the jury is shown photographs of the victims at the age they say sandusky abused them. a sensitive military drone crashes in maryland during what the pentagon says was a routine training exercise. tonight newt gingrich joins us to share his thoughts on the general election match-up. you. >> childhood photos of eight of jerry sandusky's victims were projected on to a big screen today. it's day one in the trial of the former penn state football coach. he's accused of assaulting at least ten boyce over a span of 15 years. the jury heard from one of those alleged victims today. sayre rare gan numb was in that courtroom. the first witness to testify was vick up in four. he says sandusky assaulted him dozens of times and later sent him "creepy love letters." i write because you mean so much to us, i write because of the churning in my stomach when you don't care. i still hope there will be meaning to the time we have known each other." notes like that, the graphic testimony, how did the court react? >> reporter: >> you know, jurors actually reacted most during opening statements when those photos were shown and i saw a few of the women on the panel actually with their mouths open shaking their heads when prosecutors went through because you know, it's interesting these men are testifying. they're grown men now. they look very different than they did in those photographs. to see them as they were when they say they were abused by sandusky seemed to have a powerful effect on the jurors. >> you say the jurors. how did sandusky react when the photos were shown? >> interesting. he moved his chair. these are old wooden creeky courthouse chairs. they're a little bit difficult to move. he kind of stood up a little bit like a half standup and turned so he could see a projection almost the full length of the wall and look at these photos. he looked at every single one of them and when victim four took the stand, he watched him intently the entire time. jurors were acting the same way. they were pretty focused on the witness but jerry sandusky was looking at him almost the entire time he testified. >> in his opening statements, his attorney hinted his client might take the stand. what would he have to gain from that in. >> well, you know, that's always a question i guess for the legal analysts. when amendola the attorney kept saying is you'll hear from jerry. jerry will say this and that. we know that jerry's been very vocal. so has joe amendola putting their defense out very publicly from day one. for the past seven months we've been hearing from both of them. i guess no one would be surprised if he takes the stand. we'll hear from him in court because of those interviews did he, prosecutors say in their openings they are going to play those for the jurors. >> the commerce secretary john bryson back at work here in washington today although under investigation for felony hit and run charges in california. today the department announces he suffered a seizure on saturday the same day he was involved in a pair of traffic accidents in the los angeles suburbs. the secretary had no security detail with him. 4is lexus rooer ehis lexus rear buick. as he drove off, he hit their car again and continued into rose meede where he hit a second car. authorities found him unconscious still behind the steering wheel. the secretary has "limited recall of the events and they cannot confirm the timing or the cause of that seizure." they say the secretary suffered. we're joined by dr. sanjay gupta. we're told the secretary has never before had a seizure. what could the possible causes be of a first-time seizure for a man of hills age? >> a first-time seizure in an adult is a much more significant event than in a child. children can have seizures because of a high fever, infection. in an adult, it can be serious and has to be investigated. there are several things that come to mind. something that's specifically going on in the brain that is structural. a tumor, infections, an abscess, that type of thing could be a stroke or even a tia. transest ischemic attack, sort of a mini stroke can also cause a seizure. people have abnormalities in their blood lab values, sodium that gets too high or low. to reiterate, i know he was in the hospital overnight. i'm not sure, i don't think we know what the "tom green's house tonight"s showed yet, but this is a significant event. in the world of neurosurgery, a new seizure in an adult we investigate quite a bit before weept say we just don't know the. >> you say you investigate quite a bit. if you're trying to get help here, he gets out of the car and talks to the people he just struck and drives away. if he was having a seizure, is it obvious? would he be showing some ins? >> people tend to think of seizures and think of someone having somewhat violent jerking or shaking of their limbs. there are lots of different times of seizures. there are partial seizures, for example, complicated partial seizures. those are terms you don't need to necessarily know. but if someone doesn't nope this person and they're talking to them, he may have just seemed out of sorts. he may have seemed a little bit confused. but to the average person if they didn't know the commerce secretary, they may not have known he was in the throes of a seizure. so it is possible that he did this, was very confused, left, struck the car again and kept driving, obviously not safe. but possible, john. >> here's what has me confused and help me with the medical advice. he has this event. they say it's a first-time seizure. goes to get treatment. that's on saturday. he flew back across the country and here in washington, d.c. today. his staff says he had limited recall. is that advisable? >> you know, it depends in part, john. that's