time for our political ticker, mark preston, he's live on the phone from washington. dn't mean to set you up with a smurf, mark, but the fact is, perhaps the smurf cans get a debt deal done more effectively than the folks in washington. >> you know something, let's not worry too much, if a deal is going to get done, the bottom line, this is how things are done in washington. they push things always up against the wall and a deal is always cut. i tell you, when they see stories about the markets crashing overseas, that's only going to heighten them to get things done. >> what's the -- i mean, i did hear this weekend, it surprised me, when john boehner said we have to get a deal done, it's going to royal asian markets. when did that start getting them worried? >> probably towards the end of last week when they realized they weren't going to get things done by thursday or friday, ali. you know, the fact is, when people like yourself knows what's going on and links what's happening overseas to the american dollar, start talking about it on tv, then everyday people start to

mark preston is a cnn senior political editor. if the debt ceiling is not raised, 42% will say it's because of congressional republicans. 33% will say it's because of president obama. both sides are spoeszupposed tod the weekend figuring it out. which side has the most to lose? >> in the short term, it's certainly going to be house republicans who are seen as obstructionists at this point. but in the long term, it's going to be president obama. when he's running for reelection a lot harder next year, he's going to be running on the fact that we have an loumt p raunemp rate right now at 9.2%. the leaders are going to meet this weekend. the republican house leadership on friday canceled their week-long recess that was supposed to take place later this month. at least we know they're talking right now. here in washington, that's a huge step forward. >> the rest of us are like "talking"? get some work done. but i get it. the backroom talking is part of the work. ken rogoff joins us. congress has raised the debt ceiling 78 times since

let's bring in our senior political editor mark preston on the phone from washington. k, the debt ceiling a new cbs poll shows that americans continue to be split on what to do about the debt ceiling. >> yeah, ali, what's amazing about this is that, right now, we showed that the country is split 46% now -- support the idea of increasing the debt ceiling. 49% don't want to see it increased. what we have seen, ali the number has increased by 22% by people in favor of doing so. this is split now. among the american people. as we get toward the deadline, we could default on our loans. >> that's concerning people more. causing people to think about accepting tax cuts. they're allowed tax increases along with spending cuts as opposed to just spending increases -- just spending cuts, i mean. >> what's interesting about that, too, even though the democrats are demanding that there would have be to tax increases along with spending cuts and republicans only want to see the spending cuts. 66% of americans say they want to see both put into action. democrats and republicans across

it's time to go to our senior political editor mark preston with our political ticker. you. you didn't know what a haboob was, did you? >> i absolutely did not. >> i didn't either. let's talk not so good news for republican presidential hopefuls. a new poll that you have out. >> someone such as mitt romney in the new state poll conducted for the cnn affiliate wmur tv in new hampshire shows mitt romney is at the top of the poll. look at the numbers. mitt romney at 35%. coming in second is michele bachmann at 12%. bad news for the likes of john huntsman who is not in the top five. he's at 2%. he's the former u.s. ambassador to china in the obama administration. you would think he needs to win new hampshire, do well in new hampshire if his campaign is to kick off. what is also interesting is two people in the top five of republican picks -- >> they're not declared candidates. giuliani and perry. >> they're doing well even though they're not in the race, ali. >> tell us about the twitter session the president is having. he's taking selected questions via twitter but giving

here's a guy who needs no apps to make him smarter, senior editor mark preston, on the phone from washingtonlk to you my friend. yesterday president obama making his speech, hinted it's not just the gop getting pressure from tea party and fiscal conservatives on their debt negotiations. the president is facing some heat from his side. >> yes he is, ali. we spend so much time talking about how the tea party is influential in the debt ceiling negotiations. liberals are up in arms because president obama, ali, is talking about reforming the big entitlement programs such as medicaid, medicaid and social security. they're not necessarily part of the debt talk negotiations, because president obama says they're issued that have to be dealt with. republicans want to deal with them. president obama says we have to deal with them as one big package. the liberals are up in arms, the progressive change campaign committee alex and as of this morning, 189,000 people have signed on to this online pledge where they are saying they will withhold financial support for president obama's re-election and refuse

