Will gather to push the person they want to replace boehner as speaker of house, the second in line to the presidency. Kevin mccarthy, the House Majority leader and boehners number two guy is widely viewed as the front runner. But his path to the top has hit a few hurdles. One being from Jason Chaffetz. And now daniel websiter is in the mix and has the support of the House Freedom caucus. The caucus is believed to have up to 40 member, enough to block mccarthy from getting the full title when the house votes in a few weeks. One underscoring just how critical the choice is. I think folks are starting to realize we have a long way to go. Luckily we have three weeks to look at this. This is a major decision. Whoever gets this spot is second in line to the president of the united states. It is not necessarily about Campaign Contribution and those kind of things. Well take our time and were not going to be rushed into it. Cnn political reporter manu is joining me from the hill. What are you hearing about this upcoming vote is this. It appears that Kevin Mccarthy does have enough so forth in order to win that republican nomination today. He needs 125 votes from the Republican Congress members. What Officials Say is hes but as tim hills camp noted in that sound bite was that you need 218 votes in order to become elected speaker. And that is going to be the big hurdle the for mccarthy to overcome. The question for those house conservatives in the Freedom Caucus is whether or not they are going to continue to band together on the house floor and unite against mccarthy after todays vote we are not certain exactly how they are going to play that. I spoke to justin amash, a congressman in michigan, one of the leaders of the Freedom Caucus. And he says the caucus does want to unite but they want future meetings with presumably mccarthy if he does win that nomination today, try to get more concessions from him before they agree to voting for him on the house floor. But it is clear they want tro try to make him work for that support october 29th or my way see something unprecedented on the house floor, if there are many, many ballots. Well see how far it actually goes. You will stay on top of it. And cnn will continue to monitor this throughout the morning and the day well bring you any updates right here in the newsroom. And minutes from now jeb bush is expected to speak in des moines, iowa. Hes also holding a meet and greet over pizza with voters there later in the day. But rival ben carson is the one making big head lines this morning, facing backlash after doubling down on his controversial comments about last weeks mass shooting in oregon. Carson ignited a fire storm after suggesting that the shooting victims should have rushed the gunman. Now one of those victims is speaking out, telling cnn this. Quote, i am fairly upset he said that, nobody could truly understand what actions they would take like that in a situation unless they lived it. Lets bring in cnns athena jones from the campaign trail in iowa. How is carson now responding to the criticism over these comments . Carson isnt backing down. He says that the media has been trying to twist his words. And now he has a fellow rival for the gop nomination coming to his defense. Donald trump early yesterday in a tweet said that carson was not criticizing the victims of the shooting. He said later in the day after his event in waterloo, iowa that carson has been treated unfairly. So you have trump coming to his defense. But meanwhile this is an interesting turn. Carson has been advising folks to rush a gunman but he recounted a very different reaction when he was confronted by a gunman in baltimore some time ago. Listen to what he said in an interview with satellite radio just yesterday. Go ahead and play that. Guy comes in, puts the gun in my ribs. And i i just said, i believe that you want the guy behind the counter. In that calm way. That a calm way. He said oh, okay. So you just redirect i redirected him okay. So a bit of a contradiction there in that interview with sirius xm radio. And how is this going to resonate with voters do you think . Well that is the big question. A lot of voters you talk to, they say the appeal of ben carson is that hes not a politician. He says what he thinks, he doesnt worry about political correctness. He said that a lot, he doesnt worry about political correctness. And so far some of his past controversial comments havent hurt him in the polls. Take, for instance, his more recent remarks about not wanting to see a muslim in the white house. That hasnt hurt his poll numbers so the question is who his latest comments will hurt him or if voters, his supporters will continue to give him the benefit of the doubt. Well be watching. We will indeed. Athena jones, thank you very much. After the backlash, the backtracking were talking about another controversial comment. It all started when media mogul Rupert Murdoch sent out a treat saying ben carson would be a real black president. Here is the tweet. And i take a look. Ben and candy carson, terrific. What about a real