Transcripts For CNNW Starting Point 20121024

Contradictory message from each of them. But theyre hoping that they reach their targets. Listen to some examples. Four more years like the last four years would continue to have a president playing hide and seek trying to find a plan to get the economy going. To create jobs. This is a president whos whose approach to croating jobs is another stimulus. 000 the first one work out . You can choose a Foreign Policy thats reckless and wrong, or you can choose one that is steady and strong. You can choose to turn back the clock 50 years for immigrants and gays and women, or in this election, you can decide we will remain an inclusive, generous country. Now there is a pretty big map of battleground states right now. And you have eight of them. Eight battleground states that are really too close to call, soledad. But it not just states like ohio and nevada and iowa and so on. Theres also one very interesting state in the northeast that is never a battleground because its always democratic and thats the state of maine. The romney super pac is running an ad in maine. Why is that . The way the state distributes their electoral votes its by Congressional District. Theres a very conservative Congressional District that could provide republicans one electoral vote and if it is that tight that could matter. Interesting. Wow. Wow, maine. Republicans kind of raised their hands and said maybe we should go up there. Four years ago, there was one Congressional District in nebraska, which is the only other state to do it. Theres a new obama ad out today. Tell me about that. This really speaks to the idea that the Obama Campaign is desperate to get eve single democrat out, even those who are maybe hohum about going to the polls. Theyre reminding democrats about what happened in,000 and how they felt about it. Watch this. 537. The number of votes that changed the course of american history. Florida is too close to call. The difference between what was, and what could have been. So this year, if youre thinking that your vote doesnt count, that it wont matter, well, back then, there were probably at least 537 people who felt the same way. A reminder to everybody out there that every vote does matter. And way to kind of send chills up the spine of every democrat who still has not gotten over that loss in 2000. You know to get them to go out and knock on maybe one more door, make one more phone call, convince their aunt that doesnt feel like going out to vote that they really should go out to vote. Thats what thats about. An indication, i think, that both campaigns are thinking that this could really not be decided on election night. Certain democratic voters says dont let people steal this election. Thats what the message is. They got everybody back. Thats interesting. Dana, thank you very much. Johns got a look at some of the other stories making news. No comment from the white house yet about new emails detailing information about last months deadly assault on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi. According to those emails the white house and the state department were informed a militant Islamic Group had claimed credit for the attack, two hours after it began. And u. S. Diplomats were providing details to officials in washington while it was happening. Now, in a moment were going to get reaction from congressman mike rogers who is the chairman of the house Intelligence Committee. A massive document dump reveals the state of massachusetts knew about reports that necc was breaking prescription laws over the past decade. The documents show complaints from doctors and even complaints from officials in iowa, wisconsin and texas. But massachusetts failed to take tough action. Necc is behind a nationwide meningitis outbreak now up to 304 cases and four other infections, including 23 deaths in 17 states. A deadly shark attack off the coast of Santa Barbara in california. Police say the victim was an expert surfer. He was riding the waves with friends off the Santa Barbara coast near Vandenberg Air force base when he was bitten in the upper torso. Friends tried to rescue him but they were unable to. Tropical storm sandy is gaining strength. It isnt a hurricane just yet but it is expected to become one soon, as it bears down on jamaica later today. A hurricane warning is in effect there, and in some provinces in central and eastern cuba, as well. Later this morning montego bay airport will close. Also a Tropical Storm watch is in effect for southeastern florida in the northeastern keys. Rob marciano told us a little while ago this may be a storm we have to watch on the northeast, and the east coast of the u. S. Coming up later next week. A powerful 6. 5 magnitude earthquake in western costa rica centered about five miles from the Tourist Destination of nicoya. The quake struck around 7 30 last night local time and could be felt 90 miles away. It was followed by a 4. 5 aftershock. No word yet of any injuries. Smaller and pricier. Apple is hoping that this formula will be a hit after introducing its new ipad mini. The companys razor thin tablet has a 7. 9 inch screen, front and rear cameras, and weighs about 0. 68 pounds. The starting price 329 which is pricier than some competitors. Wall street does not seem impressed so far. Apple shares are down more than 3 since the company made the price public. Thats interesting. Costs about 100 more than the competitors the kindle and nook and samsung. I dont know. I dont know if id get one. Im not sure. The ipad is not so big. It fits in most purses. Especially the purses we carry. The large bags we carry. All right, john, thank you. There are some new emails, we were just talking about that in your news update, obtained by cnn, providing some detail about the deadly september 11th attack on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi showing the white house and the state department were informed about an islamic military group taking the responsibility for the assault two hours after that assault began. Want to take a look at some of those emails. They were sent between 4 00 and 6 00 p. M. Eastern time on the day of the attack. Heres the first one. Quote, a Diplomatic Mission is under attack. Embassy tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots, explosions have been heard, as well. Ambassador stevens, who is currently in benghazi, and four com personnel are in the compound safe haven. Embassy tripoli reports the firing at the u. S. Diplomatic mission in benghazi has stopped and the compound has been cleared. A Response Team on site is on site attempting to locate the com personnel. And this one, Embassy Tripoli reports the group Ansar Al Sharia claimed responsibility on facebook and twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli. Lets get right to republican congressman mike rogers of michigan. Hes the chairman of the house Intelligence Committee. Its nice to see you, sir. Thank you very much for talking with us. So in these emails, we are, i guess, sort of seeing the event unravel mostly in realtime. When you see these emails, what does it tell you . Well, its not just these emails, its everything that came before it. So when you look at the entire timeline, soledad, we know that there were threat streams from aqim, al qaeda in the magrab and Ansar Al Sharia, this group that was claiming responsibility that they referenced in the email, is an affiliate of that al qaeda group. And so what we saw was threat streams that 9 embassy, the consulate had been attacked twice before, april and june before that september attack. This was clearly a targeted place, somewhere they wanted to have some terrorist success on the compound. So what you saw in the emails in that realtime was a real description, and as you noticed, there was no talk of demonstrations or other things. And it was clearly very early identified with a terrorist affiliate of aqim. So let me ask you about that. How they linked to al qaeda. Because i, i know, as you know, that there are some who say that they are, that theyre, theyre not one and the same. I mean you know for those of us who are not on the sbel committee, clearly, we think of them as this region of bad guys. But al qaeda has sort of Leadership Structure and other people have said that Ansar Al Sharia is just sort of a label and not so much of a Leadership Structure. Can you walk us through that . Yeah. What al qaeda, the core group of al qaeda, so Osama Bin Laden, and a guy named zawahiri, and of course Osama Bin Laden is gone and zawahiri has taken his place. Thats the core leadership of al qaeda. Those were the original folks who brought up together and found groups that would join and swear allegiance to the leadership of al qaeda. So thats that core group. Then you have al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, which was an Affiliate Group that joined al qaeda. And pledged allegiance to them. And about 06, al qaeda in the magreb, which was not direct al qaeda affiliate then joined al qaeda and swore allegiance to that core group. So, what you have is these different Affiliate Groups, who are engaged in terrorism, and have been prior to this, who have sworn allegiance to the principles of that core group. So its theyre affiliated. They have the same goals, the same aims. Sometimes theyll take direction. Sometimes they wont, from the core group. But they all engage in the same tactics, same principles, and still want, at the end of the day, the they cover all of northern africa, southern europe, the middle east. Thats what theyre stated and intended goal is. And Ansar Al Sharia basically means protector of islam. So they have sworn an oath to do that. So they are that extremist, jihadist group. All of them continue to be dangerous. And the interesting thing, again, soledad, is we also know now that on the 13th of september, there was what we believe is probably an affiliated of al qaeda attack the u. S. Embassy in tunisia. Four dead, not