesses don't want to hire workers, jenna if the president is telling them by the way in four months i will hit you with a giant tax increase on your business. that is one of the things really suppressing employment right now and holding employers back from putting more people on their payrolls. jenna: a final thought from you, jeffrey on the tax issue but on issue from stimulus. we hear potentially the fed could take further action to help stimulate the economy. what do you think about that and also the tax issue? >> the fed will probably take some further action and that is probably why the markets reacted postively to this news but this is really a job for fiscal policy. i agree with the other speakers. part of the problem is that we've got this fiscal cliff, which is not just taxes. it is tremendous cuts in spending f we go over that fiscal cliff on january 1st,

even get close to it, that will send us back into recession. jenna: wow! we would like to avoid any and all cliffs on this show just for the record. just in general. mike and steve and jeffrey, thank you for the time today. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thanks. jon: we also like to avoid all recessions too. jenna: keep it on the road, right, jon? somewhere else. not here, please. hey, the head of the democratic national committee, shauls shauls dish debbie wasserman schultz joins us next.

jenna: we just showed you a live exclusive interview with presidential candidate mitt romney and his first comments on the jobs report and also on the democratic convention that just closed out last night and of course the president had a big speech as well to finish

things off. let's hear from the other side reaction to the convention and jobs report and what mitt romney had to say. chairman of the democratic national committee, debbie wasserman schultz joins us now. congresswoman, welcome to you. >> thanks, general in. jenna: the governor called this disappointing report. this is one month but this continues a pattern of the president just not getting it done. the theme of the convention was really about trust. why should we trust the president with another four years of our economy? >> well, we should trust the president with another four years of our economy because he brought us where we were hemorrhaging 750,000 jobs a month when we took office after he inherited in the previous six months from failed policies of the past a loss of 3 1/2 million jobs in the previous six months. and now, thanks to his policies, although we have a ways to go, this jobs report today is the 30th straight month that we've had job growth in the private sector. we now have created 4.6

million jobs in the private sector. we continue to have a resurgence in manufacturing and we made progress and are moving forward. we need to make sure that president obama has four more years as so we as he made the cast last night and we made the case this week we have president in the white house who understands if you work hard and play by the rules you have a chance for success not just people that are already successful and everybody should have a fair shot and pay their fair share. make sure in america everyone has a chance to live the american dream, not just people who are i have living the american dream. jenna: who determineses what's fair? >> well i think that base ebb ebb fairness making sure that banks are not too big to fail. consumers don't get run every because there show little regulation that industry and corporate america is able to put profits ahead of people. making sure that we have a president in the white house who passed 18 different tax breaks for small businesses not just focusing our tax

policy making it much better for millionaires and billionaires. asking more from the middle class to pay for those budget busting tax breaks for millionaires and millionaires. the contrast is very clear. mitt romney and paul ryan, they proposed the solutions that we should go back to the failed policies of the past like increases taxes on the middle class to pay for more tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. ending medicare as we know it. turning medicare into a voucher system. those are not answers. that takes us backward. president obama wants to move us forward. jenna: talk about the answers. mitt romney said this criticism of the president. he said that there is no big, new ideas that were presented. if you look back in the last four years the stimulus was a big, bold, controversial but big and bold plan to try to fix the economy. what is the number one big, bold, idea that the president is presented, is presenting to the american people when it comes to this economy and getting us really back, growing again and thriving?

>> well, maybe mitt romney was reading off his campaign talking points instead of listening to the president's speech like i know millions of americans did. the president is actually proposed three big ideas. one is that we would add one million manufacturing jobs. two, is that we would cut oil imports in half by 2020. and three, is that we would cut tuition in half, because we know that those are things that, especially cutting tuition in half, making sure like president obama has done, by increasing college aid, expanding pell grant grant, increasing amount of financial aid available and insuring we got big bangs out of the student lending business and insure we have direct loans going and insure that you don't have to repay your student loans anymore than 10% of your income. those are things that president obama made possible for young people and people changing careers midstream and in their adult life. jenna: okay. >> have opportunity to live the american dream and join the middle class. jenna: three big ideas there

