Transcripts For CNN American Morning 20101028

tracking all of it. first, though, the president taking unprecedented ways to stave off the avalanche. the stakes could not be higher. that's why we have assembled the best political team on television bringing you the type of coverage you need to make your vote count. >> it's no joke, a sitting president appearingen on comedy central. real fireworks last night, a measured q and a, and a light moment or two. >> we have passed historic health care reform, historic financial regulatory reform. we have done things that some folks don't even know about. >> what have you done that we don't know about? >> well -- [ laughter ] >> are you planning a surprise party for us? [ laughter ] >> new jobs and health care! >> ed henry's live at the white house this morning. what's the buzz there on the president's performance on "daily show," ed? >> well, they feel pretty good, kiran. when you think back to bill clinton playing the saxophone on are sin yo hall. the president has been willing to do that, we've seen him on "the view" trying to reach out to female voters. this time, he was reaching out to younger voters, using the jon stewart show as kind of a vehicle who may have voted for him in 2008 but feel disillustration illustrationed now. he was pressing the president on the notion that maybe changes didn't come as fast as he promised. the president gave as good as we've got. saying, yes, it's going to take some time. and pushed back on irissues like health care. >> you ran with such, if i may, audacity. so much of what you said was great leaders lead in a time opportunity. you're the ones you're looking for. yet, legislatively it has felt tilled at times. i'm not each sure at times what you want out of a health care bill. >> jon, i love your show but -- but -- but this is something where i have a profound disagreement with you, and i don't want to lump you in with a lot of other pundits -- >> you may. >> no, no, this notion that health care was timid, you've got 30 million people who are going to get health insurance as a consequence of this. >> jon also pressed him on the notion that maybe his economic team was too close to the president and the president pushed back with the phrase that larry summers was doing a heck of a job brownie, and jon stewart said maybe that's not the phrase. and to borrow another phrase, they felt at the white house, mission accomplished. in terms of reaching out to young voters, with then senator obama, maybe sitting on the sidelines 2010, this white house wants to make sure they get as many of them to the polls as possible. >> you just used another infamous phrase as well, mission accomplished. it was a surreal moment to hear jon stewart call the president dude? >> on the one hand, there are people who thought the president got flak when he appeared on "the view" as well. for the white house that has had criticism that maybe this president doesn't unload enough. doesn't connect with voters. that he's sort of high-minded and sort of visceral. going on with jon stewart, hearing the phrase "dude," that can help him to say, look, he's the president, but he's also a human being. >> "american morning" will be on an hour early next monday and tuesday. we start at 5:00 a.m. eastern time and 3:00 a.m. the morning after election day. five minutes after the hour. on the cnn execute watch this morning, he for al qaeda in a p to blow up train stations at the height of rush hour. it turns out he was actually helping undercover fbi agents. the pakistani agent from virginia is in custody this morning. our correspondent jean meserve is live in washington. what igs two troubling trending, the targeting of mass transit and plotting by terrorists. >> reporte the intended target, washinon's metro system which carries 750,000 people ever day. the government alleges that 34-year-old farouq ahmed, a naturalized citizen born in pakistan wanted to kill as many military people as possible and sed four metro stations near the pentagon. he did his alleged plotting with people he believes were affiliated with al qaeda but they were really working for the government. as of now, officials say they have no indication that he was working with other treemgsists overseas or here in the u.s. >> of the fact that he was arrested and the case made public say strong indication that it's not jeopardizing any other active investigation. >> reporter: the indictment says ahmed provided video and sketches of the four metro stations and suggests an attack during afternoon rush hour, to maximize casualties. de it's have happened. >> there's really no things in place to keep someone from actually just coming into the system and blowing up the metro. >> reporter: the investigation is kopgt, police searched ahmed's ashburn, virginia town led quietly, neighbors >> but u.s. officials have been sounng the alarmver domestic terrorism. more than 20 americans have been charged with serious terror violations this year. but officials insist in this instance, the public was never kian. >>jean meserve from washington, thanks. also, new this morning, the pentagon says string of shots were fired at buildings, including the pentagon. it's one of the city's largest, 30,000 runners are expected to participate. indonesia's most active volcano remains dangerous today. mt. merapi erupted at least three times on tuesday. more than 30 people have been killed so far. experts say no lov virginia dome has formed yet on the top. and in western sumatra, more than 300 people were killed after a 7.7 earthquake triggered a tsunami three days ago. hundreds more people are still missing. searchers are combing the islands off the west to find ou there are more victims or survivors who might not be accounted for. >> such devastation. >> yeah, te e weather headlines right now. we have our share of weather in this country. hey, rob? >> good morning, guys. yeah, that bun-two punch that rolled across in the afternoon across themy atlantic, tornaes from north carolina in through virginia. take a look at some of this video coming to us from virginia. some of that damage certainly looks like it kieb tornado with trees snapped like toothpicks there. some richmond, virginia, they'll be going out to survey that, likely will find it to be a tornado yesterday afternoon-very, very active across those parts. it will be quieter today. thankfully, after two days of this stuff, this front is moving offshore. more importantly, we didn't see any fatalities, at least with the thunderstorm winds across the mid-atlantic and deep south. this is pushing slowly to the south. still rainy with thunderstorms of a more tranquil variety across mississippi, alabama, and of course, cooler just in time for the holiday weekend. more details in about 30 minutes. >> what are we looking at in terms of temperature for the northeast? >> well, depends where you live. and depending on how your late your children trick or treat. >> he wants to know about his own costume, whether he's shirtless again this year. >> well, yeah. >> rob, thank you. we'll see you again very soon with the travel forecast. diplomacy can't beat back the bedbugs. another new york city landmark infested with bedbugs. wait until you hear where they are. >> hopefully we'll tell you not to be eating your cereal. also ahead, we're joined by john after virginia ron, our independent analyst with "the independent analyst with "the daily beast," he tells us where independents are going to be inh five days when they go to the polls. ten minutes after the hour.s. in fact, one in two adults actually has gingivitis and might not even know it. that's why i recommend new crest pro-health clinical gum protection toothpaste. it helps eliminate plaque at the gumline, helping prevent gingivitis. and it's been clinically proven to help reverse it... in just four weeks. it also protects these other areas dentists check most. new crest pro-health clinical toothpaste. for healthier gums. each day was fueled by thoroh preparation foevents to co. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. which meant she continued to have the means to live on... even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. policy for under $14 a month. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. ♪ 12 minutes past the hour right now. five days to go until the midterm elections. republicans are poised to make big gains, especially in the house and to alter the congressional landscape. >> any gop success will likely be fueled by independent voters who two years ago helped to elect president obama. joining us now is john avalon, cnn contributor and columnist for the daily beast. republicans favored by 14 points. you break it down by state level. nevada is a good one. here's a poll, sharron angle leads harry reid 57% to 58%. michigan it's all about independents. why are they going with republicans? >> they've been going for republicans over a year now. independents who voted for president obama by 8 points who voted in 2006 by 6 points, there's only 6% approval for health care legislation for independents. it's part of a massive wave that's going to push republicans into office. >> that's interesting, you mentioned health care, but there are issue polls about how independents feel about it. this is from politico. 62% of independents not happy with the democrats' health care plan. 66% believe they don't think the recovery is working. and they have less faith in government than they did before president obama was elected. it's a startling turn less than 24 months, as you said, they put the president in the white house. >> absolutely. to some extent, you're seeing the anger at the status quo, that is a function of elections in recession. independents have been relatively consistent, surprisingly so, beneath the numbers. independents like the government, because that believes that will create checks and balances. and they tend to be deficit hawks. certainly, in terms of the deficit and debt, that's got them anger. there's a consistent message. it's accelerating every cycle at this point and that has a destabilizing effect. >> more people identify themselves as independent or undeclared. 50% of voters aged 18 to 29 are independents. why are they fleeing the target system? >> this is one of the most important thing happening in politics. looking more and more americans are declaring their independence from the two parties because the two parties more polarized than before. you look at young voters in particular. look, we're a generation that has grown up with a multiple choice in every area of our lives. yet, politics has told us we have to choose between brand "a" and think, especially if you're conservatively liberal. >> if you are that way, are these republican candidates like sharron angle in nevada, like ken buck out of colorado, like christine o'donnell in delaware, is this who you're going to the polls and vote for? or are you sitting it out? >> well, definitely not o'donnell. i think you'll see here the anger over the establishment is overriding other factions. in another year, some of those voters would be crypt ton night. this is not an issue primarily about socialists. it's about economic issues. so that difference that would normally irritate independents are is relative submerged. independents in one case in connecticut, they're backing the democrat over the republican but they're providing the swing. that's the reality of american politics. >> i read one analysis who suggested that independents are backing republicans this year for the same reason they backed president obama in 2008. they're looking for economic security. but in the real world are they likely to get more economic security by voting republican into the house? >> well, this raises a fascinating question also, are you looking for government to provide jobs for you or not? a lot is anger at alleged big government spending which is stimulus is going to create jobs but there's great skepticism about whether the stimulus has worked. i think that's weitz generally a barometer of economic frustration, uncertainty. that is something that the government alone can't control. we always see, when voters are frustrated about the economy, angry voters turn out at the polls. especially in midterms, not necessarily representative of the electorate at large. republicans need to be cautious, too, because there's not a lot of love for them. >> what did you think about the president's appearance on "the daily show" with jon stewart, is that going to energize, the younger, more independent voters? >> well, that's the hope. he goes out and says, look, this is important. you need responsibility. the president is doing his targeted media hits to inspire parts of his base. i think "the daily show" does that. we'll see that with the rally, if that creates a sense of optimism and obligation. >> 300,000 people on the fab page say they're going. >> some inresting things this legislation day. >> thanks, john. still behar sene candidate sharron angle. sharron angle wastes no time responding and then joy responds. it's the she said/she said ahead. natural minerals give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on, to even skin tone in four weeks. new aveeno tinted moisturizers. into revolutionary performance. one word makes the difference between defining the mission and accomplishing the mission. one word makes the difference in defending our nation and the cause of freedom. helps kids be their best. we think it probably helps teachers be their best too. quaker instant oatmeal. does your breakfast make you amazing? ♪ i can't take misery there ain't no fight ♪ 22 minutes past the hour right now. it's hard to improve upon something as basic as toilet paper. one company is doing just that. kimberly clark getting rid of the cardboard tube with the scott naturals. saying it's the right thing for the environment. >> the tubes don't break down? >> well, i guess they do. if you're not using the cardboard in the first place, thinking about how much we use toilet paper, maybe it will make a dent. they're trying it in the northeast first, if it works, they'll go nationwide. >> maybe a good idea for the people who don't have the tube-free taillight paper, but the tube in the recycling, right? ron artest, you may recall, artest just lost it, punched out a fan in an ugly brawl and it spilled into the audience. he was suspended for 73 games losing $6 million in salary. well, artest now play for the l.a. lakers is raffling off his new nba championship ring. he's raffling it off for charity. the proceeds are going to help fund mental health for young people. experts say psychologists helped turn his life around. this is a good one. it's the gift that keeps on giving for daytime tv. nevada's senate candidate getting back at joy behar after comments she made about sharron angle on tuesday. here's a look. her campaign attacking her opponent, harry reid's position, on illegal immigration. >> let me tell you how stupid she is. 25% of voters in nevada are hispanic. 