good morning, it's wednesday, october 26th. i'm carol costello joining you live from new york. president obama begins his day in denver where he'll spell out his plan to make it easier for student loan borrowers to pay off their enormous debt. he'll explain his plan at the university of colorado-denver campus. the two key points of his proposal, he wants to offer relief sooner by pushing up the start date for an income-based repayment plan passed by congress. it's set to take effect in 2014, but the president wants it to begin in january. the plan reduces to 10% the maximum percentage of income that more than 1 million current students would have to pay toward their loans. they'll also be eligible for loan forgiveness in 20 years instead of 25. the other proposal would offer a small interest rate break for borrowers who consolidate their different types of federal loans. "usa today" reports the outstanding student loan debt is expected to hit the $1 trillion mark this year. denver is the last stop on the president's swing through three western states. while in los angeles yesterday, the president appeared on "the tonight show with jay leno." this picture shows leno clowning around in the president's dressing room. they had a little fun. the president also addressed some pressing issues like the economy. >> look, people are frustrated. and that frustration has expressed itself in a lot of different ways. it expresses itself in the tea party, in occupy wall street. i do think what this signals is that people in leadership, whether it's corporate leadership, leaders in the banks, leaders in washington, everybody needs to understand that the american people feel like nobody's looking out for them right now. >> president obama also says right now he's not paying much attention to the battle for the republican presidential nomination until the field narrows down to one or two candidates. one of those in the fight for the gop presidential nomination is, of course, texas governor rick perry. he's just unveiled his cut, balance and grow tax plan. it would allow you to choose between your current income tax rate and a 20% flat tax. the flat tax would keep some popular deductions like mortgage interest and charitable contributions for families earning less than $500,000. the plan also would lower the corporate tax rate to 20% and pays out loopholes and special tax breaks. perry also would repeal the health care reform law and parts of financial and wall street reforms. some prominent conservatives were quick to slam his plan with one saying it makes no sense from a policy perspective. most of the country seems to have put to rest the issue over president obama's hawaiian birth certificate is legitimate, rick perry continues to kick it around. in a recent interview with "parade," perry expressed his doubts. he was asked about hisacosta. >> i'll cut you off right there. that is one of the biggest distractions that there is going. we need to be talking about jobs. if somebody wants to see my birth certificate, i'd be happy to show it to them. the fact is that is a distraction, and americans really don't care about that, if you want to know the truth of the matter. what americans want to talk about is jobs. who is going to lay out a plan of which will get america working again? >> we've said it before, and we'll say it again, there is no evidence to suggest mr. obama was born anywhere but right here in the old u.s. of "a." we're learning this morning, one person was killed in a midair collision in oregon. one of the planes you see here touched down safely yesterday. the pilot and passenger walked away shaken but unharmed. that's according to "the oregonian." but the paper reports at least one person in the other plane was killed in the fiery crash. for some new yorkers, the occupy wall street protest is all about the drums. ♪ yes, and residents say they have had enough of drum playing and other loud noise from the protesters. and their complaints have been heard. protesters have now agreed to limit the drumming of four hours during the afternoons. occupy protests in other cities have not been so peaceful. oakland, california, police sprayed protesters with tear gas yesterday after they were pelted with paint and other objects and ignored orders to disperse. in atlanta, police arrested several occupy protesters overnight who had been camped out in a downtown park. former "60 minutes" news commentator andy rooney is in the hospital. cbs says he's in stable condition. rooney who is 92 underwent surgery last week. he stepped down from his "60 minutes" role earlier this month after more than 30 years on the show. let's head to atlanta and check in with is it rob? rob, are you back this morning? >> you know, we're doing an every other day thing right now. we've got some things cooking. a fun story for you coming here on friday morning. until then, carol, late-season hurricane and an early h-season snowstorm happening now. crazy time of year, that's for sure. the first one or at least the snowstorm one will cause some immediate problems as far as delays at the airports are concerned. here's where it is on the radar scope. this thing is -- you know, we do get snowstorms obviously in denver in fall, but