paul jennings does have a one of the kind story. he purchased his own freedom, secured his family's future, he uses his literacy to write free passes and free papers for other slaves, he contributed to the raising of funds for slaves in dire need for a purchase from their masters. it was in 1809 that james madison took the oath of office as fourth president promising to protect and defend the constitution that he helped found. it was 200 years later that we all watched the 44th president take that same oath. it took 200 years, a shamefully long time, but we did progress from the only allowable role for a black man in the white house to be a liveried footman like paul jennings to the first african-american president and his family making their home in that historic structure. [applause] >> president barack obama would be the first to acknowledge that is rapidly rising star was hitched to paul jennings and to untold number of other african americans whose stories may never be known but who like jennings overcame a barrage of obstacles

dolly sold jennings for $200. webster allowed jennings to pay back the purchase price at the rate of $8 a month. he freed him immediately. finally, at age 48, paul jennings is a free man. his story after his freedom is as compelling as the one before that event. he became a leading member of the washington free black community, and in 1848, he was an operative in an underground railroad activity that turned out to be the largest scale ever attempted slave escape known to historian as the pearl episode. 77 enslaved men, women, and children of washington, including a run away teenage slave of dolly madison's named ellen stuart, boarded a scooter and hid themselves hoping to make it to freedom in the north. it was not to be. the plan was foiled by contrary winds and by a turncoat in the black community. this schooner left the harbor, but immediately there were light winds on the river that really slowed the vessel down, but when it got to chesapeake, the winds were too rough to enter the bay and had to hunker down. w

my interest was in paul jennings. i set out to discover elements of his own biography to uncover the circumstances behind the original publication of the memoir in 1865 and to find an interview living direct descendents. a slave in the white house, paul jennings and the madisons is the story of paul jennings' unique journey from slavery to freedom. it played out in the highest circles of ideas and power. the white house, james madison's study. it's the story of paul jennings' complicated relationship with the father of the constitution, james madison. jennings was the constant servant in james madison's study, and as madison would discuss political subjects of the day, and during his retirement review his life's work designing and defending natural rights and self-government, paul was there to hear it all, and in the book, i developed the thesis that he was able to absorb the theoretical underpinnings that would allow him to identify his innate yearning for freedom as a natural right of man. jennings and madison devel

dolly sold jennings for $200. webster allowed jennings to pay back the purchase price at the rate of $8 a month. he freed him immediately. finally, at age 48, paul jennings is a free man. his story after his freedom is as compelling as the one before that event. he became a leading member of the washington free black community, and in 1848, he was an operative in an underground railroad activity that turned out to be the largest scale ever attempted slave escape known to historian as the pearl episode. 77 enslaved men, women, and children of washington, including a run away teenage slave of dolly madison's named ellen stuart, boarded a scooter and hid themselves hoping to make it to freedom in the north. it was not to be. the plan was foiled by contrary winds and by a turncoat in the black community. this schooner left the harbor, but immediately there were light winds on the river that really slowed the vessel down, but when it got to chesapeake, the winds were too rough to enter the bay and had to hunker down. w

jen carfagno is with the weather channel. jen, please stay there. we're going to take a quick break and we'll have more right after this. >>> i'm veronica de la cruz. we've been watching a tsunami warning for the past couple of hours looking at live pictures. this is the coast of oahu which looks relatively calm right now but we have been told the first waves have come in, they were relatively small. all under 3 1/2 feet. 120,000 people have been evacuated there in the hawaiian islands, evacuated to higher elevations, so this advisory does stay in effect until 7:00 p.m. tonight. we've also been watching these evacuations take place, lots of congestion as people have been trying to clear out. people have been evacuating and get to go higher ground. that advisory stays in effect until 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. i want to go ahead and join the weather channel's jen carfagno because she will get us up to date on a different situation that she has been watching that's, of course, taking place on the other side of the country and that, of course, is hurric

nicely done, jen. know the president, blah, blah blah, steph. >> announcer: stephanie miller. >> stephanie: oh mr. president, hush i have heard enough. >> oh, god. >> stephanie: she played along. she is good. >> yeah. >> stephanie: 18 minutes after the hour. maybe i'll get another picture of his hand or something this sunday. >> a blurry picture of his hand yeah. >> stephanie: 18 minutes after the hour. kids go to meeting we use it here all the time. >> all the time. >> stephanie: meetings can be a drag, but not with go to meeting because it's fun. you don't have to leave your house. boom one click, and everybody is up on your computer in crystal clear hd quality, which at my age is not a good thing, but still people like it. you can switch who runs the meeting during the course of the meeting. >> if you have control issues you can take over someone else's desktop. >> stephanie: right. i don't know who he is talking about, but if it's you get, go to meeting. built-in hd conferencing you can see each ot