80% of them are mexican. this say mow ron on top of being evili'd like to see her do this ad in the south bronx, come here, do it. >> behar said she received a gift from sharron angle. hopefully, we'll beep it out this time. >> this morning, i get the flowers from sharron angle. it's a bra zeer moment. joy raised $150,000 on line yesterday, thanks for your help, sincerely, sharron angle. i know it's a sense of humor. i'd like to point out that those flowers were picked by illegal immigrants and they're not voting for you [ bleep ]. >> wow you it's getting heated. she's only 20 years old, she's never fired a gun. the new police chief. kaj larsen talks with the young crime fighter. stay with us. during its first year, the humpback calf and its mother are almost inseparable. she lifts her calf to its first breath of air, then protects it on the long journey to their feeding grounds. one of the most important things you can do is help the next generation. at pacific life, we offer financial solutions to accomplish just that. ask a financial professional about pacific life. the power to help you succeed. 27 minutes past the hour right now. your top story's three minutes away. sothing you'll see only on "american morning." policing tof mexico's drug war y is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. there is a new sheriff in town. we first told you about her last week. a 20-year-old woman still in college. meet the women who got the job that really no one wanted. this is an amazing story. why did they want this job? >> reporter: well kiran, she basically said she wanted this job for her family and other residents of the town, as i crossed the border into the hi i founda story that sort of defied my expectations of how the drug war against the cartels is being fought. we're right at 60 miles south of el paso, texas, into the mexico, into the juarez valley which is sometimes known by the more sinister moniker, the valley of death. please marysol vils. she's the new chief of police in one of the most violent places in the world. what does your job entail? >> translator: we divide the town into nine different parts so the police officers go around town. >> reporter: 13 officers, nine of them women, in this town of about 8,000. it's been without a police chief for almost 18 months. why? because no one else would take the job? >> are you afraid of the drug traffickers. >> translator: i have fear, i'm afraid for my security but this is natural for the chief of police. >> reporter: that may be true but this place is anything but natural. just to give you an idea of how acutely dangerous this job that chief villes garcia has is, her last chief, her predecessor, they found his head in a box placed right here outside the station. it happened about a year ago. >> translator: this is the weapons bank. we're going to get new weapons. right now, we don't have many. we have two pistols. >> reporter: this is the one police vehicle, as you can see,t here and re. even the entrance to the police station which chief villes garcia walks through every day was shot up. you work underneath a photograph the man w was killed by the cartels. that must be on her mi the mexi has been fhting the cartel with force. chief villes garcia is conducting a campaign, she's trying to win hearts andminds. >> translator: at the beginning, i didn't think about the risk of becoming a police chief but i young son. it part of my dream to establish the calm and create the peace pipe don't care about my age. i care more about what's in my heart. that's why i'm doing it. >> so, keeper, in a different town in northern mexico, we saw an entire police force that was attacked by the cartels quit. so what we saw in this small city in northern mexico really represents an extraordinary act of courage. >> you have to admire her bravery, clearly, the cartel still has the upper hand. 93 don't even have, you know, weapons to fight against them if they need to? >> yeah, that's absolutely true, kiran but their strategy is much more akin to a classic counterinsurgency strategy they're using what in military partial lance, you would got indirect warfare, going directly to the people and try to win the hearts and minds as a method to quell the violence. >> kaj lars for nationwide strikes today and all next week. 62. a meure has already passed but it's not yet signed into law. president nicolas sarkozy has that. and now the united nations has a bedbug problem. officials say they've been battling bedbugs in i new york furniture for moss now. it's turned up at apartment building like bloomingdales, the waldorf left out, ght here last time i . fingers crossed. no more free downloads for you. the judge has ordered lime wire, a music site to stop districting software that allows dwrufrs share files. a judge ruled that lime wire willful engabled copyright infringement. lime light says it hopes to move forward. as political races go, the senate race in new york state doesn't qualify as a matchup it pits patty murray with dina rossi. the latest poll has murray leading by a sith point. so why should you care? jim acosta live in seattle this morning. jim, i guess the reason why people should care is this say potential stepping-stone for a republican-controlled senate in 2011. >> that's right. if dino rossi wins this race over patty murray, the republicans could have that magazine number they need need to take control of the senate. as you mentioned, this is not the flashiest senate race in the country. there around any aqua buddhas or witches lurking about. but what you do have is one of the top democrats in washington fighting to hang on to her job in the senate. and in a deep blue state like washington, it is another sign of the times for a party in trouble. >> patty, patty! >> reporter: she came to congress 18 years ago as a self-described senator in tennis shoes. these day, patty murray may mix up her footwear, but she's running for her political life. are you changed? >> i am still the mom who comes home every single weekend from washington, d.c. to come out to my communities, touch people in my neighborhoods. >> reporter: but unlike other democrats, murray isn't running away from the white house or the party message that it's the republicans who wrecked the economy. >> us democrats, we are the fiscally responsible party. >> reporter: not everybody would agree with that these zwras. >> i know. i've been there. in 1992 when i was elected the first time with bill clinton we had a deficit that ross perot was reminding us all about. it took a democrat president and congress toome in and make some very tough choices that got us back on a path of fiscal responsibility. >> reporter: but republican state lawmakerinoossi points to murray's votes for the bailout and the system loss and he vows he will never accept an earmark pet project in office. >> we' witnessing the ndamental redefinition of america and we cannot let thatr wasn't the tea party's first choice cautions he wouldn't take an ax to balance it. you wouldn thugh line by line by line. before. knew how this works. >> patty murray voted for the largest tx increase history. >> reporter: rossi is getting help from this one, running ads like this. >> tell senator murray, ouch. >> reporter: democratic protesters have blocked the outside groups at rossi's campaign events but this self-described reformed democrat t republican party. i believe it's a better direction of where we're going. >> reporter: other voters like murray's unapologetic love for unfunded project which is she cas investments. her earmarks for the system nicknamed her the fairy god mother. >> so you don't mind if she brings home the bacon? >> of course not. that's her job. >> people should be paying more attention to this race. really, it's at the heart of this race, and that is, is it the government's job to get the economy back on track or should washington just get out of the way? washington, d.c., that is, they'll point out here, in washington state. >> when it comes to deficit and debt, nobody is gold here the republicans add to the debt. this administration has added $3 how do you make a choice when you're a that's why it's strange to hear patty murray talking about the deficit. she walked into a democratic call center last night and was talking about the deficit. that's not something that we've heard the democrats talk a whole lot about. but it shows you how concerned people are about the issue. and we asked dino rossi overand over, where would you cut budget or rein in the deficit, he really didn't have an answer. he said he would go through line by line and perhaps places that people hadn't thought of to bring that deficit under control. but it's certainly one of the top issues out here in washington state, john. >> certainly. a lot of people care about that. a lot of people worry about that. jim acosta this morning. thanks. still ahead, a blog posting, "marie claire" magazine online called should fatties get a room? nearly 30,000 calls and eide mails according to the magazine. up next, we're going to ask a p the last acceptable prejudices. also, free speech. 37 minutes past the hour. ♪ [ man ] if it was simply about money, at ge capital, loaning money is the start of the relationship, not the end. i work with polaris every day. at ge capital, we succeed onhen they do. awesome! yes! we've got to get you out of the office more often. ♪ now. there's a big controversy brewing over a writer from "marie claire" who made a blog post that set off a massive response. the title of the post "should fatties get a room even on tv?" what she was talking about is the new sitcom out, mike and molly, that features two people who are overweight. she's raging over people overweight. here's a sample if you haven't read it. she writes, "i'd be grossed out if i had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other." she questioned their health. she also said she found it aesthetically unhealth to watch them walk across the room. one person definitely upset about is a doctor of professor of psychology at cal state university. she's also a psychologist on the bravo series, the weight loss program on that network. she's in l.a. this morning. thanks for getting up with us this morning. you talked about the reaction, you said you were infuriated and obesity is the one of the last prejudices that people are allowed to have. why is it acceptable to knock overweight people? >> it's acceptable as though a person elected to do this and that it should be easy to fix. numerous studies point to the idea that people who are obese are lazy or less intelligent or less successful. it's one of those few states that people are actually allowed to throw out a presidential term in ear shot of a person struggling with weight loss issues. it remains that last stereotype that people can hold in our society. and the marie claire piece reiterates that. >> she also apologized. realized that the post was insensitive. he didn't want anyone to feel bullied or ashamed and she was sorry if she went on to admit that she had her own issues with anorexia and life long obsession with being thin. she opened up about her own battles. does that make it better in any way? >> i think it's a brave revelation on her end. as much as we shouldn't go after or castigate people struggling with obesity, nor should we attack her for having her own struggles anorexia. it seems we're a country that's caught between struggling with weight loss in any number of ways. whether distorted eating, overeating, we can't get a handle on it and we attack it any way we can. i do think obese people, people who are overweight, are much more in the line of fire, despite obesity being the number one public health crisis right now. >> yeah. and i understand you had your own personal battle. you lost 85 pounds. >> yeah. >> you would never know it by looking at you. it's amazing and you're trying to help other people on your show, thinspiration, do it in a healthy way. kelly said i think obesity is something that people have a ton of control over it. it's something they can change if they put their minds to it. i think a lot of people feel that way. that inaccurate? >> i think it's accurate and inaccurate. can people address this? yes. what the problem with that statement is, it makes it seem that it's easy, as though obesity takes place in a vacuum. that a person simply goes and eats. there are so many psychological factors that contribute to a person overeating or getting to place of obesity. it is naive to believe that a person is going to take that weight off easily because they certainly didn't put it on easily. they think it's a quick fix, you take a walk around the park or stop eating sweets. it's not that simple. it was my experience. it's the experience of the clients i've worked. it's the experience of people on bravo. fattening