colombia. >> we let the boss down because nobody is talking about what went on in colombia other than this incident. >> that is true. the secret service now yanking security clearances for several agents accused of bringing prostitutes to a hotel before the president arrived. a new fallout from the scandal ahead. >> and a new legal move by george zimmerman's attorney. trayvon martin's accused killer asking for a different judge. plus, new concerns for zimmerman's safety. and watch out. they were just in the onions. a man under arrest after an attempted hold-up with hot dog tongs. seriously, folks. >> we are not making this stuff up. >> dumb criminal file. we need one of those and just dump these stories in there for your viewing pleasure. a look at a general election matchup between president obama and mitt romney. a new cnn national poll of registered voters shows the president with a near double-digit lead overall. 52% to romney's 43%. meantime, an abc interview, romney fully embraced his role as the nominee delivering a blunt message to the president. >> start packing. that's what i'd like to say. obviously, we have a very different view. the president, i'm sure, wants another four years, but the first years didn't go so well and they've added trillions of dollars of debt because he doesn't understand the economy. he doesn't understand what it takes to get jobs for the american people. >> cnn political editor paul steinhauser is live in washington for us. we've been talking a lot about gender lately. and our poll digs deep on really specific issues. what can you tell us about the gender gap? >> our poll indicates it's still alive and well. take a look at this from the cnn/orc poll. among men, pretty much all knotted up between president obama and mitt romney. look at that among women. a 16-point advantage for the president. we saw that in our poll two weeks ago and saw that in other recent polls as well. here's one reason why. go to the next board. you can see here who is more in touch with the problems of women? look at that. mitt romney way behind barack obama when it comes to that question, zoraida. >> i saw this other tidbit. 6 in 10 women would prefer to have jobs outside the home than stay at home and take care of the house and family. >> yeah, we saw that because we asked that question after the controversy after hilary rosen's comments about ann romney. a little higher number for men but still, 6 out of 10 women feel that way. >> i thought it was a high number. it's not just gender. can you tell us about some other factors that are bringing them up? >> likablity is one. take a look at more of our numbers. who is the more likable person. president obama. who is more in touch with middle class americans? a lot -- look at that. president obama. maybe that has to do with the tax issue that we've been talking about a lot. who is a stronger leader? president obama. who stands up for what he believes in? again, a double-digit lead for president obama according to our new numbers. >> did romney win anything? >> yeah, listen. an important issue here. they're all knotted up. and that is the economy. it's the most important issue. take a look at what our poll indicates. it's a dead heat between obama and romney. who is more likely to get the economy moving? also one other number important. independent voters. look right here. among our poll indicates the president only has a slight advantage moom independent voters who as we know are crucial to the outxhf generalco general elections. >> i was looking at a gallup poll that puts romney and obama in a statistical tie. why the significant difference between these two polls? >> you'll see that a lot between now and six months from now. a brand new gallup poll. they just started. look at that. dead even. our specially very different. ours is more in line with an abc/"washington post" poll that came out last week. theirs more in line with a fox poll that came out. one thing interesting about gallup. their tracking poll is different than their battleground poll they put out two weeks ago. you'll see a lot of differences between now and then. one thing different between ours and theirs, independent voters in our poll seem to be going for the president more. >> we're going to dig in deeper in our 6:00 hour. so we invite you to stick around and join us then. in an attempt to hike taxes on the richest americans, not going anywhere in the senate. last night, senate republicans voted down a plan to move ahead on the so-called buffett rule which would require millionaires to pay a minimum 30% tax. the president responding to the vote blaming republicans for, quote, choosing one again to protect tax break for the wealthiest few americans at the expense of the middle class. that's end quote. the gop argued that it wouldn't make a dent in the federal deficit and it would also hurt small businesses. even though the treasury says it would only hit about 1% of those small businesses. a new cnn/orc international poll shows an overwhelming amount of americans support the buffett rule. 72% in favor of the tax hike. only 27% oppose. i promise you that debate is not over. >> five minutes past the hour here. a honcho at the gsa exercising his try to remain silent. pleading the fifth at a capitol hill hearing that looked into wild spending at a las vegas conference that he organized two years ago. jeff neely and other officials grilled about mock-up videos and parties that included taxpayer-funded booze, meals, a clown, even a mind reader. >> i think that's the fundamental problem that america gets and that government doesn't get. there are a lot of good federal employees who work hard, they're patriotic and frugal with their money. when you see this widespread abuse of money and then you -- you as the former administrator say they were entitled to it, that's where there's frustration steaming out of our ears. it is totally unacceptable. and for the president of the united states to look the american people in the eye and say we've got a pay freeze in place while you're getting bonuses and going on trips is totally unacceptable. >> the head of the general services administration, martha johnson, said she found a badly managed gsa when she took over in 2010. she resigned over this mess. and now to the prostitution scandal that's staining the secret service. 