wedding until irene trapped them and their guests. head-to-head, rick perry leads romney. who stacks up better against the president, in a new poll. we have a jam packed show starting with the devastation from irene. at least 44 have died across 13 states now. the mass flooding and downed power lines threatened more lives. days after the storm blew through, thousands still without power. take a look. raging floodwaters from the passaic river. that river is still dangerous even after it crested and started to recede. in vermont, 13 towns completely cut off thanks to severe road damage. ground crews reached all but one

of the towns. damage from the storm could total up to $10 billion. irene's rampage up the east coast, the tenth weather disaster of 2011. it broke the annual record dating back to 1980. meanwhile, survivors still reeling. >> tough. but life goes on. you know? my dad built this house. >> there's another possible hurricane on the horizon. tropical storm katia is growing stronger. i may be upgraded to a hurricane later tonight. we'll have more on that storm coming up. we start in new jersey. homelands security janet napolitano will survey there today. michelle is joining me live from patterson where 600 people had

to be rescued when the passaic river spilled over the banks. what is the latest there this morning, michelle? >> reporter: as you mentioned, the river is starting to recede here. this is a little of what janet napolitano will see. this is a vacant building, but gives you perspective of how high the water went. it's cutting off neighborhoods that were evacuated. there's a lot of work left to do. they have been long working at this and evacuating people for nearly a week now getting prepared for irene's arrival and now the aftermath. they have flooding here in the path but nothing like this. >> michelle -- >> my knowledge, the worst we have had since 1903. it's been a long time. this is actually the worst i have ever seen.

>> reporter: of course, craig, this is just one community in a county in this state dealing with the latest floodwaters that have been on the move. we are day four after irene made land fall. all this water leaves, there's the clean up we talked about, overwhelming clean up. they have to go to each home and make sure that the fuse boxes or breakers are not in harm's way before they turn on the electricity in that neighborhood. >> amazing pictures. michelle, thank you for that report. meanwhile, workers in vermont are funneling supplies to towns completely cut off by irene, left without running water and power for the weekend. one town, wards borrow has not been reached. national guard helicopters are air lifting food and med sen. we are tracking relief efforts.

>> reporter: good day from south central vermont where work is under way to try to reopen access to the communities trapped by the floodwaters left behind by tropical storm irene. as of this morning, officials say one town was still inaccessible by road. this is the main drag to the mountains, a popular winter resort for skiing. i's popular for -- this is a look around the green mountains, a beautiful, beautiful scene. a lot of people got trapped when the floodwaters came rushing through. this road has been reopened but only for emergency supplies to get up the mountain. the folks traps there are going out the other side of route 4. as we mentioned, wardsboro was the only town inaccessible. they are working hard to get things open to those folks.

now, we were told the vermont national guard made drops to those people with emergency supplies. as i said today, they are hoping to get access in and out so they are able to get to civilization. it's a sooerious story in vermont. there's a long recovery to get traffic flowing back and forth. having lived here, the old saying you can't get there from here. that's certainly the case here on sunday. you couldn't get there from here very easily in vermont. they are trying to get that situation rectified in the next day or two for folks to get to work. that's the latest from south central vermont. back to you. >> thank you for that report. coming up, we are going to talk to a newlywed couple whose entire wedding party was left for days without help until a guest took some action.

president obama is pledging that a big jobs plan he's unveiling next week could create as many as 1 million new jobs. he spoke at the rose garden to push more investigating in the transportation system. >> i'm calling on congress as soon as they come back for the transportation bill and a clean extension of the faa bill to give americans the kofs that projects won't come to a halt. >> mike viqueira is live at the white house for us. we continue to get dribs and drabs of the president's plan. when are we going to get the specifics? >> jobs, jobs, jobs is what we are going to hear. the highway bill the president is pushing congress to pass is something that's passed every six years, hundreds of billions of dollars. it's so powerful, they name the

