very close to where the president himself lives. the streets there are lined with plainclothes undercover government agents, not to mention the numerous army checkpoints that are there for the free syrian army, this rebel fighting force to have smuggled explosives into the building, into the room where this meeting took place, that most certainly would have meant that someone on the inside was helping them. someone within assad's inner circle or someone who works very closely with the inner circle and had access to this location most certainly was helping the rebels out to carry out this type of an extraordinary attack. >> with this sort of an attack at the heart of the capital city, as you say, what message does that send to the syrian government and indeed the syrian elite? do they feel less safe? do they feel perhaps a sense of momentum shifting in this conflict? >> reporter: well, it's pretty safe to assume that the president and those who are still around him are most certainly looking over their shoulders, questioning whose loyalties are going to remain intact the longer this crisis goes on, the closer the fighting gets to the center of the capital. at the end of the day, it's not just this one attacks that significant. it's the fighting that we've been seeing over the last few days. sustained gun battles in neighborhoods that are just ten minutes away from the president's seat of power, smoke billowing that those around him and he himself would not be able to avoid when they looked out of their windows. this is still a one-sided battlefield. but the free syrian army is, by the day, growing in sophistication and ability and seemed to be on the defensive, determined to take the battle to government forces. what we're going to have to look for now is exactly how the government responds to this. we're already hearing reports of severe crackdowns in a number of areas. and the government has vowed to take intense, severe, harsh and decisive action. >> arwa, thank you. also "outfront" with us tonight, retired general and former nato commander clark. so far we've seen at least 20 syrian generals defect. what does this say about the strength and commitment of the syrian military and what might nato do to nudge the syrian regime out of power in the future? >> it shows that the military is cracking under the pressure and the general have lost their core. and presumably a lot of other people lower down see that staying on the side with assad is a losing battle. he's not going to be able to hang on. they know it. they're voting with their feet by getting out. and so it's a very powerful indicator. still, assad is an alawite. and he has the alawite group behind him. so this is why this insurrection has had such a difficult time gaining traction thus far because there's two alawites in syria and they're afraid a radical sunni regime will take over and oppress them. this is about a lot more than just one authoritarian dictatorship and his family. it's a lot more than that. but with respect to nato, what you have to expect is more diplomatic pressure from nato. i don't think nato's going to intervene at this stage. i hope it doesn't. we've got important diplomatic efforts going on between the president and vladimir putin. but it is a time that the nations of nato can come together and again call on assad for restraint, certainly no use of those chemical weapons that he's got there. and he should get out of power. he's got to let go of the reins of power. >> jamie, on the diplomatic front, today president obama spoke to president putin and they agreed on the need for a political transition. and yet the u.n. resolution was delayed by a day. what is the cause of this delay? has there been a lack of american leadership on this issue and what can be done to really focus the intensity of the international community on a goal? >> well, at this point the problem is that the united states and most of the western countries, the nato members that general clark was talking about, want to put real pressure on assad to comply with u.n. resolutions,s that, to pull their weapons out of the main cities and stop the massive crackdown. the russians don't want to see pressure put on assad. they are still retaining some relationship with the syrian military. they have certain military-to-military ties that they're not ready to give up. so the question isn't, would both sides like this to be resolved politically and diplomatically? of course everybody does. but the russians aren't prepared to see any real pressure placed on assad. so they're prepared to veto, as best as we can tell, this resolution that calls on sanctions to be intensified if assad doesn't stop the crackdown. ands that the prescription for another vetoed resolution and a divided international community. >> could something like that have a hope of realistic success, more sanctions toppling the assad regime? >> i don't think sanctions are going to do it. assad is in a fight for his life. we've seen by the events today that fight is more closer to home. the only thing that's going to convince him to move is if he really sees the whole system collapsing around him. >> general clark, speaking of systems collapsing, today, our wolf blitzer spoke to the king of jordan. and they were discussing what it might mean for the region if syria breaks down to the point of no return. here's what he said. >> the worst case scenario for all of us in the region is when you get full-out civil war, there is no coming back from the abyss. syria is far more complicated than iraq and other countries in the area. >> general, what are your concerns with regard to regional stability, specifically iran and iraq? >> well, first of all, i think that if the