fraud or to keep minorities from voting? >> the slogan is believe in america and it should be business in bermuda. that's what mitt romney's all about. >> offshore and out of sight. a new "vanity fair" article explores mitt romney's buried treasure in bermuda. millions of dollars. so how much of his wealth is tucked away on an island? we'll talk to the investigative reporter who broke this story. wow, boom. thunder and lightning. the rangers' manager saying he thought he was dead. and next time you drive past your corner gas station, check out how much the price has shot up. what's behind it and if those prices will at this point to skyrocket. "newsroom" begins right now. and good morning to you. happy, happy monday. i'm carol costello. we begin with your money and your vote. this morning president obama is focusing on both. he'll call on congress to pass a one-year extension of the bush-era tack cuts. here is the key. he wants the cuts only for families earning less than $250,000 a year. mitt romney and the republicans put t want the breaks to include the wealthy. the campaign message this week. the obama message, he's the defender of the middle class while romney only wants to protect rich people like h himself. cnn's dan lothian is at the white house and the president is going to put on quite a show. >> reporter: that's right. and turning a little bit of the attention away from what we saw last week, those disappointing jobs numbers. the president turning his focus on extending the bush-era tax cuts for those making up to $250,000 a year for only a year. the president really has been on this push, the narrative from the campaign has been one of helping the middle class or those trying to get into middle class. by doing this the president is drawing a contrast between those that he says need the most help and are suffering in this down economy compared to those he says his opponent is pushing for and that's those wealthy americans. the president will be out there pushing this theme in iowa, virginia and also some private citizens and state and local officials will also be what the campaign calls amplifying the message in key battleground states like new hampshire, florida, are colorado, and nevada. remember, two years ago in 2010 when the president agreed to a two-year extension of the tax cuts. at the time the president had been pushing that he wanted it to be extended only for those making up to $250,000. but, of course, he did it in order to get the deal done. republicans say this is not the economic environment to be doing something like this because you are essentially raising taxes on those creating jobs. but it's not just coming from republicans. even some democrats, nancy pelosi, for example, thinking that that threshold should be up to a million dollars. this will be a testy debate, carol. >> a testy debate. we have heard many, many times before. dan lothian live at the white house this morning. when the president visits those battleground states this week, he'll be lobbying for the very things that can decide the election. voters don't lean heavily toward either party, though, and they will soon settle on their choice. but not just yet. the presidential race is locked in a statistical tie. obama has a razor thin edge of two percentage points but that falls within the margin of error. a major fight gets under way over voter rights and a state's authority to protect the process. in a washington courtroom the justice department will challenge texas' proposed law that would require voters to show identification. last hour on "starting point" we heard from one texas lawmaker who scoffs at claims that minorities are being unfairly targeted. >> what we really want are people eligible to vote. we want them to get to the polls and register to vote. we don't want those who are dead. we want actual real ballots from real people and this law does that. >> joe johns joins us now. what's the core issue before the court today? >> reporter: this is a texas case and the question in court is about ensuring the integrity of the ballot versus making sure voting rights of minorities are protected. it will be determined by your party affiliation. republicans arguing for a long time now that voter fraud is a big problem. we've heard that argument and so something numerous states have enacted laws that require voters to present photo identification though some have been challenged. democrats say a lot of democratic voters especially segments of the african-american and hispanic populations tend to lack the kinds of photo identification, military i.d., the passport, et cetera. the question before the court is whether the law in texas prevents anyone from voting based on race, justice department says it could. the state of texas says it would never do that. >> this has pild over to eric holder. he was held in contempt of congress over fast and furious. so what do you suppose the american people think of his insertion into this controversy? >> reporter: right, right. you are looking at this thing from the 30,000-foot view and you see the congress found the attorney general in contempt for not fully complying with the subpoena. the attorney general and his supporters, carol, have long contended that republicans and congress went after holder because of the very voting rights value. he has been attacking the voter i.d. laws. not quite clear that is getting through to the public. it shows 553% of voters think i was proper. others say there was a political motive. the public is split on this and not sure what to think of it, carol. >> joe johns reporting live for us. to afghanistan now where six u.s. troops have been killed. an official who wishes to remain nameless says it happened in the eastern part of the country. it was a deadly weekend. over 26 civilians were killed in roadside bombings and two international troops were killed as well. also this morning tens of thousands of americans will find their morning routine interrupted when they try to logon to the internet and they won't be able to. their computers were affected months and even years ago. they kept them on line. they won't be able to access the internet and later this hour mario armstrong will join us to explain. over the weekend millions got a reprieve from the record heat wave. heavy rains and severe storms plowed across the country. they scrambled for cover as winds peeled off roofs. trying to tape up the