dan lothian is with us this morning.to do in a middle of a campaign because it looks like you're really giving something to the middle class and that's where most of the voters are. >> the obama campaign thinks this is a good thing. you heard the message from the president out there on the campaign trail as recently as last week in the key battleground states of ohio and pennsylvania, talking about helping the middle class, not only those who are in the middle class but also those who are trying to get into the middle class. and so the president will be out there not only pushing this theme but also surrogates for the president and the campaign will also be out there pushing this theme. the reason for this is because they see this as a winning issue. they can say, look, we are fighting for the middle class and the other guy, mitt romney is fighting for the wealthy. this week the big push will be in the key battleground states of new hampshire and also in colorado and florida and nevada. you'll hear from families in the m

right now, he is in the town of m maumee which is not far from toledo, and dan lothian is reporting on all of the stops, and you are on the phone, dan, and chugging along. what have you seen so far? >> that is right. we just hopped on tb bhe bus he in maumee, and the president is doing affiliate interviews, and he often does that with local affiliates, and we are headed to sandusky with the president will wrap up remarks at a ice cream social, and the message here that the president has is all about the economy focusing on essentially defending what he has been doing t ing thing over three years and the bailout, and the bailout of the auto industry, a nd this is a region that has been hit hard in manufacturing sector, gm, and chrysler employed a lot of people in this region and a lot of the jobs, tens of thousands of jobs in this region were lost and the president is spelling out what he has done the bring some of of the jobs back here in america and what he is going to continue to do to bring these folks back to work, suzanne. >> and dan, obviously, everything that he says the messagi

our dan lothian is there. dan, before the break you were making a point there.>> reporter: yeah. the point i was making, don is that, you know, economists have pointed out, yes what, you're seeing here are small numbers of jobs being created, but it's not enough to really fuel a recovery. you need to be creating many more jobs to push a recovery, so on the one hand the president is able to say, look, we're not losing any jobs here. we are creating some jobs, certainly below even expectations, but it's not enough to really push this economic recovery. >> so, dan, the president is speaking at this school, and he's obviously on his bus tour. we call it bus force one part of his tour in the midwest and then heading back to washington today. why this particular school? does this hold any significance? >> this school itself no significance, but what the president has been doing on this tour is going through some of the small towns that are heavily pop lated, but the small towns here in ohio that went for the president and supported the president in 2008 and was key to

all things political with susan paige and dan lothian. and weather gone wild. we'll talk to two governors whose states have been hit hard. >> and finally, colorado on fire with their governor. i'm candy crowley. and this is state of the union. twice a week for the white house, a major victory in the supreme court followed by history of a different sort on the house floor. the president used the trappings of the white house in this case the formality of the east room to suggest in picture and in word that the supreme court ruling settled the controversy over his health care law. >> today's decision was a victory for people all over this country. >> as the president tried to close the book on the health care debate, his republican rival was writing the next chapter. >> obama care was bad policy yesterday. it's bad policy today. >> well, trying to ring the politics out of health care, the administration was equally determined to underscore the politics of capitol hill's investigation into a botched federal gun running sting. >> the resolution is agreed to. >> the

beyond that, the white house has made it clear that president obama would veto the measure. >> dan lothianng with an update. thank you, dan. appreciate it. he is at the white house. >>> let's bring in senator jim demint, republican from south carolina. he is the co-founder of the senate tea party caucus, one of 12 senators and 61 representatives who sent a letter to the national governors' association asking them to oppose implementation of the affordable care act. it's nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us. you heard dan a moment ago saying that democrats are positioning this as basically political posturing. do you think that's true? >> not at all. it's an important vote, soledad, because as we've had a better chance over the last couple of years to look at this bill, we know that millions of americans are going to lose their health insurance if it's implemented next year. we know many states are going to be bankrupted by this whole process. we know it's going to cost a whole lot more than they said it would cost. so what is important now to see what republicans and democra

so is dan lothian. he's trailing along and joins us on the telephone, literally en route. ocator as to where you are, dan, and let me know why it is no secret that you are on the tour, headed through those two particular states. >> reporter: that's right. well, we are somewhere in between mommee, where the president just held his event, a few hundred people, an outdoor venue with a white picket event and a large american flag. and the president is really talking about the economy and how this area that has been impacted by the manufacturing downturn, especially the auto industry, is starting to see some recovery. and the president taking credit for that, saying he pushed for the auto bailout. that this is something that his administration obviously did. it's something that the romney administration would not have done. we're now on this bus. the president is on a separate bus, obviously, and he peeled off a short time ago to make an unscheduled stop. we don't have any details yet where that is. but as soon as we do, we'll pass that along. we're now on our way to sandusky, w

