our jim acosta has more from washington. >> reporter: accused by democrats and a few of his republicanaking a low profile on the debt talks, mitt romney has hit the ceiling. >> the president to agree to cut federal spending, to cap federal spending, and to put in place a balanced budget amendment and that's the answer for the debt limit, the answer for the nation. that's the line in the sand. >> reporter: almost all of the republican candidates are ratcheting up the rhetoric with sarah palin returning to one of her controversial catch frieses. >> we can't afford to default or retreat. now is not the time to retreat. it's time to reload. >> reporter: michelle bachmann called passing on a misnomer. >> if congress fails to raise the debt ceiling that somehow the united states will go into default. that is simply not true. >> reporter: a few hours after her comments the powerful moody's investor service said they are reviewing the aaa bond rating important the u.s.. for voters, who do you trust, michelle bachmann or ben bernanke, the chairman of the federal reserve. >> it would be a bad ou

cnn jim acosta is here. i did see just a blizzard of press releases after the jobs report came out. >> yes. these press releases came out and shot up about as quickly as the space shuttle "atlantis". it was the closest this presidential campaign came to looking to past presidential campaigns. i want to talk about what mitt romney had to say about these unemployment numbers and about this jobs report. he seized on something that the president's senior political advisor over the white house said at a bloomberg breakfast a couple of days ago. i want to put this on screen. he said people won't vote based on the unemployment rate they are going to vote based on how do i feel about my own situation? do i believe the president makes decisions based on me and my family. mitt romney in his statement today responding to the jobs report, said, basically that he would fire david plouffe. he said if he were working for me i would fire him and then he could experience firsthand the pain firsthand. his comments are an insu

jim acosta did the initial reporting on the story. he joins us now. said today that converting gay patients is not a special interest of his clinic, it would only be attempted at the client's request. on that truth wins out video it does seem like the guy who made the undercover tape said to the counselor he was interested in changing his orientation which got the conversation going. the family of the young man who you spoke to who went there in 2004, what did he say about that? >> well, anderson, that young man we interviewed for our story earlier this week, andrew ramirez, said he and his mother turned to bachmann and associates for counselling after being referred to the clinic by a friend. ramirez says they were told bachmann was a place to turn for teenagers who wanted to change from gay to straight. and you mentioned that photo taken by gay rights activist who went into the bachmann clinic undercover. it is a picture of that book you said written by a self-described ex-lesbian named janet boynes. in her book she claims she was able to use her fa

jim acosta picks up the story. >> reporter: you are entering a world few will ever see in person. inside of a mental institution that houses criminally insane patients. this is st. elizabeths hospital in washington, d.c. as captured in a remarkable movie shot last year by the patients themselves. one of them is louis eckerd, he beat and strangled to death a u.s. senator's aide more than four decades ago. >> i came in in 1967. that's reik 43 years, this was my home. this is where i live. believe me, lived and died. >> reporter: the movies two young miamimakers got the permission to put the hands in the hands of a few select patients. this unprecedented access was granted to give the swins a better understanding of a person found guilty of insanity. >> it's through their eyes. >> what did you learn about them? what did you learn about mental illnesses? >> for me, like, i learned the capacity for feelings and the capacity change, when you talk about that. they really one timed to communicate how much over these past decades. that's what's so great is that we do get to seek inside. we

jim acosta, thanks so much. >> you bed. >>> texas is tariffing for rain.ls are drying up, homes are shifting because the ground is that dry. relief could be on the way. >>> also some new details on the awol soldier arrested in texas today, just how far was he planning to go? we'll be right back. >>> a muslim american soldier arrested, dsk's accuser out in public. investors eyeing the debt debate, and texas want tropical storm don to hit the state. i want to begin at the pentagon. barbara, let's start with you in the arrest of an awol soldier. how did police catch him? >> he's private first class naser jason. they got a phone call from a gun storeowner just outside of killeen, that he was acts suspicious. they called the cops, they tracked him down and they found a slew of bomb-making material in this private first class's hotel room. he is now under arrest. >> in terms of charges, barbara, has he officially -- does she officially face federal charges yet? >> brooke, it is expected in the coming hours. he is likely to face federal charges. the local police

