Transcripts For CNN EarlyStart 20120919

welcome to "early start." we are happy you are with us. i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and we begin with mitt romney's hidden comments at that fund-raiser. nearly half the americans see themselves as victims entitled to government assistance and it's not his job to worry about those people. president obama released his comments on an appearance with "the tonight show with david letterman." >> one of the things i have learned as president is you represent the entire country. and when i meet with republicans as i'm traveling around the country, they are hard-working family people who care deeply about this country and my expectation is that if you want to be president, you have to work for everybody, not just for some. >> now romney is not apologizing for what he said, just how he said it. >> i recognize that those people who are not paying income tax are going to say, gosh, this provision of what mitt keeps talking about, lowering income taxes is not attractive to them. and those dependent on government and those who think government's job is to redistribute, i'm not going to get them. >> and the damage control continues this morning in addition to wusa today, mitt romney wrote an op-ed to try to clarify his comments more on dependency saying the dreamers and the entrepreneurs, not the government, built this economy and they can once again make it strong. my course for the american economy will encourage private investment and personal freedom instead of creating a web of dependency. i will pursue policies that grow our economy and lift americans out of poverty. cnn political reporter peter emby is live this morning with us and the romney team is scrambling to move past this controversy using all their weapons, including opposition research and the new drudge report. the newly uncovered audio of president obama taken back in 1998, let's listen. >> i think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because i actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot. >> this is 14 years ago, a long time ago, peter, so how is the romney team using this to their advantage? >> it sounds like four years ago when barack obama kind of got in a fight with joe the plumber out in ohio about spreading the wealth around. romney mentioned this phrase, redistribution in the fox interview you played. he mentioned it at a couple fund-raisers as a controversy between two fundamentally different views of government. this is what romney said about this at a fund-raiser last night in dallas, john. >> this idea that the president has of redistributing, i know there are some people in our country who want to have a government take from some to give to the others. i would like to be the others on the other receiving end of that and feel like the redirection model makes sense. the president says he favors redistribution. i don't. i believe instead the role of government is to help those who need help. >> you're going to hear this from testimony romney campaign all day today you can be assured, but the problem here, john, this audio from obama was 1998 versus romney just last week during the presidential campaign. that makes it a tougher argument for him. >> with the redistribution comments, romney is getting us to look over here instead of at his fund-raising comments in may and the comments about the 47%. there seems to be a split of opinion among conservatives about whether that comment, the 47% comment, are a plus or a negative for mitt romney. >> yeah. it's the same split the gop has been dealing with since 1964 to be honest. you've got the sort of beltway elites very critical of the grassroots who like romney's blunt language. this is what peggy noonan representing the beltway eccentric wing of the party. she wrote, it's time to admit the romney campaign is an incompetent one. it's not big, it's not brave, it's not thoughtfully tackling great issues. it's always been too small for the moment. all the activists, party supporters and big donors should be pushing for change. people want to focus who is at the top is least constructive and most responsible. fine but mitt romney is no puppet, he chooses who to listen to. an intervention is in order. mitt, this isn't working. the romney campaign sort of care what is the beltway elites think about their campaign as much as they say they don't. these things get under their skin. bill kristol called them dismissive yesterday. take a listen what rush limbaugh said about the controversy yesterday. >> this could have been, could be, the opportunity for romney and for that campaign to finally take the gloves off and take the fear off and just start explaining conservatism and start explaining liberty to people what it means. and explain that they don't have to be in that 47%. >> i love watching the video of rush. he's always so animated. >> he's moving that arm so much. peter, for polling addicts like you and me, there was a huge trove of information that's come out in the last 12 hours including a new national poll from nbc and the wall street journal showing the president with a lead there. and also some key polling in swing states. >> yeah, these are the polls we really like, the detailed swing state numbers. the cbs news and quinnipiac have a poll out today. wisconsin will be the newcomer to this camp. obama leads by six points in wisconsin, six points in virginia and just a point in colorado. that's essentially a tie. what's interesting here is that to obama holds leads in almost every category, including national security. obama's numbers jumped in the foreign policy area there. on the economy where he's basically tied with romney's lead, john, but it's important to know the poll was taken just before this romney video surfaced. so we are still waiting for pollipol polling data to see if this is a media story or penetrating among potential voters to decide this election. >> peter, taken before the latest 47% controversy and obama still holds a lead in key states like wisconsin peechlter, great to see you this morning. at the bottom of the hour we'll talk to mario lopez, the president of the hispanic leadership fund about mitt romney trying to get the latino vote. a line of violent storms making its way up the eastern seaboard. high winds and torrential rains made driving extremely dangerous. thunderstorms kicked up the rain in many areas and many also lost power. >> let's go to rob marciano. >> you were tip-toeing through power lines. this is very dangerous. >> stupid but -- >> a lot of the winds, we had severe thunderstorms that came through pretty much the entire east coast, but a lot of winds came before the thunderstorms. the winds were not bad in howevthese areas, however. across the catskills, four to six inches of rain there and flooding with the wind. right now the rainfall is heading off of cape cod. we are looking at winds to gust 40 to 50 miles an hour along eastern massachusetts and maine. and that front drapes all the way down across the south with lightning and certainly some heavy rain across parts of south florida. but the front itself is finally beginning to push off into the ocean. with that we have much cooler weather. cooling off in some cases to have some snowflakes. not necessarily flakes, but we see some flakes near the great lakes. temperatures fall off from the 80s to the 70s. 61 degrees expected tomorrow in boston. 63 degrees in portland, maine. last night was a rough one for the eastern third of the country. thank you. we'll head to chicago now where publish schoolteachers will be back in the classroom after voting overwhelmingly to end their strike. the walkout lasts seven days and gave more than 350,000 students an extended summer vacation. it gave parents the extended headache. the unions rank aneeds to ratif the deal. >> this is a bit of departure from contracts here in chicago that we have seen in the past. this contract is a four-year contract with teachers seeing a 7.6% pay raise over four years. and student test scores will make up 30% of teacher evaluations now. students will now have a longer day both for elementary and high school level. ten more instructional days added to the school year and laid off teachers will be considered for 50% of new jobs, in case of school closures that you can apply for the new job. it's a bit of a departure but how much of a departure depends on which side you're looking at. >> live this morning, thank you. it could be the last thing the world needs right now after the protest over a film insulting islam. coming up, the magazine taking a real risk by publishing something else today. to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. 