dan lothian, good to see you. thank you, sir. just a reminder as well that the president is expected to speak live during this hour. so we'll keep an eye on the clock and keep an eye on the live shot. we'll bring part of that to you as soon as the it happens. >>> in the meantime, we've got this for you. this is fresh and new today. the french aviation board that's been lacking into a stunning aircraft disaster has issued a damning report, essentially blaming the flight crew for the catastrophic crash of an air france jet three years ago. here are some of the images. that plane crashed halfway across the atlantic from rio to paris. about four minutes after the air bust 330 began to lose speed. all 228 people who were on board died in that crash. richard quest is in london. he's been parsing this report. at first i thought, richard, that this report was assigni ii some equal blame. because i know there's been a political bus between airbus, the maker of the plane, and air france, the employer of the crew. can you break down essenti

cnn's dan lothian is at the white house.extension of the bush tax cuts for some americans that the president is about to announce. >> that's right. and let the old fight begin, right? the president pushing for those -- extension for those making $250,000 or less. the white house says that is really based on the policy of it, but make no mistake, this -- out on the campaign trace, especially last week in the states of ohio and pennsylvania, the president's message was about lifting the middle class or those who are looking to get into the middle class. and so he is out there on the campaign trail to draw a very stark contrast between what he says he is pushing for, which is assistance for those who need it most and that is middle class americans compared to those he says his opponent, mitt romney, is trying to help and that is the wealthy. so the president will be pushing this message when he heads out on the road tomorrow to iowa and later in the week as well in the state of virginia and thin others, surrogates, full, for th

former hue let pa-- hewlett pac cart ceo, and also susan page and dan lothian. and we will talk to two governors whose states have been hit hard. and also, a talk with john hickenlooper about the wildfires in colorado. this is state of the union and i'm candy crowley. >>> white a fight in the white house. a major victory in the supreme court followed by a victory of a different sort on the house floor. the president used the trappings of this case in the formality of the east room to suggest in history and words that the supreme court settled the controversy over his health care law. >> today was a victory for people all over this country. >> as the president tried to close the books on the health care debate, his republican rival was writing the next chapter. >> obama care was bad policy yesterday. it is bad policy dye. -- it is bad policy today. >>> while trying to wring the politics out of it, they were equally trying to put the politics into the botched gun running sting. the republican-led house cited attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress for

our white house correspondent, dan lothian, is traveling with the president in ohio right now. dan is joining us with the very latest. what is the very latest, dan? >> reporter: well, we're here in sandusky. this is the president's second official stop. but the reason this event has not gotten underway yet is because the president made two unscheduled stops, one at a farmers market and another at a diner on the way here. this is a state that the president is leading his opponent, mitt romney, in by nine points. but it remains a very competitive race. so the president getting out there, meeting voters face-to-face hoping he can hang onto this state come november. it's a more retail-style approach. but unlike the president's other official bus trips last year, this one has campaign written all over it. there's a big presidential seal on the door. and the venue in the small city in ohio has been carefully staged. white picket fences, a large american flag and a soft story about his daughter. >> and then it was malia's birthday yesterday. when she was small i could say all these fir

dan lothian, nice to see you this morning.you too. >> sorry honey, i was working late, i promise. 19 minutes past the hour on friday. let's get you up to date. bond set at $1 million for george zimmerman. a florida judge saying he fears the suspected shooter may have been plotting to fear the country. zimmerman's defense team says it's going to be tough for his family to come up with the $1 million in cash and $1 million in collateral neededed to free him. >>> it killed two people and destroyed close to 400 homes. now fire investigators have pinpointed the exact spot where that waldo canyon fire sparked to life. they still don't know what caused it to spark. wildfire in colorado springs is 90% contained but it was the most destructive fire in that state's history. >>> a warning to libya on the eve of historic elections there. do not repeat the mistakes of moammar gadhafi, the nation is going to the polls for first time since they overthrew the dictator. remember he died while he was shot and killed. amnesty international urgin

