Transcripts For CNNW EarlyStart 20121022

Are literally counting down because in 16 hours barack obama and mitt romney battling in a Foreign Policy faceoff with the race for the white house about as close as it can get. Look at this new nbc wall street journal poll. Theyre locked in an absolute dead heat at 47 each. Editorial boards at newspapers across the country are coming out for their picks. Three endorsing mitt romney. The union leader calling the president president s policy a fantasy. Ago kron beacon journal and the plain dealer and the denver post calling the president the best pick under trying circumstances. Theres a lot to talk about and Paul Steinhauser with a preview of the showdown in the sunshine state. With the polls so close right now, theres even more at stake when president obama and mitt romney face off for the final time on the stage behind me at lynn university. Expect the two candidates to pick up where they left off last week in new york. When we have four americans killed there, when apparently we didnt know what happened, that the president the day after that happened flies to vaug from libya to china. Youre the last person. The clashes may have been just the appetizer. The candidates are likely to spar over many of the worlds hot spots including iran, israel, the war in afghanistan, pakistan and terrorism. The format for this is different with six 15minute segments. The segments will be divided up into two minute responses and then about an 8 1 2minute discussion. After standing at their first two debates this time around president obama and mr. Romney will be seated at the same table along with Bob Schieffer of cbs news. I think the combination of having the candidates seated at a table very close together and the extended discussion phase will really enable an opportunity for the candidates to have a deep discussion about these six topics and we think there will be a great opportunity for exchange between the candidates. At a Charity Dinner the other night both candidates joked about the debate. Mondays debate is a little bit different because the topic is Foreign Policy. Spoiler alert. We got bin laden. Let me tell you what i do, first refrain from alcohol for 65 years before the debate. Except for a short break he took on sunday to watch a beach Football Game between his Campaign Staff and some of the media both he and the president have been behind closed doors preparing for the debate and its no wonder, a new nbc news wall street journal poll says its debt even and romney appearing to be catching up with the president as to which would be a better commander in chief. This final faceoff is the last chance for either man to reach out to a television sudden jens that could be around 60 million viewers. Zoraida, john. Thanks. In the next hour of early start well break down the debate with ana navarro and Roland Martin. For the best coverage keep it on cnn. Our live coverage of the third and final debate begins tonight at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. Four minutes after the hour. A full ten case after the attack in benghazi, the cnn was still telling president obama these stem from protests over that antiislam video. The cia did not alter its assessment in the daily intelligence briefing until the 22nd even others disputed it, the protest sparked attack. Christopher stevens and three others died. The it appeared to be the target of a major terrorist target. From a source familiar with the investigation. The 11 terror suspects all jordanians called their plan 9 11 ii and was supposed to happen on 9th, the fifth anniversary of the last al qaeda in jordan when suicide bombers targeted three hotels where many foreign diplomats stayed. The 45yearold exmarine who opened at a spa was targeting his estranged wife. Three were killed but police havent said if zena is among them. The suspected shooter was found dead of a selfinflicted gunshot wound inside the spa. Boys are hitting puberty earlier. The reason why is a bit of a mystery. They say boys are showing signs six months to two years earlier than was reported in earlier research. Which found puberty generally starting at 11 1 2. Experts say this isnt a cause for alarm. In baseball it is going the distance, the San Francisco giants forcing a Decisive Game seven in the National League championship series with a 61 win over the cardinals. Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong shut done the cards with nine strikeouts. Game seven in San Francisco. The winner will face off against the Detroit Tigers in the world series which starts wednesday. In less than two hours we will find out if Lance Armstrong will lose his title. Well have a live report coming up for you. Smart comes with 8 airbags, a crash Management System and the worlds only tridion safety cell which can withstand over three and a half tons. Small in size. Big on safety. Just begin with americas favorite soups. Bring out chicken broccoli alfredo. Or bestever meatloaf. Go to campbellskitchen. Com for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. Campbells. Its amazing what soup can do. And the candidates speech is in pieces all over the district. The writers desktop and the coordinators phone are working on a joke with local color. The secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategists tablet. And while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center. Working together has never worked so well. As part of a heart healthy diet. Thats true. But you still have to go to the gym. The one and only, cheerios to meet the needs of my growing business. But how am i going to fund it . And i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. Weve loaned more money to Small Businesses than any other bank for ten years running. So come talk to us to see how we can help. Wells fargo. Together well go far. A short word thats a tall order. Up your game. Up the ante. And if you stumble, you get back up. Up isnt easy, and we ought to know. Were in the business of up. Everyday delta flies a quarter of Million People while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. Were raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. With the blackishblue frame and the white dots and the splattered paint pattern, your lights are on. What . [ male announcer ] the endlessly customizable 2013 smart. Welcome back to early start. Cycles governing body will decide if theyll strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour De France titles. Theres overwhelming evidence that armstrong took part in the most sophisticated professionalized and successful doping program while he rode for the u. S. Postal service team. This includes sworn testimony from 26 people, 11 of them former usps teammates and says he trafficked and banned substances, pressured teammates to dope, as well. Armstrong for his part didnt talk about it during a livestrong event yesterday. He stepped down as chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation Last week. His attorney has called the report a onesided hatchet job. Amanda is covering this. The International Cycling union has the authority to strip him of titles. Will they do that is the big question. That is the big question of the day, zoraida. Yeah, they said before they made the decision they wanted to see the reasoned evidence from that report and theyve seen it in space, havent they all, 1,0 th th,000 pages of that document and were expecting to hear from the uci president pat mcquaid in two hours time speaking from switzer lapd and remains to be seen. Their options are either they go along with the evidence in the report or they take the decision to lance Lance Armstrong of those temp Tour De France titles or they appeal that evidence at the court of arbitration for sport which is the highest Sporting Court that they could go to. But, yeah, you know, the report itself is full of evidence of testimonies from, as you said, those 26 people, 11 of them former teammates of Lance Armstrong but Lance Armstrong always insists he never officially failed a drug test and that is always his argument against it. If they do, then that will lead to another domino effect of other things that could happen. What will happen to those Tour De France titles . Will they be reawarded to somebody else. There are some suggestions that responsib sponsors might start to reclaim their money and International Olympic committee, it remains to be seen what theyll do. And whether or not there will be a criminal investigation. We mention he spoke at a Livestrong Charity yesterday. He did allude to the controversy. What did he say . He alluded to but didnt mention it specifically. He had the longstand ago agreement to speak at the livestrong gala friday night, 15 years of his Livestrong Foundation thats done such good work for the cancer charity. There was a lot of focus on that and pretty much stuck to the same lines yesterday speaking rat a cycling event with 4,000 cyclists. Obviously its been an interesting and as i said the other night at times very difficult few weeks. People ask me a lot, how are you doing and i tell them, well, ive been better but ive also been worse. He said hes also been worse, but, zoraida, things could get a whole lot worse demending what comes out of this press conference. Were expecting those results shortly. Amanda davies live in london, thank you very much. 13 minutes after the hour. Winter expected to arrive today in a big way on the west coast, Alexandra Steele is in for rob marciano. Good morning, guys. Winter snow and also Tropical Development. In one bite so a lot on the weather menu. Good morning, hey, its late in the west. Our first major winter storm of the season. Heres where it will be. Really Northern California in the sierra in the siskiyous and into Southern Oregon. See the white, of course, the delineation of snow. We havent seen that on the map in earnest like this. About 5500 feet, snow, then it moves into boise in toward idaho into the Bitterroot Range in the next day or two. Certainly well keep an eye on that and we have something in the caribbean, invest 99l and an 88 chance of development. Where it is in the caribbean, these are the computer models and this is kind of where they think the storm system will go and you can see certainly nassau and the bahamas, one potentially takes it into miami and should happen friday in toward the weekend, but wherever it goes, such a large, massive system the rain and wind field will be big so here in the southeast were going to feel it some way, so keep an eye on that. A lot from the snow in the west to Tropical Development around miami and through nassau and the bahamas. Alexandra steele in atlanta. Christine romans with your top stories. Mitt romney and Barack Obama Square off tonight in boca raton, florida. Hes