. >> our jim acosta is in gettysburg, jim said, did you do your investigative homework? have you figured it out? where is the bus? >> reporter: we have been doing a little bit of digging. she has given us the slip again. her bus is park at the hotel. we understand from talking to our cnn political reporter that she gave all of us the slip getting into a different vehicle that is in her entourage earlier this morning and she is now where on the battlefield site here at get it is berg. she has done it to us again. this is the pattern, a game of cat and mouse. catch me if you can, if you will. some of this is by design. obviously, she wants to generate a certain amount of buzz. what better way to generate buzz about your noncampaign than to sort of give the media the slip here and there. she did stop yesterday evening to talk to reporters in a sort of brief question and answer session. we threw a lot of different questions at her. obviously, we asked her again wlorntd she is running for president. that's been done over and over again. to give you the nature of a fly by the

jim acosta, cnn, gettysburg, pennsylvania. >> jim, thank you. point taken, palin has reclaimed the spotlight for now, and over to mark preston our cnn political director and paul steinhauser, our cnn political director. give us some non-palin news here today. >> yes, she is grabbing the headline headlines, but other people will make headlines. mitt romney is going to be in new hampshire to announce those famous words "i am running for president." we knew he was all but declared candidate thursday, and this is the second bid for the white house, the former governor of massachusetts. and mark, winning new hampshire is important for mitt romney, because this is a state he has to win if he is going to take the nomination, but wait, this is more and it will keep the coverage manager steve rusk busy, because we have a big conference right here in washington, d.c., and a major gathering of the social conservatives friday and saturday and it is the faith and freedom conference and look at the six names there, probable candidates will be attending, and o

jim acosta, cnn, con cacorncord hampshire. >>> republican tim pawlenty, a source close to the formersays pawlenty will formally announce his presidential candidacy in iowa on monday. his announcement will kick off a multistate campaign swing including stops in the politically key states of florida and new hampshire. >>> the flooding nightmare isn't ending for people living in the lower mississippi river valley. and today the forecast is rain. more of it. io >>> the middle of next month, that's how long it could take for some of the floodwaters along the mississippi to return to normal. more than 5,000 people already have been forced from their homes in five states. and we're seeing some signs of recovery in some little pockets of areas, however. tugboats are pushing barges up the river by natchez, mississippi. the river is cresting there. for a second time in two days, actually, and today they're watching not only the water levels but also the rain gauges. a stormy weekend is in the forecast. we're going to bring in our karen mcginnis. it's never ending. >> it seems that way. upstrea

thanks, jim acosta in gettysburg.e'll be watching you. >>> so tonight on "john king usa," john king is aboard the cnn express, he's following sarah palin around. if anybody can figure out whether she's inching closer to a run, it will be him. "john king usa" tonight, 7:00 eastern right here on cnn. >>> president obama is leading the nation's tributes to fallen service members. something all presidents do on memorial day. it is a tradition but he's also making some major changes in military leadership as you may have seen right here live on cnn. the commander in chief today introduced his picks for chairman an vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and chief staff of the army. the man to the president's immediate left is army general martin dempsey who the president wants to replace the retiring chairman mike mullen. it was just last month that dempsey became army chief of staff. sew wasn't considered the favorite for the top job. all the nominees require senate confirmation, of course, which the president says he

our cnn's jim acosta has that story. >> reporter: the man behind the wheel of this new electric car can'tas station. how do you like the car? >> i like it a lot. >> reporter: that's because former cia director james woolsey sees the nation's addiction to foreign oil as its aki aki achilles heel on the war on al qaeda. on every fuel efficient car he drives he puts this sticker on "bin laden hates this car." the only solution, woolsey says is to break the dominance of oil. >> we need to undermine oil's strategic role, even if they have a monopoly of oil, they don't have a monopoly over transportation. we need to break that link. >> so you want to stick it to these guys? >> absolutely. >> instead, americans are the ones feeling stuck. at a town hall in florida -- >> my gas bill for my three vans in the last three months have gone up hundreds of dollars a month. >> small business owner eileen gains explains how the bill to pick up her vehicles stopped her from hiring a new employee. and so had the gas prices not gone up, you would have been hiring? >> i would have hired someone two months ago