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jim acosta is joining us with a new poll from new hampshire. mitt romney still the front-runner, jim? >> reporter: he is very much the front-runner, kyra. a good sign of that is when you leave the country to go do some fund-raising, mitt romney is going to london today to do fund-raise across the pond. he might as well. if you look at the latest poles from wmur in new hampshire, they are looking at the all-important new hampshire primary and who voters are preferring at this point. romney is way out in front. 35%. look at that. the closest challenger at this point is michele bachmann at 12% who, for a lot of people, didn't think she would do that well in new hampshire. she has bounced up some eight points, according to these polls. rely re look at the bottom half of this poll. i think this is rather striking as well. tim pawlenty, 3%. jon huntsman, who has staked a lot of his campaign on winning new hampshire and had this big rollout with a lot of media coverage, only at 2% at this point. he is right there with herman cain and newt gingrich. su

cnn a jim acosta joins us live. jim, this was too big to pass up >> it was a gift.h it all day long >>> reactions from the gop field and the june jobs report shot up like a space shuttle. >> it's a failure and i wish it was otherwise, but it has not worked. >> republican front-runner released a video seizing on comments made earlier by one of president obama's top adviser who is said people won't vote based on the unemployment rate and in a statement he said if he were working for me, i would fire him and he could experience the pain of unemployment. >> the republicans are engaged in a campaign. >> sensing the opening, most people do not analyze gdp. chances for reelection go down. >> we're four times in the last 35 years when a president has run with unemployment above 7%. three out of four times, that president went down. >>> you better off than you were four years ago? >> in 1980, ronald reagan framed the report. the president since reagan won with an unemployment rate higher than 6%. he got a second term when the rate was 7.2%, but democrats point out unemployme

cnn's jim acosta joining me from washington. jim, what is hot on the ticker right now?orter: well, of course, all the talk here in washington, randi, is about the debt talks that are occurring right now in the nation's capital between congressional leaders and the white house. and an interesting character in all of these talks is someone you may or may not know about, grover norquist, the head of americans for tax reform, a conservative group here in washington, and get this, randi. perhaps you've heard about this. grover norquist keeps in a vault in his offices pledges that have been signed by nearly every congressional republican vowing not to raise taxes, and i talked to the group earlier today trying to figure out where the gop presidential field falls into all of this and where they weigh in on this pledge. all of the gop candidate, except for jon huntsman, according to that organization, has signed that pledge, and up in new hampshire there's a new poll that's come out on the gop presidential field, and, of course, it's once again good news for mitt romney. he top

jim acosta has been looking into this clinic and joins us live from washington this morning. hi, jim. >> good morning, kiran and ali. michele bachmann and her husband run a christian counseling service that's come under scrutiny in recent years. the questions are now resurfacing again as she runs for president with a record of controversial viewses on homosexuality. the clinic outside minneapolis has faced accusations it encourages gay and lesbian to change their sexual orientation. we sat down with one who said he went to bachmann and associates when he was 17 to talk about his own homosexuality and told us he was skeptical of what one of the counselors said to him. >> it was therapy that would help me change from being homosexual to straight. >> that's how he described it? >> yes. >> he basically said, if you do this, what? you wouldn't be gay any more. >> if i do this and worked his therapy program, that could perform a miracle and i could no longer be gay. >> reporter: now this week, a gay rights group called truth released its hidden camera video recorded by one of its hi