of food is so easy to access in our society. and add to that the numerous psychological issues people bring every time they sit down to a table to eat food. this is not an easy issue to address. so to make it seem so simplistic puts the blame squarely on a person struggling with weight issues. if anything, that kind of piece is more likely to shame a person, put them more into the shadows and less likely or less willing to be able to take on the struggle of improving their health. by addressing their weight. rather than making it solely about appearance. >> why is it, though, as you said, it's acceptable to have prejudice against people for being obese. sort of the last acceptable prejudice to have. but all of these shows, even your show "thinner vention, saying you matter more because lost weight. isn't that also sending the message then? >> i agree. it's a slippery slope. at the end of the day, what we'd like to do is promote health, not appearance. but appearance is what sort of is the outcome measure. the fact is, i know this has been my experience i get treated differently now that i'm no longer overweight. when i was overweight, i was invisible. i was almost rendered a nonperson. people looked through me. that might have been how i held myself. when i got my health back, i took it more seriously. obesity doesn't necessarily mean a person doesn't self-confidence and self-respect. many people who struggle with weight still hold themselves high. but i agree, in the united states and most of the world, we associate people who are in good shape 0 who meet a certain esthetic standard as somehow being better. instead of making these shows being thinner and better, it really should be be about being healthier and transforming once inside and outside. we can't see the inside change so we use the outside as a meter. >> doctor, great insight on this issue this morning. thanks so much. >> thank you so much. >> you know, i was reading a study earlier this week that found, and it would seem like it would be obvious, but controlling or eating and get something exercise is very effective at losing weight and keeping the weight off, but as she said, it's a difficult process for people to go through. particularly people who are morbidity obese. >> 30,000 posts to "marie claire" magazine. many people upset with this. >> rob marciano's got the travel forecast after the break. it's looking a lot better than it did the last couple of days. stay with us. does this getyeah. gas mileage? it's a pretty big deal. ♪♪ check the news online weather, check the time ♪ ♪heck the wife, eck the kids ♪ ♪ check your email messages ♪ check the money in the bank ♪ check the gas in the tank ♪ check the flava from your shirt ♪ ♪ make sure your pits don't stank ♪ ♪ check the new hairdo, check the mic one two ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm about to drop some knowledge right on top of you ♪ ♪ you check a lot of things already why not add one more ♪ ♪ that can help your situation for sure ♪ ♪ check your credit score ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ free-credit-score ♪ you won't regret it at all! ♪ check the legal y'all. >>offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage.® all right, we got ten minutes to the top of the hour. let's get a quick check of the weather headlines. rob marciano in the weather center there. you see the remnants of the storm in canada. rob, thankfully, it's gone away? >> it has, it's been weakening as you see from the satellite pitting. it's been a slow-go into the intermountain west and the rocky mountains. exploding into the plains and into southern ontario. we didn't see a ton of rough weather from new york to boston, we certainly did from d.c. down to richmond and parts of north carolina. damaging storms yesterday afternoon, especially. check out the video coming from person county. he got peppered with not only high winds but potentially tornadoes. we had 14 reports of tornadoes yesterday alone. and over about two dozen the day before. so quite a storm with a tornado outbreak for october. extremely, extremely rare. down across the south, we still have the front that kind of hangs its head and not getting offshore all too quickly. so south of atlanta still seeing showers or thunderstorms. nothing terribly severe. we don't expect to see a lot of severe weather today. heat, we didn't talk about this, is this one of the factors of the storm. we get temperatures unusual. 94 in houston yesterday. 94 degrees in monroe, louisiana. 93 degrees in mountain lake, florida. cool and dry air coming behind this. we're looking at a pretty decent weekend although the northwest and parts of california will see rainfall today and tonight. in between that cool and dry air, it will be kind of cool tonight. frost and freeze advisories, temperatures in the 30s from st. louis. as far south of northern texas just north of dallas. it will be a little on the chilly side there. so, it looks like we're driving out, temperatures will be, john, since you asked in the lower 40s trick or treat time. both saturday and sunday night. >> but your woollies on if you're going out? >> right. stories coming up. including campaigning on comedy central. president obama goes one-on-one with jon stewart. will it rally young voters. arrest at the bomb stop. the bomb capture. a drive rescued a 300-pound deep see shark. the rescue caught on tape. ♪ [ man ] i thought our family business would always be boots. until one day, my daughter showed me a designer handbag. and like that, we had a new side to our business. 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[ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com. i'm peter king. i work for "sports illustrated" nbc sports covering the national football league. i also write a column for si.com called "monday morning quarterback." i'm probably on the road 120 to 140 days a year. in this job, information is power. i have to have my dsl verizon card because you don't have wireless everywhere you go. i've got to have my blackberry. as often as i can i will get to a hotel that is within walking distance of what it is i'm covering. i try to avoid the use of rental cars or cabs. i always pack for long trips very lightly, and i do my own laundry on the road. i will pack in a small suitcase and i'll be gone for 17 days, and i'll do my laundry four times. my name is peter king, and i'm a road warrior. >> and we have got about three minutes to the top of the hour. stay with us, the top stories are coming your way right after the break. 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[ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com deal! good morning to you. thanks so much for joining us on this "american morning." it's thursday, october 28th. i'm kiran chetry. >> good morning to you, i'm john roberts. here are this morning's top stories. a chilling plot to blow up subway stations near the pentagon and kill as many as possible. authorities say the suspect thought he was working with al qaeda but it was actually the fbi. we're live on this story ahead. a deadly earthquake and tsunami ravaging indonesia. more than 300 people confirmed deads. hundreds missing. entire villages wiped out, some remote, it could be days before help arrives. and world class swimmer fran crippen died off a race off the united emirates last weekend. some say the race should never have been held. we'll talk to a teammate of crippen's who was in the water with him about what went wrong. we begin the hour with the countdown until america votes, just five days to go before midterm elections. the president and the candidates entering the final campaign stretch. we've got the best political team on tv covering it for us. ed henry at the white house, covering the president's appearance on "the daily show" and dana bash reporting on the record spending taking place this election. >> first, something that's never happened before in politics. a sitting president appearing on comedy sent trap. president obama going one-on-one with "the daily show's" jon stewart. >> we have passed historic health care reform, historic financial regulatory reform. we have done things that some folks dongts even know about it for -- >> what have you done that we don't know about? [ laughter ] >> well -- >> are you planning a surprise party for us? [ laughter ] new jobs and health care! >> ed henry is live for us at the white house this morning. and what are they saying about the president's performance there? >> well, they feel pretty good. i mean, they've had eyebrows raised before when the president has been aggressive about unconventional venues to try to get his message out even on "the view" to reach out to female voters, for example. they got some flak for that. now there may be people raising their eyebrows about him sitting down with a comedian lately. jon stewart's got a lot of influence and sort of a quasinews comedy program. they feel just as he reached out to female voters before, now, he's reaching out to young voters on the eve of the midterm election. young voters who may have been supporters in 2008 may now be disillusioned. this say way to address their concerns. and jon stewart did not give him a free pass. he asked him questions about whether he's lived up to the hype of 2008. and the president pushed back saying, look, it's still yes, we can, but i never said it's going to happen overnight. you got to give us more time. and issues like health care, he feels he's got successes that he wants to tell. >> you ran with such, if i may, audacity. so much of what you said was great leaders lead in a time opportunity. you're the ones we're looking for. yet legislatively it has felt timid at times. and i'm not sure at times what you want out of a health care bill. >> and this is -- jon, i love your show but -- >> very nice of you. >> -- but this is something where i have a profound disagreement with you and i don't want to lump you in with a lot of other pundits [ laughter ] >> -- you may. >> -- no, no, this motion that health care was tilled, you've got 30 million people who are going to get health insurance as a consequence of this. >> when he was pressed on the economy. whether his economic team was too close to wall street, the president had said that larry surplus had done a heck of a job to which jon stewart said that might not be the best phrase after that whole brownie, heck of a job, after katrina. >> ed henry for us, thanks. as we've been saying just five days to go until america vote. we have the newest poll numbers out in america's tightest races. let's check out california. the latest cnn/"time" research poll has barbara boxer, incumbent, clinging to a five-point lead over challenger carly fiorina. let's go to the colorado race. 40% of voters backing ken buck. 46 of course support democratic candidate michael bennet. >> and in nevada, deep trouble, republican sharron angle holding a six-point advantage over harry reid. and kentucky, rand paul has open under a seven-point lead over jack conway. the political race is changing by the hour. all you have to do is head to cnnpolitics.com. and a reminder that "american morning" is going to be on an hour early next monday and tuesday, starting at 5:00 a.m. eastern, to give you all the political news you need to know. then, the morning art election on the 3rd, we're start at 3:00 a.m. 3:00 on the 3rd. >> can't wait. >> so we'll bring you all the election results. some of the races won't be decided yet. also new this morning, the rand paul supporter who was caught on videotape pushing a supporter of the liberal activist group moveon.org to the ground and stomping her head wants an apology from the woman he roughed up. here's what he told our affiliate in kentucky. >> she's saying all kinds of things but most of it's not true. i actually put my foot on her arm tow i couldn't bend over because i have issues with my back. so i put my foot on her, and i did push her down at the very end. and i told her to stay down. >> the man in the video is ordered to appear in court nation an assault charge. >> folks in central virginia are dealing with the aftermath of several possible tornadoes. the worst damage was in mechanicsville where fallen trees damaged cars and homes. fortunately no serious injuries. six minutes past the hour. we get a check of the weather headlines. rob marciano in atlanta. we see the video, the humongous tree that was completely knocked over. we see that in many, many areas yesterday. >> extremely widespread event. and the storm is still trying to wind itself down. one other spot that got hit hard, kentucky, damage video coming out of mr., middles borough right there. it touched down. right before the day before yesterday, two dozen tornado reports came in all the way through wisconsin right on through kentucky. you saw that video across parts of north carolina and virginia, they got hit hard as well. here's where the tornado reports come in from yesterday, the mid-atlantic and deep south have their fair share as well. where is the rain and thunderstorms? offshore to the northeast but that's good. the southern half of the system certainly dragging its feet. southern mississippi and alabama seeing lower thunderstorms but these should be moving off later on today. cooler, drier and more quiet weather moving in, at least for the eastern two-thirds of the country later on tonight. >> cooler, dryer, didn't matter, but we like the idea of calmer. >> that's a good one. >> it's been a crazy week. >> it's been a little rough. there's a manhunt under way in central missouri for a armed 23-year-old man. police say he shot and kill three people and injured a fourth. investigators say the victims knew the suspect. big weekend in the nation's capital, the marine corps marathon takes place. and the pentagon says there's going to be extra security on hand after a string of shots were fired at military blds. sunday's marathon is one of the