tell her what she did to wow the crowd "early" this tuesday morning, june 28th, 2011. captioning funded by cbs good morning. welcome to "the early show" here on a beautiful tuesday morning in new york. i'm chris wragge. >> i'm rebecca jarvis. erica is off this morning my, what a busy play iowa is as the presidential race gets into gear. michele bachmann went back to her old hometown to law firm her campaign for the presidential nomination. this morning, we are going to speak to her about the race and we will talk to her about jobs, her view of the economy, the debt ceiling, some statements she made over the weekend to bob schieffer on "face the nation." in new mexico, a fast moving wildfire is threatening america's most important nuclear facility and forcing thousands of people out of their homes. david romero of our albuquerque affiliate krqe in los alamos, new mexico, with the latest on the situation there for us. >> reporter: this morning the flames remain dangerously close to this nation's premier nuclear research facility. the flames reached the los alamos laboratory yesterday. a small fire on the lab property was extinguished and radioactive material at the lab is safe. mandatory evacuation was ordered for the town of los alamos. roadways jammed as thousands of residents grabbed what they could. >> we went through, took pictures of everything and took as much as we could and getting out of town. so you take all of the important things. >> reporter: this fire brought back dark memories of new mexico's worst wildfire in 2000. that blaze destroyed hundreds of homes near the lab. >> you go through the same anxiety as you did 11 years ago. >> yeah. >> we don't know when we leave, if we will have a home to come home to. >> reporter: the fire began on sunday. at least 44,000 acres have been burned and 30 buildings destroyed. firefighters say this is one of the most active fires they have run into and is probably going to get worse. >> this fire is going to be here a while. i do not think it's going to be a wall fire but it has the potential to double, triple its size. >> reporter: los alamos lab will be closed again today. los alamos is the place where the first atomic weapons were developed and officials are monitoring the fire as well as the lab's sensitive materials. david romero for cbs news. the next half hour we will ask chairman gregory yatzko about the safety of nuclear facilities around the united states. to the race for 2012. president obama is going to iowa today. though, it's not a political trip according to the white house. sarah palin is also going there too, raising new speculation with her future. cbs news political correspondent jan crawford is in pella, iowa. >> the new movie about the life and leadership of sarah palin and the alaska governor will be here to watch it. >> reporter: politicians can't come to iowa without raising questions about whether they are running for president. for sarah palin, it's been all about that question. >> sarah palin, are you running? >> you know, i don't know if i'm going to be running yet. >> reporter: after her much hyped bus tour, the former alaska governor's intentions remain unclear. but her decision to attend the movie in this key state can't help but get people speculating. >> i think she is genuinely undecided and that is hard for people to sort of grasp. i mean, tra tishlly politicians make up their mind about this and play coy but i think she is still thinking this through. >> reporter: also in this state today, the man palin could be taking on if she decides to run. president obama will ab few hours down the road touring a factory and pushing his case for manufacturing jobs. as part of his effort to shore up his approval ratings for voters dissatisfied by how he is handling the economy as he seeks a second term. but the appearances by palin and obama are unlikely to dampen the shine of the state's star of the moment, michele bachmann who is riding high on strong poll numbers and a monday's announcement speech in waterloo, the town in which she was here. >> i am here today in waterloo, iowa, to announce, we can win in 2012 and we will win! >> reporter: now, at this point, the presidential cycle, iowa always gets a lot of attention and there is a good reason for that. the state really has the power to take someone who might be seen as a long shot and propel them into national prominence and for michele bachman, iowa is doing just that. rebecca? cbs' jan crawford in pelld, iowa, thank you. michele bachmann now joins us. great to have you with us this morning. >> good morning to you, rebecca. >> over the weekend, you told bob schieffer on "face the nation," you talked about the debt ceiling and said you would vote no on it. this week, senator mcconnoll is meeting with president obama to try to work out some sort of consens consensus. fountain rank and file republicans at this point, were to come to some sort of agreement with the president would you change your mind' vote yes on