in the middle of the show, carol lee hits this crazy note, and out of nowhere, liza pops out of her seat, you guys, stands up. she gives her own standing ovation. all i could think of is carol lee is looking at liza manelli giving her a standing ovation in the middle of the show. it wasn't at the end. >> middle of the song, happens a lot. really does. first of all, as i've said before, i don't think there's an actress on the planet who could play amy from 17 to the end of the show, and the roller coaster life that she lived. the whole cast is sensational. i just want to thank them. everybody says you must be so excited. i said, you know what i am? i'm grateful beyond belief i get to work with people like that every day. daddy used to say surround yourself with people talented than yourself and you'll look good. thanks to everybody that came and the best wishes. we didn't get the kind of reviews one would want, we got some great ones, but i thought to myself, i can't know what's going on in the hearts and minds of people that come to the show. god bless them, they are doing their job and

. >> carol lee carmelo in my mind is the finest working actress in musical theater.away from home, it's the theater on broadway. an exciting time, the crew, the cast, the team, have been working around the clock to get this baby ready for opening night. are they ready? come on, let's go backstage and find out. >> hoda woman. >> is it time? >> almost. we're about half an hour from curtain. >> wait, stage time. >> you are center stage, this is the neil simon theater. would you like me to introduce you to some of the folks? >> take me back. >> this way. >> of course. >> we heard rumors that the hottie with the body ed watts is in here. >> one of the highlights for many of the women. >> do you get to see something happening beneath this robe. what could it be? >> he plays adam. >> wait -- >> adam and eve. >> good to see you, bye. >> are you talking? >> hope he makes it for curtain. >> opening night's knocking on the door, are you ready? >> i'm ready. >> girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. >> yeah, sing a little of it. ♪ girl's gotta do what a girls gotta do ♪ ♪ a gir

. >> carol lee reporting. clearly upset, wanting to know where is fema and where is the money? next hour we're putting these questions to fema's coordinating director. don't miss that. >>> up next here on cnn, real life killer robots could be deployed on battlegrounds. find out what the pentagon is doing to prevent them from killing innocent people. >>> plus, we're monitoring an explosion at a social security building in arizona. stay with us. ed lobster's crabft ends soon. hurry in and try five succulent entrees, like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. just $12.99. come into red lobster and sea food differently. and introducing 7 lunch choices for just $7.99. and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] an

in the middle of the show, carol lee hits this crazy note, and out of nowhere, liza pops out of her seaterybody that came and the best wish. we didn't get the kind of reviews one would want, we got some great ones, but i thought to myself, i can't know what's going on in the hearts and minds of people that come to the show. god bless them, they are doing their job and have the right to their opinion, but what i know for sure is what goes on in the heart of that theater eight times a week when people pay for their tickets come to the show and laugh when i wanted them to and cry where i wanted them to and are up and cheering and standing. and people are coming two and three and four times already again. >> it's unbelievable. >> something's happening there. it's very, very exciting. >> this is liza's quote. she said did you get my quote for the show? okay, what is it, here it is. she writes, "i found the evening to be inspiring and entertaining. congratulations to kathie lee and the wonderful cast on an exquisite performance. thank you, thank you, thank you." >> want to say three times to l

carol lee of the "wall street journal," who covers the white house. slate columnist sasha issenberg, author of the book, "the victory lab, the secret science of winning campaigns." now in new york city. carol leigh let me start with you. at what point did the obama campaign, did the obama team begin to think about how they wanted to position themselveses and how did they do it? >> very early. they-- the first step that they took was to determine that they were going to run in a terrible economy, and they needed a message that would be sailiable, regardless of what was happening in the economy, so they settled on this notion that they wanted to make the election about a choice, where voters were going to look and decide which candidate was going to stick up for them. and that's why the president hammer on the middle class message. that was an early decision. >> woodruff: even before they knew who their opponent was. >> exactly. their opponent they always assumed was going to be the economy essentially. as time moved on and they figured it was definitely