i'm zoraida sambolin. it is 6:00 a.m.han 40 hours and counting until the critical denver debate. a live look at the hall at the university of denver where barack obama and mitt romney go face-to-face for 90 minutes tomorrow night. >> now, just one slip of the tongue -- >> like i just did. >> one slip of the tongue, even an awkward moment, this could make or break a candidate. but listen to romney tell supporters in denver this debate is not a competition. >> people want to know who's going to win? who's going to score the punches and who's going to make the biggest difference in the arguments they make and there's going to be all the scoring and winning and losing. you know, in my view, it's not so much winning and losing, or even the people themselves, the president and myself, it's -- it's about something bigger than that. >> cnn political editor paul steinhauser is here with us this morning. it's really not about winning or losing? >> it's not, right, paul? >> you heard the president say similar stuff, right? nah. you

i'm zoraida sambolin. hurricane sandy is starting to look like a perfect storm, as berman was predicting, from new england to virginia and as far inland as ohio. everyone is being warned to prepare to take action because of a rare and complex atmospheric setup. sandy could collide with the east coast early next week as a super storm. sandy has already done plenty of damage. 11 people are dead in cuba. the hurricane ripping roofs off some homes and flattening others. sandy killed one person in jamaica, 10 more people in haiti. that is 22 people total killed by this storm already. heavy rains from the storm's outer bands causing flooding as well. even though it's several days away, the sand bagging has already started as far north as new jersey. meteorologist rob marciano is tracking sandy's every move, joiping us live from the extreme weather center in atlanta. what is the latest on this? >> still a category 1 storm as

john berman with zoraida sambolin.at what's trending on the internet this morning. >> a news anchor in wisconsin took on a viewer who personally attacked her in an e-mail and used it as an attention to call it to bullying. the viewer accused jennifer livingston of being a poor example to young girls. why? because she's overweight. she said while the e-mail was huful to her, she's more concerned about children who are bullied. >> if you are at home and you were talking about the fat news lady, guess what? your children are probably going to go to school and call someone fat. we need to teach our kids how to be kind, not critical. and we need to do that by example. >> atta girl! that was fantastic. livingston also said she was comforted so many people reached out to support her with very kind words once that e-mail was made public. >> don't mess with news anchors. >> that's right. >>> time to take you down, down to toon town. the corporate network is celebrating its 20th network with a video showing you the evolution of

and i'm zoraida sambolin. nice to have you. >>> the 14-year-old pakistani girl shot in the head is expected to lapd later in morning in britain. she'll be treated at a facility tore children with severe injuries. the taliban tried to kill malala last week because she is an outspoken of the right of pakistaniirls to get an education, the taliban condemns that as western thinking. their attempt to silence her so violently spoke outrage and atika shubert joins us live from london. can you give us insight into the decision to transfer malala to england. can there a concern that the taliban could still target her in pakistan? >> well, there's still concerns for her safety and the taliban have continued to threaten her. she's actually been put under armed guard. however, in this case, it does seem it's really about her medical care. the decision was taken to transport her to birmingham in the uk where she will be put in a hospital to specifically treat children with severe rehabilitation concerns. specifically you m

let's get right to zoraida sambolin. she's updating us on other effects of this storm. >> it looks and sounds like fireworks but those sparks are flying from a pole carrying power lines. this is a story in queens as a result of superstorm sandy. con ed reports that the storm has left more than 600,000 customers without power and that is the most in their entire history. >>> and soledad was telling you about this earlier, over 200 patients at the nyu langone medical center in manhattan had to be evacuated. fierce flooding and a failed backup generator forcing ambulances to transport everyone to nearby facilities. i was reading that they had absolutely no communication. it was the hospitals receiving patients that notified their families that their loved ones were being moved. sandy is wreaking havoc on air travel as well. all three new york airports remain closed. that's having a ripple effect on both domestic and international travel. some 13,000 flights have been canceled. the closures costing airlines a combined $10 mi

want to get to zoraida sambolin. she's got an update on some of the other weather-related news. >>> you're looking at a live picture. and this is a partially collapsed crane in midtown manhattan. this was knocked down by strong winds from superstorm sandy. the crane is dangling from the 70th floor of that luxury high rise that's under construction. the building is 157. it is slated to be 90 stories tall when it is finished. here's what the crane looked like before, on the left, and then after. the concern right now, of course, is that crane plunging to the ground. new york's mayor bloomberg says the crane was just inspected last friday, and everything seems to be find. but, of course, the heavy winds created a problem there. take a look at this. a sudden rumble, then a cloud of debris when the facade of a manhattan apartment building is ripped off. this is all happening as sandy's intense winds tore through the area. left apartments completelyics posed. one firefighter had minor injuries. soledad? >> all right, zorai