jim acosta, who has got the biggest bank? >> reporter: sometimes he's are the numbers that count, kyra, this morning. it looks like at this point, the person who has got the biggest bank right now is mitt romney. we haven't gotten any official totals in right now. yesterday his campaign did confirm that he is expected to bring in between $15 million and $20 million in the first quarter of fund-raising this year. not as much as he raised for the 2008 campaign but, still, way ahead of the rest of the pack. jon huntsman, we can mention, he also has a pretty big fund-raising hall for a guy that not a lot of people know about. $4 million. we should mention half of that, though, is money he kicked in himself. he is part of a very wealthy family that owns a chemical company out there in utah. so not too surprising there. one thing we can tell you this morning is that president obama's re-election campaign, they are very proud of the fact that they have a roughly $490,000 contributors who have donated so far to the president's campai

jim acosta is live for us in austin. what is the appeal of rick pe y perry?esent leaders down here yesterday. they point out rick perry has never lost an election. when you look at that poll you just threw up there you can tell he has serious appeal across the country among gop voters. aides to the texas governor said he should have a decision by the end of the summer as to whether or not he is jumping into this race. if he gets in, his faith just might take center stage. >> reporter: for republicans, dissatisfied with the field for 2012, it could be divine intervention at a press conference texas governor rick perry confirmed what he recently told an iowa newspaper that is he feeling called by his faith and his friends to run. >> there's a lot of different ways to be called. my mother may call me for dinner. >> reporter: there was no religious overtone? >> oh, no. i don't ever get confused that i'm a man of faith. texas is where the game is being played. >> reporter: gop insiders see a pro business governor who scores with both tea party activists and christ

. >>> let's give you a political update right now, and for that, let's say hello to cnn's jim acosta m washington. jim, how you doing, sir? >> hey, t.j. you would think it's a little early for the rnc and dnc to be putting tv ads out there, attacking the the president or the various republican presidential candidates, but you would be wrong to think that, t.j. the rnc has already come out with an ad targeting president obama. this is going to run on tv. it's going to run on cable stations, and it's going to run more importantly, in important battleground states all over the country. and it has something to do with the argument that the rnc, the republicans are making about the president's policy, saying that he is taking the country on a left-hand turn path, you could say. here's a little bit of the clip of the ad that we have to show you. >> he promised to change direction. $800 billion in stimulus. trillions for government health care. 2 million jobs, gone. left turn after left turn. america's headed the wrong way fast. 6 million foreclosures, $14 trillion in debt it shall >> and if

jim acosta is live from a tea l. what is the mood with the tea party folks here?nne, they are not sweating it out here. in fact, the tea party groups that will be out here today are going to be pushing the speaker and other republican leaders on capitol hill to perhaps sweat a little more. they are holding a rally in what they are calling a hold the line rally, and what they are urging the speaker and others to do is not raise the debt ceiling. now you may ask yourself, wait a minute, all the deals they are talking about up on capitol hill would raise the debt ceiling. well, there are tea party activist out here that think it's a bad idea, because if their minds if you raise debt ceiling you increase borrowing and will add more to the national debt and they want to hold the line and keep the debt ceiling where it is right now and pass what made its way through the house which is the cut cap and balance package, which i won't go into because it's complicated, but it would cut spending and cap spending levels, and they would rather see that become law rather than so

jim acosta is live in washington with a look at the possible political fallout for both sides.magine social security checks don't go out august 3rd, who gets blamed? >> they're all going to get blamed for that, kiran. actually, as you've been saying, six days and counting on the clock, little progress in the negotiations after what was more of a state of the disunion last night, the president and house speaker john boehner brought more talking points than proposals in their competing addresses to the nation and later this morning speaker boehner meeting behind closed doors with weary conservative republicans so sell his plan on the debt ceiling. i talked to or got a quote from a spokesman in boehner's office who tells cnn we are moving forward wednesday with a bill we think the senate can pass and the president should sign. that is an optimistic assessment from the speaker of the house. votes could come wednesday, as early as wednesday, and the boehner plan and dueling proposal harry reid as the president mentioned he does support but it's not clear if there's enough time for t