the cappy said he locked the doors and drove away with jennings in the cab. said he was looking for a police officer. and jennings pulled out a penknife. >> it required stitches, i know he was treated here by the local ems 12347 the police charged jennings with assault, theft and hate crime because he told the middle eastern cabbie to go back to his own country. >> cenk: that's an exact quote. according to the cabbie he said, i'm going to kill you. you should go back to your country. forget the hate crime part of it although you shouldn't forget that, but he said, i'm going to kill you and then stabs the guy. the cabbie said he tried to stab him in the neck and he blocked it with his hand. no one disputes that he pulled a knife. but the cops wouldn't do anything to him because he pays $10,000 in taxes. you want to talk about a sense of entitlement. i'm rich, and i've a $3.5 million house, i can stab you all i like. you know what they did today? dropped the charges. local report. >> in queens a cabbie anger and frustrateed. >> it's unfair. i swear to god, it's

back to you guys. >> thank you katie now to cheryl jennings and kristen sze once again.es, hello. >> can you hear us? >> yeah, we gotcha, go ahead, thanks. >> we have great fans here, where are you guys from? >> i'm from southern california. >> how about you? >> sonoma. >> how long did it take to paint your face like that? >> five minutes. >> ten minutes probably. >> mom and dad are okay with you cutting school today? >> yes. >> are they with you? >> yes. >> we won't tell the principal of your school that you are here, except you are on tv. oh boy. >> it is like a holiday. >> is. you are ready for trick-or-treating tonight. how about you? what was the most fun part of the day? >> just seeing the parade. gentleman they are coming back we are not leaving this is -- this is too much fun. >> we are waiting for the giants we've been standing here for hours. [ cheering and screaming ] >> a lot of folks feel the same way they are wondering what is happening this is a little street sweeping action and there's a lull at start here and people are wondering are we going to see the

it is william jennings bryan. convictions about revolution. the first part of the question is important. it is an interesting question because i get asked a lot. and that -- is an easy one for me to answer. in doing the research for this book came upon this amazing class of public defenders. the death penalty bar. and they work in texas, georgia, illinois, places where executions are carried on routinely. most of their clients are guilty . they list the horrible things they say they have done. they know they're not going to get them off, and yet they throw themselves into the defense of these on the principle that everybody needs an offense and if the death penalty is wrong. and makes collectively over the past and 15 years i think that they have, you know, helps change american attitude about the death penalty. we are switching back again away from executions. about ten years ago it was the thing to do and people were dying almost daily around the country. so this very unselfish, known, unrewarded group of defense attorneys that nobody knows

you lose a jennings on the offensive side. you lose a jermichael finley who really was out early in this game. and other guys have to step up. probably the receivers best game of the year in this one. >> al: over the middle, that's caught. a first down. garrett graham makes the catch. >> cris: i think tonight you saw why teams don't play bump and run, man-to-man coverage against the green bay packers, you know? they have been usually very cautious on the back end, two-deep safeties and probably won't see it again very soon either. >> al: incomplete. intended for graham. second and ten. matthews will probably have a battle with the finish with watt in terms of who will be the sack leader in the league this season. >> cris: 9 1/2 sacks and all of those passes deflected double digits in sacks and pass deflections. only two other guys in the nfl over the past two seasons have been able to accomplish that. almost double digit sacks already this year. >> al: second and ten. inside handoff here. forsett. every time i look at watt. yo

you lose a jennings on the offensive side. you lose a jermichael finley who really was out early in this game. and other guys have to step up. probably the receivers best game of the year in this one. >> al: over the middle, that's caught. a first down. garrett graham makes the catch. >> cris: i think tonight you saw why teams don't play bump and run, man-to-man coverage against the green bay packers, you know? they have been usually very cautious on the back end, two-deep safeties and probably won't see it again very soon either. >> al: incomplete. intended for graham. second and ten. matthews will probably have a battle with the finish with watt in terms of who will be the sack leader in the league this season. >> cris: 9 1/2 sacks and all of those passes deflected double digits in sacks and pass deflections. only two other guys in the nfl over the past two seasons have been able to accomplish that. almost double digit sacks already this year. >> al: second and ten. inside handoff here. forsett. every time i look at watt. yo