typically it's more in the middle of november or late part of november. this is definitely early. and the amount of snow that's falling right now in denver is causing some major problems along i-25 between denver and cheyenne. as a matter of fact, portions of that interstate closed because of visibility and the snow continues to pile up in this area. so as it does so, we'll look for flight delays also. and three to six inches potentially in denver. a lot more than that at the higher elevations, of course. and the winds will be kicking. by the way, the president's in denver today. you know, they may have some problems there with air force one. who knows? new york, philly, some afternoon showers. we've got a little cold front sliding that way. there it is on the map. heading over the lake erie area and will get over the appalachians before too long. just some run-of-the-mill showers. the other big weather story is hurricane rina. winds of 110 miles an hour westerly moving at five. this will make landfall across the yucatan peninsula in the next two days. potentially as a category 3 storm. we're almost there. we only need to get this thing up another mile an hour or two to become a major hurricane. >> why am i not getting a computer? >> we'll get you your computer in just a second. check this out, carol. let's roll this beautiful light show footage. just for your trick-or-treat awareness. ♪ we just want to see you ♪ shake that >> okay. if that doesn't get you in the trance, rave, trick-or-treat mood. i'd like to see what this guy in riverside, california, does for christmas. >> i love the music. yeah. that makes my computer problems go away this morning. >> doesn't it? it makes it all better. a little creepy, too. >> it is. thank you, rob marciano. >> take care. as for your smartphone, most of us can't get enough of them. but on capitol hill, lawmakers are very concerned about certain kinds of apps. they're calling them dangerous. we'll explain in a live report. but first, our "quote of the day." here it is. "they keep putting duct tape on it. i'm not the kind of plumber that uses duct tape." that's a comment from a new politician with an old name. find out who it is in 90 seconds. it's eight minutes past the hour. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? 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"they keep putting duct tape on it. i'm not the kind of plumber that uses duct tape." the big clue, that would be the word "plumber." that's because that's joe wurzelbacher better known as joe the plumber. you might remember him. he challenged barack obama on his small business tax plan during the 2008 campaign. he made the statement yesterday while announcing that he is running for ohio's ninth congressional district. he also said he's confident he can win because he knows how to keep it simple. you've heard of apps designed to help keep track of your loved ones, but those same apps can be used by anyone who wants to stalk you. let's head to hong kong and kristi lu stout. okay, this sounds scary. so scary that lawmakers are now concerned. >> that's right. senate democrats and republicans are very concerned, and they're both seeking a federal probe of the so-called stalking apps. and these are smartphone apps that abusers could use to track down victims' movements, e-mails and phone calls. in a letter to the attorney general and the ftc chair, defenders wroelt this. quote, stalking apps are dangerous. we ask that you quickly determine if they're also illegal. and the letter notes that a woman, a victim in minnesota, she was tracked down by her abuser using one of these mobile apps. and all this happened as she went between government buildings to obtain a legal order to keep him away. and she is not the only victim out there. the bureau of justice statistics says about 26,000 americans, 26,000, were the victims of gps stalking last year. and carol, that number is expected to rise. back to you. >> wow, that's really frightening. let's talk about this, too. google has put out this fascinating reports to remove government contents from governments around the world. tell us about that. >> this is a significant report. it's called the google transparency report. the goal is to show how governments around the world affect our access to information on the internet. brazil in this recent report made the most content removal requests in the first half of this year followed by germany, the u.s. and south korea. we also know that google servers were inaccessible in libya during the first six months of the year as was china. this was the most interesting part to me. it reveals a 70% rise in takedown requests from the u.s. government or police. a google demand from an american law enforcement agency to take down youtube videos allegedly showing police brutality. google says providing this level of detail, it just shows the need to modernize laws like the electronic communications privacy act which regulates government access to user information. you can find the full report, the full download, on the official google blog. back to you, carol. >> kristi lu stout reporting live from hong kong, thank you. herman cain comes out on top again in another national poll. but can he turn his support into a victory in 2012? we will talk about that next. it's 13 minutes past the hour. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. 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[ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. so i wasn't playing much of a role in my own life, but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, take the lead. ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. 14 minutes past the hour. good morning. president obama has been busy trying to get america back on track. you have to wonder, does he have time to pay attention to the polls? the competition, the debates? well, comedian jay leno got the answers for us. >> the gop opposed withdrawing from iraq. >> that's shocking that they oppose something i proposed. >> yeah. have you been watching the gop debates? >> i'm going to wait until everybody's voted off the island. >> really? >> once they narrow it down to one or two, i'll start paying attention. time now for your "political ticker" with tim farley. good morning, tim. >> good morning. yeah, the president's totally disengaged from the political process. he's not paying attention at all. i believe that. >> he doesn't watch any of those silly debates. sure. >> heaven forbid he should do that. >> heaven forbiforbid, exactly. the president took some jabs at the gop, but he also discussed some serious topics on leno last night. it was pretty interesting, actually. >> yeah, i think there were a couple of times he talked about the death of al awlaki, the war in iraq, although jay leno didn't follow up about the troops in afghanistan. when they talked about iraq, the president almost made it sound like the war was a wonderful thing. that said, it's typical jay leno. this is an opportunity for the president to sit down with somebody who's pretty friendly and throw if not all softballs at least some questions that are letting the president say what he wants to say. he got more time than he would typically get with a regular television anchor or a mainstream media resource. i think the president did a great job. it's seen more than any of the sound bites you see. here the president is saying all the things he wants to say. my favorite was when he talked about the fact that trick-or-treating time is coming up and the first lady wants to hand out fruit. the president said they're going to egg the white house. i was trying to figure out if somebody actually tried to egg the white house. i don't think that is something you could do very easily. can you imagine how much toilet paper? i'm here. no, it's in the going to happen. >> i think those snipers that stand on top of the white house would have a problem with all of that. >> they might have something to say about you're getting close to the white house with your mayhem. >> exactly. let's talk about herman cain because why not? he's topped yet another national poll, the cbs/"new york times" poll, 25% of the vote followed by mitt romney. rick perry actually finishes fifth. maybe the flat tax thing for perry will catapult him upwards. who knows? >> i'm not sure. these are national polls, and so they don't really indicate too much. you know, the cain train, the perry plummet sounds like rides at the texas state fair. i think herman cain is the enrons of campaigns. there isn't a lot of evidence that he's got a campaign machine out there. once you get to iowa, and rick perry said this on an interview last night on television, once you -- you've got to wait until you actually see people voting. does the flat tax get him back into the game? a little bit. it gives him more substance. the birther thing is kind of a distraction. but once people actually start voting, we'll see where they really are. you know, i think one of the things about this poll that you see is that a lot of people haven't really made up their minds to commit to a particular voter. so that's where it's going to play out between now and i think it's, what, 68 days or something like that before we get to the iowa caucuses. that's when we'll actually see the rubber hit the road. >> ed rollins said if mitt romney wins the iowa caucus, it's done. because he's going to win in new hampshire. >> i always believe ed rollins. and new hampshire, he's got a 20, 25-point lead in most of the polls in new hampshire, romney does. i would agree. if romney wins iowa, i can't imagine anyone else having a chance in taking that nomination away. >> we'll see. tim farley, thanks, as always. tim farley, host of "morning briefing" on sirius potus radio. three years behind schedule, but the dreamliner finally makes its first commercial flight. it landed just a short time ago. we'll have all the details. first, bust a move because it's unity dance day. an anti-bullying organization wants people to unite through dance to make a statement against bullying. the day even has an official song. 11-year-old tristan mcintosh sings "i can't take that away from me." ♪ there's nothing ♪ who i am is what's inside ♪ i'll be anything i want to be ♪ >> that girl's 11? i'm just amazed. that girl's 11? wow! it's 19 minutes past the hour. hey, everyone's eating tacos outside bill's office. 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