fighting deepens and it intensifies more broadly in syria, that it could spill over into lebanon more forcefully. i think that certainly if iran feels it's losing and has lost assad and its base through syria, there's even more pressure iran's going to put on iraq. and that country's already leaning toward iran in terms of giving transit opportunities for iranian advisers and other assistance going in to assad. i think that -- the early betting on this was the soft underbelly of iran was syria. and a lot of the strategists said, look, don't worry about iran right now, take care of syria. and they were betting on that putting a lot of pressure on iran, iran is certainly vulnerable. but if its ally, assad goes down, it's going to kick back strongly into iraq and try to damage other countries in the region. >> thank you, general. thank you both. still "outfront," new polls in the presidential race just released. plus, john boehner has some fighting words for the president. and developments tonight in the disappearance of two girls in iowa. authorities now turning their focus on family members. and there are several myths about mormonism that no one wants to talk about. but we ar . ♪ why not make lunch more than just lunch? 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[ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. visit floodsmart.gov/risk to learn your risk. our second story "outfront," with less than four months to go before election day, a new poll just out tonight shows the race a dead heat. a "new york times" cbs poll finds 47% of voters prefer romney, 46% prefer obama. 4% are undecided. 26% said the vice president choice matters a lot. 48% smaerts somewhat. and just a quarter said it doesn't matter at all. that's a fact not joined on mitt romney. roland martin and former chief strategist for george w. bush mark mckenna join us "outfront" tonight. i want to play a clip of an impressive attack by ohio's own john boehner. let's take a listen. >> i think the president's attack on the private sector in america is exactly what's wrong with this administration. doesn't give a damn about middle class americans who are out there looking for work. what he's trying to do is distract the american people in order to win his own reelection. >> tell us how you really feel there, john. let's talk about the importance of ohio. take a look at the current cnn electoral map. in this scenario, obama seems likely to start with 247 electoral votes. romney expected to get 206. 85 are a toss-up. but suddenly ooeb's been five electoral votes of winning. roland, there's a reason obama has made eight trips to ohio so far this year. romney's made ten. what do you think president obama needs to do to win over the main street middle class voters in the buckeye state? >> actually if you go back to 2009, the two states he was immediately going to were ohio as well as north carolina. and when governor strickland lost, that was a big blow to democrats. clearly what he has to do is make the point that although it is a slow recovery, had the actions not been taken, we would not be in the situation here in with private equity sector job growth. it's still going to be a difficult sell. but he has to say, look, there's progress, do you want to change midstream? that's why he's making the argument, go back to the previous policies, how did that work out when we were losing 500,000-600,000 jobs a month? >> mark, there is one way that romney could make big inroads in ohio overnight and his name is senator rob portman for vp. what do you think about that pick? >> i think he's terrific. i think he will likely be the pick. he's safe as a seat belt. and considering how important ohio is, we could shut down the whole election and run the whole election in ohio because that's -- it's so likely that ohio's really going to be the determining factor just like it was in '04. it's so critical. and i think portman would be a great pick. the interesting dynamic there that's kind of interesting and a little counterintut incentive you have a republican governor there and the economy's actually doing better than it is nationally. it's hard to talk that down with a republican governor doing so well. >> we saw what happened in florida with governor rick scott talking up the economy. governor bob mcdonald in virginia and they were helped by the stimulus bills. it's a little difficult for them to criticize the president when it helped their local economies. >> roland, i want to underscore the importance of ohio for a second here. the obama campaign has just filed a lawsuit against the state for its new rules for restricting early voting. what will they have to prove to win the this lawsuit? what are the stakes? >> they have to prove it's going to negatively impact minorities according to the voting rights act. that's the critical key. republicans talk about voter ids all day. what ohio's done is utterly shameful. when they passed a bill that was so restrictive that the voters got enough signatures to put it on the ballot in 2012. they did not want to be shamed by losing. so they gutted the bill but left this provision in. what other reason will you stop people from voting three days before the election other than you're trying to keep those black churches from rallying folks to come out to the polls? it is ridiculous what they've done. it's clear voter suppression. but you have to prove that it was done with the intent to deny minorities the opportunity to vote. >> thank you both very much. we're in a dead heat here. ahead, an "outfront" investigation into the costs of drilling for oil. we wasn't to alaska to find out how a way of life could be changed forever. and later, our moment of sanity. what prompted senator john mccain to lash out at members of his own party and defend an aide to hillary clinton. it's hard y in today's challenging environment. unless you have the right perspective. bny mellon wealth management has the vision and experience to look beyond the obvious. we'll uncover opportunities, find hidden risk, and make success a reality. bny mellon wealth management ♪ you want to save money on car insurance? 