black president who can properly address the racial divide and much else . Well that tweet of course being seen as the district hit at president obama. And when a spokesman for 21st century fox was asked about it what murdock meant . She just simply said we dont comment on his tweets. A few minutes ago murdock sent out another tweet. He said apologies. No offense meant. Personally find both men charming. Lets talk about this. Welcome jeffrey, welcome good morning ana. Lets go to you first jeffrey. I want your take on that tweet by murdock. What do you think he meant . Interestingly when president obama was senator obama and was running in 2008, an African American writer by the name of david aaronsteen wrote a piece in the Los Angeles Times referring to senator obama as quo quote unquote the magic negro. And by that he meant someone like Sidney Portier and others who are not seen in his words quote unquote threatening and not, quote, authentically black li like. Beyond that i really couldnt say here. I just think this is sort of an old argument thats somehow pop you had up here with mr. Burr do murdock but its been said before and by an African American. Three words that could carry so much meaning to different people. Real black president. You dont think murdoch is questioning obamas race or i dont know what hes doing. If there is some inflection of White Privilege or billionaire sbie entitlement thats forced him to make these comments. Here is a guy whos not black, not even american telling African Americans who we should support as our president. If i were to make a comment and say Malcolm Turnbull the Prime Minister of australia isnt a real white Prime Minister. I think people would be offended. They would think thats ridiculous comment and the idea that this comment would be made at all by murdoch is problematic. Regardless of the apology. I think im also tired of this conservative sort of disingenuous concern about black people. Because the comment was framed by Rupert Murdoch in a sense that well black people should be really upset because obama hasnt done enough for them. But when was Rupert Murdoch ever really concerned about what obama has done for black people or what black people need in the first place. If he were concerned he would probably listen to black people who would tell him they support obama far more than they support ben carson. I do want to talk about the comments. About what he could do in a situation which a gunman opens fire and now he seems to be doubling down. Part of his appeal as athena mentioned is he says what he thinks but did he go too far this time . Or does i do think hes being criticized unfairly. Ive met doctor carson. He is a lovely human being. I dont think he intended to day the folks in the classroom should have done a, b or c. I think he was just saying in a general sense, you know, trying to make a decision as to what people should do in a future situation. I dont think by any stretch of the imagination was he intending to criticize the people in that classroom t kids in that classroom. That just is not ben carson. I think it is unfair. Keith, you know, carson came out in the sirius xm radio interview and talked about having been con fronted with a gun previously in which he didnt charge the gunman. And it was a different situation. More of a hold up. But one thing he said in the interview he told the gunman you dont want me, you want the guy across the counter. What kind of an answer is that . Yeah that is a really macho move i guess to make, you know. But i dont know what ben carson was thinking when he made that comment about the people who were killed. I think that its more important that ben carson is diverting attention away from the real issue, which is the issue of what we do about the problem of gun violence in this country. So he made the same mistake. His insensitive remarks were the same mistake that South Carolina republican lawmaker made after the slaughter there at the Emmanuel Church there. When he commented that those people in the church should have fought back. And i think this is the sort of tone deafness among republicans who are so caught up in this imagery of machismo and gun rights that they forget that people are actually wanting policy solutions to the problems of gun violence in this country. So they think that they can just spout of rambo lines and that is enough to satisfy the needs of the American People who are rightly concerned about the problems. All right. Thanks for the thoughtful discussion, guys. Keith and jeffrey, great to have you. A quick note for viewers here. Make sure you stay with cnn. Ben carson will be on air with wolf blitzer today at 1 00 p. M. Eastern. Sirius sere syria says it is launching a major attack on isis thanks to russia for paving the way. But it may not all be what it seems. The most advanced iphone yet. Get the new iphone 6s at tmobile. The network thats double its lte coverage in the past year. Our new extented range lte™ signal now reaches twice as far as before. And its 4x better in buildings. Want more . Get the lowest price on iphone 6s with tradein. Zero upfront and just 5 bucks a month with jump on demand™ get it now at tmobile. Plan well and enjoy life. Or, as we say at unitedhealthcare Insurance Company, go long. 