that? >> well, it depends, of course, what that agreement would be. i've been in washington, d.c. now time and i've seen a lot of deals that sound good, but when the smoke clears, they turn out to be a bad deal for the american people. and that is why i cannot vote to raise the debt ceiling right now, until i see a legitimate, serious reduction in spending, i can't give my vote because we need to remember, this would be 2.4 trillion dollars added to the debt and we will be right back at it again a year and a half from now in a worse position than we are today. >> the reality in the situation is at the same time, though, we have 500 billion dollars in debt maturing in this country in the month of august. and analysts across the board say that if we don't come to some sort of consensus, if we don't deal with our past at this point in time we will default on our debt and send shock waves and a horrible ripple effect, not only through the united states, our economy, our stock market, but through world markets. >> well, of course, we don't have to do that at all, do we? because the interest on the debt can easily be paid for and that would mean that we wouldn't default, then we would continue the full faith and credit of the united states, which we must do. i think these are scare tactics by the obama administration because, clearly, this is the obama debt, this is the obama deficit, and this is the very poor working obama economy. remember, president obama said in february of 2009, if he wasn't able to turn the economy around by the third year of his presidency, that he should only be entitled to one term in office. i think the american people agree with that. that's why we've had so many people flocking to my website, michelebachmann.com. people are signing up on facebook and twitter, because they want a president, rebecca, that knows how to actually turn the economy around, get us on the right track, and focus on job creation. i'm a former federal tax lawyer and job creator. >> you've been very much against an opponent of stimulus, but the state of minnesota has benefited from some stimulus. you've actually gone out and requested it, in particular, for the agriculture industry. is there a place for stimulus, given that it's helped your own state? >> well, actually, we spent a trillion dollars in money that we didn't have. we had to borrow that money, a trillion dollars and what we know now is as a result of that spending, we are worse off than we were before. so stimulus did not create jobs. stimulus actually led to the reduction in jobs. we have lost millions of jobs. president obama said if we spent a trillion dollars that we didn't have that we have to pay back and create 4 million jobs and it didn't happen. clearly, the president has failed the american people on the economy and what is worse, we have millions of people now that are suffering that aren't in jobs that can afford to feed their families and they are also facing foreclosures. we need to have a president again who understands job creation. my husband and i have started a successful small business. we get it. we know how it works and that is what i want to bring. >> we reached out to the twitter and facebook community to ask them for questions to you and like you discussed, jobs are top of mind for many people. this question comes from chris stevens who asked us on facebook, please describe your plans and proposals for job creation in the united states. >> sure. i'll be happy to. that's a great question, chris. first of all, what we need to do is have the federal government stop spending so much money, because the more money that the federal government spends, they get it out of your pocket, chris. that's the only place the government has to go. they don't have a money tree that they can shake, they have to reach into your pocket. so government needs to spend less so you can keep more. number two, i'm a federal tax lawyer. the united states is one of the highest tax rates on doing business in this country. we need to lower that rate so that the united states becomes a positive climate to create jobs. number three, we have a 1.7 trillion dollar burden on job creators in the form of regulations. we need to go and re-examine all of the regulations that aren't working any more, that are actually causing more problems than creating help, and i think if we start with those three sets, that will put us on a path to job growth. >> we will have to leave it there for today. thank you so much for joining us. congresswoman michele bachmann. >> thank you, rebecca. jeff glor has other headlines for today. in greece today, a mass protest as workers began a two-day general strike. thousands of protesters confronted police outside the parliament in athens. police used tear gas owe that crowd. lawmakers in greece are scheduled to vote this week on a new round of tax hikes and deep spending cuts. air traffic controllers, public transit workers, even doctors join this strike today. a surprise in