according to congressman schultz. nice to have you today. >> thanks, jenna. good to be with you. jenna: thanks to our viewers for gabrielle giffords. that was a big moment. and a lot of talk from the viewers on that. look forward to having you back. >> thank you. ♪ don't our dogs deserve to eat fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet vital recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido

jon: the u.s. economy adds only 96,000 jobs last month as hundreds of thousands of americans simply give up looking for work. what those grim numbers mean in the race for the white house. a big week and lots of drama at the democratic convention, how the mainstream media covered it compared with the coverage in tampa last week. and leslie weakens to a tropical storm but could become a hurricane again, bermuda in its path and the u.s. coast could get big ripples. those stories and breaking news on a brand-new hour of "happening now." jenna: start the koup

countdown, 60 days until the election. the candidates are channeling on to the campaign trail. last night a big moment for the president and the entire obama campaign. there is no time to rest, the race is very close. the first and second families jetting off from the convention in north carolina straight to the battleground state of new hampshire. in a few minutes they are holding an event there. turning around hopping back o on air force one to go to florida. we just saw bret baier with mitt romney right now. jon: they move around a lot these days. jenna: do you think they are coordinating? jon: they seem to hit a lot of the same states. jenna: we are glad you are with us on friday. welcome to "happening now." jon: i'm jon scott. you are likely to hear more of what they got last night in charlotte with lines like this. >> they want your vote but they

don't want you to know their plan. and that is because all they had to offer is the same perscriptions they've had for the last 30 years. have a surplus, try a tax cut. deficit too high, try another one. feel a cold coming on, take two tax cuts, rollback some regulations and call us in the morning. [cheers and applause] jon: vice president joe biden also there making the case that president obama is looking out for every day folks and that america's best days are still ahead. >> folks, i've watched him. he has never wavered. he never never backs down. he always steps up and he always asked in every one of those critical meeting the same fundamental question, how is this going to affect the average american? how is this going to affect people's lives?

because of the decisions he has made, and the incredible strength of the american people, america has turned the corner. >> well the romney campaign as you might imagine quickly jumped on that last repark about turning the corner pointing out that 23 million americans are struggling without jobs with the unemployment rate above 8% for 42 straight months. today governor romney will be in two battleground states where president obama also has events today, iowa and new hampshire. that's where we found doug mcelway live in portsmouth. >> reporter: with both of the conventions now over the battle turns to eight key swing states including this one. new hampshire where the president is expected to speak in just about a half hour from now in portsmouth, new hampshire. he's going to be appearing with vice president biden and their respective wives, jill biden and michelle obama.

one key for the president here is to try to convince independent voters to stick with them but that hill got a little bit higher to climb with the jobs numbers coming out this morning, 96,000 jobs provided during the month of august, for every job provided four other americans gave up looking for work. here is the president speaking last night at the convention, encouraging people to stick with him. >> if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn't possible, well, change will not happen. if you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference then other voices will fill the void, the lobbyists and special interests, the people with the ten million dollars checks who are trying to buy this election. >> reporter: never mind that the democratic national convention just like the republican convention was chalked full with special interest and corporate interest paying for musicians, parties, booze, you name it. one difficulty tee is that the

mitt romney campaign is releasing a barrage of attack ads in eight swing states including this one. romney free to spend that $165 million war chest that has been withheld until the general election, until he got the official nomination. here is a bit of the ad that begins running today in new hampshire. >> here in new hampshire we are not better off under president obama. fewer jobs, higher taxes on the middle class, fuel prices have doubled. the romney plan, permanent tax cuts for middle class families, northern american energy independence, 59,000 new jobs for new hampshire. >> i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. >> reporter: the obama campaign also now at a $60 million disadvantage behind the romney campaign. the romney campaign banking on those attack ads to close that smidge on of a deficit in the swing states. the "real clear politics" average of polls now has romney down by 3% average points here in new hampshire, down by just

