no guy wears them to the beach. >> and including, very worrying, my own. >> he goes bonkers doing jim morrison. ♪ take a look it's in a book ♪ ♪ a reading rainbow >> behind bars but $70,000 richer. this is "piers morgan tonight kwoecht. our big story tonight, america's choice 2012, the race for the white house may come down to the economy and nothing but the economy. if it does, many democrats think that could spell big trouble for president obama. listen to what james carville said on "good morning america" today. >> i'm worried when the white house and the campaign talk about the progress being made, people take that as a signal that things are fine and people, i feel, don't believe that. >> so, is the president in trouble over the km economy. joining us an economist and author. it does ring a lot of true bells. this election is going to be about the economy. nicole, there's a lot of argument raising on both sides at the moment, is anybody winning that argument? >> i don't think it's an argument that either one of these men can win because it's so dependent almost entirely dependent on events beyond their control. it's dependent on the pace of the recovery and the psychology and mood of the country come election day. and i think that both men would be well served to elevate the debate a little bit. because it matters so much more than usual in this, i think, cycle that they focus on the big -- we always say that. campaign strategy, people like hillary and i say it's about big things. usually it isn't. it's usually about rapid response and who can squash the little guy and catch a gotcha moment and who makes a gaffe and embarrass them. that stuff really doesn't matter. >> let's play a clip from president obama which sort of summed the whole thing up to me. it was amusing and yet very telling. let's watch this. >> this notion that we somehow caused the deficits is just wrong. it's just not true. it's like somebody goes to a restaurant, orders a big steak dinner, martini, all that stuff and then just as you're sitting down, they leave. >> hillary, it was a good line, got a good chuckle. the reality of the situation is some invites you to dinner, they order a big steak, a bottle of wine and you're supposed to be going halves because it's both your fault, the situation we got ourselves into, and then nobody pays. and the victim is the poor old waiter waiting for a tip that never comes, who represents the american public. isn't that the reality, a stain on the wheel houses? >> the problem is everybody is a lit bit right. the country actually knows, if you survey the american people, they know that president obama inherited a really bad economy. it's not a bad idea for him to remind people of that. but i do think that -- >> hillary, hillary, wait on a second. >> wait -- >> i'm not going to wait. this is the problem. i don't think you can be a president heading towards your apparent possible re-election four years later and still start banging on as your main campaign theme, i'm not as bad as those guys were. because four year have nearly elapsed. >> no, i think he should say that. i don't think he's said that. i think what they have said, and maybe a little too often is, we're finally in a place where we can start fresh. and because we've just now recovered from the mess, now we have to move forward. and i think that everybody is right. what people want from both president obama and mitt romney is what are you going to do over the next four years. i think president obama has laid that out to a large degree. he's talked about needing congress's cooperation which hae has not gotten. he's talked about some of the incentives. >> a lot of that is probably president obama's fault. i mean, he hasn't been very strong, i don't think, in negotiating with the republicans. and certainly with john boehner. i think that's been part of the problem with the paralysis in washington. >> i think he's got three big problems. one, elections have never been about the past. they are always about the future. two, you can blame congress but only about 8% of the public actually likes them. so i don't know who you're convincing. they have a terrible reputation. and three, the country is starving for presidential leadership. so to stand there and say i -- it's everybody else's fault is an admission that he was too weak to do anything about it in four years. and that may work in rallying his base. your base is usually loyal. they almost always come home to you, but it will not reassemble the coalition that delivered his historic victory four years ago. >> having said that, i don't see a lot in mitt romney's rhetoric about the economy which says to me the republican party collectively has really got to grips with what they dope did so badly wrong before and twha they need to do differently now. >> sfar enough, but listen, this is going to be very much the same way for us an our side as '08 was in some respects for democrats. where they were so angry at the past eight years. it was a vote against the eight years of george w. bush as much as it was a vote of heart felt enthusiasm for obama. we are as a party so, i think, d dis conceconcerted by the four of obama's leadership on the massive stimulus, the massive explosion of our deficit, the government takeover of health care. you can debate whether that's really what happened. so i think as our party, we're as animated as anybody party is in opposition for the policies as we are enthusiasm for mitt romney. >> i don't agree with anything she said. but i love her book. i think this election is going to be about what the big things are to come, but it's also going to be about who do you trust to be on your side? which person is really going to be for what you care about, going to care about your pocketbook, not the pocketbook of their rich friends. >> how helpful is it that talking of being on the right side, the top democratic voices like president clinton, james carville and others are appearing to be diametrically opposed to president obama's position on his main attack weapon, as he sees it with mitt romney, his record at bain and his record with the economy. >> no, no. carville