it is september 14th. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." i'm carol costello joining you live this morning from new york. thanks for waking up with us. nearly one in six americans are now living in poverty. that's according to a new report from the census bureau. it's a gut check on where we stand in the wake of the recession. here are the raw numbers from the government. 46.2 million lived in poverty in 2010. that's over 15% of the population, the highest level since 1993. for a family of four, the poverty line is just over $22,000 a year. some advocates for the poor say that bar is way too low, but the conservative heritage foundation is pushing back again. >> if you qualify as being in poverty today, then you're really in deep poverty because that number is so low. that's based on an outdated formula from the '60s. >> i think that these numbers are designed to exaggerate the extent of poverty in the united states in order to build a larger welfare state, and it does make it more difficult for us to target the assistance to those who truly need it. >> the income for a typical american family also took a hit last year, falling slightly to about $49,500 per year. those numbers come as president obama pushes his jobs bill today. he heads to north carolina to build support for that $447 billion jobs plan. but a lot of americans still don't know what to make of it, according to a new cnn/orc poll. 43% support it, 35% oppose and 22% are unsure. speaking of congressional republicans, they had a good night, winning a pair of special house elections. let's start in new york with a seat left empty by ex-kocongre s ex-congressman and twit pic fan anthony weiner. an anti-washington wave. >> this is an historic race. we've been asked by the people of this district to send a message to washington, and i hope they hear it loud and clear. >> same message in northern nevada from gop candidate mark amodei who crushed his democratic contender, keeping that seat in republican hands. after he and turner officially start work in congress, there will be 242 republicans in the house, 192 democrats. a suspected kidnapper wanted for taking a 3-year-old canadian boy has finally been caught. this is randall hopley. officers say he snatched the boy from his home last week and kept him for four days before returning him unharmed over the weekend. and then hopley took off. police tracked him to the alberta border where he was detained. it is not clear if he's yet been charged. the lawyer who defended casey anthony in her murder trial has lined up a new job. he's been hired to represent gary giordano. the man being held in the disappearance of his travel companion in aruba. law enforcement officials tell cnn jose baez has traveled to aruba to meet his new client who has been in jail since early august when robyn gardner vanished. meantime, casey anthony's parents say she suffers from a string of medical problems that may explain what happened to their granddaughter. cindy and george anthony appeared on "the dr. phil show," suggesting that casey may have been suffering from seizures around the time that 2-year-old caylee went missing? >> i don't know why she's having a seizure. does she have a brain tumor whetumor? were they caused by stress? i don't know if she had a seizure that day and blacked out? i don't know what's happened. and that's what i want to find out down the road. and i'm not making justifications for that, but there's a cause for those. you don't just have a grand mal seizure. >> another portion of dr. phil's interview takes place today. a wildfire in northeast men minimum grew nearly tenfold in just one day. it now covers roughly 100,000 acres, and it's prompted the evacuation of several homes as a precaution. this adds to the long list of active wildfires across the country. let's head to atlanta now and check in with jacqui jeras. wow element wow! it's been what, the hottest summer on record? >> yeah, minnesota is on the dry side and they also have strong winds moving in. it's a very dense forested year, the national superior forest. in fact, a spent a lot of time up there in the boundary waters canoe area if you're familiar at all. it's very chilly this morning. temperature about 34 degrees in eli which is near there. and the winds will be a little on the gusty side today. maybe 15, pushing 20 miles per hour. there's a very strong cold front that's moving through. and tomorrow morning even colder than this morning in the upper midwest. take a look at that freeze threat. frost and freeze advisories where temperatures will be in the upper 20s to lower 30s. you don't mind that cool air, but you don't want the breezes coming in along with that cold front. and that's really the big weather story across the country today as that cold front that's going to be bringing temperatures cool all the way down to the gulf coast by the end of the week. so this is a nice big break for a whole lot of people. it is going to be impacting your travel, looking for thunderstorms for major delays in st. louis, las vegas, a few thunderstorms as well as denver, looking for that cooldown there, too. and san francisco looking for fog and wind this morning. all right, carol. check out these pictures. it's just amazing. this is out of alaska. about 20,000 walruses or so have been forced further to the south. you know, the sea ice has been shrinking. it was a record year for that as well. and so they were forced to move into areas that they don't normally move into. so kind of sad pictures but just amazing to see so many of them in one place. >> i hope they're getting the food they need. >> i know. they're worried about that. >> you do. jacqui jeras, many thanks. comedian stephen colbert tried to read president obama's entire 199-page jobs plan. what happened instead? hint, you may see a flying car. check it