been preparing for the 90minute Foreign Policy faceoff at camp david. The stakes couldnt be higher. Cnns live coverage begins at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. America mourning the sdelt of George Mcgovern best remembered as a champion of peace. He died over the weekend at the age of 90. He was the democratic nominee for president , 1972 but he lost in a landslide to richard nixon. Bill and Hillary Clinton got their start in politics with mcgovern. They called him a tireless advocate for human rights and dignity. A floor collapse at a tallahassee Apartment Building sent 55 to the hospital. There was a party going on when the crowded second floor gave way. Firefighters used a ladder truck to rescue seven who got stuck in a second story bedroom. None of the injuries are lifethreatening. Mostly sprains and broken bones. Not exactly new math but a Michigan State study says twitter has become a new literary format thats improving student learning. The study found College Students who tweet as part of their instruction are more engaged with the course content, the teacher and fellow students and get higher grades to boot. The author says twitter is changing the way we experience what we read and write and apparently how we learn in the college classroom. I assume it doesnt mean tweeting during class but other things besides whats in class. Grammar is what worries me, right. You have to shortening everything. Grammar baffles me so i never worry about it. 16 minutes after the hour. Getting an early read on your local news. Well start with the New York Times which has a story about changes in the new windows 8 operating system which goes on sale this friday. I have to say john says youll panic. The pictures are amazing. Some users have been dismayed to discover there is no longer the familiar start button in the lower lefthand corner. This is way, way different. The new system is the stripdown and has onscreen buttons instead of the familiar icon in the corner. It could be fun. Or baffling. Most associate alligators with places like florida, not the suburbs of long island. Right . So the Long Island Press reports that seven alligators have been found in nassau in suffolk. Coms in the past month alone. One was caught saturday. An officer donned scuba gear and caught the nearly threefootlong gator. Others have been found in an applebees parking lot. They dont belong. I think they suspect someone is letting them loose. Keeping them as pets. Bad situation. Head to our blog, cnn. Com earlystart. He quit wall street in spectacular fashion with a New York Times oped now greg smith is talking. Youll hear from him coming up. My life begins today fly by night away from here change my life again fly by night, goodbye my dear my ship isnt coming and i just cant pretend oww [ male announcer ] careful, youre no longer invisible in a midsize sedan. The volkswagen passat. Winner of a motor trend midsize sedan comparison. Thats the power of german engineering. Check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. Creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic Chicken Spring rolls. Theyre this seasons musthave accessory. Lean cuisine. Be culinary chic. Theyre this seasons ii invest in what i know. R. I turned 65 last week. Im getting married. Planning a life. There are risks, sure. But, theres no reward without it. I want to be prepared for the long haul. I see a world bursting with opportunities. India, china, brazil, ishares, smallcaps, largecaps, ishares. Industrials. Low cost. Every dollar counts. Ishares. Income. Dividends. Bonds. I like bonds. Ishares. Commodities. Diversification. Choices. My own ideas. Ishares. I want to use the same stuff the big guys use. Ishares. 8 out of 10 large, professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. Introducing the ishares core, etfs for the heart of your portfolio. Tax efficient and low cost Building Blocks to help you keep more of what you earn. Call your advisor. Visit ishares. Com. Ishares. Ishares. Yeah, ishares. Call 1800ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Read and consider it carefully before investing. Boring. Boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be. Not boring. Thats how i met marilyn. Giada. Really good. Yes [ jack ]. And alicia. This girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi® card to get the benefits of private pass. More concerts. More events. More experiences. [ jack ] hey, whos boring now . [ male announcer ] get more access with a citi card. [ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ] were minding your business and u. S. Markets are poised for a bounce. The nasdaq lost more than 2 on friday alone and theres a ton of tech news so we have a preview. A debate, im sure about china and all this Technology News coming out. Tech news thats going to change maybe how youre using some of your gadgets. Earnings first, yahoo is today after the closing bell and hear from Melissa Meyer who got back from her twoweek maternity leave. Facebook, only second report. Thursday, apple and thursday amazon. Com. Apple news, the ipad mini were expecting. What will it look like . How big will the screen be . A lot talking about that and Microsoft Windows 8 launch. You just talked about that, john and zoraida. The 8 will be so radically different from what you use, its going to be interesting to see what others think about it. Now were getting the first look at this goldman banker who quit in a huff on the pages of the New York Times. Did you see him last night on 60 minutes launching his book tour that began with his resignation. Now hes on 60 minutes hearing from him in the first time. He said the reason why he left was because the culture there had deteriorated. There he is. Listen to what he said. I met a junior guy who is 24 or 25 years old and the first thing he told me was he just traded a sophisticated derivative with a muppet client who paid the firm an extra Million Dollars because the client was so trusting he didnt check the price with other banks. Is it some rogue guy talking callously about clients but his boss, managing director, was nodding and chuckling along. The culture of goldman is that clients are did you really serve your clients and has a culture of just being a clientfocused bank so this hits to their heart. Is this guy just an average banker who managed to get a lot of press in the favorable pages of the New York Times or someone exposing something about the underbelly of wall street . Right now the pendulum is toward the former. Not a tidal wave of people rushing to his defense. Look, if you work an wall street, look, hes also somebody that Goldman Sachs said that he was denied a raise to about a Million Dollars a year and denied a promotion a couple months before he left and painting him as an average banker. He will get a lot of press starting on 60 minutes. You rarely hear such insight. Well hear from him more later. Yes, hugely controversy. 25 after the hour and tom aiken is at it again, coming up, more comments from the Missouri Senate candidate that could anger women voters, even more. Leaving the house right now, watch us any time, just go to cnn. Com tv. Mom . Whos mom . Im the giants mascot. The giants dont have a mascot ohhh eat up new jammin jerk chicken soup has tasty pieces of chicken with rice and beans. Hmmm. For giant hunger thanks mom see ya whoaa. Oops mom . Im ok. Grandma . Hi sweetie she operates the head. [ male announcer ] campbells chunky soup. It fills you up right. Hey, bro. Or engaging. Conversations help us learn and grow. At wells fargo, we believe you can never underestimate the power of a conversation. Its this exchange of ideas that helps you move ahead with confidence. So when the conversation turns to your financial goals. Turn to us. If you need anything else, let me know. [ female announcer ] wells fargo. Together well go far. A short word thats a tall order. Up your game. Up the ante. And if you stumble, you get back up. Up isnt easy, and we ought to know. Were in the business of up. Everyday delta flies a quarter of Million People while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. Were raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. Debate night in america. Foreign policy the focus of tonights final faceoff in florida. A lot of qs. More controversial comments from todd akin. He may have alienated women voters again. The reallife story of argo, the workers who inspired ben afflecks hollywood movie. Welcome back to early start. Im john berman. And im zoraida sambolin. Its 29 minutes past the hour. Tonight president obama will defend his record overseas against challenger mitt romney in their third and final faceoff. This time focusing exclusively on Foreign Policy and with election day now just 15 days away, can you believe it, the race is closer than ever. A new nbc news wall street journal poll has the candidates died at 47 apiece and with us to give a preview we have and republican strategist ana navarro and Roland Martin. Ana, polls here, a new nbc wall street journal poll is showing that obama is beating with suburban women. Can romney close the gender gap here . You know, i think so, zoraida. We saw that as a result of the first debate, romney closed gaps that we thought were insurmountable a few weeks ago including the women gap. This is going to get closer. Were seeing it cloister in the battleground states and nationally and closer with the regional groups and see this come down to the wire is what i think. Do you agree, roland . Go back to 2004. President bush beat senator kerry in ohio. That determined the election. This was always going to be a base vote. I wasnt one of these folks who was saying, oh, the national polls, no, hell be a blowout. This was always going to be about the economy and pocketbook issues and going to be about, again, who has in terms of the vision moving forward. So all of the folks were thinking blowout, they were nuts. Endorsements, i always wonder whether the newspaper endorsements make a difference. A slew of newspapers endorsements over the weekend. Romney grabbing two in florida and three in other big swing states. Obama getting multiple bumps in colorado and ohio. How influential do you think these are to people voting. I worked at newspapers in my past and they do matter because people do read those editorial pages. If you are a conservative, you want the stamp of the approval from the wall street journal editorial build so why should that be a differencemaker . People are reading them, so, you know, again, in a tight election, you want every possible vote thats out there. So i think they do have some role in elections. Ana, do you agree, do they have a significant role, i should add . Look, i think their role is less significant with the years. Today