.2% in iowa. less than 1% in florida, less than 1% in iowa, john it is as tight as a tick you might say. jon: doug mcelway there in new hampshire doing a good job at keeping the audio in the background. thanks very much. jenna: daniel hennin skwrer is deputy editor of the "wall street journal"'s editorial page. i want to get quickly to other politics, including us, not the politicians. i have to ask you about the unemployment numbers. what are the political implications if any for the president, mitt romney or any of these guys, this one number? >> well, you know, that is a good question. what was perhaps the most praised speech at the democratic convention, not the one barack obama gave last night, the one bill clinton gave the night before. and one of the thins that was quoted over and over again from bill clinton's speech was no president, including me, bill clinton, could have done much of

anything with the economic conditions that we had. now wait a minute, we just got another bad unemployment number and barack obama has been president for four years. we have had higher than 8% unemployment for 48 months. the recession ended in early 2009. the growth rate in this country which after a recession should be at least 5% has never been much greater than 2% in the first quarter of this year 1.9, now in the second quarter 1.5 and it's clear that the economy is sinking. it is simply nonsensical for bill clinton to suggest that barack obama's policies have nothing whatsoever to do with the number one issue in this election, which is the state of the economy right now. jenna: one of the questions we're asking on "happening now" are where are the big ideas? who has the big ideas when it comes to the economy? we've heard some specifics from the president last night in his speech. let's take a listen to that. >> but unlike my opponent i will not let oil companies write this

count throw's energy plan or endanger our coastline or collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers. if you choose this path we can cut our oil imports in half by 2020 and support more than 600,000 new jobs in natural gas alone. [cheers and applause] >> independent dent experts say that my plan would cut our deficit by $4 trillion. and last summer i worked with republicans in congress to cut a billion dollars in spending. jenna: if we're the shareholders and he's the ceo that is giving us the presentation, do we still vote with him? >> i think you start a job search quite honestly. jenna. he says that cutting oil imports is going to create jobs, he doesn't explain how. another 368,000 people have stopped looking for work. what came through to me in that speech last night, jenna, was that barack obama has these

fixed ideas in his head. i mean here he's got this tremendously struggling economy and he's talking about how he has to invest in solar, wind and bio fuels. he's been saying that since the first month he was president. the other thing that he keeps talking about is how we seem to be in some sort of arm agreed done-like struggle in this country between the few and the wealthist and everyone else. it just seems to me that the president's obsession -gs as i call them, are not quite exactly relevant to the problem that is right in front of people's faces. jenna: one of your criticisms i'm gathering from the spaoefpl is you haven't seen the president evolve when it comes to economic policies and what he's learned over the last couple of years. but the same argument and criticism is levied on the republicans. you saw the president say that, two tax cuts and call me in the mourn. the republicans presenting any big, bold new ideas that will help us out in. >> i think mitt romney wants to pull back from sort of the regulatory overhang that is

causing the uncertainty that economic commentators describe all the time. i do think the one thing that obama said in that speech which was on it was when he said that mitt romney has really given no clear sense of what his tax cuts or tax policy would do to help the economy. i think that is a fair criticism. i thought that ad we just saw out of new hampshire talking about energy independence. what does energy independence have to do with the state of the economy right now? i think mitt romney high school a job to do himself. jenna: it will be interesting to see what they do over the 60 days and i hope you come back so we can continue to analyze it as well. thank you for your time. >> thank you. jon: fox news alert just hours ago the u.s. designating the pakistani-based haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization. the insurgents there are behind some of the deadliest attacks on u.s. troops in afghanistan. the group has been known for years. so why this designation just now?

jennifer griffin has more info on that live from the pentagon. >> reporter: well the military has been pushing for the haqqani network to be designated a terror network for years. policies going back to the bush administration and continuing under the obama administration made it so that the state department stood in the way of such a designation. today that changed. in a statement from secretary of state hillary clinton, quote, today i have sent a report to congress saying that the haqqani network meets the statutory criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization. that means the u.s. can start going after their finances. the haqqani group is a subsidiary of the taliban, its leader fought the soviets in the 08s and was supported by the cia in pakistan at the time. it has been the group most responsible for killing american troops especially in eastern afghanistan and for most of the large high profile attacks in kabul attacking the u.s. embassy in kabul last september,

