wolf?> does the national transitional council, the group now in charge of libya, suspect, arwa, they're any closer to finding moammar gadhafi? >> reporter: well, at one point they thought that he was just to the area east of the airport, and they were basing that on the intensity of the fighting there but then the commanders told us that the gadhafi units there withdrew, moving to the southeast and the predominant belief right now is that he is in the south, that is where his tribe is from, but there is no concrete information as to exactly where he may be, so the search for him is certainly on. they hope since some of his family members did, in fact, flee this could discourage loyal is from continuing the fight although he himself is still believed to be in libya. >> arwa damon in libya for us, thank you. >>> hurricane irene's powerful journey up the east coast may be over but many states are just now beginning to feel the full blow. ahead we'll take you on a chopper tour of new jersey's m

>> reporter: absolutely, wolf. the authorities have been by that apartment building at least four times today telling these seniors that they've got to get out. and telling them that where they are may not be safe. but again, you heard what these seniors said. some say that they have been through many storms in the area, and they feel as though they are safer where they are, which is the reason why they're not leaving. and in fact, governor christie specifically mentioned the seniors who are here in atlantic city who are refusing to leave. and that group that we found of 92 may in fact be some of those seniors that he was referring to. >> i assume all the casinos in atlantic city are shut down, right? >> caller: absolutely correct. let me show you, wolf, if i can. you can see where some of the casinos here are boarded up. all of the casinos in the city have been shut down. 11 casinos. that's only happened two times in history, wolf. once in 1985 during hurricane gloria. and once during 2006 during a government shut

wolf and so forth. but the larger question is, given the politics of the issue at the time, the fact that a decision was made by someone at the highest levels to end acts to bypass through a stealthy secret plan is a serious, serious charge and if true, a serious serious offense. my question to you is, and you make your pledge to us, that you will not withhold any type of intelligence that is available to you from this committee, and i take you at your word for that. what i want to ask you is the reverse of that. if you become aware of some action or policy decision, some piece of intelligence that this committee ought to know about, but that is politically sensitive and perhaps there are concerns that you might be sharing information that people at policy levels don't want shared. are you willing to serve as an independent director of nctc, and provide us with your independent opinion as to that? i just think it is critical that we are aware of that and so i would like to get your reaction to that on t

i'm wolf blitz person. >> and i'm don lemon. for the next two hours we'll be tracking breaking developments in washington and around the world, wolf. >> it is an amazing moment in washington, i must say. as many of our viewers have been watching here on cnn, our live coverage, president obama now says a tentative agreement is in place to raise the nation's debt ceiling averting a potential default on the united states' financial obligations. >> it's just been amazing to watch and see the president come out on a sunday night like this, wolf. we'll have complete coverage on every single angle of this story, what's in the deal, lou it finally came about and how all the various players in this debate are reacting tonight. >>> several asian markets already opened, others will be opening soon. we'll take you there live to see how the traders are reacting to this. >> it's been an amazing day, don. i must say. earlier today the senate democratic leader harry reid signed off on the deal with his final approval dependent on the support of

>> hey there, wolf.steps away from the house floor where the debate is under way which means we're moving towards a vote on final passage of this compromise deal. we're told by sources that it could happen before 7:00 this evening, so we're keeping a close eye on that. meantime, some interesting developments to tell you that have happened in the last hour since we last spoke. throughout the day it's been really hard to pin down where house democratic leaders stand on this bill. throughout the day they have refused to throw their support behind the bill and refused to say and really take a position. now i'm told by a top house leadership aide, house democratic leadership aide, that the number one democrat in the house, nancy pelosi will vote yes, that she will be supporting this compromise deal and now listen here to the number two democrat in the house, steny hoyer. >> i am voting for this bill, not because i like this bill, although it does do sol things that i think need to be done. we need to bring do

