walk but a walk across niagara falls on a really, really skinny wire? >> good gracious. >> you betcha. got that story and a whole lot more, coming up this hour on cnn. >> oh, that's a beautiful shot, isn't it? >> hopefully he'll do it when there's broad daylight. >> do you think he's awake right now doing one of these? calm the jitters. >> especially because he will be tethered and he's not used to being tethered. >> the advice might be lay off the caffeine this morning. >> good advice. >> welcome to "early start," nice to have you with us, i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin, bringing you the news from "a" to "z," 5:00 a.m. here in the east. let's get started. this is cnn breaking news. we begin with this this morning. bran new details on the two american men arrested in japan after a nicki minaj concert. police are holding one of them, a 19-year-old on suspicion of murder in the death of a 21-year-old irish exchange student, a woman who disappeared after that concert and was killed. the other is charged with groping the alleged victim's friend. mitt romney's kicking off his every town counts bus tour today in new hampshire while president obama's back in washington. his campaign, $2 million richer after big money fund-raiser last night at the new york home of actress sara jessica parker. yesterday the candidates were doing a hard sell for their economic policies and taking shots at each other in the battleground state of hey high. romney saying the president has failed the american people. the president warning voters not to believe the scary voice in romney's ad -- his campaign ads. >> it's not my fault. but i can't fix it because i think government is always the answer or because i didn't make a lot of money in the private sector and don't understand it or because i'm in over my head. >> he describes his plans for making the economy better but don't forget, he's been president for 3 1/2 years. and talk is cheap. >> politico reporter jake sherman is live in washington, d.c. this morning. nice to see you. both of the candidates are in the swing state, president obama carried that state back in 2008. but no republican has ever ascended to the white house without taking ohio. so talk to me about how critical it is for both of these candidates. >> it's a huge state. and you're right, no republican has won the white house without ohio. george w. bush obviously notably. george bush is playing a big role all of a sudden in president obama's campaign. he is saying he inherited this from george bush, he inherited this mess. don't blame him. and mitt romney is saying, listen, this guy's had four years. it's time for a change because it has not worked. those are the dueling messages that you're hearing. president obama is gambling that he can blame the last three years, the staggering economy, high unemployment numbers on inheriting an economic mess from his predecessor. it's something that plays very well to the base. but mr. romney's aides would argue that the independent voters, the swing voters across the country don't want a blame game. >> let's focus on that for a moan and listen to precisely what it is obama said about that bush fiasco that you're talking about. then we're going to chat about it. >> i don't believe that giving someone like mr. romney another huge tax cut is worth ending the guarantee of basic security we've always provided the elderly and the sick and those who are actively looking for work. >> talk is cheap. action speaks loudly. look what's happened across this country. if you think things are going swimmingly, if you think the president is right, when he said the private sector is doing fine, then he's the guy to vote for. >> they promise to roll back regulations on banks and polluters, on insurance companies and oil companies. they'll roll back regulations designed to protect consumers and workers. they promise to not only keep all of the bush tax cuts in place but add another $5 trillion in tax cuts on top of that. >> all right. so that is the moment i was trying to get at. let's look at the latest gallup poll on this one. asked who's to blame for the u.s. economy, 68% former president bush, 52% president obama. how big of a concern is this for the romney campaign? >> i'm not sure it's a huge concern, because i'm not sure people are going to vote on that. that is a big percent. people do think george w. bush is largely responsible for the economy. when people are going to the ballot box, george bush is not on the ballot. the interesting thing with mr. romney is the president is trying to try mr. romney to congressional republicans who have extremely low approval ratings, basically scraping the bottom of the barrel. that's a problem for mr. romney. and mr. romney's going to be campaigning with speaker john boehner, the republican speaker of the house this weekend. that's also an interesting dynamic that's going to continue to play itself out. >> very quickly, let's talk about what appears to be for some people a problem for obama. that is on the heels of his economic speech he travels and makes a lot of money hobnobbing with a lot of celebrities. he was here in new york. sara jessica parker sponsored him. i think folks paid about $45,000 in order to spend some time with him. how do you think that will fare for him? >> i think people generally understand you need to raise money to win cam panes. mr. romney does the same. he raised more money than president obama last time around. i think people understand that and that's a dynamic that's constant across the board. >> we'll talk to you in our 6:00 hour. thank you. >> yes. >> six minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. the high court has a ruling in egypt that's led to absolute government turmoil in that country. yesterday, egypt's supreme constitutional court declared the parliament