the train that derailed yesterday near springfield, ohio. the derailment of another norfolk southern freight train prompted a temporary shelter in place for nearby residents, and cnn s polo sandoval joins me now. polo, we re getting some new wrinkles of information about what was on that train yesterday. very interesting. what can you tell us? reporter: yeah, jim. in the last couple of hours, we heard from an initial at norfolk southern, who is the owner and operator of the train that derailed in springfield, ohio, yesterday afternoon, confirming that the train was transporting hazardous material. however, that it was not on train cars that derailed. roughly 20 of the 212 train cars that were going south from northern ohio down to birmingham ended up leaving the tracks. officials there saying this accident happened in an area that does not have any protected water source. and most importantly, according to the state s epa director, that there was no release of any sort of c
hoping to take on the candidate who may pose the greatest challenge to president obama. we are talking about mitt romney. herman cain is live with us here in the situation room this hour. we will talk about what is behind declined in the recent polls. criticism of his 9-9-9 tax plan and much more. i m wolf blitzer, you re in the situation room. he s the only candidate whose been consistently at the top of the polls in the volatile republican race for the white house. that has mitt romney increasingly targeted by president obama s supporters. now in an unusual move, the democratic national committee is targeting romney in an effort to sway the gop nominated contest pmt cnn s joe john says working the scene for us. joe, what is going on here. it raises the question, whose primary is this anyway. it was much easier to keep track of this when it was just republicans fighting among themselves. the latest in the republican battle comes from the democratic national committee,
the dark. our congressional correspondent kate bolduan is on capitol hill looking into the story. kate, what s going only here? this was not supposed to be like this. reporter: hey there, wolf. i m standing out front as people are passing by. behind me is this nondescript room. this is where the super committee will meet again this evening behind closed doors which has some government watchers, since this committee has such a huge job before them, some government watchers are calling this approach troubling. good morning. reporter: the so-called super committee began its work with a promise of transparency. i believe the american people deserve to have full access to committee business the way they do with every committee here in congress. there will be ample opportunities for the public to have their opinions heard. reporter: but with just seven weeks before their thanksgiving deadline, the committee has met in public only three times. the 12 members meeting more