largest, 30,000 runners are expected to participate. no relief for the millions of people in new jersey, connecticut, philadelphia after fox pulled programming almost three weeks with a dispute with cable company cable vigs. yesterday, the parent company of fox rejected the last-ditch effort from cablevision. fox wants more money from its program. cablevision said it's the same rate that news corp charges time warner to carry fox. they hope they'll be able to salvage it for the world series but that was thought to be. >> what did the cablevision customer miss? they missed the giants whipping the texas rangers 11-7 in the first game. the giants batted the best pitcher cliff lee scoring seven runs to bust the game wide open. game two tonight in san francisco. society giants proving that lee not invincible. >> no got a lot of hits. >> he did. >> a lot of runs. i didn't see it, though, because unfortunately cablevision customer. >> that's the great thing about america. you do have choices. >> exactly. still ahead, incredible footch of a dangerous encounter between man and shark. we're going to show it to you coming up. and new details on that mystery woman who was with charlie sheen in the night he allegedly tracked a hotel room in new york. also, a virginia man accused plotting a bomb at a washington, d.c. metro station. we're live with details on that. it's now nine minutes past the hour. [ k. tyrone ] i'm an engineer. my kids say i speak a different language. but i love math and math and science develop new ideas. we've used hydrogen in our plants for decades. the old hydrogen units were very large. recently, we've been able to reduce that. then our scientists said "what if we could make it small enough to produce and use hydrogen right on board a car, as part of a hydrogen system." this could significantly reduce emissions and increase fuel economy by as much as 80%. with standard features more like the mercedes c300, you'd have to take out the six-disc cd changer and leather-trimmed seats. with the bmw 328i, you'd also lose the power moonroof and 17-inch alloy wheels. and some others in its class -- forget wood detailing or sound-dampening windshields, to name a couple. but why would you want to do that? the lexus es -- standard is nothing short of extraordinary. see your lexus dealer. 12 minutes after the hour, cnn's "security watch" now. a suspect is in custody charged in a terror plot to blow up train stations in the washington, d.c. metro system. >> the suspect is a pakistani-american from virginia. apparently he thought he was planning attacks with al qaeda. it was actually, though, a homeland sting operation. jeanne meserve is tracking new operations. tell us more about what exactly he was planning? >> well, john and kiran, this arrest highlights two troubling trends one is the targeting of mass transit. the other is plotting by domestic terrorists. >> reporter: the intended target, washington's metro system which carries 750,000 people every day. the government alleges that 34-year-old farooque ahmed, a naturalized u.s. citizen born in pakistan wanted to kill as many military people as possible. and cased four metro stations near the pentagon. he did his alleged plotting with people he believed were affiliated with al qaeda. but they were really working for the government. as of now, officials say they have no indication that he was working with other extremists overseas or here in the u.s. >> the fact that he was arrested and the case made public is a strong indication that it's not jeopardizing any other active investigation. >> reporter: the indictment says ahmed provided video and sketches of the four metro stations and suggested an attack during afternoon rush hour to maximize casualties. >> it's definitely scary for me to think that something could have happened. >> because there's really no things in place to keep someone from actually just coming into the system and blowing up the metro. >> reporter: the investigation is continuing. police searched ahmed's ashburn, virginia, townhouse where he lived quietly, neighbors said, with his wife and young son. >> you know, you don't expect people who are citizens to do things like that. >> but u.s. officials have been sounding the alarm over domesticle terrorism. more than 20 americans have been charged with serious terror violations this year. but officials insist in this instance, the public was never in any danger. john, kiran, thank you. >> on that point, jeanne, obviously it's good to uncover anybody who's got nefarious intent against targets in the united states. but without the fbi reeling this guy in, would he have really been capable of anything? >> we don't know that. in the indictment, there's no mention that he had any sort of explosives, as we indicated. at this point in the investigation, they have no indication that he had any ties with anyone domestically or internationally with whom he might have have been plotting. however, i talked to one expert yesterday who said it could have developed into something more, especially given internet connections if he had found one or two other people who have the same sympathies. who nose, maybe this could have turned into something significant. joy behar may have gotten flowers after attacking nevada candidate sharron angle on her "view." it doesn't mean she's making nice. rhymes with "itch." ♪ when you walk my way it gives you ♪ ♪ come precisely on time ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ a continuous link, that is always in sync ♪ ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ there will be no more stress ♪ ♪ cause you've called ups, that's logistics ♪ sometimes i would get rewards, sometimes i wouldn't. this one card i had -- there were all these rules. rules and restrictions. oh, and limits. 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[ male announcer ] the refreshingly simple bankamericard cash rewards credit card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. ♪ a song written by a friend of mine. >> really. it's a good song. >> it is. it went number one too. you can bet my friend's happy about that. here's some of the stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning. some incredible video to show you of an encounter between man and shark. scott mcnicole says an eight-foot shark began circling while filming off the coast maine. he then said the shark mistook his camera for food and attacked it. luckily, mcnicol wasn't hurt. >> i saw it. it's hard to improve something as basic as toilet paper, right? one company doing that, kimberly clark, getting rid of the cardboard tube. you asked me in the last hour, we were talking how much difference does it make. they claim, if we remove it, 17 billion toilet paper tubes that's what we use annually, that we could actually save 160 million tons of trash a year. are you sold on it yet? >> getting warmer, that's for sure. >> they say it's going to be available in the northeast first. if the sales are good, expect it nationwide. >> when i was a kid that was so long ago. we used to take the toilet paper tubes and make pretend binoculars out of it. >> my daughter, she's a big fan of dora the explorer. they made binoculars out of them. before you fly for the upcoming holidays you're going to want to hear what travel experts sar the worst airlines. love this. according to the airline quality rating report which looks at delays fees, lost luggage. the worst, delta air lines followed by united, alaska, american and u.s. >> i thought it was meanest? they're mean because of delays? >> well they're probably part of that, you know. the one thing, though. the one thing good about flying out of atlanta because i fly out of there all the time. if a plane breaks, if a delta plane breaks, there's lots of them around. >> well, that's good. that's reassuring. they just put the broken ones aside. it sturn turns out that the mystery woman charlie sheen brought to the hotel room was a porn star, not an escort for prostitute. they wanted to make that clear. friends of the 22-year-old say that capri anderson was not a prostitute but was very afraid to call for him. sheen reportedly texted online calling the incident overblown and overrated. >> he makes almost $2 million an episode for "2 1/2 men." in the spirit of the midterms, it is the jim mcmillan action doll. he's the candidate from the rent is too damn high party, and it speaks. >> they missed the best part. his gloves. he wore black gloves throughout the whole debate. and an interesting hat. >> they got that out in, what, a week? that's amazing. >> well, nevada's republican candidate for senate, sharron angle is getting back at joy behar. all of it starts tuesday on "the view" when behar let loose. thursday the topic was a controversial ad by angle's campaign attacking harry reid's position. here's a look. >> let me tell you how stupid she is, 25% of voters in nevada are hispanic. 80% of them are mexican. this is a moron on top of being evil. i'd like to see her do this ad in the south bronx, come here [ bleep ] come to new york and do it. >> she got a this with a thank you note. >> this morning, i get the flowers from sharron angle. it's a brassiere moment. it says "joy, raised $150,000 online yesterday thanks to your remark." thanks for help, sharron angle. i'd like to point out that those flowers were picked by illegal immigrants and they're not voting for you [ bleep ]. still to come on "american morning," a sitting president appearing on comedy central. president obama and jon stewart facing off on "the daily show," david bully is coming back with his thoughts. i was driving in northern california. my son was asleep. i really didn't see it coming. i didn't realize i was drifting into the other lane. 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[ cheers and applause ] >> it was actually the first time a sitting president ever appeared on the program. and jon stewart didn't pull any punches, often emphasizing the disappointment of a lot of voters who supported the president so passionately in 2008 now feel. david biencully is the editor of a tv website. thanks for being with us. >> thanks, hi there. >> there are a lot of skeptics about the sitting president going on a talk show. talking that maybe it diminished the office, damaged the brand. what was your take after watching it last night? >> i was looking forward to it and i thought it was great. he's done leno and letterman. there was something about jon stewart that i expected stewart to listen and do follow-up questions. and that's exactly what he did. >> the president through all of this, david, was careful not to turn it into a laughfest. jon stewart tried to inject as much humor as he could. there was one particular exchange at that president was trying to eliminate what the administration had accomplished over the last couple of years. of course, stewart wasn't letting him do it. take a listen. >> we have passed historic health carol reform. historic financial regulatory reform. we have done things that some folks don't even know about -- >> what have you done that we don't know about? [ laughter ] >> well -- >> are you planning a surprise party for us? [ laughter ] new jobs and health care! >> an interesting way for the president to answer that question. and we've done things that you probably don't know about. >> yeah, i mean, when i was watching that, i thought of nixon immediately. it was one of those gaffes, and he made a couple of them, and stewart saved him. but went for the humor. but you don't get to have that sort of a moment on tv unless you're listening closely to the person to whom you're speaking, rather than just waiting to pounce with your next question. i think stewart did a good job. >> and that is what he, you know, has been praised for in the past, exactly what you're referring to, being able to sort of drill down because of his ability to interview and perhaps the freedom, because he's, you know, technically the fake news. even though he's, as we saw, extremely influential. the latest ask.com poll showing he's the most influential american. i want to play this other exchange where again, stewart, managed to bring out what perhaps some may call a gaffe in the president. let's look. >> in fairness, larry surplus did a heck of a job trying to figure out how to -- [ laughter ] -- >> you don't want to use that phrase, dude. [ laughter ] . . >> pun intended. >> all right. >> two things there, first of all, jon stewart called the leader of the free world "dude" which was a surreal moment. but secondly, he was calling him out. of course, heck of a job, brownie, the famous words of president bush speaking of fema director mike brown in the wake of katrina. >> exactly, president dude might have shown a little more respect. but he was listening and warning him, that was actually in response where he was pushing president obama on hire something of the exact same people when he said he was going to cull in and do change. so it was at the end of a really good questioning session that we got to that very funny moment. >> stewart does have an interesting license in his position in being able to interview the leader of the free world. because if any of us ever said, interjected like that, particularly used the word "dude" we'd be getting hate mail for a week. >> right. but i like that he uses that power for good, rather than evil. he's educating young people. he's treating all people who come on as guests on his show seriously. and in between the jokes, there's really a lot of serious talk going on. he started right off -- i'm sorry, one sentence in, the interview was already started. they didn't waste any time with comedy. >> in the end, a win for the president? did he perform well? >> he performed well with an audience that he wants to get out and vote, so, yes. and certainly a win for stewart. >> david bien coolly, good to talk to you this morning. thanks for joining us. >> thanks very much for having me on. 31 minutes past the hour right now. time to look at the top stories just in time for halloween. the consumer product safety administration and dollar tree stores are recalling 700,000 battery-operated lanterns because of overheating. it can overheat and cause fire and burn hazards. cut back soda, cut back your risk for type 2 diabetes. the study that was done bit harvard school of public health says drinking one or two sugary drinks, even vitamin water every day, increasing your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. how much? researchers found that people were 26% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who drank one. >> juice shouldn't get a pass either. if you're drinking pure orange juice, that has just as much. >> anything with sugar is bad. high winds are being blamed for the tragic death of a notre dame university studio. 