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[ chef ] ma'am chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance. geico, see how much you could save. welcome back to "early start." 14 minutes past the hour. i'm zoraida sambolin. a weekly magazine known for sharp satire just posted cartoons depicted muhammad. this at a time when muslims are ranting over the anti-islamic movie produced here in america. let's go live to jim baer live in london, the last time something like this came out the paris office was fire-bombed. >> reporter: that's right. they have a history of being controversial. these cartoons appeared this morning on cnn and i was told not to show pictures of the cartoons. the cartoons that appears this morning are fragrant showing muhammad doing all sorts of different, rather daring poses. and in different caricatures. this morning the issue also makes fun of rape victims, members of the catholic church and a number of others know this is known for humor and people who expect to buy it can see this type of thing. that's one of the arguments the publishers say, you don't have to buy the magazine, but it is out there, but you don't have to buy it so you don't have to be offended by it. we talked to one of the cartoonists this morning and was surprised by some of the reaction. here's what he said. >> there was a big french paranoia from the media that link us to -- put us into this top of the news just right now. for the moment it's just -- it's just a big deal built by the media. >> reporter: you can imagine, john, there's been condemnation by the very large islamic community here in france as a press conference is going on right now as they are condemning what has taken place. as did the head of the muslim compound. here's what he had to say. >> translator: our reaction is indignation against this new publication of cartoons insuggesting into the prophet of islam. it is also a firm condemnation of this new provocation. >> reporter: and the survey said, john, members of the islamic community had asked the government to withdraw the magazine from newsstands before it appeared in this country, but the government decided to let it be published anyway. >> jim, thank you very much for that. 17 minutes past the hour. christine romans with this morning' top stories. >> good morning to you two. we'll start with mitt romney not backing down from comments secretly recorded at a private fund-raiser that have shaken up the presidential race. romney says his remarks casting obama supporters as dependent on the government were an honest reflection of his campaign message. during an appearance last night on "the letterman show. president obama said he was writing off a big chunk of the country. the inspector general will release a report on the botched fast and furious gun trafficking operation some time today. the republican-led house voted in june to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt for with holding documents in the case. family members of the u.s. border control agent ryan terry killed in connection with the gun smuggling operation, they have said they won't have closure until someone is held accountable for terry's death. after two decades space shuttle "endeavour" is ready to take its final voyage. the final destination is the california science center in downtown l.a. we'll have a live report coming up on that. >> we are looking forward to that. thank you, christine. >> you're welcome. it is 18 minutes past the hour. i'm for the early reads, your local news making national headlines. first from "the seattle times" here. who killed me billboards and bus ads are going up all across the city as an effort to find suspects in as many as 60 unsolved homicides in seattle since 2000. eight of them this year alone. the campaign features the names and the photos of the victims beneath the question, who killed me? many families waiting for closure are supporting this idea. the paper says clear channel is contributing free billboard spaces worth $60,000 to help in this effort. all right. here's an article in "the new york times" and other papers that people are talking about this morning, and it's about a rare fourth-century religious tax in which jesus refers to his wife. and the story in a harvard divinity school has come up with a script that says, jesus said to them, my wife, dot, dolt, dot. just below the region where it says jesus' wife, it says she will be my disciple. this raises a lot of controversy. for a look at the top stories, head to cnn.com/ear cnn.com/earlystart. coming up, fedex, the world economy and how it may have affected your stock portfolio. stay with us. there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. 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[ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac ♪ aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. [ yawning sound ] -oh, that's just my buds. -bacon. -my taste buds. -[ taste buds ] donuts. how about we try this new kind of fiber one cereal? you think you're going to slip some fiber by us? okay. ♪ fiber one is gonna make you smile. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing new fiber one nutty clusters and almonds. u.s. stock futures are up after the bank of japan announced more stimulus overnight. >> and world markets are up across the board. christine? >> are we keeping track? we have the fed and now the bank of japan plunging another $126 billion into the world markets. what this means is it means stocks, commodities, just about everything is going up. they love it! they don't know what the hang-up is going to look like down the road, but we have u.s. stocks up, oil up, gold and copper up. this is basically the central bank keeping the car on the road because all the signs are that the world economy is starting to slow. growth is starting to slow a little bit. fedex warning on the global economy saying its domestic package deliveries were down 5%. they are worried about europe, they are worried about china. so fedex warning of the global economy saying global economic growth is stalling here. fedex is the bellwhether. now it is as goes fedex as goes the world. they are concerned about the fiscal crisis. companies don't know how to hire or who they are going to have to fire because of the fiscal clip. so obviously they are reining back in packages. and finally, american airlines this morning, the on-time arrivals on monday were 39%. that all the pilots were calling in sick. it is going through bankruptcy reorganization. they filed for bankruptcy last fall. 11,000 workers could lose their jobs, at least they have been told they could lose their jobs. 44,000 people will remove their jobs as they emerge from bankruptcy. they are starting to slim down their efforts. if you're flying american, there's a lot going on there right now. >> thank you, christine. terrible news, though, right? more people losing their jobs. the man who helped expose the mitt romney hidden cameras to the world should know something about politics. she'll jimmy carter's grandson and he's talking to cnn coming up. if you are leaving your home right now, you can go to cnn.com/tv. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. 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[ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. after you jumped buship in bangkok,n. we've got a lot of empty cans. i thought i'd lost you. surfing is my life now. but who's going to .... tell the world that priceline has even faster, easier ways to save you money. . . on hotels, flights & cars? you still have it. i'll always have it. so this is it? we'll see where the waves take me. sayonara, brah! will a joke caught on hidden video cost mitt romney some vital support? and how the two candidates for president would spend tax dollars. waking up in the dark. power crews hard at work after a round of strong storms overnight. welcome back to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. 