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here now is cnn national political correspondent jessica yellin. >> reporter: these are the hidden camera triggered a firestorm over grass roots activist group a.c.o.r.n., hanna jils seen here posing as a prostitute and james o'keefe pretended to be her pimp. according to her web biography, she's appeared on fox news. >> as i sat there, i was like i cannot believe they're actually falling for this and not necessarily falling for it, but what can we get them to say next? >> o'keefe says she's a filmmaker dedicated to uncovering corruption he feels the main stream media ignores. here he is in his pimp outfit. >> the two have gotten results, since these videos were posted, the u.s. senate has voted to cut off some of a.c.o.r.n.'s funding. >> where were the real reporters on this story? you know what? investigative media? where the hell were you? >> reporter: the animal rights group p.i.t.a. makes them all the time. and political campaigns have driven news with videos like this, remember macaca? that remark, considered racially offensive by some, took down an incumbent senator. investigator j

let's kick it off with jessica yellin. jessica? >> here's something you don't hear about every day.last night a man had the tip of his pinky finger bitten off at a rally for health care reform in southern california. cnn producer kevin bonn spoke with the victim, this man, william rice. he won't say if he's for or against health reform, but he got into a confrontation with someone who does support the president's reform plan and says that man taunted him and called him names, so he hit the man, his hand ended up in the man's mouth or finger did and that guy bit down. he severed the tip of rice's pinky. on the bright side, reportedly he has medicare. he was treated at a local hospital and the hospital tells us he chose not to have the pinky tip reattached. he didn't want to get surgery. okay, so clearly this is not the norm in health care rallies. it is the first incident of contact politics i can remember in recent years, but the question is, how did the health care debate get to this point? >> okay, candy, let's start with you this go-around. >> i want to just begin with ick. >> th

jessica yellin, cnn, washington. >> in fact, the senate has voted to withhold federal housing funds from a.c.o.r.n. and just last week, the census bureau severed ties with the organization. a.c.o.r.n. is also dogged by repeated probes into voter fraud. last night rick sanchez spoke with a.c.o.r.n.'s ceo, bertha lewis. >> how do you explain what americans have seen on some of these videotapes? i mean, somebody advising, you know, alleged pimps and prostitutes or people describing themselves as pimps and prostitutes to set up brothels. how do you explain that? >> pretty horrendous, isn't it? >> yeah. >> this would curl anybody's hair. and it was outrageous, and indefensible, even though we know these tapes -- no one has shown totally unedited tapes, because you don't see tapes where they were thrown out of a.c.o.r.n. offices. you don't see tapes where people are told, you know, we can't help you. but be that as it may, i will not tolerate unprofessional -- not meeting our standards. >> so the people have been fired? the people that we see on these tapes have been fired? >> yes. but listen,

jessica yellin, cnn, washington. >>> bp says they hit a gusher in the gulf of mexico and it could begest oil discovery in years. it's believed to be more than 6 billion barrels worth. that matches the u.s. consumption for 290 days. bp says the site could take years to develop. >>> an exiled president is in washington this morning talking about his ouster and efforts to return him to power. secretary of state hillary clinton is scheduled to meet with zelaya tomorrow. >>> a key member of afghanistan's government is among the victim of a deadly suicide bombing this morning. at least 23 people are dead. the deputy director of intelligence was among those killed in the blast outside a mosque near the capital of kabul. >> just days ago we heard these chilling words from this 911 caller as he described a horrible discovery. his family members dead inside their home. this hour that caller, guy heinze jr. is in a georgia court. our sean callebs is live in brunswick with the latest. sean, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. we can tell you that there's been a delay at the moment in

let's go to arlington, virginia, and jessica yellin is in new york. thanks for the time.get at it. public option. or no public option. that seems to be the question right now. what do you think the president will say when he gets to that portion of the speech tonight? >> white house sources are essentially saying he'll come out strong for the public option but he's not going to draw a line in the sand and say that it is a deal breaker. what we're seeing is the support but also wiggle room because reaction is public option probably cannot get out of the senate. again, he'll signal to progressives that he's for the public option but not a deal breaker. >> and jessica yellin, i'll come to you for a moment with your thoughts on that. but this is your colleague just yesterday on this program talking about the public option. >> there's not going to be a public option in this bill. there are not the votes in the house and senate to get it through. the president knows it. >> all right. jessica, you heard it from jim those comments yesterday. you heard the same thing from nia a mo

