making news in america this morning -- war of words. >> the obama and romney campaigns squaring off in tough television ads, as speculation mounts about romney's vice presidential pick. more storms being forecast for the hurricane season. conditions are just right for rain and lots of destruction. harrowing flight. the amazing flight shot by passengers as their doomed plane went down in the idaho wilderness. and america's golden girls, winning it all at the london games. they're doing it all, on the field, in the pool and in the ring.

good friday morning. i'm sunny hostin. >> and i'm john muller. paula and rob are off this morning. the romney campaign, gearing up for the announcement of a running mate. we could get word any day now. >> as the announcement drags on, there are nasty attack ads being put out by both sides. with more on those, we're joined by abc's tahman bradley in washington. good morning, tahman. >> reporter: good morning to you, sunny. good morning to you, john. three months before the election, and both sides have already spent $500 million on television ads. some of the commercials are negative. and some of them, misleading. the candidates may be all-smiles. but the war of words is heating up on television. both sides are spending an unprecedented amount on negative ads. the latest from the super pac supporting president obama, has republicans crying foul. the spot implies that mitt romney was responsible for the death of a laidoff man's wife from cancer. >> she passed away in 22 days. i do not think mitt romney

realizes what he has done to anyone. >> reporter: the ad fails to mention that the man's wife died in 2006, years after romney left bain capital. and the woman did not receive health insurance from her husband. >> the past that people point out something was accurate. complains pulled the ad. they just blast ahead. >> reporter: the romney campaign is far from innocent, running its own ad, claiming president obama has gutted welfare reform. >> waivers to the work requirements in the law. >> reporter: the white house says that's blatantly dishonest. that the administration's experiments with changes to the law still requires people to work. back on the campaign trail, romney is gearing up for a bus tour this weekend, stoking speculation a v.p. announcement is imminent. >> reporter: an abc news poll shows president obama with a seven-point advantage over mitt romney. perhaps romney can close that

gap with the excitement a v.p. announcement usually brings. sunny and john? >> abc's tahman bradley reporting from washington. thank you. for the first time, support for gay marriage is part of the democratic party platform. a draft of the platform is being worked on, includes the words marriage equality. the platform is to be presented at the democratic convention in early september. attorneys for movie theater shooting suspect james holmes claims their client is mentally ill. holmes appeared in court yesterday wearing the now-familiar daze expression. his attorneys asked for more information from the prosecution to get a better handle on his mental state. some are saying they don't buy the insanity claims. and a public wake is being held for the six people killed at the sikh temple shooting on monday. it was an emotional day for worshipers. they painted the sanctuary and cleaned up ahead of today's

joint service, which will be followed by private funerals. three american troops have been shot dead by a man wearing an afghan army uniform. and in another deadly attack, we're learning that the top leaders were among those killed in a suicide attack in eastern afghanistan. the victims include the senior soldier, sergeant major kevin griffin, also killed were thomas kennedy, and an aide worker. here at home a delaware pediatrician and his wife under arrest for waterboarding their daughter. melvin and pauline morse face charges after their daughter said her face was under the fausest several times while her mother watched. dr. melvin morse says the girl is troubled. ernesto is on its way out. >> forecasters say the hurricane season is kicking into high gear. sam champion has more on what

may be ahead in the weeks ahead. >> reporter: as tropical strom ernesto dumps flooding rains across central mexico, it is one of two hurricanes and four tropical storms to develop already this season. tropical storms alberto and beryl flared up before the season even officially began. and according to noaa, this bad season is about to get worse. >> it takes a whole set of conditions to produce a hurricane. and right now, that whole set of conditions is favorable. >> reporter: among those conditions, much warmer than normal atlantic ocean temperatures. >> as the waters warm more, they can put more moisture, more heat into the air, and that can make a stronger hurricane. >> reporter: noaa now expects 12 to 17 named storms, including 5 to 8 hurricanes, of which 2 or 3 could be major, with ones of at least 111 miles an hour. but it's not just the winds. flooding is the leading cause of death from hurricanes. we saw that in june, with tropical storm debbie in florida. and who can forget last year, when tropical storm irene

inundated the northeast? from new york city to new england, swamping vermont. now, one of the reasons experts think the second half of the season will be very active is, it's already started. and td-7, just named in the last couple of hours. it's just stepped off the african coast. sam champion, abc news, new york. time, now, for the weather from across the nation. hail, damaging winds and heavy rain in the east, from new england to atlanta. showers for the gulf coast and the four corners of the southwest. much cooler in the middle of the country. >> 70s from fargo to kansas city and detroit. 80s for much of the east coast. 90s from the rockies and a sizzling 113 in phoenix. and coming up, a surprising report card for the airlines. and goldman sachs is off the hook this morning for some of its actions before the financial crisis. your business news is next. plus, the olympics. the fastest man in the world is a historymaker, and not just on the track.

