it's got to be stopped and i know better than most. and that's it, the south carolina republican forum hosted by senator jim demint. we want to welcome our viewers. i wolf blitzer in "the situation room." donna brazill is with us. let's get immediate reaction to what we heard from the five republican candidates over the past two hours. donna, let me start with you. you're a good democrat. you heard from the five republicans. they're pretty much on most of the issues on the same page. a page being very different than the page that the president of the united states is on. >> south carolina will hold the first primary in the deep south next february. it's a very important state for the republicans. what you saw today is michelle bachmann, mitt romney, newt gingrich, ron paul, of course, and her main cain present the ideas to jim demint. he's a heavyweight, he's a tea party favorite, and what they were running today for was not president of theite, but president of the tea party. >> all right, let's get a different analysis, i assume from will cane. what did you see and what did you like and didn't like? >> i thought here's going to be friendly questions from the same side of the aisle. i was wrong. this was questions of, do you understand what you're out there selling? do you understand the values of your philosophy? the best example of that is federal limit. it's an important concept to conservatives. michelle bachmann, she's ready to use the federal government and she talked about it with mitt romney's health care mand and said it was unconstitutional. deposit that against the interesting debate that ron paul and mitt romney had over the 14th amendment and federalism. you see two very different types of candidates there. >> and john king, you were there. you were anchoring our coverage down there in south carolina. let's just review for our viewer, basically the mod rerats had the same questions for all five of these candidates. they were in a sequestered room. they couldn't hear what the competition was asking. >> they could not hear and will make the very important point. we're still in the republican primary season here. and as the republican primary voters, these views on the role of the federal government, whether it be on military policy. you heard whether it's on military policy or the social issues, gay rights, abortion rights, individual freedoms, it's an important issue too many republican voters. mitt romney made a decision at the very end and with 55 seconds left, he got to address his biggest obstacle and that's the massachusetts health care plan. he welcomed that opportunity today to appeal to these conservative voters. i think this event was defined by differences on the role of government among these five republicans and also defined by the very last minute decision of sixth candidate, the texas governor rick perry to return to texas because of the wildfires. a perry appearance on the same stage as romney would have added some prestigious to this event, if you will. some of the stakes to this event, but still an interesting opportunity to watch these five candidates on labor day outline pretty stark differences. >> what does it say of rick perry's decision to go back to texas. he obviously has a full-time job there. >> he said if rick perry would have stayed he would have let him speak first and then go back after that, but he also said he understood. his primary responsibility is to be the governor of texas. governor perry just entered the race, wolf, a couple of weeks is already viewed as the fro front-runner here in south carolina. it believes that iowa and new hampshire win on the field. south carolina picks republican nominees. and the last five times, there have been contested republican races. that has certainly proven the case. it would have been interesting to see governor perry on that stage for the first time in such a pivotal state. the other candidates stay they understand as well. three debates coming in, including our tea party event. so there will be plenty of chances to watch them go back and fort. i think a missed opportunity to see what differences he wow outleaned on the key issues. whether it be the foreign policy, or the big question, jobs and the economy. >> that's certainly the big question. thanks very much. we'll see you later on "john king usa" donna and will will be back with us in a little while. let me just point out one week from today. the cnn presidential debate along with the tea party express. several tea party group. only here on cnn, governor perry will be attending that debate as well. is the president spoke to a friendly audience in michigan at a union event in detroit. our chief white house correspondent jessica yellen is there. he was pretty warmly received in detroit. >> he really was, wolf. and you know, labor day is traditionally the kickoff to campaign season. the president came to detroit and delivered a campaign style speech. >> as long as i'm in the white house, i'm going to stand up for collective bargaining. >> for a moment, it seemed like old finals temperature -- old times. >> four more years! four more years! >> the president took his sharpened message out for a test drive. >> we have roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. labor is onboard, business is onboard. we just need congress to get onboard. >> if they don't act, he all but threatened to campaign against a do-nothing congress. >> the time for washington games is over. the time for action is now. no more manufactured crisis, no more games. it's time for them to stop worries about their jobs. it's time for them to worry about your jobs. >> the people in michigan really need a hand. we need work, we want work. that's all. we don't want a handout, we want jobs. >> in michigan, unemployment statewide is 10.9% in the greater detroit area, it's 15.7%. and the picture for african-americans is even worse. 