i'm wolf blitzer.nd you're in "the situation room." >>> a sickening plunge on wall street as the dow drops 634 points, that's 5 1/2% loss. the s&p fell 6.5%, and the dazz knack 7%. the loss to investors at least on paper, $2.9 trillion since july 22. almost $3 trillion of lost equity. the s&p is now down nearly 18% from its april high. the dow is down more than 1800 points or about 15% in the last 11 trading days. fears of a global economic slowdown sparked frenzied selling around the world, but the downgrade of the u.s. credit rating by the rating agency standard & poor's seemed to stun america's investors. that downgrade cutting the u.s. rating to aa plus came after friday's market close, allowing plenty of time over the weekend for fear to build up. president obama came out today, and he tried to offer some reassurance saying the country's economic problems are solvable. >> markets will rise and fall, but this is the united states of america. no matter what some agency may say, we've always been and

i want to get back to wolf blitzer in washington.olf, there's still a lot of politics to work out and a lot of dotting the "is" and crossing the "ts" in washington. >> they always say the devil is in the details. certainly it will be in the details when the senate members of the house look at the language. kate bolduan, up on capitol hill, what are you seeing up there now, kate? >> hey, there, wolf. well just a little bit of information on kind of the path forward. obviously members of both parties want their members to actually see the legislation, they need to discuss that. but on the path forward there's always this question of the procedure, is there enough time actually to get any piece of legislation, any prom economize through the house and through the senate, just procedurally in time. i've got a little reporting probably some good news for people watching this this evening from the top senate democratic aide. they say the senate is going to go first in this procedure. they're going to take up the compromise measure first and

wolf? >> even though everyone was strongly urged to leave where you are as you say, chris, there are some people who say you know what? they think they can ride it out? >> reporter: yeah, exactly. i think a lot of that has to do with the fact that the winds aren't going to be catastrophic winds. they are not talking about a category 3 or 4. and so sometimes that can lull people to sleep when you hear cat 1 or hear the wind speed is decreasing. people think they don't need to leave the home. for a lot of reasons kit be an emotional reason. the problem is you won't know about that storm surge really until it's right on top of you. the real worry is with the brunt of the storm coming at night in the dark and then high tide coming about 3:30 in the morning, it can bring a tremendous amount of water in here in a very short amount of time. >> so the real fear right now is flooding right, chris, is that what you're saying? >> reporter: that is the primary fear, wolf. the winds are not to the exten

wolf?tthew, i understand and correct me if i'm wrong that a former u.s. district of columbia delegate to kong walter it fontroy is trapped in the hotel with you? >> yes, he's trapped with us, sitting right in ex-to me now. if you don't mind, wolf, i'll pass the phone over to him because he's got a message he wants to deliver it, and is it okay if i give him the phone right now? >> of course, please, let me speak to him because i know a lot of our viewers will remember walter fontroy, representative from the district of columbia. walter fontroy, this is wolf blitzer. can you hear me in washington? >> yes, i can hear you. >> congressman why are you at the rixos hotel? what are you doing in tripoli? >> as the reverend congressman fontroy 20 years in congress, i had joined dr. paul here in an effort to work out a non-violent solution. right now we are in a precarious situation with some of our friends from the media, because we fear that unless we are able to relocate that we may all be in dang

wolf? >> chris, are they saying, the experts you're talking to including the mayor, this is worst than they expected, what they expected? not as bad? what are they saying? >> reporter: two answers to that, wolf, wind wise they don't think it's going to be as bad as they initially expected. other storms the winds were more powerful, isabel, and again the winds probably won't be as bad as they originally thought. but what they're very concerned about is the in fact that this storm is moving so slowly and that the brunt of it is going to get right around the same time as high tide and that is a real concern, that it will bring so much water that the storm surge may flood amou lot of those are. >> all right, we're losing our connection with chris lawrence. he's in chesapeake beach? maryland. obviously a bad situation unfolding there. we're reporting live from washington, d.c., the storm is moving towards the nation's capital right now, we'll be reporting a special situation room for the next th

hi, wolf.phone calls by european leaders today, and what we're hearing from the reuters news agency right now, there's a conference call with the deputy finance machinesstin the g-20. nobody really knows what this means. the french and dutch are being supportive say they still have faith in the united states. the united kingdom says this is actually vindication of britain's austerity program, because they kept their aaa level. many countries, though, in europe, which have high sovereign debt level, are now worried if they'll be on the chopping block as well. there's already been a lot of anger directed at the rating agencies in europe. there's a feeling that they have too much power. there's no transparency. there's no accountability. the eu is actually looking at laws to try to address all of that. even punishment if the rating agencies get it wrong and cause economic damage. now, the nicknames for the agencies there are moody, sulky and snitch. there's been a different reaction, though, in be