jim acosta, cnn, washington. >>> coming up next, juror number three in the casey anthony trial is now >> you come home, and everyone's mad at you, and the media is outside hounding you and making it clear they're not leaving. >> she tells cnn what her life has been like since the verdict. as you can tell, it's not been so good. cnn's gary tuchman talked to that juror, who's going to tell us more about what she had to say, including why she voted to acquit. >>> plus the man obsessed with halle berry. so obsessed, he allegedly jumped the fence at her hollywood home, not just once, but twice this week. [ cherie ] i always had a job, ever since i was fourteen. i could not make working and going to school work. it was not until the university of phoenix that i was able to work full-time, be a mom, and go to school. the opportunities that i had at the university of phoenix, dealing with professionals teaching things that they were doing every day, got me to where i am today. i'm mayor cherie wood, i'm responsible for the largest urban renewal project in utah, and i am a phoenix. [ male anno

that story from jim acosta. >> accused democrats and president obama of taking a low profile. >> thent to agree to cut federal spending and cap federal spending and put in place a balanced budget amendment, and that's the answer for the nation. that's the line in the sand. >> sarah palin returning to one of her controversial catch phrases. >> we cannot default, and we cannot afford to restreet either. it's the time to reload. we reload with reality. >> michele bachmann accused the president and the treasury secretary of passing on what she called a misnomer. >> if congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, somehow the united states will go into default and we will lose the full faith and credit of the united states, and that's simply not true. >> the investor service said it was reviewing the aaa bond rate for the u.s. it's a question of who do you trust, bachmann or bernanke? >> in the '80s, they did it to reagan -- >> ron paul released a new ad. >> 'the 90s brought more compromise and more broken promises and more new taxes. >> it doesn't mention that clinton balanced the budget. an

it is a very big dynamic at play in these debt talks. >> jim acosta, thanks. >>> should congress fail one of the businesses that could be hurt the worst, the auto industry. higher interest rates could make car loans too high for some buyers. at the bottom of the hour, reaction from california dealerships. >>> al qaeda on the brink of collapses. you know that headline is pretty catching. and as americans, it's something we love to hear. but how true is it? the "washington post" is reporting that the cia and other counterterrorism agencies are convinced that killing oath b osama bin laden plus years of drone strikes are soon to make al qaeda terrorists extinct.atha bin laden plus years of drone strikes are soon to make al qaeda terrorists extinct.th osa bin laden plus years of drone strikes are soon to make al qaeda terrorists extinct.h osam bin laden plus years of drone strikes are soon to make al qaeda terrorists extinct. osama bin laden plus years of drone strikes are soon to make al qaeda terrorists extinct.osama n laden plus years of drone strikes are soon to make al qaeda terroris

cnn's jim acosta, part of the best political team in washington, is at the desk.what are lawmakers saying? >> reporter: the reactions from republicans here in washington shot up faster than the space shuttle "atlantis." you could see the responses coming from the gop presidential candidates coming in almost as soon as the jobs report came in from mitt romney, tim pawlenty, jon huntsman. on capitol hill, john boehner was asking a familiar question, a question he's been asking for years -- >> after hearing this morning's jobs report, i'm sure the american people are still asking the question, where are the jobs? the stimulus spending binge, excessive government regulations and overwhelming debt continue to hold back job creators around our country. tax hikes on families and job creators only make things worse. >> reporter: and, of course, democrats will say to john boehner, and they are saying to john boehner this morning, there are job creation proposals that democrats say they have pending up on capitol hill that they would like to see passed. of course republican

jim acosta tonight keeping them honest. >> hi, everybody!her campaign for president, michele bachmann touts her background as a small business owner. >> as a mom of five, a foster parent, and a former tax lawyer and now a small business job creator -- >> reporter: that business is bachmann and associates, a christian counselling service outside minneapolis, run by her husband marcus. they're both pick toured on the clinic's web site. in recent years, the clinic has faced accusations it encourages gay and lesbian patients to change their sexual orientation, a practice that is fround upon by mental health experts. back in 2004, ann drew ramirez at the urging of his mother turn today bachmann and associates to talk about his own homo sexuality. the then 17-year-old says he was immediately skeptical of what one of the counsel ors told him. >> it was therapy that would help me change from being homosexual to straight. >> that's how he described it? >> yes. >> he basically said, if you do this, what? you wouldn't be gay anymore? >> if i did this a

