this is urbandale, iowa. this is a big rally and this will be the president's seventh stop in iowa leading up to presidential election this november. all of this as he kicks off the warm-up act before the dnc gets under way this week in charlotte. we'll take you back to urbandale, iowa, as soon as the president arrives. >>> all right. a check of some of the news happening right now overseas. in central afghanistan two suicide bombers have targeted an afghan military base. the attacks killed 13 people, among the dead, a child, two women and four policemen. the taliban has claimed responsibility. >>> in south africa, protests are breaking out over the arrest of 270 platinum mine workers charged with the murder of 34 of their colleagues, but those workers were actually shot by police. south africa's justice minister is now demanding answers. >> after 50 years, the german inventor of the drug thalidomide has apologized to its victims. the drug taken by pregnant women caused babies to be born with deformed limbs.

. >>> urbandale, iowa, february 25th, 2007.r storm pounds the midwest with high winds, bitter cold, and more than a foot of ice and snow. >> we've already had up to 10 inches of snow. >> at least nine people die in traffic accidents across the plains as a result of the storm. nearly 500,000 lose power. in urbandale, just outside des moines, the state's capital, the conditions are particularly dangerous. >> the ice storm started the day before followed by snow which led to building up on the high wires. >> the entire town is coated in ice and heavy snow. the fire department is busy responding to a variety of calls, including a report that a tree has fallen onto a section of residential power lines. >> when we arrived, it was basically just arcing. the limbs were smoldering a little bit, there was heavy snow on the limb that was touching the wire. so not a major deal thought to be at that time. >> it's routine work they've all done before, and soon a tv news crew shows up. >> power was out all over the city. and our job was just

he's in urbandale which is not far from des moines, iowa.ere we also find athena jones watching the president. all right, so what is happening? how is today going to be unfolding? >> reporter: good morning, fred -- good afternoon, i should say. this is the day, this is the event that launches the road to charlotte, what the campaign is calling the road to charlotte, the road to the dnc where the president will once again accept his party's nomination. this is his seventh trip to iowa this year and his third trip to this state in as many weeks. and so it shows you how hard he's battling for this state's electoral votes. in a close election, every bit helps. you know they want to keep this state in the blue column. this is the place that really launched it all for then candidate obama in 2008. we'll expect to hear from him much of what we heard along the way. he's going to continue to draw contrast between what he's done and will do for the middle class in terms of tax cuts and making college affordable, access to health care and what his oppo

. >> now to president barack obama who spent part of his day at a rally in urbandale, iowa. he launched what he is calling his road to charlotte tour. he took aim at mitt romney's convention speech. >> if you didn't dvr it, let me recap it for you. everything is bad, it's obama's fault, and governor romney is the only one who knows the secrets of creating jobs and growing the economy. >> so as the president starts his road to charlotte tour, the democratic party is putting finishing touches on the convention. it all gets going tuesday. cnn political producer shannon travis is in charlotte, north carolina this afternoon. shannon, are people trickling in already besides the media, such as yourself? >> yeah. i mean, mostly the media presence is growing and growing since yesterday when we arrived but you're absolutely right. they are some of the delegates, some of the dnc officials that have started to come in, probably picking up their cars and securing their hotel rooms before things get too crazy. i think the bulk of people will be coming in tomorrow, fred. also tomorrow we e

i want to start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in urbandale and des moines, right herere in the united states of america. [applause] that's what we're fighting for. you can decide whether "borrow money from your parents" is an acceptable answer for a young person hoping to go to college or start a business. >> booo -- >> or you can say let's make sure america once again leads the world in educating our kids and training our workers. [applause] let's help more young people go to college ready to learn. let's hire more great teachers -- [applause] -- especially in math and science. [applause] let's help more americans go to community colleges to get the skills for the jobs they need right now. [applause] governor romney wants to end the college tax credit we created that's saving families up to $10,000 over four years in tuition. i want to extend it. [applause] in america, higher education can't be a luxury. it is an economic necessity and something everybody should be able to afford. that's what we're fighting for. [applause] iowa, you can choose an energy plan written b