americans, and they also hit the American School there. Nobodys really talking about it. But that tells you the level of coordination and of sheer interest in trying to hit western targets. So lets talk about that a little bit, if we can. I want to go through some reports. Earlier we were talking about, talking about the l. A. Times report, which said this, ill piece of it, said the assault on the u. S. Diplomatic mission in benghazi last month appears to have been an opportunistic attack rather than a longplanned operation. An intelligence agencies have found no evidence that it was ordered by al qaeda. According to u. S. Officials, and witnesses interviewed in libya. This was an article on october 19th. And then, ill give you the wall street journal one, we could talk about, excuse me, both. Wall street journal, 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. So, is this the l. A. Times is wrong . Is it the wall street journal is wrong . Is it theyre both right . Is it just so confusing that everybody could be right in this . Explain those two reports to me. Yeah. Its this is pretty interesting. I think somebody latched onto what they wanted to hear in intelligence that was provided. Remember, if youre an analyst and you do this for a living, you see all of this threat information about the consulate long before the september 11th attack on the consulate. We know twice that its been attacked. Which it tells you, by the way, al qaeda sponsored events, they want to theyll continue hitting the target until theyre successful. We saw that with the twin towers in the 93 attack, and then if successful 9 11 attack in 2000. Their success, not ours. And so you take a look at all of that stream of information, and then these emails that you just highlighted, its really difficult to come to the conclusion up front that it was a spontaneous, not planned, part of a protest when none of that was in the early hours of reporting. So were still trying to figure out what happened. What i believe happened, soledad, is that somebody saw something that they thought was the way that they wanted to talk about it, versus what the facts on the ground were. Because think about it, even when that narrative was starting to develop, oh, this was spontaneous, it wasnt planned, it wasnt really a terrorist attack, on september 13th, we had another jihadist attack on an embassy in tunisia. It was very serious, four people killed, again not americans, we had to evacuate the embassy, and they also went and stormed the American School there. So you see this pattern of activity is really hard to come to this conclusion that was just spontaneous, and just kind of happened. So thats what were trying to figure out. And why this is important, not because who did what when is a problem here. Its about the fact that decisions were made, big policy decisions, including elevating the video that, if you listen to those email or read those emails, nothing about the video, it elevated the video and actually caused more protests across the middle east. At the same time, though, we know that there were a list of countries in which the video was triggering, i mean in the context of all of that at the same time there were protests that, that reporting show that the video had been involved. It seems slightly confusing. Congressman rogers were out of time. But i thank you for your insight this morning. Chair of the Intelligence Committee and Romney Campaign surrogate i should mention as well. Weve got to take a break this morning on starting point. Were going to take a look at the fall classic. S tigers taking on the giants in the world series. Who is most likely to take home the ring . Were going to talk to the host of espns mike and mike in the morning coming up next. And fake letters sent to voters in one crucial state questioning their citizenship and registration just days before the election. Well tell you what you need to know about that scam. Y cousins. Im just gettin started. Woo [ male announcer ] shop now and put it on layaway. So, you have more time to pay. Walmart. So, you have more time to pay. 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. This is the first leg of our world challenge with the cadillac ats. This is actually starting to feel real now. [ ross ] this is the Perfect Place to test the atss advanced aerodynamics. [ derek ] weve got crosswinds, tailwinds, headwinds. Aerodynamics is all about keeping the car planted on the road. You are going to get hit by stuff, so dont freak out. [ screaming with excitement ] and move out now. [ male announcer ] the allnew cadillac ats. That was me. The day i learned i had to start insulin for my type 2 diabetes. Me. Thinking my only option was the vial and syringe dad used. And me. Discovering oncedaily levemir® flexpen. Flexpen® is prefilled. Doesnt need refrigeration for up to 42 days. No drawing from a vial. Dial the exact dose. Inject by pushing a button. Flexpen® is insulin delivery. My way. Levemir® insulin detemir [rdna origin] injection is a longacting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes and is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not use levemir® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause symptoms such as sweating, shakiness, confusion, and headache. Severe low blood sugar can be serious and life threatening. Ask your Healthcare Provider about alcohol use, operating machinery, or driving. Other possible side effects include injection site reactions. Tell your Healthcare Provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions. Get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, such as body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat, or sweating. With flexpen®. Say good night to vial and syringe. Ask your doctor about levemir® flexpen. Covered by 90 of insurance plans, including medicare. Find your copay at myflexpen. Com. Welcome back, everybody. The San Francisco giants headed to game one of the world series tonight after a stunning game seven victory over the st. Louis cardinals on monday night. Theyre going to face off against the Detroit Tigers and their ace starting pitcher, the reigning American League mvp justin verlander. The team has been scrimmaging against Minor League Prospects to keep their skills sharp during their week off. Joined by the most of mike mike in the morning. Nice to see you, gentlemen. Im curious if you think its better to be rested up, or to be, you know, in momentum playing against, you know, a, a great series. Which is the better option, do you think . Well, in kwolics world of football the rest helps. Theres a lot of injury factor so getting guys back healthy and getting downtime is an advantage. In baseball it is a distinct disadvantage. For six months these guys are accustomed to the rith up of playing every single day. Two days off is an unusual circumstance. Five or six days off like the tigers have right now is a huge disadvantage. The team thats had the longer layoff has lost the last five of six world series. So while you could spin it either way, you know, and make and justify it for your team, i do think in this case the more you keep playing closer to the world series, the better off youre going to be. Okay, so lets say youre saying the tigers go in with a disadvantage. Lay out for me what kind of were going to see in this game. Verlander is the best pitcher on the planet. Thats the tigers big advantage. I heard you say soledad youre a yankees fan. You saw what the tiger pitchers did to your just kidding. Next year. Yes. But obviously their pitching was dominating in that series and verlander is the leader of it. He is the best pitcher on the planet and i think theyre depending on him bigtime to set the tone. Spin it the other way. If the giants should ever beat verlander in game one, think how much momentum swings their way. I think detroit is favored in this because of ver lander. But seeing what the giants did six times with their backs against the wall in the last two series, there are those who believe in the baseball gods, that faith is just with them. I dont buy into any of that. I believe in execution on the field and i think detroit is the better team. I used to believe in the baseball gods, too, awhile back. Back to my yankees. A quick question for you, you heard what Brian Cashman was saying about arod. Traded or not . Absolutely not. They have nowhere to send him. He will be back. 9 yankees will come back almost exactly the same. Why trade him and also give away maybe 90 million, as well . Pay him to go away that much . Not going to happen. Nice to see you guys. Thank you. Still ahead this morning on starting point, todd akin kind of has a little company. Listen to this. Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that god intended to happen. Thats Republican Senate candidate taking some heat for saying that pregnancies by rain are intended by god. Well discuss that straight ahead on starting point. Ughou. One a day mens 50 is a complete multivitamin designed for mens Health Concerns as we age. It has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. One a day mens 50 . 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. Nyquil stuffy just reading the whatyour label. Ing . Rewards credit card. Wait you relieve nasal congestion . Tylenol sure. Dont you . Tylenol another bottle hmmm. No. Nyquil stuffy dude anncr vo tylenol cold multisymptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. Nyquil cold flu doesnt. 