joe johns, have a great rest of the weekend and safe travels. >> you, too. on this memorial day, i want to begin on cordova, alabama. it hit on the morning of april 27th by a powerful ef-3 tornado, and then the very same day ef-4 tornado hits that same town that night. cordova, alabama, is not the town that you see here in some of the video, some of the aerial pictures here and satellite images. a lot of folks have certainly lost their homes, but as we told you on friday, the cordova mayor jack scott is invoking a ordinance that rejects any trailer which is being offered by the federal government to folks whose homes have been destroyed. and jack scott is saying emergency or not, the law is the law. and as we showed you on friday, none of the folks in cordova are none too thrilled about the 50-year-old ordinance. we will talk to some folks live in a moment, but first, listen to this. >> what i suggested is putting the fema trailers in my backyard, because of the mayor, we want do that. we can't help our neighbors, because he won't let us. >> that is something that this room full of cordova neighbors were wanteding to change, but a heated exchange between the people and the mayor reduced some to tears. >> if you don't want to listen, get out. >> you get out! >> reporter: but when asked about how much buying a home within the city costs. >> the cheapest one i found is $105,000. >> you might have your sights set too high. >> reporter: many like denis banks say that since the storm destroyed his home, he has no place to go. >> i have been here all of my life. i was born and raised here. >> reporter: he didn't want to leave cordova, so he pitched a tent in his front yard. >> it is rough down here and having to sleep on the ground. it is rough having to sleep on the ground, but aimp ni am not g my property until i have something to live in. >> reporter: and others want to stay in their hometown until they can rebuild, but if the city won't budge on the ordinance passed in 1950s, they will be forced to move out. >> we are forced to move out, and we want something to be done about it. >> this is not bestavia hills, and this is cordova. >> i felt like we were being called trailer park trash. >> reporter: the mayor says he is not trying to keep people from having a place to stay, but follow the city codes. >> why should i destroy a city ordinance for something like that. >> that is our affiliate out of alabama and i wanted to talk to denis banks in the piece, the guy with the shades and living in a tent, and he just dropped, but if you are near a phone, please call me, because you are living in a tent and wishing you could live in a trailer house, and plus, mayor scott, we would like to talk to you, and we have been calling you for the past couple of days and you have not returned the phone calls, but i invite you here on national television to pick up a phone and call me, brooke baldwin, cnn. and sarah palin, if this is not a campaign tour, what is it? >> this is not a campaign bus. it is a bus to express to america how much we appreciate our foundation and to invite more people to be interested in all that is good about america. >> we will tell you more about where she has been today and where she is headed and what exactly she is doing at all of the american historical sites. and on this day, this memorial day, i have relatives there buried at arlington national cemetery, perhaps you do as well, and thousands of americans do, because we will take you live to the hallowed ground to show you how families are remembering their loved ones on this sacred burial ground on this memorial day. stay here. just breathe. we know it's intimidating. instant torque. top speed of 100 miles an hour. that's one serious machine. but you can do this. any socket can. the volt only needs about a buck fifty worth of charge a day, and for longer trips, it can use gas. so get psyched. this is a big step up from the leafblower. chevrolet volt. the 2011 north american car of the year. but for some of us with overactive bladder, our pipes just don't work as well as they should. sometimes, i worry my pipes might leak. but i learned there's something more i can do. now, i take care with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare. vesicare may cause allergic reactions that may be serious. if you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, stop taking vesicare and get emergency help. tell your doctor right away if you have severe abdominal pain, or become constipated for three or more days. vesicare may cause blurred vision, so use caution while driving or doing unsafe tasks. common side effects are dry mouth, constipation, and indigestion. so why wait ? 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[ female announcer ] wake up to sweetness with honey nut cheerios cereal. kissed with real honey. and the 100% natural whole grain oats can help lower your cholesterol. you are so sweet to me. bee happy. bee healthy. in case you haven't heard, the word from sarah palin today is that she's still kind of contemplating running for president. her words and not mine. still, kind of contemplating running. so by now you have heard all about the bus tour which is part of d.c. this morning and swung by mount vernon and hit baltimore and we will told will make a stop in gettysburg, pennsylvania, and jim acosta is waiting there. >> reporter: former alaskan governor sarah palin gave one of the clearest signals she is running for president after she was followed by a reporter at the national archives as she made a stop in the national bus tour she is taking on this week. it started yesterday in washington, d.c. she rode across the potomac river on the back of a harley-davidson as part of the rolling thunder event which is an event to honor p.o.w.s and soldiers missing in action. at that event, she didn't say much about her future intentions, but later on this morning, as she was touring the national archives, a reporter asked her, are you running for president, and here is what she had to say. >> oh, i think that any republican candidate is