bill after their spouses. this year, they cannot agree on how much money to spend. the climate in washington completely changed. we expect the president's speech next week as a major address on jobs. we expect the president said to himself next week will be the date of the speech. he's given a hint yesterday, he's in a radio program with tom joiner to talk of extending the deal with the republicans and extend it to employers as well as employees. he's talking tax credits for employers hiring unemployed people. this is part of what he told joiner yesterday on that radio program. >> there's no doubt we can take steps that mean the economy is growing a percent or percentage

and faster. it makes businesses more confident they are going to have customers and puts more people back to work. >> reporter: republicans are panning the proposal. the president says he's going to take it to the american people and let them decide what congress should do with some of the proposals. many of these things are items that have passed congress many times in the past. craig. >> mike, thanks. a former secretary under president clinton and professor at uc berkeley and the author of "aftershock." the president can go two ways here. big and bold or narrow and predictable but has a greater chance of passing the house. what should he do and what do you think he will do? >> good morning, craig. i think the president is very, very likely to really come up with a bunch of policies that

his advisers think have a small chance of getting through the house and the republican gautlet. these policies are not likely to be large. the president said yesterday, in fact he repeated this morning he hopes for up to a million jobs, which is a good beginning but there are 25 million americans seeking full time work. it's not really a major dent in the problem. >> it sounds like you don't think the president is going to go bold. >> i hope he does. i certainly don't want to prejudge what the president is going to say. i think there continues to be a debate among advisers as to how bold he should be. if he goes bold, coming up with something close to the size of the problem.

the republicans will so no. if he goes small, he comes up with very, very small policies, it's not going to make much of a difference, i think the republicans are still going to say no. >> if he rolls out the plan and arm twists, he hits the road, tries to sell it to americans but doesn't get through congress, then what for this president? >> well, the worst of all, i fear this is where the president and the white house is heading. the worst is to come up with a bunch of relatively small policies, maybe one or two that may be able to summon some republican votes, maybe one or two gets through congress if they are tax cuts such as a tax cut to social security and tax cut on the employer side of the social security. it's not nearly enough to have any real impact on the employment picture and most americans don't really

understand it anyway. it has a -- it doesn't go anywhere. the president looks weak and unemployment remains high. the president ought to be very bold, have a bunch of proposals large enough to deal with the problem, tie them together, ask for a congress up or down vote. if the republicans say no, he ought to campaign on it, fight for it, mobilize and inner geez not only the democratic base but many republicans. >> thank you. appreciate your time. >> thanks, greg. we are following wildfires in texas and oklahoma. this is north texas where at least 20 homes have been destroyed. another 125 are threatened. officials are blocking off roads and evacuating people. hundreds of oklahoma city residents left their homes. the fire already destroyed buildings in oklahoma city. they have not pinpointed what ignited the blazes, but some are

heat wave and drought is providing fuel for the fires. rain on your wedding day is supposed to be good luck. what about a hurricane? we are going to talk to the newly married couple that irene left stranded in vermont. also, another poll and another lead for rick perry. this new one shows despite being the front-runner, he's not best suited to beat president obama, yet. we are going to look at the numbers. it's the only complete multivitamin with ginkgo to support memory and concentration. plus vitamin d to help maintain healthy blood pressure. [ bat cracks ] that's a hit. one a day men's. whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock

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new poll numbers out confirm the close contest president obama will find next year. rick perry has a six point hedge

of mitt romney. the president holds a slim lead over the gop front-runner. mr. obama beats perry. it cannot be said for romney. they are in a dead heat. peter, good morning to you, sir. >> good morning. >> what do your numbers reveal? >> first of all, on the republican side, you have a lot of candidates. the concentration is on perry because he's the front-runner. he's only getting 24% of the vote. romney at 18% and behind that is palin and bachmann and santorum and huntsman, et cetera, et cetera. here is what's queer from the figures. mr. perry's edge among

republican primary voters is highly fueled by the 2-1 margin of white, evangelical voters. >> most suspect as has been the case here in recent presidential elections independent voters will decide the race. in a romney-obama match up, who wins the independents? >> romney has a 46-40% edge over obama. perry and the president are a dead heat on independents. mr. obama runs a little better against perry than romney. i's not that big of a margin. >> what are we talking about here? are you surprised his entry brought such a large surge? >> there was a void in the gop field that he's filling.

