animals set loose in ohio lead tog a night of terror that ended with many of them shot. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com it's a whole different contest than it was only 24 hours ago and now, the fight for the republican presidential nomination includes a brutal, nasty battle between mitt romney and rick perry. the shift happened last night on television at the cnn western republican debate in las vegas and it did get seriously ugly. jim acosta has more. >> wolf, the cnn debate here in las vegas may have marked a turning point in the campaign. it was nasty, it was personal and it might be a sign of things to come. >> i'm speaking. >> the newspaper -- it's time for you to tell the truth. >> you get 30 second. the way the rules work is that i get 60 seconds -- >> but the american people want the truth. >> it was a wild west shoot outand at times, it felt like perry's last stand with an urgent strategy to take down mitt romney. >> because you hired illegals in your home and knew about it for a year and the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you're strong on immigration is on its faith, the height of hi pock rasy. >> but romney wasn't laughing for long. >> are you just going to keep talking? this has been a tough couple of debates for rick. >> civil discourse was at the window. this was the first gop debate to get personal. >> we hired a lawn company to mow our lawn and they had illegal immigrants to work there. you have a problem with allowing someone to finish speaking and if you want to become president of the united states, you've got to let people speak. >> unlike past debates, the nikt was romney's first real test as the candidates took aim at his health care plan. santorum took -- helped draft president obama's health care law. >> just don't have credibility when it comes to repealing obamacare. your plan was the basis for obamacare. >> an issue newt gingrich says is the individual mandate in both romneycare and obamacare. >> there's a lot of big government behind romneycare, but a heck of a lot more than your campaign has admitted. >> romney responded he got the idea of gingrich. >> we got the idea of an individual mandate from you. you did support an individual manda mandate. >> herman cain found himself on the defensive over his 9-9-9 plan. studies have found the plan taxes would raise taxes on millions of americans. >> i love you, brother, but you don't have to have a big analysis to figure this thing out. it's not going to fly. >> romney pointed out a new sales tax would be competing with existing state sales tax. >> will the people in nevada not have to pay the sales tax and in addition, have to pay the 9% sales tax? >> you're mixing apples and oranges. >> i'm going to be getting a bu bushel basket because i've got to pay both taxes. >> for perry, giving republicans bitter taste of a more combative campaign to come. >> and you get to ask the questions and i get to answer like i want to. an adviser said he had a strategy to quote, kill romney, but instead quote, kill himself. perry showed he still has some fight left in him. >> a lot of money, millions of dollars as well. thank you. let's get more on what's going on with mark preston joining us from las vegas. mark, you've been on the phone all day. you're speaking to both of these campaigns, what do they say about the heavy duty sparring last night? >> you know, they were both claiming vigtry right now. speaking to a perry adviser said newt, or rather mitt romney, was taken off his game. we saw romney from out of the chute. you saw romney reach over and touch rick perry, which was very, very strange. on the other hand, romney folk rs saying we won this debate. all perry was trying to do is attack, attack and attack and the fact is, it didn't come off very well, wolf. >> with the iowa caucuses scheduled for january 3rd, are we going to see more of this intense bickering at these upcoming debates? >> we are and we're going to see it mainly go between romney and perry. we are in a new phase of the campaign. we're very likely to see independent expenditure groups going out and attacking for rick perry. for romney, they'll be attacking perry. they're going to be doing it in states such as iowa and new hampshire. after what we saw last night, i suspect it's going to be very, very soon. >> and you've got new reporting that you've been doing on what nevada and new hampshire are up to right now. what are you hearing? >> well, wolf, you know, there's been a lot of talk about new hampshire perhaps holding their primary, the first in the nation primary, in december. i just got off the phone with a senior new hampshire republican who said that in in fact, the negotiations between the two states are going on right now. in fact, this republican told me that everybody is trying to do this in a way that is amicable for everyone. the more discussions you have, the more that they can get this worked out. now, he wouldn't exactly tell me what the plan is right now, but said the discussions are going