welcome back. homeowners can look forward to new mortgage protection. the watchdog that the government consumer financial production bureau want new rules to get rid of surprises and runarounds. changes would require lenders to provide clear billing statements, warn borrowers of rate hikes and correct errors quickly. goldman sachs dodging a

legal bullet. the justice department says its fraud investigation did not turn up enough evidence to make a criminal case. well, despite all the grumbling airline passengers do, some things are actually getting better. more flights are on time and fewer bags are getting lost, with domestic carriers putting up their best numbers since the government started keeping track almost 85 years ago. 87% of flights arrived on schedule. good weather helped boost those numbers. and yesterday, we told you about that computer glitch at israel's el al airlines, with 5,000 tickets selling for a fraction of the fair. $1,600 round-trip flights were snapped up for nearly $400. now, el al says, despite the error, it will honor those tickets. >> good for them. >> exactly. a lot of couples facing sticker shock on their big day. the average cost of a wedding is

just under $27,000. all the dads out there are groaning. that doesn't include the honeymoon. >> many brides and grooms say the expenses are going on a credit card. 91% of couples set a wedding budget. but more than a third end up spending even more. >> more. >> $27,000. >> eloping might not be a bad idea. take the money and have a good vacation. when we come back, that doomed small plane crash. we here from some of those that survived. and another title for women's soccer. all part of a major gold rush in london. [ music playing ]

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all without a safety harness. it was not niagara falls, of course. but wallenda says the wire was slippery with sand. >> one brave man. check him out. awesome. let's take a look at the morning road conditions. severe storms drenching highways from buffalo, pittsburgh, to charleston, west virginia. they move further east later on, to boston, to atlanta. roads will, at times be wet along the gulf coast and the four corners region. >> if you're flying, airport delays are possible on the east coast, in boston, new york, philly and d.c. now, to an amazing view of a small plane crash from inside the e cockpit. the camera was rolling as the disaster unfolded in the skies over idaho. >> the plane carrying three passengers and the pilot clips tree tops in the buiwilderness, turns upside-down and crashes to the ground. >> it sounded like rapid gunfire until we were on the ground. it was just mayhem. >> i think my aha moment was, hanging upside down in the plane

awake, knowing i was going to be there for my family. it was amazing. >> the pilot suffered the worst of it. but he's going to be okay. we'll talk to the passengers, coming up on "good morning america." well, there's our olympic music. and we can't start anywhere else but with the u.s. women's soccer team. >> how great is that? they are back on top of the world this morning, after a 2-1 victory over japan. 80,000 fans saw it live for a record olympic women's soccer game. the heroes, two goals scored by carli lloyd and u.s.'s hope solo. >> from hope solo's twitter feed, she calls them heroes. look at that. the women's soccer victory was by no means the only u.s. success. >> plenty of medals, too. abc's tom rivers has our olympic

round-up. >> reporter: usain bolt did something never done before in the olympics. going double-double, winning the 100-meter and 200-meter in 2-consecutive games. he was joined on the podium by his jamaican teammates. and american christian taylor won the gold medal in the triple-jump. will claye took silver. and the men dominated in the decathlon, with an impressive one-two finish for the first time since 1956. ashton eaton, and clay hardee had a gold and silver for the united states. on the basketball court, the women's team made it to the finals after turning away australia, the number two team in the world. and in the water, haley anderson swam for two-straight hours, only to lose gold by a half-second. the u.s. women of water polo fared better, having failed to

make the top prize in the last three olympics, they finally won their first olympic gold. finally, claressa shields, the middleweight punched her way to the gold medal. part of the freshman mras of women olympic boxers, the first in history. >> tom mentioned usain bolt. after he won the 100. he set another record on twitter. he set a olympic game conversation record with over 80,000 tweets per minute. >> one of the fastest human being on the planet. you're pretty cool. you deserve it. here's a guy who can play in pain. check him out. running in the 4x400 meter relay when he felt a pop in his leg. turns out, it was broken. and he finished his leg of the rel relay. and the u.s. qualified for the final. just three days to go in the competition in the games. and here's the current medal count. >> the u.s. leading china in

total medals and gold medals. russia remains a distance third. >> coming up today in london, the men's mile relay, and the 4x400 meter relay. >> and the men's basketball team taking on argentina. here at home, the nfl's preseason is now in full swing. highlights from espn. good morning. i'm doug kezirian with your "sportscenter" update. the big story in this nfl off season, peyton manning switching teams and ending his tenure with the indianapolis colts. manning with denver, making their debut last night. manning goes to a familiar face, his former colts teammate, jacob tamme, who drops the pass. same drive, tamme makes up for it on a tip drill. then, third and 17. how many times do we see this with the colts? first down for manning as he