voters have such a slew of information. Weve got blogs and 24hour cable channels. Weve got all sorts of publications and twitter and facebook so i think they are much less significant. We know newspapers are less significant, unfortunately because i love newspapers, because weve seen their dwindling numbers. I dont think they matter as much as they once did when it was maybe the most important or sole source of information on a candidate, most complete source. These have been going on for a long, long time. You know, most of us really know these candidates by now. Trust me, if some of those big papers in ohio, ana, would love to have those endorsements, as well. Everybody loves to have them. You want as much support as possible. Foreign policy and a new wall street journal report is out saying the president was told more than a week ago that protests were to blame in the consulate attack. It was not corrected by the cia until september 22nd. Does that take some of the pressure off president obama heading into the debate . Heres whats interesting. You keep hearing the criticism throwing the intelligence folks under the bus. Thats where you get your information from. So thats where they were stating ambassador susan rice when she went on meet the press is what she was talking about. If you want to criticize the white house you must also say what was the intelligence, what were our sources on the ground and what were they telling us. Thats who you lean on. I think the president when he lays it out, look, general petraeus now has the cia so itll be interesting to see is he going to come out and speak before the cameras as opposed to just having the president do so. Ana, what do you think about the latest report . Look, i think its a vulnerability but only a vulnerability if mitt romney manages to be able to land it succinctly. You cant have it both ways and say the next day afterwards you came out and called it an act of terror and at the same time blame not calling it an october of terror on the intelligence folks. If you called it an act of terror the next day in the rose garden why then is it that everybody in your administration called it anything but an act of terror for the next 12 days. Because, again, ana thats the question mitt romney has youre basing it on what the intelligence tolds you. Remember, susan so what was wait a second, even ambassador rice said this is what we know now. So that is critical because things can certainly change. I really want to get your reaction to one final thing, the Obama Campaign released a brandnew ad minutes ago. Lets play it. President obama ended the iraq war, mitt romney would have left 30,000 troops there age called bringing them home tragic. Obamas brought 30,000 soldiers back from afghanistan and has a responsible plan to end the war. Romney calls it obamas biggest mistake. Its time to stop fighting over there and start rebuilding here. Im going to let you weigh in. Huge because we spent billions of dollars on these two wars, did not pay for them and the American People are, frankly, tired of having to do so. Also, the president , when he was bringing these home, if youre a military family youre tired of this your family being constantly deployed. This is an ad saying im tired of these wars. Does this hurt with women voters . Theres a lot of talk about that, going to war is not popular with women. You know, i think, zoraida, women dont look at one issue. We look at a number of issues. Ill tell you something i think we reserve a right to change our mind and, you know, thats why you see these numbers shifting. This is a good ad. Its a reminder ad. Im reminding you what i did for you lately. But, you know, mitt romney has places to go at against barack obama on Foreign Policy. Its not considered his bailey wre bailiwick rebuilding here, thats what americans love to hear. Dont rebuild in other countries, rebuild in the united states. On that note well leave it, ana navarro, cnn political analyst and Roland Martin. See you again in our 6 00 early. On early start well be joined by Ron Brownstein and be sure to keep it right on cnn. Our special live coverage of the third and this is the final debate, folk, it begins tonight at 7 00 eastern. Great discussion. 36 minutes after the hour right now. More political news, todd akin taking a lot of heat again this morning for comparing democratic incumbent Claire Mccaskill to a dog. Akin was abandoned by his own party after those comments about legitimate rape. Listen to what he said about mccaskill at a fundraiser saturday in springfield, missouri. So she goes to washington, d. C. And its a little bit like one of those dogs, you know, fetch, and she goes to washington, d. C. And gets all of these taxes and red cape and bureaucracy and executive orders and agencies and she brings all of this stuff and dumps it on us in missouri. Now, since akin made the remark, no comment from mccaskill or the missouri republican. Political and religious leaders hold pretesters at bay in lebanon. He was killed on friday. Protest tried to storm the Prime Minister office after denouncing it at the funeral. Chaotic situation to say the least. 37 minutes past the hour. Sunday night football action, despite a sloppy first half and being down four starters, the steelers managed to keep things close against the bengals. In the Fourth Quarter with the game tied at 17, the first touchdown of chris raineys nfl career proved to be the game winner as the steelers went on to beat cincinnati, 2417. Big football news, the patriots dramatic overtime victory over the jets in texasboro. Heroic victory i would call it. Not just my words, words of everybody who cares about hum municipali humanity. Argo. And we spoke with the real Embassy Workers who inspired the film. Youll want to see this. Youre watching early start. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles military families face, we understand. At usaa, we know military life is different. Weve been there. Thats why every bit of Financial Advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad dad [ applause ] [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. Usaa brings advice. Call or visit us online. Were ready to help. I just finished a bowl of your new light Chicken Pot Pie soup and its so rich and creamy. Is it really 100 calories . Let me put you on webcan. Lean roasted chicken. And a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. Welcome back to early start. The new film argo is getting plenty of argo buzz. Its based on an incredible true story. The tale of six american Embassy Workers who escaped capture during their the iranian revolution. Argo documents the covert cia operation that got these people out and cnns alina cho spoke exclusively to the real Embassy Workers whom the film was based on. Hey there, good morning. We all remember the iranian hostage crisis started in 1979, 52 americans held for 444 long days began during the Carter Administration and ended the day reagan took office. This is the littleknown story of the six americans who eluded capture. Argo is their tale, how they hid and how think got out. What happened . Six hostages went out a back exit. Where are they . At the canadian ambassadors house. Ben affleck plays tony mendez, a reallife cia operative who hatches a plan to rescue six americans who elude capture during the iranian revolution. Theyre a canadian crew for a Science Fiction movie. We all fly out together as a film crew. That Science Fiction movie is called argo. If im doing a fake movie its going to be a fake hit. These are the real Embassy Workers. What was your first thought when you saw it . It was more exciting than the real thing. On anders. Lee schott, mark and cora leijack. The first time they all sat down for a tv interview. The only one who couldnt be with us is kathleens husband joe currently working for the state department in the sudan. These were the actors. Yeah. Who played you. At do you think . Sure looks like joe. Yeah. Even got his little sweaters right. He used to wear sleeveless sweater vest. They took me back to the day november 4th, 1979 when iranian students climbed the wall and stormed the u. S. Embassy. What went through your mind . This will only last for a little while before the government will come and stop this. And i tried to keep my staff calling and collected. I remember calling my mother and saying dont worry youll see things on the news and ill call you in a few days. Of course, i didnt call back for three months. 79 days they hid from the iranians in the homes of canadian diplomats and came to be known as the housen guests. People would come to the house and we would hide and posted outside the door. Then on january 26th, 1980 theres a knock on the door. I open the door and theres two guys standing there in trench coats. And they said, really . Trench coats. Did you do this before. Tony is a charming guy. Did you trust him. If we didnt we couldnt say, send in someone else. Do you think it will make a difference. I think the only thing thats between you and a gun between your head is my movie. We all ordered drinks and im sure people on the plane if they wandered wondered why there were these arms that went up when we made contact because we were sitting in different places. But we knew why. Just incredible to speak to them. You know the cia operation was actually classified for 17 long years until president clinton declassified the operation in 1997. Thats when, of course, hollywoods whees began turning and they began to think, wow, what a great story. Lets tell it and part of a reason why that information remained classified is so they could perhaps use that plan again, of course, we dont know if they ever did. Perhaps well know 20 years from now but its just a remarkable story and i know you havent seen the film yet, i really urge you to go see it. It is one of the best films ive ever seen. Its been getting a lot of buzz and how cool to have all these people together. They do have reunions every five years but not all of them are together and keep in touch with tony mendez, the cia operative, as well. Thank you for that, alina. Preappreciate it. George clooney one of the producers of argo with reallife drama of his own. His role in the trial of former italian leader Silvio Berlusconi who is embroiled in a sex scandal. Bungabunga. Helping millions of americans retire on their terms. When they want. Where they want. Doing what they want. Ameriprise. The strength of a leader in retirement planning. The heart of 10,000 advisors working with you onetoone. Together for your future. To bring you a lowpriced Medicare Prescription Drug plan. With a low National Plan premium. And copays as low as one dollar. Saving on your medicare prescriptions is easy. So youre free to focus on the things that really matter. Call humana at 18008084003. Or go to walmart. Com for details. To meet the needs of my growing business. But how am i going to fund it . And i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. Weve loaned more money to Small Businesses than any other bank for ten years running. So come talk to us to see how we can help. Wells fargo. Together well go far. 100 new. 100 greek. 