sreenivasan: no mailings? no. sreenivasan: nobody comes knocking on your door. >> it's surprising that we're not a big part of that national conversation to reach out to either presidential campaign. we are a very educated and focused on our kids, on going to high school, going to college, getting a degree. >> sreenivasan: asian-americans are on average more than educated than the rest of the country. according to a recent pew research survey. another undecided voter wonders why presidential campaigns don't do more. >> when you have presidents and candidates shaking the hands of iron workers, so why can't you go to chinatown and shake hands with people who don't look like you and who actually can have an idea and have voting power? speaking from a chinese-american standpoint, if you empower them, they will go out there. if you allow them, say, listen, back where you come from, there are no elections. now you have an election. you can make a difference. >> sreenivasan: an ideal and a . that both presidential campai

and again we turn to hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: how far can you spit a cherry pit? at the national cherry festival in traverse city, michigan, the record stands at 74 feet. every summer thousands flock here to feast on cherries, to spit cherry pits, and even crown a cherry queen. traverse city calls itself the cherry capital of the world. the surrounding great lakes and rolling hills create a perfect climate for fruit growing. the region produces roughly 75% of the country's tart cherry crop each year. those are the ones that go into pies, juice and preserves. once upon a time sara mcguire was the reigning royalty. >> it's a romantic story. pat and i got engaged in 1995. and that was the year that i was the national cherry queen. and that was also the year that we started the farm. and pat said that we should name it after me, and that we should call it royal farms. >> reporter: but this year running royal farms has been anything but a fairy tale. statewide more than 90% of the tart cherry crop was lost when freezing weather followed an unusually warm spring. >> we'

we turn to hari sreenivasan at the map center for a closer look at the politics of the badger state. >> sreenivasan: we're taking a look at the story of battleground states through the data that you can find on our web site. with me is nathan gonzalez of the rothen berg political report and roll call, thanks for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> sreenivasan: so much talk about paul ryan and his impact on the overal campaign. e wh wentake w look atta our electoralicality clairt, t yell states are the associated press' predictions on what they think are battleground states, and you say we should make wisconsin yellow. why? >> at the rothen berg political reporter we've hadye wisconsi firmly as one of eight swing states for at leastsi the last x months and i think for a couple of different reasons. one is this is a forgotten swing state. in 2000, we were talking about florida, the recount, very close, but in wisconsin the race was decided by less than a percentage point. four years later, another close presidential race. we were concerned about ohio, but wisconsin, again, less than a pe

harvey sreenivasan has that. >> sreenivasan: we're looking at bish shoes through data in our vote 2012 map center. i'm joined by anna sale of wnyc to look at a handful of swing states she viz set for a reporting trip. thanks for being here. regardless of where you went around the country you heard jobs, unemployment. that was the number one issue for everyone. >> first question was the most important thing, jobs. i'm worried about getng d , worried about my kids getting a job when i traveled across the country there's a wide diversity in battleground states. take, for example, colorado. >> on this map what you are looking at, the lighter the color the better the unemployment rate. tor more people employed and the darker color the higher unemployment rate. so let's look at colorado here. 8.4%. >> then look at iowa, just over 5%. and look at florida. >> okay, >> florida 9%, exceeding the national average. as you talk to these coveted swing voters jobs and the economy come up for all of them but they have different realities. if hari sreenivasan we try to take the voters into conversation

we turn to hari sreenivasan at the map center for a closer look at the politics of the badger state.sreenivasan: we're taking a look at the story of battleground states through the data that you can find on our web site. with me is nathan gonzalez of the rothen berg political report and roll call, thanks for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> sreenivasan: so much talk about paul ryan and his impact on the overall campaign. when we take a look at our electoralicality clairt, the yellow states are the associated press' predictions on what they think are battleground states, and you say we should make wisconsin yellow. why? >> at the rothen berg political reporter we've had wisconsin firmly as one of eight swing states for at least the last six months and i think for a couple of different reasons. one is this is a forgotten swing state. in 2000, we were talking about florida, the recount, very close, but in wisconsin the race was decided by less than a percentage point. four years later, another close presidential race. we were concerned about ohio, but wisconsin, again, less than a perc

harvey sreenivasan has that. >> sreenivasan: we're looking at bish shoes through data in our vote 2012 map center. i'm joined by anna sale of wnyc to look at a handful of swing states she viz set for a reporting trip. thanks for being here. regardless of where you went around the country you heard jobs, unemployment. that was the number one issue for everyone. >> first question was the most important thing, jobs. i'm worried about getting a job, worried about my kids getting a job when i traveled across the country there's a wide diversity in battleground states. take, for example, colorado. >> on this map what you are looking at, the lighter the color the better the unemployment rate. tor more people employed and the darker color the higher unemployment rate. so let's look at colorado here. 8.4%. >> then look at iowa, just over 5%. and look at florida. >> okay, >> florida 9%, exceeding the national average. as you talk to these coveted swing voters jobs and the economy come up for all of them but they have different realities. if hari sreenivasan we try to take the voters into convers