jim acosta is live in washington with the latest on the long legal struggle that's been going on behindhink this has come out of the blue, but this has been going on for a very long time. >> reporter: this has been going on for months and months, years and years really since that book came out from one of edwards' former staffers andrew young which laid out the government's case. cnn has reported on this, that the government has given the green light to federal prosecutors to seek some kind of indictment in this case. what is going on behind the scenes right now is that advisers to john edwards and john edwards himself are sort of debating whether or not it makes sense to go forward with the trial. or somehow try to get out of this situation he's in, try to come up with a plea agreement that will satisfy federal authorities. it's not clear at this point whether or not that's going to work out. and there was a pretty glaring statement that came out from john edwards's attorney, a powerful attorney here in washington, greg craig who essentially said that the government is not putting toge

that's where our jim acosta is. jim, tell us more. >> good morning, carol, that's right. sarah palin will be out here later today, so we're told, and this is all part of a campaign-style swing up the east coast. she's going to be hitting a lot of historic sites, including gettysburg, where we are right now. this morning, she's at the national archives and heading over to mt. vernon. yesterday, as you just mentioned, carol, she was on the back of a motorcycle, rolling across the potomac river, into the nation's capital. if she is getting into the 2012 race, you have to say one thing, she knows how to make an entrance, and it's got the political world in this country buzzing. because the big question right now is what is she doing, what is she up to, and what's it mean for the rest of the field? from what we can understand, tim tle pawlenty and michele bachmann are also out on the campaign trail today, but everybody's talking about sarah palin. speaking of how she's doing right now in the 2012 field, if you look at the polls, carol, right now, she's not too far back in the

>> jim acosta has been following the bus tour, live in gettysburg, pennsylvania, is that where they are or that's where they're going to? >> ali, that is where they are right now. you can tell behind me because her one nation bus is parked right behind the cnn election express. that's a pretty clear signal she is in gettysburg where we are. she's expected to go to the national military park, the battlefield here in gettysburg, later on this morning. nevertheless, this has been a much more than a family vacation. they could have rented an rv, right? all day yesterday, she was leading reporters on a game of cat and mouse, her staff revealing few details about where she was headed. she started the day at the national archives, went to mount vern vernon, and then to baltimore to fort mchenry and then gettysburg where she finally stopped, all leading to speculation she is making a run for the white house. obviously she was asked along the way, as you noted, before coming to me, that she was asked about whether or not she's running for president several times. when we finally had a chance to

. >> jim acosta in iowa where he's going to spend a lot of time over the next many months.pshire, south carolina, get ready for that. >> it's only week two of newt's presidential campaign. gloria borger is here and she has a new column out on cnn.com. among other things, you write, just another day on the gingrich campaign in which the candidate throws gasoline out of fire and then walks into it how bad is it? >> i think it's pretty bad. first of all, listening to jim acosta's report, i'm not sure republicans are going to be happy with how the campaign evolves. i think republican office holders want a candidate that they can depend on and that is what is happening here. his remarks on medicare inspired a wall street journal editorial that said gingrich to house republicans drop dead. that's not exactly a great way to start your campaign and the house budget chairman himself, paul ryan, who ought authorized this medicare plan, said this on laura ingraham's radio show yesterday. listen to this. >> who needs a left with allies like that? >> the truth is, there is a great divid

jim acosta following the story from washington. what does all of this mean? >> reporter: what does it all mean? except perhaps she likes the dry heat, carol. that is the big question. "the new york times" seems to have the best reporting on this. they have confirmed through sources that would like to remain anonymous at this point that she has purchased a home. she and her husband, todd, have purchased a home in scottsdale, near phoenix, arizona. we have some pictures of it right here from an affiliate that went out to the neighborhood to take some pictures of the property. in this video, there appears to be an image of a couple that looks very much like the palins on the property. a couple of other affiliates in phoenix have captured images of vehicles going to and from the property with alaska license plates, sort of stirring the pot a little bit even more and making people believe that perhaps the palins have, indeed, purchased a home here. what does this all mean? that is a very good question. now, the speculation is that sarah palin is not running for pr

jim acosta joining us live from gettysbu gettysburg, pennsylvania, the next anticipated stop for the nticipated, because there is no official schedule. she has no advance team. >> that's right. >> how in the world do we know she's going to show up there? >> have we seen a bus yet? >> the only bus i see this morning, guys, is the one behind me, the cnn election express. you can say for a politician, a celebrity who likes to fly by the seat of her pants, it's fitting that she came into washington yesterday on the back of a motorcycle. that is the big question this morning. what is sarah palin up to? we certainly don't know this morning. but one thing that we can say, if she is running for president she knows how to make an entrance. she rolled into the nation's capital yesterday on the back of a motorcycle, part of this memorial day weekend and into this week planned bus tour she has with her family to go visit some historic sites up and down the east coast. the big question, obviously, does any of this have to do with the 2012 election? recently she said she does have the fire in her b