hits erik dekker. keeping the drive alive, moving the sticks. manning goes for brandon stokely, tipped and intercepted. manning, just one drive in the preseason action. 4 of 7 for 44 yards and that 1 interception. denver wins big, 31-3. baseball action, now. mets and marlins. r.a. dickey, one of the biggest surprises in all of baseball. seeking his 15th win of the year. the mets' jose reyes, that was his last at-bat. couldn't beat dickey to the bag. and dickey goes the entire ray for the win. fourth complete game of the season, most in the national league. "sunday night baseball" on espn, the mets host the braves, also on the watch espn app. one more sports note. a megatrade in the nba this morning. dwight howard will go to the lakers as part of a 14 8-player

trade. >> the league called to put the finishing touches on the deal. >> dwight howard? why can't the knicks get him? >> i know. up next, "the pulsepulse." something to distract you today. and powerball fever. another big drawing tomorrow night. stick around. we'll be back. i've worked hard to build my family. and also to build my career. so i'm not about to always let my frequent bladder urges, or the worry my pipes might leak get in the way of my busy lifestyle. that's why i take care, with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare. vesicare may cause allergic reactions that may be serious. if you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, stop taking vesicare and get emergency help. tell your doctor right away if you have severe abdominal pain,

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welcome back. and it's time to check "the pulse," stories you'll be talking about today. first up, google, giving you a chance to channel your inner hope solo. >> or han solo. google's home page, it allows you to be the goalie i in a virtual soccer shoot-out. you can move left and right and use the space bar to save the high shots. i'll bet plenty of office hours will be lost today. good to see that. >> i'm already on here, trying to play with it. well, the inmates at the guantanamo bay detention center have a new favorite pastime. >> really? >> the prison librarian told a "miami herald" reporter they cannot get enough of will smith in the tv sitcom "the fresh prince of bel air." the show eclipses harry potter books. the guantanamo library has

28,000 books and videos for the 168 prisoners who remain there. >> i would never have guessed there. >> huge fresh prince fans. how about that? and for those of you feeling lucky this morning, the powerball jackpot is at least $253 million. this is the largest jackpot since february, when a rhode island grandma hit it big for $356 million. >> the estimated cash value is about $170 million before taxes. powerball is played in 42 states. the drawing is tomorrow night. are you going to quit if you win? >> no. but i am going to buy a ticket. >> you're going to buy a ticket. it's high enough for me to buy a ticket. it has to be over $100 million. isn't that strange how that happens? for some of you, your local news is next. >> for everyone else, we'll be back with a major scare for plenty of folks in pennsylvania. don't worry. everyone's fine. we'll tell you about it. [ male announcer ] this is rudy.

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updating the top stories. mitt romney prepares for a bus tour, announcement of his running mate could come at any time. the vice presidential staff is awaiting the official announcement. the justice department says it will not prosecute goldman sachs in connection with the 2008 financial meltdown. the government had been investigating fraud allegations against the wall street firm. forecasters are bracing for a more active hurricane season than initially expected. they expect 12 to 17 named storms, including up to 8 hurricanes. they're being fueled by warmer ocean temperatures and wind patterns. another hot day in the west, with pop-up thunderstorms in the rockies. showers along the gulf coast. severe storms from atlanta up to new england. and finally, police and firefighters rushed to the scene of a drowning man in

pennsylvania's susquehanna river. >> a crew from station wnep arrived and their camera was rolling when the unexpected happened. reporter jim hamil explains. >> reporter: sometimes things aren't quite what they seem. and in this case, that's a good thing. a man's body was discovered in is susquehanna river, just below a spill dam. police and the coroner were on the scene to investigate. sue hubbard first discovered the man's body. >> i saw him by himself. my second thought was, my gosh. >> reporter: it wasn't long, though, and this happened. the man sat up. he was okay, just floating in the river on a hot summer's day. people who witnessed it couldn't believe it. >> we were standing here talking to you. and all of a sudden, he sat up. and apparently, he wasn't dead. can you believe that? >> no. this is unbelievable. >> i said, it's a miracle. i mean, it's great.

>> reporter: one of the strangest things about this whole situation was at first, a lot of the onlookers noticed that the gentleman in the river was wearing this life jacket. and so, if he was a drowning victim, they wondered how he got there. turns out, he was out for a midafternoon nap in the susquehanna. >> i was out like a light. >> oh, my gosh. >> but it was comfortable. >> reporter: you heard right. joseph d'angelo fell asleep in the river and was oblivious of what was going on around him, until a dragon fly landed on his nose. >> it was like laying on the clouds. it was a wonderful thing. >> reporter: a wonderful thing, for sure, for all those who thought deangelo was gone. he said he was sorry for wasting everyone's time. but he was living the best way he knew how. >> enjoy life as you have it. that's what i was doing. sorry i hindered anybody for my enjoyment. but i'm going to enjoy it. >> aig