of greece's bailout and concerns about slowing growth in china. china has been a very big engine of economic growth for the rest of the world while the u.s. has been taking a back seat and worrying about jobs here. all these major trends and factors are still in play here. also, moody's downgraded some of the greek banks. so, we're still watching the banking system in europe. still watching the european wildcard and, again, we've been talking to traders and analysts who have been saying to close out a week, a very bad week in stocks at this point, people still looking for some reason to try to buy in. i will tell you, the last couple of days have been two of the worst days for the dow since those bad old days of 2008. you'll feel all of this this week in your 401(k). kyra? >> okay, i wish we could get some better news. christine, thanks. >> me, too. the politicians that are out there promising to fix the economy, and virtually everything else. nine republicans, as you know, squared off in last night's debate but one candidate still wears the biggest bullseye. rick perry is now showing a little bit of wear and tear. >> governor perry. >> reporter: it may have felt like badminton to rick perry, but for the texas governor it was almost a game of one against eight. >> an argument i just can't follow. >> reporter: on the perry-backed texas law that offers in-state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants, romney with the set up. >> that doesn't make sense to me and that kind of magnet, that kind of magnet draws people into this country. >> reporter: and rick santorum with the overhead smash. >> why should they be given preferential treatment in this country? that's what we're saying. yes, i would say, i would say that, i would say that he is soft on illegal immigration. >> i don't think you have a heart. >> reporter: the gop frontrunners defense of the law drew cheers and also boos from the crowd. >> this was a state issue. texans voted on it and i still support it greatly. >> senator santorum. >> reporter: with the debate staged in florida, where senior votes are on the line, romney, once again, pounded on perry's past statements on social security. >> there's a rick perry out there that sang and almost to quote, that the federal government shouldn't be in the pension business. that it's unconstitutional. unconstitutional and should be returned to the states. you should find rick perry and get him to stop saying that. >> reporter: at moments, it seems the punishment was taking its toll. perry seemed to get lost delivering one zinger on the health care law romney passed as governor of massachusetts. >> i think americans just don't know sometimes which mitt romney they're dealing with. he's for obama care and now he's against it. >> reporter: except that romney has never supported the president's health care law. >> nice try. >> reporter: but there were also standout moments for contenders trying to break through on foreign policy, former ambassador jon huntsman. >> only pakistan can say pakistan. only afghanistan can save afghanistan. all that i want right now at this point in history is for america to save america. >> reporter: on the economy, probably the line of the night from former new mexico governor gary johnson. >> my next door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration. >> reporter: another defining moment didn't come from the stage, it came from a handful of people in the audience who booed a gay soldier for asking the candidates for their views on homosexuals in the military. >> you intend to circumvent the progress that has been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military? >> rick perry's had a rough ride over these last few debates and he may be coming across as a little saddle sore, kyra, but unclear whether it will have an effect on the state of the race. florida republicans will have a chance to have their say this weekend. they're holding an informal straw poll and one final note on that gary johnson joke on the shovel ready jobs, turns out the credit should go to rush limbaugh. apparently he came up with the quip about the dogs and the shovel-ready jobs. >> someone is always wanting to take credit for the line of the day. while you were sleeping, lawmakers in the house passed a spending bill to keep the government running several more weeks, but this morning we may be no closer to avoiding a government shutdown. kate baldwin on the hill. kate, how bad does it look for this quick deal? >> i would be silly to try to forecast how this would try to turn out, kyra. it seems both sides are still ready for a fight on this. here are a few deadlines to remind our viewers of. i know you know, kyra. the federal government is scheduled to run out of funding and run out of the money that we have and our country's coughers, if you will. house and senate are supposed to be going on recess really starting today and fema disaster relief funds could run out early next week. so, what happened last night as house republicans, they passed narrowly passed largely the same bill that failed the day before. the change was really that republican leadership added an additional spending cut to another kind of green, clean energy, renewable energy program to win over more house republican votes. this one linked to that company solyndra the company that went bankrupt after saving $500 million in federally backed loan guarantees. that won over more republican votes, obviously. listen here to just how fiery the debate got late last night on the house floor. >> i'm not one of those people who believe that we have to offset every emergency. we have done some in the past. some we have not. but in the past, we have not had a 14 trillion deficit. that's the danger to this country. is the $14 trillion deficit and the $1.6 trillion we add to it every year. >> wake up! wake up! you can't kill these programs. this is the solution you are killing. republicans say, fine, we'll provide emergency relief for those who have been afflicted by this nature's wrath, but we won't do it unless we can cut the funds for the programs that promise to be the solution to the problem. >> now, as i indicated earlier, the fight is not over. the focus now on the senate, harry reid had indicated last night that democrats are really standing united against the house bill. they think the amount of money going to fema is inadequate and much more money going to fema, kyra. they oppose the fact that in order to pay for part of this fema program, the fight is still on and very unclear on how things will turn out today. harry reid warned tonight that it is possible they could forego the recess to try to work into next week. my colleague has heard that the vote on the house passed bill, there will be a vote on it in the senate early this morning. they say they stand united against it. we'll have to see how this turns out today. >> kate, thanks. republicans are making early push to win the critical latino vote in 2012. our deputy political director paul steinhauser tells us about a big event today. what's taking place? >> a center right group called the hispanic leadership network and holding a two-day conference that starts today in new mexico. that's the home state to governor susanna martinez who is really a rising star in the gop. won a big election there last year. again, yeah, this is all about courting latino voters and let's rack three years ago, 2008, the presidential election. look at the cnn exit polls from back then. senator obama then won two-thirds of the vote in that election. that was a big, big win for the president. let's fast forward to present day. look at these numbers from gallup. the approval rating at 48%. that's down from 60% at the beginning of the year. and, kyra, again, this is all about latino and hispanic voters. they are so crucial, especially in some battleground states like new mexico, nevada, colorado, they could be the difference in those close contests. talking about florida. how about the debate last night. this could be a problem for republicans because you saw those nine republican candidates at the debate last night and other than rick perry, most taking a very hard stand against illegal immigrants here in the united states. that could be a problem as republicans try to reach out to latino and hispanic voters, kyra. >> candidates going to be definitely reaching out this weekend on the campaign trail, rights? >> you were just talking to jim down in florida there. there is a big straw poll in florida on saturday. of course, florida, a very important state in the battle for the nomination and in michigan, as well. two straw polls there. two major republican conferences. we can get a gauge on how the candidates and they're doing. two more next month one is a cnn debate in nevada. this battle for the nomination moves on and we'll move with it, kyra. >> your next political update in about an hour. a reminder for all the latest news, go to our website 24/7 cnnpolitics.com. how are the gop candidates doing with this country's christian leadership? ralph reid joining me live, next. and priceless works of art considered a national treasure are finally returned. 60 years after they were stolen by the nazis. we'll tell you about that in cross country, next. so, how was school today ? i have to be a tree in the school play. good. you like trees. well, i like climbing them, but i've never been one. good point. 