killing three soldiers in the country's southern helmand province. >> cnn's chris lawrence is live from the pentagon. what are your sources telling you about this attack this morning? >> well, john, they say they are still trying to figure out whether this was actually a true afghan police officer or someone just wearing the uniform. although the taliban is claiming that this was an actual afghan policeman who lured these three soldiers to his residence or to a party and had planned to kill them for some time. u.s. military officials are now confirming that part of the detail. but again, it speaks to a larger issue, which is trust in the fact that if this is a so-called green on blue attack, where afghan troops turn on their american allies, it would be the third time just this week. in fact, in the big picture, there have been more attacks already this year of that kind than all of last year, john. >> all right, chris lawrence at the pentagon. the story developing at this moment. we know you'll stay on it here. a cnn exclusive this morning. inside the wisconsin temple where six people died and three others wounded. this is video shot exclusively by cnn. it shows a stark reminder of this attack of bullet hole that punctured the door leading to the main fare area. that remains and members say it will stay as a reminder of what happened. >> ted rowlands is live outside of oak creek high school where a memorial service will be held a little later today. and ted, just back to the temple. i know you've been inside the temple and talking to a lot of members. what are they telling you? >> reporter: well, they are very emotional as you can imagine going into that temple was very emotional. we saw where each of the four victims were killed inside that temple. we also saw a pantry where 16 women and children were crammed inside for two hours. some of them injured, not knowing if the gunman was going to come back to continue to shoot. we also talked to family members that were in the temple. one of the sons that lost his father talked not only about the victims but also addressed the shooter. >> simply put, our families, his mother, who left behind two beautiful boys and was the only mother -- imagine losing your mother. our father, the four other victims, the people shot and in the hospital, the police officer that did his job, they are heroes. they are living the american dream. the other person was a coward. and at the end of the day, he should always be remembered as a coward. >> reporter: and today, brooke, we are expecting thousands of people to come here to oak creek high school where allix victims bodies will be out in the gymnasium. people will have a chance to pay respects. >> hearing that man speak, i can't help but shaking my head at this whole thing. ted rowlands, thanks so much. mitt romney begins a bus tour through four swing states, virginia, north carolina and ohio. and democrats are tagging alone. in less than three hours, the democratic national committee is kicking off its own bus tour in virginia that will mirror mitt romney's trip. >> they plan to tell voters they think romney would in their words put the middle class under the bus. of course they have a bus to prove it there. tom periello is an obama campaign surrogate. congressman, the bus getting ready to go. yesterday it was parked in front of the rnc headquarters, republican national committee, kind of a stunt there. is this a mature way to go about campaigning? >> when i'm talking to voters, what they care about, what sths going to cost me? independent tax analysts have made clear mitt romney's plan will raise taxes on the mitdle class over $2,000 a year while cutting his own taxes by $4.5 million a year. ultimately what matters is not the stunts but facts. but we sometimes have to have fun too. >> what matters right now is the economy. they are telling us that every day. cnn has brand-new poll numbers out on the economy and they could be troubling for the obama team. only 36% of the country right now thinks that things are going well. that's down from 43% from april. only 19% think the economy is starting to recover. and that's down from 24% in april. congressman, the question is this, people say things are getting worse. are they right? >> people are asking the question, who's going to get us out of this mess. they are looking for solutions. the more they learn about mitt romney the more trouble they got. when he was governor, massachusetts was 47th out of 50 in job creation, not the leadership people are looking for. they understand that barack obamas understand the middle and working class and fighting for people like them and mitt romney's message, i'm going to raise your taxes and cut my own. >> the president has been in office for nearly four years and if people continue to say things are getting worse and especially this summer, things are getting more worse, doesn't he bear some responsibility for that? >> i think he's taken a lot of responsibility for that and been able to produce a significant growth in the manufacturing sector, getting america back to building and growing things again. we've had month of month -- the republican congress is unwilling to pass the jobs bill he's had on their desk over a year. they went on a five-week vacation for themselves without passing his jobs bill. i think the more people are learning about the facts and substance, they are seeing conservative agenda that will raise taxes and get in the way of that kind of job growth. >> another thing we're seeing a lot of in this campaign is ads, commercials and people are talking about them. and the obama team has a new ad out dealing with mitt romney again in the issue of taxes. let's take a listen. >> mitt romney paid 10% in taxes, 5%, 0? we don't know but we do know he personally approved over $70 million in fictional losses to the irs as part of the notorious son of boss tax scandal. isn't it time for romney to come clean? >> i do want to point out to the audience, you might have seen a cnn logo, that is quoting a op-ed, not a news article. the first phrase in that ad, did romney pay 10% in taxes, 5%, 0%? we don't know. that sounds like the language that harry reid has been using, questioning he has sources saying romney paid no taxes and the president is trying to distance himself from that. isn't this the same type of open-ended question without proof that's being asked in the ad? >> it sounds like the