who he is. and he saw that with steve jobs, he always wore that uniform. >> dan simon, nice to see you. >>> we're going to toss it now to wolf blitzer who's live in the situation room. >>> happening now, a new attack by the obama campaign targeting mitt romney in critical battleground states thinking the republican nominee is simply out of touch with working people. >>> going one step further than president obama on same-sex marriage. james clyburn standing by live to explain his stance. >>> the banks that were too big to fail are bigger than ever and still making multimillion dollar bets. i'm wore blitzer, you're in "the situation room" of . the latest skirmishes are being fought on college campuses with both president obama and mitt romney but neither candidate is saying much -- not saying much at all about same-sex marriage. our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is joining us from new york so. jessica, what exactly did the president say when he addressed the graduates today? >> reporter: the president had a real message of empowerment and a little bit of politics. f

fuel. i spoke earlier to cnn political analyst david gergen and white house correspondent dan lothian. david, you heard the ambassador talking. obviously he's not going to wade into the u.s. politics in the midst of an election. what do you make of what he said of where israel stands? >> well, i think the first thing was that the deadline has been pushed back to six to nine months which means there's not going to be an attack during the elections, which from the white house point of view is a great relief. but we've got a very serious issue on the table, the next president. that is the israelis are telling the united states look, the red line is when the iranians get the technological capability to build a bomb, we then feel we have to attack. previously, the united states government has been telling israel no, the red line should be when they actually get a bomb. >> acquire it, right. difference between acquiring and the capabilities. >> exactly. you brought that out in the interview. from the israeli point of view that's way too late. there's a great deal of distrust on both

of ohio. our white house correspondent dan lothian is there. >> reporter: in napoleon, ohio, a quint essentially middle-american town of about 8,000 people -- >> i'm calling in port of president obama's reelection campaign. >> reporter: the push to get president obama reelectioned heats up. volunteers work the phones to explain the benefits of his signature health care law. a factory worker -- >> i've some people, to be honest, that have hung up on me, but that's okay. >> reporter: a laid-off elementary schoolteacher. >> we're looking forward to making many calls. >> the chairman of the state's democratic party is taking nothing for granted i want hoy contract kale will ohio be? >> we pick presidents. it's as simple at that time that. >> reporter: the ground operation across 88 counties that help him win never folded up shopisms we have a stronger infrastructure than perhaps in 2008. >> reporter: what they also have a president with low poll numbers, in a still struggling economic. this nbc news/marist survey shows 49% say they disapprove of how the president is handling his job. >>

correspondent dan lothian is over at the white house. he getting new information. what's the latest on his xaeb preparation, dan? >> reporter: campaign official telling me that the president began those practices last might after arriving in defense nevada and continued these rehearsals this morning in nevada as well. taking only a break this afternoon. one of the things that they are really working on is trying to get the president to be more concise and in his answers. you know, sometime it is president can be long winded and the campaign has admitted this and it is not the most effective way to deliver your message. so they are trying to get the president to answer these questions with very few words. he has a small team of adviser around him including david axelrod, former white house communications director anita dunn. and also brian, one of the president's economic adviser. they are not talking about some of the specifics, what's going on behind the scenes. one thing they are saying publicly is they are trying to lower expectations, talking about how the president has not had a lot of tim

campaign event at the iowa state fairgrounds. our white house correspondent dan lothian reports. >> reporter: the iowa state fairgrounds is a popular destination for presidential candidates and as president obama returns to fire up his supporters, his re-election campaign released a new web ad, reminding americans as what some considered a gap during a speech last summer. >> we can add taxeres on people. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> all he has to offer now is tired political attack with no record to run on and no new ideas and flailing attacks like these. it's no surprise that the obama campaign has had such a tough week. the gloves have come off even though polls show an almost even race between president obama and mitt romney. at a campaign fund r-raising ray tuesday night, he had rom fee's private sector experience. >> he said my 25 years in the private sector gives me a special understanding of how the economy works. why is he peddling the same bad ideas that brought the country to the brink of collapse. >> at the air force academy where he touted the policy ach