30 minutes past the hour. mitt romney courting the latino vote tonight. a conversation will air tonight from mitt romney's meet-the-candidate rally later today. this comes two days after a secret recording of romney was released showing him cracking this joke at a private fund-raiser. >> my dad, which you probably know, was the governor of michigan and head of a car company, but he was born in mexico. and had he been born of mexican inheritance, i would have a better shot at winning this. i say that jokingly but it would help to be a latino. >> i'm bringing in a romney supporter this morning, thank you for joining us this morning, i appreciate your time. did you think that remark was offensive to the latino community? >> no, i didn't. i think it was a joke. if i remember correctly, he made a similar joke back on univision back in february when he talked about it would be easier to win the florida primary if he could convince folks of his latino heritage. i don't think it was offensive at all. >> some people say it makes him seem like he's out of touch with that particular community. how do you feel about that? >> well, i disagree. i think what's much more out of touch is the fact that we have 2 million more hispanics in poverty over the last four years under president obama, that we have a record number of people on food stamps, we have 23 million people out of work, a lot of whom have given up hope of finding a job. and frankly the hispanic unemployment is much higher than that for the general population. >> so when we look at all of those numbers that you just shared with us, doesn't it seem -- actually, it does seem to a lot of people that maybe he's not focusing on those issues, right? and that perhaps those are the things that he should be focusing on. and some of the things he's saying are not funny, they are not jokes. and to stop using that approach. >> well, i mean that i think this represents a great opportunity for him to explain exactly why it is that free market policies are better for all income groups. i mean, the free enterprise system has lifted more people out of poverty than any government program ever could many the history of the world, frankly. so i think that this represents an opportunity for him to explain that and for him to carry his message from here on out to election day. >> let's look at the polls here, it shows the hispanics view for president. obama with 68%, romney with 26%. how do you make up those numbers? >> well, i think he understands and the campaign understands that hispanic voters are going to be critical, especially in a handful of swing states. and i think what you're going to see is an increase in him getting the message out. he mentioned the interview today, that's a great, great start. but certainly from here for the next 48 to 49 days it will be critically important for him to make this a key part of his messaging strategy. >> let's go back to the romney tape. at 47% dependent upon government that believe they are victims, there was this as well that i want you to listen to and then we'll talk about it. >> my job is not to worry about those people, i'll never convince that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. >> so nearly 30% of hispanics live in poverty. you pointed that out to us earlier, the highest of any ethnicity surveyed and 32% of hispanics receive food stamps. is this who romney is referring to as part of those he will never convince to take personal responsibility? >> well, i think he's the first one who admitted yesterday that it wasn't the best formulation of his statement, but certainly this is not a measure of success. the fact that we have a record number of people on food stamps and welfare, the medium income has gone down, that almost every american is worse off today than they were four years ago when president obama took office. i think that that represents an opportunity, again, for him to talk about his policies and his plan to create jobs. certainly we have not heard a jobs plan from this president. >> mario, thank you for spending time with us this morning. >> thank you. >> john, back to you. it turns out it was the grandson of former president jimmy carter who helped release the explosive mitt romney tapes. jimmy carter says he stumbled onto some of romney's remarks on twitter and tracked down the person who posted them. our anderson cooper tried to find out more. >> you know the true identity of the person who recorded it. why doesn't that person want their identity known? >> i don't know their name, actually. >> so how do you deal with them, then? online? >> yes, direct messages is how i got in touch with him. that's how we have done all the communicating. >> do you know how the person came in the room, were they a supporter of mitt romney or president barack obama? >> i don't think i'm supposed to say that. >> direct messaging on twitter. carter says he began researching long before the republicans became bashing his grandfather. he says he was not motivated by revenge but does say this makes the release of the tapes more satisfying. more americans are feeling optimistic about the economy and the direction of the country. and that's fuelling a spike in the polls for president obama. take a look at the latest nbc/wall street journal poll. the president opening a five-point lead over mitt romney among likely voters. the survey was taken after the two conventions and just before the gop challengers 47% comments were released this week. and the president's also making gains in some key swing states. the new york times has had obama ahead of romney, 50% to 46%. and let's look at colorado, the president's now sporting a slim one-point edge of romney, 48% to 47%. in the next hour of "early start," governor jack markell will be joining us live in the new york studio. and at 7:00 eastern on "starting point" the republican governor bob mcdonnell is going to be here to talk about the romney campaign in the face of the newly-released video tapes. 37 minutes past the hour. the strike is finally over with chicago teachers heading back to school after seven days on the picket line. union delegates agreed to accept a new contract yesterday. the walkout affected some 350,000 chicago public school students. mother nature leaving her calling card along the east coast. with a line of thunderstorms pummeling the coast from virginia to maine. strong winds and torrential rain brought down power lines leaving thousands of people in the dark. rob marciano is joining us from the cnn weather center in atlanta. rob? >> you mentioned the tornado watches up and down much of the east coast. we had tornado watches yesterday but there was not one tornado that dropped or that we can verify from that, but plenty of wind ahead of the thunderstorms and during the thunderstorm. at one point we had over 150,000 people without power with a 61-mile-an-hour wind gust. atlantic city seeing 54 miles per hour. it catches the wind like a sail to do a fair amount of damage in the northeast. the front right now is just to push off the east coast of massachusetts in main but still breezy conditions with a wind advisory up with winds gusting 30 to 40 miles an hour, this is stretching down in the carolinas down to parts of florida. a little cooler behind this with temperatures in the 30s and 40s for parts of the web great lakes. some of the area will be in to replace the humid warm stuff that was there before the front came through yesterday. no tornadoes but you were saying the wind was really powerful and scary anyway. >> you had all the downed power lines and there's a message there. don't tiptoe over power lines in the morning. i was worried about you. >> i have no comment to that. don't do it at home no matter what i did this morning. 39 minutes after the hour right now. and they both want to be commander in chief but president obama and i disagree on each candidate's plan coming up. capella university understands rough economic times have led to an increase in clinical depression. drug and alcohol abuse is up. and those dealing with grief don't have access to the professional help they need. when you see these issues, do you want to walk away or step up? 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>> reporter: for president obama, secret cia drone attacks against militants in pakistan and yemen have had results without risking putting u.s. troops on the ground. he told cnn's jessica yellin -- >> it has to be an issue where we can't capture the individual before they move forward on some sort of an operational plot against the united states. >> i don't think whether obama or romney wins we'll see this technology go away or see any greater minimized use of it because of their own approach. i think we have seen president obama's most definitely willing to utilize, he's been a signature part of his counter terrorism agenda and it would be very hard for romney to roll that back, even if he wanted to. >> whether it's romney or obama in the oval office, the bigger problem with drones may be the international pushback from government and human rights groups. increasing increasingly that could cause some problems. this man is caught and why this could mean the end of an era. that's coming up. sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? 