when mitch daniels decided not to run, there was clearly an appetite for someone not in the race. mr. perry is filling that. he's able to appeal to fiscal conservatives given his record in texas and ability to create jobs. he's conservative on social issues. he has the ability to meld those two wings of the party. >> the president's approval ratings have been dismal as of late. how did he fare in your poll this time? >> the favorable, unfavorable rating is 47-47. it's not that good. it's not awful but it's not good. it's down from the past. >> peter brown, thanks for your time. you can see the republican front-runners square off one week from today right here on msnbc. we have an amazing story out of the flood zone in vermont.

imagine being this couple. looks nice, right? happily married newlyweds, all smiles. a sunny saturday afternoon, then boom, i arena hits. for days, that entire wedding party and 60 guests are surrounded by nothing but washed out roads with no relief in sight. they took matters into their own hands. the groom joins me by phone here. scott is on set here. one of the guests hired a chopper to get family and friends out. i want to start with the groom because i don't know how long we'll have him on the phone. what is the word? how are you doing now? >> caller: we are holding up. we have been making the best of a situation. we definitely got stranded and we are looking at different options trying to get out of here. the people in this town have been amazing and taking great care of us, getting us food and

water and sharing the limited resources they have here. we are very thankful. >> as we have been reporting, the national guard is flying relief into towns like where your friends are stranded. have you gotten relief dropped in? >> caller: i have seen a couple helicopters fly by today. i don't know what they have brought. it's hard to stay in touch with people up here but we are hoping that these people get taken very well cared of. people are doing a lot of good work here trying to take care of their people. >> your cousin is on the set with me. i'm going to talk with him for a second. you had been there how many days? >> we came in friday for rehearsal dinner. the wedding was saturday. sunday morning the rain started earlier than expected. we thought we could go to the brunch afterwards to say good-bye and go. since it started so early, like

4:00 in the morning, around 9:00, the rain was all over the roads. we were at brunch. the people in town were like we want you to be safe, stay put. if you travel, you could hydroplane, the rivers are starting to crest. >> what did you do? >> i was there with my mom, dad, wife and my son. i wasn't going to drive in that weather. i was staying put. i felt safe there. the accommodations were so -- they were taking care of us. they weren't worried about themselves. >> you made the call to get out of there? >> i did. they had a town hall meeting. they went over what needed to be done to keep people safe. >> what did you do? >> i wanted to make sure that i could get out. i e-mailed a friend on wall street. i said who do you know that had a helicopter service that won't gouge us. they gave me the number.

we put a situation together to get a few helicopters to get people out that need meds or young kids. >> your mom needed breast cancer medication. mark, how have you been passing the time? >> caller: well, you know, we have been spending a lot of time helping with projects around town. there's a lot of people who lost their homes. we have been digging out mud. some people have been farming. some of us taking trips to the general store cooking and cleaning. we have been keeping our minds and hands busy. they have been so gracious with hospitality and resources we have to give back. we are so thankful to people in town, the town bartender and the fire chief and the constable, they have taken great care of us. they are like family now. >> what are officials telling you about the timetable in terms of getting you out?

>> caller: they are saying the roads are being worked on. they are dodgy. there are limited vehicles allowed through the roads. as soon as there's a window, we are jumping it and going for it. >> what about a honeymoon, brother? >> we are supposed to leave tomorrow. i'm not sure if it's going to happen. >> here is the thing, though. you have one heck of a wedding story. >> caller: it's the wedding of the century. >> mark is stuck in vermont. he and his wife. good luck. please let us know when you get back safely. >> thank you very much. >> scott, thanks so much. appreciate your time. vermont residents and destruction. members in congress worry republicans are playing politics with disaster aid. we are going to talk to bernie sanders. stay with us. you name it.