20-year-old declan sullivan was filming video from the tower. when the tower collapsed with winds 50 miles an hour. they're investigating the accident. the university is holding a special mass today. a devastating bolt has members of indonesia and sumatra this morning. the tiny nation was hammered by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake. that triggered a deadly tsunami, sending waves as high as 10 feet crash into the island. entire villages had been wiped out. if that wasn't enough, a volcanic eruption on the nearby island of java has taken more than 30 lives with thousands now fleeing for safety and hundreds of people missing. paula hancocks just arrived in the region about an hour ago. she's joined us by phone. she's on one of those islands off the west coast sumatra, the area that was hit especially hard. what can you tell us, paula? what does it look like here? >> reporter: i'm actually on the island of the 7,000 islands that actually has an asterisk. this particular area was not hit hard. we're very close to the areas that were. we understand from the people here telling us that certain villages have been completely flattened. there's still hundreds of people that are still missing. and they're still waiting, and they've basically not yet got to it. it's hard to understatement how remote this area is. the aid agencies have been try for two dice get to the area. it happened monday evening, this earthquake followed by the deadly tsunami. but for some of the reports that trickle out and the realization of just how deadly it has been. so that's a huge problem, the fact that it is very difficult to access. planes can't go down there. many boats can't dock there. they can dock at a neighboring port. apparently the hospitals are inundated with people who have been injured. >> you talk about how remote it is, paula. how difficult it is to get there. what countries are trying to help at this point? >> reporter: well, there has been all sorts of help from the united states and as from other countries as well. but it's not actually the lack of aid that is the problem. it's the lack of being able to get the aid to where it is needed exactly. because at this point, the aid agencies are on the ground. we have the red cross. we have world vision, we have many others who have the capability of getting the food, water, tents, medicine that is needed. but it is just very difficult to get it to the people who do actually need it. these islands are incredibly remote. they are very difficult to get to by boat, by air. today, we tried once again to try and get to them but there was a storm and so many of the boats just did not want to sail. so it's not a case of not having it, it's of the fact that they can't get to the people. >> paula hancocks for us on the indonesia islands this morning. thanks so much. some scary moments for passengers on board an alaska airlines flight. the jet's wing clipped other plane as it went through the gate at seattle seatac airport. no one was hurt in the incident. there was damage to the planes. 130 passengers had to be taken off the flight. the second plane was empty. nissan is recalling more than 2 million vehicles worldwide. the problem may cause the engine to stall. in extreme cases the stalled engine can't be restarted. the recall involved six models between 2003 and 2006. the model, armada, the frontier, the pathfinder, the titan, the extear ra, and the infinity 2006. the automaker says no accidents have been reported. coming up, fran crippen was in an open-water water swim in the united emirates. crippen's own teammate, christine jennings was in the water with him. she had her own desperate struggle, wondering if she herself would survive the race. she joins us now. coming up on 40 minutes after the hour. new developments this morning relating to the death of 26-year-old american swimmer fran crippen. crippen died while competing in a te10k race. while competing in warm waters. he wasn't the only one struggling with those conditions. three swim ares were sent to the hospital with extreme dehydration and exhaustion. christine jennings is one of them. she joins us from denver to understand what went wrong. christine, thanks for joining us. of course, we all feel terrible about what happened to fran. what were the conditions like for you as a competitive swimmer and how doll they compare to what you normally swim in? >> the conditions there were a bit extreme. going into the race, the air temperature already was extremely high. and it's not something that most people are used to, unless you have lived there and grown up in that kind of environment, most of your life. the water temperature was definitely unusually high for me and several people i heard complaining about this -- complaining tab as well. >> now, my understanding of competitive open-water swimming, christine, is that there are minimum temperatures before competitors can raise, but there's no maximum temperature? >> that is correct. there is a minimum temperature of about 60 degrees. and there's no cap on anything. >> wow. so this is a 10k race, many of us can't imagine swimming six miles. triangular course, 2k laps that you would compete ten times in. you were affected by this. when did things start going wrong for you? >> things started going wrong probably between the 6,000 and 8,000 meters. i noticed things starting to go downhill really past about after the 8,000 meter mark. my head started pounding and just started getting light-headed. started veering off in directions that i wasn't supposed to be going in. and it was kind of a scary -- >> did you throw up as well? >> yes. i did. >> oh, my goodness. >> after the first -- the speed boat was positioned about 300 meters from the start. so about 2,300 meters into the race, after doing one loop, i took my first feed, and i just kind of came right back up. and just stayed down. >> was it dehydration? was it heat exhaustion you were feeling? what do you think it was? >> i think it was just how the heat was affecting my body. >> right. >> it just wouldn't allow mow to keep things down. >> now, at one point, you rolled over on your back and you lifted up your hand which is a signal to rescue boats that are supposed to be nearby. what happened? >> i'd say it was probably about maybe 500 meters from the finish, somewhere around there, it got to the point where i was starting to get scared and i didn't know where i was, so i had to turn on my back. and i lifted my hands up for about ten seconds and just was like where -- okay, hopefully someone sees this and comes, gets me, because i want to get out of this race. so i kind of was lying on my back for several minutes and thinking "okay, why is no one coming?" okay. i look up again, several minutes later, no one had come. and i had to tell myself, you have to swim to shore. that's the only way you're getting out of this race. >> wow. >> i really had to focus then. >> we've got video at the start of fran's race, you can see in the background that there are a couple of boats and a jet ski as well that appear to be on hand. and, of course, there's a chase boat as well. but when you rolled over on your back and put your hands up, a signal of distress, were there any boats around you? was there any rescue boat, anyone moderating the race that you saw? >> i saw a boat maybe 200, 300 meters away. nobody ever came. nobody ever saw me. that's one of the things that i want to talk about is people weren't watching. they weren't looking out for danger. and that's something every -- anyone who -- a life guard, for example, has to look out and be on guard about all the tile. >> what are they supposed to do in those races? and what have they done in other races, in terms of monitoring the swimmers? >> monitoring the swimmers has played -- well, let's just say, most races i've been in they've done a pretty good job about that. world cup races maybe not so much. but still a lot better than what happened here . in the united states we contact the local authorities, the local people who host events like -- like for like water safety. >> right. >> and they're normally there to advise us on how many people we need throughout because they know the water's best. typically, like the world championship -- >> i was going to say, obviously, that lack of response is going to be a part of the investigation. christine, thanks so much for joining us. i know you've got a race coming up in rio in the not too distant future. are you worried about that one? >> yeah. a little bit. but, you know, it's something i love doing, and i'm not going to stop doing it. >> all right. christine jennings, thanks for joining us this morning. again, our condolences to you and the rest of the team about fran's death. >> thank you very much. >> well still to come, cooler ra, there's an outbreak in haiti right now. if it hits the capital it could be catastrophic. dr. sanjay gupta is there. he's uncovering a warehouse full of supplies and medicine still sitting unused while so many suffer. it's coming up on the next hour of "american morning." also, bitter cold air plunging into the northwest this morning while the east stays warm and humid. rob marciano is joining us with the travel forecast right after the break. it's 46 minces aft minutes afte. - hello! - ha! why don't you try a home cooked meal... with yummy hamburger helper? oh! tada! fantastically tasty, huh? ummm, it's good. what would you guys like? hamburger helper. what?! one pound... one pan... one tasty meal! so, you know what? tell me, what makes peter, peter ? well, i'm an avid catamaran sailor. i can my own homemade jam, apricot. and i really love my bank's raise your rate cd. i'm sorry, did you say you'd love a pay raise asap ? uh, actually, i said i love my bank's raise your rate cd. you spent 8 days lost at sea ? no, uh... you love watching your neighbors watch tv ? at ally, you'll love our raise your rate cd that offers a one-time rate increase if our current rates go up. ally. do you love your bank ? right now. time to get a check of this morning's weather headlines. rob marciano has been quite busy. he had a lot of extreme weather across the country. anything slow down as we head into the halloween weekend? >> well, the weathers beginning to get more calm, guys. this storm that really doesn't want to end continues to move slowly to the south. and these storms not really severe, but pestering parts of new orleans, back through doten, alabama, through the florida panhandle. these will push off. new york, philly, boston, you're in the clear. looks like drier air is moving into your area. cooler air as well. so cool, in fact, we've got frost/freeze advisories out. temperatures will drop to the 30s as far south as northern texas, including the dallas metro area. out to the north we go, seattle, another storm rolling in. san francisco, hosting game two tonight. i think it will at least start off dry and cloudy. with a game time of around game maybe extra innings seeing a couple of showers. 42 degrees in minneapolis. breezy today. a little snow in minnesota yesterday. not a lot stuck and one of the many facets of this monster storm. back up to you. >> rob, thanks so much. see you again soon. history-making night for cable television. president obama, the first sitting president ever to appear on comedy central going one on one with jon stewart. the highlights at the top of the hour with our ed henry at the white house. happens if someone gets my credit or debit card and buys a ton of stuff? 