100 mmm. Oh wow, that is mmm. In fact its so mmm you might not believe its a hundred calories. Well ok then, new yoplait greek 100. It is so good. At meineke i have options. Like oil changes starting at 19. 95. My money. My choice. My meineke. It is 50 past the hour. Let get you up to date with christine romans. Good morning. Mitt romney and president obama fa off on Foreign Policy at tonights third and final president ial debate in boca raton, florida. Both men spent the weekend prepping for the highstakes showdown with polls showing the race is a virtual dead heat. Tonights debate will be moderated by cbs Bob Schieffer and consist of six 15minute segments each starting with a question followed by a twominute answer from the candidates. Cnn will bring you coverage of the showdown beginning at 7 00 p. M. Eastern time. Police say the 45yearold exmarine who opened fire at a milwaukee area spa wassing toing his estranged wife. Three were killed yesterday but police havent seen in Xena Haughton is among them. Radcliffe haughton was found dead of a selfinflicted gunshot wound inside the spa. An amtrak train derailed. A dozen were injured. None seriously when train number 350 went off the rails en route from chicago to pontiac. Passengers were taken back to the train station by bus and put on another train to continue their trip. George cleanly was asked to testify for Silvio Berlusconi who is on trial for paying rube ki the heart stealer for sex. Clooney denies being present at one of the parties. He is scheduled to testify friday. High drama in italy. Only Silvio Berlusconi could get George Clooney at his trial. This has just been endless. Berlusconis legal troubles. Thank you. 51 past the hour. Coming up no rubber match. The countdown to the third and final debate in boca raton, florida, both candidates polishing up on Foreign Policy. We got a preview of what the focus will be in the last debate. Libya, the four americans killed, the aftermath and how it was handled. Ron brownstein has the tale of the tape. So first it was the girls now medical proof that boys are growing up too quickly hitting puberty at a much earlier age. Whats causing it . Its still a mystery, diet, all that laying around, perhaps both, Elizabeth Cohen looks into it. For all of you parents out there ill pay attention. Plus a former Goldman Sachs employee who managed a trillion dollars in assets does secret you might dream about at your desk, quitting with a blistering public Resignation Letter published in the New York Times. Thought without a book about it but goldman launched a preemptive strike. Were talking about it with william cohan. How goldman came to rule the world. How tebowing may cost you. How tebowing may cost you. Stay with us. Ome to look at [ sighs ] oh, hes shaggy and he eats like a hog [ male announcer ] the volkswagen jetta. Available with advanced keyless technology. Control everything from your pocket, purse, or wherever. Thats the power of german engineering. That dirty, old eggsuckin dog check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. Creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic Chicken Spring rolls. Theyre this seasons musthave accessory. Lean cuisine. Be culinary chic. Wanted to provide better Employee Benefits while balancing the companys bottom line, their very first word was. [ to the tune of lullaby and good night ] aflac aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at. [ duck ] aflac [ male announcer ]. Forbusiness. Com. [ yawning sound ] as part of a heart healthy diet. Thats true. But you still have to go to the gym. The one and only, cheerios welcome back, everyone. 56 after the hour. John berman along with zoraida sambolin. We are looking at top cnn trends. What is getting buzz on the internet this morning. All right, so people googling to ogle paul ryan. The term paul ryan shirtless is googled nine types more often than paul ryan budget. The gop vp nominee has a body by p90x and took these photos pumping iron for Time Magazine and claims to have 6 to 8 body fat. All news to the paul ryan girl who we mow is going viral with her song lets get fiscal. Do you know anyone who googled him. I did but i did it for my job. The nfl now getting down with gangnam style. Its become the new celebration dance on the gridiron. The new york giants star Jason Pierre Paul one of the players who celebrated a sack with the horsey and lasso whirl on sunday. Pay to pray. The Washington Post says as of october 9th. Tim tebow owns the trademark for tebowing. Tebow said he didnt acquire it for financial gain. He just wants control. How its used. Make sure its used in the right way. What does that mean . I dont know how you can trademark Something Like that thats interesting. Head to cnn. Com trends. Meanwhile, there was plenty of verbal sparring in the second president ial debate last week. Heres how snl scored it. Gas prices are a little high if you ask me, so how come you dont do nothing about that, all right, thank you, all right. Well, eugene we need to do everything we can to become energy independent. Oh, really. Why have you cut drilling permits on federal land by half. Not true. How much did you cut . Not true. You didnt cult anything. Im about to cut you. Id like to see that. Our next question comes from Dominic Fonte and it is for governor romney. Governor romney, a few minutes ago you say you would like to kick president obamas [ bleep ]. Oh, boy, here we go. Well, how about if i kicked your [ bleep ] instead. How would that be . Youre welcome to try, tubby. Ill put you on the schedule for a beatdown. You got nothing. Youre a punk. Ill kick our [ bleep ] and then ill kick the president s [ bleep ]. Why do you want to the kick [ bleep ] of both the governor and the president . I dont know. Im undecided. Thats in case you missed it. Early start continues right now. I love that we do this. Big stakes in boca raton. The last chance for the candidates in tonights final president ial debate. Wall street whistleblower. The man who quit Goldman Sachs in a times oped speaks but is he another disgruntled employee. San francisco forces a game seven tonight with a trip to the world series on the line. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to early start im john berman. And im zoraida sambolin. Just about 6 00 in the east. Up first, counting down the final hours to the third and final president ial debate. And we are literally counting down. Because in 15 hours, barack obama and mitt romney battle in a Foreign Policy faceoff with the race for the white house about as close as it can possibly get. Just look at this new nbc wall street journal poll conducted after the second debate. The two rivals are locked in an absolute dead heat at 47 each. Editorial board that newspapers across the country are now coming out with their picks for president. The tampa tribune, Columbus Dispatch and New Hampshire union leader are all endorsing mitt romney. The union leader calling the president s economic plan a fantasy. Backing president obama, two newspapers in the battleground state of ohio. The Akron Beacon Journal and the Cleveland Plain Dealer along with the denver post, which calls the president the best pick because of his record of accomplishment under trying circumstances. Cnn Political Editor Paul Steinhauser is live from boca raton, florida, this morning. So this is really exciting to you because its numbers and theyre very, very close. Oh, extremely close. You just showed that national poll. You know the battleground states. Its also extremely close in the surveys, including right here in florida. Zoraida, with all those polls in mind theres even more at stake when president obama and mitt romney meet right behind me for their final showdown. I think theyre going to pick up where they left off at their second debate last week in new york. When we have four americans killed there, when apparently we didnt know what happened, the president , the day after that happened, flies to las vegas for political fundraiser reporter from libya to china. Governor youre the last person who is going to get tough on china. Reporter the clashes at the second president ial debate may have been just the op advertiser. The candidates are likely to spar over many of the worlds hot spots including iran, israel, mideast peace, the war in afghanistan, pakistan, and terrorism. The format for this debate is different, with six 15minute segments. The segments will be divided up into twominute responses from each candidate, and then about an 8 1 2 minute discussion. Reporter after standing at their first two debates, this time around, president obama and mr. Romney will be seated at the same table. Along with moderator Bob Schieffer of cbs news. I think the combination of having the candidates seated at a table, very close together, and the extended discussion phase, will really enable an opportunity for the candidates to have a deep discussion about these six topics, and we think there will be a great opportunity for exchange between the candidate reporter at a Charity Dinner the other night, both candidates joked about the debate. Mondays debate is a little bit different because the topic is Foreign Policy. Spoiler alert we got bin laden. Let me tell you what i do, first refrain from alcohol for 65 years before the debate. Reporter except for a short break romney took on sunday to watch a beach Football Game between his Campaign Staff and some in the media, both he and the president have been behind closed doors preparing for the debate. And its no wonder. A new nbc news wall street Journal National poll indicates its dead even between the two candidates among likely voters. And romney appears to be catching up with with the president when it comes to which man would be a better commander in chief. And heres another reason why this debate is so important. This is the last chance for either of these men to reach an audience thats probably going to be over 60 million viewers. When this debate is over, just two weeks to go until election day. Zoraida . John . Paul steinhauser live for us in florida. Thank you very much. We want to bring in cnn senior political analyst and editorial director of the National Journal Ron Brownstein. You saw the poll numbers there, 4747 among likely voters in the wall street journal. Thats tied. Completely tied. When is a tie not a tie . If youre an incumbent president and youre at 47 this close to an election day youre not feeling so great about that number on the one hand. Because, youre further away from 50 than you want to be. Also inside that wall street journal poll, weve talked before, john, his formula for success in this election is to win 80 of minority voters. 