chief white house correspondent jessica yellin takes a look at what the campaign is doing to win the state. >> reporter: on the campus of ohio state university, pockets of enthusiasm for the president's first official campaign rally. >> we're excited. >> reporter: but the excitement of 2008 is missing. so the campaign is pouring resources into ohio to keep it competitive. the state director has been here since 2009. his message to voters, the president's auto bailout boosted the local economy. >> one out of every eight jobs in ohio is related to the auto industry. >> reporter: there are 18 field offices and romney opens his next week and democrats say they will try to use that local presence to win over undecided voters. >> it's voter to voter contact between a screen door and that kind of validation between a volunteer of that neighborhood gives us a huge advantage. >> reporter: then there is social media 2012, a step up from the last campaign. ashley bryant, a cincinnati native, is the state's digital immediate kra director. >> we're showing the president doing the stance which is

let's go to jessica yellin. you were in ohio earlier. now, on your way there in virginia. a really quick turn. what do we expect to hear from the president? very similar to his stump speech there in ohio? or different audience, different message? >> fredricka, i think it will be the same speech. maybe slightly different emphasis in ohio. there's a very heavy emphasis on the auto bailout, manufacturing, because 1 in 8 jobs there is connected in some ways to manufacturing. but the theme you have heard him deliver will -- the overarching theme will be the same, which from the campaign will be its idea that the president has taken the economy from a place where he was handed it where the economy was hemorrhages jobs and he did what he could to stop the hemorrhaging, to turn it around, and he cites a lot of data about private sector job growth, he argues it will get better in the future. one of the things you'll note is in the -- and shood out to me, in his message in ohio, he's critical of the republican congress. he was critical of mitt romney, but his attack on mitt romney w

that's jessica yellin. thank you, jessica. we didn't see jessica but we know her very well. she is not only very smart, but she is very pretty. we did not see her there. she is just blocks away from these protests that are happening in chicago. jessica is actually covering the business of this nato summit that's happening, talking about afghanistan and the other things on the agenda there. but on the police's agenda right now, keeping these protestors at bay, keeping them away from the nato summit. as we listen in, we'll take a quick break and we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this... is the at&t network. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions, to bring all the right results. [ whirring and beeping ] it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪ i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved

one of the hard questions jessica yellin just mentioned. if you were sitting in the white house and watching these pictures, you would be outraged. is the legal question enough, no invitation from the arab league, no resolution from the security council, at what point does the president of the united states or prime minister of the uk or president of france have to say i don't care, i have to stop this? >> he has to be willing to do that. we went in to bosnia as you know without a u.n. security council resolution. it would be helpful to have the arab league, to have neighborhood countries on board with us because it will make effective whatever we decide to do. but the president of the united states has to make a decision about his u.s. interests. you know if you go to the u.n., you'll get russia/chinese veto, that spts an option. i think the question is what is in the interests of the united states, what do we need to do in that region. and i think the answer is becoming clear. >> is the has kemassacre enough a turning point? some say mayb

let's begin with our senior white house court jessica yellin traveling with them there. full crowd. it wasn't full but now looks like it is. >> reporter: it looks like it is on tv, fredricka, but the top tier of this auditorium is not full. it's empty, mostly. it's fair to say they expected to fill this up, so it must be a disappointment to the campaign. we should also point out the romney has never drawn a crowd even half this size. so judge by whatever standard you will. i will point out that they have been running a series of videos to warm up the crowd. they have been sending around messages saying check in on four square, tweet out this message. there's a lot of new media, digital media going on. they are waiting on the president to come out and deliver a speech that will be his attempt to frame the economic struggles the nation went through and ongoing progress that can get better in the future, to give their spin on a narrative he can continue to sell moving forward over the next months to combat what he's going to face from mitt romney which will be attacks on his leadership

let's bring in chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. so, jessica, the new french president has announced he is withdrawing french troops early. does that upset this tightly r choreographed plan? >> reporter: excellent question, fredricka. the u.s. has found a way to spin, or i should say found an elegant way to spin or explain the early french withdrawal of troops from afghanistan. which is they're drawing down troops from a region of afghanistan where they were already planning an exit, and transition to afghan control. the u.s. is saying they're transitioning out french troops and the french are leaving in troops to train and help afghan troops take the lead. which is what the goal is in afghanistan in general. and that allows the president to continue to say that the coalition is together in nato. and which is the goal here in general. and allowed the president to say this earlier today when he was meeting with afghan president hamid karzai. >> the world is behind the strategy that we've laid out. now it's our task to implement it eff