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[ male announcer ] the opportunity to worry less about fraud with the zero liability guarantee from bank of america. most politics in the morning now. there's a staggering new estimate of how much money is being poured into the campaign this is year. >> yep. billions and billions. our senior congressional correspondent dana bash joins us live. the pinky thing. this is unprecedented spending? >> it is unbelievable and unprecedented spending in this year's election to shatter records and a new report shows us by just how much. sure, there's a lot of money flowing in this year's election but exactly how much being spent is mind blowing. $4 billion. to put $4 billion in context, that's enough to send about 80,000 students to princeton for a year. it could buy every person in the country three big macs with fries at mcdonald's. $4 billion is more than the money spent in the last midterm election in 2006 and dwarfs the $1.61 billion in 1998. opensecrets.org compiled the figures in a few report. >> the stakes are so high this cycle it is not surprising there's intensity to the cycle that was perhaps reduced or missing in the last cycles. >> reporter: though much is spent by candidates themselves, an eye-popping amount from outside candidates' campaigns. political parties and independent groups. $430 million in overall outside spending. only $31 million was spent in 2002, less than a decade ago. and despite democrats' complaints of being outspent coming to political parties, democrats are winning. all told, the democratic party has raised $782 million, a lot more than the republican party at $515 million. but gop outside groups with ads like this are making up for that gap and then some. although democratic groups are catching up, they're being outspent by gop counter parts two to one. another fascinating 2010 trend -- key industries moving campaign cash from democrats to republicans. take the health care sector. when the president took office, two thirds of its dollars were going do democrats. since health care passed, the industry is giving 60% to republicans. the same goes for money from wall street and the energy sector. just last year, both gave mostly to democrats. now, 67% of wall street money goes to republicans. the energy sector, 74% to republicans. >> i think they have got their finger in their ear looking at the changing poll numbers an seeing that the republicans have a clear shot at taking the majority, particularly in the house. >> now, we should note that while the dollar figures are huge, they're actually just conservative estimates based on fund raising numbers reported to the federal election commission and they'll climb. now going back to the estimate over $4 billion in overall spending, remember that this is a midterm election and $4 billion is about the same spent on the presidential election in 2004. >> really is pretty incredible. the amount of money and now, of course, with the campaign finance laws being relaxed, so much money flowing in from the outside groups. >> and experts especially those at the watchdog group that did the study say and that's a big reason why these numbers are so high is that the supreme court allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts and that's a big, big factor here. >> so interesting it's happening in a recession, and also, it's almost providing its own stimulus. >> it is. >> to these local economies where they're advertising. >> right. if you're an ad maker or a local news station owner. >> right. >> or a consultant. >> especially in the swing states. the poor people, i bet you they can't wait until tuesday so they don't see the ads anymore. >> absolutely. >> thanks so much. >> thanks. >> we crunched the numbers and instead of $4 billion on the campaign, here's other ideas of how that money could have been spent. it would have paid the annual salaries for more than 80,000 high school teachers and also paid the annual salaries more than 75,000 police officers. $4 billion -- >> yeah. also enough to cover, sorry, 12.3 million unemployment checks and buys 43 million bleacher tickets for a world series game. how about that one, dana? >> that's pretty impress iive. top stories are coming your way after a quick break. sure i'd like to diversify my workforce, i just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths, the field guide to evolving your workforce has everything you need. download it now at thinkbeyondthelabel.com. when you're responsible for this much of the team,d. you need a car you can count on. good morning. thanks so much for joining us on this thursday, 28th of october. good to have you with us. i'm john roberts. >> i'm kiran chetry. first for a sitting president. barack obama makes an unprecedented appearance. leader of the free world last night on "the daily show." the white house desperate to reel in core democrats, reach young voters, how did it go for the president? chilling terror plot to blow up washington, d.c. area subway stations, investigators say the suspect thought that he was part of an al qaeda planned attack but he was working with the fbi instead. homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve live with the details just ahead. dubbed mexico's bravest woman. now we're introduced to the 20-year-old top cop in one of the most violent areas in the world. >> are you afraid of the drug traffickers? are you afraid of the drug cartel? >> translator: i have fear. i'm afraid for my security. this is natural for the chief of police. >> see how she's taking on the violent drug cartels. we begin the hour with a cable tv first. a sitting president appearing on comedy central last night. just five days remain before election day and the stakes could not be higher. >> leader of the free world scaring off with jon stewart that some call the leader of america's discouraged left. >> so you wouldn't say you would run this time as a pragmatist? it wouldn't be yes we can given certain conditions and -- >> no. i think what i would say is -- >> yeah? >> yes, we can. but it is not -- but it is not going to -- it is not going to happen overnight. >> ed henry live at the white house this morning. what is the talk there at 1600 pennsylvania? how did the president do? >> reporter: they realize it wasn't perfect and moments difficult for the president and they feel these type of offbeat venues are good. he was on "the view" recently. now reaching out to young voters on "the daily show" and it was interesting because it was full of softballs but fast balls from jon stewart, basically pressing this president on some of the lofty goals and whether he's really fulfilled the promises of change and maybe he was representing sort of that disillusioned left as you noted. the president really pushed back hard. >> you ran with such, if i may, audacity. so much of what you said was great leaders lead in a time of opportunity. >> right. >> we're the ones we are looking for. yet, legislate liveively it's f timid at times. >> this is, jon, i love your show. >> well, very kind of you. >> but -- >> yeah? >> but this is something where, you know, i have a profound disagreement with -- >> right. >> -- and i don't want to lump you in with an a lot of other pundits but this notion. >> you may. >> no, no. you have 30 million people to get health insurance as a consequence of this. >> reporter: some lighter moments, as well. such as when the president defended the economic team by saying, larry smers is doing a heck of a job. jon stewart saying given the brownie heck of a job deal after katrina. maybe that's not a good idea, dude, as jon stewart called the president. they had a little laugh about that. maybe this is an opportunity for the president to humanize himself having that sort of give and take. john, kiran? >> at any rate, a lot of fun. president obama made more appearances on tv shows than any other president before him. here's more. he announced the final four picks on espn twice. he became the first sitting president to appear in a late-night show this spring with jay leno. first sitting president to visit a daytime talk show appearing on "the view." >> don't forget they did christmas at the white house special with oprah winfrey last december and not done yet. when's coming up next? the president will have a walk-on roll on "mist buyth bus this december about whether it's a myth that arkimedes beat back an army like a heat ray gun. >> if he had that who the el in las vegas he might have been able to do it. also new this morning, the pentagon says there will be extra security at this weekend's marine corps marathon after a string of shots at buildings. sunday's marathon is one of the largest. 30,000 expected to participate. a suspect accused of plotting up subway stations in the washington, d.c. area. >> homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve following developments for us from washington. jeann er jeanne, on the surface this seems troubling. is it? >> reporter: he wanted to kill as many military people as possible and cased four metro stations near the pentagon. he was plotting with people he believed to be members of al qaeda but it was a government sting. the indictment says he provided video and sketches of the stations, recommended attack between 4:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon when the system is most crowded and suggested how to conceal and plant the explosives. officials say at this point, there's no indication he was working with other extremists in this country or overseas but the investigation is continuing and sometimes those links do show up later. he'll be making a second court appearance friday. if convicted on all three charges, he faces a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison. the public was never in danger. the fbi was aware of this individual and closely monitoring him. john and kiran? >> troubling because this is not the first plot targeting mass transit here in the u.s. >> reporter: no. one of the most recent. a plot to attack new york subway system. and there have been successful strikes in spain and india, in brin - britain. people wonder if enough attention is paid to securing transit systems. it is a very difficult thing to do because of the number of entry and exit points but you can bet the case adds to the debate whether more can and should be done. back to you. >> jeanne, thanks. a devastating storm that rocked the midwest still not done yet. have a look at the satellite image from this morning. dozens of tornadoes reported in north carolina, virginia and maryland. time lapse video of yesterday outside of a cnn center in atlanta shows just how ominous the system looked as it approached. our rob marciano in atlanta today and it's a wholly different day. thankful for that. hi, rob. >> good morning, guys. we had tornado warnings for the metro atlanta area yesterday but thankfully dissipated and to other spots of georgia, we had serious weather. in cherokee county, georgia, wind damage there. the thunderstorms that produced that yesterday are now beginning to slowly push themselves down to the south and east and get offshore but the chain saws were out in action yesterday. tree damage in georgia and greater damage in places like richmond, virginia, parts of north carolina and as you mentioned maryland. here's where the storms are off the east coast. the northeast looks good for now and drier, cooler air moving into the area later on tonight and through tomorrow and the backside of this so cool where we might see some sub freezing temperatures as far south as north texas. not frigid stuff but enough to throw on the jacket in the morning or evening. john and kiran, back up to you. >> all right. we'll be watching. game one of the world series went to the giants. >> san francisco beat the texas rangers 11:-7. game two tonight in san francisco. >> i wonder if giants first baseman huff wearing what has been dubbed the secret weapon. apparently glittery red thong underwear he says are the lucky shorts. >> what? >> we had a pic. looking for the picture. they say, remember jason giambi? i think a gold thong to break out of the batting slump. >> who cares? >> there it is. who knew that was the trick behind the world series? >> at least it's just the thong. i thought it was a picture of him wearing that. check out the new superhero in town. talking about tights and other form of underwear. it's unemployed man to the rescue. coming up on cnn. and also, new york city's officially terrified with the bedbug epidemic. now it's spreading to yet another landmark. ♪ [ rock ballad ] ♪ ahh-ah-ah-ahh ♪ ahh-ah-ah-ahh ♪ ahh [ announcer ] just because you'll never want to let it go... doesn't mean it won't reward you if you do. only one car has the highest resale value in its class. ♪ here i am presenting the one. the 34-mile-per-gallon accord, from honda. what are you looking at? logistics. ben? the ups guy? no, you see ben, i see logistics. logistics? think--ben is new markets. ben is global access-- china and beyond. ben is a smarter supply chain. ben is higher margins. happier customers... everybody wins. logistics. exactly. see you guys tomorrow. can be unsettling. but what if there were a different story? of one financial company that grew stronger through the crisis. when some lost their way, this company led the way. by protecting clients and turning uncertainty into confidence. what if that story were true? it is. ♪ high winds blamed for the tragic death of a notre dame university student. 