different it is. one very experienced pundent -- expert, i should say, said to me, hey, dan quayle got crushed. did that matter? it didn't matter. bush still won. the difference to me though, everything, it's all new. forget conventional wisdom. people don't watch these debates. they listen to himhile looking at twitter and then tweeting and facebooking and it's the social networking that i think changes the game especially this year this time around than any other time before. those comments, those things will get picked up and spread out i really do think make a difference. do i have any point here, grover? >> about one out of five americans will watch this debate. one of five. but there will be a lot of opinion makers that watch this debate and tomorrow in the office or tomorrow evening at dinner or over the weekend watching football the one person who did watch it will be talking about this. or somebody will tune in to cnn and hear what we have to say about it. and then we the opinion makers and the opinion makers in every single community across america, they help those other

grow up like that. >> john king joins me now. dan lothian and jim acosta with the romney campaign. the latest polling, we asked likely voters which candidate would better handle taxes, what did they say? >> president obama, anderson. republicans normally have the edge, but at this moment, the president does. 51% to 46%. close but advantage to the president. here's why. when you ask voters, those who attended college, you see the president, 52% support on the tax issue among those who attended college. now we're going to match that up with those who describe themselves as moderates. 58% of moderates support the president. moderates, college educated people tend to live in the suburbs. it's not all bad news for governor romney. in florida, if you look at older voters, they tend to be more reliable. these are voters 50 and older. 54% support governor romney on taxes and 42% for president obama. so jobs is a number one, but taxes a subset, at the moment, advantage to the president. >> governor romney has been criticized for not laying out enough specifics in the tax plan, particularly

. today is his birthday, by the way. dan simon is taking an in-depth look at the young man who helped change the way the world communicates. >> gosh, okay. i'm glad this isn't live. >> reporter: it was about 2006, a nervous and camera shy mark zuckerberg. i'm sorry k i start that a different way? i'm like so not on today. >> mark, can you just say your name and pronounce it so nobody messes it off? >> it's mark zuckerberg. >> how would you like to be identified? your title? >> founder and ceo. >> reporter: outside silicon valley, our interviewer had to ask the most basic of questions. >> how did you start the company. >> it didn't start as a company, i was a sophomore at harvard. i have never really been asked how the company was started before. >> reporter: how did face book start? >> i'm a little embarrassed. you would think that i would have been asked that like a ton of times. >> reporter: speaking wise, he may have been rough around the edges, but even then, it was clear zuckerberg had a laser like focus on what he wanted facebook to become. >> it helps you understand abou

dan lothian is traveling with the president and has the latest. dan. >> reporter: wolf, this was the final campaign stop for the president before heading to charlotte, north carolina, to attend the democratic national convention. he drew a large crowd here at the historically black norfolk state university where he pitched his middle class message in a state that he's fighting to keep blue. but republicans working just as hard to paint the president as ineffective. and they're seizing on a grade the president gave himself for fixing the economy. president obama admits the economy is still struggling. but he takes credit for pulling it back from the brink of collapse. >> we've created a lot of jobs, but we've got more jobs to create. >> reporter: but when it comes to giving himself a grade for improving the economy, the president told colorado television station kktv. >> you know, i would say incomplete. >> reporter: the president explained that steps like bailing out the auto industry, making college more affordable or investing in clean energy will help grow the economy over the lon

and reckless. indiana republican dan coates, who once served as ambassador to germany, was asked about the kerry criticism of romney. listen. >> let's avoid the political statements right now. >> should that be true of mitt romney, as well? >> i think we need to keep the political focus on the election separate from the possible implications of what goes to security and how to protect our citizens. >> and late today president obama weighed in. >> there's a broader lesson to be learned here. you know, governor romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later. as president, one of the things i've learned is you can't do that. you know, it's important for you to make sure that the statements that you make are backed up by the facts and that you've thought through the ramifications before you make them. >> joining us now is ari fleischer, who's an unpaid occasional communications adviser of the romney campaign and also democratic strategist and obama 2012 pollster cornell belcher. ari, the governor said last night the administration's first response of the death of an ame