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman.anger in the streets of pakistan in newspapers and on the air waves over the taliban's targeting shooting of 14-year-old malala you saf is a. surgeons worked for three hours to remove a bullet lodged in her neck. taliban gunmen targeted her tuesday for her social media activism and support of education for girls and women. condemnation of the attack and support for malala coming from as far away and the united nations and washington. >> she was attacked and shot by extremists who don't want girls to have an education and don't want girls to speak for themselves and don't want girls to become leaders, who are for a variety of reasons threatened by that kind of empowerment. >> race sesay yeah interviewed malala last year. he joins us live from islamabad. we're getting word she's being moved to another hospital. how is she doing this morning? >> reporter: it looks like her condition has deteriorated. we want to be careful in reporting this because we don't know all the details. yesterday

i'm zoraida sambolin with john berman.cnn trends, what's getting buzz on the web this morning, john? >> because music follows you wherever you go, but i love this story. clark kent is quitting the "daily planet." issue 13 of the newly released series "superman" will be quitting. clark kent is quitting "the daily planet." this is from clark kent. he's going to start a blog apparently. yes, it is true, perry white and jimmy olson not available for comment. >>> before sky net takes over the world, there's this. ♪ >> there's your music. >> robotic engineers at virginia tech getting the humanized robot charlie ii to dance gangnam style. of course, the whole thing, when the party is over the navy sees the robot as something to help sailors fight fires at sea. >> if the robot needed to dance gangnam style, they are all >> he needs a little more moves. he's a little stiff. to check out the top cnn trends, head to cnn.com/trends. >>> with the election coming up and the presidential debates finally over with, the late-night talk sho

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm john berman.ntolerable security lapses. in one case a new orleans hornets vice president, the basketball team, took a loaded handgun onboard in his checked baggage, on undetected. the other instance, a woman brute at firearm on in her purse. from the house transportation committee, he gets reports hundreds of items get by security every day. >> scary. >>> a 14-year-old christian girl facing blasphemy charges. we'll have to wait two weeks to learn her fate paper accused of burns pages including for example a koran. the islamabad high court says the hearing should wait while they consider a pition to dismiss the case? last week the girl known was framed by an imam that will appear at a separate court hearing today and he could wind up facing blasphemy charges now. >>> over to ceia now. the crisis in syria, the spotlight on the final day of the 67en united nations general assembly session. the foreign minister will address the delegates and defend the assad regime's actions during the 18-month crisis

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman. eight battleground states and 12 days left to turn them red or blue. both men crisscrossing the country, targeting the toss-up states. ohio may be the most pivotal. in a new poll from "time" magazine, the president is ahead by five points in the buckeye state. early voting is trending in his favor. the romney camp has something to crow about as well. cnn is shifting the state of north carolina from a true toss-up to leaning romney. both candidates are driving home their message to cheering crowds yesterday. >> there's no more serious issue in the presidential campaign than who can you trust. trust matters. who is going to look out for you. >> those debates have propelled our campaign forward in a major way. attacking me is not an agenda for the future, and america wants a bright and prosperous course ahead. >>> there was another big development overnight. the president want on "the tonight show" last night and jumped hard into the battle over abortion and for women voters. peter hamby

." >>> good morning, i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john burman. president obama fighting back from his first debate showing more energy and passion last night. mitt romney standing his ground attacking the president aggressively on the president's handling of the economy and in libya. >> here is how america scored it all. a cnn/orc poll of registered voter who is watch the debate give the edge to the president, 46% to 39%. >> dana bash is here in studio. according to the poll, voters thought obama did better and exceeded their expectations. >> it's because he came to play, unlike last time, perhaps. but so did mitt romney. and that made the evening so crackling with energy. you may think the debate in front of undeclared persuadable voters would produce right performances. think again. >> in the last four years -- >> reporter: at time this is town hall looked like a school-yard brawl. >> not true, governor romney. that's not true. >> i had a question and the question was how much did you cut them by? how much did you cut them by? >> i'm happy to a

john berman along with zoraida sambolin. we are looking at top cnn trends.o people googling to ogle paul ryan. the term paul ryan shirtless is googled nine types more often than paul ryan budget. the gop vp nominee has a body by p-90x and took these photos pumping iron for "time" magazine and claims to have 6% to 8% body fat. all news to the paul ryan girl who we mow is going viral with her song "let's get fiscal." >> do you know anyone who googled him. >> i did but i did it for my job. >> the nfl now getting down with gangnam style. it's become the new celebration dance on the gridiron. the new york giants star jason pierre paul one of the players who celebrated a sack with the horsey and lasso whirl on sunday. >> pay to pray. "the washington post" says as of october 9th. tim tebow owns the trademark for tebowing. tebow said he didn't acquire it for financial gain. he just wants control. how it's used. make sure it's used in the right way. what does that mean? >> i don't know how you can trademark something like that that's interesting. >>> head to cnn.com/

. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. we have a field of reporters covering the aftermath of sandy from every angle. rob marciano in new york city. dan lothian and paul steinhouser standing by in washington, d.c. and richard quest is also out there for us. >> with 1/3 of the people in new york city, 2 million people here without power. transportation is at a virtual standstill at a few time where few people have cars, not to mention the property and destux. 80 homes were consumed by fire in keeps. recovery from super storm sandy will be a mammoth job. rob marciano is in the chelsea neighborhood here in new york city. he is joining us live. rob, i was there live yesterday. what was amazing was the exodus of people coming out where it is black right now. many people moving uptown to find power, food and information. >> reporter: yeah, it is stunning. when you go from the typical lit northern manhattan area and come south of 30th street, it just goes completely dark. it is something i have never seen in new york city. the pe

i'm zoraida sambolin along with mr. john berman.at is trending on the web this morning. >> powerful words from a powerful guy. kansas city chiefs tackle, the 30-year-old qb suffered a concussion. after the game winston reminded the fans the players are not gladiators. >> i've already kind of come to the understanding, i probably won't live as long because i played this game. that's okay. that's the choice i've made. that's a choice all of us has made. but when you cheer, when you cheer somebody getting knocked out, i don't care who it is, and it just so happened to be matt cassel, it's sickening. it's 100% sickening. >> that's an incredible moment. >> he is 100% right. >> absolutely. >> all right. switching gears here. rosie hooked on honey boo-boo? rosie o'donnell tells people.com she got addicted to the show when she was recuperating from a heart attack. she has a presence and intellect way beyond her years like shirley temple. rosie also says she'd like to meet the family and buy them a house, one that doesn't have railroad track

john berman with zoraida sambolin.nding on the internet this morning. >> you had to know this was coming. the restored jesus fresco halloween costume is being shared all over social media. this one was apparently spotted at the festival in atlanta. of course, the costume inspired by the story of an -- where is it? in spain. she took it upon herself to toucup a 19th century painting of jesus christ and turn him into a potato of sorts. she's reportedly demanding royalties for it. she said -- you know, i feel like i have to defend this woman. she says that the priest gave her permission to do this. >> it's an awesome costume. >>> the late-night crowd weighing in on president obama's debate performance. >> a lot of people disappointed in president obama's performance last night. last night critics say president obama spent too much time looking down at something on the podium. did you notice that? >> yes. >> today the president apologized said at the next debate, no more angry birds. >> romney talked last night about cutti

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm john berman. we begin with props. why? we're talking about the weather. it is freaking cold out here. this calendar says october 12th. but forget this. it's freezing. in a huge chunk of the country. >> it is cold out there. the cold snap is gripping two-thirds of the country. dozens of cities saw record lows. including sioux city, iowa, bottoming out at 15. scottsbluff, nebraska, 21 degrees. and tulsa, oklahoma, scraping the freezing mark at 32 degrees. >> all this despite the fact that that calendar i held up says october. it is awful. but there's warmth or light at the end of the tunnel. we're going to bring in alexandra steele. when is the warmth coming? you still use a calendar? good morning, everyone. a lot of you, millions of you, seeing the cold this weekend, thus far of the season. a lot of you having your first snow. they gave you numbers. how about 10 in nebraska in champion. these were low temperatures yesterday morning. and about 270 -- 270 states and cities had yesterday, their record low warm temperatures. an

i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin.we begin with the obama romney rematch. a fiery showdown that turned out to be a lot more come pattive than their first debate. with a more energized and feisty barack obama who took the stage at hofstra university last night. but mitt romney stood his ground, aggressively attacking the president on the economy and foreign policy. >> here's how america scored it. a cnn/orc poll of registered voters who watched the debate giving the nod to the president, 46% to 39%. now compare that to the first presidential debate that put romney over obama with a whopping 67% to 25%. we're joined this morning by cnn's senior congressional correspondent dana bash who watched it all unfold live. dana the voters seem to tell us this time that president obama exceeded their expectations. >> certainly. because the expectations were not that high after two week's ago's debate. he came to play, mitt romney came to play and that's what made the evening so crackling with energy. you may think that debate in fr

. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. the state department is giving its most detailed account of the speed, severity and calculation behind last month's attack on the u.s. mission in benghazi in libya. the house oversight committee will weigh in on security failings during a hearing scheduled for later today. the state department saying the attack was not a spontaneous offshoot of protest and saying u.s. and security personnel in benghazi were outmanned and no reasonable security presentation could have fended off the assault. u.s. ambassador christopher stephens and three others were killed in the attack. arwa damon helps peace together what investigators say happened. >> reporter: amid the ashes, soot and debris, remnants of the life that was. it's all that remained in the unguarded u.s. consulate compound in benghazi when cnn arrived on the scene three days after the september 11th attack. eyewitnesss told us it was a complex assault. the compound's first line of defense easily breached. according to one of the libyan

i'm zoraida sambolin.and sandy is forcing both campaigns and some voters to make some changes. cnn's special hurricane coverage starts right now on "early start." >>> welcome, everybody. you're watching our special hurricane coverage. i'm soledad o'brien coming to you live from midtown manhattan. we're tracking this monster of a storm as it continues to bear down on the northeast, and specifically we'll take a look here from new york city. you can see look at this radar picture, just how massive and intimidating this storm is. nearly 1,000 mile wide. hurricane force winds extending out for 175 miles. it's a category 1 storm. it started turning toward the coastline. that happened earlier this morning. and it's expected to make landfall in southern new injuresy late today, maybe even early tomorrow. but most are predicting late today. expected impact, 50 million people. now the hurricane's already creating misery. take a look at north carolina. the sheer force of the storm sending 12 foot waves crashing into

i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin.tacks on the trail president obama and republican challenger mitt romney finally met face to face. and? you look at cnn's polling, viewers thought the winner was crystal clear. >> 67% of debate watchers surveyed thought romney won, hands down. so i want to bring in richard so socrat socrates, and our own dana bash is here. richard, you said on twitter last night, no offense, whatsoever. here are the areas the president did not attack on last night. we have them for everybody. no mention of 47%. no mention of bain capital. did not respond to a claim that he is gutting $716 billion from medicare. romney's taxes, romney's immigration policies. so take a listen to romney, repeatedly bringing up $716 billion claim to no pushback. >> i can't understand how you can cut medicare $716 billion. second reason, he cuts $716 billion om medicare to pay for it. if the president were to be re-elected, you're going to see a $716 billion cut to medicare. >> why no pushback? >> right, that was one of the

let's get right to zoraida sambolin who's got a look at some of the other headlines regarding the storm. zoraida, good morning. >> good morning to you. we're going to start with breaking news this morning. we just learned that president obama has canceled his event in orlando today. white house press secretary jay carney released this statement. quote, due to deteriorating weather conditions in the washington area, the president will not attend today's campaign event in orlando. the president will return to the white house to monitor the preparations for and early response to hurricane sandy. and nearly half of a million people have been evacuated from homes in low-lying areas up and down the east coast. in new york, where forecasters say an 11-foot storm surge could cause catastrophic damage tonight, and into tomorrow, mass transit is shut down along with wall street, and public schools, as well. in new jersey, and philadelphia, shelters have been opened. and thousands of cots are being prepared for all of the evacuees. the oncoming storm also causing airlines to cancel more than 7,000

. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. 6:00 a.m.merica has spoken. you declared last night's bruising bare knuckles debate between paul ryan and joe biden a draw. unlike last week's presidential face-off, this debate had passion. >> a lot of it. >> the vice president sure came out firing. paul ryan seemed mostly to keep his cool. and he calmly countered. >> so let's check the score cards, shall we? a cnn/orc poll shows 48% of voters who watched thought ryan won. 44% favored biden. so this is a statistical tie. senior congressional correspondent dana bash live from danville, kentucky this morning. she was in that room behind her. and she's joining us live this morning with all of the details. good morning. >> good morning, zoraida and john. i was in this hall. it was really packed with energy from the beginning all the way through the 90 minutes of the debate. there were some grins and grimacing. a lot of that on the left. there was some smirking on the right, as well. all in all it was a very substantive debate on the issues of the

let's go to zoraida sambolin.some of the other stories weather-related stories making news this morning. "z," good morning. >> good morning to you. a collapsed construction crane is still dangling this morning. it's high above midtown manhattan. we're going to take a live look here. on the left is what the crane looked like before the collapse. and on the right we're going to get that up for you is what it looks like now as it dangles dangerously from a luxury high rise building. the fear here, of course, is that it could plunge to the ground at any time. last night piers morgan talked to a crane expert about the potential danger here. >> there's several different scenarios. you see that boom hanging down? let's say the house swings around, and the boom gets into the arms that are holding the crane up? that come out of the building. if it hits that, there's a possibility they could be -- they can break. then the crane's coming down. >> let me tell you a little bit about the building, if we can put the picture back