i'm wolf blitzer. we want to welcome those in the united states and around the world welcome to the "countdown to debt crisis". >> i'm don lemon at the cnn world head quarters in atlanta where we are tracking developments in washington and around the world. >> we do have breaking news coming in from nation's capital right here in washington. president obama now says an agreement is in place to raise the nation's debt ceiling, averting a potential default on the united states financial obligations. >> we have complete coverage on every angle of the story. what's in the deal, how it came about and how all the various players in this debate are reacting. we are keeping an eye on where traders are reacting to news of a deal. we need to get to jessica yellen our chief white house concerned correspondent the president came out a short time ago and said it appears a deal is in the works. not the perfect deal but one that will keep america from going into default. >> that's right, don. i have more information

wolf?barbara, to be precise on this point, as heartbreaking as it is, we know that that chinook helicopter was brought down, we believe, by rocket propelled grenades, if you will. and that it crashed and burned. that's probably why the remains have not been identified. but the remains will be taken to forensic labs to highly sophisticated facilities that the u.s. military has and eventually they will be identified, i assume, through dna tests and other forensic evidence. >> absolutely, wolf. if it is at all possible. that will happen. service members give a dna sample, of course, especially before they're assigned to a unit going into heavy combat. there's dental records, dna. all sorts of ways that this will take place. remains are returned to dover for that precise dna formal identification for legal and forensic reasons. but when someone is -- we're allowed to cover it when they have a fair reasonable certainty of who it is and they can match up a name and a set of remains. tough busines

wolf said what is exactly right. you see this start up in full campaign mode after labor day. after labor day. but wolf knows and jessica knows that is usually labor day of election year. and now we have a full campaign mode on labor day of the year before. and i think when the country is hurting, i think a lot of americans would like to see less campaigning and more action in washington. >> no doubt about that. wolf, great interview. thanks for being us with. jessica as well. up next, no end to syria's brutal crackdown on protesters. we'll talk to an activist who says the syrian people are no longer afraid of assad's violent government. we're also going to show you video which is just stunning. and that is hard to say after four and five months of brutality that we have witnessed. this is a little girl shot to death by security forces. we'll show you the video. people have risked their lives to get this video out. also, our 360 special investigation, a little girl beaten to death by her parents who believe the bible

wolf?> all right. thanks very much, mary, for that report. gadhafi is at large. rebels are going after his family and inner circle. we're taking a closer look at the fate of the sons. stay with us. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. [ male announcer ] this is our beach. ♪ this is our pool. ♪ our fireworks. ♪ and our slip and slide. you have your idea of summer fun, and we have ours. now during the summer event get an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz for an exceptional price. but hurry, this offer ends august 31st. >>> the

that's it, wolf.ee you tomorrow. >> good work, jack, see you tomorrow. >>> well, watching wall street is not for the faint of heart. jeanne moos is next. that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] chevrolet is honored to celebrate the unveiling of the washington, d.c., martin luther king jr. memorial. take your seat at the table on august 28th. i've tried it. martin luther king jr. memorial. but nothing's helped me beat my back pain. then i tried this. it's salonpas. this is the relief i've been looking for. salonpas has 2 powerful pain fighting ingredients that work for up to 12 hours. and my pharmacist told me it's the only otc pain patch approved for sale using the same rigorous clinical testing that's required for prescription pain medications. proven. powerful. safe. salonpas. i may be mud, but i have standards. mops? please. some of

of. >> and traders were surprised as well, wolf. they were surprised we didn't see more of after positive impact on the marks with the uncertainty off the table with the debt deal. but you know what, for wall street, the focus is no longer on the debt ceiling. investors have moved way bond that. now they're worried about a series of economic reports. today what spooked the markets is consumer spending reports. consumer spending fell for the first time in two years. people are saving more because they're unsure of where the economy is headed. then you throw in the other down beat report wes eve gotten. on friday, that weak gdp report, it's showing there's just not enough growth out there to create jobs. and also the manufacturing report we got yesterday. manufacturing is actually at its slowest rate of growth in two years. we're at 2009 levels. can you believe it? traders regard manufacturing as the sector that really needs to leave the economy out of this stagnation. where is that going to come from? if consumers, americans don't ha

