campaign comedy. the candidates crack jokes about themselves and each other at a new york city event. but the president addresses a serious topic in an interview on comedy central. >> before americans get killed it's not optimal. >> terror trail. investigators piece together the background of the foreign student accused of trying to detonate a bomb in new york city. >> dust deluge. a massive dust storm triggers a multicar pileup on an oklahoma highway. the motor city celebrates as the tigers sweep the yankees sending detroit back to the wall street. >> the tigers are going to the world series. >> this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, october 19, 2012. good morning. thanks for joining us. i'm vinita nair.

president obama and mitt romney return to the campaign trail today after appearing last night at a catholic fundraiser here in new york. instead of contentious debate the dinner offered for more light hearted salvos. president obama's comments about libya on a comedy show made headlines. tara mergener is in washington for us this morning. good morning. >> reporter: it was not all laughs last night but the candidates made that traditional stop along the campaign trail, a chance to score political points with humor for a good cause but today it's back to business. for one night only president obama and mitt romney took a break from the bitter campaign. sort of. >> in the spirit of "sesame street" the president's remarks are brought to by the letter o and the number 16 trillion. broipt men were featured speaker of the al smith dinner, a white tie dinner for catholic

charities. >> it's nice to relax and wear what ann and i wear around-the-house. >> reporter: president obama was spoke second and quick on the draw himself. >> everyone take your seats otherwise clint eastwood will yell at them. he admitted some people may be tired of the presidential election. >> sometimes it feels like this race has dragged on forever. but paul ryan assured me we've only been running for two hours and 50 something minutes. >> reporter: the laughs faded when the president was questioned about the government's response in the crisis in libya during an appearance on the "daily show." >> you who admit it was not the optimal response at least to the american people as far as us being all on the same page. >> here's what i'll say. before americans get killed it's not optimal and we'll fix it. >> reporter: both candidates go back out on the trail today. president obama will rally supporters in virginia, while mitt romney campaigns with his running mate in daytona beach, florida.

romney is leading in most polls in the sunshine state. on thursday the "orlando sentinel" endorsed the candidate saying we have little confidence that obama will be successful in managing the economy and budget in the next four years. for that reason though we endorsed him in 2008 we recommend romney in this race. ♪ president obama picked up his own endorsement. the boss, bruce springsteen campaigned for the president in ohio with former president bill clinton. and the event for catholic charities is expected to bring in about $5 million. some of those jokes were pretty good. >> both men got in some good turns in. tara mergener in washington for us this morning. thank you. >> there are conflicting reports about the bangladesh student accused of trying to detonate a bomb at the federal reserve in new york city this week.

investigators say quazi nafis came to the united states sent on jihad. some of those who know him are expressing disbelief the 21-year-old tried to carry out an attack. federal agents are going over evidence taken from quazi nafis' new york apartment. they are trying to determine if he has any connection to al qaeda. nafis claimed to have ties to the terror group overseas. allegedly telling an undercover agent he was working with another man named yaqueen. sources say yaqueen has been identified as willy carter a san diego man arrested wednesday on child pornography charges. the fbi said he was in contact with yaqueen but doesn't appear to be connected to the bomb plot. nafis's family in bangladesh are stunned by his arrest. his father said he spent his life savings to send his son to school in the united states and his son could not be involved in a terror plot.

nafis's sister said her brother is being set up. >> we don't think it could to be done by him. he must have been victimized. because in bangladesh, he was not like this. he was a good boy. >> after flunking out of school in bangladesh, nafis came to the u.s. on a student visa in january. he took classes at southeast missouri university for one semester. one student there said nafis gave him a koran and in one conversation spoke admirably about osama bin laden. >> he told me he did not believe that osama bin laden was involved in the twin tower, that he believed that bin laden was a very good religious man and that a good devout faithful muslim would not do something like that. >> but bangladesh students said they became alarmed when his political views became radicalized.

they said nafis watched an al qaeda video while on an airplane. nafis then moved to new york city to attend a computer programming school. it was around that same time that nafis showed up on their radar reaching out for accomplices to help him carry out an attack. that's when agents set up a sting operation. on wednesday they arrested him on charges trying to detonate a 1,000-pound bomb outside of the federal reserve. law enforcement officials said they made sure the bomb was harmless. nafis is currently being held without bond. if convicted he could spend the rest of his life in prison. an american military appeals court ruled fort hood shooting suspect nadal hasan must shave his beard. he grew the beard for religious reasons before his court martial began. he opened fire on soldiers in