invalid. the court is considered partial to that old regime that was led by hosni mubarak and in the wake of the ruling, the country's interim minimumtry leaders have declared full legislative authority there. prosecutors wrapping up witness testimony in the jerry sandusky child sex abuse trial. eight accusers in all took the stand this week. the final alleged victim delivering some of the most disturbing testimony yesterday. victim number nine telling the courtesan dusky became increasingly aggressive with him and he screamed for help during one incident did the. the former penn state football coach is accused of sexually abusing ten boys over a 15-year period. the state is set to rest its case next week. chris brown taking it on the chin, literally. look at the picture. that troubled singer, an alleged victim of a brutal attack at a new york nightclub. he tweeted this photo of a nasty looking injury. sources say the rapper drake and his entourage were at the same club early thursday morning. there are reports a fight erupted between the two camps in an argument over pop star rihanna. incident incidentally, both men dated rihanna. for his parts, drake's reps are saying the rapper did not participate in any wrongdoing and was on his way out of the club when altercations began. chris brown is on probation right now after pleading guilty to assaulting rihanna back in 2009. a florida teenager who survived being set on fire is facing his alleged attacker in court 2 1/2 years after the attack. michael brewer explaining the horror that he felt in the moment back in 2009 when he realized he was burning. >> i just remember a cold liquid going down my back and i started walking and i started feeling burning, and then i started running. >> did you see it at any point or after you felt the cold liquid, did you see him with stuff, with a jug or anything like that? >> no. >> okay. you started feeling the burning at that point? >> yes. >> what did you do? >> i started running towards the pool, then i jumped a fence and dove into a swimming pool. i felt like i was going to die. >> matthew bent is on trial for attempted second degree murder. he faces up to 30 years in prison. the prosecutor say he set brewer on fire because he was angry at the middle schooler for refusing to buy drug paraphernalia from him. a climber on mt. hood has fallen 1,000 feet to his death. fellow climbers saw 56-year-old mark cartier take a bad fall yesterday. as soon as rescuers reached cartier, there was heartbreak. >> the training and everything that you've learned over the years just kind of kicks in and, you know, you do your job. a number of people die every year on mt. hood on the so-called easy route. so, you know, it's not as easy as you think sometimes. >> cartier is the second climber to die on mt. hood this year. nick wallenda, hours away from a tightrope walk across niagara falls. he will attempt to walk from one side to the other on a high wire. he'll start on the u.s. side and attempt the third of a mile sky walk to canada. oh, my goodness. check this out. it's beautiful this morning, isn't it? we are wishing him well. >> we are indeed. so miami heat snatching home court advantage from the oklahoma city thunder with a 100-96 win in game two. how the nba finals, lebron james leading the way with 32 points as the heat held off a late rally by the thunder. that series is tied one apiece. oh, boy, doesn't get closer than that. game three sunday night in south beach. set your dvr or get your popcorn now. it's going to be good. rick scott went to a voting booth and was told he couldn't vote. >> what, the governor? >> you know why? because he was dead. the details, straight ahead. cl? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. 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[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ breaking news. two americans, a 19-year-old american man suspected killing a female irish exchange student in tokyo is being held by japanese police. and a second american is being charged with groping the dead woman's body. kyung lah is live in tokyo with the very latest. what can you tell us? >> zoraida, what i can tell you, tokyo police are zeroing in on the 19-year-old for connecting him to perhaps the murder of this 21-year-old irish exchange student, nikola furlong. he has been held by the police for 20 days on a separate charge. they decided to arrest him again in connection with the murder of the irish exchange student. that's the 19-year-old. he is not being named because he is a minor. they are looking at 23-year-old james blackston. he is now officially charged under japanese law. it's a little different legal system than it is in the united states. he's officially charged for groping her friend. this all stems back to something that happened more than 20 days ago early in may, the end of may. these two suspects according to police were at a concert with these two irish girls and one of them, nikola furlong ended up dead in a hotel room. police are still trying to unravel what happened. it does appear they are trying to nail all of this on the 19-year-old. >> we all know these are late-breaking details. kyung lah, live in tokyo, thank you very much. 16 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. wildfires continue to spread in new mexico and colorado, rob marciano has been busy looking at this. i feel like this is a story going on a week. i think by my math it's about seven days starting tomorrow, right? >> the high park fire for sure. the ones in new mexico have been burning longer than that. good morning. we are going to get a change in the weather, specifically thunderstorms that may bring some rain. typically out west, especially here in the colorado rockies, they don always bring rain. not always a good thing. sunday and monday, we're looking at