making news this morning, the gloves come f. >> republican candidates come out swinging in a make or break debate before this weekend's iowa straw poll. also, growing criticism. the white house defends the right for the president to go on vacation but really this issue is nothing new. and the era of gay marriage is putting new pressure on a puppet pair of famous friends. >> we're going to put this bert and ernie thing to rest. good morning, i'm rob nelson. >> and i'm tanya rivero. weary investors are crawling to a friday line. so far no wide swings lik we've

seen since monday. >> this week's epic up and down has most americans fed up and the republican candidates for president are sharing that anger. as you can imagine t tic number one at last night's big debate in iowa. >> but the field gets turned on its side as rick perry and undecided sarah palin arrive on the scene. here's abc's karen travers. >> reporter: so much for minnesota nice. last night's republican presidential debate on fox news turned into a bit festirslugfes between instate rivals. congresswoman michele bachmann and former governor tim pawlenty. >> her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent. she's got a record of misstating d making false statements. >> you said the era of small government is over. that sounds a lot more like barack obama if you ask me. >> isn't that about the worst thing you can say about a fellow republican in this campaign that he reminds you of barack obama? >> reporter: and

bachmann are fighting against mitt romney. that leaves the minnesotans as top contenders in this tradition considered a key early test. for pawlenty the straw poll is a make or break moment to show he can compete. for bachmann a chance to keep up her momentum. for the second straight debate romney emerged as the big winner simply by escaping without any major bruises. pawlenty and bachmann's grudge match allowed romney to keep his eye on the general election and launched this jab against the president over the debt ceiling compromise. >> look, i'm not going to eat barack obama's dog fofo. all right. what he served up is not what i would have done if i would have beenenresident of the united states. >> reporter: there were two notable absences last night, texas governor rick perry who stole some of the spotlight by announces hours before the debate he's launching presidential bid and sarah palin who's paying a visit to the iowa state fair today but still isn't a candidate. tanya. >> so some changes there, karen.

how is rick perry's candidacy expected to change the race? >> reporter: tanya, he could really shake up the field. one thing you keep hearing from republican voters and party establishment is they're not satisfied with the field. they would like others to get in and rick perry can certainly benefit from some of that apathy. right now mitt romney is the front-runner but that might be a tenuous position. they found he is a close second behind romney and can make strides once he starts campaigning and hits the road in south carolina, new hampshire and iowa and, tanya, that is, of course, when all of the media scrutiny will begin. >> karen travers in washington, ththk you. getting interesting for sure. while the candidates were in iowa president obama was raising money for democrats rat a pair of fund-raisers in new york. he talked about the frustrations of washington politics before a star-studded crowd including gwyneth paltrow and vera wang. on top of that the president is catching some heat even from some of his supporters who say this is no time for the country's chief executive to be

going on vacation but taking a break is a long white house tradition as sharyn alfonsi reports. >> reporter: it is but but with wall street's wild mood swings and the economy stalled, should president obama really be headed to martha's vineyard for vacation? >> i don't think americans would begrudge that notion that the president would spend some time with his family. >> reporter: but do we? president obama was vacatiohav and president bush was vacationing when ka between that hit. it wasn't until two days later he canceled his vacation flying over on his way back to washington. it was a tipping point for his presidency and his father didn't do himself any favors when the then president knee-deep in a recession was photographed cruising around on a pleasure boat off his approval his approval rating tumbled and then there was president

clinton. >> indeed, i did have a where with miss lewinsky that wasn't appropriate. >> reporter: he left for martha's vineyard too chelsea walking between her parents as they were whisked away from washington. it was president reagan who may have perfected the vacation during tough types and took a month's vacation during the recession in santa barbara butu made sure the press only saw him one time outside his ranch when he was seeping a recovery bill. sharyn alfonsi, abc news, new york. house minority leader nancy pelosi has named the last three people to sit on the super committee. the six democrats and six republicans have until thanksgiving to come up with $1.5 trillion in savings. now, congress does not approve their plan by christmas, automatic spending cuts to medicare and spending and defense spending would kick in. thth riots in england have claimed another life. a 68-year-old man attacked

monday has died from his injuries. overnight police remained vigilant and the streets were quiet. britain's prime minister said he's looking to the u.s. for solutions to gang violence and specifically to william broten who headed police departments in boston, new york and l.a. two marines who ejected from their doomed fighter jet spent four harrowing hours in the ocean n fore being rescued. they are recovering from their injuries at the naval medical center in san diego and investigators are trying to figure out what caused the plane to go down. after 40 consecutive days of triple digit heat that blistering streak in dallas is over. >> a little relief. temperatures soared to a mere 97 degrees in the city yesterday ending the stifling run twowo ds shy of the record set back in 1980. by 3:00 p.m. it dipped to just 84 degrees and today dallas is expected to hit 99. >> 84 must have felt like winter at this point. >> i know, welcome relief. now this morning's weather from around the country, stormy

with gusty winds, hail and flash floods around minneapolis, des moines, oklahoma city, kansas city and little rock. showers and thunderstorms in west texas and from billings to bismarck alo to gulf coast to new orleans to jacksonville and miami. >> 94 in atlanta and 84 in new york. kansas city up to 87. chicago, 81. minneapolis, 78. just 73 in seattle. 92 in albuquerque and 86 in salt lake city. oenix the hot spot at 102. coming up after the break, the latest face transplant recipient reveals her new look. post office pinkslips. slip. are 120,000 workers about to get the ax? >> "sesame street" producers forced to take a stand. are bert and ernie more than friends?