wolf just said what's exactly right.start up in full campaign mode after labor day. absolutely right. wolf knows and jessica knows that that's usually labor day of election year. now we've got a full campaign mode on labor day of the year before! and i think when the country's hurting, i think a lot of americans would like to see less campaigning and more action in washington. >> yeah. no doubt about that. wolf, great interview. thanks for being with us. jessica as well and david gergen, thank you. >>> up next, no end to syria's crackdown. we're going to talk to a human rights activist who says the syrian people are no longer afraid of bashar assad's violent government. government. we'll also show you a video just stunning. that's hard to say after four and five months of brutality that we've witnessed. this is a little girl shot to death by security forces. we'll show you the video. because people have risked their lives to get this video out. >>> also, our "360" special investigation. a little girl beaten to death by h

you heard him say it to you, wolf.throughout september as he comes back from his vacation and continues to push his jobs proposal which he told you he's going to unveil, and he's going to hit the campaign -- well, he'll hit the road. he won't call it the campaign trail. sending this message that republicans in essence are blocking an agenda he would like to get done for the country. >> all right. jessica, david, i want both of you to stand by. we have much more to talk about. i want to get your take on some of the other things the president said about jobs, how much responsibility is he taking for the unemployment crisis in the united states. more on the president's tour through the american heartland as well. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." [ male announcer ] if you're in a ford f-150 and you see this... it's the end of the road. the last hurrah. it's when ford's powertrain warranty ends. but in this ram truck, you've still got 39,999 miles to go. ♪ guts. glory. ram. ♪ what's vanishing deductible all abo

wolf? >> yeah, 4,000 faa employees, dan, who were furloughed and tens of thousands of construction workers basically are being told to stop working because you're not going to get paid and that could go on for five week physical they don't get back to town. >> that's right. that's always the ripple effect of any measure that is not, you know, taken care of by congress. the direct impact on the employees of whatever it might be in, in this case, the faa. and also those construction workers that are involved in these projects all around the country and more than 20,000 of these workers and also no funding for them, so they can't show up for work, wolf. >> everyone stresses, though, dan, it's still safe for everyone to fly. they don't have to worry about that part of the story, right? >> ray lahood was saying that. that the safety system is still very concern eed but a lot of concern. they would love for that funding to come through and make sure that those employees, those faa employees all g

i'm wolf blitzer and you're in "the situation room." right now, president obama is wrappinging up his bus tour in the midwest. he's about to start his second and final event in his home state of illinois. he's been talking to people about the fight for america's future, even as he steps up his own fight for reelection. >> when i travel through down state illinois, iowa, the midwest, i am absolutely confident about this country. and the reason is because of you. the reason is because of the american people. because as tough of a time as we've had there's not a country on earth that would not ready change places with us right now. >> the president told me just yesterday in iowa he knows voters will hold him accountable for the constituent of economy, so he's getting ready to speak to the nation about the unemployment problem and what h he can try to do to make it better. jessica, what are you learning about the president's proposed speech? >> it will come after labor day when the president will unveil not specifically proposal, but legisl

not sure about the bruises, though, wolf. we'll see you in the rematch.>> in the republican presidential race, the former u.s. ambassador to china also has tough comments and even for his former bos, president obama. piers morgan asked huntsman about the showdown over raising the get limit and the tea party's refusal to compromise. >> i thought it was a height of irresponsibility, the height of irresponsibility where 25% of the gdp, the united states of america that has never defaulted before, just let it go over a cliff. you can imagine what the marketplace would have done in response. the mark place is trashing everybody right now. assets are under water. 401(k)s, retirement, you can only imagine what this country would look like today if we had defaulted. it was complete lunacy. >> do you have sympathy for barack obama who's been a friend of years personally? really usual refusing to compromise? >> he pinted me, and i stood up and took the appointment to serve my country. he had 2 1/2 years to get this country right, to do the most important thing dema