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. Welcome back to starting point. Looking at some stop torys. Barnes noble is warning customers who shopped 63 of its stores that their credit card information may have been stolen. If you shopped at barnes noble before september 14th, its a good idea to change your p. I. N. Number and check your statement. Stores in nine states were affected. After spending a ton of cash and finishing last in the National League east the Miami Marlins have fired manager ozzie guillen. Guillens first and only season managing the marlins. The teams poor performance wasnt the only reason for his dismissal. Team Officials Say guillens controversial marks last april, you may remember them, when he praised fidel castro, those remarks also played a role. Not surprised. Along with dana bash this morning our Team Includes will cain. Weve already been arguing. Dont be so sensitive. Hes a columnist. Roland martin is going to be joining us in just a moment. John berman has been helping us out this morning. Our get real this morning, question about a lack of sensitivity toward a victim of rape. First missouri Senate Candidate republican todd akin who talked about legitimate rape. Youll remember that. And now an indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock says he believes pregnancies resulting from rape are a gift from god. Heres what he said last night, the last minutes of the debate. I believe that life begins at conception. The only exception i have for to have an abortion is in that case of the life of the mother. I just i struggled with it myself for a long time. I came to realize life is a gift from god and i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that god intended to happen. So mourdock clarified his comments afterwards saying god creates life, and that was my point. God does not want rape and by no means was i suggesting that he does. Rape is a horrible thing and for anyone who twists my words otherwise is absurd and sick. First and foremost, just because any chance that democrats, in particular, have to whack republicans on the issue on an issue that could draw women or draw women away from republicans, theyre going to do it. In this particular rape, he made the connection between this and todd akins comments, i talked to a senior republican strategist who is kind of monitoring this to get a sense of the fallout, and this source says that they dont think that this is that similar to akin for one main reason. What he was doing was describing his very wellpublicized view on abortion. That it should not that the exception should not be there for rape. And that many republicans agree with that. Especially in the very conservative state of indiana. Very different from what todd akin said which is that somehow peoples bodies can reject pregnancy from rape, which, you know, virtually nobody believes. Thats number one. Dont expect republicans to throw mourdock under the bus like they did akin. This is a very, very different issue. Governor romney has, i think, put out an ad supporting Richard Mourdock and he had a tough fight as a Tea Party Candidate at first to get exception from the gop and now he, hes struggling a little bit. What do you think politically i hope this isnt an issue. I dont think this is an appropriate conversation to have to the political end. Will it have an impact politically . Thats depends how its spun. I dont want to partake in the spin. The question that mourdock did you just say as a political analyst you dont want to partake in the spin . Would you run it under my face, please . The question is this, dana said it, its true. This is not so much what akin said. Akin redefined the concept of rape and went into biological, medical procedures, and mysteries. What mourdock suggested here is that hes not saying god wanted rape. God, hes saying, sanctions life. And if you believe life begins at conception, either through religion or logic, then how that life is created is beside the point. Let me ask a followup to that. I know you love the logic argument. Why make an exception for the life of the mother. If you are saying that morally an abortion is killing something that is alive at the moment of conception, at the end of the day isnt it like, well now youre pitting two lives against each other. Now youre forced to choose the value between two lives. And thats morally acceptable . Its a moral conundrum. The other equation is not. The problem with faithbased perspective. The difference between what is gods will, and what is free will. If youre sitting here trying to say oh, if you got raped it was gods will for you to have that child, so, are you saying that, oh, its okay it happened so go ahead and move forward. Frankly, as a christian, as an evangelical, im not buying that argument and i would ask him the question, if your daughter got raped, are you telling me that you would be fine with her having that child . We can invite everyone to email us and tweet us because i think this is part of a bigger conversation. Will and i talked. We should do a 30minute show on this at some point. Yeah. Before we move on however at this moment. Theyre yelling at me in my ear. Ahead this morning on starting point, remember the number nine. That is the number of states that could decide the entire election just 13 days away now. One of those battleground states is the state of florida. Were going to talk to florida congressman Mario Diazbalart coming up next. And the gangnam getting diplomatic. Its now reached the United Nations only a month after well explain. You havent seen this . No. Will oh, my goodness. Oh, my god. Back in just a moment. [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus presents the cold truth. 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. Welcome back. Youre watching starting point. What did they know and when did they know it . So far the white house isnt commenting on those new details emerging from last months deadly attack on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi. According to emails obtained by cnn, the state department and the white house were told about an Islamic Militant group taking responsibility for the assault just two hours after that assault began. In one of those emails u. S. Diplomats told officials in washington the group Ansar Al Sharia claimed credit on facebook and on twitter and was calling for another attack on the embassy in tripoli. Foreign Affairs Reporter elise labott is live from washington, d. C. This morning. So walk us through, if you will, elise, this email chain that we now know. Soledad, these are the First Communications that weve seen coming from the administration about what was happening in the attack in realtime. Now, this first email comes from the state Department Operations center, to people in the white house situation room, the pentagon, the fbi, and its at about 10 00 tripoli time, 4 00 eastern time, saying u. S. Tripoli u. S. Benghazi under attack, Embassy Tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots, explosions have been heard, as well. Ambassador stevens, who is currently in benghazi, and four Mission Personnel are in the compound safe haven. The 17th of february militia is providing security support. Now, soledad, the next email, which came out about a half hour later, said that the shots had stopped, and that all was actually calm, and you know, Response Team was trying to locate those personnel. But we now understand that those militants had actually breached the compound walls and had set fire to that Main Building of the compound, where Chris Stevens and sean smith died. And that last email about responsibility. So what it shows is that even the night of the attack, there were indications that this extremist group, an al qaeda affiliate, could be involved, soledad. Interesting. Thanks for that. We appreciate the update. John berman has an update on our days top stories, as well. Convicted serial pedophile Jerry Sandusky is undergoing a physical and mental evaluation at a new pennsylvania prison. He was transferred to state lockup at camp hill yesterday. The former penn state coach shouldnt get too comfortable there, though. After evaluation hell be moved to another state prison to serve out the rest of his 30 to 60year sentence. Coming up in our next hour, cnn contributor and Pulitzer Prize winning reporter sara ganim will join us. She broke the sandusky story. Shes going to have new details of a book victim number one. Michael skakel hoping to be released from prison when he goes before a parole board today. Hes served half of a 0year sentence for the murder of martha moxley. Pope benedict naming six new cardinals this morning. The surprise announcement comes during the popes weekly general audience at the vatican. The cardinals come from lebanon, the philippines, my year yeah, colombia, india and the u. S. Among those selected monsignor james harvey, the american prefect of the popes household. The new cardinals will be elevated on november 24th. Less than two weeks before the president ial election, florida investigators are trying to figure out who sent bogus letters to voters questioning their citizenship and registration. Floridas secretary of state says people in 23 counties have received the letters, which are written on fake supervisor of election letterhead. They have no return address but they do carry a postmark from seattle, washington. With more than half the billion hits on youtube it is a bona fide global hit, being that will cain has never seen it. Now even the u. N. Secretarygeneral ban kimoon is doing it gangnam style. Check it out the rapper, the south korean rapper showed his fellow countrymen some moves yesterday. Secretarygeneral joked that hes a little jealous since hes not the most famous korean in the world anymore. But he is the best dressed. Not the most famous korean. Thats the lpga tour. Remember the macarena . Yes. The macarena needs to end very, very soon. Im not doing that dance ever, sorry. Needs to end. Ahead on starting point, battleground, florida. The latest cnn polling there shows its an absolute tossup. Its one of nine states that could decide the entire election. Florida congressman Mario Diazbalart is going to join us next to talk a little bit about how he thinks its going to go down in his state. And the queen of qvc, entrepreneur lori greiner knows the secret to success. Shes going to give us some of those tips. Questions . Anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating . Yeah. One Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. Approved [ female announcer ] live the regular life. Phillips. Welcome, everybody. Youre watching starting point. Just 13 days until the election. Laserlike focus on a handful of battleground states. By cnns count there are nine tossup states where the election will be decided. You can see them in yellow, nevada, colorado, iowa, wisconsin, ohio, virginia, north carolina, florida, and new hampshire. Republican congressman Mario Diazbalart advises mitt romney on Foreign Policy and hes from one of those states i just listed. The state of florida. Its nice to see you, sir. Thank you for talking with us this morning. Thank you, soledad. Lets begin with what nate silver says in the new york times. Romney is the definitive favorite in florida. Are you as confident add nate sounds in a win for mitt romney in your state . Florida is always going to be tight. I feel very confident that governor romney is going to win florida. Not only do you see the changing of the polls. You just feel it out there. People are concerned about where were headed and they see mitt romney and somebody who can fix the economy. You see what i see is really interesting . Weve been talking about polls over the last week. Let me throw this one up, a cnn orc poll that breaks it down to white and nonwhite in the state of florida. White vote is mitt romney would get 61 according to our polling. And president obama 35 . If you look at nonwhites, mitt romney takes 24 of the nonwhite vote, president obama 74 . Lets focus on that 24 number. How worried is the gop in general about that . Not just for this election but in general. You extrapolate out our nation is getting more diverse, thats got to be a worriship number for you. I think that the Democratic Party has done a very good job with their speeches, with their rhetoric and trying to attract minority voters. And i think the Republican Party has not done as good of a job. However, i think ultimately, what its going to boil down to is policy. And who has the best plan to fix the economy, create jobs. I think youre going to see those numbers changing. Weve seen them Getting Better for governor romney, getting worse for the president. I think youre going to continue to see that trend. But clearly, i think the republican jobs in the last few years has not done a great job in explaining what the policies are, and how they benefit the american people. But i think what people are also understanding is that regardless of explanations, or rhetoric, that the policies that were on right now frankly have not worked and we can do a better job and that our children and our grandchildren deserve a better future, which is why i think ultimately, governor romneys going to win florida. I think hes going to win a little bit stronger than some are predicting right now. Congressman, its dana bash here in new york. You say that its the rhetoric, not the policies. But if you look at florida, maybe youre right, lets just say that youre right that governor romney is going to do well there. Look at the state of nevada, where republicans think that theyre probably not going to win there. And one of the primary reasons is because latinos in that state are just fed up with republicans. Not so much on rhetoric, but because of the policies how do you fix that in your party and how frustrated are you . Im not quite sure if it is policies and ill tell you why. Remember that the president s been very good. He promised in his first 12 months, he gave his word, to the country, and to the latino population in the country in particular that within the first 12 months he was going to do comprehensive immigration reform. He didnt do it. But by the way, look, look at senator reids election. He did exceedingly well latino population because he promised he was going to present and pass the dream act. He did it. He did a version of it, by the way, without talking to anybody else. But then after that, after the election, he doesnt mention it anymore. He doesnt do it anymore. He hasnt even proposed it anymore. So we see this time and time again. So it really is rhetoric. Its not policy. On the policies, look at the increase in poverty. The group of kids, children, the Largest Group of children in poverty in the United States, you know what they are . They are the latino children. Which brings us back to thats a reality. So the policies have not been good. Its the rhetoric that has been better on the side of the Democratic Party. First i want to jump in there for a second. I did a documentary on this very thing. Right the latino vote in the state of nevada and, and what you actually hear, on both sides, is the, the rhetoric about immigration, it really does come down to in the state of nevada heavily the issue is immigration policy. So its, its, its it is, i think, a policy issue specifically centered around immigration. Well, again, look, clearly that is the issue. I mean thats where the divide is. But, unfortunately, the president has not been very good on that issue. Look at the number of families that have been broken up under this administration. Hispanic families. Its the greatest in the history of the country. If you look at the deportations of latinos its the largest in the history of this country. But the rhetoric has been very, very good. And unfortunately the rhetoric of some of the rhetoric coming from some members of the Republican Party, most of which are gone, has been very destructive. Thats why i go back to on immigration, what has the president done . He hasnt done what he promised. But his rhetoric has been very good. On that count, on that count, neither republicans or democrats have been great with the exception of the law which realized half a million hispanics, by the way, im very proud that was by a republican, my brother congressman lincoln diazbalart. A shoutout to your brother on the air. Absolutely. Roland ive got to ask real quick, during one of the cnn republican debates, the question was asked, what would you do to attract latinos to the gop, and mitt romney and others, went on a long conversation about building a wall. To me that shows something when its a softball question, but they talked about a wall, versus actually how do you attract latinos to the gop. The reality, again, thats why its rhetoric. The policies, for latinos, from this administration, are what . The Poverty Level increase, children in poverty now the largest number of latinos, right, right, right, so the policies among latinos from this administration have been horrendous. What im telling you is that the rhetoric, the rhetoric from the democrats have been much better to try to attract that vote and the rhetoric from the republicans has not been that good, however, when you look at the policies, when you look at the policies. You tell me if you think its acceptable that, that, that the Poverty Level among children, hispanic children, has risen dramatically. Has that helped the Latino Community . No. The policies from this administration have been destructive, particularly to hispanic children. And thats why i think ultimately, in the state of florida and elsewhere, when people start focusing, and they are, theyre going to look at do our children and grandchildren deserve this . Or do they deserve a better, brighter future, which has always been what the United States provides. Thats why i think youre going to see those numbers, frankly, that gap shrink as the days go by. We will certainly be looking at that congressman Mario Diazbalart. Thank you for talking with us. Appreciate it. Good to see you. Good morning. Still ahead on starting point, shes a shark in the business world. And for good reason. Lori greiner is one of the stars of shark tank and shes got success secrets to share with us this morning. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. Take tylenol or take aleve, the 1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. Just two aleve can keep pain away all day. Back to the news. Just two aleve can keep pain away all day. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. 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 ] hall of fame catcher carlton fisk had some explaining to do after police found him passed out behind the wheel of his pickup truck in a cornfield. After refusing to take a test Bbc World Service polled people in 21 countries. On average, 50 of those favored preferred president obama, 9 favored mitt romney. The those countries have zero electoral votes. What if they threw in another name . Gary johnson finally gets like puttin. I was thinking beyonce. Soledad. Yes. Maybe she would do better. Shark tank, popular Reality Tv Show about deal making is now in its fourth season. Fourth season, wow wealthy sharks get their own money to fund ideas pitched to them by regular people. It leads to some very interesting preparations. What youre currently tasting is an array of back nine buffalo chicken dips. Wing sauces, dipping sauces, blend them together, to create everything you would get in a chicken wing on a chip. This is basically a chicken slurpie. Proteinbased dip. I have to say its delicious. Was it really . That was lori greiner. Sometimes called the warm bloded shark, also known as the queen of qvc, creator of more than 300 products. Was that really good . It sounded disgusting. It depended on who was eating it. If you loiked that kind of thing, you liked it. The other male sharks did not really like it. Did you invest . I thought it was pretty good. I did invest. I did invest. So how do you know how to pick . What resonates for you . Because youre really, really good at it in your own life. What do you see presented that makes say winner, loser . I look at two things. What is the product or the business . Is it something i feel in my gut is going to go far . Ive had a lot of years. Ive had 16 years and 400 products that are successful created. Intuitively know now what is