window and told everybody to get in the dance roop. >> we were that close to it hitting us. we stepped in there and we saw it. just came in on us. >> virginia's governor is pleading people to be patient. more have been without power for a week when those stormed rolled in. at least 30 deaths are being blamed on the brutal heat. the death toll in chicago and another five in philadelphia. the victims tend to be very old, very young or dealing with other health issues. the rest of the weather with alexandra steele, we're praying for cool winds. that's right. the winds of change, they are blowing. we have seen some extreme weather. this was just kind of the end of the heat wave yesterday. raleigh-durham 105. tying their all-time warmest temperature ever. richmond at 103. washington yesterday 102. today much cooler. but that heat, of course, coming at a price and getting that heat knocked down. today here is where we'll see the threat. of course the threat carol was just talking about 50 miles south of washington, d.c. further south than that virginia and through north carolina, raleigh-durham yesterday 105 degrees. certainly much cooler today. here is the front bringing the cooler air. with that moist, unstable air you throw in the front, that lifting mechanism, the recipe for severe storms. much more comfortable. to the west and southwest there was the heat to the east of the central plains and now with this trough digging in, that's the cool air but the ridge means hot weather and that's what we'll see 0 today in places like phoenix and vegas, 115 degrees. at least they are used to it. the a couple of 30-something showed they had a lot more to give on the court. serena williams won her fifth championship at the all-england club and on the men's side roger federer won a record tying seventh wimbledon title beating andy murray. cnn's becky anderson sat down with federer this morning. did you ask him about murray's tears? >> reporter: i did ask him. i'd be happy to swap with you. it hasn't stopped raining since the middle of may. thankfully they were able to pull the roof over on centre court to finish the match. he is exhausted by elated, that being roger federer, only to match pete sampras. seven wimbledon titles, 17 grand slam titles. that is a record breaking number of majors. now he totally understood that this game was going to be a big one given that the hopes of a british nation were riding on one 25-year-old andy murray. it would have been the first victory for the british man at wimbledon since 1936, 7 years ago fred perry. as you can imagine the cheers from an entire nation at the end of this match when he won were quite justified. this is what he said to me about how he felt about this victory. >> i didn't feel good about it and i was disappointed for andy but his emotions were nice to see and it shows that he really cares about tennis and how much he would like to win a grand slam, and that's why i think he will make it. it did feel bad, you know, crushing many people's dreams here in this country. i am convinced that andy will win a grand slam. >> yeah. he's such a delightful man. no ego to this guy at all. he's really quite remarkable. you think about what he's done at the ripe old age, carol, of 30. he's just shy of his 31st birthday. it was wonderful yesterday at the end of what were quite emotional speeches as you can imagine. he said he couldn't look up to the box where his family was because his mom and his wife had his twins there. they are now just shy of 3 years old. they were waving away at him. he said he couldn't look up because he would burst into tears as well. i asked him whether the dpirls were playing tennis. he said they just chucked it away. they have other things to do at this point. but he's such a nice guy. really even as a britt, we were all behind murray yesterday. even as a britt you can't fail to like roger federer. >> i know. that was a lovely thing to say, although i couldn't help but feel that inside he was not saying -- but it was a lovely hinge to say. becky anderson, thank you so much. turns out the u.s. government was way too generous with those unemployment checks last year. yes, uncle sam wants your money back, unemployed americans. we'll tell you how much. every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters. in every way, shape, and form. it's my dream vehicle. on a day to day basis, i am not using gas. my round trip is approximately 40 miles to work. head on home, stop at the grocery store, whatever else that i need to do -- still don't have to use gas. i'm never at the gas station unless i want some coffee. it's the best thing ever. as a matter of fact, i'm taking my savings so that i can go to hawaii. ♪ but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey, 95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer. 16 minutes past the hour, checking our top stories now, president obama will likely talk tax breaks at a briefing just before noon eastern today. he's widely expected to call for a one-year extension on the bush-era tax cuts for middle class americans. really anyone earning less than $250,000 a year. a campaign adviser says the president is 100% committed to ending bush-era tax cuts for wealthier americans by the end of the year. the united nations and arab league special envoy annan finished meeting with al asad about ending the violence in syria. annan says they agreed on an approach to piece that annan will now share with opposition forces in syria but there's no stop to the violence yet. at least 17 people were killed today. if you have been receiving unemployment benefits, you can could be asked to pay some of it back. the federal government and states overpaid about $14 billion in benefits last year. now the department of labor and states are launching a massive effort to recoup some of it and avoid future overpayments. in weather, finally, finally a break from the scorching two-week heat wave. now some states are back to just regular old summer heat. thunderstorms moved through parts of the midwest and mid-atlantic yesterday and that cooled things off just a bit. check out this video. keep an eye on the top right of your screen. you see that runis away tractor-trailer coming? it maneuvered between two cars and then toppled over just inches from some gas pumps. apparently the brakes failed as the driver was getting off an exit ramp. no one was seriously injured. i don't know