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( announcer ) fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. checking stories across country. jaycee dugard is suing the federal government. keeping her in his backyard for 18 years. in new york, two paintings stolen during the nazi occupation of poland during world war ii have been returned. it happened last night. the polish consulate. the paintings were found five years ago at a new york auction house. students protesting college tuition hikes. it took a turn for the worse when demonstrators stormed a building on campus. two people were arrested. more protests are expected today. watching last night's debate, a republican strategist who has worked on seven presidential campaigns. ralph reid, chairman of the faith and freedom coalition as a strategist and christian leader, ralph, i want to ask you first off, who do you think won your vote last night? >> well, i think we've got a pretty big membership, kyra, of about 500,000 members and they're falling about where the polling is showing among all social conservatives and tea party activists. i think rick perry when he got in this race, it wasn't a big fish in a small pond. it was a whale in a bathtub and he came in with a big splash. he's done very well. romney will get his fair share of these people and they're also very high on bachmann. i don't think you count her out at all. i think this is going to be very competitive, very hard fought. we had our event yesterday with over 2,000 of our activists in florida. they all came and made their case and we're, i think we're dating, but i don't think we're ready to get married yet. >> strong as an acre of garlic. i had to write that one down. we'll get to michele bachmann and garlic in just a second. but, ralph, you actually had an opportunity to get up close and personal with the candidates at your faith and freedom forum. you got two mormm candidates. mitt romney and jon huntsman. have evangelicals embraced these men and the mormon faith? >> well, look, i don't think you can gloss over the fact that there are thelogical differences. but there are theological differences between jews and evangelicals and yet they cooperate fully on issues like the sanctity of life and marriage, strong support for the state of israel and opposition to terrorism. we're not electing our minister or preacher. we're electing the president of the united states and remember that four years ago in his first time around the track, romney got one out of every five evangelical votes in a crowded field. obviously, it was very difficult for him to compete with huckabee in that category. i think romney will do that well or better and i think, again, perry has that sort of huckabee factor where as a devote evangelical, he can speak directly to his own spiritual journey as he did at liberty university last week. he'll do extremely well. but, look, these folks are not easy to command and not sheep who just go where they're told to go. they're kicking the tires and looking at these candidates very carefully and, as i said, i don't think it's really come down and solidified. this is still very fluid. >> let me ask you about a moment that got a lot of attention last night at the debate. this openly gay soldier with his question to the candidates. take a listen. okay. i guess we don't have that sound bite, but you remember what happened. for the viewers that might have missed the debate, he asked a question about gays, you know, serving openly in the military. and he got boos. so, let me ask you, do you think it was, i'm told we have it now. let's go for the sake of fairness here so our viewers can hear it, let's take a listen. >> in 2010 when i was deployed to iraq, i had to lie about who i was because i didn't want to lose my job. my question is, under one of your presidencies, do you intend to circumvent the progress that has been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military? >> yeah, i would say any type of sexual activity has no place in the military. >> here's my question, ralph. do you think it was appropriate to boo? this is a soldier serving our country and serving all of us in iraq. >> no. no, that wasn't appropriate. but, look, i don't think it's fair for either party or for any candidate to somehow or another, you know, assign to them the impolite conduct of somebody in an audience. that's just not fair. that's where the candidates -- >> nobody jumped on the moment to talk about, you know, don't ask, don't tell going away and it just sort of went right by and no one seized the moment. >> no, i don't think it was a missed moment and i'll tell you why. because what the american people want is a substantive debate on the issue and i think rick santorum. to whom, as you know, the question is directed handled it just right. he said, look, if under obama's policy someone has already publicly acknowledged their sexual preference as this soldier did, then their grandfathered in regardless of what happens in a subsequent administration. it wouldn't be fair to go back and treat them differently. in terms of what happens with don't ask, don't tell which served this country, kyra, very effectively. >> i think i know the law -- we respect the law, but, ralph, it's an issue of respect. i'm just asking you the issue of respect here. was it respectful to do that? >> i think i answered that. i don't think it was. and i don't think that was the right thing to do. but what i would -- let me just stress the point. >> would you have liked to have heard one of the candidates say, look, okay, that's disrespectful. let's have a mature, respectful conversation about our men and women who are serving overseas, risking their lives for us. putting politics aside, you know, let's address our behavior here. >> well, i know these candidates very well. they're friends of mine. and i'm sure they'll be given an opportunity to do that andi i'm sure every one of them will say that's not my attitude. when the president of the united states has somebody at one of the events and his spokesman refuses to condemn it, i don't think people who live in glass houses should be allowed to throw stones. the president of the united states and his spokesman should make sure that words that can lead to violence should be condemned. >> ralph reed chairman of the faith and freedom coalition. always good to talk to you. appreciate your time today and sorry it is so hot out there. >> same here, kyra. take care. opening bell is just minutes away and we'll check on what we can expect just a day after the dow plunging. take a quick break. be right back. you can't change the way banking works. just accept it, man. free ? doesn't close at five ? try nature. it's a bank. what do you want, a hug ? just accept it. hidden fees, fine print, or they'll stick it to you some other way. stay with the herd, son. accept it. just accept it. accept it. just accept it. accept it. if we miss this movie, you're dead. if you're stuck accepting banking nonsense, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. want to take you to come live pictures right now. this is some unique access that we've been able to get from a checkpoint right there in the west bank. actually, let's listen in for a second here. this has actually picked up a bit since we've been monitoring these live pictures. young palestinians have been clashing with israeli border guards here all morning and, as you know, this happened, it's happening just a few hours before mahmoud abbas is going to address the u.n. general assembly. kevin flower our cnn jerusalem bureau chief on the phone with me now. kevin, it kind of picks up and then slows down a bit, but can you kind of give us an idea of what it has been like throughout the morning as we're watching these live pictures unfold right here within the west bank. >> yeah, kyra, this has been going on for about an hour and a half or two hours, i would say. it started at the checkpoint, which is a big giant checkpoint that separates the west bank from jerusalem. this is a checkpoint with 20 feet concrete walls. manned by israeli security. pretty much every friday on a regular basis palestinians will come to this checkpoint throwing rocks and bottles at the israeli security positions along that checkpoint. that's what we saw happen, again, today. and, so, what's happened during the course of this hour and a half or two hours of clashes between the two, like i said, lots of rocks, lots of bottles being thrown. what the israeli security forces have been doing is trying to push back the palestinian protesters with a combination of tear gas and rubber bullets. they've also been using some fairly new technology, which is sort of this ear piercing alarm car that they drive close to the protesters to try and disperse them. as you mentioned, this is going on just a few hours before palestinian authority mahmoud abbas is supposed to be thinking, but it's worth noting, also, this is a scene that plays out on a fairly regular basis here on the west bank, kyra. >> all right, kevin flower there. cnn jerusalem bureau chief reporting to us right there to us from the west bank. kevin, we'll continue to monitor these pictures with you, obviously. two other things that we're following for you. the opening bell is just minutes away. we will, well, hopefully we're going to see better numbers today as the dow just took a massive plunge yesterday. and also speaking live, michele bachmann kicking off today's conservative political action conference in orlando, florida. we'll check in on that, as well. somewhere in america, a city comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. [ male announcer ] we're not employers or employees. not white collar or blue collar or no collars. we are business in america. and every day we awake to the same challenges. but at prudential we're helping companies everywhere find new