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the sun is out in vermont. many of the roads are still under water. next, live in burlington to get an update from senator bernie sanders. katia is coming now. is it time to brace for another big one? we're centurylink...a new kind of broadband company committed to providing honest, personal service from real people... 5-year price-lock guarantees... consistently fast speeds... and more ways to customize your technology.

our primary mission right now is to protect lives. that's what we are doing. >> 30 truckloads of food to desperate people in vermont where 13 towns were cut off. i'm craig melvin. right now, emergency management officials are saying residents can't use the roads to those towns. 13 towns cut off with no power or running water. these are the 13 towns that were cut off. more than 250 roads and 30 bridges damaged across the

state. ground crews reached all the towns except wardsboro. they hope to reach them today by building a makeshift road. crews will continue to air lift food and supplies to the town. eight blackhawk helicopters from illinois are on their way to help speed up the air lifts. a team of doctors and nurses are heading to vermont. i'm joined by independent senator from vermont, bernie sanders. senator, you saw the devastation firsthand. how bad is it? >> it's very bad. i think everybody knows vermont is one of the most beautiful states in this country. it's a small state. what we have suffered is the worst natural disaster to my knowledge in the state of vermont. hundreds of roads have been

damaged and closed. dozens and dozens of bridges have been destroyed. our state employs 1700 workers. airline is not operable. we don't know how many hundreds or thousands of homes have been damaged. clearly, this is something our state has never suffered through in the past. it's horrendous. >> you mentioned the roads, bridges and rails as well. what has the storm revealed in the infrastructure up and down the eastern sea board as well. >> the event we had a few days ago doesn't happen every day. it was the worst in our history. but, what we do know is that it is absolutely imperative, not just for vermont but new jersey and north carolina that as a nation we come together and we

help those communities that have been devastated by natural disasters. i get disturbed when i hear our right wing friends do not understand we are united states of america that when this disaster in different parts of the country, we come together to help. >> you are talking the leader who is call for additional spending needs to be matched by equal cuts in the federal budget. fema's money woes have become known the past couple days. how do we pay for relief in. >> we have to do it the way we have always done it, emergency supplemental. when katrina affected the gulf coast, the people of america were there. tornadoes in the the midwest, the people in america are there. we don't turn our backs on our brothers, sisters and neighbors.

is this country in a deficit? of course we are. we have to raise money in a way that is fair. i find it interesting conservative friends are saying we can't put money into disaster relief. we are going to protect millionaires and billionaires and get huge tax breaks or continue to protect a tax code that allows large corporations to keep their money. we are a nation. infrastructure in general is something we have to address in my view above and beyond any disaster. we have to rebuild as a nation our roads, bridges, rail systems. china is investing 9% of their gdp in infrastructure. they are building in ten years 100 new airports. they are building high speed rail. >> why hasn't there been, at this point, a push to do that in this country? we have known for years the condition of bridges, roads and

rail system. why hasn't there been a push to invest in infrastructure? >> some of us have. you know, something that i talk about every day. but the point here is if you are a right wing republican who does not believe the federal government should be spending money, you are not going to be supportive of rebuilding the infrastructure. that is absolutely dumb. we lose our competitive edge if we do not have the kind of mass transportation, the kind of water, the kind of roads and airports that a leading nation in the world absolutely needs. >> vermont senator, bernie sanders, always a pleasure, sir. good luck to you and the folks there in the great state of vermont trying to rebuild right now. >> thank you very much. while the east coast is still picking up from irene, new potential threat formed.

tropical storm katia is gaining strength and may turn into a hurricane. is it too early to tell if it's heading our way as well? >> no doubt about it, it is heading our way. it's too early to tell whether it's going to get close to the united states before it makes a turn toward the north. that will come as we get through the weekend and into the first of next week. 65-mile-per-hour winds on katia now. it's a long, long way away from any long. there's the coast of africa. it's in open waters now and in an area favorable to strengthening. a category one hurricane, then category 2 strength by friday. could be a major hurricane as we head to monday morning. we expect it to miss the islands. just how close it gets to the united states before it makes a turn to the north, we will know sometime as we get into the

