the government has passed to get it out of its deep hole. president obama is on the west coast again today. he'll be in los angeles to raise some big money for his re-election war chest. a dinner tonight costs nearly $18,000 per person. the president was in seattle yesterday and he goes to denver tomorrow before president obama left for the west coast, he spoke at the congressional black caucuses awards dinner and he's really start to sound like a candidate now. >> i'm going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. i don't have time to feel sorry for myself. i don't have time to complain. i'm going to press on. i expect all of you to march with me and march on! >> the president also will be in the bay area today hosting a town hall event on the professional social network site linkedin. how about some d.c. deja vu? the federal government could shut down thanks to another budget face-off. i'm sure you've heard about it. lawmakers are butting heads over spending cuts and paying for all the damage from recent storms, tornadoes and wildfires. >> can we once again inflict on the country and the american people the spectacle of a near government shutdown? i hope not. >> i'll give the senate democratic leader credit. everybody knows we're going to pay for every single penny of disaster aid that the president declares. and that fema certified. >> funning for government agencies is set to end on friday, the end of this fiscal year. the senate majority leader harry reid has said fema could run out of money today. what's happening with perry? two states, two republican straw polls and the presidential front-runner did not win either of them? herman cain won the florida poll on saturday. he blew everyone away with more than 37% of vote. perry was second with just over 15% and mitt romney was right behind him. the other straw poll was in michigan. mitt romney blew everyone away there with 51% of the vote. perry got just 17%. romney, by the way, is from michigan and he won the state's primary in 2008. two americans will be waking up in the united states this morning after they were freed in iran. josh fattal and shane bauer stepped off a plane in new york. they were arrested in iran in 2009 after allegedly hiking over the border from iraq. they told reporters they were hostages, not prisoners. held in almost complete isolation. >> from the very start the only reason we have been held hostage is because we are american. >> every time we complained about our conditions, the guards would immediately remind us of comparable conditions at guantanamo bay, remind us of cia prisons in other parts of the world and conditions iranians experience in prisons in u.s. >> the two talked about how they heard the screams of other inmates and what they called a total sham of a trial. let's head to atlanta now and economic in with meteorologist reynolds wolf is in today. >> you never know exactly what you're going to get. who might be in this chair. today it's my turn. >> i'm happy to see you. >> i'm not happy to see this news. we had rough weather yesterday, late last night through parts of mississippi, a possible tornado. let's go right to our radar. you'll see between memphis and southward toward cleveland, that is where we had the possible tornado. straight-line winds that caused some damage. right now we have reports of it affecting a couple of buildings, some tree damage also. no reports of energy -- of injuries for the time being. plenty of energy with this associated system. also plenty of power with the storms we'll see possibly across parts of the great lakes, strong wind, gusts coming behind that system a nice blast, cooler, dryer air for the upper midwest. rain possible through the southeast and into parts of florida. in the pacific northwest you could see rain in parts of oregon and even up toward seattle. could have breezy conditions this morning but plenty of sunshine for much of the great basin. your delays, you got them today. chicago and detroit could see a delay or two over an hour in some spots through the heavy rain and possible thunderstorms. new york, philadelphia, cleveland, cincinnati, atlanta, of course d.c. metros, showers and thunderstorms combination could give you a little delay but we're thinking around an hour or so. you're up to speed in the forecast. let's pitch it back to you in new york. >> got it. >> there you go. >> thanks, reynolds. i appreciate it. want to see republican presidential candidate rick perry jam? comedian jay leno has the video. sort of. here's your punch line. >> when perry answered questions about social security, you know, i guess he knows how to drum up a crowd. see, when you don't have an answer, you try to get the crowd pumped up. take a look at what he did. >> can you explain specifically how 50 separate social security systems are supposed to work? >> let me just say first for those people on social security today, for those people that are approaching social security, they don't have anything in the world to worry about. we have made a solemn oath to the people in this country. so, you're on facebook and all of a sudden you notice someone has defriended you. you're devastated, right? well, a new feature of the site can help you find out who removed you, but surprise surprise, there's some controversy. but first, it's time for our quote of the day. great bumper sticker, debbie. that's the quote, great bumper sticker, debbie, sarcastically said to the cham of the democratic national chairwoman. that's coming your way. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno. [ male announcer ] sitting. waiting. hoping. that's a recipe for failed investing. open an e-trade account and open doors, seize opportunities, take action with some of the most powerful yet easy-to-use trading tools on the planet all built to help you maximize the potential of every dollar you invest. successful investing isn't done by throwing ideas against the wall and hoping. it's done by lowering your costs and raising your expectations by using unbiased research and powerful screeners to build a diversified portfolio with stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and every etf sold. and we'll help you every step of the way. with 5-star research and free education covering everything from the basics to advanced investing strategies. start now and we'll give you up to $500 and let you trade free for 60 days. visit our website, call us, open an account. e-trade. investing unleashed. it is eight minutes past the hour. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." let's get back to the quote of the day. the quote is, great bumper sticker, debbie. republican national chairwoman reince priebus. here he is making fun of president obama's 2008 campaign slogan. >> it sounds like the new slogan is no longer hope and change. it's, hey, it could have been worse. great bumper sticker, debbie, i hope it works for you. >> so now you have it. now you know. apple is very addictive and many can't wait for the next fix. the next fix is the iphone 5. let's head to hong kong. do you have one? come on, share. >> not quite yet. it will be coming out pretty soon. it's wildly expected the iphone 5 will be released next week but now we're hearing where the big reveal might take place. the next generation iphone is set to be revealed next tuesday, october 4th. sources have told all things d it will not take place in san francisco like previous apple demos it's set to be released in cooper tino, california. we don't know why. this will be the first media event for new ceo. >> i think it will be exciting, nonetheless, no matter who unveils it. but i not it's kind of sad it's his first into such thing. let's talk about facebook because you can see who defriends you now. >> yeah, there -- and this is an interesting story because we were able to access this for a while but not anymore. now, there was once a way to find out who defriended you on facebook but no more. it was available. thanks to another facebook resdeen called the timeline which basically records all facebook activity in chronological order. for a while users accessing the site as developers were able to see who had removed them from their friend list but apparently facebook has fixed the problem. that has prompted at least one blogger out there to say, quote, major bummer. this is one of the best parts about the new timeline. carol, we won't be able to find out who defrened us. we'll stay happily in the dark. >> oh, so you won't be able to find out. >> no. >> i -- oh. >> that's right. >> oh, man. i like to know these things. >> some people were able to access it but facebook fixed it. >> well, probably saves for a lot of drama. maybe. >> that's right. >> or a lot more work it creates in trying to find out in another way. thank you very much. reporting live in hong kong. crisscrossing three states in three days. president obama trying to build up his war chest and trying to keep his job. he's using the power of social media to get his message across. that's just ahead. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno. [ male announcer ] sitting. waiting. hoping. that's a recipe for failed investing. open an e-trade account and open doors, seize opportunities, take action with some of the most powerful yet easy-to-use trading tools on the planet all built to help you maximize the potential of every dollar you invest. successful investing isn't done by throwing ideas against the wall and hoping. it's done by lowering your costs and raising your expectations by using unbiased research and powerful screeners to build a diversified portfolio with stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and every etf sold. and we'll help you every step of the way. with 5-star research and free education covering everything from the basics to advanced investing strategies. start now and we'll give you up to $500 and let you trade free for 60 days. visit our website, call us, open an account. e-trade. investing unleashed. it's 13 minutes past the hour. good morning. alec baldwin dressed up as a presidential candidate this weekend on "snl" doing a parody about the gop debate. so, which candidate? well, here it is in case you missed it. >> i would like to attack mitt romney as a flip-flopper. >> are you sure? it's late in the debate. this is when you normally get tired and confused. >> not tonight. i'm ready. mitt romney's city was for, against obama care but what about mitt romney? he was before -- border control. >> newt, i'm calling your bluff. do you really want to be president? >> no. >> you're representative of the federal government walking down the street. you see a house on fire. do you act? >> no! that's none of my business! >> thursday's debate you said you believed americans should pay no taxes at all. how would that work? >> chip, i believe paying no taxes can help us return to the america i love. not the america of ronald reagan. not the america of the founding fathers. but, rather, the america of thousands of years ago in which feral band of mud people lived if their caves, never worrying that barack obama was going to come and take their hard earned pelts or infringe on their rights to bear spears. >> time for your political ticker with tim farley, host of "morning briefing" on sirius live from washington. good morning. >> good morning. have we been polling the mud people to see what they feel about this upcoming election? >> we need to start doing that. we're remiss. let's talk about texas governor rick perry because he's long been considered the front-runner in the polls but two of his opponents, boy, did they steal some of his hundredor. >> herman cain picking up the florida straw poll on saturday and mitt romney winning the republican leadership poll in michigan. no big surprise romney would win. cain was a surprise. remember, these are straw polls as the world implies they're built on straw. still, it's an indication that yet again republicans seem to be looking for something different. this is renewed talk of chris christie getting back into the race. republicans are looking for the guy who can pull the sword from the stone like king arthur. at this point they haven't yet found that individual. time will tell, i guess, if it's going to be rick perry or mitt romney or somebody else. >> i keep hearing that wealthy republican donors are really leaning on chris christie. this time he's actually considering it. but i find that hard to believe. >> yeah, i agree with you. i think there are a couple thing at work. one, he has to get a lot of money. you jump in like rick perry, there's this honeymoon and then it's over with. people get a closer look at you. whether that new jersey tough love works nationwide is still to be determined. he said he's not ready. unless you're really convinced you are ready, probably not a good idea to get yourself under the microscope nationally. >> we'll