and natural gas production to an all-time high. and renewable energy production has doubled. of course, we need a lot more new jobs. but there are already more than 3 million jobs open and unfilled in america. mostly because the people who apply for them don't yet have the required skills to do them. so even as we get americans more jobs we have to prepare more americans for the new jobs that are actually going to be created. the old economy is not coming back. we have got to build a new one and educate people to do those jobs. the president, the president and his education secretary supported community colleges and

employers in working together to train people for jobs that are actually open in their communities. and even more important, after a decade in which exploding college costs have increased, the dropout rate so much that the percentage of our young people with four-year college degrees has gone down so much that we have dropped to 16th in the world, in the percentage of young people with college degrees. so, the president's student loan reform is more important than ever. here is what it does. here is what it does. you need to tell every voter where you live. it lowers the cost of federal student loans, and even more important, it gives students the right to repay those loans as a clear, fixed low percentage of their income for up to 20 years. now, what does this mean? what does this mean? think of it.

it means no one will ever have to drop out of college again for fear they can't repay their debt. and it means it means that if someone wants to take a job with a modest income, a teacher, a police officer, if they want to be a small town doctor in a little rural area, they won't have to turn those jobs down because they don't pay enough to repay the debt. their debt obligation will be determined by their salary. this will change the future for young americans! [ cheers and applause ] what about you? >> i don't know about you but on all of these issues i know we are better off because president obama made the decisions he did.

now, that brings me to healthcare. and the republicans call it derisively obama care. they say it is a government takeover, a disaster. and that if we will just elect them they will repeal it. well, are they right? let's take a look at what is actually, what has actually happened so far. first, individuals in businesses have already gotten more than a billion dollars in refunds from insurance companies because of require 80 percent of your premiums to go to healthcare and not profits or promotions. and the gains are even greater than that because a bunch of insurance companies have a applied to lower their rates to comply with the requirements. second, more than 3 million young people between 19 and 25

are insured for the first time because their parents policies can cover them. millions of seniors are receiving preventative care all the way from breast cancer screenings to test for heart problems and scores of other things and younger people are getting them too. fourth, soon the insurance companies, not the government, the insurance companies, will have millions of new customers, many of them middle class people with preexisting conditions who never could get insurance before. [ cheers and applause ] >> now, finally, this is it. for the last two years, after going up to three times the rate of inflation for a decade, for the last two years healthcare costs have been under four percent in both years for the first time in 50 years.

[ applause ] >> so let me ask you something. are we better off because president obama fought for healthcare reform? you bet we are. now, there were two other attacks on the president in tampa, i think deserves an answer. first, both governor romney and congressman ryan attacked the president for allegedly robbing medicare. of $716 billion. same attacks they leveled against the congress in 2010, and they got a lot of votes on it. but it is not true. look, here is what really happened. you be the judge. here is what really happened. there were no cuts to benefits fall. none. what the president did was to

save money by taking the recommendations of a commission of professionals to cut unwarranted subsidies to providers and insurance companies that were not making people healthier and were not necessary to get the providers to provide the service. and instead of rating medicare, raiding medicare he used the savings to close the doughnut hole in the medicare drug program. [ cheers and applause ] >> and you have to listen to this carefully. this is really important. and to add eight years to the life of the medicare trust fund so it is solvent until 2024. [ cheers and applause ] >> so president obama and the

democrats didn't weaken medicare. they strengthened medicare. now when congressman ryan looked into that tv camera and attacked president obama's medicare savings as, quote, the biggest, coldest power play, i didn't know whether to laugh or cry. because that $716 billion is exactly to the dollar the same amount of medicare savings that he had in his own budget. you have got to give one think. it takes brass to attack a guy for doing what you did.

[ cheers and applause ]. >> now, you are having a good time and we are getting serious and i want you to listen. it is important. because a lot of people believe this stuff. now, at least on this issue, and this one issue, governor romney has been consistent. he attacked president obama too. but he actually wants to repeal those savings and give the money back to the insurance companies. he wants to go back to the old system which means we will reopen the doughnut hole and force seniors to pay more for drugs and we will reduce the life of the medicare trust fund by eight full years.