turning the heat back on. here's a threat for thunderstorms. some of these might be severe with this weak front. this front will not cool things down very much. especially across the western great lakes. things will get toasty for a significant number of days. thunderstorms rolling through oklahoma city and tulsa right now. these have strong winds and another batch towards wichita fall, heading towards dallas. if you're heading towards dallas or making up in big "d" this morning, you have thunderstorms you'll need to deal with in the next couple hours. san francisco maybe some winds there delaying your arrival and departures. and causing havoc for round two of the u.s. open. 90 for the high in chicago. i think we'll see several days at 90 or better for chicago and the western great lakes. meanwhile, 78 degrees, looking pretty good in new york city. dropically speaking, here's tropical sto tropical sto tropical storm carlotta. it scrapes the coast lien of mexico tonight and through the weekend, heading towards acapulco, hopefully weakening. >> hopefully. >> if you could check the weather in canada. nick wallenda is doing that trek from one side to the other. >> the wind would affect him, right? >> i would say so. >> do you know what, rob, he trained with sprayers so the cable would be wet when he was doing his training on a parking lot so the mist of the falls and potential rain wouldn't throw him off. how do you like that? >> much like a method actor. >> look at you. >> good luck to him. i think the weather will be okay. >> good to know. >> 19 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date. here's christine romans with this morning's top stories. president obama and mitt romney butting heads in the buckeye state. later the president picked up $2 million at a fund-raiser at actress sara jessica parker's manhattan home while romney prepares to kick off his five-day, six-state every town counts bus tour. that starts today. after visiting ohio, the president made his way to new york where he attended a briefing at one world trade center, 1,300 feet tall, this unfinished freedom tower is already the tallest skyscraper in new york. the president signed a steel beam that will be placed atop the structure once is reaches a height of 1,376 feet. the parliament was declared invalid. their ruling mean's hosni mubarak's former prime minister is eligible for a presidential runoff election this weekend. in oregon, that 65-foot long japanese dock that washed up off the coast a year after the tsunami is carrying troubling cargo. in all, seen tests say the dock was carrying two tons of living sea creatures and some species are not native to the u.s. coast and could devastate the local sea life. texas billionaire allen stanford slapped with a 110-year sentence for pulling off one of the biggest ponzi schemes in u.s. history. the disgraced financier convicted of orchestrating a $7 billion fraud. his sentence, just 40 years lighter than what bernie madoff received. he still mann taken maintains innocence. >> he's not used to wearing those clothes, is he? >> no, he's not. local news making national headlines. total shocker in florida over that purge controversy, the voter purge controversy. that is the florida governor. his name is rick scott. he's revealing to the "miami herald" he himself was told he could not vote back in 2006 -- you ready for this -- because he was dead. not kidding. he says he pulled out his voter i.d. to prove he was alive and well and could vote and he was able to cast a provisional ballot, he says. he also says he hopes this story of his will ease all of the fears everybody has right now. because of actual citizens are mistakenly removed they can cast a provisional ballot just like he did when they told him at the polls, i'm sorry, you're dead. the force was definitely with him. little darth vader doing well after open heart surgery. 7-year-old max page is the actor from the popular toyota super bowl commercial. this week, doctors replaced his pulmonary valve. his grandfather says max came through it just like a champion. i'm really happy for that little tyke. >> so adorable. stole our hearts. >> yes, he did. >> millions of americans out of work. why did the market rally ahead of the close yesterday? christine romans minding your business, next. 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[ male announcer ] now citi thankyou visa card holders can combine the thankyou points they've earned and get even greater rewards. ♪ [ slap! ] [ slap! slap! slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums 26 minutes past 5:00 a.m. on the east coast. nice to have you with us. we're minding your business, u.s. stock futures trading higher this morning. we had a rally at the end of trading yesterday. >> the dow closed up 1.25%. the nasdaq more than 0.5%. the s&p 500 gained over 1%. christine romans is here explaining the rally. >> this is going to sound crazy but stocks rallied because things are so bad. >> say that again. >> stocks went up because things are so bad. europe has been a smoldering fire for two years. the fire is flairing again. in the u.s. there are seens consumers are flagging. that raised concerns because we've been thinking that the american economy was healing morrow bustly. now we're concerned about the consumer in the united states. so late yesterday, you had a report from reuters that said as these big leaders for the g20 prepare for their big meeting, they're preparing for how they can use their central banks to flood the world with money to make sure that the atms still work in greece, make sure the uk is protected from all the things happening on the continent, that the continental economies are able to keep moving forward. 12 of them are in recession right now. stocks rallied because people are so concerned by what's happening there and ralli