. >>> let's bring in our senior political editor mark preston who is on the phone from washington. ublicaning at this economy as president obama' achilles heel. you have details on the latest effort. what's it all about? >> ali, i think james carville was absolutely correct when he said, it's the economy stupid. that's what the republican national committee is trying to push forward to voters, especially in four states. pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin and new hampshire. they're going to wake up today and see a new television ad where they're going to try to make president obama own the economy. it's a 30-second tv ad. they use his words and his likeness in the ad and they point out they've seen the national debt increase, they've seen more people join the unemployment line. bankruptcies have increased. what they're trying to do right now, ali -- again, we talk all the time about this -- is trying to make president obama own the economy as he heads into his re-election bid. >> mark, we got the reports of fund-raising totals for the second three months of the year from the obama cam

we'll bring in political editor, mark preston, who thinks 20 times faster than the average person. w hampshire. mark, new signs this morning that texas governor rick perry might be closer to entering the 2012 presidential race as a republican candidate. what are you hearing? >> you know, what we've learned in the past day or so now is that rick perry has start the meeting with people to talk about foreign policy. specifically, his advisers reached out to the former defense secretary, donald rumsfeld, to ask for advice about who he should talk to on these issues. you know, rumsfeld offered up some names and, in fact, some of the pentagon officials that worked for rumsfeld during his era, during the bush era, went down to austin to talk to him about foreign policy and give him some advice. now, rumsfeld wasn't there and is not advising perry himself on the issue. and in fact, a source close to rumsfeld told our own barbara starr that rumsfeld will actually meet with any serious contender for the republican presidential nomination to talk about these serious issues. the fact that rick

mark preston is here to tell us the story. hey, mark. >> good morning, kyra.ve king, the iowa congressman and senator jim demint, from south carolina, will be grilling the top republican presidential candidates on labor day. just announced this morning. the palmetto freedom forum will take place on the afternoon of labor day. it is news we reported last week. what's interesting about this presidential forum, the ability to get into it. they say that the average for the presidential candidates to qualify for this forum is 5%. potentially werks cou potentially, we could see some of the presidential candidates not qualify. labor day, we will see these two lawmakers try to get these presidential candidates to explain their positions heading into 2012. >> one of the candidates setting low expectations for the republican iowa straw poll. what's rick santorum saying. >> this is somebody that might not qualify for this presidential forum on labor day. rick santorum said that he is going to shoot to come in fourth, fifth and sixth place in the iowa straw poll. what's i

mark preston joins me on the phone with the political ticker. a guy like you isn't early for you.dent obama just getting a big endorsement from an influential union, that part is not surprising. it's surprising, though, because it's 2011. it's july of 2011. >> you're right, ali. the national education association the largest teachers union just endorsed president obama yesterday and as you said, they usually wait the year before the election to do so. however, they're doing it two years early, two reasons, perhaps three reasons. number one, is the gains of republicans. ali, they're worried that the president may not be able to win re-election next year. this union represents 3.2 million people. lot of folks that could help the president win re-election. >> you following polling closely. the economy was the number one issue on people's minds, going into this presidential election the economy once again is going to be the number one issue on people's minds and that what republican candidates are going to be talking about today. >> you're right, ali. in fact, you schooled me a lot on

>> mark preston, thanks so much. your next political update in an hour.to our website 24/7 cnn/politic.com. >>> yesterday, first ladies past and present honored betty ford at a funeral in california. now mrs. ford's body will be flown to grapnd rapids, michiga. she will be buried next to her husband at the gerald ford museum. >>> america's interest in women's soccer has not been so high than today. the u.s. women's team faces france later day in semifinal play and cnn international anchor zain verjee, an athlete herself, joins us from london to talk about how incredibly cool this is! >> reporter: it is a huge moment for u.s. women's soccer. can they beat back france today? that is the big question. you know what? so many people around the world, as well as people watching them in germany, are actually rooting and cheering for the u.s. they are the favorites to win the world cup. i mean, they just had an incredible performance. you know? here you see them practicing. they had this incredible match against brazil and in the last minute, they scored a goal a