to keep that from happening. our white house correspondent dan lothian is over at the white house. he's joining us now with the very latest. what's happening on the money front, dan? >> reporter: well, wolf, you remember back in 2008 president obama far outspent and outraised senator mccain. it's a different story this time around. the dash is not piling up as quickly. in part, wall street is not there for the president like they were in 2008. so the president is pushing very hard, letting his supporters know just what is at stake. it's an urgent presidential pitch for campaign cash that his critics call a sign of desperation. >> from now until november, the other side will spend more money than at any time in american history. >> a drastic change in tone from his 2008 campaign. in this recent e-mail, president obama pleaded for $3 donations with a bleak forecast. i will be the first president in modern history to be outspent in in his re-election campaign if things continue as they have so far. deputy campaign manager connected the zots in this e-mail. if we're drastically outspe

eruption of rage over an anti-muslim film? our white house correspondent dan lothian is standing by. but first to libya where we have stunning new video and witness accounts of the attack and the last moments of ambassador chris stevens. cnn senior international correspondent arwa damon is in benghazi. >> reporter: this is the first thing fahud says he saw and filmed at the consulate compound. the cafeteria building up in flames. it was shortly before midnight september 11th. the smoke so thick the compound's main house is barely visible. and then this. after breaking through window men shout they found a body. suddenly one of them cries out, he's alive, he's alive. the crowd cheers. god is great. rushing for a car, they realize it's a foreigner. i was filming the video and i thought it was an american, fahed recalls, but i thought it was a driver or security guy. i never thought it was the ambassador. it's clear from the rest of the video that the man they pulled out was ambassador christopher stevens. fahed says he was alive but barely. he had a pulse and his eyes were moving, fah

. dan lothian has been traveling with the president. we asked likely voters, which candidate would better handle taxes, what do the numbers say? >> president obama the democrat. at the moment, the president has the edge, a number of reasons why. majority, 51-46. close, but advantage to the president. one of the reasons why. you ask likely voters who attended college, 52% for president obama. we have to match those up as those who describe themselves as moderates. 58% describe themselves as moderates. they tend to live in the suburbs. an important advantage for the president. taxes part of the economic debate. not all bad for governor romney. state of florida, more from our most recent poll. older voters, tend to be more reliable. voters 50 years of age and older. again, more reliable voting group. 54% support governor romney. 42% for president obama, obviously, jobs number one part of the economy. on taxes, at the moment, an advantage for the president. >> governor romney has been criticized by fellow republicans by not raising out enough specifics. what loopholes he would close. h

correspondent dan dan >> reporter: what's interesting is that the president is getting this bump even though unemployment remains above 8% and the economy is still struggling to recover. in a race that's become about who can lock up key battleground states, president obama moved to create more distance between his policies and his republican opponents' plans. during recent trips to new hampshire, iowa and florida. >> what they are selling, we are not buying. we've been there, we've tried it. it's not working. >> reporter: in the process, he's inching ahead of governor romney, according to two recent surveys. the cnn orc poll has him up six points. a gallup poll has him up. jay carney focused on what has been a tight race. >> we have always believed that this will be a very close race and that it continues to be the president's belief, as well as the belief of those around him. so dp that helps in terms of our assessment of things, that's how we view it. >> reporter: here's how the romney campaign views it. this memo to supporters from its chief pollster. quote, don't get too worked up

invite dan jones to come back on to discuss some unfortunate comments he made in the last hour about governor romney. van, i know you want to say something. >> sure, i just wanted to say, listen, i wanted to apologize to you, to the cnn audience, and to governor romney himself. very poor choice of words and i regret it. i apologize. >> i know you do. i know you feel bad about it. i'm glad you apologized. thank you very much, van, for that. >>> congressman jesse jr. has been battling what we've been told is bipolar position as rumors swirl about alleged misconduct in office. now we're hearing from him for the very first time, even if only briefly. cnn's brian todd has been working the story for us. what's going on? >> wolf, jackson happened to be on his front stoop here in washington when he was approached by a reporter from the website, the daily. he did make a comment on his condition, but there are still present of other unanswered questions about a congressman who's been mia for months. he's on the ballot, but not on the campaign trail and not only job. the only place chicago vote