attacking the intercontinental hotel in cab he will. >> the haqqani network for one acts as a veritable arm of pakistan's internal services intelligence agency. >> reporter: this accusation that pakistan's isa backed the haqqani network created an uproar in islamabad relations with the pakistanis went further into a deep freeze, one reason they have argued against listing the haqqani group as a terror organization for fear that its most high profile hostage would be harmed. last week a u.s. drone killed the son of the founder of the haqqani group. he was killed in that u.s. drone strike. now the question is whether the state department and others plan to take the financing of the haqqani group and follow it even if it leads them to islamabad.

jon: jennifer griffin at the pentagon, than you. jenna: a tropical storm is spinning in the atlantic threatening to become a hurricane, that is the bottom line. that's why we're watching it. we'll tell you who should be on alert and where it might be heading. jon: the democratic national convention is history. how did they do? did the president convince americans to give him four more years? two campaign veterans from both political parties debate it coming up. ♪ i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain

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jon: just into the fox newsroom, remember the famous hope poster that came to symbolize the 2008 obama campaign? the artist who created that poster was sentenced to two years of probation today. shepard ferry pleaded guilty to covering up evidence in a copyright case involving that image. he already settled a civil case with the "associated press" which owns the copyrighted photo

that became the basis of that poster. the feds accused the artist of trying to manufacture documents to prove that the copyright was not legitimate. he was also ordered to pay the government a fine of $25,000. jenna: fox news extreme weather alert. tropical storm leslie now picking up steam again in the atlantic. we are keeping an eye on this. chief meteorologist rick weymouth is tracking the storm in the extreme weather center. >> reporter: feeling much better about leslie than we were a couple of days ago. take a look at the atlantic. there are two storms. that one is michael, it's a hurricane. it's a fish storm, it will impact the fish in the ocean not impacting any land. this one is leslie, we thought it could get a little bit closer to the u.s. it's not going to happen. even bermuda now the track brings us far to the east of it. here is bermuda here is the track, it's on the good side of the storm. we'll get rain, winds at times,

30, 40 miles an hour here. the only impact from leslie is everybody across the eastern seaboard will have big rip currents. be careful swim out there. this is what we were watching, this is remnants of hurricane isaac we are not that worried about this one either. we'll see a little rain move in towards florida but we won't see that develop at all. what we will watch this weekend today starting where you see the yellow, could see a tornado or two with this certainly big damaging winds, a little bit of hail, tomorrow this potent system pulls off towards the east. all the big cities from portland, maine to the mid-atlantic you'll be seeing severe weather for saturday. jenna: you're going to be busy, rick, not a quiet time. >> reporter: sure. jon: a deadly and scary virus claims yet another victim as the u.s. sends a worldwide warning to anyone who visited one of our

most popular tourist destinations, yosemite. a lot of folks tuning in for the democratic convention with quite a few high points. so who won the week? our experts will tell us coming up. so anyway, i've been to a lot of places. you know, i've helped a lot of people save a lot of money. but today...( sfx: loud noise of large metal object hitting the ground) things have been a little strange.

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jenna: a few developing stories we are keeping an eye than for you here. a pair of wildfires burning in northern california and they continue to grow there threatening about a dozen homes in kalusta county. even as firefighters are making progress containing the flames but they are being fueled by a whole lot of strong winds and a lot of lightning as well. we'll keep an eye on that. three moderate eurt quakes in california are shaking parts of the state. two quakes striking south of san jose. the other in beverly hills.

no world whether it's in 90210. just kidding. there was a swarm of earthquakes in california over the last couple of weeks. we are keeping an eye out there. in syria two bombs exploding in the capitol of damascus this morning near two government meetings. friday is the day for prayer. it was near a mosque. at least five police officers are dead. jon: we are america's election headquarters your front row seat all week at the republican national convention and the democratic convention. there was michelle obama energizing the crowd on day one. president bill clinton showing he is still a star when he took the stage on day two. all warm up for the final night when president obama came out asking voters to give him more time to solve the nation's problems. we were expecting democrats to counter the republican theme, a big question hanging over the entire campaign, are you better off now than you were four years ago? so who won the week?