40 of white voters. Hes only at 36 among white voters in that wall street journal poll. A very low number. The one sliver, Silver Lining for him in that poll is its better than most polls have been for him lately among registered voters as opposed to likely voters, hes up five. And that suggests that the really Critical Role of shaping the electorate in this in this campaign, if he can bring out his supporters, younger voters, minority voters, and tilt the composition of the electorate a little more in that direction than the pollsters expect, as george w. Bush did in 2004, thats probably the path to survival at this point. Lets talk about women. The new nbc wall street journal poll shows obama leading with women. Obama is also now beating romney with suburban women, and back in september that same group favored romney by six points. What about the gender gap here . I would be surprised if women overall favored the mitt romney in september. Usually, of course there has been a gender gap, democrats run better among women than men. Whats striking in this poll and in all the polls and i think sets up an important dynamic for tonights debate is that president obama has lost ground among white women and not only the blue collar white women who are always loosely attached to him, but in a number of these polls, College Educated white women who have been the most democratic portion of the white electorate. And i think that kind of creates, you saw that in the second debate, focus on issues like equity, access to contraception and planned parenthood. One of the focus in this debate could very well be to try to continue that argument aiming at women for the president , by suggesting that mitt romney is too quick to kind of rattle the war card. Its interesting you say that. This is a Foreign Policy debate. You think it can be used to deal with the gender issues. Well, look, i think the challenge for both of them is to tie this debate into their Broader Campaign narrative and strategy. Theres a tendency theres risk in a Foreign Policy debate to become just kind of a conversation about discreet issues without any kind of overriding theme. I think for mitt romney has to be what he did at the first debate, reassure people that he is a plausible president after that pretty rocky foreign trip this summer. I think for the president , the goal has to be, and i think theyre thinking this way, how do you tie this in to what is clearly their focus on the second debate and beyond, focusing on women voters. And the most logical way to do that is to continue what joe biden did against paul ryan, open up the tletd that republicans are too quick to be talking about war. And theres a new ad to that threat. Released just minutes ago. Lets look at that. President obama ended the iraq war. Mitt romney would have left 30,000 troops there. And called bringing them home tragic. Obamas brought 30,000 soldiers back from afghanistan and has a responsible plan to end the war. Romney calls it obamas biggest mistake. Its time to stop fighting over there, and start rebuilding here. Does that appeal to women . I think primarily. Not entirely. Obviously the idea of the commitment in afghanistan isnt popular anywhere in the electorate. I think you can also see that tonight with iran. The news the administration is open to the possibility has open discussions about oneonone negotiations with iran after the elections, republicans didnt go after that as hard as you might have expected. In that, you know, in the initial response, especially since their overall Foreign Policy message has been that obama is kind of soft on our enemies. I think they are also conscious, if youre saying dont talk, what are you saying . What is the alternative at that point . That last line i think is something were going to see a lot of tonight, lets nationbuild at home, kind of move the resources from the war into the needs at home. But look, the president , even that poll is tied on balance, its more worrisome than reassuring for him. I think democrats are one credible poll showing romney ahead in ohio away from kind of fullscale panic at this point. And i think that the debate tonight, the key goal for the president has to be to tie it in with a larger message and not just kind of win a discreet argument. Ron brownstein, thank you so much for joining us. Were going to invite you back to talk after the fact. Thank you. For the best political coverage on television keep it right here on cnn. Our live coverage of the third and final debate begins tonight at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. The u. S. Embassy in ayman was apparently a target in a terror plot that was foiled by jordanian authorities. Cnn has learned of the embassy connection from a source familiar with the investigation. The eleven terror suspects, all jordanians who have recently spent time in syria allegedly called their plan 9 112. The plot called for suicide bombings at twoshopping malls along with attacks on diplomatic targets in amman. Police say the 45yearold exmarine who opened fire at a milwaukee area spa was targeting his estranged wife. Three women were killed yesterday. But police havent said if Zena Haughton is among them. Four others were wounded as well. Police say the suspected shooter, radcliffe haughton, was found dead of a selfinflicted gunshot wound. He was inside the spa. So boys are hitting puberty earlier. But the reason why still a bit of a mystery. The American Academy of pediatrics says boys are showing signs six months to two years earlier than was reported in earlier research. Which found puberty generally starting at 11. 5 years old. Experts say this isnt a cause for alarm, just a heads up for parents and doctors. Elizabeth cohen is going to have more on this study and what parents need to know about this later this hour. And there will be a game seven. The National League championship series, the San Francisco giants, beating the st. Louis cardinals 61. To force that deciding game tonight. Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong shut down the cards with nine strikeouts. The giants have already won five elimination games this postseason. Tonights winner will face the a. L. Champion Detroit Tigers in the world series. That will begin wednesday. Thats going to be a big game tonight going headtohead with the debate. Nine minutes after the hour right now. He gave Goldman Sachs the Resignation Letter heard round the world. With a New York Times oped. Now greg smith talking about his book, a little wall street expose coming up. Well ask, does it deliver . Copd makes it hard to breathe, but with advair, im breathing better. So now i can be in the scene. Advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. Unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an antiinflammatory and a longacting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. Advair wont replace fastacting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. People with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. Advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking advair. If youre still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. Get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd. Com. The wheels of progress havent been very active lately. But because of Business People like you, things are beginning to get rolling. And regions is here to help. Making it easier with the expertise and service to keep those wheels turning. From Business Loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. So switch to regions. And lets get going. Together. Have more fiber than other leading brands. Theyre the better way to enjoy your fiber. Welcome back. 13 minutes past the hour. It was one of the most spectacular resignations in corporate america. Goldman sachs employee greg smith quit his firm in a very public way, after 12 years. With a scathing oped published in the New York Times. Now, smith expanded his public Resignation Letter into a book why i left Goldman Sachs which is out today. Smith spoke to Anderson Cooper last night on 60 minutes. So an oped resignation, you hoped it would be a wakeup call . I really did. Because there are a lot of people who acknowledge these things internally, but no one is willing to say it publicly. And my view was the only way you force people to change the system is by saying something publicly. Joining us now to talk about this is the author of money and power how Goldman Sachs came to rule the world william cohan. William also worked on wall street as an investment banker for almost two decades. You wrote a piece for bloomberg in which you say greg smith is quote, nothing more than a sweettalking con man. Can you explain that to me . Who is he trying to shake down here . Look, i mean, wall street is not a char itability organization. Goldman sachs is not a chaff itable organization and never has been. I wrote a history of the book, its been around more than 150 years. Its never been a charitable organization. Thats fine. So for greg smith to think that somehow this is an organization thats going to make him proud, and that he is going to, you know, be able to go there and do good for the world, is just totally naive. And im sure hes not that naive. He went there to make money. He was happy to take their money for the first twelve years of his career, and then this past year when things didnt go the way he wanted, when he didnt get his promotion, his Million Dollar pay package he up and quit and pretends to be all moral about it. And it just doesnt make sense to me. Lets talk about some of the details of the book. Its released today but a few have been leaked. And from those reports, many of the anecdotes that smith offers to illustrate the culture inside Goldman Sachs seem relatively tame. A managing director orders a Cheddar Cheese sandwich and when an intern delivers a Cheddar Cheese salad instead he throws it out. Example two, hes out to throw a ping pong game he could have won easily to please an important client. Where is the news here . Where indeed . As they used to say, in my book, you know, i talked about many examples of bad behavior at Goldman Sachs. Putting themselves first before their clients. I mean this is like ancient history. But in 1969 and 1970, in the penn central bankruptcy goldman saved itself before it saved its clients. Almost putting any number of its clients out of business, almost went out of business itself as a result of the lawsuits as a result of that. So if greg smith had done any of