is the biggest pull on the economy. >> back with john king and dan lothian traveling with the president and jim costa with the romney campaign. in terms of the electoral map, how does the housing issue impact both candidates? you said it will come down to a few king states. >> no question. there's been a national crisis. guess what, some of those happen to be in the key swing states. this is foreclosures across the country. if you're seeing light there aren't a lot of foreclosures. let's look here. you see a lot in florida, in michigan, a lot in this part of ohio. a lot in the corners of nevada, northwest corner here. i want to do something. look at these. those are all swing states, florida, ohio, michigan. nevada. watch when we do this. take this off and turn this on. this is guy buy county, presidential four years ago by county. look where i circled. important to the president, important to the president up here and down here. you can make the case the problem is exacerbated. higher foreclosures in places around the country critical to the president. one more point i want t

much deeper into all of this with dan from the romney campaign and former democratic congresswoman jane harmine, they're standing by and walking in right now. we'll dig into this middle east politics, coming up next. ♪ [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well. there's a h

celebration. our senior international correspondent dan rivers is standing by outside the hospital with the latest information. what do we know about this, dan? >> reporter: well, a very short statement's been issued by the queen's press secretary here simply saying that the duke of ed een before row was brought i for a bladder infection. this is the seventh of the hospital in central london, this is the hospital that many royals in the past have been treated at including the prince on a number of occasions. he is understandably disappointed about missing this evening's diamond jubilee concert and tomorrow's engagement. so we have no real idea of how long he'll be in here for or any updates on his condition. normally this would be a pretty straight forward complaint which could be treated with a course of antibiotics, but i suppose because of his age, he's going to be 91 on sunday, this isn't as routine as perhaps it would be in someone who's younger and so of course they're playing it safe and keeping him in here and check to make sure that those antibiotics do work. >> he's 90 ye

found out and we're outraged. >> reporter: is it simply about the money? dan newman is a president and co-founder of map light, nonprofit nonprofit research group dedicated to looking at money's influence on politics. he looked at teachers unions and committee members from january 2009 to may 2012. >> you can see how the money correlates with the vote. >> with the exception of the committee chair, the numbers reveal a pattern. all those voting no or not voting received much more money over the years from education unions than those voting yes. >> i don't know what is in the lawmakers' head but i do know on average it's striking that lawmakers who receive more money from the teachers union in this case tended to vote more with that union, and what that correlation shows is that the money is having an influence. >> reporter: we also don't know what's in the lawmakers' head. we got no response when we asked for sit-down interviews with the four who were silent so we went to sacramento to see them. >> can you take the camera out? >> reporter: kicked out of one office to another, staffers s

assistance remember all of the victims in their prayers. >> that was connecticut's governor, dan malloy speaking earlier today. he said his main responsibility now is the investigation along with local and federal authorities. i want to emphasize once again that is the focus now. susan candiotti, handling our coverage of the investigation. let's focus first on what we know about the shooter. >> not very much. that he is 20 years old, we understand that he came to the school with three weapons, two of them were handguns, one described as a glock. one described as a sig sauer, and another one not found in the classroom with him, but instead was found in a car outside the school, and that is called a .223 bushmaster, a semi automatic weapon. it seems those guns were not registered to him. but we are told according to our law enforcement sources they belong to his mother which is -- don't have an explanation for that right now. >> were all those guns legally purchased in this state? >> yes, they were legally purchased and purchased in the state of connecticut. we believe he might have been