go good. A lot of things you cant sell to a mass market. Is it something that the market of people are going to want . What will it cost to make . What will they pay for it . If it fits these things, i can get it out there. But its also the person. Let me run a little chunk of something called nail pack. Here is the nail pack pitch. Ive been in the shopping world, Shopping Channel world for 15 years. You talk like its nothing. Most people fail that go on. Not me. I dont fail. Yeah, you will fail. You know nothing about nail polish. Im not going to sell it. Barbara is going to sell it. You cant just call up aa buyer and say hey we take the 10,000 units shall put it in dutyfree, put the rest in avon. They talk like its so easy and you know its not. I have start twod businesses, succeeded and failed and ive heard from venture capitalists exactly what you just said. We bet on jockeys, not on horses. Its about the people, right . I read a book called sonic boom. It was great. It had a quote, do you know what word i avoid in investing . Pioneers. I dont want to come near pioneers. The first guy through the gate always dies. Do you believe that, its better to be second . Its better to be facebook than myspace. No, i dont agree with that. I believe if you have something great, its great. I was a pioneer. Look where i am today. Its a combination. Its like the perfect storm. You have to have a great idea or product. If its unique, it helps. And i think that if youre a great person, it helps. You have to have somebody with passion and drive and enthusiasm. Theyre going to live it 24 7. Thats what it takes to make a successful business. I have a small business, media company. What amazes me, you have folks that have great ideas but dont understand the other aspects of business. If youre good aat this, get somebody who knows accounting or marketing because you cant do all of those things. As a general rule, thats smart. You asked me do i agree with that . Not always necessary ily. I had a journalism background. I didnt stay in my lane. I went out of my lane and figured it out. We love the new lap that youre in now. Its awesome to watch you. Thank you for being with us this morning. Thank you so much. Well take a short break and we are back in just a moment. Hi dad. Many years from now, when the subaru is theirs. Hey. You missed a spot. Ill look back on this day and laugh. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Morning. Welcome, everybody. Youre watching starting point. The final push to win the battleground states, president obama, governor romney making their final appeals. You can choz a Foreign Policy thats reckless and wrong or you can choose one thats steady and strong. He calls his Campaign Slogan forward. I think forewarned is a better term. Well talk with democratic ohio governor, former governor ted strickland. Saying pregnancies cause bid rape are intended by god, its been lighting up my twitter. Well talk about that, straight ahead. Bracing for Tropical Storm sandy, barreling through the caribbean. Is the u. S. In its path . Woel talk about that. Apple is out with its own version, ipad mini. Will the big gamble pay off . Its wednesday, october 24th. Starting point begins right now. Morning, morning, welcome, welcome. Our team, Roland Martin, host of washington watch with Roland Martin is what im trying to say. Dana bash, cnn correspondent. John berman, host of early start along with zoraida sambolin. And will cain. And until election day, well be talking about every single day politics. Just a little bit. How many voter can candidates reach in swing states is what its coming down to. Reno, nevada, and later this evening he will be in cedar rapids, iowa. President obama is kicking off a twoday, roundtheclock tour through six states, rally in davenpo davenport, iowa, denver, colorado, then to l. A. To tape the tonight show then to vegas. The tour ends tomorrow in ohio. We are joined by the former governor of this state, state of ohio, ted strickland, National Chair for the Obama Campaign. Good morning, sir. Thank you for joining us. Good morning. I want to start with a tracking poll from abc news. It looks like this between october 19th and 22nd. This is prethird debate, i should mention. Governor romney is winning the tracking poll 49 to 48 . The sampling error is plus or minus throw points. If you look at the poll in virginia, important state as dana was just telling us, governor romney winning there by one point, sampling error is plus or minus four points there. Thats from the American Research group, i should point out. Quinnipiac, that one in colorado, governor romney winning there 48 to president obamas 47 , sampling here or there is plus or minus 3 . In your own state, ohio, likely choice, look aat the numbers. President obama now at 50 prethe debates, first two. He was at 53 . Thats a drop of three points. Governor romney is now at 45 . Pret the debates he was at 43 . I could go on and on. Some of these polls have dire numbers in there for you. How worried are you about this . Youre laughing. I think were in good shape in ohio. Yes. You know, early voting is going very well here in ohio. The president is doing very well in the early voting. We believe weve got a small, but a very meaningful load. I know of no polls that have ever had governor romney leading in ohio. The president has been here, will be here thursday night, back in cleveland. And theres a wonderful ground operation here for the Obama Campaign. Ive never seen anything like it. I think ohio will stay in the obama camp. If ohio does that, then its going to be really tough for mitt romney to win this election. And thats kind of thats a decent size if, i think, on that, sir. I want to ask dana the question. The governor brings up early voting. Whoa heard recently that president obama will go to illinois, take time out of his Campaign Trip to register an early voting ballot. Does that tell you that the campaign feels good about where they are in early voting process . Im not sure if its that hold on one second, governor. Well get to you. I actually want to hear what the governor says. My perspective is that its show and tell. Thats what im wondering. Remember, im voting. Everybody can do it right now. Everybody realizes, oh, well, especially in states like ohio. Governor strickland, one in five have voted. Really good stats for the democrats there, twothirds roughly are democratic votes, 63 . Yeah. Thats right. Im voting this afternoon, by the way. I urge all ohioans to get out if they havent voted to do this. I think this early voting could really make the difference in a state like ohio, because it gives us time to really communicate with the voter, to urge them to get out, to talk to them about the importance of this vote. And people are responding, well over 800,000 people have already voted in ohio. We expect that number to fellows dramatically during the next couple of weeks. And i think that could very well you know, when the final votes are counted, theyre all clustered together. I think this early voting effort and the ground operation could really make the difference in ohio. As i i repeat myself, soledad. Ive never seen anything like this. It is a massive effort. Its well organized, well coordinated and its having an effect. White working class women, that seems to be the target of president obama as well as mitt romney. Yes. And thats the group that seems to be going back and forth trying to decide which way they go. How does the president make the argument to woit work iing midd class women . There are a lot of middle class folks in ohio that mitt romney talked so disparagingly about in that videotape. And especially women have a high stake in this election. And, quite frankly, mitt romney has yet to acknowledge that he would support equal pay for equal work. I think that issue that single issue should really be the determining factor in whether or not women feel like they can trust this guy. If hes not willing to say you deserve equal pay for equal work then how can they trust him in the other matter that may affect their lives . Governor its john berman here. The Obama Campaign just release ed a 19page booklet called blueprint for americas future. This came out two weeks before election day. Too late to release a blueprint for the future . New economic patriotism. Thats exactly what this president is stressing. Jobs in america. Bringing jobs from offshore back to our shore. Giving incentives to companies that will invest and create jobs here rather than offshore. And i think what were seeing in this pamphlet that has recently been made available to us is a vision for what the president wants to do going forward. Advanced energy. Education. Infrastructure. Investments in critical research. Those are the things that are going to move this country forward. And i think its a very doable, practical and the president s math adds up, unlike mitt romneys math. The president s math response to criticism that has come not just from the republicans, but also some people in the media that the president has not been clear about what his plans are, going forward. The president has been clear. I think what were seeing in this pamphlet is just an attempt to pull those ideas together and to present them in an organized m manner, in an organized fashion. The president has been talking about advanced energy since the day he took office. He has been talking about infrastructure. He certainly has been talking about making sure we have the best Education System in the world. These are things the president has continuously talked about and put before the american people. And those who say he has no agenda for the future are just simply wrong or havent been paying attention. But ohio understands that this president has stood up for us and i believe ohio is going to stand up for him. The Auto Industry bailout or rescue we like to use the word rescue. It was really more of a rescue than a bailout. And the