his homework, which clearly he did not. He joined Goldman Sachs because Goldman Sachs like many wall street firms is very, very good at seducing the best and the brightest in america and all of the world to its into its buildings and to work there. If he had done any homework at all he would have known that Goldman Sachs has always had this in its dna. These are hardly revelations. If i were Goldman Sachs i would be pretty happy right now. There is a big issue to be raised about bad behavior on wall street. And its been going on for a long time, and it happened to get us into this financial crisis. Nobodys been held accountable. But i would say exhibit a of bad behavior on wall street is a guy like greg smith, who gets paid 500,000 a year, and then has the temerity to complain about it. You mentioned this earlier and it was denying that raise. The report reveals smith was denied a raise and promotion the week before he quit and allegedly acts poorly. It says in part, quote here, greg smith off the charts unrealistic thinks he should trade at multiples. We told him theres little tolerance for reactions like that and he needs to tone it down. Anderson cooper asked smith if he had received a promotion and the Million Dollars that he had asked for, would he still have quit. Smith said, yes. Heres his explanation. Well, what i can say to you is, and this may seem stupid, but i didnt go to wall street purely to make lots of money. But i dont know anybody whos ever gone to wall street with and not had the idea of making money. No, i, i, i definitely wanted to make money. But i left because things had veered so far from what i actually believed was right that i could have just left and walked out and said nothing about it. But i i would have felt that it was not the right thing to do. Christine you said this is where he lost you . He lost me here. You go to wall street to make money. You become a finance major because you want to learn about how you make money. Thats the way the whole thing would. And i just didnt understand that part of the story, that he didnt go to wall street to make money. You go to wall street because you want power, you want money, you know how the system works and you want to be part of the leaders. And you look at Goldman Sachs for example. It prints money and leaders. People who move on off Goldman Sachs become trekry secretaries, they run big companies, theyre ambassadors, so you know, theres really this allure about the culture of goldman that is very seductive for a young person who is interested in the world of money. Thats why you go to Goldman Sachs. You like the world of money. And christine youre absolutely right. I mean, and to think its anything different than that, or has been anything different than that, over its, you know, 250year history is just nonsensical. We never hear from exgoldman people who tell us how the daytoday of goldman life is very rare. Your book was very rare and a good insight. There are few other places where we learn about how the kingmaker of a company works. Thats what i think is so interesting. Yes. About this guy in this book. Were really hearing from kind of an average foot soldier in a very important company. If he had left it at that, if he had left it at that and said heres what its like inside Goldman Sachs that would have been great. There was a book in 2001 called Monkey Business about what it was like inside another wall street firm but greg smith made it into a morality tale and im afraid that greg smith does not have the moral standing to pull this off. Hes a frustrated exemployee and he now wants to make it into something else. All right. William cohan, author of money and power how Goldman Sachs came to rule the world. Thank you very much for joining us. 19 minutes after the hour. Two tech giants go headtohead with big new product releases this week. Coming up whats new from both apple and microsoft. A hybrid . Most are just no fun to drive. Now, heres one that will make you feel alive. Meet the fivepassenger ford cmax hybrid. Cmax says ha. Cmax says wheeee. Which is what you get, dont you see . Cause cmax has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that cmax also bests in mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. Why they have a raise your rate cd. Tonight our guest, thomas sargent. Nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. Professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years . No. If he cant, no one can. Thats why ally has a raise your rate cd. Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. Alriwoah did you get that . And. Flip yep, look at this. It takes like 20 pictures at a time. I never miss anything. Isnt that awesome . Uh thats really cool. You should upload these. I know, right . That is really amazing. The pictures are so clear. Kevins a Handsome Devil that phone does everything search dog tricks. Okay, see if we can teach him something cool. Look at how lazy kevin is. Kevin, get it together dude cmon, kevin take 20 pictures with burst shot on the galaxy s3. Were minding your business this morning. U. S. Markets poised for a bounce after a dismal day on friday. The tech heavy nasdaq lost more than 2 on friday alone and theres a ton of tech news coming out this morning. Christine has a preview for us. Earnings on friday really shook people up. Especially earnings from a lot of different kinds of companies that werent as strong as people thought and that hurt the market. Were looking for tech earnings and a lot of tech news this week, you guys. This will be a big week for tech. Were going to have Quarterly Earnings from yahoo after the closing bell, facebook on tuesday. Facebook employees, by the way, many of them will become millionaires on thursday when they can start selling some of their shares. Apple earnings on thursday, and amazon on thursday, as well. And a big week for tech in terms of new product releases. You probably heard an awful lot about the ipad money. Well find out for sure what it looks like and how big that screen is on tuesday. And a lot of folks talking about the Microsoft Windows 8 product release. That this doesnt look like your any of your windows. It is so different. It is. So that will be a real interesting kind of new development to watch. Looking very different. Youre looking different, more like different different. Its different. It really looks a lot different than all the others. Well see that sort of start button, some of the things youre really used to wont be there. Another story that im following this week, guys, theres been just a complete lack of Public Officials comment about the payroll tax holiday. That was meant to be a temporary stimulus measure to put the money into your pocket, remember. Put it in your paycheck. Weve had it for two years. When we go over, or if we dont go over the fiscal cliff, doesnt matter, hardly anybody believes that the payroll tax holiday is going to be extended. The bottom line for you is that means youre going to have, you know, youre going to have a smaller paycheck next year. This is how much smaller. Jpmorgan chase is saying that its going to cut economic activity. The house weighs and Means Committee has hopefully put together a list of how much it actually equates so. Something like 333 tall starbucks lattes. 123 movie tickets. 262 gallons of gas. 1200 bags of skittles. Thats just kind of a sort of a cute and frivolous way of telling you that, if you dont have that money in your paycheck, youre not going to be buying things in the economy and thats something that could slow growth a little bit next year. But if you were banking on it, please readjust your budget. Because i dont think this one is going to last. That was the one thing we need to know about our money . The one thing about your money, National Average gas prices fell more than a penny in the last 24 hours according to aaa. The average now, the new for regular 3. 57. And oil analysts are telling us they expect a drop in the further to drop further weeks in part because of closing demand. Well see if its true. A couple of big oil analysts are saying youre going to see gas prices drop into thanksgiving. I hope so. Me, too. I know. Appreciate that. 26 minutes past the hour. Reallife drama for George Clooney. Coming up the hollywood superstars role in the trial of an embattled world leader caught up in a sex scandal. Im a conservative investor. I invest in what i know. I turned 65 last week. Im getting married. Planning a life. There are risks, sure. But, theres no reward witht it. I want to be prepared for the long haul. I see a world bursting with opportunities. India, china, brazil, ishares, smallcaps, largecaps, ishares. Industrials. Low cost. Every dollar counts. Ishares. Income. Dividends. Bonds. I like bonds. Ishares. Commodities. Diversification. Choices. My own ideas. Ishares. I want to use the same stuff the big guys use. Ishares. 8 out of 10 large, professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. Introducing the ishares core, etfs for the heart of your portfolio. Tax efficient and low cost Building Blocks to help you keep more of what you earn. Call your advisor. Visit ishares. Com. Ishares. Ishares. Yeah, ishares. Call 1800ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Read and consider it carefully before investing. Two. Three. My Credit Card Rewards are easy to remember. With the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i earn 1 cash back everywhere, every time. [ both ] 2 back on groceries. [ all ] 3 on gas no hoops to jump through. I earn more cash back on the things i buy most. [ woman in pet store ] its as easy as. [ all ] one two. [ all ] three [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards credit card. Apply online or at a bank of america near you. Debate night in america. Foreign policy is the focus on tonights final faceoff in florida. Growing up in a hurry. Doctors say whats been happening to girls now happening to boys, too. And its judgment day for Lance Armstrong. We expect to learn in less than an hour if the fallen will if this fallen guy will lose his Tour De France titles. Good morning. Welcome back. Im so sorry. Im zoraida sambolin. How are you . Im good. Im john berman. 