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[ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one. welcome back, everyone. 55 minutes after the hour right now. i'm john berman along with zoraida sambolin. >> do you want to see what $126 billion looks like? >> yes, badly. >> here you go. it's the fold-out cover of "forbes" magazine 30th anniversary featuring the titans of philanthropy. $126 billion in net worth for that bunch of folks taken in the trustees room of the new york public library. >> that's good for jon bon jovi getting in there. the most anticipate bade by photo is here ever! the live panda camera at the smithsonian has picked up a few glimpses of the newborn cub born sunday night. you can see her cradling the cub in her mouth, that's perfectly normal behavior for pandas and she's nursing. these are good signs that the baby is healthy. >> that's wonderful. i know they were having a little naming contest going on right now. >> those are great pictures and you can see more at cnn.com. yes, you can. the president appeared on "the late night show with david letterman." >> you look great. >> i feel good. >> how much do you weigh? >> you know, about 180. >> 180 looks good on you because that's just about where i am and i don't look so good at 180. >> you look sharp. >> you haven't seen me naked. >> we're going to keep it that way. >> all right. on that note, "early start" continues right now. comments caught on tape now clarified mitt romney trying to turn his thoughts from 47% gaffe into a gain. wind-whipped and soaked severe. weather rips through the northeast. thousands are waking up without power this morning. anxious moments for a u.s. ambassador. his car mobbed by protesters. good morning and welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it's 6:00 a.m. in the east. we begin with the aftershocks from the mitt romney hidden camera at the fund-raiser saying nearly half the americans believe they are victims entitled to government assistance and it's not his job to worry about those people. president obama unleashed his first response overnight in an appearance with david letterman. >> one of the things i've learned as president is you represent the entire country. and when i meet republicans as i'm traveling around the country, they are hard working, family people who care deeply about this country and my expectation is if you want to be president you have to work for everybody, not just for some. >> so romney for his part is not apologizing for what he said just how he said it. >> i recognize that those people who are not paying income tax are going to say, gosh, this provision that mitt keeps talking about of lowering taxes is not going to be real attractive to them. and those who believe the government is going to redistribute, i'm not going to get them. >> this morning's editions of "usa today" romney wrote an op-ed to try to clarify his comments saying, the dreamers and the entrepreneurs, not government, built this economy and they can once again make it strong. my course for the american economy will encourage private investment and personal freedom instead of creating a web of dependency. i will pursue policies that grow our economy and lift americans out of poverty. cnn political reporter peter hanby is live in the washington bureau, romney is now scrambling to move past this controversy, now launching his own attacks based on a newly uncovered video of obama back in 1998. let's listen. >> i think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources, and hence facilitate some redistribution, because i actually believe in redistribution, at least a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot. >> so, how is he using that to his advantage now? >> well, the romney campaign has close ties to this little website that pushed sort of a youtube video of this audio to that website yesterday. this is their attempt to go on offense and change the subject and try to reframe the argument about the function raiser remarks to a debate between two visions of the economy. one a government centered vision, versus sort of a private sector, small business thing. you know, obama believes in redistribution, and romney believes, you know, in bringing people up, you know, through the private sector. the problem here, zoraida, is that this audio is from 14 years ago. whereas the audio from the fund-raiser that came out yesterday is just from four months ago, during this campaign. barack obama can argue that, you know, he sort of changed since then. but this, you know, the romney campaign is trying to play this into a narrative where you might remember obama said that he wants, you know -- you didn't build that, remember those remarks from a few months ago in roanoke, that obama believes that the government is at the center of things. they think they can build a narrative here and try and change the subject. we'll see if that happens today. that clip from david letterman that you heard is certain to be played throughout the day today. the obama campaign is very good at sort of pushing these negative stories into the following news cycle. >> both campaigns are, right? >> yeah. >> that's what they do. >> well the obama campaign is pretty good at it, though. they're very, very good at it. >> and so conservatives seem to be torn on how to react to romney's fund-raiser comment. >> yeah. there's sort of a split going on in the republican party right now. you heard yesterday from bill kristol of the weekly standard calling romney's comments arrogant. today there's a really biting op-ed in "the wall street journal" from peggy noonan. listen to what she wrote about mitt romney's comments. she said it's time to admit the romney campaign is an incompetent one. it's not big, it's not brave, it's not thoughtfully tackling great issues. it's always been too small for the moment. all the activists, party supporters and big donors should be pushing for change. people want to focus on who at the top is least constructive and most responsible. fine. but mitt romney is no puppet. he chooses who to listen to. an intervention is in order. mitt, this isn't working. the romney campaign cares deeply about what "the wall street journal" thinks about them and what bill kristol thinks about them. but there also are a lot of grassroots conservatives out there online and on talk radio who are saying, hey, thank you, mitt for finally talking bluntly about what barack obama is doing to this country. listen to what rush limbaugh said yesterday, zoraida, on his radio show about this. >> could have been -- could be the opportunity for romney and for that campaign to finally take glofts off and take the fear off and just start expla explaining conservatism, start explaining liberty to people, and what it means. and explain that they don't have to be in that 47%. >> kind of like mitt romney sort of stumbled backwards to finally getting the republican base to like him now. he's kind of embracing the strategy, going back to the redistribution comment. now he kind of has somewhat of a message to appeal to conservatives. >> folks are fired up, good and bad. new nbc poll shows obama ahead 50/44. this was taken before the release of either tape. and peter you also have some new polling from swing states. can you break those down for us? >> yeah, absolutely. the cbs, "the new york times." and quinnipiac have some interesting new polls out today from businewisconsin, virginia colorado. three of those states that are going to decide the election. in the states, obama is winning in all of them. in wisconsin, he's up 51-45. 