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[ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way. our third story "outfront," as shell prepares to drill in the arctic, it's not just environmentalists who are concerned. some of the natives are worried drilling oil wells in the region will mark the end of their way of life. one town in particular is saying, hell, no, to drilling. shell says if things take off, as many as 100,000 jobs could be created. it's a deal that will generate hundreds of billions in tax revenue, a boon for local, state and federal government. but residents say all the money in the world won't replace what could be lost if there's an oil spill. miguel marquez went to point hope, alaska, to find out what's at stake. >> we've been hunting oil for thousands of year. >> reporter: this is the mayor here. he and his town are holding out against seemingly the inevitable, oil exploration off their shores, their garden, as he calls it. 65% of their diet comes from what they can hunt and gather. their primary source of life, >> it feeds us. it's clothed us. it's sheltered us. it's our spirituality. gives us an identity of who we are as a people. >> reporter: his people have hunted just about everything at sea and on land, scratching out an existence here for 2,000 years. but it's not just walruses, seals and whales that the people of point hope rely on for food, it's these birds, mir, that come here by the hundreds of thousands. they lay these incredibly beautiful decorative eggs. the egg, a yearly favorite. they only have about a week to collect them before the chicks inside to mature. to collect them, men brave steep cliffs and flimsy ropes. it's a delicate and tenuous cycle. >> we live a cycle of life where we hunt different animals at different times. we know when they're going to be here. >> reporter: this is the fear. the oil spill, even far offshore, the currents will bring it home, possibly taking out one link of the chain, turning everything. >> look at exxon valdez, the gulf of mexico, look at the different things -- they said nothing won't happen. anything can happen. >> reporter: for the outside world, there is little trust. the animals were hunted to near extinction in the 1950s, operation chariot was a plan to make a deepwater port by exploding six nuclear bombs. >> we could go 300 miles that way. >> reporter: this is an abandoned traditional home. he says shell is moving too fast. what what he wants is more study. sounds like this is going to happen. >> oh, yeah, i can feel it. it's kind of scary to see what's going to happen this summer. >> reporter: a global struggle for oil, a tiny place and its way of life caught in the middle. >> miguel, it's a fascinating series, fascinating story. the people of point hope clearly are opposed to drilling, conditioned about what could occur. but a lot of their colleagues up there clearly are in favor of it. >> they did vote in favor of it. it's part of barrow, alaska, the big town up there. they get four votes in the assembly there. they got other towns to vote with them. it is going ahead with the okay of many eskimo tribes up there. >> and what's a bigger threat to their way of life -- the risk of an oil spill or the influx of money and technology? >> the oil spill is the immediate one. but they also fear that point hope was 1,000 people a year ago. it's 850 now. they fear people are going to leave, take jobs elsewhere, leave town and they will lose their way of life if the money starts flowing in and jobs has all the people leave. >> great work. be sure not to miss more of miguel's special report on friday. still "outfront" in our second half, more and more cities are slashing pay and cutting services as they head towards bankruptcy. are we witnessing the start of a in additionwide trend? and an update on the search for two missing girls in iowa. the police are focusing their investigation on. ♪ ♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. hey america, even though slisa rinna is wearing the new depend silhouette briefs for charity to prove how great the fit is even under a fantastic dress. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. we invite you to get a free sample and try one on too. welcome back to the second half of "outfront." i'm john avlon in for erin burnett who's an assignment. we start the second half of our show with stories we care about. one of the worst droughts to plague to united states in more than five decades is taking a huge toll on this year's corn crops. nine counties in eight states have been designated as primary natural disaster areas due to losses by excessive heat. the dotted line shows the average percentage rate of corn crop rates. this is a dramatic decline that could impact your wallet. 75% of what's found on grocery store shelves contains corn. a military official tells cnn's barbara starr seven army soldiers and two marines will receive nonjudicial punishment while in colombia as part of president obama's security team. the nine are not being charged with criminal offenses. nonjudicial punishment refers to things like confinement to quarters or loss of rank or pay. though never publicly confirmed, some personnels were believe to have been involved in pursuing prostitutes. ben bernanke was back on the hill today. l