overseas markets got off to a quick start before losing some steam. tokyo's nikkei average lost 18 points today. hong kong's hang seng is barely up in late trading and in london the ftse is down early. now, on wall street the dow gained 423 points yesterday. the nasdaq index gained 111 points. and this was the fourth day in a row that the dow moved more than 400 point, something that's never happened before and one big reason for the upswing was the positive jobless claims report. positive corporate earnings reports also helped out. americans looking for more welcome economic news should watch the gas pumps.

energy experts say gas prices could drop 50 cents a gallon over the next few weeks. oil prices have been sinking amid the market fluctuations dropping below $85 a barrel in overnight trading. and the u.s. postal service is thinking about cutting 120,000 jobs. it also wants to make major changes to its retirement and health benefit plans. the moves would require congressional approval and likely face stiff union opposition. the post office is expected to lose $8 billion this year for the second straight year. newspaper theft is reportedly growing. thieves seem to be after those coupons apparently in some cases carting away entire newspaper vending machines. some newspaper sellers claim reality shows like extreme couponing may be making the problem even worse. and an upscale new york grocery store is having to backtrack after its will bester salad was determined to be a fake. zabar's had been selling it with

crayfish for 20 years until a report they are new orleans called them on it. it's been changed to seafare salad but still charging 17 bucks a pound only in new york. >> i worked in new orleans for years before i moved up there. one thing new orleans knows about is crawfish down there so it w w a new orleans reporter that identified the problem. >> but they're still charging 17 bucks a pound. >> new york, that's right. coming up next on this friday morning, football fans rejoice, yes, we'll have highlights from last night's preseason games. dramatic details of a hollywood worthy capture. the dougherty siblings in jail. ♪ we can't guarantee she'll always mind her table manners. we can't guarantee she'll be much help with the yard work. we can't guarantee she'll stay out of your personal space - not that you'd want her to - but we can guarantee that petsmart grooming... ...will make your dog look great.

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reported it with his cell phone camera. they eventually caught up with him and took him back to the slaughterhouse. >> run ago way from those fake lobsters at zabar's. flooding on i-35 from the twin cities all the way to oklahoma city. rain also drenches the plains and midwest. wet on i-10 from jacksonville to mobile and new orleans and slick from el paso to west texas. delays are possible in port minneapolis, kansas city and memphis. well, the so-called dougherty gang is being held in colorado this morning on more than a million dollars bail each. >> the sister and two brothers are facing attempted murder charges after a week-long manhunt ended with a dramatic police chase. the sister admitting she deserved to be shot. >> reporter: the three watched and occasionally smiled as the r judge read them their rights and set their bond at more than a million dollars each. all are accused of trying to murder a police officer. the oldest, 29-year-old lee

grace dougherty is in a wheelchair after being shot in the leg following that wild car chase and shootout. according to just released court documents she told authorities "i deserve to be shot" after pointing a gun at a cop. but she still denies the more serious charge of firing at officers as they chased the trio down a busy colorado interstate. her fiance back in florida says she called him from jail -- >> she wasas still upbeat. she was not as distraught over this as i would have been if i were in that situation. she just said, brendan, your girlfriend really messed up. why did you let me do this? >> reporter: also in florida the mother of lee grace and her brothers, 26-year-old dylan and 21-year-old ryan is reacting to the arrest. she told the associated press, i'm devastated and i'm trying to be strong for other family members. throughout all of this, i think everybody just wanted it to stop.

and now it's over. but the legal trouble for her children has just begun. while the trio is locked up here in colorado, prosecutors in florida where they allegedly fired at a police officer and georgia where they're accused of robbing a bank are eager to see them face any one any one of these crimeme could land them in prison for the rest of their lives. ryan owens, abc news, pueblo, colorado. a connecticut woman mauled by her friend's chimpanzee two years ago is revealing her new face. a boston hospital just released this photo on the right of charla nash taken after her face transplant. on the left how she used to look. nash put out a statement saying she'll be able to do the things she once took for granted like smiling, eating normally and kissing and hugging loved ones. >> amazing medical process, isn't it. one experiment plane that can fly 13,000 miles an hours that failed in a test flight. the falcon hype irsonic

technology vehicle lost contact with mission control 20 minutes after launch. it was the second time the plane had failed in a test run. the pentagon is testing technology to reach anywhere in the world within an hour. well, this may seem counterintuitive but scientists say knowing how the story ends increases our enjoyment and could make the spoiler alert a thing of the past. it may be a question of comfort. we process information more smoothly when we know the outcome. "sesame street" is saying no to a same-sex marriage between ernie and bert.ple have thousands of people have signed an online petition calling for a tv wedding between the longtime roommates but producers of the long-running children's program are making it clear that ernie and bert are just best friends. they say they are puppets that do not have a sexual orientation and do not exist below the waist. >> forget the economy. i'm glad we cleared that up. >> that's right. very important. well, the pro football preseason is finally under way. something many fans thought would nener happen.

