>> it's so nice to be here. nice to sit next to you. >> this is the news from a to b. >> i love it. i'm brooke baldwin. it's bright and early. >> we do appreciate it, brooke. 5:00 a.m. in the east. let's start with this one, shall we? hitting the road today. up first, the obama bus tour ready to roll this morning and heading for the white house. betting on america tour kicks off with four campaign stops in ohio today, and then it's on to pennsylvania for an appearance in the steel city tomorrow. brenda keeler is live in washington. i like that beginning, ohio, because in the campaign we like to say ohio, ohio, ohio. but really, the message is kind of universal for president obama. he wants to hit the economy hard, doesn't he? >> reporter: he'll be talking about the economy and he's trying to draw a contrast. he'll be emphasizing the auto bailout. that plays very big, specifically in ohio, because this is a place that is number one when talking about auto suppliers. he'll also be emphasizing the stimulus. the idea here is this betting on america tour. it's him saying that he made some bets and they paid off, and then he's going to be drawing this contrast, like i mentioned. mitt romney, he'll basically be painting him as he has, from president obama's point of view, a calculating kind of wall street guy who put profit ahead of creating jobs. so what does that mean? yes, more bane capital attacks. you can expect we'll be seeing that from president obama on this tour. >> we've been hearing about this, sort of kicking off he's the king of outsourcing line. but is that such a clever thing to do at this point, particularly when the president is pretty vulnerable on the economy front? >> and also because some democrats have obviously parted ways with him very visibly last month, bill clinton very big among them. the reason the campaign and president obama are, if you will, doubling down or even tripling down in a way on this, is because they feel like it's sinking in and there are some polls that are kind of showing that. when you look at some polls recently -- and let's look specifically at a poll that was done and the results from the states that president obama is going to. in ohio, he's doing pretty well there. 47% to 38% over romney, well above that margin of error. in pennsylvania, among likely voters and their choice for president, 45% over 39% for romney. and this is something that happened before that supreme court ruling last week, so the thought here is that some of these arguments may be sinking in and the campaign is going to continue with them. >> thank you. so here's a question this morning. when is a tax not exactly a tax? mitt romney and his senior advisor having a bit of trouble getting on the same page when it comes to the president's health care law. i want you to listen to the top romney aide earlier this week. he was describing his candidate's opinion of the supreme court ruling that the individual mandate is a tax. >> the governor believes that what we nut place in massachusetts was a penalty and he disagrees with the court's ruling that the mandate was a tax. >> okay. as we said, that was earlier this week. according to romney's top aide, he believes the individual mandate in the president's health care law is a penalty. that was monday. fast forward to yesterday. witness the candidate changing gears a bit. >> the supreme court is the highest word. they said it was a tax, didn't they? so it's a tax. that's what it is. >> the individual mandate is a tax. that is romney's position, the new position. and he's using it to his advantage now, blasting the president for breaking a promise to raise taxes -- not to raise taxes on the middle class. it kind of felt like 1776 for a lot of americans, the hottest and stickiest night out there without any relief. >> still is. >> can you imagine? this is a serious bummer. about 700,000 people still with no power across 12 states and the nation's capital this morning. six days after the powerful series of storms went blowing through, fueled by extreme heat. this is what washington's massive power outage looks like from space. it's kind of obvious. amazing before-and-after images taken by a nasa satellite for us. extensive power outages in washington and baltimore. visible, clearly, in these images. looks like stars if you squint and you realize you're looking the other way. in west virginia, the heat and the power outages have led to a food crisis, too. people having to toss out everything from their freezers and stores also. look at the shelves. >> empty. >> everything was spoiling, they had to toss everything out. very much of a concern. food banks also struggling. red cross expecting to provide 25,000 meals today to people. and now we have the bad news to report that 22 people have now died as a result of the storms and the dangerous heat as well. >> rob marciano, we've seen you in colorado following the fires there. what is it this morning, 90% contained? some good news as we start our day after the holiday. >> yeah, and a little bit of moisture heading to that direction as well, but the moisture and the heat remain in the same spots. we start off like we've been doing for two weeks now with a slew of record highs. st. louis, 105 yesterday. evansville, 103. madison, 102. milwaukee, 102. chicago also broke the 100-degree mark. so it was a toasty 4th of july, no doubt about that. it continues today. minneapolis, chicago, st. louis, cincinnati, you're all under extreme heat warnings. philadelphia as well and parts of the mid atlantic under heat advisories. you are starting off in a hurry. it's currently 86 degrees right now in st. louis. 82 degrees in chicago. so we're getting a head start. 79 degrees in louisville. it certainly is feeling very soupy out there in spots. of course, with the power outages, still almost 700,000 of them. this is a dire situation. some severe storms will break out across the southern tier, but here comes the moisture. don't want them to drop too much rain, because the landscape out there is pretty scarred, but they'll certainly take whatever moisture we get. 101 is what's expected today in memphis. expected to be 101 again in chicago. even though the big apple to boston not under a heat advisory, it's certainly going to be toasty. and really, we don't see much relief until we get through the weekend, brooke. 