here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: the u.s.se voted late today to extend all of the bush-era tax cuts, again, for one year. democrats objected, but majority republicans argued that allowing any taxes to increase would hit the country at a moment of economic weakness. at a briefing, speaker john boehner noted that president obama and democrats supported extending all of the cuts back in 2010. >> the president said two years ago that raising taxes in a weak economy was the wrong thing to do. 119 democrats voted with us to extend all of the current rates. there's no reason that we shouldn't be doing the same thing again. >> this time the >> sreenivasan: this time, the president has endorsed the bill that senate democrats passed. it extends the tax cuts for all but the wealthiest income brackets. campaigning in ohio today, mr. obama said again it's about rebuilding the economy and the middle class. >> we will not get there in we adopt these ideas that somehow spending more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires that don't need

here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: president obama issued a new warning to syria today. he left open the possibility of u.s. military involvement, if the regime were to deploy chemical or biological weapons in its crackdown on opposition. syria is known to possess such weapons. the president acknowledged that any such action would force his administration to reassess its policy. >> we have put together a range of contingency plans. we have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that's a red line for us. and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons. that would change my al cue layingses significantly. >> sreenivasan: n syria today, heavy shelling rang out across the country, killing up to 30 people. plumes of thick smoke could be seen rising above the cities of aleppo, daraa, and a suburb of damascus. fresh violence erupted in spite of the muslim holiday marking the end of the holy month of ramadan. meanwhile, u.n. peacekeepers pulled out of syria a d

here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: for the third straight month, mitt romney and the republicanparty have raised more campaign money than president obama and the democrats. romney and the republican national committee reported today that they brought in more than $101 million in july. the president and the democratic national committee raised $75 million. the election is just over three months away. the company that triggered chaos on wall street last week managed to stave off collapse today. knight capital group got $400 million from an investor group in exchange for majority control. knight's stock plunged after it flooded the market with false orders last wednesday, due to major computer mistakes. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained 21 points to close at 13,117. the nasdaq rose 22 points to close near 2990. security all along egypt's border with israel was on high alert today, after an attack that killed 16 egyptian police. authorities said more than 30 islamist gunmen assaulted a sinai border post at the town of rafah on sunday. today the scene was

here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: syria's deputy prime minister today warned the u.s.against any intervention in its ongoing civil war. it was in response to president obama's statement yesterday that the u.s. would reconsider military involvement if syria moved to use its chemical and biological weapons. meanwhile, the war raged on with syrian warplanes and helicopters attacking all around aleppo today and troops capturing a rebel-controlled town near damascus. the fighting also claimed the life of a journalist. japanese tv reporter mika yamamoto was killed in aleppo yesterday. insurgents in afghanistan fired rockets at the parked plane of the visiting chairman of the u.s. joint chiefs of staff. army general martin dempsey was safe in his quarters at the time but the plane did sustain damage. the c-17 military transport plane was parked at bagram airfield, just outside kabul, while dempsey visited with troops. the taliban claimed responsibility and dempsey later flew out of the country on a different aircraft. the deadline for striking miners in south africa to return

here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: investigators in wisconsin worked today to gain greater insightnto the gunman who killed six people sunday at a sikh temple. three others who were wounded in the attack remained in critical condition. the killer has been identified as 40-year-old wade michael page, who was shot dead by police. he had ties to white supremacist groups, but investigators said they have not yet pinned down a motive for the attack. the leader of syria's embattled regime was seen publicly today, a rarity amid the growing civil war that's engulfed the country. we have a report narrated by inigo gilmore of independent television news. appearing on state television, syria's president bashar al-assad emerged from the shadows today. it was his first public appearance in two weeks, here turning out to meet iran's security chief a loyal ally in a time of need. he referred to iran's relationship with syria as the access of resistance not easily broken. but this was not just a solidarity visit to syria's beleaguered leader. he was also in syria to discuss the pressing issue of t

here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: the european central bank today signaled it will try to drive down high borrowing rates for distressed countries, especially spain and italy. bank president mario draghi said the plan involves purchasing government bonds, but he gave few specifics. instead, draghi said policymakers will work on a detailed plan over the coming weeks. markets here and abroad were disappointed that the european bank took no immediate action. on wall street, the dow jones industrial average lost 92 points to close near 12,879. the nasdaq fell ten points to close at 2,909. drought conditions grew even worse in part of the plains states over the last week. a government report today said kansas, missouri, nebraska and oklahoma are especially hard hit. meanwhile, the u.s. house passed a republan drought bill to help livestock producers. democratic minority leader nancy pelosi said it would make more sense to pass a comprehensive, five-year farm bill, as the senate has done. >> make no mistake. we should be voting on a farm bill not a drought bill. i have great sympathy

here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: congress began its five-week summer recess today with a long list of legislation yet to be completed. so far, republicans running the house and democrats controlling the senate have deadlocked over extending the bush-era tax cuts at year's end. there's also been no agreement on a new farm bill or interim drought relief or, on cyber- security legislation and a major postal service overhaul. the u.n. general assembly today condemned syria's government and demanded a political transition. the non-binding vote also criticized the security council for not failing to act against the syrian regime. meanwhile in syria, government tanks assaulted the last rebel stronghold in damascus. and mortar rounds killed at least 20 people at a palestinian refugee camp in the city. palestinian officials in the west bank voiced outrage. >> ( translated ): we ask all the different parties not to drag the palestinians into the ongoing fighting. i repeat the palestinian leadership position: to avoid anything that might be fueling the conflict, and to maintain the unity