let's talk about it with a couple of political pros. bob beckel is cohost of the 5 on the fox news channel a former democratic campaign manager. ed rollins has taken part in nine political convention and is a fox news contributor as well. let's start off with the question and we'll get into some of the details. who won the week, bob? >> clearly the democrats did. but the republicans won the week before in tampa. jon: you just weren't here to tell us about it. >> that's right and i apologize for that. the reality is look i know there was the screw up on the jerusalem and god on that, but in the scheme of middle america they didn't wake up in the morning and say, gee that is terrible about jerusalem. the democratic party was energized. that's what they wanted to do. and clinton, this guy is unbelievable. i've never seen anything like him. >> unfortunately he's not running and this is a great week for the democrats, they had a great tradition, this is a traditional base convention.

they had their superstars. you couldn't get to see the union hacks in prime-time that gave the speeches. this is all about the base. at the end ever the day there was nothing knew. the democrats can get extraordinary speeches. the president gave his version of i had a dream. this is what america would be like, they every kid could go to harvard and all that is keeping us from that is republicans. i think the thing is where are we going to be four years from now and i don't think he answered that question. jon: who won the week in your view. >> the democrats. >> i was surprised that romney took obama on as hard as he did did knew. >> no i didn't. for a guy who lives off his popularity it's not the best place to go. jon: hasn't the strategy been to demonize mitt romney and make him unpalatable so when you get

in the voting booth you look at these two names and you want to stick with the person you know. jon: they are going to tr know. >> romney does not have a strong sentiment in the base of the republican party. the sentiment of the republican party is that they don't want barack obama. jon: all of the polls have said that the republican voters are more energize towed go out and vote than democrats. >> they may not be after this week. they are more energized because of a mistake leaving god out of their platform. they don't care about jerusalem, necessarily, the evangelicals do. th do. the vast majority of americans don't believe you can cut tuition in half in schools. the only way you can do that isee hrepl nature half the professorses and they are not

going to do. this was a speech about lots of dreams. jon: florida >> florida, virginia romney has to win. >> and he has to win north carolina. jon: for an incumbent president who has been in office for four years to be essentially tied and that's what the polls say nationwide. i mean you can look at the swing states, but nationwide these two are tied isn't that kind of a black mark for president obama. >> considering the economic conditions of the count throw i'm surprised he's not ten points behind. i think at the end of the day not only is it national polls, it's now state-by-state. it's a dead even race just about everywhere. >> one thing to say about that. the republicans are doing much better in red states than the democrats are doing in blue states so that does skew national polls. when you look at the polls in ohio there obama is wink eupg there. florida slightly. virginia up slightly. it's getting down to a handful

of states. and they all know it. it will be interesting to see romney unleash all the monies got. he had to wait to get the nomination. they said they are going to carpet bomb, right? >> i think both sides will have so much money on television it won't make any difference. what will make a difference is direct mail, phone banks, o alstuff which obviously democrats are more -- work harder at it. at the end of the day -- >> is anybody happier than local tv stations i can't imagine. jon: they are making a lot of money that is for sure. we have eight weeks to go. we'll convene you two goes to find out who wins each of them. jenna. jenna: a deadly disease outbreak getting worse. another death reported, and now the number of campers who may have been exposed rising to more than 20,000. we'll tell you about that just ahead. plus a top democrat racing alarm over the president's chances in a key battleground state. could voters in pennsylvania

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jon: fox news alert and some ferocious weather to tell you about in the phoenix metro area. the monsoons have hit. these desert storms sometimes called a haboob, come with a whole lot of rain and flash flooding. this is apache junction arizona on the east side of the metro area.