so if he is elected and if he does what he promises to do, medicare will now go broke in 2016. think about that. that means after all we won't have to wait until our voucher programs kicks in in 2023 to see the end of medicare as we know it. they are going to do it to us sooner than we thought. folks, there is serious because it gets worse. and you won't be laughing when i finish telling you this. they also want to block grant medicare and cut it by a third in over the next ten years. of course that is going to really hurt a lot of poor kids. but that is not all. a lot of folks don't know it but nearly two-thirds of medicaid is spent on nursing home care for medicare seniors who are

eligible for medicaid. it is going to end medicare as we know it. and a lot of that money is also spent to help people with disabilities. including a lot of middle class families whose kids have down's syndrome or autism or other severe conditions. and honestly, let's think about it. if that happens, i don't know what those families are going to do. so i know what i am going to do. i am going to do everything i can to see that it doesn't happen. we can't let it happen! [ cheers and applause ]

>> now, wait a minute. let's look -- let's look at the other big charge the republicans made. it is a real doozy. they actually have charged and run ads saying that president obama wants to weaken the work requirements in the welfare reform bill i signed and removed millions of people from well fair to work. wait. you need to know here is what happened. nobody ever tells you what really happened. here is what happened. when some republican governors asked if they could have wavesers to put people on welfare back to work, .. the obama administration listened, because we all know it is hard for even people with good work

histories to get jobs today, so moving folks from welfare to work is a real challenge. and the administration agreed to give waivers to those governors and others only if they had a plan to keep employment and did i make myself clear? the requirement was for more work, not less. only if they did increase employment. >> now this is personal to me. and moving millions of people off welfare. it was one of the reasons that in the eight years i was president we had 100 times as many people move out of poverty into the middle class. it happened under the previous 12 years. 100 times as many. it is a big deal. but i am telling you the claim that president obama weakened welfare reforms work requirement

is just not true. but they keep on running ads claiming it. you want to know why? their campaign pollsters said, we are not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers. now finally i can say, that is true. [ cheers and applause ] >> i couldn't have said it better myself. and i hope you and every american within the sound of my voice remembers it every time they see one of those ads and it ctrns into an ad to re-elect barack obama and keep the fundamental principles of personal empowerment and moving everybody who can move a person

into work as soon as we can. everybody who can get a job into work as soon as we can. >> now let's talk about the debt. today interest rates are low, lower than the rate of inflation. people are packetcally paying us to borrow money. to hold their money for them. but it will become a big problem when the economy grows and interest rates start to rise. we have got to deal with this big long-term debt problem or it will deal with us. it will gobble us a bigger and bigger percentage of the budget we would rather spend upon education and healthcare and science and technology. we have got to deal with it. now, what has the president cone? he has offered a reasonable plan of $4 trillion in debt reduction over a decade with two and a half trillion coming from, for every two and a half trillion in spending cuts he raises a new dollar in revenue two, and a half to one.

and he has tight controls on future spending. that is the kind of balanced approach proposed by the simpson-bowles commission, a bipartisan commission. now i think this plan is way better than governor romney's plan. first, the romney plan fails the first test of fiscal responsibility. the numbers just don't add up. i mean, consider this. what would you do if you had this problem in? somebody says we have a big debt problem and we have to reduce the debt. so the first thing he says we are going to do, to reduce the debt we are going to have another $5 trillion in tax cuts. heavily weighted to upper income people. so it will make the debt hole bigger before we start to get out of it. now, when you say what are you going to do about this $5 trillion you just added on? they say oh we will make it up by eliminating loopholes in the

tax codes. so then you ask, well, which loopholes and how much? you know what they say? see me about that after the election. i am not making it up. what is their position. see me about that after the election. now, people ask me all the time, how we got four surplus budgets in a row. what new ideas did we bring to washington? i always give a one word answer. arithmetic. arithmetic. if they stay with this $5 trillion tax cut plan in a debt reduction plan, the arithmetic tells us, no matter what they say, one of three things is about to happen.

one, assuming they try to do what they say they will do, they cover it be deductions and cutting those deductions, one, they will have to eliminate so many deductions, like the ones for home mortgages and charitable giving that middle class families will see their tax bills go up an average of $2,000 while anybody who makes three idea or more will see their tax bill go down $250,000. or, two, they will have to cut so much spending that they will obliterate the budget for the national parks, for ensuring, clear clean air, safe food and air travel, and cut back on pelle grants, student loans, child nutrition problems that empower middle class families and help poor kids. oh they will cut back on

investments in roads and bridges and science and technology and buy a medical research, biomedical research, they will hurt the middle class and poor and put the future on hold to give tax cuts to upper income people who have been getting it all along. or, three, despite all of the rhetoric they will do what they have been doing for 30 years they will cut taxes way more than they cut spending, especially that big defense increase, and they will just explode the debt and weaken the economy. and they will destroy the federal government's ability to help you by letting interest gobble unall of your tax paints. , tax paints. don't you, payments don't forget when you hear them talking about this that republican economic policies quadrupled the national debt before i took office in the 12 years before i took office.

