protesters arrested according to an e-mail from "outfront" from the nypd moments ago. seven officers injured and what the mayor has to say about it. the mayor has to say about it. let's go "outfront." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i'm erin burnett "outfront" tonight. the brooklyn bridge is occupied. occupy wall street day of action culminating at one of new york's most iconic locations. you can see it now. people walking across. this is the pedestrian area, which is important to emphasize. doesn't look like there's any disruption of traffic at this time. it all started at 7:00 this morning when protesters descended on the new york stock exchange in an attempt to, quote, shut down wall street. now, in zuccotti park, the original campground, demonstrators clashed with police. they pulled down barricades that were there to block them from entering the area. hundreds of protesters have been arrested. nypd saying 177, at least 7 officers have been injured according to the police. mayor bloomberg talked about those injuries earlier today at a press conference. >> someone in the crowd threw a star-shaped glass object at the officer. another officer -- another protester threw a liquid, possibly vinegar, in the face of another officer. >> well, the mayor did note that at most points, demonstrations had been peaceful. mary snow is there. we just showed everyone a live picture. people looking like they're in the pedestrian area and staying there as opposed to disrupting traffic. what can you tell us you're seeing? >> reporter: erin, it's been fairly peaceful. we're at the foot of the brooklyn bridge. i apologize for my voice. it's been a long day out here covering these protests. for about the past 45 minutes or so, protesters have been streaming out to the bridge. police have been telling them to stay on the pedestrian walkway. and as long as they stay on that pedestrian walkway, then they're being told they will not be arrested. now, before this march started, there was a symbolic 99 people arrested. this for the 99%. it was civil disobedience. we saw a number of people arrested. it was very calm. and it's hard to say just how many people have shown out here tonight. but clearly, it appears to be in the thousands. and this is the biggest march of this action all day today. there have been a number of protests throughout the day. >> all right. well, mary, thank you very much. i think -- to emphasize with all of you out there, with mary losing her voice, it has been a crazy day. it may seem calm from some of those aerial shots but it's been a crazy day and she's had to yell to be heard much of the day. now the police commissioner. good to have you with us. we appreciate you taking the time. what's your sense of how things have gone so far today? it was an important day, the two-month anniversary of the occupy wall street movement. that's why they had planned to do this. what would be your takeaway for how it's been handled? >> i think the nypd handled it as well as could be expected. the fact that seven police officers were injured is regrettable. you always have some people in these protests who do not obey the law. who want to make trouble. and i think based on the numbers i'd say it was a pretty good day for the nypd. >> what do you think will happen tonight? obviously, there's a key thing just to explain to everyone out here. we'll talk about the legality of it in a moment. as to whether they stay in the pedestrian area versus trying to stop traffic. two very different things when it comes potentially to first amendment rights, mr. safir. so what's your sense if they stay on the pathway, i would presume you would think this would remain peaceful? >> i would think so. the first amendment gives you the right to protest and say anything you want to say. but it does not give you the right to impinge on other people's rights. as long as they stay in the pedestrian walkway and do not block traffic, i think it's going to be fine. >> and what's your sense? i mean, the nypd, the biggest police force in the nation, and you've taken a look at how other cities around the country have handled the occupy wall street and compared to the nypd, who's got it right, who's gotten it wrong? >> well, i think, you know, clearly i'm not going to criticize other police departments but clearly chicago got it right. gary mccarthy, who i know for a long time, made sure that the protesters did not camp in the park. i think the nypd did a good job. i personally would have liked to have seen the tents evicted a little earlier. i think oakland unfortunately got it wrong. >> thank you very much. we appreciate you joining us tonight. howard safir was the commissioner for the new york police department from 1996 till 2000. let's bring in jeffrey toobin and john avlon, cnn contributor. john, let me start with you. you live near the original encampment. no longer an encampment. you've been back and forth down there the past couple of days. >> the day of the eviction -- they really hunkered down with a pretty organized tent city. the next day, taken out. it's become a park again. the court order has said they're not allowed to bring back tents and sleeping bags. that's a challenge for the occupy movement in new york particularly. to ask themselves what's next. are they going to evolve and become a constructive political force or become a destructive political force which will lead to their declining poll numbers. the fact they're using the pedestrian bridge, that's a constructive step, as opposed to blocking traffic just to get a short-term headline. >> let me ask you, jeff toobin, because what are their rights? where does it come -- where is there a life if there is legally where you are allowed to protest and exercise your first amendment rights and then you're not allowed to because you're disrupting commerce? earlier today, obviously, there was some -- from some about disrupting traffic and shutting down entrances to businesses. >> as so often in the law, it's not a very clear line, but the general outlines of the rules have been established for many, many years. the government is allowed to make what are called "time, place and manner" restrictions on exercises