>> reporter: dan lothian, traveling with the president. thank you. mitt romney, meanwhile, is using the latest jobs report to continue to hammer away at president obama. we heard what he had to say just a little while ago. let's dig a little bit deeper right now. cnn's dana bash is joining us. she's been covering mitt romney out on the campaign trail as well. this is clearly an opening more romney, dana. the latest jobs numbers that came out on friday. >> reporter: oh, absolutely. that is why even though he has been on vacation all week, we only saw him until friday publicly once. he waited 90 minutes after we got the bad news from the jobs numbers before coming out, and he used some expressive language, maybe more expressive than he usually uses, to talk about what it means to american voters. >> this is a tim for america to choose whether they want more of the same. whether unemployment above 8% month after month after month is satisfactory or not. it doesn't have to be this way. america can do better. and this kick in the gut has got to end. >> re

dan lothian has that. >> reporter: president obama's battleground bus tour drove over a big speed bumpgn message. >> it's still tough out there. >> reporter: the president didn't dwell on negative news, but played up private sector gains. >> the businesses has created 84,000 new jobs last month. that means businesses have created 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28 months including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs. that's a step in the right direction. >> reporter: unemployment remains at 8.2% and voters are divided over who can best handle the economy. a recent cnn/orc poll shows 48% of registered voters think mitt romney, 47% president obama. looking to keep a tight grip on the battleground states of ohio and pennsylvania that voted for him in 2008 the president pushed his message of manufacturing gains especially in the auto industry to working-class voters. he began the final day of his betting on america bus tour with breakfast in akron, ohio, where the president was joined by three union workers from a nearby goodyear tire plant. >> been there 20 years and still there? >> yeah. >

dan lothian, cnn, pittsburgh. >>> do you think you need to hit the gym to get in shape in why not hit the yoga mat instead in lots of people are doing it these days and one of them is my colleague, frederica whitfield who has some tips from a personal trainer. >> a lot of folks are very intimidated by the word yoga because they think you have to be incredibly flexible. yoga is a state of mind, it is very much a way of life and it is about working at your own pace. i'll show you a few basic pose beginners can do at home safely. you want to start with your feet directly unyour hips. from here we're going to lift, actually, we're going to shift to our left leg. so put all that weight on the left leg. we'll raise the right foot up and put it at the bottom. you're getting vangsed already. we're starting low. and then from here bring your hands in front of your heart. you'll focus on some fixed point in front of you. so that way you'll spot and you'll be able to hold your balance better. >> it is hard to keep your balance. >> exactly. if you start looking around, you'll notice it will be ha

dan lothian, susan paige, thank you. >> up next, our sound of sunday.ights from the other sunday morning talk shows and then fareed zakaria gps at the top of the hour. in louisiana we had more fun on the water. last season we broke all kinds of records on the gulf. this year we are out to do even better... and now is a great time to start. our beatches are even more relaxing... the fishing's great. so pick your favorite spot on the gulf... and come on down. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. [ male announcer ] ok, so you're no marathon man. but thanks to the htc one x from at&t, with its built in beats audio, every note sounds amazingly clear. some time and she gives him that and, well... rio vista?!! [ male announcer ] ...lost. introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. rethink possible. >>> time for today's sound of sunday. house speaker john boehner said he's shocked by the supreme court decision on health care law. he does appear, however, undeterred. >> this has to be ripped out by its roots. this is government

thanks so much, dan lothian over at the white house. let's bring in our senior political editor, ron brownstein. your take on whether or not this whe obama campaign, going after romney on bain capital, whether that's a smart strategy, not so smart, a diversion, because of the bad economic situation here. what's going on? >> it is a critical battle pront front in this campaign. along with the issue of whether voters feel that the economy is moving forward or not, it is probably right up there among one of the two critical battle fronts. and i don't think we'll know the ultimate investigator on this today, tomorrow, or next week. it's probably not going to be until the debates this fall. i think this is a central argument for president obama, trying to hold voters who are dissatisfied with the economy, to argue that mitt romney is more the embodiment of the problem than the solution. and bain, i think, is, you know, the central battering ram they're using to making their argument. and romney is struggling. i mean, they are struggling. the

dan lothian is our white house correspondent, he's watching all this unfold as well. of his activities today. but set the scene for us, tell us what he's about to do. >> reporter: that's right, well, the president had two events hire in florida, this one wases in ft. myers just outside of orlando. the crowd was already gathered shortly before he walked in, an official let them know that he would only come out and make some remarks about the tragedy, but he would not be doing the typical stump speech here, and the other event outside of orlando has been cancelled so that he can go back to the white house and continue with his briefings from john brennan. this is not a day for campaigning, you can do politics and campaigning, but this is a day for prayer and reflection, also trying to talk about the personal impact of this tragedy on himself, on his family, you heard the president talk about how he thinks of his own daughters who could have been going to a movie and could have been caught up in something like this and encouraging the crowd to go home and hug their kids a

