, ashleigh, ashleigh, you are paraphrasing.say "eh." what i said is, she's a war hero, but she's running for congress. and i don't know about you, ashleigh, but hopefully voters think, like every other candidate for congress, tell us whether you stand on issues -- >> well, she's done that. i'm not sure why you haven't seen that. >> no, she hasn't, ashleigh. no, ashleigh, she hasn't -- >> do you want to hear it, congress, or do you just want to rail on me -- >> no, ashleigh, ashleigh -- >> the supreme court hearing on june 28th, she talked at length about the contentious climate in washington on may 2012, she talked about health care reform, talked about the economy, food stamps, pell grants, student loans -- >> ashleigh, ashleigh, ashleigh. >> why do you do anything about talking about her service -- >> ashleigh, give me a second to talk, all right? she spends a lot of time talking about her war service. i've asked her to debate me monthly. she won't. i've asked her to get directly in front of voters with me. she won't. she wil

ashleigh. ashleigh. >> tammy duck worth. >> ashleigh i'll say it again. ashleigh, look.happens when you've got a congressman that's always out in front of people talking. >> all right the final tally walsh said ashleigh 90 times. but let's flash back to a year ago joe walsh was on "hardball" in the midst of the whole debt ceiling debacle and had quite a strategy for avoiding the specifics about a toy party backed debt plan. you see where this is going? >> chris, let me ask you a question, do you support that? chris? what's the president -- chris? we have to stop that, chris. >> august -- >> chris. chris matthews. hey, chris. hey, chris. chris, chris, chris, chris, chris, chris, chris. i love it, chris. >> 61. 61 name drops for chris, when walsh was on "hardball." so he broke his own record with yesterday's interview. that's "hardball" for now. coming up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. on dining in restaurants with chase sapphire preferred. ♪ [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] introducing zzzquil sleep-aid. [ snoring ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] it's not for cold

ashleigh?> let's give credit where it's due, david rubenstein is his name, a wealthy washington businessman. wish i had friends like that. sandro endo, nice it see you. >> by the way, the washington monument has been repaired three times recently if you're counting and the most recent work was done between the year 1997 and the year 2000. maybe do a little sightseeing. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thank youpoints to just hang out with a few friends in london. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way. ...more talk on social security... ...but washington isn't talking to the american people. [ female announcer ] when it comes to the future of medicare and social security, you've earned the right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪ washington may not like straight talk, but i do. [ female announce

expectations for that, ashleigh, though, not as upbeat."cnn money" think we're just going to see 80,000 positions. it's just not good enough. not enough to bring down the unemployment rate. but i guess if you want to look at it glass half full here, it could be better than may's report, which showed only 69,000 job editions. so here we go again, more baby steps in this recovery. and you see in that chart how we had a strong start to the year, but as far as april and may, we're back in the double digit job growth. and the worry that this is a trend and not just a blip. ashleigh? >> so if he can't take any excitement out of those numbers, how about the mortgage rates? that was pretty good news today. >> good news definitely if you're looking for a house. another all-time low for rates on 30-year fixed rate mortgages, a record low now at 3.62%. but this is kind of a double-edged sword here. because you see mortgage rates fall when the economy isn't doing well. you know, freddie mac pointed out in this report that consumer spending is weak, th

i'm ashleigh banfield. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> we begin this morning with breaking news. we have learned that president obama is holding a big event at the white house rose garden later today to resurrect the battle over the bush tax cuts. he will be surrounded by working class americans while he calls on congress to extend tax cuts for everyone, making $250,000 a year or less. republicans want the tax cuts extended for everyone, the wealthy included. the white house will be very busy framing the tax cut debate this week with events planned in new hampshire, nevada, colorado and florida. republicans as i mentioned want the tax cuts extended for all americans, even the wealthiest. at 7:00 eastern on "starting point" we'll talk about that position with tennessee republican congresswoman marsha blackburn. >> we have been warning you and now the time has come. hundreds of thousands of people are going to wake up this morning and computers will be dark. no web service. as of 12:01 this mor