>> zoraida sambolin, thank you. >>> so who has more riding on this week's presidential debate?ow a winner will be decided after this week's showdown. plus, a lot of folks complaining about the airport pat-downs and scanners. well, the u.s. supreme court just decide wld it will take up that complaint or not. [ woman ] it's 32 minutes to go time, and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well. romney: "it's time to stand up with to the cheaters"ter... vo: tough on china? not mitt romney. when a flood of chinese tires threatened a thousand american jobs... it was president obama who stood up to china and prote

i'm john berman along with zoraida sambolin.tial debate will be remembered as high drama. the two candidates were in your face and feisty. >> both president obama and mitt romney have plans to bring down the deficit. here's our reality check. >> both candidates were made in the corner stone of this election to talk about the deficit, the difference between how much money the government is spending and how much it is taking in in taxes and they both have talked about their plans in this debate. >> i'll get us on track to a balanced budget and i'm going to reduce the tax burden on middle income families. what's that going to do? help the families and create incentives to grow jobs again in this country. >> if we are serious about reducing the deficit, if this is genuinely a moral obligation to the next generation, in addition to tough spending cuts, we've also got to make sure that the wealthy do a little bit more. >> this is the deficit right now. 1 trillion, 90 billion dollars if we all wanted to pay it off, every man, woman and

. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin.led by the fbi. the target, the federal reserve bank of new york in lower manhattan. the suspect, a 21-year-old bangladeshi named quazi nafis. >> the fbi says he parked what he thought was a 1,000-pound explosive device right outside the federal reserve here in new york and tried to set it off. but the explosives were duds. it was all part of an elaborate fbi sting. new york city police say this was the 15th terror plot foiled since september 11th. >> investigators say -- >> this individual came here with the express purpose of committing a terrorist act. he was motivated by al qaeda. so we see this threat as, you know, being with us for a long time to come. >> investigators say the public was never in any danger, at any point. nafis made his first appearance in court yesterday. so we would like to bring in peter brooks. he's a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. he is also currently a senior fellow with the heritage foundation. thank you so much for taking time to talk to us

. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it is 6:00 a.m. in the east.ent obama and mitt romney in their final face-off before america votes. and by most accounts it was a more forceful president obama who came out ahead last night. >> the majority of viewers and political pundits agreeing romney was playing defense for much of this foreign policy face-off and a cnn/orc poll of people who watched this third and final debate shows that 48% favored president obama, with 40% saying mitt romney won the debate. the president now two for three in these showdowns. he also won the second debate by seven points after taking a 42-point drubbing in debate number one. that might have been the important one. senior congressional correspondent dana bash is live from boca raton this morning. hey, dana. >> hey there, john. you know, it is already very clear that debates matter a lot. all you have to do is look at how mitt romney was able to come back in the polls across the country after he did so well in the first debate. this one was a little bit more tricky for the c

i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin.esident obama and mitt romney were back in the same room after their fiery debate this week, this time around, though, it was much lighter. >> everyone please take your seats. otherwise, clint eastwood will yell at them. >> it's nice to finally relax and wear what ann and i wear around the house. >> also this morning, inside the exit. former goldman sachs employee greg smith famously quit with that blistering public resignation letter. but a new investigation might schett some light on what was really going on. >>> and they're cheering for jesus. cheerleaders win a free speech victory that put bible phrases on banners. but does it violate separation of church and state? it's friday, october 19th. and "starting point" begins right now. >>> morning, welcome everybody. our "starting point" this morning. a few moments of civility in the race for the white house. president obama and mitt romney all smiles last night at the annual al smith charity dinner, which took place in new york. both m

. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. >>> our starting point this morning, hitting the campaign trail hard. mitt romney and president obama are on a campaign blitz, trying to win over the undecided voters. >> i believe in you! i need you to keep believing in me. >> i need your help. we're going to take back america and keep it the hope of the earth. thank you! >> reporter: this as key swing states, one, specifically, changing its color. >>> why he quit. the former goldman sachs banker who made waves with his public bombshell resignation letter will join us live this morning. he says the company is morally bankrupt. they say he's disgruntled. >>> an unbelievable feat on the diamond with three incredible home runs. pablo sandoval helps the giants tame the tigers in game one of the world series. will detroit even things up tonight? and her tv career has spanned decades. melissa joan hart will join us live to talk about her latest projects. it's thursday, october 25th, a