at least six people had to be pulled out of cars that were caught in the sudden high water that hit that area. also flooding in mesa. i will have to call one of my sisters who lives there to see how she is doing. 700 people without power as a result of these storms. we'll keep an eye on it from the fox extreme weather center. let you know more if the situation gets worse. jenna: jon, we heard a little bit from bob beckel and ed rendell on the key battleground states. they did not mention the state of the pennsylvania but we'll talk about it now because it is considered a battleground state. take a look at it. it has exactly 20 electoral votes. that is always significant no matter what state you're in. want to show you a little bit about the economy as well. take a look at the unemployment rate we have in pennsylvania. this lags the state unemployment rate behind the national. we'll get a fresh number for the state in a couple of weeks. we found out the national rate is 8.1%. pennsylvania more or less right around that. gas prices in pennsylvania,

more or less around the national average. take a look at the polls. a battleground state where you see the president ahead, when you look at "real clear politics" average of a whole bunch of polls. see him ahead of mitt romney 49% to 41%. if you look at the history in this state the voters in pennsylvania have voted democrat in the last five presidential elections. so is this truly a battleground state this time around? let's talk about this with our guests. he is the washington correspondent for the allentown morning call newspaper. colby, is it truly a battleground state? is there the possibility that pennsylvanians will vote republican this time around? >> jenna, that is the big question mark this year, we've been looking at that since may. is pennsylvania a battleground. it is always a considered a battleground. the presidential candidates have not spent a lot of time in pennsylvania and they haven't spent a lot of money

in pennsylvania and there is large democratic advantage so it might not be a battleground. jenna: ed rendell, the we can't, democratic governor of pennsylvania, don't get too excited democrats. there is still a lot of work to be done. what could make him nervous are or uneasy that this is not a sure thing. >> sure. you have to get out your base and get out voters in vote rich philadelphia, the swing suburbs, the lehigh valley where my paper is. if those voters don't come out we could see republicans win. we have republican governor. we have a republican u.s. senator. we have more republicans in the house. it is all about getting voters out. but if voters get out in southeastern pennsylvania then the democrats will win, obama will win. jenna: talk a little bit about the ground game that you mentioned because you're not the only one that talked to us about this. really the ground game is what a lot of local papers and reporters are taking a look at. what is the strategy? what do you see on the streets? >> sure. the obama team has 20 plus

field offices all around pennsylvania, they got in there very, very early. the republicans are just playing catch-up right now in pennsylvania but they do have field teams in pennsylvania. i think what the republicans are doing in pennsylvania is forcing obama to play a little bit of defense. they want to make sure that he is not too comfortable in pennsylvania but they're not investing a whole lot of time there. we'll see romney visit the state a little bit in the fall but not the way he will be visiting states like ohio, florida or virginia. jenna: do you think appearances by either of them, mitt romney because he is behind in the polls, will really make a difference? is that what pennsylvaniaians want to see? do they want that attention? >> i don't necessarily think that will make that much of a difference. i do think the president showing up in places like philadelphia does excite the base, does get people out. romney is probably going to spend time in western pennsylvania. that is where your white working class, so-called reagan democrats are. i think if he is going to

win pennsylvania he will focus a lot of attention on that side of the state hoping to get out voters there. jenna: some really great information for us today, colby. thank you so much for the time. >> thank you. jenna: washington correspondents allentown morning call. we'll check back in with you next couple weeks. nice to have you on the program. >> thank you. jon: an update we've been following on "happening now." the deadly hantavirus outbreak in yosemite national park goes from bad to worse. harris faulkner is in the newsroom. >> reporter: jon, you mentioned. it was bad when it was 10,000 people potentially they were looking at. now they say it is wider. how many people may have been infected by this roden rodent-spread virus. they're looking at a possibility of 22,000 people they want to track down who may be in danger of being infected. today we learned of a third person dying. let's now revisit real quickly how serious this is but also how rare this is. the cdc report from 93 to