weekend. midweek, the closest path to the united states or if it gets closer than that, of course wednesday or thursday. we have another tropical wave. this is probably more immediate threat. this is going to be moving up toward the gulf of mexico. a lot of moisture with this. it's not a tropical depression or tropical storm but could become one. we continue to keep an eye on this mass of moisture up toward the gulf. by this weekend, it's going to be more favorable conditions in the gulf of mexico for something to form that's going to bring a lot of rain to the gulf coast and maybe more. we'll have to keep an eye on this through the weekend. craig. >> a lot of red and orange on that map. we appreciate that. let's look at the other news making headlines. rebels in libya giving gadhafi until saturday to surrender. there's news one of his sons is trying to negotiate the terms of

his own surrender. it's what he is telling the associated press. gadhafi and several other sons remain at large. today a judge in aruba will decide if there's enough to keep this man held captive of the death of robin gardner. he claimed she disappeared during a snorkling trip. a chilling 911 call out of florida where a female murder victim begged police to send help to her home. she made several frantic calls to emergency operators after her husband attacks her in longwood. >> i could be dead right now. you wouldn't even know it. it's been 20 minutes. >> at one point, she stays on

the line 15 minutes asking for help. hours later, she's found dead in a nearby parking lot. her husband is now under arrest. the department of justice filed a civil lawsuit that blocks at&t's ak decision of t-mobile. the proposed $39 billion transaction would hurt competition for other mobile wireless services across the country. it would also result in higher prices and poor quality services. congress gregsal black caucus wraps up a jobs issue to get americans back to work. they are continuing to push the president to pay attention to their issues and get help to struggling minority neighborhoods. >> it's time for the bully pulpit of the white house to bring the gangsters in, put them around the table and let them know if they don't come up with loan modifications and keep

people in their homes that they have worked so hard for, we are going to tax them out of business. >> yeah! >> joining me now, earl. thank you for jounging me. congresswoman, i'm going to start with you. thousands have come to job fairs this month. how many jobs have been created? >> they have met their goals. we have gone from cities from the east coast to the west coast. now, thousands of people are lining up. 3:00 a.m., people were lining up. the goals were to provide a forum so we could work with people we talk to all the time, various businesses who have jobs and bring them into the community and give them that opportunity. >> mr. hutchison, a fair amount of criticism has come out with

how the white house handled the jobs crisis particularity in black communities. has president obama been unfairly criticized over the past few weeks, especially? >> i think we have to be realistic. there's a lot of frustration and impatience and anxiety in african-american communities of course over the jobs situation and the escalation of poverty. naturally, there's going to be frustration with the president and a lot of fingers are pointed to the president. is it fair to the extent the frustration is there? i'm not surprised. i'm ser the president is not surprised. the second part we have to be clear on is what can the president do? everybody is anticipating the jobs speech next week. one thing we are looking for and are concerned about, this has been said many, many times, mr.

president, yes, you have to go big on jobs and put proposals on the table, infrastructure, more spending, transportation projects, education, unemployment benefits, these are all important. one other thing, you have to specifically talk about the black jobs crisis. that's important. many of the constituents, especially african-americans are looking very closely and expe expected the president to address that. you can't tap dance around it. >> congresswoman, i want to ask you about the soundbyte we heard there from congresswoman maxine waters, the comment about gangsters. if a white person said something like that, do you think the outrage would be pretty significant? >> i think what this is about and what you just heard from the other guest we have here this morning is that people, what we are seeing is that wall street

got its help, the auto industry got help but when did the american people get help. a $250 tax refund check is not help. in my community of 15% unemployment. i'm hoping the president will give us specifics. tell us how people who are unemployed are going to get help. he laid out a four-point plan initially to extend the payroll tax credit. to look at the trade agreements, to look at infrastructure and look at patent reform. none of those are going to hire the average joe american. he's going to have to look at say make a commitment. when we do the transportation bill, i'm on the transportation committee. we need to make sure there's a program so young people can learn these skills. >> you called for a bus tour as well. tell me about that. >> well, i have to tell you, i commend the president a couple

weeks ago. he was going around and he was in rural america. i would suggest he come to urban america as well. there are three members of the congressional black caucus within a 15 mile radius area. i have young adults, african-americans with unemployment from 18 to 25 at 39%. i would like to see the president come here to compton to carson to long beach. come to our community and help our community. >> there's nothing to be gained by doing that you would say what? >> i strongly disagree. the president, when you look at the african-americans who came out and voted and came out, not only they voted but they brought a lot of people with them. this is not just about african-americans, might i say. i represent a diverse community, large la tee owe and asian population. the president isn't just coming to communities of african-americans alone.