hey, ashley good morning. >> i'm ashleigh banfield. so great to have you.ou this early morning. fierce short fallout. outrage. heating thunder morning with a new release of a scathing penn state report. former fbi director lewis freeh is accusing four top officials of penn state including former coach joe paterno of empowering convicted child sex offender jerry sandusky. >> the most powerful men at penn state failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who sandusky victimized. mr. spanier, schultz, paterno and curley never demonstrated through actions or words any concern for the safety and well being of sandusky's victims until after sandusky's arrest. >> so you can pretty much cue the backlash now. there are calls for the campus statue of joe paterno to be taken down and done away with. in the meantime the former athletic director tim curley and former vice president of the university gary schultz are facing criminal perjury charges among others and as of now the former president graham spanier is facing no charges but could that change

some protests out there, ashleigh. dan lothian about the middle class tax cut. >> in the rose garden -- make it quick. what's the deal? fast? >> we saw this fight two years ago, a different flossfy between democrats and republicans want tax breaks extended for everybody. as dan lothian was talking about, there's a campaign component to emphasize that barack obama is with the middle class and mitt romney isn't. that is the democratic take. >> like a campaign event in the rose garden. me thinks you're going to have a busy day. >> me thinks he's going to have several busy months. today's best advice from tiger woods' niece. >> she is a heck of a golfer. >> she is. we'll find out what she had to say when we come back. do you see it ? there it is ! there it is ! where ? where ? it's getting away ! where is it ? it's gone. we'll find it. any day can be an adventure. that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. wow, there it is. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine i

. >> i'm ashleigh banfield.ood to have ali here all week. >>> in the battle over the bush-era tax cuts, playing politics with your takehome pay and nothing hort of the presidency is on the line here. if the two parties can't agree on extending those tax cuts by the end of the year, a typical american family making $70,000 a year could get hit with a tax increase of $3,000. that is a lot of pain. right now house republicans are busy crafting a plan to extend those tax cuts for everyone across the board -- rich, poor and everything in between. this is a plan that cannot get through the democratic-controlled senate. the president making a big push to let those tax cuts expire for the wealthiest of us americans. >> here's what's at stake. we've got the bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of this year. and i feel very strongly that the middle class tax cuts, which would affect 98% of americans, should be extended further. now is not the time for a tax increase on the middle class. the republicans say they agre

i'm ashleigh banfield. it is 5:01. it's the holiday but this fourth of july is less about celebration and more about patience for many americans. and in some cases, even survival. because for six days now there have been many of your fellow countrymen with no power in this extraordinary heat wave. at least 20 people have now died since thursday when deadly storms slammed the east, slammed the midwest. and about 1.2 million people are still waiting to get their power back, to get a fan on, to get the ac back. this is right across the country. here are the states without power today. power companies are repairing damaged transmitters as fast as they can, but customers still could be waiting until the weekend. still until the weekend until they can get that electricity back. and all of this, while those unbearable temperatures just keep are seeing the country. now 14 countries are under a heat advisory for today. brian todd is in charleston, west virginia, where the temperature is expected to be about 95 today. lack of po

i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm brooke baldwin. good morning.sharks the last two days? >> isn't it funny it's almost always around the july 4th holiday. >> interesting. we look forward to getting that. i remember cape cod had an issue last summer. let's talk jobs. brand-new jobs report is coming out and could set the tone for the last couple months to decide who wins the white house. unemployment is way up in many key battleground states. florida, michigan, north carolina, all states president obama won in 2008. well above the national average. so the new report this morning could really kind of make or break his campaign. right now, as we reported with dan lothian, the president is on his bus tour waking up in ohio and heads to pittsburgh, p.a. huge manufacturing hubs. all the while team romney is shadowing following president obama with its very own bus tour and both sides obviously are bashing one another. >> when the american auto industry was on the brink of collapse, more than 1 million jobs were on the line, governor romney said we should