. >>> time for our political updates with mark preston who joins us from new york. while. good to see you. >> how you doing? >> doing all right today. are we going to start with this museum, or do you got something else for me first? >> let's start off with a little television, but how do you really erase a bunch of wins? even if they had all those problems, they still won the games, didn't they? >> certainly the one we want to erase, the sugar bowl against the arkansas razorbacks, so we're not going to go that far. far. >> right now, t.j., a new ad has been submitted by. the crutch of this ad is going to be all around -- shocker -- the economy. we'll see this ad start airing today. it's part of a larger ad campaign, a $20 million ad campaign, t.j. so it just goes to show you we are right in the thicket of things even though we haven't got a republican presidential nominee. speaking of that, there's been a lot of talk that tim pawlenty, former governor, might be a little weak. yesterday he was out in iowa and he took that criticism head on. this is courtesy of radio

we're talking probably about 15 minutes away from, that let's bring in senior political editor mark prestonmark, tim pawlenty actually talked about the debt crisis this morning. what did he have to say? >> well, you know, kyra, it has been a very hot topic on the campaign trail, and tim pawlenty on "morning expresmr on "american morning" just a short time ago had these comments on the debt negotiations. >> it is a mess but it's got to be fixed. and the problem is if they just put a band-aid over a broken bone that's not going to solve the problem. i really hope they would use this moment -- i wish they wouldn't raise the debt ceiling but obviously they're moving in that direction. so they should fix the problem really and not just kick the can down the road. >> and there you have tim pawlenty, the former minnesota governor who is running for the republican presidential nomination. now, pawlenty is really echoing what we're hearing from his rivals for the gop nomination today and in past days and certainly will be in the coming days about the debt negotiations. now, kyra, what's interesting

mark preston will break down some new polling numbers for us right after this break.line, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing. toi switched to a complete0, multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage has ginkgo for memory and concentration, plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's. >>> time now for a cnn political update. cnn's senior political update mark preston joining me from the political desk in washington. hi there, mark. you have troubling new polling for the president. >> reporter: i do, randi, pew research center poll has comout in the last couple of hours that spells troubling news for the president's re-election prospects. let's take a look at this overall number right now. it shows that the president has lost seven points from may until july on this poll righ

. >> as mark preston told me about half an hour ago, on the phone, he said guys, it's washington. that's -- >> this is how it always works. >> we'll be with you, talking many times. i have to tell you, grover norquist, the president of the americans for tax reform said to me the other day, it's timothy geithner's fault for saying before may 16th he could shuffle things around until august 2nd and thereby providing the, you know, the idea that maybe this is not as serious as it is. >> they've been saying it's serious for a long time. >> it's serious. >> we have been reporting on americans spending beyond its means for years. >> going to start affecting your 401(k) this week. >> president obama calling for a $1.24 trillion increase to the debt ceiling. on yesterday's "state of the union" treasury secretary tim geithner explained why anything less is unacceptable. >> what we cannot do, this is very important, it would be irresponsible, is to leave the threat of default hanging over the american economy for a longer period of time. look, you know, back in january more than seven month

cnn senior political editor mark preston joining me live from washington. assessment today from rick santorum on the presidential campaign? can you bring us up to date? >> i sure can, randi. you know, there's an old strategy in politics to try to lower expectations. but i'm going to tell you what, rick santorum lowered them to the bottom yesterday in the state of the union with can't yi crowley. in fact, this is what you have to say about the iowa straw poll that will take place in august. he says if he places fourth, fifth, or sixth, that will be an improvement and that will show some momentum as he tries to pursue the republican presidential nomination. that's far down. look at the quote regarding his campaign. he compares himself to that children's book, "the little engine that could" and he said that's what the campaign is right now. he's meeting with activist, he's meeting with republican primary voters. he said that he hasn't raised a whole lot of money that you would expect a presidential candidate should. in fact, he said, when he reports his number