very, very electable, and americans are ready for true change, change to get the country back on the right track. >> reporter: does that mean that you are interested in running? are you going to run? >> well, we are still kind of con ptemplating that. >> reporter: she is keeping the details of the bus tour close to the vest. they are not revealing where they are going until the last second before they arrive, but we have heard from multiple sources that she is expected to not only take this bus to where we are right now in gettysburg, pennsylvania, but also later on this week to new hampshire which is obviously a key presidential primary state. further stoking speculation that she is serious about making a possible run for the white house. jim acosta, cnn, gettysburg, pennsylvania. >> jim, thank you. point taken, palin has reclaimed the spotlight for now, and over to mark preston our cnn political director and paul steinhauser, our cnn political director. give us some non-palin news here today. >> yes, she is grabbing the headline headlines, but other people will make headlines. mitt romney is going to be in new hampshire to announce those famous words "i am running for president." we knew he was all but declared candidate thursday, and this is the second bid for the white house, the former governor of massachusetts. and mark, winning new hampshire is important for mitt romney, because this is a state he has to win if he is going to take the nomination, but wait, this is more and it will keep the coverage manager steve rusk busy, because we have a big conference right here in washington, d.c., and a major gathering of the social conservatives friday and saturday and it is the faith and freedom conference and look at the six names there, probable candidates will be attending, and of course, social conservatives so important, and so influential in picking a nominee, martin. >> yes, you are right. there is an incredible amount of time talking about sarah palin if she will run or not run, and the fact is that mitt romney according to the polls is front-runner and also rick santorum who is the former pennsylvania senator who will officially announce he is running for president on june 6th, and he will do it in pennsylvania near the coal mines where his grandfather used to work. in addition to that, michele bachmann, who a lot of people think that sarah palin could get a run for her money if she is going after social conservatives let it slip that she will run for president in waterloo, iowa, and why is that important? because that where is she is born. not a specific date, but it will be in the month of june. and today, michele bachmann happens to be in new hampshire. >> one more date, two weeks from today, monday june 13th is a very important day, and why? the first presidential debate in new hampshire of course is the first primary and yes, who is having that debate? we are, cnn. wmur in new hampshire "union leader" which is the big newspaper up there, and something to pay attention to couple of weeks from now. and will the candidates be there? >> all of the big name candidates will be there, and brooke, it will be the first real republican presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle. >> yeah, a big night. june 13th, we have it down. you delivered and appreciate it. gentlem gentlemen, have a great rest of the holiday. all of the reunions and the parades and maybe you are out and about barbequing on this monday afternoon and enjoying the beautiful day, and look it would be pointless if it weren't for the real reason that we mark this day, this monday each and every may. our own chris lawrence is live at arlington national cemetery and paying their respects from the hallowed ground. stay right here. or afib, that's not caused by a heart valve problem. today we have pradaxa to reduce the risk of a stroke caused by a clot. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mg reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin. and with pradaxa, there's no need for those regular blood tests. pradaxa is progress. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have kidney problems or a bleeding condition, like stomach ulcers. or if you take aspirin products, nsaids, or blood thinners. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if pradaxa can reduce your risk of a stroke. before we go live to arlington national cemetery i want to go to the other top stories. in libya, a major blow where the leader moammar gadhafi and cnn has learned that eight army general have defected and now in italy. gadhafi's military has been battling rebel forces in the country for weeks now, and the opposition has said that there cannot be a peace agreement as long as gadhafi remains in power. and now the former serbian general is to be examined by a team of medical specialists. they say that the former command ser not healthy enough to face charges of genocide at the congressional tribunal at the hague. they deny he is in poor health saying he is lively and joking since becoming taken into custody last week. he is accused of overseeing the massacre of 8 million muslim boys and men. and jim tressel the head of the football program at ohio state has resigned. the school fined tressel some $250,000 in march, and suspended him after learning that he failed to report that some of his players may have violated ncaa rules. assistant coach luke fickle will serve as interim coach next season. and president obama is spending much of his morning, and in fact much of the memorial day at arlington national cemetery. he laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns and then spoke and urged americans everywhere to honor the courage and the selflessness and duty of those killed in the line of duty. the president stopped an spoke to families who were visiting graves in the so-called section 60 which is the final resting spot of those fatalities from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. that is where my colleague chris lawrence is standing by, section 60. it takes your breath away when you are standing