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room". >>> president obama on a bus tour through the united states midwest he's been reaching out to rural voters but he took some time today to sit down with me for a wide-ranging one-on-one interview. we talked about the political gridlock in washington, the field of republican challengers trying to oust him from the white house, and the terror threat a decade after 9/11. but we began with what may be the most pressing issue facing the country right now. here's part one of my interview with the president of the united states. >> mr. president, thanks very much for joining us. >> great to be here. >> let's talk about jobs jobs jobs. issue number one. you're going to release a major new jobs program you say in september. here's the question. what's taking so long? >> well, the truth is everything we've done has been related to jobs. starting back with the recovery act. and that's the reason why we've seen over 2 million jobs created over the last 17 months in

wolf, you have a question? >> yes. ben knows these leaders in this trandigsal council, the people who willen taking over libya probably within days, ben. you know they hate gadhafi, they hate gadhafi's sons. if all of these individuals are captured alive and arrested, will they want to put them on trial in libya or will they hand them over to the international criminal court in the haig for trial? what's your gut tell you? >> well, i was in misratah in the main square when the icc, the international criminal court, issued its warrant for moammar gadhafi and saif al islam gadhafi, his son. now the transitional national council organized a rally where they had essentially written up boards or posters for people to hold up saying thank you to the icc. but when you actually spoke to people in the crowd, they were quite clear, they want to see these people not even necessarily put on trial. they want to see them executed. one man saying he'd like to stab him to death 100 times. on the one hand they want to show the world th

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> it's an unprecedented move that could have an affect on personal finances. the long-term effect of standard & poor's decision to downgrade aaa to aa plus is not known but there are growing concerns about the potential for serious consequences in washington. indeed, across the nation. christi christine romans has been analyzing the impact. first of all, why did s&p do this? >> because america faces an unknown financial future and there is acrimony in washington and the inability it appears for these problems to be solved in a meaningful way. s&p to go out of its way to point out a hurdle or a roadblock against real reform. s&p would like to see more than $2.5 trillion in cuts. it would like to have seen a bigger deal to get america's debt smaller as a size of the overall economy than it will be here. wolf, clearly it's something that many people have feared. it's a day that ken, a very important economist told me will be in the history books. this ha

wolf? i mean, this has been, according to one trader i just got off the phone with, the craziest week he has ever seen. this is a quote from a new york stock exchange trader who has been trading for, get this, 43 years. a wild week, no doubt about it. let's look back at the numbers. since we saw the dow fall so significantly. a week ago thursday it was up down, up down. since then giving you just a sense of where we are overall in this big decline. we're still down over 600 points for the dow industrials and, by the way, wolf, we closed higher yesterday. we closed higher today. see those two green arrows at the end of your screen. that is the first time we had two positive closes for the stock market since july 6 and 7th. if you want to look at where we are relatively speaking, we're now at about the same levels on the dow that we were all the way back in april of 2010. it has been a wild ride and we are down overall when you look at what we've seen in the up and down. we're still pretty fa

it's still important, wolf. like you said, with so much attention on the economy, foreign policy has taken a backseat on the campaign trail. but not today. >> it was something of a debate. president obama, mitt romney, and rick perry all sounding off on foreign policy, all revealing some of their battle plans for 2012. >> we can't lead the world by hoping that our enemies will hate us less. >> in a speech to the veterans of foreign wars, romney stook to his attack of the president playbook. >> have we ever had a president that was so eager to address with the down in the heart? >> romney delivered a jab on the weak economy that seemed aimed at rick perry. >> career politicians got us into this mess and they simply don't know how to get us out. >> taking his own campaign style speech to the american legion, president obama prepared to take off his greatest hits, winding down the wars in iraq or afghanistan, while helping to bring down moammar gadhafi and the president. the president was careful to see who would g

the defense companies, wolf. and they certainly have a lot at stake here. >>> president obama may be feeling a bit uneasy after seeing a new round of poll numbers. is he running scared? our strategy session is coming up. and after the death of osama bin laden, there's a new reason for the united states to be suspicious about pakistan. details coming up. ok refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. in one place. ♪ the race of your life you never ran. the trip around the world you never took. the best-selling novel you never wrote. but there's one opportunity that's too good to miss. the lexus golden opportunity sales event, with exceptional values on the lexus es. but only until september 6th. see your lexus dealer. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers a