jim acosta is there today.s about what happened to bin laden over this it weweeken. >> reporter: that's right. it's a mixed bag of feelings before people streaming into this site here at shanksville to remember the lives lost on night 93 as you mentioned. were it not for the passengers and crew aboard that aircraft, the 9/11 commission concluded that it would have perhaps hit the u.s. capitol in washington, d.c. instead it hit this ground here. so we've seen people streaming in to this site which is now a national park service site all morning long. not only expressing their feelings for the victims of september 11th, but also to express a lot of relief that osama bin laden is now dead. and i talked to one woman who could not help but be brought to tears by the memory of the people who lost their lives here. >> those brave people, i can't imagine what that must have been hike being in the back of that plane. and the fact that they knew what they had to do to save another catastrophe from happening. and i just-w

jim acosta is there. describe the scene for us. >> reporter: good morning, carol.here the celebrations have been going on, at the white house and at ground zero. this has been a much more somber reflection of september 11 and of this day which is obviously a very -- very happy day for a lot of americans all over this country. and i'm joined by a couple of nearby residents who live close to the flight 93 memorial here near shanksville, pennsylvania. i'm joined by sonny and pat lake. you live just a mile from the site of the memorial which is just taking shape as we speak. the national parks service building a permanent memorial for the people who died here. and pat, i wanted to talk to you first because you're wearing a "let's roll" sweatshirt obviously in reference to todd beamer, one of the passengers on flight 93 who said "let's roll" before the passengers tried to take control of the airplane, forcing it into the ground instead of it hitting the capitol, the white house in washington. and wondering what you think of this. >> well, to me and my family, this is a

jim acosta with the latest on who's in and who's out ahead. >>> the presidential race is wide open onside. who will potentially take on the president in 2012? there is a new contender in the gop playing field and that's former minnesota governor tim pawlenty who announced his bid yesterday. >> jim acosta joins us live to break down the candidates for us. hi there, jim. >> good morning. this is not unexpected that tim pawlenty is jumping in the race. what is unexpected is what happened over the weekend. you heard about the rapture, a lot of conservatives think it's the end of the world mitch daniels is not running, you heard the governor of indiana decided not to run in 2012. in the end it was a family decision and it's hard to run when your wife doesn't want you to run. that was a big consideration for mitch daniels. now, tim pawlenty, his family is all system goss and he's going to have his announcement he's running for president in iowa with a town hall meeting and a release day video announcing that. let's run through a list of who is in and who is out. this race is starting to con

for that we join jim acosta who is not in d.c. in the bureau in that newsroom.you are in new hampshire there is only one thing could you possibly be talking about and that's presidential politics. >> yeah. that's right, tj. we are going to be witnessing what is basically a presidential politics baptism for jon huntsman. this is going to be his first stop in this state, this crucial primary state in the race for 2012 and the former ambassador to china and governor of utah is not just tegts the presidential waters up here, tj, he is going for a long swim. he is going to be making about a dozen stops over the next five days and it comes at crucial time for the gop. it is no secret that many republicans are a little uneasy about the current slate of candidates and why a lot of washington experts are looking at jon huntsman right now as sort of the tantalizing pros, sort of the flavor of the moment, full, not only is jon huntsman telegenic, he is also very campaign salve vism he is also a moderate and that might be a tough pill to swallow for a lot of republicans. hu

he told jim acosta in i belieow believe.ost campaigns go into secret concessions, come up with a plan and stick to it. he says i think you're better off engaging the american people in a dialogue when they can participate in the development of ideas. essentially saying sometimes i might debate myself. i'm not sure how it will play out. >> it's a good way to say i'm not going to stay on message and get everybody to understand it, i guess. >> maybe people will like it. most people look for a president, i think, who sets down his markers and judge him from that. joe, we'll see you a bit later. >>> ahead, veal patties for dinner? we'll have the latest from rikers island including why some in france are outraged over video showing him in handcuffs web browsing on the new blackberry playbook? ♪ flash, aah-ah that's right. it runs flash. so unlike some tablets we could mention, you get the best of the internet - not just part of it. ♪ flash, aah-ah ♪ flash, aah-ah you could get arrested for that you know. it's not what you think. l