i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm ali velshi.ifling heat and no power for a million people down from 4 million people on the weekend, but these extremely hot and muggy conditions persist on this independence day. west virginia army national guard soldiers are now out supplying water and food to people. health officials are warning people to toss the spoiled food that's in their refrigerator or freezer. brian todd is live in charleston, west virginia. what's the situation out there? >> reporter: well, ali, the fate is cruel to people in this state. you mentioned some of the conditions, you have the storms, the power outages and of course the heat that is not letting up in supposedly cool mountainous west virginia. they are not getting a break. it's going to be 95 degrees today. if you talk about the outages, roughly between a quarter and a third of customers in the state still without power. and with the stifling heat, how are people coping with it? pretty much any way they can. >> it's very hot. i've been sitting out on the porch

i'm ashleigh banfield.-- >> keeping it thin. >>> you've been hearing about the bush tax cuts over the last 24 hours. right now we want to dig into the numbers for you. president obama yesterday called for the so-called bush tax cuts to be extended for everyone making less than $250,000. here's a quick look at why we got these tax cuts in the first place. it started during the final years of president clinton's term in office. if you recall, the country had a budget surplus. in 2000 that surplus stood at $230 billion. we took in $230 billion more than we spent. wow. then the 2000 presidential election came along and then texas governor george w. bush going up against al gore said, quote, my opponent believes the government owns the surplus. i believe the surplus is the people's money and we ought to handsome of it back, end quote. and hand it back, newly elected bush eventually did. he was able to pass two tax cuts. in 2001 and 2003. there were more of them in 2006. they did it flew a process called reconcil

it's interesting, ashleigh. there seems to be two camps on this.wants more information saying that constituents deserve more information and the other camp is saying, hey, let the congressman deal with his medical issues and at the proper time we'll find out what the specifics are but we don't need to rush them. take a listen to steny hoyer and nancy pelosi and you get a feel for both sides of the equation. >> the time is right when mr. jackson -- congressman jackson has an evaluation of what his situation is and i'm sure then he will share it with his constituents. our prayers are with his family. i hope that we will hear soon that he's on the way to recovery. >> i think congressman jackson and his office and his family would be well advised to advise the con stit two wentsz of his condition. he's obviously facing a health problem. >> reporter: now the question is the extent of tha health problem. mood disorders, there are many of them. they include depressive disorders, by polar disorders. this doctor doesn't go into any specifics around that. wh

i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm ali velshi. zi r zoraida sambolin is off today. >>> we begin with breaking news. hazmat crews at the scene of this spectacular fire. it's raging in ohio right now after a train that was pulling several tankers derailed just before 2:00 this morning eastern time. this was an accident that happened in the north end of columbus. flames can be seen apparently for miles. witnesses reporting in that they could see this a long way off. christine romans has been monitoring the fire and ensuing issues that will come with it. she joins us now live with the story. >> residents were also saying they could feel it and they could hear it for miles away. 100 cars on this train, four or five of them, looks like they derailed. four or five of those were hauling tankers of chemicals. police say possibly sulfur. a local media report saying four or five of these are burning, raging here. in fact, it is so intense the flames, they're trying to get a look aboveground, trying to bring in air support to see exactly what

ashleigh? >> obviously, we have a bit of a problem.d of what we're saying. so why we try to fix the connection. i can still hear it. it's so annoying. this live television thing that we do. i'm hearing that the audience can hear you, but i cannot hear you. i may ask a very stupid question afterward. >> it was brilliant, whatever i said. >> i'm sure it was. let me just do this quick follow-up. i apologize for not having heard a word of what you said, my friend. it was total breakup on my end. okay. all right. since we got a delay. let me start with this. hold on, one sec. let me get information on the new president. enrique pena nieto is 45 years old. he served five years as governor of mexico state, which is the country's largest. he leads the institutional revolutionary party. it ruled mexico for 71 years. he's really sat on the sidelines since 2000. he certainly looks like he has the face for politics. what's the critical part of his agenda? >> reporter: well, two bits. the economy and security. and on the economy, you know, he takes

