peter lewis, $200,000 this time around compared to $23 million. steve bing, $425,000 compared to $14 million before. so why aren't big dollar democratic campaign donors the people who can really make a difference in terms of their personal decisions of what to do on campaign spending as individuals or campaign related spending as individuals, why are they sitting on their hands on the democratic side so far? are they waiting for something and they're going to get it later? do they want attention they're not getting from the president? do they think it's hopeless because yeah, maybe they're rich guys but they're not the koch brothers and they never will be? is the post citizens united political zillionaire thunderdome so inherently distasteful that people don't want to play in that dirty game anymore? for those of us who are watching this from the outside, reporting on it, observing on it, thinking abouwhat it means for the country, the likely outcome of the election, it seems like an important question. an important part of the process. but for th

peter lewis, $200,000 and steve bing, $425,000 compared with $14 million before. why aren't big campaign donors who can make a difference in terms of personal decisions on what to do on campaign related spending as individuals, why are they sitting on their hands on the democratic side so far? are they waiting for something and they get in later? do they think it's hopeless because yeah, maybe they are rich guys but not the koch brothers and will be outspent no matter what they do? is the post citizens united thunderdome created by the supreme court so inherently distasteful with democratic politics they don't want to play in that dirty game anymore? those of us thinking bg what it means for our country, the likely outcome of the election, it seems like an important question, an important part of the process. but for the people who are inside makes these decisions, how do they view their role and what do they think of this obvious disparity that keeps getting worse no matter how much the democrats and the president himself sound the alarm about it? joining us now,

anchoring the rope on the first rescue, is slowly lowered down to the window where the second victim peter lewissee the smoke and fire coming out the top of the door behind him. so we're really concerned. we've got to get this done quickly before the rope goes. >> with one eye on the top of the door, shay tells lewis to wrap his arms around his neck and his legs around his waist. as he steps off the ledge, shay hugs lewis close. they're lowered down to the floor below where more firefighters pull them in. >> the relief came when we got pulled in. >> both giagos and lewis are taken to the hospital and treated for smoke inhalation. it takes the fdny another hour to control the fire. afterwards shea and barr talk to a local reporter. >> you're looking at two guys, high profile. it could be anybody. it's a lot of guys, the whole team. >> he was first. i'm just fast. it's nothing that anybody wouldn't have done it. >> is this the reason you became a firefighter in the first place? >> no. it's the whole reason. whole reason. >> an exhausted but elated patty brown weighs in. >> so proud of these two gu

the challengers and they were quite successful in raising money from people like george soros and peter lewisise large amounts of money from individual people and get them revved up it's really good to be saying stop that guy in his tracks rather than keep things more or less the same. >> one thing i find fascinating is that when you have all this money and the message is being muddled on both sides, is you look at you have the debates coming ahead. you have august 3rd, the july unemployment report. august 12th and 27th, romney probably announces his running mate. but here's what i find interesting. the presidential debates, october 3rd, 16th, 22nd. i have spoken to folks in the democratic side that say these debates are so important for us because to a degree, it's romney, obama unplugged. you have them in the ring together and that's where our guy can do his best. with all the money that's being infused into this race, does it now put a premium in the future that if a candidate who is being outspent has to perform in the debate as the only real place that he can make a real anyoinr? >> i wo

george soros, peter lewis. guys are good at managing money, setting aside the ideological barrier to giving money to superpacs. soros is giving to groups building progressive infrastructure, think tanks, media monitoring, research organizations which is playing the long game here. right? >> right. >> i keep bringing up turner & hooch. there is some notion -- why not keep bringing up turner & hooch? there is some notion this is all sort of short-game politics versus long game. if you're not making an investment in the american political system, why not look toward 4, 8, 12 years out and build the infrastructure? >> the troubling thing is some of them are putting their money into things that duplicate what the campaign is doing, like get out the vote efforts. and some of these can become vonvon vanity project. the advantage of the pacs, on the republican side they can do all the negative advertising and the romney campaign can stay on a positive track. you really don't want to smear yourself when you go out and s