a good question. it depends in part if think nope what the cause of the seizure was at this point. my guess is, and again, we do this quite a bit in hospitals trying to evaluate this sort of thing, he had an mri scan, some scan of his brain, had his laboratory values checked, had an eeg perhaps. if all those things contaminao l normal, they may say whatever it is we don't think it's that serious. it's okay to travel. there are people who have epilepsy and he's seizures who do fly. my guess is again there may be more investigation into exactly what happened here to his brain. basically, the effort to make sure it doesn't happen again. >> we'll keep on top of this story, as well. appreciate your help. tonight the pentagon is investigating the circumstances of a u.s. drone spot in rural maryland right near the nation's capitol. chris laurence is working his sources. chris, tell us what you're hearing about this accident. >> just got off the phone with a couple of navy officials who say this was a routine training mission and when they lost contact with this unmanned drone, they immediately scrambled a piloted plane. that pilot was able to put some eyes on the wreckage and determine a, that it had yashed and b that no one on the ground was injured when had went down. this is a global hawk. it flies 11 miles high. can fly for 30 hours at a time. used for reconnaissance flights, also overseas in the war zone. but here, it was just on a routine training mission out at the naval air station at pax river and they lost contact. right now coast guard cordoning off the area trying to establish a safety zone and trying to figure out how deep the water is, if there are 234i pollute ants in before they send teams in to try to retrieve it. >> bemay see more of these crashes very soon. why? >> because congress pass the a bill and president obama signed that basically orders the faa to open up u.s. commercial air space to unmanned drones by the year 2015. so we may go from having a few hundred of these flying to tens of thousands over the next 10 to 15 years. industry experts say they think the civilianen industry for drones will far surpass the military defense industry. when you look at some of the hard numbers, john, the lobbying by some of the defense firms are some of the biggest lobbyists on capitol hill. even without a pilot, you still get the politics. >> even without a pilot, you still get the politics. >> now to a story breaking off the new jersey coast. coast guard helicopters are at the scene of a yacht explosion that injured at least seven people. 17 1/2 miles off sandy hook new jersey. we've seen ambulances parked and waiting near the shore. an official telling cnn a total of 21 people were on board a yacht named the blind date. as of less than an hour ago, everyone was said to be in life rafts. >> newt gingrich helps mitt romney raise money. he joins us next to talk about this one-time rival. later, an expert explains the rare medical problem disclosed today by good morning american co-host robin roberts. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: slow ] [ barks ] ♪ [ upbeat ] [ barks ] beneful playful life is made with energy-packed wholesome grains... and real beef and egg. to help you put more play in your day. 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[ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. mitt romney holds a private fund-raiser tonight notice georgia and he'll have a special guest, his one-time rival for the nomination, the former house speaker newt gingrich. he joins us now from atlanta. mr. speaker, it's good to see you. first i want to go back in time. jeb bush did a roundtable with reporters in new york today. and he said this, the former florida governor, jeb bush, ronald reagan would have based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground similar to my dad. they would have a hard time if you define the republican party as having an orthodoxy that doesn't allow for disagreement. would reagan and george h.w. bush have a hard time in today's republican party? >> i don't think so. i'm not sure what jeb's referring to. we just had as you know because you were out there covering it, we just had a pretty gruel agcampaign which had a fair amount of disagreement. pretty wide range of views from tim paul to say tim pawlenty. you're seeing us come together as a party. there's plenty of room in the republican party for a wide range of you have candidates. in fact, i would argue that in many ways we have a more diverse party today than the democrats. it's much easier to be of a different view as a republican without having the kind of pressure you have, for example, if you were a pro-life democrat or if you were al anti-tax increase democrat. >> he was referring specifically to the tax issue. he said last week when he was in washington, if he could get a deal that was $10 in spending cuts for $1 in tax increases he would go along and give up on the revenue side if he got that deep in cuts. that was his point saying ronald reagan raised taxes. you were around when george h.w. bush raised taxes breaking his pledge. if you say i'm open toll tax increases does that make you a pariah in the republican party? >> no, but it gives you a weak negotiating position. reagan wrote this in his diary, one of the greatest mistakes he made was agreeing to the tax increase in 1982 in which the democrats promised they would give him $3 of tax cuts for all the spending cuts. after that he became much firm erl against any deal because he mistrusted them so deeply. i think frankly president george h.w. bush was badly ssked by his advisers. i think hurt him. that doesn't mean you shouldn't find compromise and doesn't mean you shouldn't be open to it. be