jen before i let you go, i have to ask you a question about the moderator.did you think of jim lehreer as a moderator? >> i'm not going to get in here into evaluating the monitor. the president did what he needed to do, speak directly to the american people. we're going to evaluate this by what people at home were thinking and what people on their couch came away with. and we think that, you know, mitt romney doubling down on his failed policies, voucherizing medicare, giving tax cuts to milli millionaires and billionaires and leaving the burned burden on the middle class -- >> next up, of course, is the battle of the number twos, vice president biden and congressman paul ryan will be facing off on october 11th in danville, kentucky, their only debate. october 16th is the second presidential debate. that will be moderated by our very own candy crowley in hampsted, long island. and third and final encounter between president obama and governor romney will take place on october 22nd and that is in boca ra tchton in florida. other stories are making news today.

you lose a jennings on the offensive side. you lose a jermichael finley who really was out early in this game. and other guys have to step up. probably the receivers best game of the year in this one. >> al: over the middle, that's caught. a first down. garrett graham makes the catch. >> cris: i think tonight you saw why teams don't play bump and run, man-to-man coverage against the green bay packers, you know? they have been usually very cautious on the back end, two-deep safeties and probably won't see it again very soon either. >> al: incomplete. intended for graham. second and ten. matthews will probably have a battle with the finish with watt in terms of who will be the sack leader in the league this season. >> cris: 9 1/2 sacks and all of those passes deflected double digits in sacks and pass deflections. only two other guys in the nfl over the past two seasons have been able to accomplish that. almost double digit sacks already this year. >> al: second and ten. inside handoff here. forsett. every time i look at watt. yo

jim jennings leads the nfl with four interceptions.nspend the off-season studying video and came into the game determined to correct his mistakes. i never doubted my athletic ability i just want to work on making plays inside the best opportunities. the bears' defense sparkled against dallas and the cover to scheme has worked well the quarterbacks in the rest of the defense love him but for brian are lacquered he feels like the lonely man in the middle i am being selfish i really involved in the play. it's just kind of running through the metal and hoping something happens i am really good at congratulating people the number one high fiber when someone explodes. we told you earlier the national hockey league canceled games the players have been locked out and no new contracts have been scheduled is a bleak picture right now. the owners want the player to lower their pay from 47 57-47%. this will be nasty before it gets better. it's frustrating but from what we have been told everything is taking a rollback lead. from our stance we all

(laughter) luckily greenland's vice premier jens b. frederiksen sees through china's sudden interest in their country saying "we are aware that is because we now have something to offer, not because they suddenly discovered that inuit are nice people." (laughter) bravo, jens, for not falling for china's moo goo gai pandering. china doesn't appreciate your proto-inuit thule culture the way america truly does. they don't know an umiak from an aleut iqyak. but america will respect you for your peoples. for your culture and of course for your precious lanthanum for which we will hollow out your country like a ripe cantaloupe. (laughter) next up, back in 2007, vladimir putin sent a robot submersible to plant the russian flag on the sea floor. it was the safest way to claim the north pole, because we all know what happens when you lick it. (screaming) (laughter) true story. but now the russians have gone too far, sending a russian orthodox bishop who lowered a holy memorial capsule into the sea, consecrating the north pole to the russians. i

cheryl jennings is off. >>> president obama just wrapped up a rally in denver even if he lost last night according to analysts. mitt romney riding new wave of momentum into the swing state of virginia brandi hitt has more. >> reporter: the first presidential debate started with a handshake then turned into an aggressive assault by mitt romney as he went after the president's last four years in office. >> middle income americans have been buried, crushed. >> reporter: he described the programs he would cut. >> i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs, i like you too but i'm not going to keep skpepbding money -- to keep spending money on things to borrow to pay for it. >> the president: five million jobs in the auto sector created housing has begun to rise. >> reporter: he said there was no way romney could cut taxes without adding to the deficit. >> the president: now he's saying his big bold idea is never mind. >> reporter: the president never brought up the 47% comment or bain capital. he seemed unassertive and looked down during attacks. most say it was romney who won this debate. >> momen

cheryl jennings is off. >>> president obama just wrapped up a rally in denver even if he lost last night according to analysts. mitt romney riding new wave of momentum into the swing state of virginia brandi hitt has more. >> reporter: the first presidential debate started with a handshake then turned into an aggressive assault by mitt romney as he went after the president's last four years in office. >> middle income americans have been buried, crushed. >> reporter: he described the programs he would cut. >> i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs, i like you too but i'm not going to keep skpepbding money -- to keep spending money on things to borrow to pay for it. >> the president: five million jobs in the auto sector eated housg has begun to rise. >> repter: he said there was no way romney could cut taxes without adding to the deficit. >> the president: now he's saying his big bold idea is never mind. >> reporter: the president never brought up the 47% comment or bain capital. he seemed and looked down during attacks. most say it was romney who won this debate. >> moments like these can

