you know that ohio is such a critical swing state. if polls are any indication here those trips appear to be paying off. here is why. a new poll just released today gives the president a 50 to 44% load in ohio. the visit also comes on the very same day the romney campaign have rolled out this ad very critical of the president's auto recovery claims. here it is. >> started 1972 selling cars. >> in 2009, under the obama administration's bailout of general motors, ohio dealerships were forced to close. >> i received a letter from general motors. they were suspending my credit line. we have 30 something employees out of work. my wife and i were the last ones there. it's like the dream we worked for and worked so hard for was gone. >> the obama campaign already rebutting that ad today. we're going to be seeing the president speaking from akron, ohio in just about 20 minutes from now touting what he and his administration has accomplished in ohio. we'll bring you that live in about 20 minutes. mitt romney is back home in the united states after this trip abroad. he is getting a little r and r today before making a trip to meet with republican governors tomorrow in colorado. romney may be getting a minute to rest today but there's no rest in terms of speculation over who he might be choosing as his number two. >> yeah. a lot of this is due in part of the romney campaign which is feeding the us these tidbits to keep the story alive. it was a few days ago that the person tweeted out several different names that would lead us to think she's vetting these people's names. this comes as we expect mitt romney to make his announcement sooner rather than later. the story is up on cnn.com that breaks the ice on when the selection can be named. what peter is reporting right now is the fact that the romney campaign is creating a swing state tour right now of key b battleground states. maybe we can see the build up to the roll out of his vice presidential pick. it's going to start here in the metro washington area, specifically northern virginia. virginia will play a key role in the presidential election. he's then going to go down richmond and move over to another one of the big media markets along the water. the next day he'll head down to north carolina which is state president obama won back in 2008. after north carolina he goes to florida the day after the closing the olympics. at the end of that week, the romney campaign is looking at ohio themselves for particular locations that they think they could specifically hold rallies and then the week before the convention, they're going to have a bus tour and they're putting one together. we don't know where it's going to go but it's going to have something to doed with the v.p. pick. >> something like two, two and a half weeks way, you think? >> it could come sooner. i would speculate it would happen on the night of the olympics. i wouldn't be surprise to see them leak it out to try to get as much buzz and all those people watching the closing ceremonies to maybe get their interest piqued on it. >> we'll be watching for it . the president in ohio today. our white house correspondent is traveling along with the president. give me a quick preview of what we'll be hearing from president obama. >> reporter: i think we'll continue to hear this message that the president has been hammering away for quite some time out on the campaign trail. he's out there pushing for the middle class and those trying to get in the middle class and mitt romney presidency would only look out for the wealthiest americans. we heard that from the president during his first stop in mansfield, ohio. this is a state that's important not only to the president but mitt romney. the president has been to the state many times, a dozen times since he announced his re-election bid last year in the spring. justabout a month ago the president was right here in akron where he's going to be speak about 30 minutes or so during a part of his bus tour. the obama campaign believes this message of looking out for the middle class americans and romney looking out for the wealthy resonates with all americans. today the president's message came with this new report from the tax policy center which stresses that message that the president has been given that romney's plan. they did not specifically analyze it, they looked at similar plans and said it would benefit high income americans and boost the tax burden on middle class americans. the romney campaign saying dismissing this report and saying the president's failed policies are what's hurting the american economy. >> we will be watching for the president speaking from akron. dan, appreciate it. pretty noteworthy development in texas. there's a man by the name ted cruz. they voted. they decided yet that cruz is the guy they want to run for republican cay bailey hutchinson senate seat. they chose cruz. they those him over this man, the lieutenant governor of texas. david dewhurst was backed by rick perry. what is going on in texas? shannon travis has been following since the beginning of the tea party. are they back? did they never leave? have they been working out in local campaigns like this in texas? >> there's a old song lyric that says don't call it a comeback. they've been here for years. this is not really a comeback. the tea party has been quitely working behind the scenes. you've seen less of rallies and less of the people going out pounding the pavement and really more of them quietly negotiating the political tactics and adopting some of those tried and true strategies of building up their staffing office and volunteers. that's what they have been quietly doing. this cruz victory just represents the latest in their trek toward the hostile takeover of washington. as you mentioned sarah palin endorsed ted cruz. she posted on her facebook page last night that the tea party is alive and well. they've had a similar victory in indiana. >> this is texas. this is indiana. we're talking micro but i want to talk macro because if rick perry's lieutenant governor was not right. what about mitt romney? >> it's no secret that tea partiers have had a bit of a love-hate relationship with governor romney. some of that is smoothed over. a lot of them will say they will vote for him whether it's a vote against president obama or not. the tea party express is planning this big bus tour. a lot of that looking to prop up romney. a lot of tea partiers that i've talked to are still saying we're still lukewarm. we will vote for him but maybe we won't go out and volunteer and pound the pavement. >> thank you. the biggest news, the biggest talkers live. watch. one expert says the only way syria's dictator may leave is in a body bag. this is as we're getting video of the rebels killing the killers. i'm brooke baldwin, the news is now. the housing crisis is the heart of this terrible economy. the bottom may have past. find out what this means for your house. plus, a prison using wolf hybrids instead of guards. why? to save cash. a man is shot in the head while he's handcuffed in the back of a police car. wait until you hear how it may have happened. ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] constipated? 