wolf just said what's exactly right.sually you see this start up in full campaign mode after labor day. absolutely right. wolf knows and jessica knows that that's usually labor day of election year. now we've got a full campaign mode on labor day of the year before! and i think when the country's hurting, i think a lot of americans would like to see less campaigning and more action in washington. >> yeah. no doubt about that. wolf, great interview. thanks for being with us. jessica as well and david gergen, thank you >>> no end to syria's crackdown. we're going to talk to a human rights activist who says the syrian people are no longer afraid of assad's violent government. we'll also show you a video just stunning. that's hard to say after four and five mochbts of brutality that we have witnessed. this is a little girl shot to death by security forces. we'll show you the video. because people have risked their lives to get this video out. >>> also our 360 special investigation. a little girl beaten to death by her parent

wolf? >> we have a lot of viewers in the united states and around the world just joining us now at the top of the hour. set the scene for us. tell us what happened over the past six hours, shall we say, at this hotel where you are based. >> well, there have been absolutely intensive gunfights between various armed groups. the gadhafi sprorupporters on o side. many have driven into zawiyah. when they have driven in we have had reports of people welcoming them rather than resisting them as had been called for by gadhafi troops. people were celebrating in the streets. there were fireworks set off. scenes of celebration. the rebels reached green square which is the central square in the middle of tripoli. and there were celebrations as well. none of the fierce clashes. none of the fierce, ferocious resistance that was promised by the government. in fact, just a few hours ago when we last spoke to the gadhafi government's information spokesperson, information minister mussah ibrahim he said ther

we are in a situation now where everyone expects the senate to rubber stamp this tomorrow, wolf. are we in terms of the winners and losers here? who has come out of this well? who has come out of this badly? >> probably the tea party supporters have come out of it pretty well, because they did manage successfully to get this entire issue link reducing the national debt and raising the debt ceiling. that has never been done before. they managed to get it on the agenda, and at the same time they managed to achieve at least in the short term what they wanted to do it without any tax increases. no enhanced revenue from any tax reform or anything along those lines, so i would say that the tea party movement, they come out of this as winners. the president, the republican leadership, and the democratic leadership, they don't necessarily come out successful, big winners politically-speaking, but they did manage to step away from the brink that the united states at least not now the united states will not default on the obligations, the financial obligations. that could have been a disas

. >>> i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." the news continues on cnn. >>> good evening, everyone, tonight president obama on jobs sending troops off to war and the republicans who want his job. what does he make, for example, of texas governor rick perry's suggestion the men and women of america's armed forces don't respect their commander in chief. >> i'll cut him some slack. he's only been at it for a few days now. >> perry for his part isn't so diplomatic. he blows kisses at his rivals and uses words like treasonous to criticize the chairman of the federal reserve. >> i don't know what you all would do to them in iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly in texas. >> the texas talk is stirring the presidential race but might some scare voters away? on the trail michele bachmann leads a tribute. >> before we get started, let's all say happy birthday toley to. happy birthday. >> sweet, right? except elvis was born in january. he died on this day on august 16th, 1977. >>> plus, check this out. the group swarms into a maryland c

wolf? >> thank you. >>> president obama told the nation he would prevent armageddon, but look at this, the worst sell-off since the financial crisis. despite the recent deal to raise the federal debt limits. let's bring in jessica yellin, looking at this story for us. even before this huge sell-off, there were concerns of what's going on from the president's perspective, but now it's intensified. >> there are eye-catching numbers for the president president in this new quinnipiac poll from florida. we're looking at independents. those are the key swing voters that the president has to get to get reelected. first, before the debt deal, they were asked, 42% of independents approved of how the president was doing his job. 52% said they disapproved. after the debt deal went down, 33% say they approve, 61% say they discusses approve. now, that is a huge drop in a very short period of time. it would look like he's taking a very serious hit with independent voters who want to end the partisan grid