." >>> want to begin with chief white house correspondent jessica yellin.'re talking about here, the obama camp announcing this new outreach effort to target the lesbi lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered community. is this at all because of his news on -- his stance on marriage equality? >> hi, brooke. the same-sex marriage announcement was a wash political politically. about half the country supports him for his decision. about half the country isless likely to support him for the decision a new poll shows. an't 55% say it's not going to be a major factor in their vote. but the campaign is mobilizing the lgbt community, republicans as well as democrats. the important take akwai is this -- it's an indicator of the campaign's overall strategy. they're targeting dem graph ir groups. here's the lesbian and gay community. we've already seen many campaigns targeting latinos, seniors, unique messages tailored to their concerned. contrast that with 2008 when the president said there's not a red america or a blue america. there's one america. this time there's a

cnn's jessica yellin has more on that. >> reporter: before the summit kicked off afghanistan is dominating this meeting and it's so important that before the summit began the president sat down with afghan president hamid karzai and in public remarks karzai, the afghan president, thanked the u.s. taxpayers for everything the taxpayers have done for afghanistan, announced -- said that the afghans will no longer soon be a burden to the u.s. and assured the president that afghans will be ready to take over the combat lead when it's handed over. >> jessica yellin reporting in chicago today and also today nato leaders signed a deal to add five more unarmed drones to the alliance. more than a dozen countries will pitch in to pay for them. >>> another disco icon from the 1970s has died. robin gigg passed away in england after a long fight with liver and colon cancer, he and his two brothers made up the bee gees selling over 200 million album, disco legends with hits like "night fever," "staying alive" and "how deep is your love" coming three days after the death of donna summer. we'll have more o

his 2012 they will headline a rally in the battle ground state in virginia and more now from jessica yellin in columbus, ohio. good morning. what should we expect to hear from president obama today? >> reporter: hi, randi, when the president hits the stage in the arena behind me, this is the first time that we are going to hear him deliver a purely political message in a campaign format in public. we have heard him read some of his fundraising messages in private and that's why he talks about this message that what it was like when he was on the campaign trail in 2008. he tries to frame a narrative of what the campaign and presidency -- where america has fought through since then and what it would be like in the campaign's terms if the u.s. went back. now you're going to hear him deliver that message behind me. the one thing that is going to be slightly different, when you see him go state to state, here in ohio, expect him to punch harder on the bailout message, maybe when he's in virginia you'll hear him emphasize women's issues. randi? >> jessica, obama campaign, they are pouring resourc

cnn's jessica yellin live at the rally in columbus a pretty good crowd. what message from the president in what appears to be a mostly college crowd? >> reporter: yeah, mostly college. mixed crowd, fredricka, still not full but they have an hour to go. the message you'll hear is effectively the president preempting a tax on the economic conditions in the u.s. he expects the romney campaign is going to attack the unemployment rate and the president's stewardship on the economy, so you'll hear him talk about how hard the economy was hit before he got in office, what he inherited, and how he made things better, how much worse they could have been, in the president's view, and what he could do going forward. he'll also, because this is a manufacturing state, a big emphasis on how he believes the auto bailout made conditions better. that's a popular theme in ohio. then you'll also hear the broader messages you've heard him emphasize, a much more political speech. the first campaign -- official campaign rally to date. he's appearing as well with the first lady.

cnn's jessica yellin reports mr.lso heightened his attacks on republicans. >> reporter: randi, in his first official campaign rallies, the president made his case for re-election. he argued that despite the sluggish recovery and national mood of anxiety, he has made conditions better. first, he started by reminding supporters that he inherited a bad situation. >> in the last six months of 2008, even as we were campaigning, nearly 3 million of our neighbors lost their jobs. over 800,000 more were lost in the month i took office alone. it was tough. >> reporter: then the president argued that it's republican policies that got the nation into this economic predicament in the first place. that's the message behind the campaign's motto forward, which is supposed to stand in contrast to republican policies that would, the president argues, take the nation backward to the trickle-down policies of the past which the president says helped the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. that is the argument you will hear over