solutions to manage risk, capital and employee benefits, so american business can get on with business. ♪ about a minute away from the opening bell on wall street. felicia taylor and christine romans in our new york bureau. felicia, let's start with you. >> the only good news is that futures are off of the session lows and that's because the european central bank word they intend to lower interest rates at the last meeting. the bank of england intends to lower interest rates or talk about that at its next meeting. taking away some of the pressure from the marketplace, but, again, overnight, we saw the asian markets significantly down, as well as the european markets already in this session are trading down, as well. but, again, they are off of their session lows. so, a little bit of good news hopefully out there and the markets are just about to open in just a few minutes. but traders are really tired of the rhetoric that has been out there. they need to see that concerted effort that we've heard some of the world leaders talk about. and actual, real action taking place opposed to just the words we've been hearing. as the bell opens, let's see what we got. the markets are just down fractionally in the few seconds it has been open. the dow off six or seven points and the nasdaq hasn't opened yet and the s&p down 0.25%. the nasdaq is down in the first 20 second of trading. christine? >> christine, we were seeing, actually a little worse yesterday. moving a little faster into negative territory. i know it's sort of hard to, it's a guessing game right now. >> not everything is open yet. really the first minute of trade, you just have to wait and see how it settles out because not all the components could be open quite yet. that's why you see a fluttering around. felicia is talking about the european central bank and the bank of england. the position here the governments and central banks are in is they are playing defense. they are trying to mitigate a potential double-dip recession. they are trying to get out of ahead of what could be another financial crisis. you see what i mean? they're all playing defense. in some cases, it's whatever the fed may do, you might not feel it directly, but if they didn't do it, you certainly would feel that. so, in a way, where we are here is governments and central banks and investors are behind what's happening and by behind i mean they're back behind of what's happening with the overall economy. it's still a dangerous position out there. i'll tell you another couple of days like we had yesterday, it will be a full on bear market for the dow jones industrial average. you'll notice this in your 401(k) statements, no question. >> we'll keep watching the numbers. christine romans, felicia taylor, thanks so much. michele bachmann kicked off today's political conservative conference in orlando. let's listen in. >> blank check and say, have at it. i did. that's watt we need in our nominee and we need a true social conservatism who is not ashamed to stand for marriage, who is not ashamed to stand for religious liberty and who has demonstrated that. that's what we need in this election. and we need a nominee who's not ashamed of the tea party. who's willing to stand up for our tea party and tea party values. who believes we are taxed enough already. who believes government should not spend more money than what they take in. who is not ashamed to say that the government should act within the bounds of the constitution. you see, we don't settle this time. if there's ever been a year that we don't settle and sit next to the wall and go to the back of the bus, we conservatives have to say, no, this is our year. this is our time. and we are going to have our nominee. so, let's take this movement. let's take this voice all the way to 1600 -- >> michele bachmann kicking off today's political action conference in orlando and mitt romney is following her and then newt gingrich, the list goes on. we're following each speaker about every 15 to 20 minutes they'll be getting up to speak. we're monitoring that for you. in addition, all week in depth right here on cnn. this time looking at poverty in america. a family of four to be considered impoverished relies on $20,000 a year. looking at the politics behind the numbers. >> you know, i have to get money taken out of my paycheck for me. >> reporter: for dawn and her family every day is a struggle. a single mom with two young children living at home in maryland. she makes just $25,000 a year as a department manager at walmart, but that puts her over the federal poverty line. poverty looks different on paper. to be officially considered as living in poverty, a family liklike hers has to make less than $17,568 a year. >> right now it's just a struggle and i would love to be able to not struggle and put some money aside and do some fun things. >> reporter: the defining line is adjusted yearly for inflation, but it was developed back in the early 1960s. sin since then, so many things have changed. health care costs are higher, housing costs are higher and just a lot of changes that you and i would expect to be take nn to account but they're not. >> reporter: the government uses the poverty line to determine who qualifies for federal stamps and school lunches. and any change in the official definition could affect the number of people eligible for that help. that's where politics comes in. >> i think we need to go back to the drawing board and accurate can better know what to do. >> reporter: she believes more would be considered poor because it fails to consider geographical challenges. >> what counts for people is -- >> reporter: food stamps and housing subsidies as income would see the poverty rate fall. >> we're not measuring our largest anti-poverty numbers. a lot like not counting field goals in football games. >> reporter: policy experts agree the measure should be updated to account for where a family lives, whether they rent or own their home, the government benefits they receive and expenses like child care and transportation. >> come on in. >> reporter: for dawn who relies on help from the government and from organizations like catholic charities in washington, d.c., it's a theoretical argument that doesn't help pay the bills. >> i pretty much care about taking care of my girls. so, my kids. my kids always come first. >> now, in october the census bureau is set to release another metric called the supplemental poverty measure. while it won't be used to determine eligibility for federal assistance in the short term, it will paint a clearer picture in the long term and help pollymakers aal policymake help judge. >> what would a family of four need to make to be considered middle class? >> there is a federal definition of poverty in america to be living in poverty, but no official government definition for middle class or for rich for that matter. but when you talk to most organizations that help the poor, they'll say that for a family of four that's making less than double the federal poverty line, so, that would be about $44,000 for a family of four, they say a family making less than that number is considered to be low income. these families are able to get some assistance whether from the government or other programs. of course, if a family of four is making just above that $44,000 figure, would you consider them middle class? that's up for debate and certainly depends a little bit on where they live in the country how far that amount of money will get them. kyra? >> appreciate it. the nfl is telling teams fake an injury and you'll get punished. former atlanta falcons star calls the trickery a trade of the game. police gop candidate speaking today at the political conservative conference in orlando. michele bachmann kicked it off. let's listen to mitt romney. >> by pegging it to the dollar at a low level. as a result their products sell at 30% lower than they would if they were fairly marketed. as a result of that, our businesses have a hard time competin competing. hard for us to recognize cheaters for what they are on our first day in office, i will issue an executive order identifying china as a currency manipulator and allowing us to apply tariffs on their goods where they're cheating and killing american jobs. there's another difference between government and the private sector. people in government don't tend to understand the power of incei incenti incentives. they think if you raise taxes a whole lot, it won't make a difference in how people behave. they add up the new numbers they think government is going to get. it doesn't work that way. i remember, i was looking at the bu budget in our state and there was a line therein for homeless shelters and i said, what is this subaccount here for hotels under homeless shelters. they said, oh, governor, you have to understand, if someone comes to a homeless shelter and they're full -- >> we are follow today's conservatives political conference and as each gop candidate speaks we'll dip in live for an equal amount of time. we heard from michele bachmann and now mitt romney. newt gingrich is next. nfl is warning all 32 of its team physical they fake an injury, they'll pay the price. came two days after speculation that new york giants grant faked an injury against the st. louis rams. phony injuries for a competitive edge that the nfl says will not be tolerated. here's how the memo reads, "discipline could include fines of coaches, players and clubs suspensions or forfeiture of draft choices." did you experience this kind of faking when you played? >> unfortunately, yes. it is part of the game. when we were talking briefly and looking at