40% in detroit are unemployed. the president's closing message seemed to have meaning both for them and for his own team. >> i don't know about you, but i'm not scared of tough times. >> i'm not scared of tough times because i know we're going to be all marching together and walking together and working together and rebuilding together. >> if you might recall in 2008, the president won this state, michigan, by 17 points. but right now, the latest statewide polling shows that his job approval is at an anemic 34%. he needs this state if he's going to win. the so it's no surprise he's here today. >> it's one of those states like ohio, pennsylvania, he's going to be visiting a lot presumably in the coming months as well. >> he used to get numbers four years ago, shall we say? >> no, it wasn't the same kind of crowd, wolf. it was crowded but it wasn't teeming and killed for blacks and blacks and blacks. it wasn't just that same kind of vibe. these folks were excited to see him. these are strong supporters but it wasn't that same kind of energy he used to get. >> what's next? he's coming back to washington. he's got some other events the day after his big speech thursday night. >> yes, he's gong to be campaigning closer to the washington area after his event. and we know, wolf, that he's going to be kicking off a series of events, not just right after the speech, but in the weeks after to continue pushing his jobs message. and i said in the piece that if this congress doesn't pass it, he's going to campaign against essentially a do-nothing congress. he's going to push that, if they do not pass this, it's on them, not on him. he's going to press the theme that congress has to act and pitting himself against this congress in roy to get the jobs picture improved. >> i heard he's going to virginia on friday the day after the speech. in richmond, he's going to be in or near eric cantor's congressional district in 2008, a state he obviously needs if he's going to be re-elected as well. in mmy, all these state, and jessica will be working hard as well, covering in all of these states. jessica, thanks very much. when president obama lays out his new jobs plan to a joint session in congress, thursday night, cnn will join it night. right here in the situation room at 6:00 p.m. eastern. stand by to see for yourself the reason governor rick perry missed the republican presidential candidates forum. we'll go live and have a report on the raging texas wildbier. there's a massive blaze. it's now spreading closer and closer to the state capital. it's destroying lots of homes along the way. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." operatic aria ) ( singing along ) ( singing high note ) that should do it. enjoy your new shower. 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[ male announcer ] the febreze set & refresh with scented oils that eliminate odors for 30 days so you can breathe happy, guaranteed. rick perry rushed back to texas today, destieding to skip the republican presidential candidate forum in south carolina. he's due to speak about the wildfires this hour. more than 35 fires are burning across texas including a massive blue jays near the state capital of austin. more on what's going on. jim, it looks pretty ominous, even behind you. >> yeah, wolf, take a look at this. we arrived an our ago to this epic wall of smoke coming across this wildfire here. just a for minutes ago, we learned 4 .6 homes have now been destroys. it's just amazing to see this huge wall of smoke. i spoke to a firefighter earlier who spoke about a week-long battle. i spoke to a father and son who are certain their home is destroyed. >> what's it like to go through this firsthand? >> it's like still in shock. it's hard to believe right now. i know nobody got hurt, which is wonderful. just have to wait. >> you never know what it's like. >> we know governor perry is being briefed right now. we expect to hear from him within the hour. indeed, tomorrow, wolf a federal firefighting team will be here to take over this fire. it will be very difficult until these drought conditions. >> how does this fire compare to previous wildfires in texas? >> well, the real thing that you don't want is a wildfire that matches up with a populated area. unfortunately, this is stunning. 476 homes destroyed in just over a day of fire. that's the real thing, when it lines up like that. i covered a luge fire in arizona. but it was mostly in wooded areas. this is really the worst case scenario, when you have these horrible drought conditions, heat, high winds, fire meeting up with a populated area. wolf? >> thanks. a tropical storm that fanned the flames in texas is causing severe flooding right now. tropical storm lee is still packing heavy rains, possibly -- get this -- tornadoes as it moves east. reynolds wolf is on the scene for us in jackson, mississippi. so what happened in jackson, reynolds? >> the biggest situation we had in jackson, mississippi, is flash flooding that took place earlier in the day. an apartment community of 28 haems as waters came in and started to rise. waters began to drop quickly. people were allowed back in with some minimal damage, however, there was a fatality. the car got picked up and moved downstream. so one fatality. although the flooding here has been flash flooding, there's been additional flooding farther to the south. we have video for you out of louisiana. to be more specific, there was some coastal flooding. a lot of that came in. water that actually rose up to some of the doorsteps of many communities they did have the sandbags in place and they were able to stem back some of the water, but some people weren't quite as lucky. reports of flooding not only in parts of mississippi and louisiana, but also into alabama. gulf shores, alabama, up to seven inches of rainfall. and we're beginning to see this begin to kind of change, shifting from a lit bit of a wind event to, of course, the flooding event and now again, you have the threat of tornadoes moving deeper into parts of the southeast. especially into alabama and of course, georgia. perhaps even the carolinas and tennessee before the evening ends. >> from wildfires to floods to tornadoes. hurrica hurricanes, we have earthquakes, i don't know what's going on right now. all right, thanks very mump. let's dig a little bit deeper right now. tropical depression lee is doing damage. our meteorologist is over at the weather center, just updating a little bit on the forecast. >> the forecast, we're recall concerned about tornadoes. they are producing damage. lee has lost its tropical characteristics and now we're