2011 there were 587 cases. you can not get the hantavirus from another person. it comes mostly from rodent droppings. the problem, the virus is deadly. about 30% of the people who get it die. that means if 10 people have it, three of them will die and there is no cure. it attacks the respiratory system very rapidly. at yosemite park this hour they're shutting down and disinfecting tent after tent. they have been doing this for a couple of weeks. what is different now first they thought the virus was limited to one area of the enormous park. now they're saying, no, they will look at tent cabins in many different locations. the world health organization has issued a global alert this week regarding the hantavirus cases in yosemite. they're telling travelers all around the world who come here for this destination point, yosemite, to avoid any exposure to rodents on the trails or anywhere in the campsites. and that can kind of be tough though, jon because

you can pick the stuff up from contaminated surfaces. you might be eating your lunch or sleeping in a sleeping bag on an area that has a rodent population or droppings. also it is spread by their saliva. they want people to be very vigilant about cleaning surfaces. about putting things down when you're eating and sleeping. tough for them. 22,000 people they want to look at now. that is the big headline. back to you. jon: those people from all over the world. i mean as you point out yosemite draws folks from all over this globe. >> you got it. jon: harris faulkner, thank you. jenna: overheard in and around charlotte, quote, one of the greatest or atores of his generation. grand slam. kennedy magic. just some of the language from journalists, not pundits about the democratic convention. we'll talk a little bit about the coverage. the "fox news watch" panel weighs in. how was it covered exactly? plus coming together for our wounded and fallen

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jenna: fox news alert. we'll take you straight outlive to denver where harris, you're watching actually something happen in progress right now. >> reporter: yeah. actually i've gotten off the phone from the denver police department. i'm trying to get more details. here is what they're confirming so far. they got a call to go to a radioshack. when they showed up, this is east colfax avenue in denver area, if you're familiar with it is right in the center of town. when they showed up shots were fired police say, at them. they can not confirm of reports of witnesses who say they are hostages inside the radioshack. we want to tell everybody this vantage point is from google earth. they set up a three-block barricade to keep people back. they believe all the suspects, however many, we don't know, are still inside

the radioshack. we don't know if anybody has been hit by any bullets or how many people would have been in the radioshack at the time. all of this came in as a robbery in progress. this story is about 25 minutes old. we will continue to follow it and let you know what is happening inside there. back to you. >> harris, thank you. jon: on the job hunt right now, disappointing new numbers today. american employers adding only 96,000 jobs in july. that's not even enough to keep up with population growth. the job picture, even bleaker for america's veterans. but some companies are stepping up to the plate. phil keating is live from miami with more on that. phil? >> reporter: hi, jon. one of the most challenging things for veterans returning from afghanistan and iraq is making big transition from a war-like mentality to say one of domestic tranquilty especially when it comes to finding a job. they come back from war with

a special set of skills and when employers actually realize and value that, well the jobs can be found. five years ago in iraq he loaded f-16s with lethalfy power. >> anywhere from 500 pounders to sidewinder missiles. >> reporter: in 2007, a roadside bomb destroyed joshua's kneecap. >> i come back and what am i going to do? >> reporter: that's the ultimate question in a major challenge stressing most veterans. after months of looking, he landed a g-4-h s security solutions. he hooked up with ryder corporation managing drivers. >> it took me a while to get my foot in the door. in part showing up every day until i made sure i got the job. >> reporter: verizon, jpmorgan chase use job fairs

to specifically recruit veterans. ryder hopes to hire 1,000 vets over the next year. g-ss, 6,000. >> they know how to follow orders. they will not question authority.s v >> reporter: job recruiters say vets arrive highly adaptable with war tested experience accomplishing the mission. >> i would tell any employer you're missing a tremendous opportunity if you're not offering employment opportunities to veterans. >> reporter: what really helps a lot of veterans is being told by some job recruiters at job fairs how to sell themselves in the job interview. you have to set aside all of that army and marines, air force, team work and really sell yourself as you are the one for that job and don't accept no for an answer. jon. jon: could to see more of our veterans getting jobs in that terrible climate. phil keating. thank you. jenna: over the past two weeks politics and party

conventions really taking center stage. we want to remember this tuesday marks 11 years since the 9/11 attacks. travis was killed in fallujah iraq back in 2007. his mother, who is also since passed away started a foundation in his name. it is one of the pillars of that foundation that is the 9/11 heroes run. so we want to tell you a little bit about it because it is happening this weekend. some 25,000 wounded warriors and regular folks like you and me will run in 5-k races in close to 50 cities and towns around the country and even internationally there are races as well. 50,000 spectators are expected at the races. the monies raised will go to charities to help military veterans and active duty troops as well as local charities, first-responders, things lying that. if you like to get out and show your support, find the race locations by going to the website, 9/11heroesrun.com. you canned find the link on