the story, unfortunately a trick of the trade. in the nfl, as you can see from the rules and the fines that they're putting out there that they're trying to get rid of it. absolutely trying to get rid of it immediately. but it's a part of football and the time and the situation. if you need more time and you're running out of time-outs, you're going to have a coach who says, hey, get a guy, if you're banged up a little bit, stay down a little longer so we can get more time to figure it out. >> how do you prove a fake? >> it's very tough to prove. you really hope that once you get to the professional level, obviously, when i say a part of football, i mean high school, college, these things happen. but when you get to the professional level to try to weed these things out. these are the best players in the world and you expect them to perform as professionals. it's very, very tough. that's why you see how stringent the rules are. you're talking about a fine, suspension and losing draft picks. they absolutely want to eliminate this. >> you think the nfl can enforce this? how do you do it? >> you do get an indicator. there are cramps that happen on a football field and very difficult to prove how long a cramp will sustain, so it will be tough to enforce. someone will be checking the injury reports that those injuries that supposedly occurred on the field are consistent with what are happening during the course of the week. >> did you ever fake an injury? >> i did not. i had two major ones, i didn't need anything else going on in my body. i had real damage. >> we'll see if this works. >> i think it will. you look at what they're going to do about it and this is something they want to absolutely eliminate and be done with. >> nice to know you're an ethical player. >> thank you. >> all right. president obama's re-election campaign office. mystery solved. missing moon rock is found. found about former president clinton's connection to it. a flurry of powder there. what if 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[ male announcer ] as you wish, business pro. as you wish. go national. go like a pro. now through january earn a free day with every two rentals. find out more at nationalcar.com. checking stories across country now. police say someone vandalized president obama's campaign office in los angeles. gun pellets were shot and unknown object was thrown through the window. no one was in the office at the time. the president will be in l.a. in a few minutes from now. dropping last-meal requests. ordered a real calorie busting last supper. consisting of two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet with other ingreed grnts and large bowl of fried okra and ketchup, three fajitas, a pint of blue bell ice cream. when brought to his cell, he said he wasn't hungry. mystery soled for one of to good will moon rocks that was missing. it's found. turned up among memorabilia of former president bill clinton. what would you do to grab a potential employer's eye renee shelf had a great idea with a power of a pen. her very unique 30-second pitch coming your way. welcome. kristin. kasey. come on in. kasey, kasey! kasey, what about the new edge drew you to it? the look of it. i love the sleek design. i like the rounded edges. what does the technology in your edge make you think of ford? it just makes me think that ford is in it to win it. ford is trying to get to the next level. you really have to make yourself stand out, and i think ford has done that. looking over there, how does your car look? is this my car? (laugh) (laugh) well, we get a lot of e-mails from people hoping to do our 30-second pitch, but one that we got last month really stood out. renee pitched herself to us in a poem. she joins me live from san diego this morning. so, renee, i'm just going to get right to it. do you mind reading that poem and then we'll get down to the 30-second pitch. >> okay. i'd love to. i'm your next human resources guru to see your company through. compensation issues and performance reviews, reconciling management and employee opposing views. understanding and interpreting plout laws and trends is an important process that never ends but i will work hard and effectively each day to make your company successful and earn my pay. >> that's amazing. of course, it caught our attention. what we're hoping is it's going to catch an employer's attention as well. renee, what type of work are you looking for and why has it been tough to find that gig? >> i'm looking for human resources work. i have been an hr professional for my entire career. i think it's tough for many reasons. one of them is that the market seems to be saturated with hr professionals, so it's a very tough labor market. >> well, i'll tell you what, let's get right to it. are you ready for your 30-second pitch? >> yes. >> okay. well, you're already warmed up with the fantastic poe wem. hopefully that grabbed somebody's attention and they're waiting to hear your pitch. renee, take it away. >> okay. i'm a dedicated human resources professional who will bring new, fresh ideas to your organization. please get in touch with me. i'd love to show you what i can do for your company. i have a great track record of working effectively with leadership teams and employees and i have been considered a great resource at all my previous employers. thank you so much. >> renee.shoaf@yahoo.com. let us know what happens and thank you for writing in. >> thank you for inviting me. >> if you're looking for a job this is a chance to get your name and skills out there. e-mail us 30secondpitch@cnn.com. tell us why someone should hire you. you can join us live right here in the cnn "newsroom." and stories making news later today. president obama speaking next hour from the white house. he's expected to discuss new state guidelines for no child left behind. palestinian leader mahmoud abbas is expected to address the u.n. general assembly around noon eastern and push for palestinian statehood. and texas governor and gop presidential candidate rick perry speaks at cpac. let's check in with jim acosta live in orlando. jim? >> reporter: well, kira, speaking of rick perry he might be a little saddle sore after that rough ride at last night's gop debate. we'll have a look at the debate in a few moments. and i'm tom foreman here in washington, d.c. we're going to follow up on what some of those candidates said last night with the thing they fear most. our truth squad has been at work. we're going to throw some of your comments on the griddle and see how they cook at the top of the hour. and i'm brianna keilar at the white house where president obama is about to announce sweeping changes to president bush's no child left behind initiative effectively ending the former president's signature education policy. we'll be live around that at 10:15 eastern. guys, thanks so much. also coming up, a view of last night' s debate from a former inside. one time press secretary for president bush and now cnn contributor ari fleischer joining me live. isturizing loti. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy, beautiful hair, try nourish plus haircare. only from aveeno. don't rush out to buy those nba tickets? >> no, no rush, no rush at all because while opening day isn't far off, i don't think we're going to see opening day on opening day. espn is reporting the league will announce today it's postponing the start of training camp and the first preseason game. all fans want to know is will the regular season start ontime. the negotiations between the players and owners not going well. yesterday's talks on a new labor agreement ended without any progress. there's a lot of -- huge difference in money between the two sides. baseball's regular season winding up. b.j. upton tripled, homered, singled. they ripped the yankees. tampa trails the red sox by two games in the wildcard race. the angels are in the race too. edwin encarnacion, that is a walk-off homer. i used to call it a game-winning home run. angels are three back of boston with just six games to play. the national league wildcard race also tight. the cardinals blew a four-run lead in the ninth at home against the mets. that's willy harris getting the game-winning hit for new york. he go the a text saying way to go, from terry pendleton his former hitting ghoch atlanta. yes, the braves now lead the cards in the wildcard race by two games. the pga tour chip in atlanta. hunter's tee shot on 17 goes in the drink. decides not to take the penalty. he's going to hit out of the water. take off the shoes and socks, roll up the pants. he did it, out of the water. well-played. he said he was lucky the water was low enough to get a clean shot. he's three shots back of bradley's lead. we'll see how that wraps up this weekend, the last big tournament of the pga year. >> whoo >> what a great kid. >> nice to see him do well. >> thanks, jeff. we're at the top of the hour now and we begin with presidential politics and the republicans fighting for the nomination. nine of them squared off in a debate last night. one candidate still wears the biggest bull's-eye. >> there's a rick perry out there that's saying that, almost a quote, it says that the federal government shouldn't be in the pension business, that it's unconstitutional. unconstitution, and it should be returned to the states. so you better find that rick perry and get him to stop saying that. >> speaking of box aoks and talg about being able to have things in your books and back and forth, your economic adviser talked about romney care and how that was an absolute bust and it was exactly what obama care was all about. >> governor perry, we were