out. >> last night, i'll tell you, i sat down to read this 199-page boondoggle, but luckily the tv was on. jim? more than half of that is tax cuts plus new spending on schools, roads and bridges. >> okay. tax cuts, i understand. but we don't need the government building bridges and roads. that was proven by reagan's secretary of transportation, bo duke. he did not use paved roads, and he sure as hell did not need bridges. >> no, he did not. target officials tell us they've never seen anything like this before. we're talking about target, the store. it's been nearly 24 hours since the launch of the new missoni clothing line. and target's website is still down. it crashed. let's check out the quote of the day before we get into that, though. here is the quote. quote, if she walked in here right now, i wouldn't be surprised. end quote. hmm. find out who said this about amy winehouse. it's coming your way in 90 seconds. it's seven minutes past the hour. if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? 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[ crunching, sipping ] be happy. be healthy. can i try yours? it is nine minutes after the hour. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." now back to our quote of the day about amy winehouse. this is the quote. quote, if she walked in here right now, i wouldn't be surprised, end quote. that came from amy's father, mitch winehouse. he said this to piers morgan last night. listen. >> if she walked in here right now, i wouldn't be surprised. it's just incredible that a force, her force, her nature, has gone, but it hasn't really gone because, you know, i'm a firm -- as all my family are, we're firm believers in life after death, and she's right here with us all the time. let's talk about google and target. they're leading the tech headlines this morning. let's head to kong huang and kristi lu stout. and google may be leading more flight bargains for people? >> that's right. on tuesday, they launched flight search. it's a new online tool to plan economy air travel in the u.s. just go to google.com/flights and you'll see flight options from a variety of airlines which you can sort by departure or arrival time, route, airline or price. once you're ready to book your flight, click on the booking link, and it will take you directly to the airline's website. now, google flight search also has a calendar to find low-price fares and an interactive map. and i tried it just now, and the results, they seem to appear instantly. but carol, i won't be using it any time soon. again, u.s. flights only for the time being. >> so i'll use it, then. let's talk about target because this is amazing. >> that's right. it's all about this collaboration between missoni and target. and it is so popular, it has crashed. the retailer's website. a wide array of consumers clamored to target the zigzag designs. that prompted target to issue a statement. it reads, "target.com is seeing greater item demand than we do on a typical black friday. and it goes on to say we are slowly bringing the site back online to ensure that we can provide a positive shopping experience." the missoni mania wasn't only online. items ranging from scarves to coats sold out across the country. missoni for target items are yes, appearing on ebay. that has prompted the designer to tweet this. and she tweets, "you guys, very silly to buy on ebay for three times the price. for that money, go out and get "m" missoni." a huge coup for target but also a big branding bonanza for the italian fashion house. >> that's true. the point is for missoni to sell missoni products at bargain prices at target and then people put them on ebay. it doesn't make sense. thanks very much. >> there's no logic here. social psychology. anyway. >> anyway, christi lou stokri k thanks. chuck woolery isn't showing much love for the super-rich who explain about not getting taxed enough. you'll hear from him just ahead. but first, splurge on your calorie count today because it is national cream-filled doughnut day. the most popular cream-filled doughnuts are -- chocolate cream and vanilla cream. it's 12 minutes past the hour. 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[ kimberly ] and university of phoenix made it possible. learn more at phoenix.edu. nce kimberly ] and university of phoenix made it possible. companies you're just a policy. at aviva, we're bringing humanity back to insurance and putting people before policies. aviva life insurance and annuities. we are building insurance around you. it is 14 minutes past the hour. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." at monday night's cnn tea party debate, you saw a sea of red, white and blue. the stage, the lapel pins, even candidates' ties and sweaters red, white and blue. but comedian jon stewart says most of the candidates saw another color, green. here's your punch line. >> i believe there was a point to last night's amerigasm, which was for seven ambitious republicans to give a jealousy-fueled beatdown to this one other republican. >> you can't secure the border i think is a treasonous comment. >> what governor perry's done is provided in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. maybe that was an attempt to attract the legal vote. >> governor perry pointed out that in his view, that social security is unconstitutional. >> i don't want to offend the governor because he might raise my taxes or something. >> the drug company gave thousands of dollars in political donations to the governor, and this is just flat out wrong. >> through it all, perry just kept grinning and scribbling away on his pad. what's he writing, anyway? let's take a look at that. oh! >> that's really funny. perry in his own words, i feel like a human pinata. time for your political ticker with rick farley live from washington. good morning, tim. >> good to be