with the economy still teetering along, this story from jim acosta is about how we may no longer be ablee of our greatest triumphs. ♪ you're about to see what many call a miracle. >> i could not feed myself. >> reporter: this woman in africa is dying from aids, barely able to lift her arms or open her eyes. >> this is me. wow, they've done a great job. >> reporter: and here she is again, days later, after treatment with inexpensive anti-aids drugs. talking, walking. it is called the lazarus effect, this astonishing transformation has been repeated all over the continent thousands of times and michael gerson wants you to know the story because you're paying for it. >> there are good foreign policy reasons to do this sort of thing. >> reporter: gerson is a conservative columnist with "the washington post," a senior fellow with the council on foreign relations and he was once the chief speech writer for the man who got this rolling. >> he often talked about to whom much is given much is required. >> reporter: this was very important to him. >> right. exactly. there was a motivation here tha

cnn's jim acosta has this hour's political news. hey, jim. >> morning, carol.ich may not be the luckiest move on ron paul's part. but yes, he is throwing his hat in the ring, announcing earlier this morning on "good morning america" that he is indeed running for president. >> today and at this moment, i'm officially announcing that i am a candidate for president in the republican primary. >> why? >> because time has come around to the point where the people are agreeing with much of what i've been saying for 30 years. so i think the time is right. >> so just another sign that this race for the white house in 2012 is starting to heat up. one other potential sign, former arkansas governor mike huckabee has sent out a tweet this morning saying to watch his media schedule this weekend. that might have something to do with the fact that he has unveiled a new, i guess, series of children's educational videos, you could call them. that is a new business venture for mike huckabee, and it has some people in washington wondering whether or not he's actually going to take

jim acosta live in new hampshire this morning. jim, he's running low in the polls.the evangelical republicans but a lot of regular, plain vanilla conservative -- fiscal conservative republicans like him? >> that's right. and he's doing a little bit more than just testing the waters and he's finding those waters are just fine up here in new hampshire so far. you know, huntsman is entering potentially this race at an interesting time. a lot of republicans are pretty concerned about the current slate of candidates out there right now, but huntsman understands he's got some issues of his own, namely he was just president obama's ambassador to china. that might be a tough pill to swallow for conservatives throughout. we caught up with huntsman briefly before this event, his first event in new hampshire, yesterday evening in hanover and he told us he's ready to take on those issues head on. >> you think you would be able to overcome some concerns republicans have about your record? >> everyone who has been elected to political office has a history, some will like it, some

cnn's jim acosta has been looking into that. jim?se the republican field for 2012 got a little more defined in the last 48 hours doesn't mean everything is fine in inside the gop. >> i'm tim pawlenty and i'm running for president of the united states. >> reporter: tim pawlenty chose iowa to plow into the race for 2012, not too far from the nearest cornfield, the former minnesota governor brought the crop of gop candidates closer to harvest. >> so, in my campaign, i'm going to take a different approach, i'm gonna tell you the truth and the truth is, washington, d.c.'s broken. >> reporter: another nagging truth is that some republicans don't exactly see a gop field of dreams with indiana governor mitch daniels turning down a run over the weekend, conservatives would like more options. >> frankly, we are disappointed. now, obviously, we have to start looking and i was just saying this morning, maybe it is time to start drafting paul ryan. >> reporter: as in house budget committee chairman paul ryan who said no repeat lichltd. >> i have

jim acosta is in gettysburg, pennsylvania, where palin arrived just moments ago. jim?reporter: candy, sarah palin was asked today by a reporter whether or not she was running for president and she answered that she is contemplating a run for the white house but more importantly, another question could be asked and that is, does all of this look like she's running for president? the answer just might be, you betchya sarah palin says this is no campaign bus and that herself-described one nation tour this week is all about paying tribute to american history. but while touring in washington, she said that she's thinking about making history of her own. >> i think americans are ready for a true change. >> reporter: contemplating on the back of a harley davidson, they revved up a publicity blitz that is pure palin, with a wild crush of cameras ending her every move, the national mall to mt. vernon. sunday night palin went in kog neat toe to tour the monument on her political action committee website where, by the way, her supporters can make a donation. if palin runs, her fo