. >> reporter: well, we're still trying to weigh that, ashleigh. when i was watching it, it felt like one of those reality tv shows where the candidate on stage either lives or dyes by boos or applause. he was booed when he mentioned obama care which was a little surprising, because the people at naacp, it's not surprising that he is opposed to obama care. he got booed when he said he was a better president for african-americans than president obama is. last night at a fundraiser in montana governor romney basically played up the fact that he was booed. i'm going to read you this quote from a report that we have. i'm quoting here. this is governor romney, quote, when i mention i am going to get rid of obama care, they weren't happy. that's okay, he says, i want people to know what i stand for and if i don't stand for what they want, go vote for someone else, but i hope people understand this, your friends who like obama care, you remind them of this. if they want more stuff from government, tell them to go vote for the other guy, more free stuff. b

nice to see you you hello, everyone, i'm ashleigh banfield. it is 11:00 on the east coast, 8:00 on the west coast. let's get started. >>> at the white house it is t-minus 50 minutes, t for tax cuts, which president obama is about to make t is a defining theme of his 2012 campaign. at 11:50 this morning eastern time, he is expected to propose a one-year expects of the bush era tax cuts but tax cuts only for households earning less than $250,000 a year. so, that is a not a new position, make no mistake, but it is a new offensive. less than four monthness out now from election day and we have got this thing covered this hour like nobody else. just look at all the a-listers, wolf blitzer, for starters, standing by in washington, d.c. dan lothian also at his post at the white house and christine romans is following the dollars and cents of al it all in new york, dana bash following all the fallout on capitol hill. wolf blitzer, let me start with you. this is something that a lot of critics have said is a subject changer because we had real bad jobs

ashleigh? >> and sandra, we've been hearing there's been a serious challenge for the 911 operators with the power outages. they've gone down to about half capacity. how is that affecting the people who could be in a dire situation right through the friday? >> obviously this is a big deal, ashleigh because in fairfax county, virginia, that's exactly what happens. the 911 system was only working at half capacity as of monday. still, two days after the storm. so clearly it's so important for these emergency systems to be up and running effectively because people are calling in to really call in emergencies, medical emergencies. if that 911 system isn't working, well, a lot of people are left stranded. the county supervisor says this is shocking and unacceptable. they're trying to figure out why the primary and backup systems weren't working and a lot of callers say when they called 911 all they got was a busy signal, a recording, or just dead silence. >> wow. that is brutal. all right. sandra endo

. >> i'm ashleigh banfield.minutes now past the hour. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> that breaking news we've been covering since the beginning of the show, hazmat crews are at the scene of a spectacular fire in ohio where a train pulling several tankers derailed just before 2:00 a.m. these are live pictures from our affiliate wbns. the accident happened in the north end of columbus. the flames can be seen for miles. christine romans has been monitoring this fire. what are the latest developments, christine? >> the latest is it's still burning. four or five different cars here derailed out of a train of nearly 100 cars. there was some sort of an explosion. an explosion that was seen and felt quite far away. and we know that these tankers were hauling chemicals. police say possibly sulfur. there was some early reports it was gasoline. we're going to find out exactly what kind of chemicals. clearly an explosion. fire officials have called for air support to figure out what's burning and where exactly the intens

. >> that's really good point, ashleigh. i think what you are alluding to is the fact that nancy pelosi, the top democrat in the house, chuck schumer who is a leader in the senate, they are all advocating passing a tax cut extension for people making $1 million and less. people, like chuck schumer, represent new york, which includes wall street. part of the thinking there is one of the goals of having this debate isn't just to appeal to the middle class it is also to they want to jump start the economy. part of the issue, economists will till the economy is having trouble getting going because of uncertainty in the tax code and the democrats on capitol hill, some say, extend it up to $1 million. when it comes down to it at this point, this is you know, these are debates, these are streets will are going to be had without the likelihood of actually getting to the president's desk, it is a difference but not that big of a difference when it comes to what really matters. >> all right, dana bash on capil hill. stand by if you wi