jim acosta has more on how the jobs numbers are being seen and used by the republican presidential candidates reporter: susan, based on this jobs report republicans are feeling a bit more optimistic about sending president obama to the unemployment line. >> two, one. >> reporter: reactions from the gop field to the june jobs report, shot up like a space shuttle. >> clearly the president's policies haven't worked. it's a failure. and i wish it was otherwise, but it has not worked. >> reporter: republican frontrunner mitt romney released a video seizing on comments made by one of president obama's political advisors, david plouffe. in a statement romney said if david plouffe were working for me i would fire him and he could experience firsthand the pain of unemployment. >> the republicans are engaged in a primary campaign trying to get the media attention. >> reporter: sensing the opening just handed to republicans, the white house still defended plouffe's comments. >> i don't know where the voters, if some other folks might be talking to or -- but most people do not sit around their kitchen ta

jim acosta join us now. jim, you've got some new poll numbers on the candidates. there? >> there are some surprises, don. this is a pretty interesting one from t"the washington post," an surprising news for those wondering whether sarah palin will get in the race. mitt romney, no surprise there. but then there's the former alaska governor right there at 18%. michele bachmann following palin, and pretty good numbers for rick perry. we've been doing some reporting about the texas governor, a lot of people think he could go in and clear out some of these other contenders that are not doing as well. he is going after president obama today, don, as you know, this morning was the final landing of a space shuttle. "atlantis" touched down this morning. rick perry is the governor of texas, houston, the space program there is a very important jobs creator for the state of texas, and he took aim at president obama over the sending of the space shuttle program, essentially saying the obama administration has no plans for space exploration, and here's what the governor has to

jim acosta is on that for us out of washington this morning. hey, jim. >> reporter: good morning, kyra. this is not a big surprise. we went a lot of time talking about the republican race for 2012. on the democratic side the president picked up an important endorsement yesterday from the national education association. this is the teachers union as everybody knows. and the vice president gave a pretty important speech yesterday to this union and so, today, the teachers union is throwing its support behind the president. not unexpected, as i mentioned. we got a quote from the president of the nea, dennis van roekel. what is somewhat surprising about all of this is that the nea would come out with this endorsement this soon. the president has sort of occasionally and his administration has occasionally shown tough love toward the teachers around the country and the nea has come out strongly behind the president he saying they are concerned about what is happening in state houses, going into republican hands. so a pretty big move there by the nea t

jim acosta joins us live from washington. jim, tell us about these adding and where they're airing. >> suzanne, this is a pretty important ad buy by the campaign. so figure why not? the bachmann team is running an ad right now, i was watching it a few moments ago on my iphone. basically it talks about her iowa roots. she was born in waterloo, iowa. it is her hometown, even though she's the congresswoman from minnesota, she likes to talk about her iowa roots, but she talks about the debt ceiling vote that apparently is coming up in congress. we'll have to wait and see if it ever does, but bachmann says she will vote no on raising the dead ceiling, so laying a markers there for the rest of the republican field, suzanne. >> real quick, mitt r078 any may top the polls, but tea party activists say he's not their choice? >> that's right. i talk to matt skiffie yesterday from freedomworks, and the family research council. these are two pillars of the modern-day republican party, saying there are still concerns out there among conserv