mark preston joining me live from washington. hi there, mark. for the president, but this time from his base. what do you know? >> reporter: well, randi, he's taking it from both sides right now. he's taking it from republicans over the issue of tax cuts and from liberals because he's willing to put entitlements on the line. let's take a quick look at this quote from the progressive change campaign committee. they're very upset that president obama has said that he's interested in maybe reforming social security, medicare and medicaid. they say the fact he's made clear he's considering these benefit cuts basically is a nonstarter for them. the progressive change campaign committee went to the obama campaign headquarters and dropped after it 200,000 petitions. they did it when he was doing his press conference where he talked about these entitlement cuts. now, the progressive change campaign committee says these 200,000 people are equal to the $17 million that they donated to his campaign back in 2008. in addition to that, they were equal to 2.5

. >>> senior political editor mark preston joins us live from the political desk in washington. at's crossing the ticker on this friday afternoon? >> randi, tradition holds it's us that hold the presidential debates and forums, we act as a filter for candidates running for the white house, but the latest is tim scott, he's a south carolina congressman, he is going to be holding a series of town halls down in his district. in fact, the first one's going to be august 7th with jon huntsman. a little later in the month, august 25th, michele bachmann will appear. he says he's going to have all the questions come from the audience, they'll pick them out, whatever the question is, he will ask the candidate. this is pretty interesting, because on labor day, we'll see senator jim demint, south carolina senator, he's holding a similar type of forum. in the past it's been the media, been us, we've done a good job of it, but now the lawmakers want to get involved as well. >> i'm sure they do. mark, i want to ask you to stick around. this is rare. no real news value to this story, but this vi

mark preston, thanks so much. we'll have your next political update in about an hour, and a reminder for all your political news, you can always go to cnn.com. >> i need to hear it. >> we played it earlier. he can sing. he's got some talent. >>> i'm suzanne malveaux. i want to get you up to speed. three bombs exploded in capitol city mumbai. that is a city still on edge after terrorist attacks in 2008. the explosions killed at least 8 people and wounded at least 70. one blast targeted the upper house area but unclear at this time. it was just three years agatha hotels and other sites killed almost 7,000 people. mallika kapur joins us live from mumbai. first of all, tell us, i know there was a lot of people during rush hour. what do we know about this? what are you seeing? >> reporter: the explosions took place in three areas, three very, very busy commercial areas. they took place a little over an hour ago, three of them within 15 minutes of each other. we have heard from the prime minister just a few minutes ago,

mark preston is live with some proof of that.e reporters there are well aware how feisty rahm emanuel is. >> reporter: no question, don. you spent time in chicago as well, and the roertds out there are very good. they're not afraid to ask a tough question, and when they ask the the question where he would send his kids, to public school and private school. he got a little testy. look at his exchange with one of the local reporters out there. >> oh, maryann, let me break the news to you. my children are not in a public position. the mayor is. and i look forward to our future interviews. i'm done. >> there you have rahm emanuel who is answering a question there, don, about his children and what schools they're going to. he decided

. >> that's mark preston. we appreciate it. >>> for more "cnn newsroom" i'm joined by fredricka whitfield. when you say, fred, it's not going to be good. we have breaking news you'll be following and other stuffs. >> thanks so much. see you over the weekend as well. breaking news from studio 7. i'm fredricka whitfield in for suzanne malveaux. two explosions have rocked central oslo in the last hour wounding at least eight people. reports from norway say govrt buildings were targeted, one houses the prime minister's office and most of the windows were blown out. reuters reports a mangled car outside one building suggesting a possible car bomb. reuters reports the prime minister is safe. cnn is following the developments for you from london. what more do we know about how this happened and why? >> reporter: the information is still trickling in from oslo at this point. the police have issued a stam saying that there are deaths and injuries. that's all they're saying right now. they're not saying what may have ca