question the voters are asking. mitt romney has to remember the vote belongs to the people. he's asking the american people to hire him and going to the job interview, american people, hire me but i won't tell you anything about what i did in massachusetts. i'm not going to tell you about my taxes and don't want to talk about my bain history and voters are saying, are you kidding me? you want to be president of the united states and you're not going to come clean and tell me what's going on. this is a job interview with the american people. when you go into that, you have to be ready for americans to ask questions. >> you're asking a question without any proof. did romney pay taxes? why don't you ask, did romney rob a bank? i don't know. there's no evidence here. >> this is a matter of very clear precedent. every modern president has released their taxes because they understand it would be arrogant to go out to the american people and say, i want you to hire me but i'm not going to tell you anything about my past. mitt romney is saying, i'm going to raise taxes by $2,000 a year and give myself a $4.5 million tax cut but won't tell you what my tax history is. behind the 30-second spots, working and middle class americans are asking serious questions and not liking the answers they are getting from mitt romney. they are getting a little defensive. ultimately this comes back to the kitchen table. people want to know who's going to help when it comes to turning this economy around and they are not liking the answers they are getting from mr. romney. >> one of things mitt romney will be doing in the next few days is he'll be picking a vice presidential nominee. one of the names we've heard a lot is paul ryan, who a lot of conservative commentators says has big ideas to fix the economy and address the entitlements and deficit. what do you make of the ryan plan? is this something you would like to have as a target as a democrat? >> i definitely think it's a conversation progressives want and democrats want. this is an effort to really get rid of medicare as we know. a lot of the same things we've seen from romney, where the middle class has to pick up the tab for more high end tax cuts for the rich. paul ryan's budget got the catholic nuns up yet and now the ad about welfare has the nuns upset. if they are trying to win states like ohio, with a lot of catholic voters and getting the catholic nuns upset, that's a debate that will be healthy. >> your advice to him would be don't pick paul ryan, pick someone like rob portman. >> as you say, he has to make his decision who he's excited to serve with. he needs to pick someone he thinks would be ready to lead this country in the event of a crisis that happens. so you know, these should be seen as serious picks. and they should be seen as reflecting on the kind of leader that the candidate is trying to be. >> tom perriello. thanks for joining us. we'll be talking to reince priebus and get his view. >> we'll see what he thinks about paul ryan and what he told nbc's chuck todd last night. after years of protest and lawsuits, this controversial mosque in tennessee. soledad did a documentary on this. it is set to open this morning in a very volatile time for places of worship. they are on alert as prayers begin. we'll go live to mur frees bore ro, tennessee. >> breaking his leg but not his stride. an american runner refusing to let down his teammates and finishing his leg of the relay on one leg. you're watching "starting point." ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? 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just how? >> guts. >> amazing. now this after two years of legal battles and bomb threats, vandalism and protest, the tennessee islamic center will be holding its first prayers before the close of the holy month of ramadan. a national islamic group is warning mosques to be on alert. after a mosque in joplin, missouri, burned in a possible arson case. george howell got an exclusive look inside the mosque and is live with the very latest. george, good morning. big day for folks there. >> reporter: brooke, indeed a big day. we were first visitors inside this mosque, a big facility, a lot of room there, 12,000 square foot facility that is much larger than the older mosque members have outgrown. you have to consider, this is a long time coming for members of this mosque. two years after a lot of controversy. back in 2009, that's when the land purchased. 2010 construction started. then a lawsuit brought on by some who feared this mosque brought a risk of terrorism to the community. later local judge stepped in and stopped the permitting process. but then a federal judge stepped in this year and ordered today to continue on. brooke, as you mentioned. this mosque has been the focus of vandalism and arson and even a bomb threat. when you talk to members here, they say that is brought on by people outside this community. they say they are accepted in the community but people outside are trying to mischaracterize their religion. take a listen. >> there is an agenda nationwide unfortunately that enable islams and muslims to be not what they are but because of the act of a few people, they are labeling the whole religion to be that way. it is unfortunate but it is -- and true and it's un-american as well. >> reporter: brooke, we know the first prayer service will happen at 1:10 central standard time. a lot of people here are anxious to have that moment for the first time. >> we'll watch as the doors open. george howell thank you in murfreesboro. this sunday, sole da o'brien krchronicles the fight, it's called "unwelcome the muslims next door" it airs sunday night at 8:00 eastern. still ahead, the justice department will not pursue criminal charges against goldman sachs for selling risky home loans to investors but they may not be in clear just yet. also, we have pretty stunning pictures this morning. here it is, the mississippi river. is it running dry? 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i know you were talking to folks about this last night. we'll get your information. we're going to talk to the chairman of the rnc, mr. priebus, next. >> send us your end point, about a 20 second video with your thoughts. it's easy to upload. head to cnn.com/starting point and you can see it played on the air later in the show. we're back in a moment. 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