heat the number one related weather killer ashleigh and zoraida.rities in these communities are doing a heck of a good job considering the lack of power after that devastating thunderstorm complex rolled through the areas from illinois through virginia over the weekend. no significant cooldown on tap. >> i think that bears repeating what you just said. it is unbelievable since june 24th through to saturday, almost 2,000 records, broken across this country for heat. that is remarkable. >> reporter: it is remarkable. and again, we had record-breaking heat over the weekend here in colorado, just to update that part of the story. 55% containment on the fireline, even with the record heat yesterday. high confidence with the firefighters to the point any allowed a significant number of evacueeses to go back in their homes. we've been able to move closer but there's 3,000 people who remain evacuated. the folks who saw the most significant damage to their neighborhoods and homes were allowed to go look. they are not going back any time too soon. the commun

tonight, jay welcomes -- from "the dark knight rises," morgan freeman, "britain's got talent" winners ashleigh butler and her dancing dog pudsey,

tonight, jay welcomes -- from "the dark knight rises," morgan freeman, "britain's got talent" winners ashleighher dancing dog pudsey,

i'm ashleigh banfield. i'm standing in for brooke baldwin.

i am ashleigh banfield. >> i am brooke baldwin.00 for you on the east coast. talk about the president here. the obama bus tour wrapped up and ready to roll this morning and the white house branding the president's two-day trip as the betting on america tour that kicks off with four campaign stops in ohio today and onto pennsylvania for an appearance in the steel city tomorrow and brianna keillor is live for us in washington this morning. we know the president will be highlighting the contrasts between himself and mitt romney. what is the plan of attack? >> he is positioning himself, brooke, as this guy who has bet on america, touting the auto bailout, a really big deal in ohio. you may think of detroit, michigan, but ohio is huge talking about auto suppliers. his backing that auto bailout plays well there and romney's position to not back it doesn't play as well. they're emphasizing that and the stimulus and trying to draw a contrast painting mitt romney not as anything new really as a wall street guy that put profits ahead of midd

tammy duckworth hero status a joe walsh appeared on cnn afternoon explaining his comments cnn's ashleighd heated debate with joe walsh telling her just because serve to tammy duckworth does not made automatically elected to congress >> i can tell you our district people are losing their homes struggling to get by everyday unemployed voters want to know what will #$%%# its do about those facts >> tammy duckworth spoke up relax helicopter pilot iraq this time running against. cook county commissioner william beavers firing back charges against income tax evasion claiming evidence he did nothing wrong. details >> against the law ought to lie to the fbi but not against the law for them to lie about me >> william beavers as to fabrication charges of federal income tax evasion 2006-2008 close to a quarter of a billion dollars a quarter of a million dollars allegedly failed to report as income gets from campaign cash at the lawyers for him say they have documents that clear his name bank deposit slip >> copy of the document today from the commissioner establishes he paid $68,000 in question. ta

much more with ashleigh banfield now. >>> we are keeping it cool here.country. i'm ashleigh banfield in for brooke baldwin. let's get started. parts of the country wilting today. it's one of the hottest 4th of july holidays on record. chicago, st. louis, cincinnati and minneapolis, extreme heat paralyzing much of the midwest. the heat index, are you ready? up to 115 degrees. the death toll from this heat and the heat related storms has reached 20 americans. thousands of people haven't had power since a wave of storms rolled through there on friday. let's listen quickly to west virginia's governor. >> the food starts to go back. we've had massive dumpings of food that have spoiled, and a lot of place, the grocery stores are not open because of lack of electricity. what we're doing is sending in meals, sending in about 40 big truckloads of water around the state each day plus what people can buy. >> you're going to hear a lot more about that situation coming up shortly. >>> in t in the meantime, five days, think about what you've been up to. that's how lon