jim acosta brings up the story. >> the case is reopened an old debate over what to do with criminalsre putting him in a mental hospital and hardly sounds like justice. to understand what happens, we talked to two filmmakers who got unprecedented access to one of the country's most well-known mental institutions. you are entering a world few will ever see in person. the inside of a mental institution that houses criminally insane patients. this is st. elizabeth's hospital in washington, d.c. as captured in a remarkable movie shot last year by the patients themselves. one of them is lewis ekker who raped, beat, and strangled to death an aide more than four decades ago. >> i came in in 1967. that's like 43 years that this was my home. >> the movie's two young filmmakers got the permission to put cameras in the hands af i few select patients. this access was granted to give the public a better understanding of what happens to a person who is found not guilty by reason of insanity. >> i'm filtered because it's told through their eyes. >> what did you learn about them? mental illness. >> f

jim acosta, part of the best political team on television, live from the political desk in washington, jim. what's going on? jim, can you hear us? >> hi, suzanne. yes. the debt ceiling talks are definitely going to be the hot topic out on the campaign trail today. mitt romney has town halls up in new hampshire today and we expect him to be asked about that. it would be a big surprise if he's not asked about that. and, you know, the democrats have accused mitt romney of staying quiet on the issue. david axelrod made that much of a statement yesterday in a tweet. the pawlenty campaign also poked him on the subject. the romney campaign has put out a statement, that it would reduce the government to bring the debt under control and does not favor tax increases in order to bring the debt under control as part of any debt ceiling agreement. mitt romney was asked about that today. and ron paul, he has a brand-new tv ad that has come out. eats going to be airing this ad in the important early voting states and the texas congressman and tea party favorite has the ad -- it's essentially called

jim acosta has the details. >> now this fight has gone hollywood.d guys and bad guys, or the hobbits and orcs. >> he bothered a page from her, which are to accuse tea party members of engagesing in a fantasy they will somehow come out winners if the nation goes into default. >> the republican house which i would swoosh somehow escape the blame, then democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment, and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth having defeated mordor. >> reporter: returning to his role as republican maverick, he read on. >> this is what turns sharron angle and christine o'donnell into gop senate nominees. >> the ring's zinger, ainged at two tea party favorites held up and lost were held up and considered overreach. but it was pointed out the arizona senator wubz courses yesterday up when he chose sarah palin. >> reporter: you haven't seen any hobbits? >> no. >> but john thune said that mccain was trying to make a point that conservatives have already won a major battle. >> i think the tea party and any

compromise to do presigsly that today the tea party rallied on capitol hill, that's where we find jim acosta. do they think they're win ing. >>> they do think they're winning and they're probably right at this point. they have moved this debate from what was once perhaps a clean debt ceiling raising that might have been contemplated in this city to a deal that's going to have to be reached, that's going to include some major debt reduction and these tea party house republicans who are very conservative on the deficit have made this happen and up on capitol hill, just a few hours ago, they were rallying their troops and they had a lot of support there from some pretty big members of congress, people like senator jim demint was up there essentially saying if the senate and the house don't agree to some sort of debt ceiling. so this was some pretty tough talk and i also had a chance, this was also a good place for republican presidential candidates to show up. i also had a chance to talk to herrmann cane who was there at this rally and he said something very interesting, they don't think that t

jim acosta what are you finding out? >> reporter: other presidents have been bigger bullies.e. this could be one of those defining moments that make or break a presidency. >> so please to all the american people, keep it up. >> reporter: president obama started his day with another call to america to crash the phones in congress. >> let yoush members of congress now. tweet, keep the pressure on washington. and we can get past this. >> reporter: it's a sign that as the clock ticks on the debt ceiling deadline, the president is staying on the deadlines, leaving the fight to members of congress. jim kouz essays they need to step it up. >> he needs to say that he is willing to roll up his sleeves. >> i have something to say, go ahead, make my day. >> reporter: there no make my day moments, no arm twisting. >> barack obama is calling to e-mail their congressman. that doesn't affect congressmen. that isn't the hammer. >> there is leader for every season. and president obama is the right leader for the season we are in. >> reporter: cooler heads, she says, must prevail. it's hard to