talking about social security, but if you want to talk about health care, i'm happy to do that. >> jim acosta was on hand for last night's debate. fiery debate, indeed. i join him in atlanta. >> reporter: he might be a little saddle sore after that rough right he had last night but some other candidates were buting some burrs thauunder tha saddle. consider the issue of illegal immigration. when perry was governor, he still is the governor of texas, but a few years ago he signed into law a measure that offers in-state tuition to the children of undocumented workers. this is a law he has defended time and again. he did again last night. but the other candidates on stage really went after rick perry on this. rick santorum said he was soft on illegal immigration. mitt romney, who opposed a similar measure when he was governor of massachusetts, also laid into the governor on this. take a look at this exchange and we'll talk about it on the other side. >> that doesn't make sense to me. that kind of magnet draws people into this country. >> why should they be given preferential treatment as an illegal in this country. >> i don't think you have a heart. this was a state issue. texans voted on it and i still support it greatly. >> reporter: now, you heard some cheers after rick perry ended that statement, but if you were to play that sound just a little longer, there was a long few moments there of boos for the texas governor. that is something we have not heard aimed at rick perry throughout these last three debates he's been involved in, and it is a warning sign for his campaign because tea party activists who are going to be very influential in all of this, as you know, are very much hawks on this issue of illegal immigration, and they see rick perry as a big moderate on this subject, and it is a problem for rick perry. as the night was going on it seemed that the texas governor was having some problems just delivering some of his zingers. there was one he aimed at mitt romney where he said the former governor of massachusetts was once in favor of obama care before he was against it when, in fact, mitt romney was never in favor of obama care. it was a tough night for rick per perry. >> we did hear some good zingers and a few one-liners and they may have scored some political points but do they rise to another standard, and that is the truth? that's where we bring in our tom foreman. he joins us to kind of separate the fact from the fiction of last night's claims. hey, tom, where do we begin? >> well, you know, we're going to start with rick perry because it's interesting enough, if you think about some of the things he said last night about this question of what we're doing with the issue of social security, listen to this one statement he said last night, very strong statement. listen to it. >> those people that are on social security today, for those people that are approaching social security, they don't have anything in the world to worry about. >> okay. so a very clear, strong statement there. nothing to worry about. nothing to worry about. but look at what he wrote in an op-ed yesterday on fox.com. social security's financing is broken an unsustainable in the long run. the fact is social security's financing system is broken. it must be fixed. now, you can say that both statements are true. you can say that something is wrong and yet this group doesn't have anything to worry about, but clearly in that moment what he's selling is two different messages based on the audience. politicians do it all the time. if you want the totality of his views on social security you didn't necessarily get that when he said that. we're going to call that misleading in terms of what he said about that. so let's turn around and look at one of the other candidates. if we look at romney now, this is another one of the big statements last night that i thought was very interesting. had to do with all this debate this week about the president's stance on israel and trying to work out a deal with the palestinians and the israelis on a two-state solution that we've talked about forever. listen to what mr. romney said about that. >> four years of college, you're almost $100,000 discount if you're an illegal alien to go to the university of texas. if you're a united states citizen from any one of the other 49 states, you have to pay $100,000 more. that doesn't make sense to me. and that kind of magnet -- that kind of magnet draws people into this country to get that education, to get the $100,000 break. >> look, i'm the one that got confused. that wasn't the israeli sound at all. that was his attack on perry over illegal immigration basically saying, look, texas is giving this great break to people who want to come down there and have -- be in the country illegally and yet get these breaks. a magnet for illegal immigrants. that's his opinion and he's welcome to that opinion. but the question of whether there's this big break. the truth is if you want to the university of texas and you were an in an state student you were pay $23,000 than if you were an out of state student. texas allows illegal immigrants who have attended high school there for a while go to in-state schools. over four years that's $100,000 in savings. what he doesn't mention though because he's so intent on attacking perry is that california does this, new mexico does it, kansas, nebraska, wisconsin, new york, maryland, several other states. some states have forbidden it, but this really is sort of a true but incomplete answer because, yes, there is a break there for illegal immigrants to go to college, but a lot of places have their own version of it. the last one was ron paul. ron paul spoke up very strongly about the constitution. listen. >> there is no authority in the constitution to do so much of what we're doing. there's no authority for them to run our schools, no authority to control our economy, and no authority to control us as individuals on what we do with our personal lives. >> well, a lot of people like that, particularly the libertarian crowd. they're crazy about that, but that's just not true. the constitution gives a lot of authority to the government to have all sorts of influence in our lives in terms of commerce and trade and in terms of all sorts of rights out there that are covered by the government. so to say in effect the constitution has no right to be involved in all of this, they may not have a right to be involved in some specific things but in a general sense the constitution does give the government a good bit of authority. that statement is just plain false. >> tom foreman, thanks so much for weeding through all the fact and fiction. i was trying to follow it all. i bet sometimes that meter goes a little crazy. >> it does. it goes back and forth. we'll be doing this all day with all sorts of other statements. >> i was going to say for the next 300 and whatever days, right? >> exactly. >> thanks so much. well, stay with us for some fresh insights from cnn political contributor ari fleischer. the former white house press secretary is going to join us in just less than ten minutes. and while you were sleeping, lawmakers in the house passed a spending bill to keep the government running several more weeks, but this morning we may be no closer to avoiding a government shutdown. kate bolduan on cap hill. you're already seeing the tempers flare. >> reporter: we absolutely are, even with deadlines looming. it really seems both sides, house and senate, democrat and republican, are still ready to have this fight. just listen here to a little bit of the house debate late last night and how heated it got. >> i'm not one of those people who believe that we have to offset every emergency. we have done some in the past, some we have not. but in the past we have not had a $14 trillion deficit. that's the danger to this country is the $14 trillion deficit and the $1.6 trillion we add to it every damn year. >> wake up. wake up. you can't kill these programs. this is the solution you are killing. republicans say, fine, we'll provide emergency relief for those who have been afflicted by this nature's wrath in an ever-warming planet, but we won't do it unless we can cut the funds for the programs that promise to be the solution to the problem. >> reporter: what happened late last night is that the republican majority in the house they were able to narrowly pass this continuing resolution as they call it, a short-term spending bill, by winning over more republicans. this included additional money for federal disaster relief as we have talked about. this is largely the same bill that failed a day before, but now the focus, of course, is in the senate, and it's unclear at this moment where things are going to go. i'll tell you, late last night the top democrat in the senate, harry reid, made very clear senate democrats were not on board with this. they are opposed to the house measure not only because they think the federal funding for disaster relief is inadequate, the senate passed a bill that was almost double the dollar figure that the house passed, but they're also opposed to the way that house republicans want to pay for some of this federal disaster relief by cutting money from other programs that kind of promote clean energy and renewable energy. they're very much opposed to that. by told by a leadership aide that the senate will have a vote on the house measure this morning at some point. we're trying to figure out how that, of course, will line up, but they've already warned harry reid has warned he's prepared to keep the senate in to forgo the recess next week, keep them in to work on this, but