our cnn's jim acosta joins us live from getties about urg to talk about the politics of this day.e and recognize the fallen but we do know this is a very important holiday for candidates as they try to show their commitment, right, to the armed services. >> absolutely. we thought since we had been out here in gettysburg waiting for sarah palin's expected arrival rewith he should show one of the more inspiring spots, pennsylvania memorial honoring 1,100 soldiers that died on this battle field. you're right. i mean, this is a very important holiday for a lot of politicians, especially when you're one year out from a presidential race. sarah palin is expected to bring her bus tour. someone called it the mystery bus tour because we don't have all the details. >> we're now going to take a listen to president obama. >> thank you. thank you so much. please be seated. thank you serbgts gates. and thank you for your extraordinary service to our nation. i think that bob gates will go down as one of our finest secretaries of defense in our history. and it's been an honor to serve with him. i

today, he is in an area our jim acosta reports in new hampshire but tomorrow, he will be at southern new hampshire university in manchester. that's note worthy, because president obama visited that same university, gave the commencement address four years ago. you and a lot of our viewers know that john huntsman who has just recently left the post as ambassador to china, that he has been getting some flack from some critics that say that he worked for president obama and that he might have a tough time in a republican primary. so it is of note that he is going to be giving the commencement address tomorrow at this university. >>> moving on to another story that we are following. the first ad by a pro-obama independent group. the group is called priorities usa, run by bill burton who some may remember is the former deputy white house press secretary. we want to take a listen to this ad and take a listen to some of the people mentioned in the add. >> newt gingrich says the republican plan that would end medicare is too radical. governor haley thinks the plan is cure anyonus and gingric

thank you very much, jim acosta reporting.lease join us on monday night, june 13th, as the republican hopefuls square off on all of the issues only here on cnn. jon huntsman will be a guest on john king usa tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. >>> homemade levees holding back the floodwaters to the mississippi river. we're going to show you the length that some people are going to try to save their homes. what is the most disturbing piece of information recovered from bin laden's compound in pakistan. i'll ask the chairman of the house intelligence committee mike rogers. he's here in "the situation room." when you come to new york from a place like detroit, no one expects you to influence the world of fashion. but when you grew up surrounded by rock 'n' roll and heavy industry, you just might make a name for yourself. ♪ that's what a blue-collar attitude can do in a white-collar world. that's what a blue-collar attitude can do beer and wine, and cupcakes. i was doing the corporate grind, like everyone else. but to be successful, i kn

jim acosta, many thanks. >>> i'll throw it over to suzanne malveaux. i'll join you in a bit to talk about whether a college education is worth it. >> i hope so. >> me too. >> we spent a lot of money on education. >> live from studio 7 i'm suzanne malveaux. i want to get you up to speed. we have just received this exclusive video minutes after the deadly tornado ripped through joplin, missouri. just look. >> oh, my gosh. oh, my gosh. oh, my gosh. oh, my gosh. >> went right through here. i don't know where we are. >> i don't know. >> we got to keep going this way. don't step in any of this. >> it's a firsthand account of not only the damage and devastation but also the panic search for loved ones. what you're seeing here is a man and his fiancee trying to reach the man's sister. >> we'll keep asking. let's go to this house. it's gone. >> they were unable to drive because the streets were blocked with debris. >> sarah, mike! sarah, mike! >> sarah, mike! mike, sarah! >> i'll check the basement. >> sarah, mike! >> mike, sarah! >> you guys down here? >> mike

. >> jim acosta, many thanks. >>> they survived the tornado but cannot find their baby son. now, the family is going out of its mind trying to track him down. more on that story next. >>> plus, one ray of hope for the residents of joplin. it comes from greensburgh, kansas. four years ago, a tornado virtually wiped out the town but people did not walk away. the town's mayor will tell us how they rebuilt. building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. ♪ that airline is gonna nail that frequent flyer with restrictions when he tries to use his miles. ♪ that's a lot of red tape! step on it! [ tires screech ] ♪ i can't escape the red tape! now you can with rapid rewards! come on! [ tires screech ] [ male announcer ] join rapid rewards and enjoy u

gingrich talked to our jim acosta in iowa, and that is where gingrich is which is a great place to be running for president. and he had come plilt plimentar to say about ryan, which is what you could call damage control, and he also had this comment about the repeal of the president's health care bill last year. keep your eyes on this, because it is far from over, randi. >> and what about the buzz of the senate race in wisconsin. what is happening there? >> well, back to paul ryan, the budget chairman, a republican from wisconsin. he told candy crowley that he would announce whether he would or would not run for the open seat. and he said no. he would stay in the house, because he can do better work for the country in the house. but a guy who may run for the seat is tommy thompson who has been the health and human services secretary under president bush and ran for house republican four years ago, and he is likely to go for the seat which is held by herb cole who announce shed not running. and so the republicans will try to hold on that seat for the next election, randi. >> they will