the front-runner, isn't it, carol? >> it certainly is. he was joking again last night, but we'll get into that later. let's talk about something fun, first off. chuck woolery. now, i remember him from "love connection," but he's actually -- i guess he's sharing his thoughts on the super-rich, taxes and the state of politics in america. please share. >> to those suffering with the unbearable pain of obnoxiously high bank balances or low back pain from sitting on overstuffed wallets, i say forget waiting for congress to do something. let's act now. my team of researchers has found a provision in the u.s. tax code that allows you to pay more in taxes. on page 88 of the irs tax preparation manual, you'll find directions on how to do just that. >> i don't even know what to say about that, frankly. >> can i just admit that chuck woolery was not my cultural touchstone of the 1980s? i do remember the hair and the rainbow brite. it just goes to this whole thing whether or not people feel like there's something going on with the rich. i guess you can pick on hollywood, too. the president right now trying to say let's get some tax rates up for the rich, and the rich are saying yeah, we're going to pay more. we'll hear what the american people say. it's always fun to hear a fireside chat from a tv host. >> at least some among the rich want to pay higher taxes. >> yes. >> let's talk about this interesting race that's going to take place in massachusetts. ell elizabeth warren who is a progressive liberal -- i don't know, they absolutely love her. she has decided to take on scott brown. here's a clip from her just released campaign video. >> i'm going to do this. i'm going to run for the united states senate. and the reason is straightforward. middle-class families have been chipped at, hacked at, squeezed and hammered for a generation now, and i don't think washington gets it. >> so do you think, tim, she can beat scott brown who used to be a tea party favorite, but i'm not so sure he is right now because he's trying to, of course, appear, i guess, a little more liberal to massachusetts voters. >> yeah. this is the big question, of course. and massachusetts is a fascinating kaleidoscopic political story for 2012 and 2014. brown won that seat that was held for so long by edward kennedy. what we have is elizabeth warren, scott brown drives a truck, and he's very popular. the mayor of boston says he's a great campaigner. and tom is a democrat. what is at work here is that elizabeth warren can get a lot of money. she really pushes the buttons of a lot of people on the left. massachusetts is going to lose two congressional seats. and there is still some question about whether or not someone else might get into the race. six announced candidates so far. she's got to get through the democratic primary first. and there's democrats waiting around, those in congress, to see if they want to run for john kerry's seat in 2014 just in case he decides to become secretary of state, although he's said look, he's happy in the senate. so all of these are questions. and to the point of will she win or could she win? she's polling about nine points behind, but that's very early. and this is going to be a fascinating race to watch, especially because scott brown won in 2009, but he didn't have to go against barack obama who is also on the ballot in 2012. this is going to be a real barn burner. >> yeah, it will be interesting. it will be interesting, too, because elizabeth warren has never run for public office, so we'll see how she fits into that scene. tim farley, thanks so much for joining us once again this morning. we appreciate it. new developments to tell you about on those american hikers held in iran. we got word that they were getting out of jail. now we're getting a different story. the details on that coming up after a quick break. it's 19 minutes past the hour. i want healthy skin for life. 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[ male announcer ] small business solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. it's 22 minutes past the hour. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." a developing news out of iran this morning about the release of those two american hikers jailed as spies. reuters now reporting that an iranian judicial official says there is no decision on whether shane bauer and josh fattal will be let go. of course, that's a mixed message because just yesterday the hikers' attorney said they'd be free as soon as each paid $500,000 bail. and iran's president echoed that on nbc news. the two were arrested while hiking along the border, accused of espionage and illegally entering iran. a siege of the u.s. embassy in kabul, afghanistan, is over this morning nearly a full day after it began. security forces killed six taliban attackers who targeted one of the most secure areas in afghanistan's capital. let's head around the world now wi live in london. so what's the aftermath on this? >> yeah, carol, it was described as a carefully planned attack. as you were saying, taliban militants launched a strike tuesday against the u.s. embassy and nato command, headquarters in the afghan capital, kabul. today this wednesday, it is a tense calm there in the afghan capital. militants stormed a building just blocks from the u.s. embassy and attacked the vicinity of the embassy and the isaf headquarters. they used small arms fire and rpgs. six militants, three afghan police officers and a civilian were killed in this. while there were no american or isaf casualties, authorities say it was a carefully planned attack despite the highly secured area of the capital. this incident underscores just how vulnerable the capital still is to militant strikes, carol. >> absolutely. let's talk about this deadly crash in argentina. two trains and a bus involved? >> yeah. it's quite a strange s