the house is getting ready to leave after morning business. we're still trying to figure out how this is all going to play out. >> kate bolduan on the hill. thanks. president obama wants school kids to see less of it. they want to give schools more local control by allowing them to opt out of no child left behind, the sweeping reforms enacted by president bush. the president set to announce the changes in just a few minutes. brianna keilar at the white house. brianna, set the stage for us. >> reporter: this is a huge day when it comes to teachers, students, parents who have kids in public schools all across the united states because president obama and education secretary arne duncan are going to announce sweeping changes to president bush's no child left behind policy that effectively ends this initiative. just to set the stage and remind people what this policy was, it's a nine-year-old policy implemented in 2002. the goal was to end the achievement gap. critics said it hasn't worked. that was a test score-based remedy was the idea, that schools would have to perform to a certain standard, would have to get kids proficient in reading and math with a cutoff date of 2014 and then after that there would have been consequences for schools that were under performing, consequences that could include firing teachers. so some critics, a lot of critics, especially at the state level have said this is a one size fits all thing, that it hasn't worked out, that they have been seeing teachers teaching to the tests and teaching to the standards and not really teaching kids and getting them proficient in the way they should. so what the president and what secretary duncan are going to announce is a waiver system, a waiver system that would allow states if they put their own standards in place, they put their own teacher accountability standards in place, student performance standards in place they would be able to opt out of this prap aom and most states a expected to do this. the administration is getting some blow back. while they're getting support from states' governors, they are getting blow back from republicans on capitol hill for circumventing congress on this. >> we are going to have live coverage of the president's remarks in a few minutes. 10:15 eastern time we are told. we will take that live. also up next, cnn political contributor ari fleischer knows what it's like to have a job in the white house, so what did he think about the nine candidates who want a job there, too? find out next. plus after yesterday's decline on wall street, we're keeping a close eye on the big board this morning. here are the numbers, down 63 points. as you know, the past two days have been brutal for all of us and our 401(k)s. we are watching those numbers still in negative territory. i want healthy skin for life. 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[ female announcer ] only from aveeno. i found a moisturizer for life. ♪ priceis it true thata-tor. name your own price.... >>...got even easier? affirmative. we'll show you other people's winning hotel bids. >>so i'll know how much to bid... ...and save up to 60% >>i'm in i know see winning hotel bids now at priceline. nine republicans duked it out during last night's debate and ari fleischer knows how those duke outs go. he was press secretary under george w. bush. he's now a cnn political contributor. ari, welcome. >> thank you. good to be here. >> let's get right to it. who do you think won that debate? >> well, mitt romney did. mitt has shown a real solid and steady performance over time. after three debates, i think little has changed in the republican dynamic. at the very top it's romney and perry. there's an interesting race going on for third place and i think rick santorum did very well and may be moving up there, especially in iowa. that's very important in case one of the two front-runners stumbles. >> you mentioned romney is your winner. let's talk about rick perry for a moment. conservative columnist charles krauthammer said following the debate that rick perry is, quote, still the rookie in the field. you represented george w. bush and he got a lot of heat sometimes for not really being the smartest guy on the stage. he became president, so does perry have reason to worry here? >> well, i don't think he has reason to worry. he's a strong rookie if you want to call him a rock okirookie. i think the issue is he got in late and i don't think anybody can understand it unless they go through a presidential how hard it is to mount a national campaign even if you're a popular governor like rick perry is. he's going to learn and what happens in september is really forgotten about in january by the time the first votes are taken. the key is will rick perry learn from some of the things that have gone on? will he become a stronger, better debater? and i think he will. he's that type of candidate. so lots of time. this is the grueling part of campaign season. last night was a bit of an off night for him. in the scheme of things, not a big deal. >> do you think he's smart? >> absolutely he's smart. and you know, what i love about politics is people who look at smarts as if it's intellectual book smarts the way things were graded in high school. it's also about affablity, the connection to people. he's shown a history for doing that. that's going to be a big test between perry and romney, who can connect, and don't forget you still have iowa where romney will have trouble competing with perry, new hampshire where perry will have trouble competing with romney. >> another moment that got a lot of attention, this openly gay soldier with his question to the candidates, in particular rick santorum. you mentioned santorum. let's take a listen first to the sound bite. >> in 2010 when i was deployed to iraq i had to lie about who i was because i'm a gay soldier. i didn't want to lose my job. my question is, under one of your presidencies, do you intend to circumvent the progress that's been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military? >> yeah. i would say any type -- >> two quick questions, you mentioned santorum as someone to watch here. was this a missed opportunity for him to say, hey, hold on a second, this is a guy that's serving our country. let's not boo. it's disrespectful. >> i think it was a missed opportunity for every single republican on that stage not to take on the two or three crazy people in that crowd who booed. if i were standing on that stage, i would have taken advantage of it and said those two or three of you, you don't represent the republican party, and the house would have been brought down with applause. and i do know because i heard from people in the audience, it was isolated and the people around them all hissed and told them they were idiots. don't misrepresent what happened there in terms of image of republicans. i know there's some debate about the crowds at these debates, but the booing actually also took place because of his call for the repeal of don't ask, don't tell, not because the soldier was gay. but i do think everybody missed an opportunity just to send that message nobody, but nobody should boo anybody who serves our country for any reason. >> ari fleischer, thank you so much for joining me this morning. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. my pleasure. >> you bet. we're keeping a close eye on the white house right now where president obama is due to announce changes in no child left behind. this actually was one of george w. bush's babies. ari fleischer was a part of the administration when this was brought into fruition. well, we've just been told we've got the two-minute warning. if you've been following the headlines, president obama announcing changes to that policy. we will take it live as soon as he steps up to the mike. quick break, we'll be right back. with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essentials™. just having some tender chicken and some tasty noodles. let's see...south western vegetables...60 calories. ya' know those jeans look nice. they do? 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[ coughing continues ] log on to lungusa.org and tell washington: don't weaken clean air protections. log on to lungusa.org and tell washington: sun life financialrating should be famous.d bad, we're working on it. so you're seriously proposing we change our name to sun life valley. do we still get to go skiing? sooner or later, you'll know our name. sun life financial. president obama talking no child left behind, the sweeping educational reforms that were enacted by president bush. he's going to be waiving parts of it. we're listening in. >> even among what are consid considered our better off suburban schools were lagging behind where we need to be. today as many as a quarter of our students aren't finishing high school. we have fallen to 16th in the proportion of young people with a college degree, even though we know that 60% of new jobs in the coming decade will require more than a high school diploma. what this means is if we're serious about building an economy that lasts, an economy in which hard work pays off, we have to get serious about education. we are going to have to pick up our games and raise our standards. we're in the midst of an ongoing enormous economic challenge, and i spend a lot of my time thinking immediately about how we can put folks back to work and how we can stabilize the world financial markets, and those things are all important, but the economic challenges we face now are economic challenges that have been building for decades now, and the most important thing we can do is to make sure that