very cautious because washington's a city which always wants more money. and the results we got last week, not just wisconsin but in my newsletter this week is about this, san jose, san diego, 66% of the people of san jose voted to change the government employee pension plan. 70% of the people of san diego voted to change the government pension plans. the american voters are coming to grips with the fact that we can't afford big government. and so i would start and say, maybe you would or wouldn't consider some revenue at the very end of a negotiation, but for a republican to start with that position invites the left to take all the money and give us none of the reforms. >> you mentioned wisconsin. wasn't long after wisconsin that the president famously said the private sector is doing fine and team romney and other republicans jumped on that one. governor romney said something in his response that team obama has grabbed on. i want you to listen. >> he says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. did he not get the message in wisconsin in the american people did. it's time for us to cut back on government and help the american people. >> it's a pretty good snapshot of the competing philosophies. the president says use federal dollars to help. governor romney says no. >> it's interesting. my newsletter will be on the president's comments. when you look at it, he says you know, states don't have the quote flexibility washington has. what's he talking about? deficit spending. borrowing from our children and grandchildren, spending more than we're taking in. we have to come to grips with how big the challenge is, and does that mean there will be fewer teachers? the honest answer is yes. does it mean that you're not going to get quite the same pension plan people have been getting? the honest answer is yes. president obama may say well, we can borrow our way out of that decision. i don't think the american people agree with him. >> right after wisconsin, governor walker who withheld a push back convincingly, the recall effort said if he had any advice for governor romney it would be to be bold. that's something you said during the campaign. you essentially said he's okay, but he's a conventional politician. does governor romney need to be more bold? >> he's being plenty bold. governor romney is saying something clearly almost the exact opposite of obama. obama is saying bigger government, more washington-centered behavior. governor romney is saying smaller government, more private sector centered behavior. that's going to be a big choice that's going to affect senate and house races, the entire national dialogue. i think that's healthy. that's what a good campaign should be about. >> appreciate your time. >> all right. >> tip o'neill was famous for observing that all politics is local. well, watch the campaign today. it looks like both the romney and obama campaigns think that's still true. plus, apple upgrades one of its most popular products but it doesn't come cheap. for your att. so we invented a warning.. you can feel. introducing the all new cadillac xts, available with the patented safety alert seat. when there is danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all new cadillac xts has arrived. and it's bringing the future forward. with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. welcome back. here's lisa sylvester with the latest news you need to know right now. >> well, this just in. the u.s. justice department intends to sue florida for purnling thousands of names from its voter list. the feds say the state's violating federal voting rights laws. florida authorities are saying they're getting rid of noncitizens who registered illegally. out of 2700 names targeted, at least 500 have been found to be genuine u.s. citizens. the house oversight committee will vote next week whether to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt for his department's handling of the botched fast and furious gun trafficking operation. a statement from the committee's chairman accuses the justice department of withholding critical documents. the justice department calls the move "unfortunate and unwarranted." police in alabama are looking for the man they say is behind the shooting of six people near auburn university. suspect is mon ta leonard fled the scene after alleged lid killing three people and injuring three others in an off campus apartment. .la draious phillips and ed yafrd christian are among the dead. >> and more evacuations in the smoldering wildfire near fort collins, colorado. it has doubled in size overnight to almost 40,000 acres. evacuees were transported in air tankers and helicopters as far as canada to escape the wind-whipped flames that reached 300 feet in the air. the fire zone is now larger than the canyon town itself and has consumed at least 100 structures. apple's ceo tim cook calls it the most advanced mac the company has ever built. the new mac book proposal is billed as faster thinner and has a high resolution display more impressive than your hdtv. other products the company will roll out in the next six months, a multilingual siri and a replacement for maps. a lot of apple fans want to see what comes next post steve jobs. >> some people have sticker shock. some people line up and buy it. multilingual siri. >> put that on your wish list. father's day. you got some other things coming up. >> absolutely. .next, the political landscape in a city critical to president obama's chance for re-election. we'll ask the philadelphia mayor michael nutter about his fellow democrats level of enthusiasm. and the american cancer society's chief doctor discusses the new medical challenge facing this abc news anchor robin roberts. our envir protecting