starting to get support in the upper atmosphere. tornadoes stay on the ground for a longer period of time. look at this video in our affiliate in the atlanta area. we've had at least two confirmed reports of toerprnadoes. we have damage of at least one person injured in woodstock, also a northern suburb of the atlanta metro area. about 100 homes have been destroyed. mostly roof damage, but word that a couple of homes were demolished and one man was safely rescued from his basement. tornadoes will be an ongoing threat through the night tonight. we have multiple warnings still in effect. including over here into athens. now, we will see the winds stay strong through texas tonight on the backside of this thing. but those should weaken off later on to noo eight. so better conditions for firefighters west by tomorrow. here's the latest in rainfalls. we've seen upwards of a foot of rain already in louisiana, alabama. look at the big bullet in tennessee and throughout the appalachians more than five inches. you do get concerns in the higher elevations, too. we do have a threat then of mud slides. the northeast, we've got a cold front moving here. that's moving in an additional one to three inches of rainfall. that's going to stick around and causing a lot of travel problems. in atlanta, hartsfield, jackson and a lot of delays all the way up the east coast. hurricane katia has intensified and now becoming a major hurricanes. maximum winds around 115 miles an hour, not really bothering anybody out there right now. but we're going to get some big waves in this thing. this is going to be approaching the coast. there's a strong threat of rip currents and also big waves. but it looks like it's going to make a nice big curve. so a swing and a miss on that one. >> when you say it looks like. i'm always a little skeptical. do the experts think it's going to do a miss. >> they hope there's a series of irk is circumstances that will keep it off the coast. >> al qaeda leader arrested that was reportedly set to do attacks on the united states. i'll spoke to a top official on the libyan transitional government. stay 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[ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. with a verizon mobile hotspot, you can connect up to 5 wifi devices to the internet with lightning-fast verizon 4g lte speed. a gaming device. ereader. mp3 player. connect any 5 for wifi on the go. get the 4g lte mobile hotspot now for only $49.99. verizon is the place with the largest selection of 4g lte devices. on america's fastest, most advanced 4g network. a small plane crash sparks a brushfire in california. what's going on? >> hi there, wolf. that plane went down about 100 miles north of los angeles, killing at least one person and sparking a brush fire that is now growing. residents of one area have been ordered to evacuate. and well over 1,000 acres have been burned. back stan is reporting the arrest of a leader. among the reported targets, oil and gas pipelines, dams and oil tankers. the white house is hailing the arrest as an example between the cooperation of the united states and pakistan. pay t peyton manning will probably not play week one against the houston texans. manning is rehabbing from a neck surgery but his recovery has been a little slower than expected. i was talking to our producer and she was saying this is really going to hurt the folks in the fantasy football league, all those people who had peyton manning as their quarterback are saying ouch right now. >> ten years after 9/11, al qaeda sympathizers have their sights on libya right now and their stockpile of weapons. i'll ask the deputy prime minister about the enormous challenges after gadhafi. confidence. available in color. depend for women is now peach. looks and fits like underwear. same great protection. depend. good morning. great day. be kind to your eyes with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun. ask your eyecare professional which transitions lenses are right for you. ask your eyecare professional for your transitions certificate of authenticity for your chance to win instant monthly prizes or our $20,000 grand prize! the healthcare law gives us powerful tools to fight it... to investigate it... ...prosecute it... and stop criminals. our senior medicare patrol volunteers... are teaching seniors across the country... ...to stop, spot, and report fraud. you can help. guard your medicare card. don't give out your card number over the phone. call to report any suspected fraud. we're cracking down on medicare fraud. let's make medicare stronger for all of us. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. is sarah palin getting ready to join the race for the white house? and defaulting on a $5 million payment to a retiree fund and a prototype of iphone 5 goes missing. wait till you hear what happened to it. stand by. you're in "the situation room." in libya, forces are trying to consolidate power. one of biggest challenges for libya's new leadership is tracking down gadhafi himself. and joining us now in tripoli, the deputy prime minister, also the minister of oil and finance, the new government of libya. congratulations. i know this is an exciting time for you, but you still haven't captured gadhafi. do you know where he is? he's inside libya. that's all i can tell you. and he has nowhere to go. we have many pressing issues. the rebuilding oof a country, that killer, that clown have nowhere to go. >> i guess you could either try him, execute him, send him abroad. >> we want to do this right, wolf and to do it right means that no matter how much hatred that we have and no matter how much losses that we suffer, we wanted too it the right way and the legal way. we'll bring international observers. so that's how we're going to do it. >> so you want to try him inside libya. you don't want to be send him to the international criminal court in the hague into the netherlands where he could be tried for war crimes. you want to try him inside libya? >> we want to do that first and then after that, we will send imto the international court. to the hague? >> definitely. why not? >> you could do to him what they did to saddam hussein in iraq. you could execute him. >> i'm not really sure. do we ha