white house correspondent dan lothian is standing by. first to our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty. there's concern about what's happening in egypt right now, jill. >> reporter: there is. they're watching it, joe, very carefully. the state department wants to have more details, because after all, remember, just this week, he was being referred -- mr. morsi was being referred to as a statesman and there was a lot of responsibility put on his shoulders. he was praised a lot by president obama for coming through and helping to clinch this deal. now if there is some question, if he could be taking some power that would concern the united states, they want to know more. >>> and also don't forget that while secretary clinton was in cairo, just this past week, she was meeting with mr. morsi and in those discussions, she talked about the constitution that they are writing, and about the concern that they want many different groups included, including women and others, other minorities, and most importantly, not to go back on one of the goals of the revolution and that was not to

dump. i'm here with two legendary newscasters, oscar rather not and dan rather not. walter? >> grr! >> i can see this will be a tough assignment. >> i take it back. that was "sesame street" for crying out loud. this trial in ohio is serious news. how will you take a complicated corruption trial and turn it into a puppet show. how can that be compelling? >> is that the invoice you sent? >> yes. >> was that invoice ever paid? >> no. >> it's the same dog and pony show for fake invoices for two rolex watches valued at $10,000, wining and dining and a trip to vegas. >> a trip to vegas? i'm wondering what happened in vegas? i'm getting into this. let's roll more. >> and admitting to paying for the vegas trip including $8,000 in gambling money and one prostitute named suzanne. >> say what? your eyes and ears did not deceive you. that was indeed a puppet prostitute. if you would allow me to employ a little bit of parlance, that was what we call a bait and hook. we have to hear what happened next. >> what did he say about her? >> that she talks a lot. he told me he told her she was county c

just a moment. first, though, jim acosta traveling with the romney campaign. dan lothian is covering team oba obama. jim, the governor seemed to have some momentum then the later debate stalled some progress perhaps. we haven't seen a lot of poll numbers. now his team has spent a valuable campaign day on the defensive over this. does this story concern them overall? >> i think it does, anderson, and you can tell by the fact that senior romney advisers were really out of sight all day long. we did not see them at either of the big campaign events that he had today. in nevada and here in iowa. and i think this is what happens when the romney campaign has a narrative, a news cycle that sort of gets out of its control. and we saw that happen earlier today. before they put out that statement saying what they wanted to do with that pro-richard mourdock ad and whether or not they would continue to support him, one of their top surrogates, new hampshire senator kelly ayotte, who was on his vice presidential list of potential running mates, she already went out and said that she was

along with police claims that lyric's parents, misty and dan morrissey who've had drug troubles in the past, were not fully cooperating. >> i did a polygraph this morning. dan has yet to do his. he's going to do his later. several of our other family members did theirs yesterday. >> reporter: since then police suggest the couple has become more helpful, the mother taking a second polygraph test which she says she passed and the mystery has just grown deeper. >> it's just baffling to try to figure out the pieces to the puzzle. looking at it, it doesn't make any sense. >> reporter: police have put out a call for a man seen boating on the lake but not as a suspect. they say they just want to know if he saw something. indeed, that's been their message to everyone from the very start. >> this town isn't the biggest but it's certainly not the smallest either, so someone had to see these two girls. >> reporter: meanwhile, the families are putting out a call of their own to anyone who might have their girls. >> take them somewhere safe. take them to a gas station. target. just take them anywhe

police chief, dan oates. he described the situation at the suspect's house earlier today. take a listen to this and then i'll ask you a question. >> our investigation determined his apartment is bobby traed with various incendiary and chemical devices and apparent trip wires, so we have an active and difficult scene there. it may be resolved in hours or days. we simply don't know how we're going to handle that. >> so when you hear a situation like this, the police chief even acknowledged for the layman he didn't even really know how they were going to deal with this situation. take us into the mind of kind a bomb squad member. what are they thinking about? what are they going through? what are all the considerations that you really need to take into account when you're dealing with such an insecure situation? >> they've got to take into consideration could it be booby trapped with the door being opened, a pressure switch, somebody stepping on something, a trip wire being pulled to fire a device and function it, or possibly is it passive infrared, a motion detector? there are repo