. >>> jessica yellin joining us, the white house is selling this as what they hope will be a big game changer in the debate. are we going to hear specifics as the president promised or will there just be more rhetoric if you will? >> i think the most important thing we'll look at is how specific he is about cost cutting measures, how to pay for this, will this be deficit neutral or how to get it to deficit neutrality. he is going to be more specific tonight. and that's the key to making this a game changer and if we hear more of the same, what we have seen in these excerpts so far, seems to be more of the same. if he does not do that, he is not going to get the progress he wants from this speech. ed henry has pointed out this is the first time that obama has referred to this as my plan or the plan or my bill, what will this bill cost and how will he get there? >> he's quite accommodating of the first person reference, is he not, when he embraces this plan, it's a plan that now what just about six weeks after his imposed deadline of august 1 from congress, we still don't have any speci

jessica yellin getting ready to do that.>> >>> a watch dog that could have prevented the worst abuses. so how is the job so far? >> i didn't come for the fun. and i haven't been disappointed. >> goolsby says he will keep the heat on congress to get that reform -- while there's been some positive economic news lately, he acknowledged the administration does not expect the job's picture to improve any time soon. >> what is he most afraid of right now? >> his biggest fear is his consumer protection agency, a watch dog for consumers, he's very concerned that lobbyists will protect that. >>> on our political ticker right now, president obama is picking sides in colorado's democratic senate primaries. he issued a statement stating that the incumbent bennett was appointed to the senate in january, replacing fellow democrat ken salazar when he became the interior secretary. more than five republicans are considering bids for bennett's seat. a pro wrestling mogul says she didn't expect her u.s. senate bid to be taken by the sport's c

our national political correspondent, jessica yellin, is here to break it all down for us. we want to talk about the key signs or maybe key words to watch for tonight. so, maybe if we were to lay it out, we should start with how specific he's going to be. because on some issues, he's going to have to be. >> that's right, kyra. the president is -- has said that he needs to be specific. and that's what we should all listen for. he said in an interview with "good morning america" that he was too ambiguous in the past. he let this debate, to some extent, get away from him, so now he needs to drive the debate. the big question is how much will be rhetoric and how much will we hear clear proposals from the president about what he can and cannot support? specifically listen for him to talk about costs, how will he pay for it. listen for that. another point, the public option, which you just mentioned. there's been an enormous amount of controversy around this question of a public option. many people don't believe a public option is essential to get health reform done. in fact, max

address before a joint session of congress, let's bring in our national political correspondent jessica yellins about reform and the realities? >> yeah, wolf, there have been so many controversial accusations during the health care debate and not all of them true. so we took a look at the three we have been hearing the most. claim one, illegal immigrants will be covered. >> why are we inviting 50 million illegal invaders into our health care system? >> that was from a town hall in florida, the truth, wolf, the bills that have come out of the committee and congress do not provide coverage for illegal immigrants. in fact the house bill explicitly says there will be no coverage for illegals. illegal aliens would still be able to get treatment only in emergency rooms, just as they can today, no change. the next accusation is that there will be death panels in any health reform bill. >> what it says is, as a 74-year-old man, if you develop cancer, we're pretty much going to write you off. because you're no longer a working citizen who will be paying taxes. >> that was a town hall in pennsylvania. w

we asked our national political jessica yellin to take a closer look. >> we took a closer look and foundideos were made by two amateur film makers who are supported by the conservative commentator andrew rightbart. he tells us the two were inspired by idealism and righteousness. these are the hidden camera videos that triggered a firestorm over grass roots activist group a.c.o.r.n. behind the videos, two 20-somethingings. hannah giles seen here posing as a prostitute and james o keef pretending to be her pimp. >> the young woman pretending to be a prostitute says she wants to traffic in to the united states underage girls from salvador. >> reporter: they're conservative film makers. according to her biography, she's the daughter of conservative -- >> as i said there, i was like i cannot believe they're actually falling for this. and not necessarily falling for it, but what can we get them to say next. >> reporter: o keef says he's a film maker dedicated to exposing corruption he believes the mainstream media ignores. here he's in his pimp outfit on fox news. >> i think this is the future