if that was skillful driving offer just luck but, man, i wouldn't want to be in that minivan or i would feel lucky today. back to the presidential campaign and the subject of mitt romney's wealth. democrats continued to pounce on how much money romney has and where he has it. >> i pick a bank because there's an atm near my home. mitt romney had a bank account in switzerland -- >> nothing illegal, right? >> this is a guy whose slogan is believe in america and it should be business in bermuda. that's what mitt romney is all about. >> americans need to ask themselves why doesn't american businessmen need a swiss bank account and sequence of investments like that. >> okay. so is there any there there? joining mae now is the author of "treasure island." a book about tax havens and an in-depth article on mitt romney's finances for the august edition of "vanity fair." welcome. >> thanks. >> so is there any there there? >> well, what there are is an awful lot of questions when you look into his finances, you come up against an awful lot of brick walls when i researched this, there are lots of things you can speculate about. a few things you can say for sure but this is -- his finances are still very mysterious, a lot of things we don't know about. >> well, let's talk about this. it is based in bermuda. what is that exactly? >> well, it is an entity, an offshore company that contains -- we don't know exactly the value of that company. it contains -- it could be, it's possible, that it's just an old entity that has no real significance, something that is left over from earlier deals, but he has treat it had it very carefully inged, transferring it into his wife's trust before he was inaugurated as governor of massachusetts, having his lawyer as the director of that company. so this is a very carefully treated company and we found 0 out about it on his 2010 tax return but we have very little information about it. it doesn't appear to be much in it at the moment but it's possible there will be profits flowing into it in the future but, again, it's one of these questions we don't know about. >> from what i understand, it was part of a cluster of hedge funds run by bain capital which is the private equity firm romney founded and led until 1999. so what was it used tore in 1999? >> well, again, we don't -- this particular entity is just one of the sankady family. it is a much bigger bain entity with various different funds in it but this entity is a particular company that was closely controlled by mitt romney, 12,000 shares held by the family but, again, you only have this information from the 2010 tax return and a little bit of information out of bermuda. but beyond that it's hard to know. we don't have details, for example, of mitt romney's severance agreement from bain capital so we don't know what he's entitled to, where that money is. so it's, again, a lot of questions. >> in light of these entities, is there any way to really determine how wealthy mitt romney is? >> well, the campaign has said that his wealth is close to 0 a bit less than $250 million u.s. dollars. there is a lot of flexibility when you say what something is worth. if you have a profit's interest from a bain capital fund, for example, you may value it at zero at the moment because no income is flowing but some years down the line there might suddenly be a huge payout. so there's a lot of flexibility both from the point of view of tax law and what you will declare. as to what you say you're worth. it is a squashy concept. there was good reporting by i think it was forbes that estimated his wealth at close to $250 million u.s. dollars. >> as far as we know, though, mitt romney has done nothing wrong? he's done absolutely nothing wrong. so why should voters care about these things? >> well, this has been the mantra of the campaign we have followed every law scrupulously. my article decided to explore is this actually true that he has broken no laws, paid all the taxes he owes and no more. in fact, the answer to that question is not completely straightforward. in tax law and in other laws there is generally a gray area between the legal and the illegal, tax avoidance and tax evasion and there's quite a big gray area and financial players such as mitt romney have routinely strolled into this gray area and romney has shown on a number of occasions that he's content to stroll confidently into this gray area where you are not sure until there's been a resolution by the irs or someone else that this is strictly legal or not. there is a question mark. it is the mantra that it is completely legal and there's nothing wrong with it. that statement needs questioning further. >> nicholas, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. still ahead, when it comes to your vote, if you don't like the party's candidate, is it okay to vote for them anyway because you just can't stand the other guy? that's our talk back question this morning. every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters. now is your chance to talk back on one of of the big stories of the day, the question for you this morning, is it right to vote for a candidate because you hate the other guy? can you make me love mitt romney? according to "roll call" a woman popped that question at a fund-raiser in west virginia and republican house speaker john boehner ran with it. his answer, quote, listen, we're just politicians. i wasn't elected to play god. the american people probably aren't going to fall in love with mitt romney. i'll tell you this. 95% of the people that show up to vote in november are going to show up in that voting booth, and they are going to vote for or against barack obama. and there you have it. voters in 2012 won't vote for a guy they love. they'll vote against a guy they hate. heck, a whole online telethon based on that very idea last week. its goal? to raise $250,000 not to elect mitt romney but to defeat barack obama. one of the telethon's guests, former "saturday night live" comedian victoria jackson. >> tell us about -- first, tell us about the movie, first of all. >> well, thank you for what you're doing. we have to get rid of obama. it's the most important thing about saving our country. thank you for what you're doing. >> there is a lot to criticize about barack obama. after all, the economic recovery isn't exactly robust, but don't voters want a guy with ideas to replace him, not just anybody? so the tal