simply said that president obama should be talking about the future. and i think that's right. i think the president probably agrees with him, too. what he's saying is what are we going to do? how are we getting out of this deep hole? give us hope, give us inspiration and tell us what you're going to do over the next four years. that's something the president has been trying to do. hasn't broken through well enough and i think is going to do more of coming up. >> the whole debate seems to be very negative. and that's a very unusual position for america to find itself and going to an election with nobody really exuding any air of positivity whatsoever. but you two have. and i appreciate it. so thank you both for joining me. >> take care. >> thank you. >> good luck, nicole, with the book. >> enough book plugs. >> thank you. now to the other big story, the jerry sandusky trial. the former penn state coach is charged with 52 counts of abuse. we've been hearing shocking testimony. following the case from the beginning, the pulitzer prize winning writer has been following it. get to your fantastic book after the break, but i want to talk about jerry sandusky. you said it was the biggest scandal i think in sporting history in america. i concur with that, but tell me why you feel about that? >> generally it's recruiting violations, it's payoffs to kids. this is about, i feel, penn state allowing a culture to exist in which you had a sexual predatory animal who thrived within the culture of football within that school. it's not just that he was sexually abusing children, which was awful. i believe the coaches knew what was going on and they didn't care was a it's all about winning. i mean, when a coach is bringing a kid to a bowl game, coaches don't see it? they don't ask themselves, what's going on. why is he doing it? i think they knew all along and i think paterno -- i don't know what he knew. i think he was out to lunch at that point. . >> this is where it gets difficult for an american audience. i feel quite strongly for joe pater paterno. god rest his soul. he died recently. he was a fantastic coach. but to me it's an unforgivable crime by a man of his position, authority, responsibility. he carried on allowing these kids to be abused. >> i agree with you. the first incident was apparently in 1998. they did nothing. he's taking showers with these kids in penn state facilities. he's taking them to bowl games. i mean, you have to put two and two together. and i know coaches. coaches will never turn in their own. i saw it on "friday night lights." i dealt with coaches a lot. they won't turn in their own. i say it's worse than the mafia. you never, ever turn in anyone else aechb they allowed this problem to fester into something hideous. hideous. >> the details from the trial already are horrific. there's a pattern of -- look, the guy is innocent until proven guilty, but there's a pattern of the victims, apparently coherent and apparently credible pattern of serious grooming by a pedophile to abuse them. most of it going on with everyone aware that he was jumping into showers with them. how many men of that age shower with boys of 13, 14? >> exactly. >> i have never heard of that. >> i have never heard of that either. it doesn't happen. coaches don't shower with player, much less shower with 9, 10-year-old, 11 or 12-year-old, however old. they don't do that. and he's using penn state facilities to do it. this goes to the culture of sports, the culture of college sports. do i want this -- i want penn state, i want this tragedy to burn in the soul of penn state forever. and i think a lot of what we've heard from penn state is, excuse my language, still bull [ bleep ]. >> the state of america, the economy, the big battleground for the election, we can see that. but what is your feeling about what has gone wrong with america incorporated? >> well, you know, i don't think we're really facing up to our problems. it happened a long time ago. we lost our manufacturing base. we have become a country of haves and have notes. the problem is i think obama thinks the way to win is to accentuate that. you know, he said the private sector is doing just fine, which, of course, is not just fine. the public sector makes more. i don't know if that was a gra of. the problem is i really don't see any leadership at all. i just got an e-mail saying wish barack a happy father's day. wait a second. why do i want to wish him a happy birthday. i think it's inappropriate with an unemployment rate over 8%. >> it's a very un-american battleground. it's almost like you were terrible, i haven't been quite as terrible. you know, whereas america was founded on this great positive can-do mentality. and obama played up to that with the whole yes, we can campaign. this is not a yes we can message of positivity. it's, i wasn't quite as bad as the last lot. which is surprisingly un-american. >> it's the evil of two lessers, basically. i think romney's campaign is anyone but obama and obama's campaign is basically anyone but romney. it is depressing. i think it's going to be a low turnout election. the excitement level he had four years ago. >> would you vote for him? >> i lean towards him, but i have to be honest. i'm thinking about romney. i never, ever thought i would. . >> and the main reason for that would be what? >> he had a good first two years. he didn't sell it very well. i believe in the economic stimulus, by i feel the last two years, he's not a leader. >> let's take a short break, come back and talk about your book. it's profoundly moving. we'll talk about it in more detail after the break. and later, jimmy "rock star" fallon. 