ment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our 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[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ helping you do what you do... even better. welcome to hotels.com. summer road trip, huh? as the hotel experts, finding you the perfect place is all we do. this summer, save up to 30%, plus get up to $100 on us. welcome to hotels.com. in this half hour of john king usa," the stet vital to the president's lee election. we'll ask the philadelphia mayor michael nutter whether he's worried enthusiasm for the president might drop enough to give romney a chance of carrying pennsylvania. how the president's agenda today problems the old saying all politics is local is just as true today as it was a generation ago. why beating breast cancer may have led to a new health challenge for abc's robin robertses. . >> let's begin with the latest on breaking news off the new jersey coast. the scene of a yacht explosion has injured at least seven people. a petty officer is joining me live from new york city. sir, we were told that the people aboard this boat are in life rafts. have you been able to find them? >> no, sir, we have seven helicopters on the scene right now. we have various rescue boats from our coast guard stations in sandy hook and good samaritan vessels on location searching. >> if you have all those resources on location searching, is there a sense of nervousness? how big is the area you're talking about here? >> well, it is a significant area. and you know, sea conditions, weather can make challenging. but it is unusual to receive a reported location and have this many assets on the scene searching and not find anything. >> and what were you told? what is the report? i'm going to call it a may day. i'm not sure that's the right terminology of what happened aboard this bode called the blinds date? >> we've only been in contact with them once during the initial report. they reported there was a vessel he -- there was an explosion aboard the vessel. and they got into life rafts. there was 21 people reported on board the vessel, seven of those injured. >> and do you have any idea from that report on the extent of these injuries? >> no, sir, not at this time. >> and 21 people. do you know how many life rafts we're talking about? >> no, we don't have a specific number of life rafts either. so we're looking for the vessel. and any signs, any debris, life rafts at this time. >> and can you tell us the conditions out there? what the water temperatures would be, what the weather is in that area right now? >> water temperatures are fairly cold. weather is overcast. visibility is fairly clear. so conditions aren't terrible. but we will still are going to continue the search for a while into the night at least. >> and i'm assuming there's no beacons no, transmitter, nothing at all you can track from this. so you have crews out there looking hoping they can eyeball this? >> yes, we have the initial report and there has been a report of a beacon, but that still gives us a fairly large search area. >> erik swanson with the coast guard, we appreciate your time. >> yes, sir. >> thank you. we will stay on top of the story throughout the evening here on cnn. romney's campaign keeps hitting president obama for saying the private sector is doing fine. team obama keeps firing back by accusing the former massachusetts governor of hoping to target the jobs of teachers, firefighters, and police officers. let's economic in with the mayor on the frontline of the economy and in a city critical to the president's re-election campaign, michael nutter is the democratic mayor of philadelphia. it's good to see you. you the how is the private sector doing in philadelphia? >> we're seeing significant signs of improvement. there are a number of ground breakings that i participated in. we will have cranes in the sky putting our construction workers back to work. so i think people are feeling a little more positive about the economy, and we're constantly focused on getting our unemployment rate down and putting more philadelphiians, pennsylvanians back to work. >> you know why i asked the question. the president said something last week the republicans think was a gift. listen to a snippet here. this is a new romney web ad. >> just lost my job recently. >> i have to work part-time in order to make ends meet. >> sometimes i feel like i'm a failure. >> the private sector is doing fine. the private sector is doing fine. the private sector's doing fine. >> mr. mayor, team romney says that proves the president is out of touch, that most americans don't think the economy and the private sector are doing fine. >> let's talk about the record. when you look at the job loss in massachusetts, the things that governor romney did, let's talk about his record. not the rhetoric. cuts to education, the largest, second largest per pupil cut in education while he was governor came in with a surplus, left with a deficit. and that's part of the record of governor romney. wants to get rid of police officers, firefighters and teachers. all across the united states of america. that's not a growth record. and the american applicant afford romney economics. >> you mentioned the teachers, the firefighters, the police officers. funding to help mayors like you keep them on the payroll was included in the stimulus package the president passed early on. republicans point to the 2010 election results when i the stimulus package was a huge issue and point to their gains including in states like yours, pennsylvania. they say they're happy to litigate that issue. is there any risk for the president in raising those issues again? >> the president generally doesn't get credit for disasters