50-46 in virginia and up just by a point in colorado. and these numbers also show that obama's winning basically across all categories. he's, amid all this unrest in the middle east, he's leading romney by ten points on that foreign policy number. and on the economy and jobs, romney and obama have essentially been tied throughout this campaign. that's one sort of bright spot for romney, is that they -- voters see him as someone they trust in the economy. but obama has sort of closed the gap there and has a narrow lead here. one interesting thing, also, in these polls, zoraida, going back to these fund-raising comments, a majority of voters in all three of these states say that romney's plans favor the rich. and if you look at obama's numbers it's only like 5%, 6%, 7% think that about barack obama. so again these fund-raising comments reinforce pre-existing notions about mitt romney. and that's the worst thing a candidate -- that can happen to a candidate right now. >> no doubt. we really appreciate you digging deep into those polls. i know berman earlier called you a poll addict. >> so is berman. >> to both of my dorks this morning, thank you very much peter hanby. >> thanks. >> so in the next half hour, delaware governor jack markell, an obama campaign surrogate will be joining us here in our new studio -- new york studio. and on "starting point" with soledad o'brien the republican governor of virginia, bob mcdonnell, joins her to talk about the challenges now facing the romney campaign. >> all right, back from the name calling here. is the calm after the storm here in new york and all along the east coast. in virginia, torrential rain turned roads into rivers. there were tornado watches in some areas. thunderstorms kicked up surf along the shoreline in connecticut, and the rain and gusty winds knocked out power to nearly 30,000 homes and businesses. in maryland, powerful wind gusts toppled trees right over. the damage in some areas was extensive, but there were no reports of injuries. >> so let's get right to rob marciano. rob? >> it was extensive across a wide swath of real estate. we had tornado watches at one point seemingly from the canadian border through the mid-atlantic. no tornado reports but plenty of winds both ahead, and during those thunderstorms that caused damage. notably across the d.c. area where a lot of those power outages were, 61-mile-per-hour winds. atlantic city seeing 64-mile-per-hour winds and a lot of rainfall from the tennessee valley across the appalachians, cumberland, through the allegheny, pennsylvania, eight inches of rainful. jfk saw 1.5 inches of rainfall and most of that came at one point. couple of showers left over but we're starting to clear things out. the actual front with the storms, not too severe right now but showers east of cape cod and downeast maine where it's still kind of gusty as far as winds go. the front drapes down across parts of the south. we'll get out of this and then we'll get into some cooler, somewhat drier air, and then another pulse of some cooler air across the western great lakes. temperatures this morning in some spots in the 30s. patchy frost. >> gosh. >> that's for sure. >> thank you, rob. >> all right, guys. >> seven minutes after the hour. some tense moments this morning for america's ambassador to china, gary locke. locke's official car was surrounded by a group of about 50 protesters outside the u.s. embassy in beijing. some of them jumping on the hood and throwing cups at the vehicle. chinese security guards were forced to step in and protect him. we have stan grant standing by live in beijing with this developing story. stan, obviously we're very sensitive to demonstrations and protests against u.s. ambassadors and embassies around the world. but this appears to be something completely different. >> yeah, not at all tied to the protests relating to that video about muslim people. but this is more about protests being carried out here against japan. the u.s. embassy, where this incident took place, is right around the corner from the japanese embassy. that's been the site of some big protests in recent days as japan and china square off over who owns an island in the east china sea. what happens in this video, a small group of protesters moving in front of the u.s. embassy, china's police are also there, then you see ambassador gary locke's car appear, the protesters move in front of the car, they blocked its way, the police try to move some of the protesters away. one of the protesters tried to grab hold of a u.s. flag on the front of the vehicle. that's when things started to get a little bit more tense. you see the protesters being scuffled, scuffings break out, protesters move away, then some projectiles are thrown at the car, including bottles. this goes on for several minutes until the chinese military move in and finally disperse the protesters. now we understand that ambassador locke has not been injured in this. but it does raise the stakes in this issue at a time when defense secretary leon panetta is in beijing for high-level talks. the chinese government is trying to play this down. this is what the foreign ministry had to say. >> translator: the chinese government has always abided by the vienna convention to protect the safety of foreign institutions and personnel in china. the relevant incident was merely an isolated case. relevant chinese authorities are investigating and will handle the result properly. >> now, of course, u.s./china relations always tense. right now, at a higher level, particularly with china becoming a red button ish ifor the u.s. presidential election. >> stan grant in beijing, thank you very much this morning. >> nine minutes past the hour. it might be the last thing the world needs after the protests over a film insulting to islam. coming up a magazine taking a real risk by publishing something many fear will offend muslims again today. oman ] it's 32 minutes to go time, 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. like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. when we got married. i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. have more fiber than other leading brands. they're the better way to enjoy your fiber. welcome back to "early start" everyone, 13 minutes after the hour, i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. we have a developing story in paris where french officials are pleading for restraint after a weekly magazine known for its biting satire published cartoons depicting the prophet muhammad, all this coming at a time when muslims around the world are rioting over an anti-islam movie produced here in america. let's get right to jim bitterman live in paris this morning. the last time the magazine did something like this, their paris office was fire-bombed. i understand they had to bring in extra security last night. what's going on? >> well, in fact, since that firebombing there's been security around the headquarters here in paris but they did bring in extra cars, extra security police last night to surround the headquarters, and some of the staff of the magazine have been under protection since that firebombing attack last november, including a cartoonist that we talked to this morning, he appeared here at cnn's headquarters with two bodyguards, and he said he's been under 24-hour protective surveillance since last november. basically because of the kind of flagrant cartoons this magazine does. it's known for these kinds of things. it skewers absolutely everybody, and in the same edition that had the controversial cartoon, the same weekly edition this morning that came out, there's also cartoons that skewered rape victims if you could imagine that, and the catholic church, and made fun of a lot of other institutions here. it's what they're known for. the cartoonist said he was almost surprised at the way the reaction has built. here's what he said. >> there was a big french paranoia, of the media, that link us to -- into this the news right now. at the moment it's just -- it's just a big built by the media. >> in fact, the cartoons were pretty flagrant, the ones that appeared this morning. they depict muhammad in all sorts of rather obscene in some cases poses, and as a consequence the muslim community here is up in arms. they asked for restraint. but by the same token they say they condemn these things and they actually asked the government to withhold publication of the magazine last night. the government, however, made the argument that this is a country of freedom of press and they were going to allow the magazine to appear on the stands this morning, which it did. >> i'm sure there's a lot of worries surrounding that. jim bittermann, live in paris, thank you very much. >> about a quarter past the hour right now. a lot of news to tell you about. christine is here with the headlines. >> mitt romney not backing down from comments secretly recorded at a private fund-raiser. comments that have shaken up the presidential race. romney says his remarks casting obama supporters as dependent on government were not a reflection of the campaign's message. on the letterman show president obama suggested romney was writing off a big chunk of the country. the strike is over. chicago teachers heading back to school this morning after seven days on the picket line. union delegates agreed yesterday to suspend the strike and accept a new contract. the walkout affected some 350,000 chicago public school students. a federal judge has cleared the way for police in arizona to enforce the most controversial part of the state's new immigration law. tuesday's ruling upheld the section that allows police officers to question a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws. this is the so-called, "show me your papers" provision. the u.s. supreme court in june struck down many other key parts of the law, but said "show me your papers" that part of the law in arizona could stand. after 25 trips in orbit spanning two decades the space shuttle "endeavour" ready for its final flight after two days of weather delays. >> let's go. >> it will be a cross-country tour. "endeavour" and it's nasa carrier jet scheduled to take off from kennedy space center in just under an hour. the final destination, los angeles. the shuttle's new home, the california science center in downtown l.a. a live report from kennedy space center in the next half hour. >> can we see the dramatic re-enactment again? >> you know what? here's the deal. they were supposed to fly yesterday, can you imagine with all those torrential winds. >> oh, yeah. >> i'm sure it would have been a big delay. >> fifth graders and schoolchildren all over california can't wait for their annual trip. >> that's right. >> exciting. 