2009 at fort hood. his lawyers plan to appeal the beard ruling. on a cbs moneywatch google's big gaffe cost investors billions and popular uncrustable sandwiches are linked to a recall. ashley morrison is here with more on that. >> reporter: asian markets saw a late day rally. tokyo gained a quarter of a percent while hong kong hang seng rose a fraction. google is no longer a sky's the limit growth stock. the number one search engine plunged 9% on thursday when its third quarter results fell short of investor expectations. the disappointing numbers were not supposed to be released until after the stock market closed. google closed at $695 per share. costing investors about $20 billion. google's bad report reverberated on wall street. the dow closed eight points lower while the nasdaq was down 31 points. gasoline prices are edging down. the average price of a gallon of

regular is $3.74. oil industry analysts expect to be about $3.50 per gallon in a few weeks. gasoline usually makes its seasonal decline after labor day. the delay is blamed on high oil price and refinery prices. smuckers is urging school lunch programs across the nation not to serve its uncrustables peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. the company is concerned the sandwiches macon taken peanut butter made from a new mexico supplier where salmonella was found. the outbreak sickened 39 people in 19 states. none are tied to smuckers uncrustables. after 80 years, "newsweek" magazine will no longer appear in print. during those nearly nine decades "newsweek" and other "newsweek"ly set the national news agenda took its toll

because of the internet. "newsweek" will only be available on the internet. another sign of the changing times. >> what great covers from that magazine too. thank you. coming up on the morning news, just demolition. a massive dust storm along an interstate in oklahoma. this is the "cbs morning news".

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a dust storm worthy of the old dust bowl days. a massive storm triggered by strong winds and drought conditions caused a multi-vehicle accident in northern oklahoma yesterday. the choking dust was so thick an eight mile stretch of interstate 35 was closed for hours. three dozen cars and tractor-trailers were involved in the accident. nine people were injured. the boy scouts of america is apologizing for quietly shielding scout masters and others accused of molesting children. on thursday the oregon supreme court ordered the files about those accusations made public.

>> reporter: the 1,200 documents cover incidents from 1965 to 1985. they describe actual or suspected sexual abuse by volunteers or troop leaders. a 1965 file shows a louisiana mother complained to a local sheriff that a scout master had raped one of her sons and molested two others. the man confessed. but neither police nor the scouts pursued the charges, according to the files to save the name of scouting. boy scouts of america now claims to have some of the best protection among youth groups in the country with criminal background checks, training programs, and mandates to report actual or suspected abuse. boy scouts of america president wayne terry had this to say in an interview this week. >> to the extent we fell short in protecting a youth and we did fall short in some instances we're profoundly sorry and our job is to protect every youth. it's not enough to say we

protect, we did a great job most of the time, we have to do a great job all the time. >> reporter: he said the files are valuable because they are used to keep track of people who violated the boy scouts membership standards. >> the only purpose of these files is to keep people out, to keep them from re-entering boy scouts later on and the files show that worked. >> reporter: the files didn't always work. in 1966 an indiana member of the scouts was found guilty of sodomy and served two years in a reformatory. in 1978 he was let back in where he was a member for eight years. john anderson said he was molested by a scout master back in 1976 when he was 14. >> what does the release of these files mean to you? >> i think it shows that this country needs to do a better job of protecting its children. if we don't set up protection for these kids they are doomed. >> reporter: the boy scouts issued a statement before these

files were released further apologizing and saying that in certain cases our response to the incident and our efforts to protect youth were clearly insufficient and inappropriate or wrong. but since the files have been kept secret for so long many offenders can no longer be prosecuted. the statute of limitations in many cases has run. a judge ruled a high school cheerleader in eastern town of texas can display religious banners during football games at least our. the school district banned the banners after an advocacy group sued saying the school was promoting christianity. a judge ruled it violated the cheerleaders free speech. the case goes to trial in june. >> ahead the weather and the tigers get a stunning sweep of the yankees. and the

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something this delicious could only come from nature. new nectresse. the 100% natural no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. new nectresse. sweetness naturally. here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. new york heavy rain, thunderstorms 68 degrees. miami thunderstorms 86. chicago, mostly cloudy, 52 degrees. dallas, sunny, 80. los angeles partly sunny 76 degrees. now for a check of today's national forecast, heavy wind driven rain will extend from southern new england to mid-atlantic states.

the south will be sunny and dry except for a few showers across florida. rainy and wind i across the central plains and ohio valley. the southwest and the southern rockies sunny and warm. high mountain snow is likely in washington, oregon and montana. in sports there is a new champion of the american league, the detroit tigers finished off their sweep of the new york yankees in convincing fashion. miguel cabrera's two-run homer was enough offense for the tigers to punch the yankees. tigers win 8-1 and are headed back to the world series for the second time in six years. they are designed to win it all for the first time since 1984. the tigers are waiting for the american league series. game four in st. louis and the cardinals built up a big lead over the giants. the cards go on to win 8-3. they can punch their ticket with

game five tonight. in nfl a battle for the top spot in the nfc division. delaney walker tip toes into the end zone for the game's only touchdown. the niners beat seattle 13-6. college ranks, number two oregon trampled arizona state in a lopsided victory. the ducks raced out to a lead at halftime. they rushed for more than 400 yards. they win 43-21. oregon remains undefeated at 7-0. when we return, winning women voters. women in battleground states could hold the key to victory in the race for the white house. victory in the race for the white house.