avoided. think of how much worse things would have been without the economic recovery package. the projects that would not have gotten done or built, the people who have not -- have been put back to work. we saw its impact in a positive way in philadelphia and in many, many parts of pennsylvania. >> and your city, the unemployment rate right now is about 7.4%. african-american unemployment is about twice that in the city and surrounding area. if you have a close race in pennsylvania this fall, i've been to your state many times in the final weeks looking at the turnout operations including in philadelphia. any concern at all that chronic african-american unemployment rate could cause the enthusiasm for the president to drop a little bit and that your city could be the difference going the other way this time? >> unemployment before the recession was unfortunately higher in the african-american community in philadelphia and many other cities across the country. but african-americans and everyone knows who is really paying attention to what's going on the president is committed to getting people back to work. we need to do our job on the ground to get that mess anage o. there's a real choice here. president barack obama deserves to be re-elected. mitt romney is not ready to serve. >> is it harder this time? you mentioned you're part of the ground operation. is it harder to get people particularly in your community excite this had time? they're not making history like they did last time. there is chronic unemployment. how much harder will it be this time? >> here's the thing, you only get to be the first one time. 2012 is not 2008. a lot of things have happened in between. but this election, again, is about a choice. the president has a record. what's mitt romney have to offer? not a whole lot in this particular regard except criticizing president obama. that's not enough to be the president of the united states of america. >> mayor nutter, we'll see you a lot in the final 148 days. >> absolutely. >> good morning america coanchor robin roberts announced this morning she's been diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, mds and once called preleukemia. she's starting chemotherapy and eventually will need a bone marrow transplant. >> my big sister is a virtually perfect match for me. she's there with diane, ann sweeney. she is going to be my donor. going to be my donor. >> dr. otis brawley is the chief medical officer for the american cancer society. thanks for coming in. how risky are we talking about here? >> this is a significant problem. she's very courageous woman and should be congratulated for helping us educate people about this. this is a significant problem. >> when you say significant. >> about 10u6,000 people get my yellow dysplastic syndrome every year. perhaps about half to 60% actually end up doing well for a very long period of time. it is possible that will this bone marrow transplant can actually cure the disease. >> and how important she's pointed out her big sister as she calls her there, how critical is the match? the match is incredibly important. that's the great contribution she's making here. there are a number of people who need bone marrow transplants. they don't have a sister or a brother who matches them. we need to get someone who is not a relative who matches them. if people would just volunteer to get in the bone marrow registries, we could help a lot of people. >> you say volunteer. that is important. i hope everybody at home is listening to this and learning the lesson of robin's courage. she talks on the program today about it's about focusing on the fight and not the fright. and she's talked about if you go online and you search this, you can get pretty scared. you also get a wide array of information. how important is the attitude? >> the attitude is incredibly important. this is a woman with incredible courage and grace. people who don't give up, people who focus on their disease tend to do much better. >> she's talked about she wants to stay on the program as long as she can. at some point, obviously, she'll have to have the transplant and good afternoon for some time. if things go well, how long does it take to get first prepared for it, then you have the bone marrow transplant and your sense whether it's worked? >> several months to get ready for the transplant. once it's done, she'll definitely be out for several weeks is, perhaps two to three months and then coming back, you know, the hurdles continue even after the bone marrow transplant. we're going to be concerned about rejection. she play have to be treated with anti-rejection drugs. this is a long haul for her but it's something i've seen people do very well from. >> dr. brawley, appreciate your insights tonight. we wish robin the best. thank you. the vips of this year's presidential election, well, you know who you are if you're a voter in a swing state. the truth were president obama and mitt romney are spending so much time and money in a few key states. the medicare debate continues in washington... ...more talk on social security... ...but washington isn't talking to the american people. [ female announcer ] when it comes to the future of medicare and social security, you've earned the right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪ washington may not like straight talk, but i do. [ female announcer ] and you've earned a say. get the facts and make your voice heard on medicare and social security at earnedasay.org. on medicare and social security high schools in six states enrolled in the national math and science initiative... ...which helped students and teachers get better results in ap courses. together, they raised ap test scores 138%. just imagine our potential... ...if the other states joined them. let's raise our scores. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. >> announcer: this is the day. the day that we say to the world of identity thieves "enough." we're lifelock, and we believe you have the right to live free from the fear of identity theft. our pledge to you? as long as there are identity thieves, we'll be there. we're lifelock. and we offer the most comprehensive identity theft protection ever created. lifelock: relentlessly protecting your identity. call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. all politics is local was the motto of the late speaker of the house tip o'neill. truth is, it might just we'll be the theme of this year's campaign. president obama conducted interviews with local television stations six of them in november battleground states. >> what i want to do is just to keep on working as hard as i can to earn the trust of virginians and to earn the chance to continue to represent them. what we've seen is the committee in virginia has improved. and the unemployment rate in the a lot of areas has dropped significantly. >> mitt romney also announced a new bus tour, six states in five days. you guessed all of them battlegrounds. he's a fan of the local anchor route when it comes to meed yaltd interviews. governor romney has had nearly 200 of those this year and later, no surprise his choices just like the president's heavily favor the fall battlegrounds. >> it was new hampshire that will got me going. a big win here in new hampshire gave me the propulsion i needed. >> now, take a look at where the obama and romney campaigns are spending money on television ads. ten states for team obama at the moment and seven of the same states for team romney. notice a pattern perhaps? we list seven as tossups at the moment. a half dozen more states are possible swing states. the president has to work to protect pennsylvania, michigan and wisconsin. governor romney can't get toot confident about arizona. unless you live in one of the dozen or so battlegrounds, prepare to be ignored in the next 148 days. joining me, cmn political analyst ron brownstein, maria cardona and terrear wa wohl. we have a 50-50 race. this is as close as it gets and two-thirds of the countries are like watching, what's going on over there. >> i think it's a pretty good times for these states. as someone who cut their teething in local television, as you know, these local tv folks love to hear exactly from the candidate. it's more likely this far out than it is closer to the election. i think it is important that those undecided voters get an opportunity to hear straight from the horse's mouth. i think it goes a long way, absolutely. >> are there swing states diverse enough? you've got new hampshire, iowa, smaller rural states. you've got colorado out in the west, nevada out in the west. florida and ohio, of course. across the midwest. are the states diverse enough at least all of the issues get talked about? >> i think that's certainly true. the number one issue for everybody is the economy. i think that's an issue no matter where you are. i will say the folks who don't live in battleground states will probably be thanking their lucky stars by the end of the election. about you. >> i would say someone from mish gun, michigan is pretty diverse and so is ohio. >> the point is now there are really two sets of swing states that are very different. it used to be the road to the white house always ran through the midwest. now they're really one of the two paths. you have the midwestern cluster of michigan, ohio, wisconsin, iowa, pennsylvania, older preponderantly white states, still a lot of manufacturing though declining. now you have a second set of swing states in the southeast, nart, virginia, florida. all defined by growth, diversity and youth. very different. so i think between them you get a very different mix. the irony is those midwestern states are recovering somewhat faster than the sun belt states which were more heavily affected by the collapse of the housing market. >> the southwest states pose a particular challenge for mitt romney. there's a huge la lynn know community. right now he's lost. he has absolutely nothing to say to latino voters whether it's emigration and health care. >> look, the fact is, this is an issue that the president doesn't want to talk about. i don't think you've heard him or his campaign talking anything about the dismal unemployment numbers you brought up earlier in the black and hispanic community. governor romney just had a roundtable with hispanic business owners to address how pro growth policies are much more beneficial than just adding on layers of government because these businesses, these minority populations are suffering. i think the southern states actually tend to be a bit more conservative. i do think there is ground there he can build on. >> everybody stand by. we'll continue the conversation in just a moment. erin burnett is coming up at the top of the hour. stocks dropped sharply today on wall street responding to spain's bank bailout. why is the timing so critical? >> greece vote in just a few days essentially whether europe is going to stay together. and also because at first, everyone said spain is asking for money. that's great. stocks went up. thin everyone thought about it and said wait a minute, do they need more money? yes. do we know how much money? no. all of a sudden the market gets worried and says europe could be so much worse than we think it is now. it's a band-aid solution in spain. we have one of the biggest investors in all of this country on our show. some of the numbers of how much this col cost, mo are than $6 trillion. that's about the eight t.a.r.p.s. and the u.s. taxpayers will be a big part of that. this is a crucial issue for us at home. >> that will last part, u.s. taxpayers being a big part of that, watch that light up our politics. in just a moment, an update on the rapidly rising price tag for the flooding in the florida panhandle. plus the town trying to clean up its language and may fine you for cursing in public. 