he's helping many people. people are ready to go. they are certainly not fired up. he has to come back to his base to help them. how are people going to go all across the country to volunteer to sleep on cots if they can't afford to feed themselves. we have a problem and together we can fix it. >> earl, last question. does the president of the united states have a special obligation to employ blacks in the country? >> when you have a crisis in african-american communities and it's not the constituency of the president, yes, there's a duty and responsibility. i'm convinced and expecting the president will address that. thank you both. appreciate your time. >> thank you for having me. a man caught quite a sight the first time he went up in an airplane. they ended up catching suspected crooks breaking into his own house. he saw two men loading up air

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don't our dogs deserve to eat fresher less processed foods just like we do introducing freshpet healthy recipes of fresh meat and fresh veggies so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido a woman who lost her brother on 9/11 says there's no closure to what happened. she lost her brother on 9/11. he was a senior partner where her brother howard was ceo. they all worked together at world trade. she decided to help others who have lost loved ones. joining us now, the author of an

upcoming book called "an unbroken bond." i want to talk about the book in a moment. tell us how the relief fund got started. >> my brother howard called me september 13th and said we need to help these families any way we can. we started a charity called the cantor fitzgerald relief fund to take care of what we 9/11. since that time, we've raised and distributed over $180 million to those families, and we've aided them with support groups and we provide tenures of health care, so it's been an effort that's taken a community that basically once were strangers and turned them into a community. >> your book, "an unbroken bond," tells the story of the folks you just mentioned. >> exactly, it tells both my

story and even more than my story, it's the story of taking care of the 658 families, and the obstacles that we've had to face along the road to becoming that community. >> how tough was it? i imagine you had to reopen a lot of old wounds to write a book like this, how difficult was that? >> it was interesting, the book sort of wrote itself. it's taking care of these families, it's really my life. my brother, howard, has a comment, it takes a broken heart to heal a broken heart, so in many ways these families have helped me as much as i've been able to help them, so it's an honor to be able to put our story out there and tell how the firm recovered and how the families have been taken care of and the amazing things people have done and the generosity of the public and really the voice that we've found together. >> there's a new report out today, a new 9/11 report, and i know you've read that report and

we'll talk about it later here on msnbc, but it shows there are still some pretty gaping holes into the process and how we respond and prevent terrorist attacks in this country. as someone who lost a loved one that day, how does that make you feel? >> you know, one of the things that i talk about in the book is the lessons that we could learn from 9/11, and i think that we could all agree we could have done this better. the ability to, you know, to -- to share information and the communications systems, which for the firefighters woefully short, the recommendation in the report that we have one person who's basically in charge of different areas, that it can all be looked at together is, i think, very, very important. you know, the tsa, the things that have to be done that way as well. we have a lot we can do better. >> thank you so much. appreciate you sharing your story. >> thank you for having me.

>> at 1:00 here on msnbc, co-chairman of the 9/11 commission will appear on "andrea mitchell reports." he's going to talk about the report card i just mentioned, also the state of national security. we're centurylink...a new kind of broadband company committed to providing honest, personal service from real people... 5-year price-lock guarantees... consistently fast speeds... and more ways to customize your technology.

we are following some breaking news in southwest illinois right now, a discovery of a suspicious package there has prompted the evacuation of a few buildings at the scott air force base. we also just learned a few moments ago that three people have been taken to a nearby hospital, another 13 people are being decontaminated on the site there. department reports it's dispatched a number of emergency vehicles to the scene as well. we don't know much more than that, but we continue to follow the breaking news there, southwest illinois, the scott air force base. we'll pass along new information as soon as it becomes available. that does it for me today. g it .

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