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[ whirring and beeping ] it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪ forget the guards. dogs are keeping watch at this one louisiana state prison. they are wolf hybrids. the prison is using a pack of wolf dog mixes to keep the prisoners from escaping and angola houses hard core criminals. you have 86% violent offenders. more than half are in for life. they have very little to lose if they break out. >> we've had to shut down a lot of towers to reduce the man hours. the dogs are doing an excellent job patrolling the fences at night. they know the dogs will bite and for how long and how hard is a different story. we've had several convicts told us they would have hit the fence if it had not been for the dogs. >> the warden said a corrections officer cost $34,000 a year but the 80 dogs altogether cost 60,000 a year. they're saving some serious money with this. is this really the right thing to do? let's talk to wendy spencer. she's the director of animal care at wolf haven international. welcome. you know these animals so well. let me ask you this, if you have these wolf hybrids outside this fence area and someone does try to escape. tell me what's the natural instinct of one of these animals. do they go after an inmate? >> it depends on the dog. with wolf dogs you never know what you're going to get. depending upon the con tent of wolf in the doll, it's going to determine the behavior. the higher the content of wolf, the more wary of people the dogs will be so the likelihood of a high content dog chasing after people is really slim. one of the things known among breeders and folks that do rescues is they do not make good guard dogs. >> you don't think this is a good idea then? >> i do not think it's a good idea. it's counter intuitive. they are really wary of people. they'll do what they need to do to avoid people. the dogs that they are using, i'm not familiar with the program. i'm not familiar with the dogs, but i suspect if they have any wolf they are fairly low content so the behavior that you're seeing, the aggressive tendency or the chasing after the prisoner that's the dog in them and if that's the case they'd be better off using pure dog. >> it's the dog in them and not the wolf. how interesting. we're reaching out to the state department of corrections to see why, on one level it sounds like times are tight and this is cheaper. it's cheaper for them to use these dogs. you point out the different percentages between wolf and dog. are you telling me that none of these animals could really do serious harm to an inmate trying to escape. >> >> you know, no that's not exactly what i'm saying. the dogs if they were to go after one of the inmates that could do some serious harm. >> they would? >> it depends on the individual dog. that's the problem with using the dogs. it's almost like the genetic crap shoot. you may have a fairly low to mid content wolf dog who isn't afraid of people. if they are either breeding or purchasing high content wolf dogs they are typically afraid of people. the likelihood that they are going to chase the inmates is pretty slim. if they were to bite one of the inmates, certainly they could do serious harm. wolves have jaw pressure that's much stronger than the average domestic dog. they could inflict some serious harm. if they are looking for aggressive tendencies, dogs that aren't afraid of people they are better off going with a purebred dog like a german shepherd or breeds better trained for that. wolf dogs are not the suitable breed. >> final question. you know the story. you're not intimately familiar but does it outrage you? you say the plan is horrible. does your group plan to take action? >> we just found out about it this morning. on so many different levels, for a myriad of reasons it's a bad idea. if you talk with animal control officers and folks that do rescue, i think it's going to contribute to the already existing problem because so many people are going to want these dogs for guard dogs. it's just creating a whole new issue. as far as us taking action, we just found out about this morning so i'm not sure what we'll do at this point. we'll have to see. >> thank you. she's the director of animal care. thank you very much. love to talk to this warden. a group of men lined up and execute a execute. you cannot see them die but you hear the gunshots. this could signal a new phase in syria's civil war. don't miss this. there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning you can feel. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with a patented safety alert seat. when there's danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward. four course seafood feast choose your soup salad entrée plus dessert! all just $14.99. come into red lobster and sea food differently. visit redlobster.com now for an exclusive $10 coupon. good through august 5th i've been fortunate to win on golf's biggest stages. but when joint pain and stiffness from psoriatic arthritis hit, even the smallest things became difficult. i finally understood what serious joint pain is like. i talked to my rheumatologist and he prescribed enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, and stop joint damage. 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 you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're 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. 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[ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biolog medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. i want to take you pack to this alarming story from this war that's been engulfing syria. if you watch every day you know we've been following the fighting very closely and in particular this ongoing fighting. next, just a fair warning, we're about to show you a witness to a mass execution. here is what happened. we believe this happened just yesterday. these anti-assad rebels captured a group of fighters belonging to a pro-assad malitia. they are roughing up these men pretty good. they take these men inside. these are 14 prisoners and asked them all to say their names. i'm going to play some of the sound. of course it is in arabic. interrogation complete. the men led out door, lined up against a wall and there's all kinds of chaos. we even hear the words don't shoot. that admonition was not heeded. watch now. [ gunshots ] you don't have to see it, but you can hear. it's horribly clear what's happening. now these pictures. pictures of the bodies of men being loaded into the back of a truck. again, these men were captured yesterday by anti-government rebels. they were interrogated, determined to belong to a pro-assad malitia. ivan watson is in northern syria for us. i spoke with him about this mass execution just this afternoon. >> i understand there's a bit of a back story with this execution. something about the shooting victims double crossing the rebels. can you tell me more about that? >> reporter: what the rebels have been telling the us is that family who many people in this region know about them. they're a large and power family associated with the assad regime and accused of organizing a p - pro-government malitia. these family fighters killed 11 of their fighters in an eastern neighborhood of aleppo earlier on monday. it seems that on tuesday the rebels were up for revenge and wounded up a bunch of these clan members and beat them up. they are admitting that they investigating them. they judged them and then executed them for what they said were crimes against the syrian people. they are not denying that the rebels carried out extrajudicial killings on the side of the battlefield. >> you'