earlier, three others who have already done that, four now with herman cain, but you have newt gingrich who is officially running, the former governor of new mexico, gary johnson, who is officially running. also texas congressman ron paul who has officially declared candidacy. tim pawlenty will do it as well, and this field is beginning to solidify and gel a little more. shannon and peter, thanks to both of you. we want to turn now to the developing story that we have been covering on cnn. you re going to hear a lot of four-letter words on the mississippi levees these days, but none as dreaded as r-a-i-n. the forecast calls for downpours, dumping up to 3 inches per hour in some places. what that means for the levee system is not clear yet. right now, the mississippi river is cresting in naches, mississippi. it s just shy of 62 feet. almost 14 feet above flood stage. even though it s not expected to get higher, it s expected to stay above flood stage for weeks.
event, and peter handy who is on the trail with mitt romney. shannon, cain may not have the name recognition others have. give us the lowdown on him. some of the things you mentioned, he has solid business experience, a financial background. he was the former ceo of godfather s pizza. he had other experience in other profile executive experience in restaurants. he s going to run on that, don. he s going to run on the fact he has solid business credentials, and he s got immense tea party support. he hopes that will help differentiate him from the more well known names like mitt romney and newt gingrich. part of the announcement was to drum up support, but part was also like a reintroduction. i m herman cain, the business guy, and if you re worried about where the economy is going, i m the one you have to support. this is romney s first trip. tell us what he s doing and why the state is so important. this is the state, mitt romney is the front runner for the republican no
and several inches of rainfall across the swollen rivers of new jersey, pennsylvania, and parts of new england and where we have the flood warnings that are posted already because the rivers are already in flood stage. in most cases, just minor flooding but with the addition of several inches of more rainfall, this is what our forecast calls for, the bright yellow and red, that means anywhere from 3 to 4 and in some cases, 5 inches of rainfall across eastern pennsylvania and up through new england as well and that is cause for alarm in those communities that are already seeing the rivers on the rise. the other threat is severe weather across the mid-atlantic today. virginia, the delmarva and parts of north carolina. i don t think we will see the intensity of the severe weather yesterday we saw in the form of tornadoes but we will see damaging winds and what we saw yesterday, with the rainfall this area has seen, you don t need tremendous wind to take down big, big trees. i think we re
you ve been getting snow on the northern side of the storm system. a little bit of everything. don t have to deal with too much severe weather. the flooding is the biggest concern and you know that heavy rain set up over the last couple of hours from little rock to memphis, north of jonesboro, that s where we ll have problems on the roads. the forecast calls for as much as two to three inches of rain. that ribbon there of yellow and orange, that s where the worst of the flooding will occur. especially concerned with areas around cleveland and northern ohio. that s who had the flooding. the forecast today, partly cloudy skies in areas like boston and new york with a chance of some showers. the heavy rain there in the ohio valley, the west coast and northern plains not really looking at too many inches. light rain coming onshore in northern california. back to you, alex. thank you, bill karins, for that. now take a look at this. it s a drama playing out high in the air in yonkers, new
sometimes to more than one man at the same time. she convinced zahra s father to move from australia to north carolina after they met on the internet. what a horrible story. the polls are open in chicago where rahm emanuel is expected to become the next mayor. that s what he s running for today. the forecast calls for cold and snow in the windy city and could put a dent in voter turnout. the president s former chef of staff has been leading in the polls by as many as 30 points. over 73,000 early votes have been cast in this race. brian? all eyes on new jersey governor chris christie today as he delivers his state budget address in trenton, new jersey. conservatives who have praised the governor for his tough stance on spending has floated his name for a possible presidential candidate. they want to know how he plans to close the budget gap. expected to call tofor cuts in pensions and for changing the way new jersey funds its schools. next hour, steve will take you