jessica yellin has just learned new details. the vice president just trying to make up by going into the oval office and saying, i'm sorry. >> that's right, john. i have learned from senior administration official, the vice president, went in and apologized not for the position he took but for putting the president in a tough position. the president with a very understanding rely as i'm told saying essentially that he knows the vice president is speaking from the heart. you can imagine that conversation. and in addition, the vice president's office has put out an official statement which fits inside a twitter response. the president has been a leader on this issue from day one. the vice president never intended to distract from that. fewer than 140 characters, john. >> keep it short. when you are going to apologize, keep it short. in the sense that the president has been through this before where the vice president's tongue gets out ahead of the brain sometimes. assess where we are now, the fallout. did the president say apology

we're going to go to jessica yellin who is also in chicago. as we know, those protests nowhere near where you are, where the meetings took place. that's not something that the leaders are actually privy to. we saw president obama earlier today talking about his focus, the end of the war in afghanistan. i want you to listen first and then we'll talk about it on the back end. >> today is also an opportunity to ensure our hard-won progress is preserved. the strategic partnership agreement that president karzai and i signed in kabul ensures that as afghans stand up, they will not stand alone. today we can agree on nato's long-term relationship with afghanistan beyond 2014 including our support of afghan security forces. >> so, jessica, take us inside that room. peel back the curtain, if you will. how are they responding to the president? do they have an agreement here? >> reporter: in a word, yes, suzanne. there is different levels of commitment here, but in essence all these nations are in agreement that they have to exit afghanistan in what ever

jessica yellin is working the story for us. jessica, causing quite an uproar there, what's going on? >> reporter: this is clearly an unwelcome topic for a white house that pronounces to make all decisions based on principle not on politics. it certainly looks as if the vice president supports gay marriage. >> who do you love? the president sets the policy. i am absolutely comfortable that the fact that men marrying wo i and women marrying women, are entitled to all the civil rights and the civil liberties. >> reporter: but the president is vague. >> my feelings about this are constantly evolving. i struggle with this. >> reporter: this is a flash point election. to argue biden's comments weren't new. >> i think they were entirely consistent with the president's position which is that couples who are married whether they're gay or heterosexual couples are entitled to the very same rights and very same liberties. >> reporter: the vice president's office even put out a statement to clarify the vice president's meeting. but the mess

our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is working the story for us. what are you hearing over there, jessica? >> reporter: wolf, there are times when a president is more forgiving than his aides and this may be one of those times. some of the president's top aides are deeply annoyed. they acknowledge the president was going to come out and speak out in favor of same-sex marriage before the democratic convention, but boy, are they frustrated that vice president biden made it happen sooner than they wanted. he was planning to say this some time before the democratic convention. >> for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get marrie married. >> but vice president biden forced up the timing with his unscripted remarks on "meet the press" or as the president put it. >> she got a little bit overseas, but out of generosity of spirit would i have preferred to have done this in my own way, in my own terms without, i think there being a lot of notice. but all's well that ends well. >> repor

jessica yellin is in columbus. >> reporter: hey, randi, president obama won ohio by four points in wait latest polling shows statistical dead-heat in the state with romney ahead when it comes to the economy. so, mitt romney will be back in the state next week, and the president is making a big statement by officialsly launching campaign here. on the campus of ohio state university, pockets of enthusiasm for the president's first official campaign rally. >> are you excited? >> reporter: the excitement of 2008 is missing. >> do you want to sign up? >> no. >> reporter: the campaign is pouring resources in ohio to keep it competitive. the state director has been here since 2009. his message, the auto bail out boosted the local economy. >> one out of every eight jobs in ohio is related to the auto industry. >> reporter: the campaign has 18 field offices, romney opens his first next week. democrats say they will try to use that local presence to win over undecided voters. >> 30 second ad, not a direct mail, voter to voter contact. that kind of validation between volunteer from that neighborho

joining me jessica yellin and former clinton white house senior adviser on same-sex civil rights issuesjessica, was this joe biden just kind of speaking out of term as joe biden sometimes does? or do you think this is some part of a calculated effort to have it both ways? >> no, this was not a calculated rollout by the white house. there's no way they wanted this today. the campaign was intending to have today focused on their new ad campaign framing the election. thils was a mess of the white house's own making. they have a convoluted position on gay marriage. he has in a sense taken a position where he says to gay families when he's talking at fund raisers, he'll say things that will indicate to them that he seems to be for possibly gay marriage in a second term. he'll say things like there's much more work to be done when it comes to loving couples have been more rights. when i talk to gay donors, many of whom give to the campaign, they say he will be for gay marriage in a second term but he will not say that publicly. so they are inevitably going to come up at the white house when t