>> let's go mark preston with the latest news. of a war of roads. >> three republicans, two minnesotians, brooke. tim pawlenty was very critical of michelle bachmann. that's his rooil for the republican presidential nomination. let's hear what he said to say about her qualifications for president. he said that her record of accomplishment in congress is nonexistent. he said the ability to deliver a speech should not be the qualification to be president, rather there needs to be a proven ability to lead. there needs to be a public setting and drooi it to conclusion. now in the latter, he's talking about himself because he's the former governor of minnesota. how did bachmann respond? she said she's proud to be a fighter. she's proud of her record of fighting with resolve and without apology for her free marks, for our sane fiscal policies and many other things. so how would they handle each other on the campaign trail? it looks like they're starting to be very critical. is sarah palin going to run? not going to run? we talk about th

. >>> straight to our political editor, mark preston, for a bit of a political update.uiliani making news over the weekend. >> reporter: he certainly is. we know he does not support gay marriage, but he does support civil unions. still, look at this at vice he's giving i think the republican party is well-advised to get the heck out of people's bedrooms and let them get decided by the states. he says we'd be a much more successful party if we stuck to our economic roots. he made the comments yesterday on "state of the union" with candy crowley. we're waiting to see if he will take the plunge and try to run for president once again. out in iowa here's disturbing news that came out with a pretty decent outcome. leonard boswell is a democratic congressman. was in his farmhouse late saturday night when an intruder broke in. he put a gun to his daughter and demanded money. now, boswell, who is 77 years old, went after the gunman, tried to get the gun away from him and was unsuccessful but his 22-year-old grandson pulled out a shotgun. the intruder headed for the hills. the g

. >> mark preston out of washington, thanks. we'll have your next political update in about an hour. >>> norway attacks shall the work of ay home-grown terrorist. here in the u.s., we've seen it happen before. what has the former director of the fbi so concerned about our safety? that's coming up after the break. >>> out in the wilderness on a survival skill course and brutally attacked by a bear. what happened to the alaskan teen when we go cross country. every day, all around the world, energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. [ announcer ] our communities who could res

mark preston part of the best political team on television is live from the political desk in d.c. at can you tell us about the allegations against congressman david wu? >> very serious allegations, suzanne, by a young woman who has accused congressman wu of oregon of an inappropriate, improper sexual encounter. the story was first broke on friday night by the oregonian newspaper and the congressman put out a statement not denying it actually happened. in fact, he said while it is very serious he has absolutely no desire to bring unwanted publicity, attention, or stress to the young woman or her family. here we are now, democratic leader nancy pelosi has asked the house ethics committee to launch an investigation into mr. wu's conduct. mr. wu has had some kind of history of erratic behavior. back in 2010 right around the election he did some things that caused his staff to draw some major concerns. in fact, he sent this picture right here of himself dressed up as a tiger right around the election, right around halloween time to some staffers. the staffers were very concerned about h

and what's interesting, too, mark preston you follow all the polls, what's it look like for obama nowg the same, going up, going down? >> well, it's certainly going down and we really can't understate enough orem if a size enough the fact is that there's a lot of political game man ship going on right now. the president is speaking now at a time when the house republicans are behind closed doors. today will be driven by mess an and whoever owns the mess achblgt day wins the day. and that's why we're seeing the president come out so early as house republicans mind closed doors trying to figure things out. at the same time, the president does have problem with the polls. we've seen a couple overnight that show that his approval rating now is right above 40%. that is not very good. the only saving grace right now for the president the fact that republicans are doing worse. so a lot of political gamemanship going on. we look at that spol, poll, it he's lost considerable territory over the past month or so and we're gearing up for the 2012 collection. so even though we're talking a lot abo