houston last night. congresswoman gabrielle giffords made first public appearance since shot? january. a nasa ceremony she was at in houston that honored her husband retiring astronaut mark kelly. at one point we are told she got up and hugged and kissed him from her wheelchair. this morning we spoke with robert perlman editor of collect space.com who was there. >> as the event started, just as it began, congresswoman giffords was wheeled in in a wheelchair and it was -- it was a surprise. no one was really expecting her there. but it was met with a spontaneous standing ovation. we all stood and applauded. >> giffords was released from the hospital earlier this month. she smiled and waved, we're told. she is now getting outpatient treatment at a facility in houston. looks like former illinois governor rod blagojevich is going to prison. yesterday, a trial convicted him. dean reynolds has more. >> reporter: the di graced former governor is -- >> i, frankly, am stunned. there is not much left to say. >> reporter: because the jury of 11 women and one man said it all. guilty on 17 out of 20 corruption charges for most of which is the ousted illinois governor sought to enrich himself in a scheme to swap or sell the senate's seat once occupied by barack obama. fbi wiretaps played at his trial captured a certain relish he seemed to have about maximizing his appointment power. >> i got this thing and it's [ bleep ] golden. >> reporter: arguments that blagojevich was simply thinking aloud or gauge engaging in the horse trading practice by many politicians did not prove persuasive to the jurors. >> in this instance when it is someone representing the people, it crosses the line. >> reporter: in the end, blagojevich got nothing for the senate seat except an indictment and that led to his impeachment and removal of office followed by a long list of talk shows where he pleaded his innocence. he faces up to three years in prison. the legal observers say the judge will surely reduce his time behind bars. >> i expect he is going to get some in the high single digits. >> reporter: the former governor said he expects to see us all again and indeed, the defense expects to appeal the case. dean reynolds, cbs news, chicago. crews in nebraska are still working to keep two nuclear power plants safe from flooding this morning. the rising water of the missouri river threatens the ft. calhoun and cooper nuclear plants. the head of the nuclear regulatory commission visited the plants and says they are safe. the areas inside the facilities containing nuclear material remain dry. in minot, north dakota, floodwaters slowly receding today. yesterday fell more than half a foot. 4,000 homes and businesses flooded there when the river peaked over the weekend at record levels. 7:14 and check in with marysol castro for the first time. is the danger over there? >> unfortunately, it is not over. good morning everyone at home. northern plains, we check in. the mouse river, souris river almost riccied the missouri river at moderate flood stage. folks around these regions expect to deal with the flooding conditions at least through the summer. today, the weather does cooperate somewhat. so the winds have shifted. folks wake up to morning fog. it is expected to lift in the afternoon hours. sunshine will return. and you can see the temperatures rebound since yesterday. it stays this way until thursday when the next storm system comes in. a few thunderstorms. we will keep a track on it. thunderstorms in two separate areas. can you see this stretch from the northeast in thanks so much. that's your latest weather. now over to chris and rebecca. >> thanks. still ahead this morning, more nuclear safety worries. floodwaters approaching two nebraska power plants. we will tell you how they affecting those areas ar battling with the danger. whitey bulger is speaking out and hear what he is telling authorities about his 16 years on the run. this is "the early show" on cbs. 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[ male announcer ] from pre-approval to closing, citi is with you every step of the way. what's your story? citi can help you write it. coming up and still ahead, it is more than a movie premiere. it is sarah palin meeting voters in iowa today. >> big bus tour culminates in iowa with a special stop. they're going tody beau this move day, "the undefeated." which will debut never before seen footage of sarah palin back in the early days and will detail her days as mayor of wasilla, governor of alaska, her vice presidential run. and now the big question is, will she run for president. . the state senate and assembly n a good morning. it's 7257. time for news headlines. i'm frank mallicoat at 7:25. state senate and assembly are expected to vote today on a new budget proposal. the governor and democratic legislature leaders say it will close a $9.6 billion deficit with a combination of more cuts and newly projected revenues. some people fled their homes in concord when fire br