20-year-old sullivan filming football practice from a video toer yesterday when the tower collapsed as winds gusted to more than 50 miles per hour. they're now investigating the accident. the university meantime is holding a special mass in his honor today. if you live in new york city you can be forgiven because the bedbug crisis is growing. they have been discovered at the offices of -- the united nations. officials first discovered them last year. they believed the problem was solved after fumigating. guess what? they're back. >> ugh, just gives me goose bumps everywhere. even seeing them. disgusting. their little babies. >> we had them here at cnn for a while. the cute little beagles to sniff them out, too. well, all right. so we switch gears to talk about what's going on in haiti. they're having a problem in the wake of the earthquake of very, very contagious disease. cholera. it's not peaked yet but the outbreak is there and concerns of reaching port-au-prince, the capital city and 1.3 million struggling earthquake survivors are living in tent city. >> chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta in port-au-prince with the latest on the outbreak. >> reporter: how could this have happened? that's what julie santos wants to know. >> you have someone there, someone here. let's connect the dots. >> reporter: she was talking about trying to contain the outbreak of cholera. hundreds have died. thousands still in need of treatment. this is where you're told to come get supplies. you arrive here and you wait. if there's patients waiting, what happens? >> well, there are patients waiting. >> reporter: those patients waiting for the supplies? >> yeah. sending them out to the hospitals. >> reporter: where patients are begging for hydration. clean water. the cheapest of supplies. and yet, medical relief worker julie santos still waits for hours for the paper work to be approved before she can get the supplies. how can that happen? all that life-saving supplies could be in there and hundreds of people still died? >> i don't know. i mean, i don't understand. i'm at a lost, really. i'm trying to figure out why i can't really get a straight answer. >> reporter: i wanted to try to understand myself. a world health organization facility has the largest stockpile of supplies here in haiti. people waiting for hours outside and days in hospitals. is this. i mean, pallets of iv fluids, life-saving stuff. to treat these patients with cholera. thousands of people. but it's not just that pallet. look at the warehouse full, despite what's happening here in haiti. >> if we send everything we have here today, tomorrow we cannot answer for 100,000 cases. >> reporter: christian morales has to figure out who gets the supplies and when. explain to me again how you see supplies here from july of this year which is before the outbreak. well before the outbreak. >> people -- why you wanted to send it out before the outbreak? >> reporter: why not after the outbreak? we never did get a good explanation. what we saw were hydration salts, iv fluids, still sitting in the warehouse. did it go fast enough? >> they -- they -- i think every -- in every operation like this, you can do things better. and there's a lot of lessons to be taken up from this and the country needs to be prepared for what is coming because the likelihood of spreading of this epidemics is very high. >> reporter: and that's something we heard over and over. this epidemic is by no means over. the saved is a great success. hundreds of people died an they would say, look, i don't understand highway all tow all organizations had supplies and they died. you would say what? >> we have given away to everyone who has come here to ask for supplies. >> reporter: but not on this day. for julie santos. her paper work was never approved. and no one could ever tell her why not. she leaves the warehouse empty handed. as you know, cholera's one of the diseases if you treat it with basic supplies it is a very treatable disease. patients will recover. if you don't, patients can die. this is one of the diseases in medicine where you have to get the basic supplies to people and you have to get them there fast and that's what's driving a lot of this. now, one thing that's worth pointing out is that the majority of people who get infected with the bacteria, cholera bacteria, don't actually get sick but what they become is carriers moving around the country carrying the bacteria with them and seven or 14 days before they start to excrete that bacteria and that's why they're concerned about a potential second wave of disease. port-au-prince behind me. you can see the tent city over here. looks hard pi different than when i was here a couple of months ago. they're worried about the tent cities potentially becoming infected over the next several weeks. >> seeing your exchange is maddening. i mean, you're talking about why these supplies have been sitting there since july. that's not what they were meant to do, right? they were meant to go out to people that needed them even before this. did you ever get a straight answer? >> reporter: no. not really. i mean, the answer that you hear is that, look, we're sort of planning for a moving target so we have to anticipate a lot of cases in port-au-prince or a lot of cases in another part of the country and why they keep supplies and trying to distribute it accordingly. to your point, not talking about some expensive medical device or an expensive medicine or new diagnostic. it is the most basic life-saving supplies. saline. rehydration salts. there's lots of it sitting there. it can go out and fairly quickly. >> so, sanjay, it begs the point. you have the one woman coming up to get a pickup truck of supplies and couldn't. why doesn't the government roll a truck up there or one of the other country this is's still involved in haiti relief drop a helicopter into the parking lot, pick it up and take it where it's needed? >> reporter: yeah. you know, it's a good question. and, you know, for a couple of days after the outbreak started, there was a lot of confusion and this may surprise the both of you but what w.h.o. folks said, they were caught blind sided. despite the warnings and concerns of no clean water in the areas, they were caught blind sided and wasn't a lot of preparation and then a need they said that we have to have the confirmitory supptests before wt the supplies go. it is a good question. i don't know why that doesn't happen. right now, a lot of relief organizations, small ones like the ones you saw there, they're doing the majority of distributing here and those are the roadblocks to deal with every day. >> that's unbelievable. the nightmare continues for haiti. sanjay gupta for us, thanks for showing us firsthand what they're going through. still ahead, overpriced food, lost baggage, we know that flying the friendly skies, not so friendly anymore. which airlines were picked as the meanest? 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"give me back my t-shirt." before your book your flight home for the holidays, hear what experts say are the worst, some might say the meanest, airlines. according to the airline quality rating report which looked at delays, fees, lost luggage, the third worst airline is -- alaska airlines. united airlines came in second and the worst, the meanest airline -- delta airlines came in number one, dead last. >> con xwrats to all. how's this? a number of retailers including sears rolling out black friday now deals startling tomorrow. >> wow. >> so much for waiting behind thanksgiving. given the limited budgets, retailers trying to capture that first or second major holiday purchase fearing that consumers can't afford to buy more than that. >> almost a month moved up. it's the jimmy mcmillan action doll! he's from the rent is too damn high party. you can guess what it says. >> he doesn't know firsthand because we found out he doesn't have to pay rent. he has a bartering system with the landlord. toilet paper about to undergo the biggest change. they're getting rid of the tube saying that removing the estimated 17 billion tubes used annually could save 160 million tons of trash a year and available in the northeast first and if sales are good, expect it nationwide. i have traveled to countries without the tube in the middle and it seems to work just fine but, you know, here in america, we're used to it kind of rolling off the roll. >> it doesn't roll? >> bumps a little bit. like the restrooms here. too much information. she says she's tired of being afraid so this 20-year-old criminology student is the police chief in one of the most violent places in mexico. is she brave or or fofoolish? a live report is coming up. ♪ it's true. you never forget your first subaru. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no more $2, $3 fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no more paying to access your own money. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it'd be like every atm in the world was your atm. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the schwab bank high yield investor checking(tm) account. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 zero atm fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a great interest rate. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no minimums. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the biggest thing in checking since checks. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open an account at 1-800-4schwab or schwab.com. top stories just minutes away now but first a "a.m. original," something you'll see only on "american morning." policing the community in the heart of the mexican drug war. one of the most dangerous jobs. >> she's 20 years old, still in college. we sent a reporter down to mexico to meet her. she has the job literally no one else wanted. he joins us live from los angeles this morning. is she brave or perhaps naive of what she's undertaking? >> reporter: good question, kiran. we asked ourselves that question all day long down there filming in the town but one thing she said is that boldness is her bind. i wouldn't say she is naive about the situation but the chief of police is certainly undeterred by the violence erupting around her. we're headed 60 miles south of el paso, texas, into mexico into the juarez valley and known by the moniker the valley of death. meet marisel, a 20-year-old university student and mother of 57-month-old. do you know how to shoot a gun? >> no. >> reporter: have you ever shot a gun? >> no. >> reporter: she is the new chief of police. what do you do in your job as police chief? >> translator: we divide the town into nine different parts so the police officers go around the town. >> reporter: 13 officers, 9 of them women in this town of 8,000. been without a police chief for almost 18 months. why? no one else would take the job. are you afraid of the drug traffick traffickers? are you afraid of the drug cartels? >> translator: i have fear. i'm trade for my security. this is natural for the chief of police. >> reporter: this place is anything but natural. just to give you an idea of how acutely dangerous this job that the chief has is the last police chief her predecessor, they found his head in a box placed right here outside the station. that happened about a year ago. >> translator: this is the weapons bank. we are gong do get some new weapons but right now we don't have many. we have two pistols. >> reporter: this is the one police vehicle. there's bullet holes just in the vehicle alone. small caliber bullet holes right here, right here, right here. even the entrance to the police station was shot up. you work underneath the photograph of a man who was killed by the cartels. it must be on her mind. >> translator: yes. i'm afraid but we're very focused on prevention. >> reporter: the mexican army's been fighting with force. the chief garcia is conducting a counter insurgency campaign trying to win hearts an minds but still the threats against her are ato no, ma'am call. >> translator: at the beginning i didn't think of the risk of becoming a police chief but i wanted the job because of my young son and part of my dream to establish the calm and create the peace. i don't care about my age. i care more about what's in my heart. that's why i'm doing it. >> reporter: so, it continues to be a deadly week here in mexico and the southern border with mexico. there was 30 people killed in violence this past weekend alone but what the chief is doing seems to represent a little piece of hope for the people in northern mexico. >> she is a pretty extraordinary woman, no question. kaj larson with that story this morning, thanks so much. crossing the cross hour now. here's the top stories. the first for the a sitting president. barack obama makes an appearance last night on "the daily show with jon stewart." mostly serious with one or two exceptions. >> we have passed historic health care reform, historic financial regulatory reform. some things folks don't know about. >> are you -- are you planning a surprise party for us? filled with jobs and health care. >> he really knows how to get to the issue, get at the issues and get an answer but still be funny. >> there you go. nice to have that opportunity. up next for president obama, he will honor the americans who helped with the rescue of those 33 trapped chilean miners today and then a few remarks in the rose garden with representatives of nasa as well as several other firms that helped with the rescue. carlie fiorina is expected back on the campaign trail today. the candidate from california will greet supporters in sacramento at noon eastern. she spent two days in the hospital to treat an infection stemming from the battle with breast cancer earlier this year. the campaign spending smashing all previous records and we have five days to go until the midterms but get this. already $4 billion has been spent. >> that's just an incredible figure. senior congressional correspondent da that bash joins us live. we knew that this was going to be an expensive midterm but that's as much if not more on the presidential campaign. >> less than what was spent in the 2008 campaign and it was about what was spent in 2004 and the group that's been tracking campaign spending for three decades said that the amount of campaign cash will obliterate previous records. sure, there's a lot of money flowing in this year's election but exactly how much being spent is mind blowing. $4 billion. to put $4 billion in context, that's enough to send about 80,000 students to princeton for a year. it could buy every person in america three big macs with fries at mcdonald's. already 4 billion more than the last midterm in 2006 and dwarfs the $1.6 billion more than a decade ago in 1998. opensecrets.org compiled the figures in a new report. >> the stakes are so high this cycle it is not surprising there's an intensity to the cycle that was perhaps reduced or missing in the last cycles. >> reporter: though much of the $4 billion spent by candidates themselves, an eye-popping amount coming from outside candidates' campaigns, political parties and independent groups. $430 million in overall outside spending. only $31 million was spent in 2002, less than a decade ago and despite democrats' complaints of being outspent, democrats are winning. all told, the democratic party has raidsed $782 million, a lot more than the republican party at $515 million. but gop outside groups with ads like this are making up for that gap and then some. although democratic groups are catching up, they're being outspent by gop counterparts 2 to 1. another fascinating 2010 trend -- key industries moving campaign cash from democrats to republicans. take the health care sector. when the president took office, two thirds of its dollars were going to democrats. since health care passed, the industry is giving 60% to republicans. the