17 minutes past the hour. coming up, more signs of a recovery in the housing market. >> for an expanded look at all of our top stories head to our blog cnn.com/earlystart. [ male announcer ] what if you had thermal night-vision goggles, like in a special ops mission? you'd spot movement, gather intelligence with minimal collateral damage. but rather than neutralizing enemies in their sleep, you'd be targeting stocks to trade. well, that's what trade architect's heat maps do. they make you a trading assassin. trade architect. td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. minding your business, u.s. stock futures are up after the bank of japan announced more stimulus overnight. >> housing will be a big focus today throughout -- here in the united states. we already have some new numbers on home prices released overnight. >> and the housing market is recovering, you guys. we just talked about the bank of japan and more stimulus. the fed and its stimulus, the idea is to keep interest rates very low. keep money going. to help the housing markets. let me tell you what zillow, this is the housing tracker say, you've had steady year of month over month pricing increases, fell just a little bit in the month of august but the zillow chief economists say don't worry about it. still looking good year over year for housing prices. and foreclosures fell in august, as well. so six out of every 10,000 homes are in foreclosure. that's down from, you know, 6.4 out of every 10,000 homes in july. and we look at the trend, that shows you, this is a chart that's going down that's good when this chart goes down. look at back in 2001, you had 2 houses out of every 10,000. look at how it spiked up in the crisis, now it's starting to come down. >> did they mention the places that are hardest-hit? >> some of these spots are a two-speed recovery. people with money and investors and foreigners are buying a lot of places for cash. you still have a lot of homes under water or foreclosed on. you're seeing two very different markets in some of those places. want to show you the broader home price picture. you can have a recovery in home sales but not necessarily in prices. but you have seen that double dip. see those two valleys there, that was a double dip in home prices. home prices have been coming up a little bit. so we're going to get more details this week about existing home sales, home prices and the like. and it is recovering. it's not going to be a straight line up. not everyone is going to feel it right away. >> maybe not what it used to be. >> it shouldn't be what it used to be. what it used to be was a mirage. >> is there something else to know? >> don't fight the fed. the one thing you need to know about your money today and maybe in the very near term, don't fight the fed. an old saying on wall street. central banks are trying to do what the economy itself and governments can't or won't do, keep the economy going. i don't know what the hangover is going to look like down the road from all this extraordinary stimulus. but for now, markets love it. don't fight the fed today. you've got oil up, you've got gold up, you've got copper up, you've got stocks up. stock futures are up all because of central banks, and the stimulus that they're putting into the economy. >> all right. christine romans, thanks very much. >> welcome. >> it is 24 minutes after the hour. it is the tale of the tape that could have an impact on this election. the hidden camera remarks that mitt romney made at a private fund-raiser back in may. coming up, delaware governor jack markell, an obama campaign surrogate will join us to talk about it. i told her i wasn't feeling like myself... i had pain in my pelvic area... and bleeding that wasn't normal for me. she said i had to go to the doctor. turned out i had uterine cancer, a type of gynecologic cancer. i received treatment and we're confident i'll be fine. please listen to your body. if something doesn't feel right for two weeks or longer, see your doctor. get the inside knowledge about gynecologic cancers. knowing can make all the difference in the world. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ presidethis message. barack obama and i approve... together for your future. anncr: he keeps saying it... mitt romney: this president cannot tell us that you're... better off today than when he took office. anncr: well... here's where we were in 2008... tv anncr: the worst financial collapse... since the great depression... tv anncr: american workers were laid off in numbers not seen... in over three decades. anncr: and here's where we are today... thirty months of private sector job growth. creating 4.6 million new jobs. we're not there yet. but the real question is: whose plan is better for you? 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>> well, here's what i think. first of all, i was surprised that mitt romney said exactly what he said as he said it at the fund-raiser. i wasn't surprised that this is what he thinks. because, it's entirely consistent with his policy of positions. his embrace of the ryan budget, kicking hundreds of thousands of kids out of head start. kicking students out of pell grants. so i think this is entirely consistent with where he's been all along. >> but isn't there a valid discussion to be had about trying to have less government involved in some of our lives? reduce dependency on government? >> the president all along has been focused on how do we get the private sector going again. we'd all like to see as many people employed as possible in the private sector. but we also have to understand there's a role for government to play. to make sure that kids are being educated. to make sure that we're investing in infrastructure. to make sure we're helping people with job skills. there is a role for government to play, particularly as we make the transition to get people going. >> there seems to be a split among conservatives about whether this was a bad thing or a good thing for mitt romney. and there are some, including rush limbaugh, who said this is exactly the kind of thing mitt romney should be discussing. let's listen. >> this could have been -- could be the opportunity for romney and for that campaign to finally take the gloves off and take the fear off and just start explaining conservatism, start explaining liberty to people, and what it means. and explain that they don't have to be in that 47%. >> comments? >> i'm sure that that's what rush limbaugh believes. i guess that's what romney believes. if you're a senior citizen. if you're a student. if you're a veteran who's come back from war, he's talking about you. you're the 47% that he is saying, you know, you feel like you're entitled. you don't want to be working. that's not the world i live in. it's not the world most americans live in. >> another part of the romney response to this is to bring out some tape they dug up from barack obama in 1998 discussing his philosophy of government and the idea of redistribution. i want to listen to that. >> i think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources, and hence facility some redistribution, because i actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot. >> what kind of redistribution does he believe in? >> well, first of all, i actually had the opportunity to listen to what he said in the 30 seconds prior to that. >> so did i. >> what he was talking about