there in arlington national cemetery. i know you were there this morning when the president stopped by and there today, especially where you stand, it is about family and service and gratitude. >> yeah, brooke. the thing that you really have to understand after spending a day here is that a lot of the families celebrated memorial day the same way that many americans do at one time, picnics, barbeques, thing likes that. it was the death of a loved one in iraq or afghanistan that changed memorial day for them forever. and because the wars in iraq and afghanistan are recent, there is no memorial for those who have fallen like the world war ii memorial and the veterans memorial, and because this is so near the nation's capital, this area of arlington national cemetery has become a memorial where a lot of the families can talk with other families who are going through many of the same things th things that they have. i want to bring in someone if you k andcan, i want to grab th real quick. okay. well, i guess what we want to really get across is that, you know, for a lot of the families, it is a very, very tough time, because not only are they reliving what happened, but, you know, you are also just coming to the area and seeing the actual gravesite, we have with us here a gentleman who came to see his son. we are actually standing right down the row from your son's gravesite. what does this memorial day mean for you, sir? >> remembrance. sacrifice, you know. honor. you know, it is -- my dad told me he was in vietnam, and remember when we went down to see my son's graduation, sorry, and he was telling us about everybody in his platoon and the guys that died, and this was vietnam, and he is telling us what their inspiration was in life, and he still remembered that. i said, how come you remember that? and he said, because to remember is to honor them, so by coming here and talking with the families, you know, and remembering what they did and it honors their life and their sacrifice. >> and just to remind for our viewers out, there your son, you told us died in fallujah in iraq, and this is 2004, right? >> yes. >> in the height of the violence there. >> yes, sir. actually my son, brian, and david branning walked into a courtyard, and they were ambushed, and it was actually a perfect set-up, but think that because of brian and david's entry to the building, it foiled them from getting everybody in the platoon which is why it is incredible that they were the only two who got hit. they had bullets ricocheting off of them, and this is armor piercing rounds, and they don't do that, but for two guys to get it out of the whole squad is a miracle. >> i don't want to make, you know, normal everyday americans should not feel guilty about getting together for memorial day and having the family over for a picnic, but for you and other families here, does memorial day mean something different? >> wow. once you go through this, once you get that knock on that door, once you see that uniform und underneath the porch light, your outlook changes on world event and current events and whatever, and you could have had one opinion about something going on in the world, and as soon as that happens, everything in your life changes. i don't think that anybody who hasn't been through this here will ever understand that change in how you feel. i mean, it is something that you can't explain, and it is something that you can't try to tell anybody. it is just that you feel the difference. and, yeah, it is something that stays with you, definitely stays with you. you know, like when the president was here this morning and he gave me a hug after i told him that, you know, thank you for getting bin laden, our family cried and everybody cried. that was the greatest thing. i don't expect everybody to be able to feel, and i seen the jubilation on everybody dancing in front of the white house, but to actually feel it inside, you know, i think that our -- the guy is playing "taps" -- but it is totally different, and totally different than what everybody else is feeling. >> reporter: and when you saw the president today, did he say anything to you as you were able to tell him briefly about your son? >> i didn't get a chance to tell him about my son. i shook his hand and i said, sir, on behalf of my family, it is an honor to meet you and we would like to thank you for getting him, you know. we heard that and we all broke down and cried. thank you very much. and i took the armband off and gave it to him and i said, i have had this on since he has passed and i don't have the new one, but if you would accept this, and he took it and put it on and i said, great, wow. i am really happy. >> well, thank you so much, and thank you also to your son. >> thank you. >> reporter: i know there is nothing that we can say to make it better, but i am glad that people out there now have a better idea of who your son was and what this day in some small way, some sense of what it means to the families out here. >> well, being here in the cemetery versus being in the beginning over there, and the pain is the thing that, the anguish and the questions, everything, you know, i've had more time to deal with it here than they have down there, but they are starting the road, and it won't get any better. it just gets a little bit easier to deal with, but it is not any different from here to there. >> reporter: and again, what he is basically referring to if you are not out here, and as you take a look around is what he is saying that the folks here who have died in 2004, 2005, and as you go down the rows, those are the freshest graves, and system of the troops that have died in the last year or so, so again, but all in all, all of these families are facing the same thing, brooke. the wounds are very, very raw. it is a very different experience here in section 60 than any other part of arlington national cemetery. >> chris lawrence, there are no words. please, thank that father for us. we will be right back. there's another way litter 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