same goes for money from wall street and the energy sector. just last year, both gave mostly to democrats. now, 67% of wall street money goes to republicans. the energy sector -- 74% to republicans. >> i think they have their finger in their ear and looking at the changing poll numbers and seeing that the republican haves a clear shot of taking the majority, particularly in the house. >> now, strategists and experts attribute two things to the record-breaking spending. the highly competitive nature of the election and a recent court ruling, a couple of them, that opened the door to unlimited spending by corporations and unions. >> so you can imagine what's going to happen in 2012. >> oh my goodness. really remarkable. you talk to experts tracking this saying there's a different psychology among donors out there because they know that they can funnel so much more money with the rules and the laws different now and you're right. if this is the case now, just when we're talking about the ex-will have congress and governors and others, wait until it's the presidential. >> interesting that five days out how much more do you think will be spent in five days? will we see the number just -- >> we could. >> -- go not -- a billion more. >> that's another interesting point. the estimates are conservative and based on what the groups and the parties, et cetera, filed with the federal election commission and by the time this is all said and done, could be much higher. >> imagine if the economy were in good shape, too. dana, thanks. >> thank you. five days remain before america votes. make sure to join the best political team on tv all next week. we'll be on an hour early monday and tuesday and 3:00 in the morning eastern the morning after election day. well, it's a bird, it's a plane. no, it's unemployed man. meet the latest superhero on the streets. we'll talk to the co-authors of the new graphic novel. yep, that's one of them coming up next. 38 minutes after the hour. [ female announcer ] you use the healing power of touch every day. ♪ now the healing power of touch just got more powerful. introducing precise from the makers of tylenol. precise pain relieving cream works quickly to activate sensory receptors. it helps block pain signals fast for relief you can feel precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. - hello! - ha! why don't you try a home cooked meal... with yummy hamburger helper? oh! tada! fantastically tasty, huh? ummm, it's good. what would you guys like? hamburger helper. what?! one pound... one pan... one tasty meal! being a leader means moving fast. across the country when the economy tumbled, jpmorgan chase set up new offices to work one-on-one with homeowners. since 2009, we've helped over 200,000 americans keep their homes. and we're reaching out to small businesses too, increasing our lending commitment this year to $10 billion and giving businesses the opportunity to ask for a second review if they feel their loan should have been approved. this is how recoveries happen. everyone doing their part. this is the way forward. coming up on 19 minutes to the top of the hour. we have had batman, super-man and now a superhero for our times. unemployed man. the jobless crusader for the adventures of unemployed man. joining us is two guests. gentlemen, great to see you. start us off here. you are dressed as the master of degrees. who's the master of degrees in this graphic novel? >> well, i'm a graduate student superhero and my power is i'm super overeducated for any of the jobs currently available. >> all right. you are too qualified. >> i get to carry around one of these wherever i go. ball and chain. many viewers can relate to that. >> ball and chain of student loans. so many kids having a hard time with the debt. eric, you are unemployed man. when's unemployed man? >> unemployed man, yes. i am jobless crusader. i can send out a thousand resumes in the flash of an eye, bringing comic relief to people. if they haven't relief, at least have comic relief. >> in the course of the graphic novel, there is an evolution of unemployed man. but he eventually ends up in a position that many americans find themselves in these days. battling the evil villains, evil villains such as cobra, it's the insurance that costs you an arm and a leg after you've been laid off or fired from your job. also, plastic and so many people with so much debt rolled into the credit cards. he also has to battle with nickel and dime, super charge and fico. eric, you are a freelance writer that lives job to job. some of this come from personal experience for you? >> absolutely. from personal experience and also from talking to people, listening to people as unemployed man does and over the course of the book, he goes from fighting every day villains like the ones you mentioned to larger villains in the economy to talk to debt blog, the invisible hand itself and we can take forces, economic forces and ideologies that are normally invisible and make them visible in this great way in the book. >> it really is so interesting the way that you have taken these every day things that people are facing and you have made them into a beautiful graphic novel. really is a high quality piece of work, and gan, we should say the evolution of enemployed man, he was ultimatum. he was the alter ego of bruce payne from the batman series. he gets kicked out of his position at ceo of payne enterprises by the board and becomes unemployed man and he was going around as ultimatum the super hero to the unemployed with a condescending attitude saying you're lazy. you say in the graphic novel, quote, if only they had a sense of fairness and justice waiting for them and playing by the rules but your graphic novel illustrates the point that playing by the rules doesn't really work anymore. >> that's right. the character, the ultimatum is the dark knight of self help, a motivational vigilante that blames people for failing rather than looking at the fact that the maybe the economic system is broken and gives them the ultimatum to think positive or get punched in the face. >> you say in here, eric, the economic system is broken. that ladder doesn't work anymore. if the economy is favoring anyone, it is favoring the elites and not people in the working class. >> that's right. bruce payne is actually fired for merely suggesting fairness with a relative wage multiplier. that's how he becomes unemployed man and the "u" on the suit takes on a different meaning and understand what people are going through and one point he has a confrontation with super lotto, the super lotto incar gnat and say it is lottery is the only way to climb to the top because the economic ladder as you said is broken. >> gan, master of degrees, you and eric unemployed man were in times square recently. you were a favorite among people who wanted to snap some photos but what are you hearing about the graphic novel and when's appreciating your sense of seriousness and humor at the same time? >> it's really interesting. i seems that the harder a time that people are having right now, the more they seem to love the book. they see themselves and their friends as the characters in the book. and, that's really wonderful that we're able to kind of lift some of that emotional burden that people are feeling right now as we're all struggling together through this economic recession. >> it is an interesting approach to the economic situation that we're in right now. gan, master of degrees, as well as eric origin, unemployed man. congratulations. really like the book. kiran? >> thank you. >> all right. well, still ahead, more on the monster storm. in the east, finally moving away and we are not in the clear. there are now new freeze warnings just in time for hal w hallowe halloween. rob marciano breaks it down for us next. ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world. we're with you when you're saving for your dreams. 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[ male announcer ] wells fargo. together we'll go far. can be unsettling. but what if there were a different story? of one financial company that grew stronger through the crisis. when some lost their way, this company led the way. by protecting clients and turning uncertainty into confidence. what if that story were true? it is. ♪ ♪ shot of atlanta this morning as we listen to a new song by arrested development. it is 68 degrees. later, looking at morning showers. 74 for a high in atlanta. arrested development, who will be joining kyra phillips in a few minutes. they'll be playing live this morning. >> nice. rob marciano in atlanta looking look at the forecast for the rest of the country and the rest of the day. good morning. >> good morning. arrested development behind camera four with kyra. glad handing everybody. put on camera -- what camera is this, guys? i can't even tell what camera's in front of me. >> camera two. >> anyway, i don't think i can switch that from new york. they have been sound checking all morning. i can't hear myself think but they sound fantastic. see them later on today. listen. some thunderstorms to the south moving south. towards the florida panhandle. this is leftover. went through the south and mid-atlantic yesterday. damage out of richmond, virginia. serious situation here north of town. luckily no serious injuries from this. a tornado. they'll go out there today and determine just how strong it was. just nofrtd of richmond there. a woman trapped in the car briefly and trees down. but you know from all that happened this week with this monster storm and all of the tornadoes that dropped, extremely, extremely lucky no tornado-related deaths with this. they're offshore up north and drying out new york to boston to d.c. and nothing compared to the west and south. we're looking at temperatures getting down to near the freezing mark. freeze warnings are posted and some frost and freeze advisories. out west, seattle, showers. rain moving into san francisco. there might be some action there tonight for the world series. 94 degrees in houston yesterday. that was hot. now they'll be cooler and here's a world series forecast. 48 degrees, game two. although it pains me to mention this considering the yankees didn't get there, i have to throw it up there. i forgot to put in the halloween trick or treat forecast. i apologize for that. it's on max. this is for you, john. this is the saturday night forecast. this is the adult party forecast. this will help you determine what you're going to wear saturday night, john, to whatever you're doing in new york, 52. 60 degrees in atlanta. >> at least that's the indoor party. we need to know what's going on sunday when the little kids are out. >> we'll get that graphically for you tomorrow. >> looking forward to it. looking forward to arrested development this morning, too. that will be great. >> yeah. >> thanks, rob. >> all right, guys. if you want to improve your tennis game, try iay alka-seltz? it might do the trick next. its great. i eat anything that i want. key lime pie, pineapple upside down cake. no, i've actually lost weight... [ female announcer ] over 30 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. [ wife ] babe... i gotta go. [ female announcer ] yoplait, it is so good. what's the big news in priority mail flat rate boxes and envelopes from the postal service? time for your "a.m. house call" and stories about your health this thursday morning a. new study linking bpa to poor sperm quality in men. pay attention. kaiser permanente studied over 500 workers in china and found that men who had high levels of bpa in their urine had two to four times the risk of low sperm concentration and low sperm vitality and vitality. it's found in some baby bottles, pacifiers and even the liners of good containers. >> you have to watch out and check those out. >> you don't want your boys, you know, having a problem. >> yeah. for a number of other reasons, as well. this is just one of the latest studi studies. >> i'm guy. it's the only reason. all we care about. more tries aren't necessarily better when it comes to in vi to fertilization. the odds of getting pregnant don't improve much after two unsuccessful in vitro treatments. about one in three women have a baby the first time they try it. the odds improve to nearly one in two with a second try. a third cycle did little to boost success rates although many personal stories out there. my friends who made it happen. >> yeah. one person i know, five times. >> yeah. >> before it took. so, keep hanging in there. alka-seltzer could be your cure for your back hand. drinking it before a tennis match declines minimized declines by fatigue. the accumulation of acidic hydrogen ions in the muscles causes fatigue. it's neutralizes it and keeps athletes stronger longer. done studies with even baking soda with atheletes and found that there's an affect. not that big of an affect. >> interesting, though. if you're stressed out or burned out because of the bad economy, you're not alone. playing hooky is more common and think twice about calling in sick if you try one of these excu excuses. career builder put out the list of most unusual excuse for calling in sick to work. >> some of the weirdest ones, i can't come in today because my finger's stuck in a bowling ball. >> pretty plausible. that could happen. >> couldn't take off the bowling shirt either. have to mow the lawn to avoid getting in trouble with the homeowner's association. i can't come in today because -- here it is. i'm not feeling clever enough. >> we'd never show. >> and how about this one? i fell asleep at work and hit your head resulting in a neck injury. i can't come in. >> congratulations if that works for any of you guys. >> my goodness. interesting. we'll be right back. \ ♪ everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪ everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn.

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