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[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ ♪ elping you do what you do... even better. you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. would ronald reagan be unwelcome in today's republican party? that question was raised today by a prominent republican named bush, jeb bush. let's get back to our conversation with our panel. here's what jeb bush, the former florida governor, says. he says, ronald reagan would have based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ound, similar to my dad,they wld have had a hard time if you define the republican party, and i don't, as having an orthodoxy that doesn't allow -- jeb bush says they would be pariahs for even being open to the possibility of compromise. >> i don't know about that. there are principles on which you stand as a party. there have been plenty of opportunities with this administration and with republicans to do that. there are core principles each party has. conservatives, remember, reamed george w. bush because he didn't adhere to some of the principles when it comes to a lower tax base, to bringing down the cost of government. these are conservative principles i think you're not going to get much movement on and rightly so. other issues, health care is a great example of where there could have been bipartisanship but it was the president and democrats that decided to drive this thing through in the dead of night -- >> but let's stay on republicans. we'll have plenty of time to talk about dead of night and health care. but ronald reagan, everybody in the republican party says he's their hero. >> legalized illegal immigrants and expanded access to abortion as governor of california. but jeb bush gets what's going to be the core issue we're going to face after the election. listen to mitt romney and barack obama on the campaign trail. we are deeply divided in the directions the parties want to take the country. but after the election, it's possible we'll be closely divided, we'll have an outcome that will leave us talking about something like the 50/50 nation. if the parties are so divergent in what they want to do, something has to give. he specifically lamented the moment of the gop debate where all the candidates said they would not take a 10-to-1 tax cut deal. if the country is closely divided, somebody has to give. >> grover norquist said this of jeb bush, that's foolish, it's stupid -- he stopped himself and said, it's bizarre. there's a guy who watched his father throw away his presidency on a 2 to 1 promise. he's just agreed to walk down the same alley his dad did with the same gang. >> here's why jeb bush is so credible on this. not only because he comes from an area where there was bipartisanship and he was that kind of governor but also because the majority of the american people -- we've seen it in poll after poll, blame the obstructionism in washington more on republicans than they do on democrats. and i think that that is something that republicans are looking at as an issue because americans want the parties to work together. and president obama tried time and time again to work with republicans. >> one quick question for grover -- >> at the moment, i'm in charge. i'm calling a time-out here. 148 days ago. we'll continue the argument. lisa sylvester has the latest news you need to know. do you want to jump in. >> lively discussion, john. blast after blast, shaking the syrian city of homs, an online video shows more than a dozen explosions in just one hour today. and in a disturbing new development, activists accuse the government of using helicopters to fire indrim natalie on a town in northwest syria. the u.s. state department calls it a serious escalation. activists say at least 90 people have died across syria today. hosni mubarak is in a coma. mubarak's condition deteriorated after he was sentenced to life in prison after the killing of pro-democracy demonstrators last year. his attorney says his client's condition is very critical. a request to move mubarak from jail to a military hospital was denied. his lawyer is now appealing. and the water has receded and the people in the florida panhandle are adding up the damage caused by this weekend's flash floods. roads and bridges were washed away, plenty of cars were submerged. one early estimate puts the cost of the floods at $20 million. and british prime minister david cameron and his wife accidentally left their 8-year-old daughter at a pub near their country house a couple of months ago. nancy cameron was in the bathroom when her parents took separate cars back thinking she was riding with the other parent. but they rushed back to the pub where his little girl was hanging out, waiting with the staff. what a story to tell, john. >> yeah, that's -- he's in politics. that's every parents' nightmare. tonight's moment you'll be glad you didn't miss. especially if you're heading for middleboro, massachusetts. residents vote on whether to enforce a $20 fine for cursing in public. the debate has been lively but family friendly. >> i don't think it will solve the problem. but i think it will make them understand what is acceptable behavior and what is not. >> we have more important things to do. but these are things that are quality of life issues that people don't want to see downtown. >> it doesn't hurt anyone physically.