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'. >> we're back. buzz, it's a remarkable book. as i said, you have this son. he's how old now? >> zach is 28. >> 28. he's an iq of 70. but he has extraordinary gifts like so many other savants. when did you realize this? >> around the i think of 10 to 12, he has a phenomenal memory. it's called calendaring. if you gave him a date within 25 years and you said zach, what date did it occur on? he can tell you. he will ask you, when's your birthday once, he'll remember it the rest of his life. >> like dustin hoffman? >> yeah, it's like that. unfortunately he doesn't card count. we tried that in las vegas. where it comes from, scientists don't really know. they have some theories but they say it's the greatest unsolved n mystery of the brain. the examples are incredible. >> you decide on father's day to take zach on this road trip around america. what was the intention of this? >> the intention was not to rediscover my son. i knew from the very beginning that zach was going to be very, very different than anything i ever imagined. he was born 13 1/2 weeks prosecute premature he weighed one pound 11 ounces. it was an opportunity for me to focus on him in an enclosed space for two weeks. and nothing is more enclosed than a rented minivan going 42 miles an hour. but i wanted to be with him alone. like i had been with my other children. zach is over here because he has mental deficiencies. and then jerry and caleb is over here. >> there's no rose colored especially ending at the end of this. he'll never drive a car, never marry, never have children. he's not the child that i wanted. no parent would never want a child that has to go without all of those things, clearly. >> right. right. >> but what are the positives of being zach that you maybe unravelled on your travels. >> i think the positives of being zach is that he's much more complex. eh has a soul. he has empathy. i saw powers of observation. i thought he was staring out the window seeing nothing. and not just yearning for independence, but he wants to be as independent as we can. we all want the same thing in life. we want identity. we all want to feel self-worth. i was volatile and dropping the f-bomb and zach is a human gps. >> what did you learn about fatherhood that surprised you when you went on this trip? >> i think it's about acceptance. it took me a long time. father's day" is a very honest book. coming to grips with a son who's very, very different. and there were moments where it was really hard for me to accept. i came from a high-powered family. i have dreams of ambition for my kids, as we all do. but once you get acceptance, then you get appreciation and then you get joy. >> does he know or care about your professional work? or does he just judge you purely on your personal qualities as a father? >> he has some concept. but i remember for the first time ever on the trip he said dad, did you win a pulitzer or something. i was proud and said yeah, i did. then he changed the subject, how many times did you go to the health club in chicago. >> i can see a benefit to that where actually you have to stand on your al qaequalities as a he. >> he's not jealous, he's happy for the success of others. there's no sense of competition. the total opposite of me. >> you said this about him, he's the man, most fearless i've ever known. friendly, funny, freaky, restoring the faith of a father in all that can be. that's a pretty great tribute to your son. >> it is. i've seen him struggle. he's now 28. he's struggled all his life to do things that we all take for granted, whether it's writing your name or holding a pencil. occupational therapy, physical therapy. and he continues to mature and continues -- he wants to be part of the world. >> it's a terrific book "father's day -- jurn into tour the heart and mind of my extraordinary son." coming up, jimmy fallon. it's going to be crazy. brace yourselves. why is the sleep number store such a great place for couples? the sleep number bed offers couples the ability to have unique support for their individual bodies. we have a left and a right 'cause you can each control your individual side. i can adjust mine to my liking and she can do the same. oh yeah. you can have comfort and you can be in the same bed. you can have it your way and i'll have it mine. and right now, during our summer sleep sale, save $500 on our exceptional p6 bed set. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. paul mccartney knee, justin timber lake, jimmy fallon. with his new album, he apparently wants to blow your pants off. jimmy fallon. >> thank you for having me become on your show. after the last time, i never thought you would ask me back. it got really ugly. >> intriguing cover of your album here. >> it's a gentleman enjoying a red wine. what's the red wine you love? >> chateau latour. >> he's laying on his rug, because fur is murder. his pants get blown off right as the photographer takes the photo. every comedian, there's a butt joke in there somehow. >> last time, you wore a smart suit. you were the persona of a television star. what is worrying slightly about all of this is you arrived looking sort of like mick jagger. and you arrived with one of the biggest entourages i've ever seen. >> right. well, i don't even know if i came up at the same time. >> there are the fallonettes as i'm going to call them. this is the second biggest ept r -- entourage i've seen after beyonce. >> a lot of pretty girls with me in my entourage. >> are they called the fallonettes? >> they are now. i have a big entourage of people. there's a gang of kids outside waiting. i told you i haven't changed at all. >> the album cover, entourage, the new look. >> i'm looser. >> are you now taking yourself less seriously as a rock star? >> i have this compilation of music and maybe it's going to my head a lit bit. i'm very proud of the record. i think it's a good, fun record. >> the fact that you managed to persuade these people to do this is equally unfathomable to me. all mccartney and you sing "scrambled eggs." you're thinking the original title of "yesterday" with paul mccartney. >> i tell this story to my friends -- >> i've seen the original manuscript. >> i go in to pitch -- i preinterview him. he's the nicest human. i go into his dressing room and say hey, paul. he goes hey, jimmy, just have a little chat, you know? it will be a fun chat. we'll have fun. >> i said yeah, we'll have fun. i said just wondering, we had a sketch. he said i would rather just do a chat. would you like a veggie burger. how do you say no. i'm having a veggie burger. i'm talking to paul mccartney. he's one of my idols. it