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I really believe we only live once, and so you need to take an idea that you have and go for it. You have the opportunity to say, ive been part of the creation of over 27,000 units of housing, and to replicate this across the entire african continent. Welcome back. The situation in syria is intensifying this morning. Forces loyal to a syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad are now launching a wide scale offensive. The top general telling syrian tv that a week of russian air strikes have now cleared the way for the syrian army to fight isis. But take a look at this map. You can see russian air strikes appear to be hitting primarily rebel held territories which want assad out of power. Not fesly isis strong heldses. Do we have any new details about syrians stepped up military action. They are claiming they now have this wide spread ground offensive going after terrorist targets. I think it is doubtful that the u. S. Or nato would agree with them on that. The view from the pentagon is that the syrians are very much going after forces that are opposed to their regime. The very forces that could topple Bashar Al Assad. The forces that the russians are also attacking. All of this really taking place, the overwhelming majority of the attacks taking place in western syria, where there are no real isis strongholds. This is an area of civilians and people opposed to the assad regime. So it may be with syrian government, with the Syrian Military is saying. A lot of skepticism here about the validity of those claims. And you have also learned there was this incident between u. S. And russian aircraft, american plane vs having to avo an incident of sorts. What can you tell us about that. Two days ago, two f16s flying over Eastern Syria were on a mission to strike an isis target when a russian aircraft came within 20 nautical miles. And the u. S. Has instituted rules that when a russian aircraft comes within 20 miles the u. S. Pilots need to divert and move away. Why . Because officials tell us the u. S. Military is very much taking responsibility for its own safety, for the safety of american pilots and american air crews flying over syria. It is not that they think the russians are going to shoot them down. But the russians very aggressive fliers. There is still no Technical Agreement about how the two militaries will keep themselves safe in the sky from any accidents with each other. So until all of that happens, in order to stay safe, pentagon Officials Say pilots will move away if the russians come within that 20 mile limit. Very quickly, do we know when there is supposed to be a meeting between russians and the u. S. To work out this agreement as far as the air space goes . Yeah that is everybodys question, absolutely. I mean it could happen really at any time. They just have to work it auout. There was a meeting last week, a first meeting. The u. S. Put some proposals on the table. We are told the russians put some proposals on the table. And now they have to sit down again. Again, a very technical military agreement. But it means everything because it is what is supposed to keep pilots of both sides safe up there. Real important there. Barbara starr, thanks for your reporting. Lets check the top stories. Doctors without borders now revealing new details about the deadly u. S. Air strike on its hospital in afghanistan. Cnn was at a press Conference Held in kabul just hours ago and here is what we have learned. 24 Staff Members remain missing along with nine patients. Charity officials, still havent been able to reach the bombed facility. And when they do, they still expect the death toll to rise. They also say staff reported no taliban fighting around the hospital on the night of the attack. President obama has formally apologized for this strike but this group says it is not enough. It wants an international investigation. An update now from the flooding carolinas. Two people who drove around the barricade and went missing yesterday during this show in the flood waters, they have now been found dead. That raises the death toll to historic 19. Right now more than 400,000 residents are under a boil water advisory. Their misery isnt over yet. 13 dams have failed. Another 62 are still being monitored and the damage estimates are climbing into the billions of dollars. This just into cnn, the hero from the oregon shooting last week has just been released from the hospital. This is army vet chris mintz. And still to come. The search for survivors now called off. Why president obama says the u. S. Government will still do everything it can to salvage the wreckage from el faro, next. vo what does the world run on . It runs on optimism. Its what sparks ideas. Moves the world forward. Invest with those who see the world as unstoppable. 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