i'm cheryl jennings. i'm cheryl jennings. have a great week and ♪ come one, come all to a beautiful show ♪ ♪ it's gonna be awesome and...♪ ♪ some other stuff ♪ dee-dee-dee-dee ♪ doo-dee-dee-dee, doo-dee-dee ♪

jennings to short. and houston says i'll take kerry of that. raiders recover. makes this one from 40. raiders come from behind to win 26-23. they are now 2-4. >> i'm pleased with the way we played, especially in the first half absolutely not, we have to play better were but when get an opportunity to win in the fat football league, i'm happy. >> it wasn't pretty. we did not play up to our standard and play the way we are coached at times. but guys hung in there, defense played great and good to get out of here with a win. >> nascar. kansas speedway, five races remaining. the race record, season high 14 and danica patrick in the line. spinning out and finishing 32nd. and it was like terry driving home last night. the checkered flag and second win of the chase. he is 7 points over five time champion jimmie johnson the. >>> and on harrison street it was worth closing the street to see harold and dennison duke it out on the bmx. he made it a tough decision with this incredible move. a great weekend tore extreme sports enthusiasts with the do-tour in town. more from

i'm cheryl jennings. have a great week.le announcer ] pillsbury crescents fabulous but...when i add chicken, barbecue sauce... and cheese...and roll it up woo-wee! i've made a barbecue chicken crescent chow down. pillsbury crescents. let the making begin. here's a better idea. pillsbury grands! flaky layers biscuits in just 15 minutes the light delicate layers add a layer of warmth to your next dinner. pillsbury grands biscuits let the making begin. i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! my bowl, my spoons! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios has whole grain and 110 delicious calories. ...more grains. less you! multigrain cheerios in multi-grain cheerios peanut butter.

jen psaki with the obama campaign is going to join us and pop star mica. >> october 16th, a tuesday, "starting point" begins right now. >> morning, welcome, everybody. "starting point" this morning is the rematch. in just about 14 hours president obama, mitt romney, will square off in the second presidential debate. it's going to take place here. the debate hall on the campus of long island's hofstra university. going to be a town hall-style event, moderated by our very own candy crowley. candidates taking direct questions from a group of uncommitted voters. cnn's dan lothian is live for us at hofstra this morning. dan, good morning. >> good morning. and you talked about those uncommitted voters. about 80 of them will be in the audience, and from that group they'll be the ones asking the questions based on the coin toss governor mitt romney will get the first question. now, as you know, the president will be working very hard to try and recover from that first debate performance. he spent the last three days in williamsburg, virginia, preparing, prepping for this debate, surrounded b

but jen is not taking a day off. she joins us on our news line this morning. hi, jen, how are you?he oval office this afternoon. i had you last friday jen out at george mason university. it was fun to run into you. and before the president got up to speak, you said pay close at attention because the president is going to have something to about romneysia, and i didn't know what you were talking about. >> bill thought it was a country. >> bill: yes, but it has become the theme of the nation right? >> that's right. the president is trying to remind people that mitt romney is hiding from his positions. he talks about this at events across the country, and the crowds are starting to chat back, and he talks about there is a cure which is the affordable health care act. >> bill: yeah it's a way to remind people of how he changes his positions one day to the next. the crowd at george mason got it right away, right? >> they did. >> bill: on a much more serious topic, what -- what do you make of the fact that yesterday governor romney three times reporters asked him to repudiate his endorse

it raises that as well. >> jen, one last question before we let you go.t's a fluid situation but do you expect the president to be back on the campaign trail by the weekend? >> alex, it's hard to answer. we're monitoring it day by day, hour by hour, deferring to local and state authorities to fema and what's appropriate. the president will be in the white house as long as he needs to be there to make sure people have the information they need. the american people are safe and these states are getting the resources they need. >> thank you, as always, to the obama campaign. >> thank you. >> jen psaki good to see you. >> after the break, governors and mayors have been at the helm and on call throughout the crisis. more on their efforts and the latest from governor romney today coming up next. [ male announcer ] are you considering a new medicare plan? then you may be looking for help in choosing the right plan for your needs. so don't wait. call now. whatever your health coverage needs, unitedhealthcare can help you find the right plan. open enrollment to ch