wolf? >> in washington, they're fighting big spending cuts over at the pentagon. we're going to tell you who they are and how they're pressuring congress. >> plus this -- the rebel commander says if we drive down that road we will be seen by gadhafi forces and they will open fire. >> we're up close with libyan rebels looking for an opening to attack. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. tidy cats premium line of litters now works harder to help neutralize odors in multiple-cat homes. and our improved formula also helps eliminate dust. so it's easier than ever to keep your house smelling just the way you want it. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. and all we need to do is change the way we're thinking about them. a couple decades ago, we didn't even realize just how much natural gas was trapped in rocks thousands of feet below us. technology has made it possible to safely unlock this cleanly burning

all right, wolf, we'll keep talking.ay with us, please, because we want to keep talking about this as we hit the top of the hour. joe johns on capitol hill. joe, what's your sense of things right now? >> reporter: well, we've still got quite a ways to go. about an hour and a half this vote is scheduled for noon eastern time. just watching the floor of the united states senate, they got started about an hour ago with speeches. and you and wolf talked a little bit about senator orrin hatch of utah facing a challenge from his right announcing on the floor of the senate that he will not vote for this because in his view, it is not a solution to america's spending problems. a variety of other members out on the senate floor. senator david vitter of louisiana interestingly enough did not give a speech, but he did announce his intentions to vote against this debt limit bill on twitter just a little while ago saying in his view it also doesn't go far enough. some democrats out there, the refrain i've heard from several of them s

wolf blitzer.us tour the president is now on, folks are lining the roads to see him. and here's that beast, or it's referred to as a beastly bus he's riding on. we're going to try to do something we don't do very often. bree jana keeler is going to take us behind the scenes for what is a pretty big production there, working and traling along with the president. watch this. >> this is our work space here, the event the president is having in iowa. and this is just for television. up in front of us here, you can see the transition pool operating. this is where they're sending out feeds of all of the live events where you can see all of the different camera angles from this event that the president is doing today. he's watching every movement on television monitors over there. you have live locations. this is with respect different networks can do their shots. you see all of the silos. it definitely gives you the sense that we're in iowa. this is actually an education building. it's used for act cultu

this is nonsense, wolf, nonsense. just -- it's -- they are not -- they are not going to touch enteams. they are not going to touch tax reforms. they are going to name another commission down the road to sit aron and do what? it's garbage, and they keep going out and selling the same sack of fertilizer because we're dumb enough i guess to keep buying this crap. >> let's think what our viewers think. they will be weighing in very soon, jack. thank you. i'll ask the house democrat about the charge that the debt deal facing a vote right now on the floor is a sugar-coated satan sandwich. congressman emanuel cleaver standing by live. as my mercedes collision system automatically kicked in. the next thing i know, the mercedes stopped itself. ♪ watching what mercedes has done in bringing together these sensors in a car with software that has the ability to save your life. that's magical software. [ male announcer ] the innovation, the engineering of mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. when i got my medicare card, i realized i

yesterday he sat down with wolf blitzer. >> mr.dential race, and i think that everybody who runs for president probably takes them a little bit of time before they start realizing that this isn't like running for governor or running for senator or congress. you've got to be a little more careful about what you say. but i'll cut him some slack. he's only been at it it for a few days now. >> throughout the hour we'll hear more of wolf blitzer's interview with the president. in just about 15 minutes, president obama will talk jobs and the economy as we heard from breanna keelor. we'll take that as well. >>> pretty interesting new information in the case of that american woman missing in aruba. the suspect, gary giordano, 0 apparently took out travel insurance on her. >> reporter: this is something investigators are looking into very, very carefully because it would come down to motivation possibly, if their impact has been a crime has taken place. that is the question that gary gee dawn it know may have taken out an insurance policy.

wolf? >>> my interview with president obama. has his hope and change in washington actually happened? and we're looking rick perry's remarks into what he calls a treez nous act. and how americans are profiting from products made in china. we're going to let you in on a little-known secret that could change the way you buy. >> the best part of the job is coming to places like this, right here in iowa where you can talk to everybody and everyday americans. there's plenty of fear and anger right here in america's heartland and indeed across the country right now. i sat down with the president just a little while ago for an in depth interview about job, the economy, the 2012 campaign. the war on terror and a lot more. specific about the short-term plans for boosting the economy and how it could make or break his reelection campaign. >> you said if you don't turn around the economy in three years it's going to be a one-term proposition. do you remember that? >> when i came into office, i knew i