. >> jeffrey has given $2 million to obama super pac and peter lewis has given.this point have economic anxiety are going to be focused on this issue? >> i don't think so. campaign finance has been an issue and that's abstract. it's hard to get people to talk about it and think about it. people have jobs to worry about and health care and there issues that i think are more visceral to people. >> the reason it will be an issue in the campaign if it does is because it plays into the bigger themes about mitt romney that he is an out of touch person in bed with all the other who is show up at the hamptons in their mercedes and think the vips should run the country. >> george clooney's home in los angeles for the fund-raiser who raised millions. are they in touch with middle america? >> the people who are funning romney want something from him. they want their taxes cut. what does jeffrey katzen berg want? >> they are investigating him due it a movie deal he did in china. i am simply saying the idea that donors on the left are pure and motivated by the issues and dono

i spoke with economist peter navarro and gary lewis. professor navarro told me the root of the problem is u.s. trade policy. >> the best jobs program is trade reform with china. what the heck does china have to do with scranton and san bernardino? everything. they stole our jobs. when we opened trade with china, we lost 6 million manufacturing jobs and got 25 million people, poppy, in this country who were underemployed, not earning a decent wage. and the reason why is we consume more than we make. and the tragedy of these cities is that they can't do anything. the only thing they can do is basically penalize people and cut their wages or cut pensions or make the bondholders take a haircut. that's the only thing they can do and bankruptcy is a tool to do that. >> let's talk, gary. scranton is not in bankruptcy yet. would a bankruptcy filing allow scranton to pay police officers, firefighters more the minimum wage or is it going to obscure a bigger problem here? it's going to raise the cost of borrowing significantly, it's going to affec

i spoke with economist peter navarro and financial consultant in scranton gary lewis. professor navarro told me the root of the problem is u.s. trade policy. >> the best jobs program is trade reform with china. what the heck does china have to do with scranton? everything. they stole our jobs. we shot down 50,000 factories over the past ten years. we got 25 million people, poppy, in this country, who are underemployed, not earning a decent wage. and the reason why is, we don't make stuff anymore. we consume more than we make. and the tragedy of these cities is that they can't do anything. the only thing they can do is basically penalize people and cut their wages or cut pensions or make the bondholders take a hair cut. that's the only thing they can do. and bankruptcy is a tool to do that. >> let's talk, gary. would a bankruptcy filing in scranton really allow you to pay police officers, firefighters, more than minimum wage or is it going to obscure a bigger problem here, because it's going to raise the cost of borrowing, it's going to effect the bond market which is g

we want to bring in two of our guests, peter know venovaro. and gary lewisecializes in distressed assets. when you look at san bernardino, almost 12% unemployment, "the wall street journal" reporting that 70% of homeowners are under water, they owe more on their mortgage than their home is work. so you've got this confluence of factors, you've got the mismanagement of money in a number of these cities. professor novaro, you say bankruptcies are the tip of an iceberg for what you call failing american cities? >> poppy, yeah, 95% of the cities in america are having trouble. and bankruptcy is literally the tip. but every major city in this country, because of the economy is having pressure now on wages, on pensions, potholes, police and fire. the problem here is that you can't fix this problem locally, the only thing you can do is managing the shrinking pie. the big problem is the macroeconomy. in the last decade, the economy is only growing at a third of the rate that it has in the previous two decades. the police and firefighters can't have jobs unless you ha

also former peter orszag and singer/songwriter huey lewis. up next mike allen has the top stories in the political forecast. but first bill karins with the forecast. >> it was raining all weekend wherever i went. i was looking for that dark cloud and barnicle was nowhere to be found. we're going to have a gorgeous monday with low humidity out there and temperatures in the low 80s but that's just the weather patterns and the way it set up this weekend. maybe d.c. and pittsburgh a slight chance of a storm but that's about it. as we go through the last couple days of july, the heat wave is just unrelenting in the middle of the country. the drought continues, if not getting worse. look how hot it's going to be today. we have heat advisories and warnings from oklahoma down to new orleans, and today we'll be about 105 to 110 degrees from kansas to oklahoma to arkansas. even dallas is now getting into the mix with 105 today. so the forecast east coast cooler, chance of showers along the southeast coast. everyone on the west coast, you're looking jus