was the chicago housing authority not being a model of efficiency. the school system back in 1998, this is when he was a state senator, not being, again, a model of efficiency. i think what he was saying is let's make sure that we are running our state, our government organizations efficiently, make sure we're using the taxpayers money effectively, and then as a result, when you do this, it's the same thing with government today, you've got to figure out which resources you can free up so you can invest in things that matter. >> barack obama over his career has discussed redistribution. four years ago with joe the plumber, the so-called joe the plumber. he did talk about spreading the wealth. that's redistribution. >> look. the way that i -- what i heard him say is let's make sure we're spending money wisely so, in fact, we can be investing in our schools. so we can be investing in job creation. so we can be investing in infrastructure. the only way, especially in this enthusiast normal where times are so tough, that you're able to invest in things that are going to lead to a prosperous future, invest in the middle class, if you run things really efficient efficiently. >> governor jack marble of delaware, thanks for being with us. at 7:00 eastern on "starting point," governor bob mcdonnell will join soledad o'brien to talk about the challenges facing the romney campaign in the face of these videotapes. zoraida? >> i bet you're right, john. so some very tense moments this morning for the u.s. ambassador to china, gary locke. locke's official car surrounded by a group of about 60 protesters outside the u.s. embassy. this is in beijing. they tried to pull a u.s. flag off the vehicle. some of the demonstrators throwing cups at the vehicle, jumping on it, the car was damaged but the ambassador was not hurt. chinese security guards were able to step in in order to protect him. the teachers strike is finally over. chicago educators and the students are heading back to school this morning after seven days on the picket lines. for the teachers. union delegates agreed yesterday to suspend the strike and accept a new contract. the walkout affected some 350,000 chicago public school students. lots of wind and rain. lots of wind wreaking havoc across the northeast overnight. the storms brought down power lines leaving thousands of people in the dark. we want to get right to meteorologist rob marciano. it was strong last night. >> it was. we had winds both ahead of those storms that came through and during those storms. no reports of tornadoes but certainly winds that were strong enough to knock down a number of trees, tree limbs and certainly some power lines. at one point we had over 30,000 people without power around the d.c. area where they had a 61-mile-per-hour wind gust there. as much as 54 miles an hour in atlantic city and similar numbers at jfk. rainfall the other big issue from the tennessee valley where the brighter colors lit up on the radar, which estimate the amount of rainfall that we had anywhere from 4 to 8 inches in some spots. run report of eight inches in pennsylvania, and then some significant amounts stretching up into upstate new york. the rains for the most part have moved out. we're looking at still some showers left over across downeast maine. still some gusty winds up there, as well. a couple leftover sprinkles moving across the hudson valley later on this morning. for the most part the front is trying to push offshore and showers down across parts of florida. behind this is going to be some cooler, more fall-like weather. in some cases, 15 to 20 degree drop in temperature across the great lakes with this system. and another pulse of cold air will be coming down and gets worse for the weekend. 60 degrees right now in new york. not really feeling the temperature drop. 45 right now in pittsburgh. and in the 30s across parts of the great lakes. there's your fall watch. >> thanks for the punch, rob. 36 minutes past the hour. from a weekend at bernie's to a life on the road, actor and award winning travel writer andrew mccarthy on his new book and his life story that may surprise you. ♪ [ male announcer ] the first look...is only the beginning. ♪ ♪ introducing a stunning work of technology. ♪ introducing the entirely new lexus es. and the first ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. [ female announcer ] new roc® retinol correxion max. the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum. it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. roc® max for maximum results. and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. you are looking at miami, just waking up this morning. it is 79 degrees there now. later it will be 88. hopefully they will have good weather there. why? because we are counting down to the final flight of space shuttle "endeavour." "endeavour's" made 25 trips into orbit over the last two decades and after two days of weather delays, she will be making one more cross-country tour, starting today, on the back of a nasa carrier jet. liftoff is scheduled just a few moments from now, about half an hour from now at the kennedy space center in florida. first off houston, then its final destination is los angeles. john zarrella is live from the kennedy space center in florida this morning. hey, john. >> hey, john. you know you're absolutely right. this is a big day for nasa, for endeavor. here on the runway behind me, that's the shuttle landing facility where over the last quarter century we've seen so many shuttles land. you mentioned "endeavour" flew 25 flights, 123 million miles in all. it flew to the international space station repeatedly. it did satellite repair missions. the shuttle endeavor was also involved in the very first hubble servicing mission, space telescope mission. and as you mentioned, you know, this is going to be really a victory tour of sorts. when they leave here, expected about 7:15, clouds may be a little iffy. they may have to push it back a pit. but not much. it will be headed out over mississippi. they're going to fly over the stennis space flight center. from stennis in mississippi they're going to fly over the plant where they built the giant external tanks, so just outside of louisiana, outside of new orleans. then on to houston. fly over to the houston area. flyovers of galveston island, and then finally landing at ellington field late this morning, which is right by the johnson space center, where they will overnight. tomorrow they head out to california. they refueling mission at the army air field in el paso then over to white sands missile range, and then into drieden, where they will overnight again on thursday night, tomorrow night, before heading into los angeles and san francisco on friday. so a huge victory tour. and you know, the last flight for the shuttle "endeavour" really is also the last flight for the 747 carrier aircraft and we talked to one of the members of the crew about this being his final flight. >> this mission will be the final mission for the shuttle carrier aircraft and for me. i made my first flight in 1989 on carrier aircraft. i've been doing it a long time. but it's going to be sad to see it come to an end. very sad. i think the public is going to really miss it. and i know i'll miss it. >> when endeavor gets out to california it's going to sit at los angeles airport for a couple of weeks while they reconfigure it and then that big day in october when they will have to tow it 13 miles through the streets of los angeles to get it to the california science center. >> wow. >> yeah, that is going to be one big event. over the course of almost two days to go that 13 miles. with a couple stops along the way for, you know, some parading, and a lot of speeches, of course. >> maybe leave its footprint or handprint on the hollywood boulevard. >> i think that's a great idea. >> john, thank you so much for being with us this morning. these final flights of the shuttle providing such a spectacular view for so many americans across the country. >> he got a little teary-eyed that pilot, right? all right. thank you for that. that was great. 