jason carroll reports. >> time we held the line!'re down in the polls days from the election and your opponent is a political celebrity? >> thank you, new jersey! >> reporter: answer? bring in your own celebrity. >> can the rest of america count on you to send steve lonegan to the united states senate? >> reporter: that is exactly what new jersey senate candidate steve lonegan did. he is facing an uphill battle on a man well-known on the national stage, newark's mayor corey booker. >> don't be measuring the drapes there just quite yet! >> reporter: palin and lonegan paint it, the referendum on national policies, including obama care. >> when we go to washington october 17th, it's going to be barack obama, nancy pelosi and harry reid that are going to fold! >> corey booker, radical, liberal, stream. >> reporter: thanks to lonegan's double ad campaign. booker's double digit lead in august dipped to 28 points and not surprising to some voters here. >> i believe that there are a lot of people in the state that have conservative values a

>> reporter: jason carroll, cnn, new york. >> for the record, rodriguez's attorney reiterated this morninglient alex rodriguez did not take performance-enhancing drugs. >>> in other sports news it was a moment that made football fans hold their collective breath. a star player for the green bay packers was carted off the field, motionless and strapped to a gurney after a dangerous helmet to helmet hit in sunday's game. jermichael finley spent the night in intensive care, where he underwent observation for a neck injury. we're still awaiting word on the extent of his injury but there is some good news. the packers staff say he has movement and feeling in all of his extremities. >>> turning to the pop culture lead, a tortured teen with telekinetic powers proved to be no match for "gravity" at the box office. the remake of "carrie" earned only 17 million bucks. "gravity" has been number one for three weeks in a row. "12 years a slave" had a strong showing in limited release, earning nearly $1 million after opening on 19 screens nationwide. >>> that's it for "the lead." i turn you over to wolf

all i love dominic bill pat would say just dribbling over his can of air all right jason carroll thanks so much for being the guys report thank you max stay tuned for the second half a whole lot more. real damage and complexity of this oil spill is not something you can grasp just by looking at dirty birds we have between four to five million people in this directly affected area of the coast and it's pretty clear why it's not being reported because b.p. can't afford to have a reported all along the gulf coast are clean they are safe and they're open for business if b.p. is the single largest oil contributor to the pentagon the us war machine is heavily reliant upon b.p. and their oil this is a huge step backwards for democracy it's a step forward a little carex it is toxic as it looked like spray. it was a it was not a picture that either the government or b.p. really wanted to i don't want dispersants to be the age you are which. is. at one time i saved money to hire a hitman to shoot me dead from the next building through the open window. i searched through the internet typing things

>> reporter: jason carroll, cnn, new york. >> it will come down to that question xt aand the arbitratorldone deal yet that a-rod will miss a significant part of next season. >> it's crazy to think this is all happening when you look at the career that he's had. you look -- >> that whole career may have been tainted. >> that's what i'm saying asterisks that they talked about with barry bonds and has to likely be used for some other players. i'm going to go on to another story. >>> morning rhyme taking on a whole new feeling here. 17 minutes after the hour. >>> a story of survival coming to the printed page. two of the three kidnapping victims held by ariel castro up to a decade in cleveland. two have teamed up with a reporter. no meetings we are told have been set with the publisher. their alleged captor hung himself in prison last month. >>> a group decided not to take a case to trial despite spending a hundred thousand dollars on the search for 2-year-old caylee anthony. >>> trouble for celo green. a woman accused him of drugging her with ecstasy at a los angeles restaurant in july of 2

. >> jason carroll, thank you for that. >>> sarah palin will be speaking at today's million vet marchi memorial. events and protests kick off in about two and a half hours. >>> house republicans, they just threw up their hands and went home. now the business of reopening the government is in the hands of two senators. i'm angela, and i didn't think i could quit smoking but chantix helped me do it. i told my doctor i think i'm... i'm ready. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. i knew that i could smoke for the first 7 days. i knew that i wasn't putting nicotine back into my body to try to quit. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious

cnn's jason carroll sat down with corey booker. to have you on "new day." >> i think his head is in the game. when you think of mayor booker, a lot of people think about the man who rescued his neighbor from a burning house or rescue a dog as well. one political analyst said most new jerseyians don't know that much about corey booker. they know the image of the super mayor but not the man itself. during my interview, no subject was off limits. he talked about his record, his personal life and political future. are you satisfied with your record in terms of violent crime? the numbers are not where they should be. >> we have 500 less police officers than my predecessor, a third less police. we were forced to make difficult decisions. there always more you could have done. >> i think there was one quote that said he's made an art of having a presence without being present in terms of how many times you were physically in the city versus going out giving a speech. >> the modern mayor is not going to be able to sit behind their desk and