of the first amendment rights. they can say, you know, this has to end at 1:00 in the morning. it says, you can't go in the street. you can't go in somebody's lawn. you can't have a bullhorn in a residential neighborhood. those are all well-established restrictions. but you can't have so many restrictions that it amounts to preventing people from exercising their first amendment rights. it sounds like, you know, the bridge protest is an example of one where everybody is on good ground. you have people protesting by the thousands. but they're not disrupting people's train home or car rides home. so, you know, it seems to be -- as commissioner safir said, a pretty good day in terms of how it unfolded. >> bullhorns, obviously, in this case, people talked about things like the drum circles which have been a significant part of this and noise disruption in the neighborhood. let me ask you, john avlon, you've been down there a lot. you've seen some of their brochures and things. >> if you read occupy the machine or any of the basic anarchist guides, you do get a sense of the professional protester element in this. they've got an agenda way beyond income and equality. some lines talk about 500 years of genocide -- >> taking land from the american indians. >> yes. that's not a useful argument to make. here's what the tea party did quickly. take a populist political movement. that's been one of the interesting challenges going forward for occupy. even liberal allies like portland mayor says, i sympathize with your goals. what issues are they going to take? continue talking about income equality? great. what to do about it? are you going to talk about cronycapitalism? great. then what specific plans do you want to put forward? >> right, laws you want to change. allowing the banks to be as big as they were. very specific things you could put on the table. >> absolutely. things in the news. take on the crony capitalism. lobby for reform. congressman doing insider trading. there are specific rules that you can say, look, here are specific areas. get those passed into law. >> thanks very much to both of you. we appreciate it. i just want to update the numbers coming in. the nypd now saying there have been 276 protesters arrested. obviously, we had earlier told you 177, so takes them a while to get those numbers and aggregate them but we'll continue to keep you updated on that and exactly how this protest goes on. "outfront" next, a lot of people have picked mitt romney as the inevitable gop nominee but the latest poll out of iowa has four candidates in a dead heat. and the man who allegedly shot at the white house. we told you about him yesterday. but he's charged today with trying to assassinate the president. and those bullets, yes, did hit the white house. and then san diego, california, investigators seizing $30 million in pot after discovering a smuggling tunnel between mexico and the united states. we've got the story. nice, huh? yeah. you know what else is nice is all the savings you can get on cruze and traverse over there. oh! that's my beard. 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i held on to your coffee. wow. ♪ nationwide is on your side ( laughing ) it's actually a pretty good day when you consider. that's great. the number tonight. zero. that's how many songs the columbia university marching band will be playing at saturday's football game. it's also how many wins the football team has had this year. so the band was banned. the band was banned from the game after it mocked the players following a 62-41 loss to cornell. by changing words to the school fight song from roar, roar, to we always lose, lose, lose, sung as the team left the field. according to the columbia spectator, band members have now banned those lyrics and are planning to attend the game and cheer from the bleachers. that's team spirit and a positive attitude. if you haven't won a game, do you really need your band to be so nasty? in politics, speaking of nasty things, let's talk about politics. we're going to focus in on iowa. with seven weeks to go, the gop field is in chaos. take a look at the latest state poll. four candidates in a statistical dead heat. the man almost everyone thinks is the inevitable nominee, mitt romney, hasn't even decided if he should seriously contest the state. iowa's influential governor, terry branstad is criticizing romney. saying, quote, i think he's making a big mistake. quote, iowans don't like being ignored. so why isn't mitt romney fighting for iowa? this is a former rnc spokesman. maria cardona is a cnn contributor and democratic strategist. doug, mitt romney's strategy has been to play down iowa, win big in new hampshire. he's in a four-way dead heat. and iowa's upset at him. if he went in and gave a little bit of love, couldn't he lock it up? >> i think he'll do really well. also key supporters and a real organization where other campaigns don't. in iowa, obviously, it's a caucus state and primaries people vote to make their voices heard. in caucus, people show up to make their presence felt. that's where organization can come in play. mitt romney doesn't have to necessarily decide to do all or nothing at all, but even if he plays just a little bit, he can possibly win but certainly come in second place. >> doesn't he need to come in at least in second place to really solidify his role as the nominee if that's what he's going to be? >> yeah, i absolutely think that's the case. i think that terry branstad is absolutely right if he comes in fourth. even if he comes in third, it's going to be detrimental to his campaign and the momentum he wants to build at the very beginning. i think the problem with romney in iowa is the problem that has dogged romney from the very beginning with conservative voters because everybody knows that in iowa, it's conservative mostly evangelical voters who have a real say in who the nominee is. clearly, no love lost between romney and evangelical conservative voters. it's why he's not going to put all of his eggs in the iowa basket right now. >> you know what would be neat if we changed it up so every year, every election year a different state got to go first. so iowa didn't always get to be -- that