"happening now" website. what are you doing tomorrow morning any ways? get out and go for a run. we'll have the information at happening now.com and we will be back with nor l more the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor

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jon: right now, let's take a look at media coverage of the democratic convention, striking some as a little too fawning toward president obama and the a-list speakers we heard this week. for example, cbs news, bill plant, the white house correspondent, calling the president, quote, one the greatest orators of his generation. cnn john king, said the dnc gave us a homerun derby of speeches. in an interview with caroline kennedy cbs norah o'donnell and charlie rose talked about the kennedy magic that seemed to transfer to president obama. let's get into that with

"fox news watch" panel judith miller, pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter. cal thomas, syndicated columnist, both are fox news contributors. what do you think? did the media go overboard on admiration what the democrats accomplished? >> when i was girl i would say, is the pope catholic? i would say yes. there was a lot of coverage. you had 15,000 reporters to cover 5,000 delegates. so i just don't even know how those poor delegates got a chance to do anything, except kind of be interviewed all day. but, yes, it was fawning but come on, this is a show. it's a spectacle. the republicans had a good week last week. this was the democratic week. this was just over the top. i mean a little over the top. jon: cal, was the tone between the republican convention and democrat, was it the same? >> let me first say that judy, you're still a girl and always will be. the media moved out of the

tank into the bedroom. i mean there's absolutely nothing that obama can do is wrong or questionable. for example, brian williams of nbc was all over the republican platform wondering why it didn't have the exception for rape and incest on the abortion question. but the democratic platform he raised no questions about abortion on demand, even partial-birth abortion. there were no confrontational questions on social issues. only one with any guts at democratic convention was cardinal timothy dolan from new york who gave a pro-life prayer. i'm surprised they didn't boo him. after all they booed god. >> cal, we heard a lot about the god and jerusalem issues from the press. the press is more than just broadcast media. the press happens to be print journalism. ap did a very, very good story by the way all the things that the president and vice president said and they promised and compared it to reality and it was a rather harsh indictment of the speech.

>> let me give you one great moment. this was, what i would call chris matthews of msnbc's joe biden moment. here is what he said. i always figured if bill clinton landed on mars he would know how to do it with them. he would know how to reproduce. he would know everything. this is an interesting comment. i mean maybe this is the next generation of democratic voters. sending bill clinton to mars and father children with martian interns. >> consistent with chris's thrill up the leg, talking about different parts of the anatomy. jon: clinton did a good job. spoke for 50 minutes. it was even longer than 1998 speech that was so panned. >> it was very wonky and very extraordinary. i just wonder thinking about the independent voter out there, one million left in the eight swing states. when they listen to a 40, 50 minute rescitation like that and they look at the guy and look at his candor, gee,

what about that guy? can we pick him? jon: are the media pressing, you know, the president's speech was not filled with details. are the media pressing where's the beef? >> no, of course not. where's the beef. wonderful bob beckel walter mondale line. that was great. no they're not, they don't press in the same way because they are mostly in favor of the issues that the democrats articulate. but i will notice, point out one little thing. did you notice when bill clinton hugged president obama his face was to the camera and the president's was obscured? i don't think this was a coincidence. jon: interesting. we'll have to look into that more deeply. cal thomas, judith miller. good to have you both. join our panelists and me for "fox news watch" this weekend. we'll talk more about the media cover the parties conventions and the race for the white house. saturday afternoon, 2:30 eastern time. jenna: jon, back to the live situation going on on in

denver. we're hearing more reports that more shots were fired at a radioshack where a gunman apparently, there is mixed reports at this time has hostages. denver police say four schools in the area are on lockdown. this is glenco street in the middle of denver, right in the middle of the city. we hear the two suspected gunmen blasted out the front door of the radioshack with a shotgun and began firing on police. this is the live scene right now. we'll be right back with more breaking information out of denver today.

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