wildfire has sparked in lake county. the mandatory evauations underway right n. a warning for drivers. anotr major bridge closure this weekend. which alternate routes you should consider. funny men. both presidential candidates shaa stage again last night. this time they traded attacks for laughs. and are gas prices finally falling?

join us for cbs 5 eyewitness news this morning... beginng at 4:30. good morning. it's friday, ,,,, here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. washington partly sunny 74 degrees. atlanta mostly sunny 73. st. louis cloudy chance of showers 58 dress. denver 76 degrees. seattle rain, 57 degrees. 57 ee

back to politics now. both president obama and mitt romney are stepping up their efforts to win over women voters. both campaigns are airing new ads aimed at women in the key battleground states. susan mcginnis reports from norfolk, virginia. >> reporter: virginia mothers andrea mcclellan and susan lily are targets for mitt romney and president obama. >> being a woman is not a pre-existing condition. >> this president has failed america's women. >> reporter: mcclellan who used to work for a fortune 500 company said she doesn't have a clear picture of romney. >> women's issues are very important. with regard to the economy i think obama has a better plan. >> reporter: this mother of three believes the president's affordable care act will help lower costs for women and concerned about the gop's stand on abortion. >> it's an issue out of "mad men." are we in 2012? why are we talking about these things? this is my mother's generation

not my generation. >> reporter: president obama holds a comfortable lead among women in virginia but recent polls shows romney is closing the gap in battleground states susan lily is voting for romney. she believes his economic plan will mean more opportunity for women. >> i think bringing economic freedom to as many people as possible is the best way to do that. >> reporter: a mother of two and cancer survivor she's happy with her health insurance and concerned about losing it under the affordable care act. >> i think people do not understand what will happen once health care is so centralized and focused in washington, d.c. because that is going to take away choice. >> reporter: both women see candidates try to change their minds over the next 19 days. susan mcginnis, cbs news, norfolk, virginia. and coming up after your local news on cbs "this morning," a universal flu vaccine that would do away with annual shots. i'm vinita nair and this is the

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the last american combat troops in afghanistan will leave at the end of 2014. the u.s. has been training the afghans to take over security. david martin introduces us to two unlikely afghans who have answered the call to defend their country. >> reporter: if you think of afghan women as down trodden and afghans not willing to fight for their own country, you need to meet these two women. >> we are afghans. we have to defend our country. >> reporter: they are the first two afghan women to go through the u.s. army's helicopter flight school in alabama. it required them to learn english before they could learn fly. >> we knew we would excel. it won't be easy on us. but we didn't know it was going to be this hard. >> reporter: barely into their

20s neither had been outside of afghanistan before. they have not been back for a year and a half. >> but now we are going back to our country with a big accomplishment. >> reporter: they've gone from learning to fly a steady hover which they say was the hardest thing to flying at night and will graduate next week. they are flying american scout helicopters. in afghanistan they would be flying russian made attack helicopters. >> you're going to be in combat. >> yes. >> are you ready for combat? >> i think i'm ready for that. >> this has already been a long war. it's going to be a longer war. are you ready for a long war? >> yes. we came all the way to here. we'll do it. >> reporter: as you can see from their head scarves they've not adopted american culture. after 18 months of it they can't wait to get home. >> for sure the first ones we want to see is our family, our parents, my mom.

i miss her so much. i don't know how to say this. >> reporter: you can't help but be impressed but you have to ask -- >> what difference can two young women make? >> we want to be an example. we want to show them that if we can do it you all can do it. >> at first our goal was now to oop the door. >> you say open the door. open the door to what? >> to be a military woman. to help your country as a woman. to be a pilot. not to be afraid of anyone saying no you cannot. we can. >> reporter: the outcome of the war is beyond the control of any one person. but if you had to pick two who just might make a difference you couldn't do better than this. david martin, cbs news, fort rutger, alabama. . >> coming up, we sit down with tina brown editor and chief of "newsweek" on ending the print edition of the magazine.

also an interview with felix baumgartner about his record breaking super sonic free fall. edward burns stops by the studio with his new movie. that's the "cbs morning news" for this friday. thanks for watching. i'm vinita nair. have a great weekend. ,,,,

>> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald good morning, everyone. we were just applauding because it's friday! october 19, i'm frank mallicoat. >> yeah. we're excited about that. i'm michelle griego. time now is 4:30. lawrence is not in the studio this morning. he is live in san jose where the earthquakes are getting ready to break ground on a new st