i'm ashleigh banfield. first, we got this news. he was the ultimate tv good guy. andy griffith, the small town sheriff who was a big favorite to viewers. take a look. >> right here on the floor. >> i told you. i said i just wanted. >> starring with don knotts back in the '60s. griffith died today at the age of 86. americans everywhere are grieving the loss including at the white house. president obama said in a statement. michelle and i were saddened to hear about the passing of andy griffith this morning. the love by generations of forms and revered by entertainers who followed in his footsteps. he brought us characters from sheriff andy taylor to ben matlock and warmed the hearts of americans everywhere. our thoughts and prayers are with andy's family. larry king talked to me earlier about the actor and remember him real fond lly too. have a listen. >> he was a wonderful guest because he answered the question you asked and responded in kind. he did major movies. he did one of the funniest comedy albums made. >> larry king speaking to me in the last hour. barbara

i'm ashleigh banfield. i'm standing in for brooke baldwin. this is one of the hottest 4th of julys on record. it is steaming out there. extreme heat paralyzing much of the midwest and all the way up to the dakotas too. the heat index racing up into the 115s. the death toll from the heat and related storms now reaching 20. the virginias, in particular, having a terrible time. in some cases police are having to hand out ice. hundreds of thousands of people who have not had power since friday since a wave of violent storms hit pretty much at their wits end. lizzie has been following this story. there's a critical problem. west virginia hit the worst and they are talking about water now. water, a serious problem for a lot of people there. >> this is something a lot of people don't think about in the first wave of coverage of a storm. you tend to hear about power loss, but you have a lot of water systems that are running on electricity. a lot of people don't think about that being something that they need to think about. if you've been through a h

i'm ashleigh banfield. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> we begin this morning with breaking news. we have learned that president obama is holding a big event at the white house rose garden later today to resurrect the battle over the bush tax cuts. he will be surrounded by working class americans while he calls on congress to extend tax cuts for everyone, making $250,000 a year or less. republicans want the tax cuts extended for everyone, the wealthy included. the white house will be very busy framing the tax cut debate this week with events planned in new hampshire, nevada, colorado and florida. republicans as i mentioned want the tax cuts extended for all

ashleigh, it's doubtful that is going to happen certainly before all those investigations are complete. they want to see the full context. >> apart from the conversation about what may or may not have transpired between curley or paterno and that may or may not have changed the direction of these officials, do we know anything more about what the penn state officials may have done post-this 2001 incident to change the direction on the three-part plan? >> well what we're finding out is this. we know according to a source familiar with the investigation that they have turned up billing records that indicate allegedly that penn state contacted an outside law firm to research what its legal obligations were for reporting this incident in 2001 and what may be crystallized now is trying to determine the difference between what curley and schultz are saying that mcqueary said to them. remember, they maintain that mcqueary said that sandusky was just horsing around with the kid. versus what mcqueary has testified to, that he was very specific with curley and shultz about what he saw. there's a

here's more with cnn's ashleigh banfield. >> she was on tv a month and a half ago. she was asked a question about gay marriage. do you know what she talked about? her time at walter reed. look, i'll say it again, i have respect for her and her service. my thoughts and prayers go out to her like they do every wounded warrior. but that doesn't demand our vote. ashleigh, if that's what it took to be -- to get your vote, john mccain, another hero, would be our president. >> reporter: duckworth has been more than happy to fight back. >> he's just trying to shift the focus away from the fact that he's done nothing in his two years in congress other than be an extremist loud mouth for the tea party. >> joe walsh is having, i think, a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to run against a war hero even though he's the incumbent in the house, he has a new district. he hasn't run for some of this territory before. and i think he is just trying to figure out how to use the experience he has as a way to matchup against the record that tammy duckworth has. >> and right now the

i'm ashleigh banfield. it is 5:01. it's the holiday but this fourth of july is less about celebration and more about patience for many americans. and in some cases, even surviv

i'm ashleigh banfield. >> good morning. i'm alina cho bringing the news from a to c. >> so weird.e have the alphabet all mixed up. >> anger, sadness and overwhelming shame at penn state. a scathing report conducted by a former director of the fbi, leaving the school and its legendary coaches shattered. saying joe paterno and top university officials not only hid but empowered a child predator in jerry sandusky. the outrage is spreading so quickly there are calls to tear down a statue of paterno that stands youds of beaver stadium. will more criminal charges