>> reporter: well, hi, wolf.his is an aircraft designed to go anywhere in the world in less than an hour from los angeles to new york in until 12 minutes. things were going well. things were going well they lost communication with the aircraft. this is the same thing that happened when they tried this in april of last year. this attaches to a rocket, goes suborbital, and then it's supposed to, so it fell into the specific ocean, at least that's what crews are thinking. at least they're encouraged. >> and no one on board, obviously? >> reporter: yeah, no one on board. this is an unmanned spacecraft. this is an attempt to develop some advanced weapons systems really anywhere in the world in under an hour, so that's what they're hoping for in the future. >> if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. dan, thanks very much for that. >>> the congressional super committee is now in place, but some say it could already by doomed to fail. we're going to talk about it in our "strategy session." >>> and we're learning t

he sat down with wolf blitzer for a one-on-one interview. wolf joins me now. wolf, congratulations on your scoop interview. what was the most striking part of it from your point of view? >> at one point we started talking about the tenth anniversary of 9/11. and i'm very worried, piers, i don't know about you, but i'm very worried having studied terrorism in the middle east for a long time that al qaeda elements, whatever is left of al qaeda or sympathizers, will seek to do something spectacular on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. i was wondering how concerned the president was. and he's very concerned. and he specifically is concerned about what he called the lone wolf terrorist emerging, someone along the line of what happened in nor way. he is worried about, you know, other potentially more significant kinds of terror attack. but he says that they're going to step up their precautions and it was sort of stark to me that, you know, the enormous responsibility he has as commander in chief on this tenth anniversary, you know that there are al qaeda element who's

wolf, there were some sticking points. spending cuts. >> defense spending is a critical issue for so many republicans, a lot of democrats as well. because if -- if in fact parten, the framework, if it doesn't go through and around thanksgiving they're supposed to have recommendations from a super congressional committee on additional spending cuts and ways to deal with this long-term u.s. national debt crisis, if they don't have that, that would trigger automatic cuts across the board, including in defense spending and right now we're told, as you point out, that a lot of republicans, especially in the house of representatives, some democrats, they're very nervous about that. they don't like it. you're looking on the left part of your screen, there's jessica yellin getting ready for our coverage as well, our chief white house correspondent. the president of the united states will be walking in to the briefing room to make his statement, presumably explaining to all of us why he's encouraged by what has happened, and while,

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room". >>> we begin this hour with what's happening in iowa. right now the state that holds the lead off presidential contest is gauging early support for the republican candidates. we're standing by for the results of the iowa straw poll. the winner could get an important boost heading in to the 2012 primary season. cnn don lemon is joining us from ames, iowa. don? >> all right. thank you very much for that, wolf. joining me here is cnn candy crowley to talk about all of this. are you hearing anything? >> back there at thtabulating. i mention we'll hear in the next 15, 20 minutes. >> we were talking about ron paul, herman cain, rick santorum, michelle bachmann. he said if he didn't place high enough he's is going to get out. >> the problem isn't so much oh, my gosh this person placed fifth it's that donors look at it and they don't want to give any more because you only have so much money. so money starts to dry up after the straw poll. >> newt gingrich, mitt

there's a lot of rumors, wolf.time like this when there's general chaos basically in the city with no one really in control. there are rumors going all over the place. rampant rumors. i think that general sanchez says he is either in the city or somewhere very close to the city and so everyone a little bit tense about exactly where he is. they were able, though, to start detaining people. it's an interesting thing that happens here when you see these rebels come in, they have a group of them that often are responsible for starting to -- start sort of their own kind of justice system where they will detain certain people and one of the gadhafi regime's, the faces of the regime to some extent, one of the anchors of libyan state tv was arrested today. so when you start hearing these arrests, you have gadhafi's sons arrested, this anchor, this is a woman who went on television and held a gun talking about i will die or you will die. and people very angry. it's an interesting thing to watch. a bit scary to watch, to be