our kids are prepared for this new economy. that's the single most important thing we can do. [ applause ] so even as we focus on the near term and what we've got to do to put folks back to work, we've got to be thinking a little bit ahead and start making the tough decisions now to make sure that our schools are working the way they need to work. now, we all know that schools can't do it alone. as parents the task begins at home. it begins by turning off the tv and helping with homework and encouraging a love of learning from the very start of our children's lives, and i'm speaking from experience now. malia and sasha would often rather be watching "american idol" or "spongebob," but michelle and i know that our first job, our first responsibility is instilling a sense of learning, a sense of a love of learning in our kids. and so there are no shortcuts there. we have to do that job, and we can't just blame teachers and schools if we're not instilling that commitment, that dedication to learning in our kids. but as a nation we also have an obligation to make sure that all of our children have the resources they need to learn because they're spending a lot of time outside of the household. they're spending the bulk of their waking hours in school, and that means we've got to make sure we have quality schools, good teachers, the latest textbooks, the right technology. around that, by the way, is something we can do something about right away. that's why i sent the jobs bill to congress that would put thousands of teachers back to work all across the country and modernize at least 35,000 schools. [ applause ] congress should pass that bill right now. we've got too many schools that are under resourced. too many teachers who want to be in the classroom who aren't because of budget constraints, not because they can't do the job. so parents have a role, and schools need more resources, but money alone won't solve our education problems. i've said this before, i will repeat it. money alone is not enough. we also need reform. we've got to make sure that every classroom is a place of high expectations and high performance, and that's been our vision since taking office. that's why instead of just pouring money into the system that's not working, we launched a competition called race to the top. and to all 50 states, to governors, to school districts, we said show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement. we'll show you the money. we want to provide you more resources, but there's also got to be a commitment on your part to make the changes that are necessary so that we can see actual results. and for less than 1% of what we spend on education each other, race to the top under arne's leadership has led states across the country to raise their standards for teaching and learning. and by the way, these standards that we're talking about, these high standards that we're talking about, were not developed here in washington. they were developed by republican and democratic governors throughout the country. essentially at a peer group, a peer review system where everybody traded best practices and said, here is what seems to work, and let's hold all of our schools to these high standards. and since race to the top has been launched, we've seen what's possible when reform isn't just a top down mandate but the work of local teachers and principals and school boards and communities working together to develop better standards. now, this is why in my state of the union address this year i said that congress should reform the no child left behind law based on the principles that have guided race to the top. and i want to say that the goals behind no child left behind were admirable, and president bush deserves credit for that. higher standards are the right goal. accountability is the right goal. closing the achievement gap is the right goal. and we've got to stay focused on those goals. but experience has taught us that in its implementation no child left behind had some serious flaws that are hurting our children instead of helping them. teachers too often are being forced to teach to the test. subjects like history and science have been squeezed out. and in order to avoid having their schools labeled as failures, some states perversely have actually had to lower their standards in a race to the bottom instead of race to the top. they don't want to get penalized. let's make sure that the standards are so low that we're not going to be seen as failing to meet them. that makes no sense. and these problems have been obvious to parents and educators all over the country for years n now. despite the good intentions of some. two of them are sitting right here, tom and george. congress has not been able to fix these flaws so far. i have urged congress for a while now, let's get a bipartisan effort, let's fix this. congress hasn't been able to do it. so i will. our kids only get one shot at a decent education. they cannot afford to wait any longer, so given that congress cannot act, i am acting. [ applause ] so starting today we'll be giving states more flexibility to meet high standards. keep in mind the change we're making is not lowering standards, we're saying we're going to give you more flexibility to meet high standards. we're going to let states, schools, and teachers come up with innovative ways to give our children the skills they need to compete for the jobs of the future. because what works in rhode island may not be the same thing that works in tennessee. but every student should have the same opportunity to learn and grow no matter what state they live in. let me repeat, this does not mean that states will be able to lower their standards or escape accountability. in fact, the way we've structured this, if states want more flexibility, they're going to have to set higher standards, more honest standards that prove they're serious about meeting them. and already 44 states led by some of the people on this stage have set higher standards and proposed new ways to get there. because that's what's critical. they know what's at stake here. ricky hall is a principal of a charter school in worcester, massachusetts. where is ricky? oh, ricky is not here. there he is. rick, i wasn't sure if he was behind me. good, thank you. [ applause ] >> every single student who graduated from ricky's school in the last three years went to college. every single one. [ applause ] his school ranks in the top quarter of all schools in massachusetts, and as you know, massachusetts schools rank very high among the 50 states. but because ricky's school did not meet all the technical standards of no child left behind, his school was labeled a failure last year. that's not right. that needs to change. what we're doing today will encourage the progress at schools like ricky's. is john becker here? he is? all right, here's john. i didn't think you were john. john teaches at one of the highest performing middle schools in d.c., and now with these changes we're making, he's going to be able to focus on teaching his fourth graders math in a way that improves their performance instead of just teaching to a test. [ applause ] we have superintendents like dave estrom from springfield, ohio, right here. [ applause ] dave will be able to focus on improving teaching and learning in his district instead of spending all his time on bureaucratic mandates from washington that don't actually produce results. so this isn't just the right thing to do for our kids, it's the right thing to do for our country. we can't afford to wait for an education system that is not doing everything it needs to do for our kids. we can't let another generation of young people fall behind because we didn't have the courage to recognize what doesn't work, admit it, and replace it with something that does. we've got to act now. [ applause ] we've got to act now and harness all the good ideas coming out of our states, out of our schools. we can't be tied up with ideology. we can't be worrying about partisanship. we just have to make sure that we figure out what works and we hold ourselves to those high standards because now is the time to give our children the skills that they need to compete in this global economy. we've got a couple students up on stage who are doing outstanding work because somebody in their schools is dedicated and committed every single day to making sure that they've got a chance to succeed. >> president barack obama talking about the parts that he is going to drop from the educational reforms enacted by president bush, something we've all come to know as no child left behind. the president saying he saw too many flaws in the law, as he put it. it became a law that taught to the test. and he felt history and science were squeezed out. of course, we witnessed the huge test cheating scandal here in the state of georgia. the president now saying he is going to drop parts of no child left behind. another story we've been following, after two brutal days of watching the dow industrial take a major plunge, still in teg nif territory. down 19 points right now. we are watching the numbers. we're watching your money. we're going take a quick break and we'll be right back. ♪ [ male announcer ] we're not employers or employees. not white collar or blue collar or no collars. we are business in america. and every day we awake to the same challenges. but at prudential we're helping companies everywhere find new solutions to manage risk, capital and employee benefits, so american business can get on with business. ♪ i want healthy skin for life. 