infrastructure. You know, there are important construction jobs under way in ohio right now, Major Construction jobs that are being partially financed by the stimulus bill. And so ohioans recognize that our unemployment is now 7 . Thats due in large part to what this president has done in terms of the Auto Industry and the stimulus bill that has enabled us to continue to build our infrastructure. We feel optimistic and hopeful in ohio and were going to reward the president for what he has done for us. Ted strickland, former governor of ohio. Nice to see you, sir. Thank you for talking with us. Hey, thank you. Thanks for having me. Its our pleasure. We hope to have him back over the next 13 days, of course. Ohio will be a critical state. As you point out, dana, it will be one to watch. Theyre hopeful that those numbers will hold out for them. And optimism that he talked about. Thats the message theyre certainly spinning. No comment from the Obama Administration so far about the latest information from last months deadly assault on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi. According to emails obtained by cnn, the white house and state department were informed a militant Islamist Group claimed credit for the attack two hours after it began. U. S. Diplomats were informing officials in washington about the unfolding assault while it was happening. California surfer killed in a shark attack. The vic was attacked yesterday while surfing with friends off the coast of surf beach near vande Vandenburg Air force base. He was bitten by the shark in the upper tore so. Friends tried to save him but couldnt. Tropical storm sandy. Central and eastern cuba, later this morning montego bay airport is expected to close. Kingston airport closed last night. Tropical storm watch has been issued for southeastern florida and the northern keys. Data breach at barnes noble to tell you about this morning. Credit card information from 63 stores is at risk. The breeach was through pin devices, connecticut, new jersey, pennsylvania, rhode island, new york, illinois, california and florida. The Detroit Tigers are the favorites entering the game one world series against the San Francisco giants tonight. Tigers give the ball to justin verlander, the detroit aace who has a 100mileperhour fastball, pretty mean curve and changeup also. The giants now 60. Hes on fire. God shall that annoys me. Giants are 60 in the postseason, sending Lefty Barry Zito to the hill. Has a nice curveball, mr. Zito does. Scheduled 8 00 eastern tonight. Such a comeback for him. That guy was left for dead. Now hes back, pitching game one of the series. Love a comeback. Yes, we do. Steve jobs once ridiculed small tablets as tweeners. But now ipad is out with its own version, the ipad mini. Will that gamble pay off . [ woman ] its 32 minutes to go time, 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. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center. One is for a clean, wedomestic Energy Future that puts us in control. Our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. Though all Energy Development comes with some risk, were committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. Its not a dream. Americas natural gas. Putting us in control of our Energy Future, now. When the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week. Im like. Yeah, ok. Little did i know that one week later i wasnt smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. It reduces the urge to smoke. Some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. If you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. Tell your doctor about any history of depression or other Mental Health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. Dont take chantix if youve had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. If you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some cabe lifethreatening. If you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. Get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. Common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. It helps to have people around you. They say, youre much bigger than this. And you are. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. Is smaller better . Apple is certainly hoping so, unveiling its new mini yesterday. Weighs less than a pound. Starts, though, at 329. It aint cheap. The comparisons to other smaller competitors is already heating up. Here to give us his take on the new ipad mini is the editor of wired magazine. Jason taylor. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Its getting uh reviews. Why . For that you can get a nexus 7, kindle fire with similar specs. Youre really paying an apple premium, which apple customers can be used to. Xourts are usually more expensive. Ipads have been very prois competitive. This is the first ipad model thats considerably more expensive than other models. Why . I always feel like theres something at work. Amazon, for instance, sells its 7 tablet at a loss. Theyre trying to sell books, content. Theyre willing to take a hit on the actual hardware. Apple does not do that. Apple doesnt take a hit on the hardware. 7. 9, the other tablets are 7. This is the ipad 2. Its not far from it. Youre sitting here if im going to do the pad get the extra couple of inches, pay 50 more bucks, if you will, and resolution is not as sharp on the ipad mini as well. There isnt the strongest use case and apple didnt come out normally theyll say look at all the new things you can do. Thanks to this device you can do this, where you couldnt do it before. They didnt even make that case yesterday. They said here it is. I havent held it. I assume you have. Can you fit it in your pocket, carry it around . Not exactly the pocket. Maybe if you have enormous pockets. Get the saggy pants. Yeah, yeah. You can put it in a handbag, a clutch. He has a man bag. Hes got one. A piece of the action, right . First kind of defensive play weve seen from apple in a while. This is the first time there was another product that apple said weve got to follow these guys and get in this size for the last however many years, apple has been the one that said here is the new device. This is the first time theyre kind of playing catchup. Maybe the focus is educational group. Kids at my school, they give out ipads and theyre joint and they wrap them in these massive cases. If this could do the same thing for my kids at under a pound, i think that would be an amazing thing. They could do all their homework on their ipad. They carry it would be great. Is that a use . The best comparison, which you just made, is between the ipad mini and regular ipad. If i want an ipad, which one should i get . Its 70 cheaper than the ipad 2, but 170 cheaper than the new ipad 4 they Just Announced yesterday. If youre looking at, you know, i want a 7 tablet, i dont really care about it being apple or anybody else, that may be a harder sell. On the education front, the reality is folks are not buying them really for education. Its adult user. I call these adult toys, if you will. No, i dont think so. You obviously dont have a 4yearold. Excuse me. Ive got multiple ipads for my nieces and nephews. But the point is that thats the market youre still targeting because thats the price point as well. Education market, text bok replacements eventually. They work with textbook publisher publishers. I think that is something theyre trying to explore. We have conversations about that all the time at our school. Im telling you. Steve jobs with his not a big fan of this. Its hard to say. He did refer to them as tweeners, not quite iphones, not quoit laptops. Theres a history of steve jobs talking trash, lets say, about new devices, that they would never build a television, for instan instance. You find, oh, they were working on that. Is this a sign of a corporate shift since his death . I dont want to read those kind of tea leaves. Im not sure. Its possible that theyve been working on this before he got sick. You dont really know. I wouldnt say its a great turning away from his legacy in building this. Jason tanz, thanks for being with us. You bet. Growing his hair for a good cause. Ponytail right there, impressive, its against skol policy. Should they bend the rules . Its our tough call and its up next. The Us Bank Wealth Management Advisor can help you. Every step of the way. From big steps, to little steps. Since 1863 weve helped guide our clients, so they can take the steps to help grow, preserve, and pass along their wealth. So their footsteps can help the next generation find their own path. All of us serving you. Us bank ohio teenager is getting in trouble at school because of his long hair. He is growing it for a good reason. His name is zachary aufderhide. Theyve required that your hair is 10 long. He is an inch away from his g l goal. Canton Ohio School Board says long hair violates the school dress code. And they will not grant him an exemption. When he didnt cut his hair he was punished with a twoday inschool suspension. Silly. One word, stupid. Please show me how growing your hair somehow is going to interfere with an educational process . Next . You know, im kind of tend to subscribe to the rules are meant to be broken. Really . Look what were learning about dana. Wow but especially in cases like this. Come on. If it is true that he as not just like wanting to grow a ponytail and using this as an excuse, let him do it. Who cares . We can debate the rule is stupid. Thats one debate. The other question is, is applying the rule stupid . It is not stupid. I agree with will cain. We can come up with 100 different great reasons to break a rule. But he broke the rule. I agree. Have a debate about changing the rule but im sorry, buddy, you have to cut your hair, because the rule says it. Maybe he doesnt have to cut his hair. He got a twoday suspension. Grow your hair. When youre ready, cut it off. You have paid the price for breaking the rule. That was a dress code rule. Everybody should be happy, right . Whats next, no afros, corn rows we suddenly veered no, no, no, who is the hair police . I dont think so. Go ahead. Im not particularly comfortable with telling people how to grow their hair. You all have very nice hair. I dont want to tell you how to style it. Will loves his hair. He loves to flip it in. Tmi. I think its great. Hes going to cut it off and it will all be settled and it will go back to whatever. Idiotic rule. Idiotic. Despite earning the same degree and doing the same work to get the job, the numbers still show women earn less than men at work. By how much might shock you or might just shock me and dana. Well talk about that. Plus hes breaking his silence, victim number one in the jerry san dsky case has a new book out. We have some details about his firsthand account. Thats coming up next. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. Mike rowe here at a ford tell me fiona, whos having a big tire event . Your ford dealer. Who has 11 major brands to choose from . Your ford dealer. Whos offering a rebate . Your ford dealer. Who has the low price tire guarantee. Affording peace of mind to anyone who might be in the market for a new set of res . Your ford dealer. Im beginning to sense a pattern. Buy four select tires, get a 60 rebate. Use the Ford Service Credit credit card, get 60 more. Thats up to 120. Where did you get that sweater vest . Your ford dealer. I had[ designer ]eeling enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. I decided enough is enough. [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. Its clinically proven to provide clearer skin. [ rv guy ] enbrel may not work for everyone and may not clear you completely, but for many, it gets skin clearer fast, within 2 months, and keeps it clearer up to 9 months. [ male announcer ] because enbrel®, etanercept, suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. Serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and Blood Disorders have occurred. Before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether youve been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Dont start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. Tell your doctor if youre prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. If youve had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel. New video of president obama boarding air force one this morning. Davenport, iowa is his destination, battleground states with a stop at the tonight show in los angeles thrown in the middle. Mitt romney picks up Campaign Events in denver and iowa. The nephew of robert and Ethel Kennedy have spent 10 years of a 20year sentence for the bludgeoning death of his neighbor, martha moxley. Testifying yesterday they were trying to protect douglas kennedys newborn baby last january when they tried to take the infant outside the hospital. Kennedy is facing harassment and child endangerment charges for allegedly kicking one nurse and twisting the arm of another when they attempted to stop him. A new reality show featuring Whitney Houstons family on lifetime. Its called the houstons on our own. What her mother would want for her. Starring Bobbi Kristina brown, her mother, cissy houston. A new study by the American Association of women says fulltime working women earn 82 of what their male peers do. One year after college, average salary for men is 42,918. For women, 35,296, nearly an 8,000 a year difference. Wow what do you think thats fwr . If you look at the study, i was reading about this. First of all they said part of the issue is that women arent going into more lucrative jobs, like engineering, which is a whole new issue that girls need to be better educated and pushed that should be opened up to them more frequently. But also that women just arent as active negotiating their salaries as men are. Which i think is true. So what youre are talking about, dana, when you control for major and degree and number of hours work, its still a 7 difference twoen men and women. What accounts for that . Some of it, as you said, maybe negotiating, and some of it, is there gender discrimination . Ive seen evidence of both. A ton of women who will take whatever the first offer is and dont negotiate at all and dont necessarily know their value and women, i dont think, like to talk about how much money theyre getting paid. Absolutely. Theres hard to get a comparison. But also to this day it was stunning to me. Listen, hes got a family. Youre the wife. Ive heard that many times. Hes got a family. He needs to get paid a little bit more gl that doesnt explain it out of college, though, necessarily. But sometimes out of clemg its youre going to go have a kid. We dont need to invest all this money in you. The guy will have a long track record. I heard that. Really . Yes. Wow ive heard that in the last three weeks. I think its important for women, especially girls coming out of college, to know that they can talk about this and they should talk about this i definitely think it is a gender thing, that women just dont its for all the men that have sisters, go out there and be mercinaries. I have nine nieces. They will be tough negotiators. That scares me. It scares the employer. Firsthand account from a young man previously known only as victim number one now public in a new bok thats coming out this week called silent no more written with the help of his mom and his psychologist. 18yearold aaron fisher, thats his name, he recalls years of abuse before he finally spoke out against the disgraced former penn state coach. He spoke out in an interview with bbc. Probably there are still people out there that dont believe that Jerry Sandusky can do this and they might think im a horrible person for it. Do you know that youre good . I do. But the emotions and affects of other people and actions of other people are kind of shying me away from that. Cnn contribute or, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter with the patriot news, helped to first break the penn state scandal story and is referenced in this new book several times. Sarah, nice to have you back with us. We certainly appreciate it. Give me your initial gut take on it. My initial gut take, soledad, the first few chapters was that from the beginning ive been seeing victims unrelated to this case really showing that they were inspired by victim one, by aaron fisher coming forward, launching this investigation and openly talking about what happened to him and really ive seen him come a long way in the last three years of what he was willing to say publicly and how much he was willing to go into detail even at the trial, he was really emotional on the stand. So it was really inspiring to read how open he was about his abuse. Not just about the abuse, about his struggles to get to the point where he is, where he could actually write a book with his face on the cover of it. And i think that this book and what he says in the book will continue to do just that. And it is inspire other victims who are silent and who are unwilling to come forward to maybe start speaking about this. Weve seen that do a great deal of good over the last year. I would imagine so. A lot of the book is not written by him. 21 of the 30 chapters really are written by other people, much of it by his psychologist, michael gillam. You have said that there are some inconsistencies in mr. Gillams recounting of the story. Can you walk us through some of those . Absolutely. That was kind of the disappointment for me, that 21 of the 30 chapters are written by the psychologist and most of it is just his speculation about based on his experience, walking through the investigation with aaron. But its all speculation about why the investigation took three years. And, of course, this has been a huge topic of conversation in pennsylvania, whether or not the governor, who was running for election at the time and was the attorney general prosecuting this case, whether or not he delayed the investigation until after he was elected governor, didnt want to charge sandusky over fear of this being a hot topic. A lot of the book is devoted to that topic. And i thought, you know, this is a guy that was right there, who witnessed a lot of conversations. And, you know, this ises if nating, what he has to say. But the problem with it was he lost a lot of credibility for me. Because there are a lot of things that over the last year and beyond have been Public Information that he got wrong in the book. Now, this came out only about four months after the verdict. So it a little bit as a reporter if they were rushing to get it out quickly. I dont know. Im going to guess. I did talk with mike gillam yesterday and he said that he believed there were Fact Checkers but i havent heard back from the publishing company. I dont think it would be a big surprise if theyre trying to get it out as fast as they possibly could, tied to the case, of course. Six chapters fisher wrote on his own. I thought he wrote very emotionally when he was talking about when he first heard about sanduskys conviction. Im going to read a little bit. He said i didnt pump my fist in the air or let out a cheer. Instead i pulled my car on to the shoulder of the highway. I couldnt see the road in front of me anymore through the tears. I put my head down on the Steering Wheel and cried. Happy tears, but i was crying. You know, i just thought i know he had a lot of help with this, but that, to me, seemed very genuine and emotional. I thought a lot of his personality came out in this. Absolutely. You know, this is a kid who reported this in late 2008 and kind of watched for three years as people made promises, hell be arrested this month. Hell be arrested this summer. Hell be arrested next week. And it didnt happen over and over again. In the book he writes there was a point where they went to the fbi, the family went to the fbi, trying to get some help, thinking maybe the federal investigators could help them, but couldnt. Then