dan lothian, cnn, pittsburgh. >>> and as we saw in dan's report, the president started his day yesterday at a diner in akron, ohio. no doubt it was a thrill for the owner, ann harris, but just about an hour after the president left, the 70-year-old woman died. the local paper reports she had a heart attack. the president was in pittsburgh when he got the news. he called harris's daughter back in akron to offer his condolences. listen to the call. >> michelle and i are thinking of you and your daughters and the entire family. >> she enjoyed her visit with you. it brought a smile to her face. >> thank you, president obama. >> thank you. >> we love you! >> thank you. >> all right. god bless you guys. >> the family said that ann harris loved the president and considered him a hero. they plan to blow up the picture the president took with her and mount it on the wall. >>> to other news now, and the run has begun in pamplona, spain. it is the traditional running of the bulls, and there they go. the crowd seems to grow every year with thousands of people crowded into the narrow streets. today i

susan page and dan lothian, thank you. >>> raging wildfires when we come back. [ male announcer ] now you can swipe... scroll... tap... pinch... and zoom... in your car. introducing the all-new cadillac xts with cue. ♪ don't worry. we haven't forgotten, you still like things to push. [ engine revs ] the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward. delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer. with two times the points on dining in restaurants, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. if you made a list of countries from around the world... ...with the best math scores. ...the united states would be on

as our white house correspondent dan lothian reports, the bad news is following president obama on his campaign bus tour. >> reporter: president obama's battleground bus tour drove over a speed bump when dismal job numbers overshadowed his campaign message. in ohio, the president didn't dwell on negative news but played it up. >> businesses have created 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28 months, including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs. that's a step in the right direction. >> reporter: unemployment remains at 8.2% and voters are divided over who can best handle the economy. 48% of registered voters think romney, 47% president obama. looking to keep a grip on the battleground states of ohio and pennsylvania that voted for him in 2008, the president pushed manufacturing gains especially in the auto industry to working class voters. he began the final day with breakfast in akron, ohio where the president was joined by three union workers by a good tire plant. the president toured the summer garden food manufacturing plant near youngstown. a business they said was expanding and creatin

dan lothian out with the president in ohio. thanks, dan, very much. >>> wall street feeling the ripple effects of today's bad jobs number. the dow ended down 124 points. the nasdaq and s&p also posted losses. >>> by the way, we're expecting to see president obama in a few minutes from now. he's about to sign a major bipartisan piece of legislation. when it happens, we'll bring it to you live. you're looking at live pictures from the east room of the white house. >>> plus, a war veteran's heroism is questioned by her opponent in a rather nasty congressional race. ahead, tammy duckworth joins us live to respond. >>> and brian todd is in massachusetts. brian. >> reporter: the ominous "jaws" music, one of the most legendary apex predators of the sea is back in these waters. we're going to show you the pictures. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesse

dan lothian at his stop in maumee, is that right? maumee? >> reporter: maumee. >> okay. a new phase, dan. >> reporter: it is a new phase. they're calling this bus tour "betting on america," and what we receive at this point, the president has been mostly having some scattering of rallies, but mostly focused on fund-raising in big cities with the rich and famous. so this is a chance for the president as the campaign sees it to go out to smaller towns and meet with those working-class americans, those blue collar americans, which, of course, are critical to both campaigns. as you pointed out, the president will be focusing on this message of the economy and what he has done to stabilize the economy, tried to turn it around obviously in this region, which is huge when it comes to the auto industry. he'll be talking about his efforts in rescuing the auto industry, and in particular what the president has been saying now for quite some time, this notion that more jobs that have been sent overseas need to come back, so he wants to push this tax incentive for these companies. h

in the meantime let's bring in cnn's dan lothian who's already there. dan, this is actually the president's first bus tour, right? >> reporter: it is. he has done two other bus tours but those were, as the white house described them, official bus tour. this is the first one of his campaign and the focus will be on the economy, specifically getting americans back to work. and today the president is expecting to focus on two things. first of all, what he's done to stabilize the economy, to try and turn things around, but also what his administration has done to bail out the auto industry. that is key to this region that has depended so heavily on the auto industry and also manufacturing big here. so the president will talk about investments in manufacturing and how he's pushing for tax incentives for those companies that have moved jobs overseas to bring them back here to the u.s., kyra. >> and he's leading by several points right now if you look at the quinnipiac polls, yes, in ohio and pennsylvania? >> reporter: that's right. he's -- you know, these are