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[ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy, beautiful hair, try nourish plus haircare. only from aveeno. time for political buzz. you're rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. which only have time for two today. sorry, guys. let's go ahead around start, guys, with a lot of talk about this event or i guess you could say what happened when an openly gay soldier spoke at the debate last night. you know what i'm talking about. take a listen. >> in 2010 when i was deployed to iraq i had to lie about who i was because i'm a guy soldier and i didn't want to lose my job. my question is under one of your presidencies do you ib tend to circumvent the progress that's been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military. >> politics aside, you heard the boos. what do you think, guys? is it ever appropriate to boo a soldier in the war zone? dana? >> no, it's never appropriate. and if you look at twitter, especially with all of the people in the audience who were taking pictures and updating, it was a couple of individuals. it wasn't a crowd of people, and the people who were telling them to shut up and booing at them and hissing at them because they had the audacity to boo a soldier in a war zone, those were the people that ended up being the loudest because they were drowning out these two clowns that got up and decided to show the world their iq by booing a solder in a war zone. >> maria? >> no, it was absolutely atrocious. what was even more atrocious is that no candidate on that stage stood up for this u.s. soldier who has risked life and limb for this country, and it is completely hypocritical and cowardly for them to stand up there and absolutely do nothing about it. this is somebody who has defended our country, defended the u.s. constitution that they purport to love, and they stood there and absolutely did nothing. it is completely shameful on their part and they should apologize. >> pete? >> well, i would love to have seen them boo that guy in person. did you see the guns on that guy? his arms were huge. i mean, i thought of joining the army just to hang out with the guy. this is the third debate where the audience stole the show. first it was rick perry's record on the death penalty, they cheered for that. then they cheered the hypothetical of a man cheering without health insurance and then they booed this. it is absolutely insane, two people, five people, people at home, they lost a real opportunity to reprimand those people, the candidates on stage last night. >> all right. and the final question -- >> the crowd just about took them out. >> my guess is we might hear a little more about this, ladies and gentlemen. your buzzer beater, 20 seconds each on this one, right to it. chelsea clinton took new york by storm we are told at her father's global initiative. here is a little peek at what happened. >> as your daughter i remember when i helped you send your first text message. >> yes. that wasn't very long ago. chelsea is being much too kind and gentle because both bill and i, i mean, if you don't tell anybody, i'll tell you, we are primitive. >> my father still refers to the internet as the world wide web. >> so what do you guys think? could we possibly see a chelsea clinton running for office maybe, dana? >> i don't know. you know, i'll say this, i'm not really into political dynasties, and i think that it might be something fun if she doesn't share her parents' political platform. she seems like a really nice lady though. >> maria? >> i think she can do and will be successful at anything that she wants. she is an amazing, brilliant, and has carried herself with aplomb and courage and i think she can do whatever she wants and she will be successful at it and i think we'll be lucky if she actually does think about running for office. >> pete? >> well, i mean, by this ideology i guess jenna bush is on the "today" show so she should probably run for political office, too. i think chelsea clinton understands firsthand what being a political family can do to damage a family. if anybody understands it, she does. i have no idea what she's going to do, and i guess we'll be following it. i just want to say quickly a profile in courage, this is not controversial, i think we all agree. that guy came out of the closet in front -- not to his fellow soldiers but in front of the entire country. he's in harm's way and we should applaud that. >> there we go. >> no question. >> i know all three of you agree on that point today. have a great weekend, guys. soledad o'brien joins us life after the break introducing us to a five-time national boxing champ hoping to be on her way to the olympics. a woman you will not soon forget, next. 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"in her corner" airs this weekend. here is a sneak peek. >> reporter: marlena's early mornings always start with math, how much to eat, how far to run, how many pounds, sprints, crunches. how many endless hours of training will it take to win? why are you here every day? >> because i want to win. this is my life and this is what i do. >> reporter: she became national champ at 16 and dreamed of the olympics, but women couldn't box in games even though they compete in every other sport. >> this one is heavy. >> reporter: then some exciting news. the olympics decided to add wims b -- women's boxes for 2012. she is on her way. when suddenly her competitors sue saying she should have to fight them first for one of the coveted spots. >> it's stressful, it's something i have been working for my whole life, and then not only do this come out of nowhere, but then there's the pressure not that anybody puts direct pressure on me, but i know people expect things from me. >> usa boxing decides to schedule a box-off. >> with boxing, anything can happen. i beat all of them fairly easily. the closest bout i had was against christina cruz. >> christina cruz, just one of the champion fighters marlen will have to face. >> i haven't lost in like nine years, and that would just be like the worst thing that could ever happen to me. >> special correspondent soledad o'brien live in new york with more on her upcoming special. i wanted to meet these gals, soledad. >> they're great. they're so inspiring, and, you know, they're really tiny. they're a flyweight so they weigh 112 points. it's a weight category that marlen boxes in and christina cruz as well. these are really small women but they are so tough, and tough mentally i think is sort of the thing i have learned from this documentary. >> and tell me just before we go if you don't mind before we go to the break, soledad, i mean, you have done a number of pieces on latinos in america. you are taking now the angle of women in sports. how has this been embraced by the community, a community where, you know, the abulita is the key woman in the family? >> i was surprised there would be such a large number of latinas who are boxing. marlen would say we are the underdog. there are people who don't cheer for us until they realize the amount of heart and dedication and drive we have. but to me the documentary is not really about boxing. it's about a young woman who works very hard who in spite of some very big losses is able to keep going no matter what and that's why we call it "in her corner." in boxing they talk about who is in your corner, in real life you also need people in your corner to help you thrive and win and marlen really has that. >> thank you. coming up, a high school athlete makes his mark hurting his own chances by helping a rival runner. that's next. ater from the drinkg fountain at the mall. 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[ male announcer ] join the members of aarp and tell washington to stop cuts to our medicare and social security benefits. today i own 165 wendy's restaurants. and i get my financing from ge capital. but i also get stuff that goes way beyond banking. we not only lend people money, we help them save it. [ junior ] ge engineers found ways to cut my energy use. [ cheryl ] more efficient lighting helps junior stay open later... [ junior ] and serve more customers. so you're not just getting financial capital... [ cheryl ] you're also getting human capital. not just money. knowledge. [ junior ] ge capital. they're not just bankers... we're builders. [ junior ] ...and they've helped build my business. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ when we can we sure like to highlight regular folks who are out there making a mark on this world. well, today you're going to meet high school runner josh ripley. he's speeding along at a meet last week when he sees a kid from the other team on the ground bleeding. bleeding badly actually. well, other runners just keep going, but josh, he stops, picks the guy up, and sprints half a mile back to the start for help. then he turns around and runs his three-mile race. >> i had blood on my legs and arms after carrying him and a lot of people thought i was hurt, but i had to inform them it wasn't my blood and i was fine. >> i just want to say that i'm really, really thankful that -- for what he did, stopping his race just to help me. it was really, truly a wonderful thing he did. >> mark, the injured runner, needed 20 stitches to fix the gash in his ankle. he hopes to thank josh in person for his incredible sportsmanship. coming up next with suzanne malveaux, anticipated speeches of palestinian leader mahmoud abbas and benjamin netanyahu to the u.n. general assembly. hear what each is expected to say and how the united states could respond to their statements. that's right after a quick break. 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