11 members of the agency have had their security clearances now revoked. accused of bringing prostitutes back to cartagena, colombia, just two days perfect the president arrived for the summit he was there for that's been far overshadowed. ten members of the u.s. military are also being investigated now. congressman peter king, chairman of the house homeland security committee telling cnn's wolf blitzer, this is the worst kind of transgression for a secret service agent. >> no matter what the ultimate penalty is, this is a serious, cease violation of everything the secret service stands for. what these 11 agents did put the potentially puts any presidents at risk for some -- or themselves at risk. leaves themselves open to blackmail and to threats. obviously, finding out who those 11 women are and exactly what their backgrounds are, what their connections or soerksss are is vital to this investigation. >> pentagon correspondent barbara starr is live in washington for us. hey, barbara. where do things stand with this investigation this morning? there seems to be a new turn every day. >> indeed, kate. the secret service has begun its investigation into the matter. the agents back in washington with those security clearances revo revoked. it has spread to the u.s. military here at the pentagon. they tell us at least five military members belonging to the army are being questioned about this. believed to be involved and perhaps as many as five more. that brings it up to 21. just yesterday, the president's top military adviser had to issue an extraordinary apology. >> we let the boss down because nobody is talking about what went on in colombia other than this incident. so to that extent, we let him down. >> we've let him down. that from general martin dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. speaking here yesterday at a press conference. defense secretary leon panetta, general dempsey both saying that this kind of behavior is not acceptable. and, of course, as we've talked about, the big concern is, did these people leave themselves open to the possibility of blackmail or other threats by engaging in this type of behavior while they were on a presidential trip? kate? >> it seems we still need more detail and information to really determine how, you know, how serious this kind of infraction was if you will. i'm really amazed how candid general dempsey was there and that was in response to your question, barbara. do you anticipate getting any updates on the investigation today, or is it -- are they really kind of hunkering down to go into that investigative mode? >> well, there's an investigating officer already on the ground in colombia. u.s. military official. he is gathering facts, trying to talk to people that he can. and will bring that back and deliver his report. and then at that point, they will decide in the military how to proceed. do they have enough to go further? do they believe there were infractions of military regulations? and this will become -- if that is what happens -- a military disciplinary proceeding. very strict rules governing that about the disclosure of information. but what's really seems to be happening here is this is falling into a different category because oit's a presidential trip and involves presidential security. they're not saying a lot about what these military people were doing there in their official capacity but they often support security and other functions during these types of fritrips, kate. >> thanks, barbara starr. still ahead on "early start," a new twist in the trayvon martin shooting. the attorney for george zimmerman, who is charged with second-degree murder, wants the trial judge removed. >> and he has tongs and he is not afraid to use them, people. a hold-up attempt that had the customers laughing. 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>> he has like a tong thing. it's like a silver tong thing. >> he attempted to rob a place but really nobody took him serious enough to actually give him money because of his state of intoxication. >> of course. there we go. >> a little more to the story. >> police say the man dropped the quote/unquote weapon and was waiting outside for them when they arrived. police say he will be charged with two count s of attempted aggravated robbery despite the apology note he scribbled. for an expanded look at all the top strd, head to cnn.com/earlystart. jacqui jeras is here with your weather headlines in for rob marciano. >> good morning. that guy was having a hard day. >> a bad day that only got worse. >> a little levity in the morning. >> he wrote a little note. that's so great. >> leave the tongs. >> indeed. a wet start across some parts of the southeast. we're looking at showers and thunderstorms, some of which are going to cause street flooding for you. you'll have to be real cautious as you leave the house and head out for work this morning. west of new orleans, that's where we're seeing the heaviest of rainfall. it should be moving into the city in about an hour or so. we expect to see some of that flooding. that's why we've got the watch in effect. additional 1 to 3 on top of what you slorder have. it heads into parts of atlanta up toward charlotte. so that will be good news. not if you are traveling necessarily but great for your lawns. that's for sure. drying out into the northeast. still mild but nothing compared to where you have been for the last days. high temperatures today are going to be up there in the 70s as opposed to the 80s and 90s. lots of records fell yesterday. all right. we'll end the weather forecast with some incredible video i want to show you guys. this is out of riyadh, saudi arabia. one of our ireporters catching a huge sandstorm. take a look at that. it's just a wall of dust. this is also known as an haboob. it happens quite common. we get those out here in the arizona desert. >> stay indoors. turn off the air conditioning. >> i've seen a haboob before but that is massive. how do you drive through that? >> you can't. visibility is nothing, really. >> that's an amazing image. a lot of amazing weather images these days. >> thank you. >> thanks, jacqui. it's 19 minutes past the hour. an early read on your local news making headlines. this morning, we have papers from oklahoma, alabama, illinois. we're loaded this morning. we're going to start with the oklahoman. two oklahoma day care workers are accused of feeding hot sauce to a 13-month-old child and then laughing as the toddler screamed and cried. there are their pictures. both women not only reportedly confessed but the incident was caught on video. the women reportedly put habanero hot sauce on the green beans. the child screamed out in pain. one woman also reportedly admitted to pushing away a table that the child was using to hold himself up causing the child to fall down. both women will be charged with child abuse. we did a little research to find out if they have to be licensed there in order to work in a day care. they don't. not to work. but they do go through criminal background checks. you put your kids in a place and think it's safe and this happens. >> that's horribly. poor thing. very different story from the tuscaloosa news. roll tide question mark? the university of alabama's 30,000 bcs championship trophy shattered. a player's poor father accidentally tripped and knocked it from its stand. the university is working to get the $30,000 waterford crystal trophy replaced. my question, who is going to foot the bill? this is not the first time a coveted sports trophy has been destroyed. our wonderful producers and writers came up with this. in 2008, the captain of the spokane chiefs broke the memorial cup, right there. after winning the tournament and last year go to another piece of video. real madrid. >> i remember this. >> dropped the trove sboe the street during a celebration and it was run over by a bus. on the alabama story, just a little additional bit. they are going to the white house thursday to meet the president. >> and they're supposed to take the trophy. >> one thing they will not be taking, the trophy. >> $30,000. a waterford crystal trophy. maybe -- >> maybe if your that poor father. >> for the player who is -- >> that's terrible. >> one of those moments. >> there will be a collection for that. 21 minutes past the hour. the buffett rule is dead on arrival in the senate. republicans say it would not even dent the trillion-dollar budget deficit. we're going to take a look at the real impact.