into trouble. the questions are many tonight. we learn from dan rivers a moment by moment account of what we know. >> reporter: it was the first evidence capture on video something was wrong. around 9:30 at night, lights go out aboard the costa concordia and some sense this was something more serious than just a power blackout. >> they were saying everything was under control, there was an electrical problem with the generator. my husband and i looked at each other and said, they're full of it, we have to get off this boat. >> reporter: the skyscraper ship had run into rocks off italy's giglio island and beginning to list to one side and passengers begin to panic. [ screaming ] this amateur video shows the dark cold chaos as passengers try to flee the ship in life jackets, battling against gravity to get out. according to accounts of survivors, some of the crew members helped passengers board life boats before jumping overboard. others seemed helpless and confused. >> people were pushing and shoving. there was no order, know lines and no system in place and no one in charge. >> repor

dan lothian and jim acosta with the romney campaign. how could the housing issue impact both candidates? it's an important issue nationwide but it will come down to a few key swing states. >> no question, anderson. it's a national crisis but exacerbated in some parts of the country. this is foreclosures across the country. darker the color, the more you have foreclosures. a lot in florida, michigan, this part of ohio. you see a lot here in the corners of nevada, the northwest corner down in here. look at these. those are all swing states, florida, ohio, michigan, watch this when we do this. take this off and turn this on, back in time, this is by county, presidential election four years ago by county. look at where i circled counties important to the president up here and down here. you can make the case that the problem has been exacerbated, higher foreclosures in places around the country that are critically important to the president. one more point if you pull this out, nevada has been hit the hardest. look nationally at home prices, down 166,000 on average when president

now, jim acosta with the romney campaign in newport news, virginia and on the phone, dan lothian with president obama's campaign. jim, you're on the trail with the romney campaign. what's the reaction to the latest polling, because republicans were complaining about these polls as soon as last week. now the poll is good news for them. are they complaining? >> well, anderson, i have to tell you i just saw mitt romney standing out in a drenching rain in newport news just a couple hours ago and he still had a smile on his face. they're pretty happy. they have not seen poll numbers like this in some time. i have to tell you, i talked to a senior romney advisor about this pew research center poll and they look at a couple things here. in relation to these polls. they are looking at the enthusiasm that is coming out at some of their campaign events. i can tell you, we have been at several of these campaign events over the last several days and they are getting some big turnouts, sometimes in excess of 10,000 people, and while yes, that may not be obama campaign numbers, those are good numbe

suspect, mohammed merah. dan rivers is live in france with the latest on the standoff. dan, there have been explosions. what's going on now? >> reporter: yeah, a couple more just in the last minute or so, anderson. at the end of this street, we're being told consistently by the interior ministry that the opposition has not started yet. but we certainly heard what sounded like gun shots and then what sounded like a grenade in the last minute or so. so we will keep an eye on what is going on here. but we're now almost 21, 22 hours into this siege. and this suspected terrorist is hold up, inside, refusing to come out or dialogue with negotiators. >> have -- we just got new video of the suspect. how much do we know about this guy? >> reporter: well, mohammed merah was known to french intelligence, the 23-year-old who is thought to have been trar in any event training camps in afghanistan, traveled to pakistan. it's thought that he may have also been arrested and detained in afghanistan. some reports suggesting he was deported back to france by the u.s. certainly we're being told that he wa

senior congressional correspondent dana bash is on the case. so, dan, how rare is this? >> you see members of congress running on to the house floor with sneakers, with jeans, things that they're not suppose to beed wearing so that's not rare, but what is rare is for a lawmaker to be called out on it like rush was. today some people are saying if these rules are going to be enforced they need to be done so across the board. >> the hoodie on the house floor sure got attention. >> racial profiling has to stop. >> especially since he was escorted out for breaching rules of decorum. >> the incident intended to highlight trayvon martin's case is also raising questions about attire in the house like members may not wear a hat and must wear appropriate business attire in the chamber. this memorable outfit donned late last year by democrat barney frank, tight t-shirt with no tie certainly did not qualify, but he was allowed to speak. congressional black caucus chairman tells cnn the rules which he supports are unevenly enforced. >> you just came from the house floor just from voting moment