ducis rodgers has the highlights. good morning. football is back. granted just the preseason but given the fact that football was nearly taken away from us, we'll take what we can look. the new look eagles with nnamdi asomugha taking on the baltimore ravens. third and long for baltimore. flacco finds his running back, out of the backyard. 3 for 6, 60 yards in limited action. how about michael vick? this is what he does best. from midfield, scrambles, keeps the play alive. long enough to find reilly cooper, a 42-yard gain. vick 4 of 6, 74 yards and a touchdown, eagles win, 13-6. broncos and cowboys, qb battle in denver. kyle orton running with the first team. first quarter, completes to eric decker for 29 yards. just 2 of 6, 37 yards.

tony romo, first action back, suffered a broken collarbone last season. play action to felix jones, he's got blockers, 16 yard, romo 3 for 5, 33 yards. orton in a battle with tim tebow for the number one starting job. tebow looking good. finds willis for a gain of 43 s. tebow 6 of 7, 91 yards. cowboys win this, though, 24-23. for all the latest sports highlights make sure you tune in to the highlight express every night, 11:00 p.m. eastern on espn news. i'm ducis rodgers. now to the play of the day at a minor league baseball game in mississippi. >> i love this story. military wife was chosen to throw out the ceremonial first pitch but when darla went to shake the catcher's hand she was shocked to discover it was actually her husband major michael harlow michael harlow had been serving afghanistan for the past nine months. he'll now get ten weeks with his family before heading back to

the war zone. >> what a wonderful surprise. can you imagine what was going through her head at that moment? said he did this once before. the first time she actually fainted so she's a little better right there. >> he's a romantic guy. that's great. up next the stories we'll be following later today. stay with us. i didn't understand it. i found out that connected to our muscles are nerves that send messages through the body. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia -- thought to be the result of overactive nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. and less pain means, i can feel better and do more of what matters. [ female announcer ] lyrica is not for everyone. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or susuidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior, or any swelling or affected breathing or skin, or changes in eyesight, including blurry vision, or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling.

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and now for a look ahead to ththstories we'll be watching on this friday. after a feisty debate last night, most of the republican presidential candidates campaign

in iowa ahead of tomorrow's key test vote in that state. mitt romney and jon huntsman and rick perry speaks. the week's final day of trading after four alternating days of big losses and big gains. futures markets suggest some give-backs today. the search f f clues and a body continue in aruba for missing american robyn gardner. the fbi is now on the scene and aruban officials are also requesting legal assistance from the u.s. justice department. garden vanished ten days ago and her traveling companion is being held as a suspect. >> sky watching are planning to watch the perseid meteor shower. a full moon may dim the show. president obama welcomes the green bay packers to the white house this afternoon. their visit was delayed during the nfl lockout. e season is back.

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new splenda® essentials™. next a pit bull attacks killing it's pregnant owner in pacifica. what is happening to help explain the tragedy. what police are saying about a brazen robbery that left two men locked in a warehouse overnight. >> looks like a minor warming trend but may not make it through the entire weekend. >> sue hall will take a look at friday morning traffic. join us for well, finally this morning another look at the wall street roller coaster that has investors and of course ordinary

americans at the edge of their seats. >> our favorite late night comedians are paying close attention to the volatile seesaw and struggling economy. >> the dow lost 519 points today. it is the single biggest since two days ago. >> for those of you having trouble understanding the meaning of all this bad financial news lately, let me put it in terps you might be more familiar w the economy is essentially planking right now. try not to think of this as a crash. think of it as a special wall street addition of "wipeout," okay? >> everybody is trying to make sense of these markets. luckily, the "new york post" explained it with today a cover story "crazy stox like a hooker's drawers, up, down, up." i personally look forward to more of this kind of analysis such as "london just like a hooker's genitals burning" and "somali refugees like a hooker's

libido always hungry" and "new york post front page hooker will say anything to get your money. >> i saw a man from the tv show hoarders having a yard sale. bert wanted to marry ernie just for the tax deduction. >> with the crazy stock market influx, the price of gold has shot up to almost $2,000. yeah, in in other words, flavor virginia flavor's mouth is now a millionaire and about to retire. >> the economy is so bad i saw cap'n crunch drinking captain morgan. that's how bad. the economy is so bad chinese are now demanding to be paid back in pace in pesos. i'll tell you how bad the economy is, the kardashians have now been downgraded to the judds. that's how bad. >> give it up for "the new york post" headlines.