44 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date on this morning's top stories. mitt romney trying to contain the damage from his 47% comments and going on the offensive. in a "usa today" op-ed piece romney tries to clarify his remarks on dependen say saying quote, my course for the american economy will encourage private investment and personal freedom, instead of creating a web of dependency i will pursue policies that grow our economy and lift americans out of poverty. >> a tense morning for the u.s. ambassador to china, gary locke. locke's official car was surrounded by a group of about 50 protesters outside the u.s. embassy in beijing. they tried to pull a u.s. flag off the vehicle, and some of the demonstrators jumped on the car and threw cups at it. the vehicle was damaged but the ambassador was not hurt. it's believed that japan's dispute with china over territories in the east china sea is what triggered these protests. cleanup under way this morning, big-time, after a line of powerful storms on the east coast. lots of high winds, heavy rain, left tens of thousands without power. that's from virginia to washington, d.c. to new york. there were tornado watches across a number of states, as much as nine inches of rain fell in some of those areas. after a 19-month investigation the justice department's inspector general is expected to release a report on the botched fast and furious gun trafficking operation. that report coming possibly as early as today. the republican-led house voted in june to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt for withholding documents in the case. family members of the u.s. border patrol agent brian terry killed in connection with the gun smuggling operation said they will not have closure until someone is held accountable for his death. >> 45 minutes past the hour. soledad o'brien joins us with a look at what is ahead on "starting point." >> good morning, good morning. ahead this morning on "starting point" we're continuing to take a look at governor romney and his defense of his comments where he called nearly half of americans victims, who rely on government aid. this morning we'll talk to red state dotcom editor in chief aaron erickson. he said he thinks this could be good for governor romney. he said this is the direction he should be taking this campaign. also governor bob mcdonnell will join us. he is relaunching the romney campaign, talking about specific spending, and debt. we're going to talk to him about some of those specifics this morning. plus a french magazine is publishing cartoons of the prophet muhammad, even after violence was raging overseas in reaction to that anti-islam internet video. so will we see similar outrage? we'll bring you a live report on that from paris this morning. plus, musician wyclef jean will join us. weiss got a new memoir. i'm curious to know why now? years later he's telling us about his father, his childhood in haiti, his superstar success, and also the break joup of the band. what caused it. we'll get into that and much more this morning on "starting point." >> one more thing about today. >> ♪ happy birthday to me i love my birthday so much. thrilled to be 25. >> do that one more time. >> the birthday dance? >> coming up on "starting point." the birthday dance. meanwhile 47 minutes after the hour. he is a long way from the brat pack these days. coming up we're talking to andrew mccarthy. he is now an acclaimed travel writer about what he calls the longest way home. welcome back to "early start." 50 minutes past the hour. plenty of people get cold feet before getting married. but our next guest decided to take off around the world when it happened to him. you know him from some of the most classic movies from the '80s, "pretty in pink," "weekend at bernie's" but what you probably don't know is andrew mccarthy is also an award-winning travel writer. he chronicles his travels and the more inward journey that he took in his new book. it is called "the longest way home: one man's quest for the courage to settle down." and andrew mccarthy joins us this morning. thank you so much for being with us. we really appreciate it. a lot of people know you from your '80s movies, but they had no idea, at least around here, that you were a travel writer. how did you make that leap? >> yeah, it's a strange career trajectory. it just sort of happened, complete accident. travel, i was a big traveler. travel sort of changed my life, and it was just a passion of mine that i pursued. and i met an editor of a magazine that i finally bombarded him to write for his magazine and eventually did and it took off from there. >> so, we have the image from the first story that you wrote, it was in bermuda, talking about going for a swim with your dad, eating french toast for breakfast, and you grew into -- >> captivating read,ing, isn't it? >> you grew into someone who loves to travel alone. you describe yourself as a solitary person. but on your travels there were some questions you were trying to answer. a lot of issues from your past. one of them, how do two people come together, perhaps? so you got married last summer. >> i did, yeah. >> did you find the answer? >> well, the whole book is really a question of trying -- taking that inward journey. how do two people, how do people connect, how do we form intimacy? how do we commit? how do we form partnership? and i play that out by traveling the world. i answer questions. some people go to therapy. some people have chats over coffee. i find the answers to my questions when i go far from home. when the boot hits the ground, you know. so i asked that question and found out the answers as i was traveling the world. really is more of an internal journey played out on kilimanjaro, down the amazon. that sort of thing. >> there were some serious questions you were dealing with. >> well, yeah, i was leaving to go to patagonia to write a story for a magazine and we just decided to get married and i was feeling very lovey dovey when you decide things like that. really sad to be leaving but on another part of me i was absolutely thrilled to be going alone and i couldn't reconcile those two aspects of myself. that need for solitude and my own thing and the need and the yearning to be together. you know. with someone else. and so i just -- that paradox was difficult to me to comprehend in myself. so that's what i try to address in the book. >> so how did -- what was your awakening there? >> well, i suppose i -- the event of the book is really whenever i come back from the trip i'm a better version of myself. i have more access to, i suppose, my love. you know, if i bring home a better version of me, then that's a good thing. >> so you liken solo travel to infidelity. >> i do think that. >> i need you to explain that. >> i think when you travel alone, particularly, i don't mean vacation to a wonderful spot. i mean going out into the world alone, i think you're very -- it's a very private experience between you and whatever you encounter in the world. and when you come back, you have these stories. you can't communicate the essence of that experience that happens to you when you're out alone in the world. so it is leaving behind everything you know at home and going out for a very private experience. you know, you can't really communicate that. >> do you travel with your wife and kids now? >> i do. yeah, they make me. no, i loved it. i took my son to the sahara, my daughter to tahiti, my wife to paris. >> and we have beautiful pictures of you when you got married which is very nice also. >> yeah, it finally happened. >> good luck to you, andrew. really nice to have you with us. the book is "the longest way home: one man's global quest for the courage to set am down." thank you for being with us. we'll be right back. are we going to john? 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[ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. it is just a few minutes before the hour. as always we wrap it up with best advice. >> today, guys, we hear from a 1980s icon who says he's talking from experience. check it out. >> hey, this is kirk cameron. this is the best advice i have for you. fashions resurge, they come back around, if the mullet and parachute pants ever come back in style, don't go there. take it from a guy who knows. >> he's thinking about john berman and parachute pants and the mullet. >> never had that look. never had a mullet, never had parachute pants. let the record show. you can search any internet in the world. >> calling your mom, calling your wife! >> that's all. >> i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. morning. welcome, everybody. our starting point this morning the battle of the tapes. romney stands by his message after his those people controversy and president obama takes some digs on letterman. listen. >> one of the things i've learned as president is you represent the entire country. my expectation is is that if you want to be president you've got to work for everybody, not just for some. and -- this morning

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