30 minutes half the hour. Were talking politics. President obama and mitt romney going headtohead tonight in their third and final debate. This time focusing exclusively on Foreign Policy. Now, with the election just 15 days away, the two candidates are exactly tied. Thats according to a new nbc news wall street Journal National poll among likely voters, which has the candidates each at 47 . All locked up. Back with us to discuss more on this this morning, cnn contributor and republican strategist, uana navarro and cn strategist Roland Martin. Lets talk polls. The debate tonight is in florida. Our latest cnn orc poll shows that race down there, super close, mitt romney with a onepoint edge. Thats essentially a dead heat. Ana, that is your home state. Whats the assessment of the florida situation right now . Let me tell you, it feels a lot different than it felt four years ago when barack obama had a clear lead in the state. I think president obama is just off with enough groups to erase the lead he had four years ago. By that i mean hes just off with hispanics. Hes just off with the youth. Hes just off with seniors. Hes just off with women. Of where he was four years ago. That could cost him florida. Also, i must say, the romney folks have an incredible ontheground effort going on in florida. Much more than what we had four years ago. In part because they have the money to compete. Theyve been able to go to toetotoe with the obama machinery and its making a huge difference in my state. Roland, there are people, in the energy times asking the question saying does president obama leave florida . Should he campaign elsewhere . First of all one of the reasons you dont pull up stakes you need romney to compete in florida in terms of resources. The last thing you want to do is pull up stakes and allow romney say, okay, fine, i dont have to be as aggressive as well, i can redirect resources elsewhere. If you look at the map in terms of what gets you to 270. Thats what this is all about. This is not trying to replicate 2008. You want to look at the Obama Campaign, theyre looking at multiple scenarios. Theyre looking at winning mexico and the west, iowa and the midwest along with michigan, wisconsin, ohio, pennsylvania. You win those states you win reelection. Thats what it boils down to. So youre still competing in virginia and North Carolina and in florida. But you know exactly whats numero uno for the Obama Campaign. It was a big wean ntd for newspaper endorsements. Newspapers around the country came out with who they support. Mitt romney picked up endorsements in florida, orlando sentinel, tampa tribune, the Pittsburgh Tribune review, union leader. President obama with a bunch of newspapers, including the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the denver post. Roland, newspapers are not what they used to be. Do the endorsements still matter . 2004, president george w. Bushs wins ohio by 110,000 votes, hes reelected. 2008, senator obama wins North Carolina by 14,000 votes. In the end by less than one , barely loses missouri to senator john mccain. So when youre in a tight election, if an endorsement could potentially give you 5,000, 10,000 votes, trust me you do not mind that endorsement. Because every vote is going to count, and dont forget, ive been pushing, voter i. D. Laws, going to have an impact who turns out. You need every vote because we might be sitting here saying somebodys going to win a state by a very small margin. Ana, just quickly. I know youre not as big of a fan of the newspaper endorsements being good right now. But theyre better to have than not to have. Exactly. Its better to have a frosted cupcake than an unfrosted cupcake. If you take a look at how much the candidates have invested in getting the newspaper endorsements, you see that they dont have the same significance that they did before. I remember, john, when candidates used to go and sit with newspaper Editorial Board after newspaper Editorial Board after newspaper Editorial Board in some of the important cities and important newspapers around the country. That just doesnt happen anymore. I think most people are like me, and go to the newspapers to see the endorsements of candidates that we dont know. Things like judgeships, maybe state legislators, some local races, amendments, constitutional charter things. But not the president ial where we have such an overflow of information from so many different sources. Ana navarrnavarro, cnn politn lirs and Roland Martin here with us today. So good to see you today. Well talk with you more im sure. It is dead tied right now. There is a lot to talk about. Be sure to keep it on cnn throughout the day for the best political reporting on tv. Our special live coverage of the third and final debate begins at 7 00 eastern time. And in about a half hour, cyclings governing body will decide if it will strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour De France titles. The u. S. Antidoping agency has already said its piece, saying quote theres overwhelming evidence that armstrong took part in the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program while he rode for the u. S. Postal service team. Armstrongs attorney called the report a onesided hatchet job. Actor George Clooneys been called to testify on behalf of former italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who is on trial for allegedly paying an underage prostitute for sex. The girl claims she saw clooney at one of berlusconis sex parties. Clooney denies being present. He is scheduled to testify on friday. People on the west coast bundling up with a winter storm closing in. Yes, winter storm closing in. Alexandra steele is in for rob marciano. Today. Hey, good morning. Im talking poles, too, but ski poles. Maybe this will portend an active and healthy ski season to the west. In colorado, places like abasin already open. Heres the big picture. Here comes all this moisture, certainly cold enough, the white delineating where the snow is. Really in Northern California, the siskiyous, the sierras, and Northern California. Well watch it move into the bitterroots of idaho. But here in california and Southern Oregon we could see a foot of snow above 5500 feet. So a healthy first winter storm although not officially in winter yet. And also, weve got to look to the tropics. Our tropical season in the atlantic goes until november 30th. So were not out of the woods yet. Actually this time of year we look a little bit closer to home. As if on cue, look what weve got. An 80 chance of development. What were seeing in the caribbean, watch this. These are the computer models, we call this the spaghetti models. You can obviously see why. This is where the models think that this storm system will go. And you can see the consensus here. Look at it rolling over jamaica. This system is huge, so wind, rain, flooding rains, potentially, and even towards the bahamas. And even one takes it just east of miami. Certainly have to keep an eye on this, because as close as it gets to the eastern seaboard, it could be so impactful because the storm is so big. Certainly something to keep a watch on as we head toward the end of this week and for the weekend. All right, Alexandra Steele, thank you so much. 37 minutes past the hour. Libya was the most contentious part of last weeks president ial debate and the candidates could pick up exactly where they left off in tonights Foreign Policy debate. Coming up, what each man needs to do to come out on top. The wheels of progress. Seems they havent been moving much lately. But things are starting to turn around because of Business People like you. And regions is here to help. With the experience and service to keep things rolling. From Business Loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. So switch to regions. And lets get going. Together. Its monday. Soledad obrien joins us with a look at whats ahead on starting point. On starting point this morning, starts in just about 19 minutes, president obama, mitt romney will be facing off in their final debate. Thats tonight. This time, in the key swing state of florida, with a new poll that puts the candidates in a dead heat. So whos going to come out on top on Foreign Policy . Well talk this morning with maryland congressman vis van hollen, wyoming senator john barso. Stephanie cutter with the Obama Campaign and former new york city mayor rudy giuliani. The president ial campaign makes for great political humor. All the joking around, does it distract from the real issues . Were going to chat with d. L. Huguely about that straight ahead this morning. And decision day for Lance Armstrong. The International Cycling union is expected to ban him for life and strip him of his seven Tour De France titles in the wake of that doping scandal. Well bring you the very latest on that as well. All right at the top of the hour. Big day. Yeah. Thanks, soledad. You bet. It is 42 minutes past the hour. Foreign affairs will be front and center at tonights third and final president ial debate. Its ray last chance for president obama and governor romney to make their case directly to the American People. Each mans world view will be in the spotlight as they square off on iran, the middle east and terrorism. Thats just to name a few of the hot topics. Cnn Foreign Affairs reporter elise labott live in washington for us this morning. Got lots of questions for you. So first off, what are the vulnerabilities of both men given the focus on Foreign Policy tonight . And what does each of these men need to accomplish . Well, zoraida, i think for president obama, he has some very good successes to deal with. He can deal with the killing of osama bin laden. This pivot to asia, which i think has had some very good successes in terms of the u. S. Being very the u. S. Being very strong in asia, and kind of countering china. But i think that some of the vulnerabilities that president obama has and certainly mitt romney will be able to pounce on these tonight, are whats going on in the middle east. You have the crisis in syria going on right now. Thousands of people, over 30,000 people being killed. U. S. Not really having a big plan for dealing with that. And also, certainly, the attack in libya, on the u. S. Consulate in libya. There are questions remaining about how the u. S. Dealt with intelligence and security leading up to the attack. And how it led up after the attacks for governor romney, i think he doesnt have a lot of Foreign Policy experience certainly president obama is going to talk about his lack of experience, even though he led the u. S. Olympic committee. President obama is going to say he doesnt have any experience but at the same time i think although governor romney has laid out some issues of Foreign Policy, he really hasnt laid out a clear idea of how he would rule in the world. How to use American Power in the world. He said that america must lead. It needs to bring america back to its glory days. But hes very short on specifics of how he would do that. Really just using a lot of catch phrases, zoraida. All right. You mentioned libya. And there is a new report from the wall street journal about the president s Intelligence Briefings on libya. And it says, quote, president barack obama was told in his daily intelligence briefing for more than a week after the consulate siege in benghazi that the assault grew out of a