98 degrees on sunday in d.c. and maybe finally getting below 90 by the time monday rolls around. so we're still in the thick of this. >> walking in my hotel room this morning, it's like this wall of soupy heat. >> it hits you. >> it definitely hits you, rob. thank you so much. >> it's seven minutes now past 5:00 on the east coast. george zimmerman could find out a little later on today whether he's going to be allowed out of jail. this as he awaits his trial. a judge may rule today on whether the neighborhood watch volunteer is going tbe allowed to post bond. he is, of course, facing second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager trayvon martin. mexico has begun recounting ballots in its di putined early election. andres manuel lopez has refused to concede. this recount is expected to be finished by sunday. we've got some hopeful housing news for you this morning. the foreclosure rate is falling. that's great. in fact, fewer mortgages were delinquent in the first quarter this year than at any time in the last four years. according to the treasury department's office of the comptroller, the number of new foreclosures down 8% from this time last year. and the seriously delinquent mortgages, they're down 6.4% from a year ago. listen to this one. a south florida lifeguard fired for helping rescue a drowning man this week. >> that's crazy. >> it's nuts. 21-year-old thomas lopez realized the swimmer was in the water struggling outside -- this happened outside this lifeguard's zone in an unprotected part of the beach. after dashing to his rescue, helping out, he got fired for leaving his post. >> i'm not going to put my job over helping someone again. i'm going to do what i felt was right and i did. >> two other lifeguards at this beach have to quit to protest lopez's firing. lopez is going to join erin burnett. nothing says happy 4th of july better than a huge fireworks display. the land of the free, home of the brave. thousands of people lining up on manhattan's west side to watch the annual macy's 4th of july spectacular. or they lined up in front of their television sets. it was great and regis was hosting. 40,000 fireworks lighting up the skies over the hudson river. just a thing of beauty, ain't it? so, i'm calling it. it's 5:10 in the morning on the east coast and this is thus far my favorite story of the morning. we can call this a fireworks fail. maybe not so if you were watching this. this entire 4th of july fireworks show, boom, exploding all at once. check it out. >> whoa. >> beginning, the middle, and the end. this was san diego, the big bay boom. and kind of went bust. here's the deal. all the fireworks were supposed to be this whole 17-minute show. whoops. they all went off at the same time five minutes before the show was supposed to start. can you imagine sitting there with your kids, and all of a sudden like what's going on? and all of a sudden it's over. 20 minutes later, thousands of people told sorry, show's over. get home. event producers are investiga investigating the glitch. 17 minutes of fireworks all going off in under 60 seconds. >> holy cow. >> i think it's kind of cool. >> it's hilarious because nobody got hurt. thank god. >> thank goodness. >> but what a show. >> less than 60 seconds. >> nothing like going out for a little finale. >> i love it. so it's mylanta this morning. the people who took part of the hot dog eating contest. joey chestnut retaining the mustard belt. who writes this stuff? he won his sixth straight title downing -- are you ready -- 68 hot dogs, the weiner and the bun and so he ties his world record. but here's maybe the bigger story. the black widow, sonya thomas, won the women's contest but broke her own record with 45 dogs and buns. she's like 100 pounds. >> she's itty bitty. >> it deidentifies logic, doesn't it? >> in a competing contest, did you know there was a competing contest? >> no. >> here you go. it was the first ever kriff hot dog classic. he's in a the nathan's people. he said i'm going to start my own contest. he scarfed 68 1/2 hot dogs. so you could say he kind of won. >> look at him. he's like look at all those hot dogs in my belly. >> how could his belly still be like a wash board? >> because he didn't eat for like a week before. >> apparently his 68 1/2 not being recognized by the powers that be. so he just has to crif it out. >> scandal. >> but 68 for joey chestnut. 68 1/2 for kobayashi. >> i'm wondering how he's feeling after scarfing down the hot dogs. no, thank you. to the catch of the day here. this shark took six fishermen to haul in. so big it actually broke the scale. >> unreal. 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"wall street journal." you ready for the mini ipad? >> yes, i am. >> i'm afraid i'm going to lose this thing. >> i love the ipad. >> i don't have a good track record with my iphones. apple lovers wide-eyed this morning over a report that says apple is preparing to unveil a mini tablet by november, so it's going to be smaller than your ipad, but larger than the iphone, right around eight inches. the journal reports component suppliers in asia have been ordered by apple to gear up for mass production. >> i have to say, i like it. the iphone is too small, the ipad is a pain in the butt, hauling it around. >> and you like it just right. >> just right. goldilocks. you are funny. >> thanks, man. i don't have a filter. >> you can take a look at all the expanded top stories at cnn.com/earlystart. should you rent? should you buy? poppy harlow will join us next with some new information on the housing market. ale announcer ] we believe small things can make a big difference. like how a little oil from here can be such a big thing in an old friend's life. purina one discovered that by blending enhanced botanical oils into our food, we can help brighten an old dog's mind so he's up to his old tricks. with this kind of thinking going into our food, imagine all the goodness that can come out of it. just one way we're making the world a better place... one pet at a time. vibrant maturity. from purina one smartblend. 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