all of that brings us to dan lothian, live in akron, ohio. tly what the president is talking about. hey, dan. >> reporter: that's right. and, you know, we are all the way to our next stop, poland, ohio, the last stop for the president at least officially here in ohio before he heads to pennsylvania. pittsburgh, pennsylvania, later today. this is obviously the second day of the president's bus tour. the focus will continue to be on the economy and those job numbers that are very important if they come out lower than expected. republicans will continue to point at this being a big issue for the president, that after 3 1/2 years, he has yet to be able to turn around the economy. we can expect the president to say how this is a bigger problem that cannot be solved overnight. it will take time. but as he's been doing over the last 24 hours here in ohio, pointing out that he has been making progress because of his economic policies, that things are getting better. not perfect, but getting better. and here in this state that is heavy on manufacturing

cnn's dan lothian joining me from the white house. dan, explain this to me. the swing states that he's visiting are actually doing pretty well economically, so how does the president take this message that he was touting yesterday, the tax cuts only for those up to 250,000, and how does he sell is in cedar rapids to those who make over 250,000 and namely the small businesses that are complaining about this? >> reporter: well, right. look, first of all, us a point out, you know, iowa is one of these battleground states that's doing quite well. the unemployment rate there is just about 5%, well below the national average of 8.2%. we also saw a good unemployment numbers, if you put it that way, in -- in pennsylvania and also in ohio where the president visited last week at around 7.5%, but what you're seeing is that even though the unemployment rate is low in these various battleground states, the race remains neck and neck. it's basically tied up in the latest pollings in iowa between the president and mitt romney so there's something else that the president is

dan lothian is traveling with the obama campaign in jacksonville. s going to focus on the economy, and the middle-class, but if you look at flori florida's unemployment rate, 8.6%, and the fifth highest foreclosure rate in the country, and how does he cater his message, and tailor the message to folks

want to bring in dan lothian. 's got latest reaction from the romney camp. dan, first to you. we know the president, he's going to talk about corporate taxes, specifically focusing on romney support for eliminating taxes on the foreign income of american companies. what's the message here? >> reporter: well, the message from the obama campaign will be two-fold. first of all to say while mitt romney may be talking about helping the middle class, that he's looking out for wealthy companies and this is one example, the president will be highlighting a report by an economist that

let's go to our white house correspondent, dan lothian, watching all of this unfold.s getting ugly. >> reporter: certainly right. the fireworks today. the president was in texas attending a total of fundraisers trying to camp up in the campaign cash. some of those were with small donors, others with big names like tv star eva longoria. but today was more about money. the president was also going after his opponent, mitt romney, for more details about his personal finances. it won't help

. >> dan lothian is at the white house. dan, take us back a little bit here, because i know there was some discussion over how this was handled, whether or not there was a scheduling conflict or whether or not the president had pretaped this message beforehand to the organization and had always planned to send the vice president? what do we know? >> well, you know, as you pointed out, the white house still maintains that this was a scheduling conflict, although when you look at the president's schedule today, it's quite light. he's doing a sit down interview along with the first lady with cbs news and he had his daily briefing here at the white house. beyond that in his public schedule, we did not see anything else. although, i should point out that there are times when the president does have big meetings, important phone calls and other things, that are not on the public schedule and we do not find out about. but nonetheless, the white house said that the president had done this tape recently, but was not in reaction to th

dan lothian is here. couple of years ago we were having the same discussion, the president did extend tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, sounds like this is going to be a high priority for this campaign/white house right now. >> the campaign is launching a major push in key battle ground states in new hampshire there will be a press conference with middle class families and other events in colorado, florida, and nevada involving small business owners as well as state and local officials. the president over the last few weeks or so has really been ramping up this message of providing help for the middle class families. as we heard last week during his bus tour in ohio and pennsylvania, not only those in the middle class but those trying to get into the middle class. and what you're seeing here appears to be a shift away from the negative job numbers that we saw last week in a shift towards tax cuts, these tax extensions rather, this will benefit the president. at least that's what the campaign believes

. >> dan lothian is at the white house following all of this. so now it's outsourcing. >> reporter: that's right. and, you know, it's the republicans really countering this attack that has been coming from the obama campaign that mitt romney invested in companies that benefited from sending jobs oversees to places like india and china, that mitt romney could have stopped outsourcing when he was the governor of massachusetts but didn't. and responding to these latest attacks now from the romney campaign, the obama campaign, saying, quote, we understand that the romney campaign wants us to share in their outsourcing misery, but the record doesn't support their attacks. president obama out there on the campaign trail has been saying that he is pushing for insourcing, as he likes to call it, providing these tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas for them to bring those jobs back here to the united states. that is what they say their message has been, completely pushing back on this notion from republicans that the president is the outs