obama speaking at a campaign event in urbandale this afternoon. president was making stops in colorado, ohio, virginia ahead of the democratic convention which starts tuesday in charlotte. i'll see you again 6:00 p.m. eastern time. with gregg jarrett and heather childers at the top of the hour. i'm arthel nevil. we'll see you around. >>> now, the biggest local government bankruptcy of all. $4 billion. it took some doing. greed, income p incompetentencd ol >> bank run to the tune of 4 billion. >> what words would you use to describe the financial situation in jefferson county? >> hopeless. at this junk fuhr. >> hopeless? >> hopeless. >> jimmy stevens is jefferson county's district three commissioner. he was elected after the crisis began. >> how did it stop to go after the rails? >> they attempted to build a cadillac when a chevrolet would have worked as well. >> this is not a tale about cars but sewers and the sort of mess that seens to the surface when local politicians with big ideas get mixed up with wall street bankers looking for big fees. a

nbc's kristen welker is in urbandale, iowa, where president obama is holding a campaign event later today. kristen, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, lester. well, it is going to be a busy holiday weekend for president obama. he will be campaigning in key battleground states, starting with right here in iowa. this is a state that holds special meaning to him and helped propel him to the white house back in 2008. his next stop is colorado. then on monday, he is going to step away from the campaign trail temporarily to visit louisiana to meet with the folks there who were impacted by hurricane isaac. of course, his visit comes on the heels of mitt romney, who visited on friday. now, both campaigns were asked if it was a problem that romney was going to louisiana before president obama. both campaigns said that there was no problem in that. in fact, republican louisiana governor bobby jindal said he's just happy that both men are taking the time to visit. it is also going to be a very busy holiday weekend for mitt romney. he's trying to build on any momentum that he may have go

he was in urbandale, iowa, just outside des moines for a rally this afternoon just moments ago, in fact. our athena jones was there. >> reporter: hi, fred. president obama is making two stops here in iowa today as this campaign launches what they're calling the road to charlotte tour. that's the road for the democratic national convention next week in charlotte. this is the president's seventh trip to iowa just this year alone and his third trip in the past three weeks and it shows how important it is to his campaign to keep this state in the democratic, and he only has six electoral vote which is isn't that many, but in a close race every little bit matters and of course, this is the state that really launched the state's candidacy back in 2008. as you'd expect he'll continue to draw contrast between his plans to help the mdle class and what he said his opponents will do. let's listen to what he had to say. >> when governor romney had his chance to let you in on his secret, he did not offer a single new idea. yes, we had the same old policies that have been sticking it to the middle cl

but he started off today in urbanda urbandale, just outside of des moines.s is the road to charlotte, a series of events leading up to the democratic national convention. and earlier today, he got really fired up by what was a pretty sizable crowd. a fire department official said that the crowd there was about 10,000. let's listen in to what he had to say at that earlier event. >> we got a lot more work to do. we got a lot more work to do. we've got more good jobs to create. we've got more homegrown energy to create. we've got more young people to send to college. we've got more good teachers to hire. and we've got more good schools to build. we've got more troops we've got to bring home. we've got more veterans we've got to take care of. we've got more doors of opportunity to open, to every, single american who's willing to work hard and we're through them. we've come too far to turn back now. >> reporter: now, i should mention, wolf, this is the president's third trip to iowa in three weeks. it's just a sign of how thahard they're working to keep this stat

kristen welker is traveling with the president so she's live in urbandale iowa with the latest. what's the latest from that part of the country? >> reporter: well, good morning to you, alex. president obama has a very busy holiday weekend. he's campaigning trying to build momentum ahead of the democratic national convention. this is a state that of course holds special meaning to the president not only is it a key battleground state but helped propel him to the white house in 2008. from here president obama heads to colorado then he's going to step back from the campaign trail temporarily on monday to visit louisiana to meet with folks who were impacted by hurricane isaac to meet with officials there as well. now, of course, this comes on the heels of mitt romney visiting louisiana on friday. both campaigns were asked if it was a problem that romney went to the region before the president and both campaigns essentially said there was no problem in that. a republican governor bobby jindal is appreciative that both candidates, both men are taking the time to come and visit the reg