spontaneous protest, despite conflicting reports from witnesses and other sources that began to cast doubt on the accuracy of that assessment, almost from the start. That report was not directed by the cia until september 22nd. And does that take some of the pressure off president obama heading into tonights debate . I think it does a little bit. And youve seen over the last kind of week and a half to two weeks that the administration has kind of been throwing the Intelligence Community under the bus, if you will. Vice president biden, in his debate, kind of spoke a little bit about the intelligence that they had and other Administration Officials saying that the intelligence assessment that the cia gave them were wrong. I think it takes a little bit of heat in terms of how they change from whether this was a protest, whether it does. It doesnt explain why a couple of days after these reports about a protest started to change, you saw in the media that there were a lot of diverting views from various agencies, the state department was definitely contradicts that. Why the administration didnt proactively look for something a little bit more concrete, and why it kept going on with this assessment, zoraida. So i think it takes a little bit of heat off but theres still a lot of questions, not just about this whole idea of what the administration said, but the Intelligence Community as a whole, intelligence failures, and also security at the embassy. So there certainly is a lot more questions that the administration has to answer. All right. Elise labott live in washington for us. Thank you. 46 minutes after the hour right now. Its happening to girls, and now, boys as well. Kids hitting puberty earlier than ever. But why . And can parents do anything to stop it . Should they . A closer look coming up. Its hard to see opportunity in todays challenging environment. Unless you have the right perspective. Bny mellon Wealth Management has the vision and experience to look beyond the obvious. Well uncover opportunities, find hidden risk, and make success a reality. Bny mellon Wealth Management welcome back, everyone. President obama and mitt romney face off on Foreign Policy at tonights third and final president ial debate in boca raton, florida. You are looking at live pictures of the debate hall. Both men spent the weekend prepping for the high stakes showdown with polls showing the race a virtual dead heat. Tonights debate will be moderated by Bob Schieffer of cbs and will consist of six 15minute segments, each starting with a question, followed by twominute answers from the candidates. Our special live coverage of tonights president ial debate begins at 7 00 p. M. Eastern time. Missouri republican todd akin is taking a lot of heat again this morning for comparing democratic incumbent Claire Mccaskill to a dog. Akin was abandoned by his own party back in august after his controversial comments about legitimate rape. Listen to what he said about mccaskill at a fundraiser saturday. This is in springfield, missouri. So she goes to washington, d. C. , and its a little bit like, you know, one of those dogs, you know, fetch, and she goes to washington, d. C. And gets all of these taxes and red tape and bureaucracy and executive orders and agencies, and she brings all of this stuff, and dumps it on us in missouri. Since akin made that remark theres been no comment from mccaskill or the missouri republicans. Police say the 45yearold exmarine who opened fire at a milwaukee area spa was targeting his estranged wife. Three women were killed yesterday, but police havent said if Zena Haughton is among them. Four others were wounded. Police say the suspected shooter, radcliffe haughton, was found dead of a selfinflicted gunshot wound inside the spa. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg predicts a whole lot of sharing in the next decade. On saturday he told a packed hall that people will be sharing 1,000 times as many things in 2022 as they do now. Not just for keeping in touch but for interacting with brands as well. If hes right, facebooks future could be pretty bright. Sunday night football action, the Pittsburgh Steelers were down four starters but despite a sloppy first half they managed to keep things close against the cincinnati bengals. Then in the Fourth Quarter with the game tied at 17, chris rainys first nfl touchdown proved to be the game winner. A good way to get your first as the steelers went on to beat the bengals 2417. 51 minutes after the hour right now. The American Academy of pediatrics says boys are reaching puberty earlier. Much earlier. And the news comes after studies show girls also hitting puberty earlier. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now live from atlanta to explain. Elizabeth, how much earlier are we talking about here for boys . Its a pretty significant chunk of time, john. Its about six months to two years earlier than in studies that looked at previous decades. You know whats interesting . Its different by race. So lets take a look at these specific numbers. When you look at africanamerican boys, this study found they were hitting puberty at around a little over 9 years old. For white boys a little over 10 years old. Hispanic boys were just a tad earlier, 10. 4 years old. And when pediatricians see this data they think, you know, maybe parents need to be having that talk with their boys a little sooner than what they might have done. I suppose the question here, elizabeth, is why . Why is this happening earlier . Right. That is what everybody wants to know and no ones quite sure. There are all sorts of theorys out there. You know, perhaps its hormones in our food. Hormones in our environment. Perhaps its because boys, like girls, are fatter than they used to be. And fat plays a role in hormone production. But you know what . We just dont know. And thats the next big question to try to answer. You know, what do parents do about this . What should they do with this information . Should you try to keep this from happening . Is there anything you can do . Early puberty in girls has proved to be detrimental psychologically and physically in many ways. And so some doctors would say, yeah, try to keep it stage that puberty off until its a little bit later. We asked doctors at the American Academy of pediatrics, what do you tell your patients . She said i tell them theres no way to stave off puberty but you can do these two things, not use products that have bpa in them and eat foods that are hormone free like meat and milk. Thats not necessarily going to help. But, theres no harm in doing these things. All right. Elizabeth cohen. This study getting a lot of attention. Thanks for giving us some answers this morning. Thank you. 53 minutes past the hour. Todays best advice is coming up. Tains of china, handcarved on the side of a cliff is the guoliang tunnel. What . youve got to be kidding me. [ derek ] ive never seen a road like this. Theres jagged rock all the way around. This is really gonna test the ats on all levels. [ derek ] this road is the most uneven surface, and it gets very narrow. Magnetic ride control is going to be working hard. The shock absorbers react to the road 1,000 times a second. It keeps you firmly in control. Whoa [ male announcer ] the allnew cadillac ats. Flavor, meet food. Its time for swanson flavor boost. Concentrated broth in easy to use packets. Mix it into skillet dishes, for an instant dose of. Hello [ female announcer ] get recipes at flavorboost. Com. I have a cold, and i took nyquil, but im still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesnt unstuff your nose. What . [ male announcer ] it doesnt have a decongestant. No way. [ male announcer ] sorry. Alkaseltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fastacting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. Thanks. [ male announcer ] youre welcome. Thats the cold truth [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus. Oh what a relief it is [ male announcer ] try new alkaseltzer plus severe allergy to treat allergy symptoms plus sinus congestion and pain. [ male announcer ] try new alkaseltzer plus severe allergy anncr every president inherits few have faced so many. Four years later. Our enemies have been brought to justice. Our heroes are coming home. Assembly lines are humming again. There are still challenges to meet. Children to educate. A middle class to rebuild. But the last thing we should do is turn back now. President obama im barack obama and. I approve this message. At meineke i have options. Like oil changes starting at 19. 95. My money. My choice. My meineke. Its not exactly the new math. But a Michigan State study says twitter has become a new literary format thats improving student learning. The study found College Students who tweet as part of their instruction are more engaged with the course content. The teacher and also with fellow students. And get higher grades to boot. The author says twitter is changing the way we experience what we read and what we write. Pay to pray . The Washington Post says as of october 9th, tim tebow now owns the trade mark for tebowing. Yes, its true. Tebow says he didnt acquire the trade mark for financial gain, he just wants to control how its used and make sure its used the right way. How do you control that . That will be interesting to see. Were going to wrap it up with best advice. Richard socarides stopped by, democratic strategist, and this is what he told us. You know, the best advice i ever got was from my old boss, president bill clinton, who told me, if youve got an idea, you believe in, never give up. Dont give up pushing it. He told me this in the middle of the impeachment proceeding and it was in difference to the fact that he was not giving up. And i was amazed at his strength and his stamina during that. Pretty big name drop there. My old boss, bill clinton who told me. In the middle of an impeachment proceeding. My friend the pope once said to me we love richard socarides. Good advice nonetheless. That is all for early start today. Starting point with Soledad Obrien starts right now. Our starting point this morning the final showdown. President obama and mitt romney meet for their third and final debate. Its tonight in boca raton in florida. And its all about whos strongest on Foreign Policy. As a new poll puts the candidates in a dead heat. A wakeup call. The Goldman Sachs employee with the incredible public resignation was on tv for the first time revealing what he calls a toxic culture at the company. Well hear from one man who says greg smith conned everybody. Decision day for Lance Armstrong. He could learn in just a few minutes if hes going to lose his record seven Tour De France titles over those scathing doping accusations. Well bring you the very latest on that. E