and double the debt in the eight years after i left. because it defied arithmetic. it was a highly inconvenient thing for them hour debates that i was just a country boy from arkansas and i came from a place where people still thought 2 and 2 was four. it is arithmetic. we simply cannot afford to give the reins of government to someone who will double down on trickle down. [ cheers and applause ] >> now, think about this. president obama, president obama's plan cut the debt, honors our values, brightens the future of our children, our

families and our nation, it is a heck of a lot better, it passes the arithmetic test and far more important it passes the values test. [ cheers and applause ] >> my fellow americans, all of us in this grand hall and everybody watching at home, when we vote in this election we will be deciding what kind of country we want to live in. if you want a winner take all, you are on your own society, you should support the republican ticket. but if you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibility, we are, a we are all in this together society you should vote for barack obama and joe biden. [ cheers and applause ] >> if you want -- if you want

america -- if you want every american to vote and you think it is wrong to change voting procedures -- [ cheers and applause ] >> -- just to reduce the turnout of younger, poorer minority and disabled voters, you should support barack obama. [ cheers and applause ] >> now, if you think the president was right to open the doors of american opportunity to all those young imgrants brought here when they were young, so they can serve in the military or go to college, you must vote for barack obama. [ cheers and applause ]

>> if you want a future of shared prosperity, where the middle class is growing and poverty is declining, where the american dream is really alive and well again, and where the united states maintains its leadership as a force for peace and justice and prosperity, in this highly competitive world, you have to vote for barack obama. [ cheers and applause ] >> look, i love our country so much, and i know we are coming back. for more than 200 years, through every crisis we have always come back. people have predicted our demise ever since george washington was criticized for being a mediocre surveyor with a bad set of wooden false teeth, and so far, every single person that has bet against america has lost money, because we always come back.

we come through every fire a little stronger and a little better. and we do it because in the end, we decide to champ i don't know the cause for which our founders pledged their lives, their fortunesn't, their steak credit honor, for the cause of forming a more perfect union. any fellow americans -- my fellow americans, if that is what you want, if that is what you believe, you must vote and you must re-elect president barack obama. god bless you and god bless america. [ cheers and applause ] >> pelley: president bill

clinton, here is president obama. >> pelley: president clinton may have just made a better argument for the obama administration than the obama administration has been able to make for itself in a speech that was scheduled for 28 minutes, presidenpresident clinton went 8

minutes in a full throated endorsement of president obama. arguing at one point essentially about the economy, be patient, it is working. bob schieffer, quite a speech. >> schieffer: well, that was quite a speech and i have heard a lot of them. i must say and i think your point is exactly right. that he kind of summed it up in a way that the obama administration simply hasn't been able to do. for better or for worse. i mean he laid it out. i must say i thought his best line of the night was he said, they left it in a total mess, he didn't clean it up fast enough, so throw him out and put us back in. which is a pretty good way to answer that question the republicans keep asking, are you better offer now than you were four years ago. it is just an amazing speech, i thought. >> pelley: president obama will have his work cut out for him tomorrow. looking ahead, tonight, the roll call of the state decembers will

make official the nomination of barack obama as the democratic candidate for president. tomorrow night, the president will deliver his acceptance speech and we will bring you live coverage beginning at ten eastern time. there will be more about all of this tonight on your local news and on this cbs station on our cbs web site, cbsnews.com. and then first thing tomorrow, right here in charlotte, charlie rose and for are a o'donnell will have the latest on the democrats, a preview of the president's acceptance speech and all of the top news on cbs this morning. with bob schieffer and our campaign 2012 team, i am scott welley, i will see you tomorrow on the cbs evening news. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