would be really neat. that's for another day. >> erin. >> yeah. >> with iowa, if we're having this conversation four years ago, we're talking about hillary clinton as the inevitable nominee and whether or not john edwards or barack obama can do anything. that's why we don't count votes before they're made. >> fair point. want to turn to the president. he's in asia now. a hot topic for republican candidates this week has been the president's remarks in hawaii during a business summit. here's what he said. >> we've been a little bit lazy i think over the last couple of decades. >> okay. so now some republicans wasted no time pouncing on that. they put some ads together calling the president's words an insult. take a look at perry. we'll show you the perry ad. >> that's what our president thinks wrong with america, that americans are lazy? that's pathetic. >> okay, now let me just -- let's get some facts in here. the president wasn't really talking about american workers. he was talking about, well, that we haven't worked hard enough to sell america as a great place to invest. here's the full soundbite of what the president said. >> a lot of things that make foreign investors see the u.s. as a great opportunity are stability, our openness, our innovative free market culture. but, you know, we've been a little bit lazy i think over the last couple decades. we've kind of taken for granted, well, people will want to come here. and we aren't out there hungry, selling america. >> it's a little bit different, isn't it, maria? >> it's very different. i think what you're seeing is these are two candidates who are being very disingenuous on a comment clearly taken out of context. many news organizations have already said this is not -- this is not fair what they're doing, but then again, you know, what can you expect from two candidates, one who can't even remember the three cabinet departments that he was going to eliminate, and another one who's done a 180 flip-flop on every major issue facing american politics today. and if you look at the truth of it, the president is the one who says, time and again, over and over, that in america, we have the most productive and hard-working workforce in the world. >> okay. doug, he has said before, though, that -- this summer at one point i recall him saying america can be number one again. even though we already are. >> which presupposes that we're not number one anymore. that's really the problem with the president is we've heard this kind of rhetoric before. in politics what matters most isn't what you say, it's what people hear. we know obama is obviously such a skilled person at rhetoric but he often thinks out loud. republican should stop making fun of him when he stays on the teleprompter. when he thinks out loud, he gets in trouble. obviously, the bitter clinging gods and guns comments. we've seen all this before. >> all right. well, thanks very much to both of you. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thanks, erin. >> we know the barbs will continue on both sides. that's an election for you. an idaho man what charged today with trying to assassinate the president. fired shots from an assault rifle at the white house. one bullet hit bulletproof glass near the first family's residence. athena jones has been following it for us and described what allegedly the assassinator said about the president. >> reporter: the suspect had quite a bit to say about president obama according to three witnesses investigators spoke with. those witnesses say over the past year, ortega-hernandez has become increasingly agitated about the federal government. and that president obama himself was part of the problem. they say he wanted to, quote, hurt obama, that he called him the anti-christ, called him the devil. said he needed to be taken care of and, quote that he needed to kill him. so those are some of the details coming out of the criminal complaint today. >> all right, ortega-hernandez faces up to life in prison if he is convicted. there are new developments in the penn state rape scandal. we have more victims expected to come forward. we're going to tell you that in just a couple of moments. and then andrew weil coming "outfront" talking about how we can all be a little happier. speaking of doctors, president obama might need one because apparently he has bieber fever. seriously. we all age differently. roc® multi-correxion 4 zone moisturizer with roc®retinol and antioxidants. lines, wrinkles, and sun damage will fade. roc multi-correxion. correct what ages you. some folks call me a rock star, some call me the mayor... and i love it. and, i make everybody happy. i keep my business insurance with the hartford because... they came through for me once, and i know they've got my back. for whatever challenges come your way... the hartford is here to back you up. helping you move ahead... with confidence. meet some of our small business customers at: thehartford.com/business i don't think about the unknown... i just rock n' roll. luck? i don't trade on luck. i trade on fundamentals. analysis. information. i trade on tradearchitect. this is web-based trading, re-visualized. streaming, real-time quotes. earnings analysis. probability analysis: that's what opportunity looks like. it's all visual. intuitive. and it's available free, wherever the web is. this is how trade strategies are built. tradearchitect. only from td ameritrade. welcome to better trade commission free for 60 days when you open an account. we do a lot of serious stories on this show, but this one is a little more seriously. the president stopped at a high school in australia for a meet and greet with students yesterday. now, during the event, he took questions. and one of the students asked the president this -- >> have you ever thought about teaming up with a high-profile celebrity, such as justin bieber, to appeal to more people? >> seriously. that was a high schooler. if you could ask the president one question, would it be about justin bieber? now, the president responded, saying, quote, hopefully, if i'm going to be successful, it's going to be because of the ideas i put forward and not because i'm hanging out with justin bieber. now, the str