see. he's going to speak at the ronald reagan library in california, chris christie, so we'll see what he says. who knows. president obama, let's switch to democrats and president obama is on a three-day swing through three west coast states. so, what's he up to today? >> boy, hasn't he been feisty this weekend? he was talking about the cbc on saturday night saying march with me, don't complain. and then you was talking about how republicans are getting ready to turn the country into -- well, whatever he want. he's sounding more like a candidate. he's doing something with linkdn as i thought of the copy service, you will, of the social networks but he's doing a town hall about 2:00 eastern time and also continuing the fund-raising. lots of big bucks, lots of big money at a time when he really needs to get the support of his base, carol. >> oh, he certainly does because there is a new pew research poll out and matches up president obama against the generic republican opponent. and it ain't good for president obama. >> no. as a matter of fact, you look back to may where he had probably an 11-point difference over the republican generic candidate, which as the pew research people say is not really an indicative of anything except for the fact it's informative. but that's dropped down to three points. it was about a point difference a month ago. still among independent voters the key is there are about 1 in 4 independent voters who haven't decided to swing either way. that is where the battle probably is going to be fought. yes, the president needs to get his base up but he need to be looking at independent voters. that keeps raising the prospect of a third party candidate. there's been more and more talk about that and i think that will be interesting to watch over the next several weeks and months, carol. >> we'll see. tim farley, many thanks to you, host of "morning briefing" on sirius/xm radio. >> thank you. women in saudi arabia cannot drive, they cannot open a bank account, but soon they will be able to cast a ballot. are the voting rules changing in saudi arabia? we'll have that ahead. first, it is national pancake day. so, order up a short stack, break out the maple syrup and enjoy. or if you're heading out the door, you don't have time, maybe you can just take a few extra deep breathes as you pass by your diner. it's 19 minutes past the hour. 2 is minutes past the hour. here are three things to put on your radar today. we expect to get new details on the damage to the washington monument, you know, from that earthquake that hit the east coast last month. the national park service has a news conference planned for 2:30 eastern this afternoon. plus, the home sales numbers for august are coming out this morning. it's not expected to be that great today. and the united nations security council is scheduled to meet this afternoon to discuss palestinian statehood. the u.s. has already promised to veto the move. we continue to follow that bit of breaking news this morning about the american citizen killed in an attack on the u.s. embassy in afghanistan. happened overnight at the part of the embassy annex in kabul. the victim was an employee of the u.s. government. we don't yet have a name. another u.s. citizen was wounded. that person was rushed to the hospital with nonlife threatening injuries. the shooting involved an afghan employee. that employee, the afghan employee, was killed. we are working to get more details. we will bring them to you as soon as we get them. libya's new government says it's uncovered a mass grave holding the remains of more than 1,000 people. let's head round the world with zain verjee live in london. this is grisly. >> yes, it is. the national transitional council saying more than 1,200 dead bodies found in what is expected to be a mass grave discovered, apparently, just outside a really notorious prison, carol. back in 1996 it's believed that a lot of people were slaughtered and may have been buried just outside. now, here's the problem right now. there are some doubts being cast over this because there was a medic team on the ground accompanying cnn who went to look at the site. what they said is that the bones in this mass grave are not human. so, there are a few questions about this. what the transitional government is saying, they want some international help. they want some bone forensic experts to look at them and make their own professional conclusions. carol? >> yeah, that would change the story most decidedly. let's talk about women in saudi arabia. they're going to be allowed to vote but they still can't drive. >> yeah. exactly. woo hoo, big victory for women in saudi arabia. they've been campaigning for this for a long time. this is a huge deal. they will be allowed to vote and they can also stand in local elections. now, here's the thing. we don't know how deep or how fast these reforms are actually going to happen. local elections are supposed to be happening this thursday, so they are not going to be able to participate in that. instead, they're going to participate in the next elections, but nobody knows when they're going to be. but it is a big deal. the women are saying this is what they've been fighting for and they want to know how serious the government is about following through. >> i'm sure they'll take a partial victory. at least right now. >> yeah. they will. >> i couldn't hear. sorry, zain. things get a little physical on wall street. here in new york city, about 80 people were arrested in new york's financial center over the weekend. they were protesting powerful financial interests they say plague our economy. those demonstrators have been demonstrating for nine days now. some good news. gas prices are taking a tumble. you'll now pay an average of $3.54 a gallon. prices have dropped 12 cents in the past two weeks alone. that's according to a new lundberg survey. to give you perspective, $3.54 a gallon is 85 cent more than it was a year ago. and netflix and dreamworks animation are cozying up to a new video deal. according to "the new york times." what that means, you ask? well, films like "shrek" and "kung fu panda" could be on fet fliction instead of hbo. insiders think it will help netflix which lost half of its value over the past two months. a patient at a california hospital given a deadly dose of medication during a nurse's strike. now her death has become a lightning rod in a labor fight. that's just ahead. it's 26 m