i'm cheryl jennings. have a great week and

in fact, it's barack obama's policies which actually we don't know what they are, and jen just didn'tu. i mean, we have talked about key stone pipeline on day one. we're going to create jobs. they're going to have 12 million jobs we're going to create. and then we're going to lower the taxes on small businesses, because we know that's where the job growth comes from, is the small businesses. and the small business tax increases that barack obama promises, because those taxes that he wants put in place, two-thirds of them hit small businesses. and that will kill 700,000 more jobs. and women are the ones who are starting up businesses at a bigger rate. minorities are. you know, in my community, i have a large asian population, all that have small businesses. and these are the people who are going to be taxed. when they need that money for their mortgages, for their kids' education, they don't want to send to to washington, they want to keep that money in virginia to create the next job, take care of their kids and to grow the economy. and that's what we have done in virginia. that's why

president obama's prep with jen saki traveling with the president in nevada. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. ♪ constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call today to request a free decision guide. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and you'll never need a referral to see a specialist. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp... and provided by unitedhealthcare i

i want to thank our moderator cheryl jennings and assistant u.s. attorney anne marie conroy who worked really hard to pull this event together. things like this just don't fall out of the air. i want to thank mayor lee for coming up with "too legit to quit," when i haven't heard in 20 years. right in right in [ laughter v7 on the money. look, here is the thing, i made this movie because i spent all of my elementary and middle school years being a punching bag. my parents were like 20 years older than other kids' parents and my parents were always four inches too high and my hair was parted to the side when all the other kids' hair was way cooler. my father and mother were older and they couldn't connect to the things that i was going through. they weren't bad parents, but when i was getting beat up and didn't know what to do, i tried to talk to my dad, who fought in world war ii said toughen up and don't be such a pussy is basically what he said to me. and then it sounds funny, but when you are the kid dealing with that and you feel you don't have

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that's jen waters of marketwatch.com. up next, a popular beverage that could quench investors' thirst for stocks is coming up. it's a big day for the dow. coca-cola is another one of the dow components reporting in with earnings. matt shapiro, president of mws capital, joins us now for a closer look at the stock. and this is one of your long-term holdings, correct? > > it is. the stock has traded down. if anyone looks at the chart, it was up over $40, near an all-time high. back down to $38. this for me is a little bit of an entry point. we'll see what this earnings number is. the whisper number is about 53¢ a share, $2.2 billion or so in profits. > > knowing that you're so positive on this stock, would you buy then at current levels, or will you wait until the dust settles after the earnings number has been out for a couple of days? > > well, we will definitely get a guide of where it is, but i am very comfortable with the stock here angie, in terms of its profitability. it has a great dividend. remember, this was the go

jens lekman performs after the break.uest just kicked off a north american tour in support of his new album "i know what love isn't." making his tv debut with us tonight to perform the title track from it, please welcome jens lekman. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ hey renee do you still have your holden that old clunker's golden ♪ ♪ how about we take it for a spin up and down liken ♪ ♪ listen to music and look at girls i want to know if we have the same taste ♪ ♪ do you like blondes or brunettes the cocoon or the cool cat ♪ ♪ don't pull over just yet look to the left there's a 9.5 down the street ♪ ♪ into my right a perfect 10 sitting in the driver's seat ♪ ♪ i don't know what love is but i know what it isn't ♪ ♪ i don't know what love is but i know what it isn't ♪ ♪ so let's get married i'm serious but only for the citizenship ♪ ♪ i've always liked the idea of it a relationship doesn't lie ♪ ♪ about it's intentions how it doesn't apologize or anthologize all the rules and ideas ♪ ♪ we fill our heads with hey do you want to

. >> reporter: miles away on a bufferent bus, scott jennings is working to make that happen. p we see people who sometimes electelections coming out, taking advantage of early voting, and that's helping us close the gap with democrats. >> what we really hope is you'll show up on election day and help lecvolunteer. >> reporter: jennings runs mitt romney's campaign in ohio and is focused on early voting, scheduling a series of "get out ehe vote" rallies across the state, hoping to identify who has and has not cast a ballot. >> some time this week, we will have eclipsed our 6 millionth voter contact. we have eight, nine, 10, 12,000 people at some of these rallies. that's eight, nine, 10, 12,000 people i can talk to about voting, volunteering, donating and generally getting involved in the campaign. >> reporter: and, according to our survey, the latest survey of people who have already voted thee in ohio, scott, the president leads governor romney 54-39%. >> pelley: dean, you've been watching things for us in ohio seenast month or so. what have you seen that has impressed you in