. >> and reverend lewis' son says the fay less a' concern for his father's return, and they want them to know that he's diabetic. >> harris: as peter mentioned moments ago, secretary of state, hillary clinton wrapping up a historic visit to egypt. meeting with prominent women leadners cairo and urged the egyptian people on a different matter, to quote, commit to a strong and durable democracy than appears to be far from finished as the power struggle between the new government continues to escalate. the top general raising the stakes with the muslim brotherhood, saying the armed forces will not allow any single group to dominate the country. he did not mention the muslim brotherhood by name, but clearly referring to the elected president and last week that he defined the military by attempting to reconvene the parliament by the muslim brotherhood. we'll keep you posted there. a fox weather alert now. lightning blamed in the deaths of two people in north harris county, texas happening a few hours ago, saying the victims were on soccer fields when lightning hit them. a third person we now have learned, has been taken to the hospital

peter jackson's new movie, shooting it 48 frames per second he did the lord of the rings it will be incredible, also lincoln, steven speak spielberg's new -- steven spielberg's movie, daniel day lewisg lincoln. >> he looks exactly like him. >> he stays in character throughout the entire shoot, they will go to lunch and order food as lincoln. >> and finally, my number one anticipated movie of the year, jenga one chain. jamie foxx, sam jackson, leonardo di caprio, playing a villain, comes out in december. >>> first steven tyler now jay lo is quitting american idol. >> reporter: another american idol bomb shell, jennifer lopez announces her departure. in a radio interview with idol host, ryan seacrest she is saying quote i honestly feel like the time has come i have to get back to doing other things that i do i have put on hold because i love idol so much. she was with the top rated show in seasons 10 and 11 and says quote i don't feel like i can be there every single day like i have been for the past two years the surprising news comes one day after steven tyler said goodbye. saying he is putting rock and roll ahead of the show, that had been over the top fun. aerosmith is on a natio

peter johnson, jr. thanks so much. >> have a wonderful weekend. >> ali: up next, country star aaron lewis performs his new single "endlesss room, the chick-fil-a controversy with a surprising new twist that you'll want to hear about. also the "wall street journal"'s op ed page today says president obama's campaign is now very worried about four little words. what are they? we'll let you know. a big change coming in ford's most popular pickups. some folks not too happy about this though. we'll see you right here at the top of the hour on "america's newsroom" coming up [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ♪ ha ha! [ male announcer ] with a driving range f more than 550 miles you'll inevitably find yourself on aolate highway in your jeep grand cherokee. and when you do, you'll be grateful for the adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts your speed when approaching slower traffic. and for the blind spot monitoring that helps remind you that the highway might not be as desolate... .

the reverend lewis was on achurs trip through the holy land and he and two others were skid happened including a tour guide. the reverend is diabetic and his son fears for his health. peter, with that story. >> the hostage takers, 32-year-old, says his 62-year-old uncle was thrown in egyptian jail because he would not prescribe police officers who stopped him and the nephew wants friday's triple kidnapping to urge authorities to free his uncle. so, he is using 61-year-old lewis and a 39-year-old, both from the boston area, as well as their tour guide, as loaf rage, and the state department says "we are aware that two u.s. citizens were kidnapped on the sinai peninsula july 13. we are in close contact with egyptian authorities doing everything they can to bring about their release. we will provide assistance as needed." secretary of state, hillary clinton met with egyptian leaders today as part of a prescheduled trip. experts say this situation a big test for their new president, morsi. >> the government has to demonstrate they are able to maintain security inside egypt. if it fails to do that, it is going to be a severe economic blow to egypt. to the tourist industry. an