. this is 9news now. new tonight at 11:00, two presidents take the stage together. former president bill clinton was joined by barack obama on stage at the democratic convention and they're partying like it was 1992 where the delegates heard a longer than expected speech from former president bill clinton. >> that it was. now, what never happened before, a former president formerly nominating an incumbent? >> reporter: a detailed criticism of the obama administration, president clinton gave his party a reminder of what was the good old days. as you saw, president obama showed up this evening to look the place over, but the night belonged to bill clinton. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: they still love

him. huge ovation. he started with distinctions between the parties. >> we're all in this together. it's a far better philosophy than you're on your own. they think government is always the enemy. they're always right. and compromise is weakness. >> reporter: he credited the president for turning the economy around. >> he inherited a deeply damaged economy. he put a floor under the trash. he began the long, hard road to recovery and laid the foundation for a modern, more well balanced economy that will produce millions of good new jobs, vibrant new businesses and lots of new wealth. >> reporter: he criticized republicans for untruthful ads about medicaid and welfare and gop economic plans won't work. the day started with a decision to abandon the 65,000 seat outdoor stadium acceptance speech scheduled for thursday. they blame possible

thunderstorms and danger. so no big extravaganza like 2008. nominee obama will be inside instead. >> all of those delegates opposed say no. >> no. >> reporter: the convention session started h that surprise vote when organizers assumed it would be easy to amend the platform to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel and reinsert the word god in the platform. >> i guess -- >> you have to listen to what they're going to do. >> reporter: they voted rule the amendment passed and moved on to an evening of obama praise and romney criticism. >> we know that every issue is a woman's issue. >> reporter: big maryland night. the gains for women in the last four years. hoyer on the economy. >> president obama was able to bring the economy back from the verge of a second great depression. >> reporter: a video featured alexandria's pt city brewing off the ground because of an administration small business

loan program. >> our president has fought for small business owners, and now it's time to fight for him. >> reporter: great falls businessman and vietnam veteran ed mar appeared in a video. >> increasing the budget to $140 billion. >> reporter: it is worth reminding you that president clinton's speech tonight was a nominating address on now on the floor they're going through the role call. when it's over, barack obama will formerly become the nominee of his party. he gets the podium and what he'll say, well, we'll be back in 24 hours to let you know. >> we'll count on you, gary. thank you. as gary mentioned, some obama supporters are upset and they may have mother nature to blame. he was supposed to deliver his speech tomorrow night outdoors holding 70,000 people. but it's been raining this week in charlotte, so convention organizers decided to move the president's speech indoors to the time warner cable arena.

it only has 23,000 seats. >> this is really a public safety decision. based on making sure we didn't put any of our supporters in harm's way. >> but what about all of those obama supporters who stood in line for hours to get the tickets? the president will speak to them directly tomorrow on a conference call. charlotte had some rain earlier this week. is it really a concern? only one guy to ask. topper shutt. >> i think they're more concerned about lightning and very strong winds and some severe thunderstorms. they could roll the die and get away with it but they want to take the safer road. let's look at the satellite picture. we'll zoom into the thunderstorms. there is a big line of heavy duty thunderstorms from kentucky back into tennessee. this could roll in there tomorrow, probably before the speech. but, again, their main thunderstorm with lightning and heavy rain. these are hefty storms pulling out of kentucky at this time. right now it's quiet in charlotte. we'll zoom up to us.

we're kind of quiet too. we're looking at perhaps some fog overnight, especially in southern fauquier county where you saw the showers roll through earlier tonight. the good news is for your wake up weather, it's going to be dry tomorrow. 68-76 by 5:00. in the 70s. just humid by 7:00. and 76-83 with partly cloudy skies by 9:00. we'll come back, we'll talk about the potential for more storms here and look ahead to the weekend. >> thank you, topper. new tonight at 11:00, the secret service investigating the reported theft of republican presidential candidate mitt romney's federal tax letters. a letter demanded a million dollars in ransom to prevent those papers from being disclosed. now, the senator claims the returns were stolen back in august during a watergate style break in at the company's offices in franklin, tennessee. a federal judge has ruled officers in arizona can enforce a controversial state

immigration law. under that law, once they've targeted somebody for a crime, they can ask that person about the immigration status to see if they're here illegally. it has been at the center of a court battle over the past two years. opponents have been arguing it would lead to racial profiling. fairfax county police raided a suspected dog fighting ring in alexandria today. as matt jablow reports, one man was arrested and a number of dogs were seized. >> reporter: over the course of three hours, fairfax county police executed a field search warrant at 4511 tipton lane. male and female adult dogs and puppies. officers also took out various items often used to train fighting dogs. treadmills, harnesses, heavy chains and a device used to force breeding. the suspected ring leader right now faces one charge of being an unfit animal owner, but more charges could be added as the investigation continues. as for the dogs, their fate i