they considered actually going to the media and getting their story out that way because they didnt have faith he was going to be arrested. That night of the verdict, shortly after that conversation that he writes about, i talked to his mom and she said this is just a big relief. We really had no idea until this moment one way or another, we thought you know, we had lost so much faith and trust in people, that it could go either way. I think thats what youre seeing in those words, is that cumila tch accumulation. She won a Pulitzer Prize. And shes wearing the same color i am today. Its contagious. Salmon. And she won maybe im dressing like her, actually. Ill change that. Still ahead on starting point imagine a Junior High School where the geeks rule, chess players are cool. It is the subject of a new documentary called Brock Lynn Castle coming up in a moment. Layaways back, right . Yep, you can pay a little at a time. Our boys. Husbands sisters boys. Play cousins. Im just gettin started. Woo [ male announcer ] shop now and put it on layaway. So, you have more time to pay. Walmart. First the First Time Ever an africanamerican woman is the winner of the directors award at the sundance festival. Duvernay, aacclaimed independent film make. Here is the story of how she got there. My name is ava duvernay and im a black woman film maker. I cant believe it. Ten months early. Good news. Great news. Baby, youve got everything going for you. Youre coming home. At this point ive made firms that ive written. It takes a lot to make a film. Its a lot of brain power, a lot of heart. A lot of your spirit goes into these films. The framing of the shots in my films, the choices of music, the cadence and rhythm of the editing. All of that, im very aware, is coming through who i am. And im a sister. So, i wear that very proudly. I made a Career Change from publicist to film maker. I had a really great job as a publicist. I would be on these film sets in pain, wanting to make my own. I would be asked to work on movies that were caricatures of us, as women of color. So for me it was just really about pushing through all of that fear. This is like blowing my mind. The only thing that drove me was this idea of never to stay still. Theres something very powerful and something amazing to be said. My next film middle of nowhere we are pushing that out and excited about the life that its having since we debuted at sundance. The fact that its touching people and changing things, im really excited about that right now. I think its really been a beautiful journey. Its all gotten me to where i am right now, a place that feels really beautiful and supportive and comfortable and fulfilled. Who is black in america, is being black determined by the color of your skin, your family or what society says or Something Else all together . Well examine that provocative question about skin color, discrimination and race. Who is black in america . That is sunday december 9th at 8 00 pm eastern. Its a great topic. So many interesting stories on both sides of that color line. They are called the yankees of chess. Ahead a new documentary examines a Junior High School where chess kids are the cool kids. Woel meet the director and one of the students in that movie just ahead. Theyve been committed to putting clients first. Helping generations through tough times. Good times. Never taking a bailout. There when you need them. Helping millions of americans over the centuries. The strength of a Global Financial leader. The heart of a onetoone relationship. Together for your future. Welcome back to starting point, a quick check of the headlines. The city of auburn is working with the Postal Service to find out why 1800 800 rather ballots have never reach ed ther destination. Licensed to sell the big bird getup says the big man has been so great the entire stock has sold out. Google searches for the phrase big bird costume soared 600 . Very big congratulations to soledad. Last night her foundation Soledad Obrien foundation was honored at new york womens foundation. Where i deserve real congratulations is my children did not misbehave. You get credit for that . Yes. Thats called being god parenting. You will be in big trouble if you make a scene at this event. Thank you. Thank you. I want to introduce to you a very special Junior High School in brooklyn, new york, where the geeks kind of rule and nerds are considered cool. Its known around the you stits as the yankees of chess, winning 25 National Chess titles. This year the school won first place in the National High school competition. New documentary is called br k Brooklyn Castle playing in new york theaters, opening friday in los angeles. The director is katie delamajorie and one of the best players in the nation, alex. When katie was shooting this, you were the number two ranked Junior High School player in the United States. Before you got to school before you were at is 318, how much chess did you play . In Elementary School i had a program, chess as a class. I would have it one day a week. My coach, eric hutchens, first started working with me in first grade. Just the communication between the student and teacher was amazing there. Turned out he live d a block awy from me. He became part of my family. It became a subject more easier to grasp upon. Katie, why did you think this was a great subject for the documentary . Part of the reason, i know, is because of the stunning poverty of this school. When i discovered this 318 had the best junior high Chess Program in the nation, that was surprising to me. Im from brooklyn. I didnt know that. The schools had a High Percentage of poverty. Its a title one school. 30 of the families are below the Poverty Level. This is a story a lot of people probably dont know about. Beyond the Chess Program tons of afterschool programs are doing incredible things for the student body. It seemed like a gem of a school in a neighborhood, doing things that people doing unexpected, positive things. This is a positive example of Public Education people might want to hear about. And confronts those expectations that people have about kids in poverty. Poor kids, they cant be successful, certainly, at chess. And poor kids, they cant necessarily be smart kids. I think people have a lot of stereotypical misconceptions about poverty and children. This is a perfect example of having chess, whether its drama, arts, and the value it brings to the education process. We often talk about just reading, writing, arithmetic, social studies, this is also valuable to education. Right. Do you see that, alex . Clearly. Personally for me its helped me do much better in school. I see it in kids every day in my school. It doesnt have to be through chess. Aart, music, dance. Just these Extracurricular Activities help these kids progress. So, soledad said there are certain stereotypes that accompany poverty. Arent there certain stereotypes that accompany chess . They call you a nerd. Is it true . Are people playing chess nerds, dorks, geeks or is that a misconception . In the film, the principal, fred rubino says usually people who play chess are seen as a social pariah that nobody wants to deal with. But in reality, its nothing like that. They see it as a Great Success and not that many kids play chess, which is a shame, but its just an amazing feeling to know that you do something that will eventual ly help you in th future and benefit you. Being smart was always cool. And chess was always being smart. I dont see how its uncool. I agree. In some schools its not cool. To be honest where i went to school, i went to a Public School in new jersey. And it wasnt cool to be smart. Is culture different at is 318 . Is being a chess master really cool in ways that it would not otherwise be . Youre big man on campus, huh . Thats the deal. The school does a good job of celebrating chess and, as you said, being smart. Banners and trophies covered in the hallways. Its the chess banners right there with the sports teams and the school create that is culture. It makes it cool to take a different path and do something different. Big central conflict in your film is about budget cuts. I want to play a little clip about what was happen iing at ts school. Been hit hard by the budget kus and people down here in brooklyn have disagreed with the budget cuts that have affected the new York City School system. You guys are going to write to lentil. You guys are going to write to lopez. This is your opportunity to have your voice heard. Talk to me about how that played out in your film. We started making the film, the school didnt have the kind of budget problems that it has that you see in the movie. I found out a couple of months into shooting that the school had been hit with bad budget cuts and perhaps the chess team didnt have enough money to go to national competitions. That didnt seem fair to me and obviously a story point we wanted to pursue. It was happening in schools all across the nation. And so, you know, throughout the course of the film we follow the team kind of fight for funding and we follow the school come together and rally around this cause because its really important, you know, that this team that is the best in the nation is working so hard, be able to compete at the highest level. I dont want to give away the ending but clearly, you were able to go, right . Spoiler alert. I dont want to speed over what you just said. Look, they put focus on sports teams. We celebrate football and basketball but not the academic achievement. Here on starting point we celebrate the academic achievement. Congratulations to you. Nice to have you with us. Brooklyn castle. Big man on campus. Is the name of the documentary. End point is up next. Were lucky, its not every day you find a companion as loyal as a subaru. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. But dont just listen to me. Listen to these happy progressive customers. 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