jessica yellin has more on that. >> afghanistan is dominating this meeting. it's so important that before the summit began, the president sat down with afghan president, hamid karzai. and in public remarks, karzai thanked the u.s. taxpayers, for everything that the taxpayers have done for afghanistan. said that the afghans would soon no longer be a burden to the u.s. and assured that afghans would be able to take over the combat lead. >>> also, five more drones will be added. >>> robin gibb passed away in england, after a long fight with liver and colon cancer. gibb and his two brothers, barry and maurice, made up the bee gees. robin gibb was 62. his death comes three days after the death of disco queen, donna summer. we'll have more on robin gibbs' death, later on in the show. >>> the only man convicted of the 1988 lockerbie bombing is dead. but the sense of release for victims' families is mixed with anger. at the time, doctors said he didn't have long to live because of prostate cancer. he proved them wrong. and the welcome he received in libya, only added

we want to go straight to jessica yellin at the white house. what do you have?you know, the president is at this moment sitting down for an interview with abc's robin roberts where we know he is going to be asked the question about his position on gay marriage. i have spoken to leading gay rights advocates and leading democrats all of whom believe that he will come out in some way in favor of gay marriage. none of them can be certain what he will do, but it is their belief that the president has indicated by saying that he is evolving on this position that he would at some point before the election come out for gay marriage and that he will do it today. what i can tell you is if he doesn't come out for gay marriage today, he will disappoint the gay community which has backed him aggressively so far in this election with millions of dollars in donations. he will disappoint his gay and lesbian donors significantly, and he will have a problem on his hands in some portions of the gay community. now, they've supported him because he has been a strong supporter of gay

it's a story our own jessica yellin first broke here on cnn. biden came out in support of same-sex marriage on a sunday morning talk show and some believe that forced the president to make his own announcement ahead of schedule. we're told the president responded by telling biden he knew that he was speaking from the heart. >>> the john edwards corruption trial is coming to a crossroads today. the defense planning to ask the judge to dismiss all of the charges against the former senator, claiming that prosecutors haven't proven their case. that's standard operating procedure. prosecution rested yesterday without calling edwards' former mistress rielle hunter to the stand. >>> a tornado slamming a high school, injuring eight people. this is in south texas. take a look. the twister striking after school hours but the victims were in the parking lot for a fund-raiser. several other students were still at softball practice. >> our coach realized what was going on and he grabbed us all and stuck us in the closet to keep us safe. the press box, the f

but this report comes from jessica yellin. two senior administration official says that joe biden met with president barack obama and apologized to the president for hitting him in a tough position. biden spoke out on "meet the press" about gay marriage saying that he is comfortable with same sex couples having the same rights as heterosexual couples. biden's spokesperson said that the president has been the leader on this issue since day one and the vice president never intended to distract from that. once president obama voiced his support it was all anyone was talking about. here's what romney said after the president's interview when romney was asked about his position. >> i have the same view on marriage i have expressed many time. marriage is between a man and a woman. >> keeping him honest back when romney was running for senate in massachusetts, romney positioned himself as the gay rights candidate. he met with the log cabin club in massachusetts and in a letter dated october 6, 1994 wrote, quote, i am more convinced t

i talked to jessica yellin at the white house. this certainly wasn't on the books to be happening this week with the president. we know the back story with joe biden coming out, speaking in favor of equal rights. tt president clearly was under a bit of pressure. >> he was. and he had these upcoming fundraisers. maybe last year it was in 2010 during an election year when the president would go to fundraisers for the lgbt community. and he would be talking and people would interrupt him about two things. same-sex marriage as well as don't ask don't tell. he was interrupted so the whole story line. you know, he's friendly to the lgbt community, et cetera, et cetera, was always interrupted by what was paramount importance in that community. so he was coming up to some more events where that was likely to pak taik place. now why did it happen in an election year? how about last year? he's been evolving for some time. i think you will look at, and certainly republicans and critics will look at this and say he's doing this for election p