well and all talk about boycotting here in nevada is not very good and it is not helping anybody. we could perhaps have an answer on saturday when nevada republicans meet for one of their annual meetings. >> the schedule is going to be critically important. could affect the outcome as well. thank you. while romney and perry were going after each other, rick santorum went after both of them. accusing them of supporting the t.a.r.p. bailout in 2008. romney is on r record supporting it although he say it was poorly executed. the actual limitation of t.a.r.p. perry flatly denied supporting t.a.r.p. tom, did governor perry flip-flop when it comes to t.a.r.p.? >> you know, wolf, t.a.r.p. has become a radioactive thing here in washington. there are many politicians who are in favor of it at the time because they thought it had to be done to keep the financial system working, but who now are saying, golly, i cannot be connected to that. listen to what santorum said about governor perry. >> the fact is, rick just has that wrong. we wrote a letter to congress asking them to act. what we meant was cut the regulation, taxation burden, not passing t.a.r.p. there is clearly a letter out of our office that says that, i'll get you a copy of it so you'll understand it. >> i need to respond to that. he sent a letter the day of the vote on the floor of the house saying pass economic plan. there was only one plan. and that was the plan that was voted on the floor. it was t.a.r.p. you sent a letter on that day saying vote for that plan. now, you can send a letter later saying i didn't mean it, but when you said it, it was the only plan in play and that, that was the t.a.r.p. plan. >> on that account, santorum is absolutely right. the day that the senate was considering the t.a.r.p. plan, rick perry, along with the democratic national governor's head, it was joe mansion from west virginia, the two of them collectively sent a letter and that letter said we strongly urge congress to leave partisanship at the door and pass an xik recovery package. this is what they sent to congress on the day this vote was happening in the senate. now, here's the trick of it all. you'll notice that nowhere in this nor anywhere else in the body of that letter do they use the word, t.a.r.p. and the same day back in his home area in austin, the governor issued this statement to the people of texas. government should not be in the business of using taxpayer dollars to bail out corporate america, so the truth is, you can read it the way rick perry did and say, this has nothing to do with t.a.r.p. it's just a sheer accident that a democratic and republican leading governor on the same day, sent a letter to congress saying, you've got to do something, oh, by the way, there's legislation on the table today called t.a.r.p. that you're voting on. now, they're saying it was sheer coincidence, had nothing to do with what was being voted on. we were just saying you should fix thing t. i even reached out to joe mansion's office and said, were you supporting the use of t.a.r.p. or urging lower taxes and less regulation. all i really got was a statement saying we don't support the -- and no, it wasn't about t.a.r.p. amazing. this is the kind of thing that drives voters crazy. the fact is, when you look at the timing of everything, at least you have to say this looks misleading, but i think we have to say this seems to be true and incomplete because there was a lot of threading the needle going on at this time that allows politicians to in effect support a t.a.r.p. then. and now say no, technically, i did not. wolf? >> good explanation. there was a fiery exchange between rick perry and rick, between rick santorum, i should say, and rick perry. that was really a lively exchange. thanks very much. i want our viewers to go to our website. you can read by blog on the debate last night. it's entitled "perry, romney and reagan." . over to andrews air force base right now. the president of the united states has just landed. he's walking down the stairs and is about to get back on marine one. he's just wrapped up a three-day visit to virginia and north carolina. he's out there selling his jobs bill, speaking at various town hall meetings and the president is clearly wrapping this part up. brianna keilar has been traveling with the president. we're going to check in with her in jus a few minutes and see what's going on. there you see the president getting ready to board marine one. five or ten-minute flight from andrews air force base over to the south lawn of the white house. we'll stay on top of this story. much more coming up. we've also got a lot of other news. lots happening today here on "the situation room." 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[ male announcer ] introducing the reinvented 2012 toyota camry. it's ready. are you? ♪ i've got to tell susie ! the vending machine on elm is almost empty. i'm on it, boss. new pony ? sorry ! we are open for business. let's reroute greg to fresno. growing businesses use machine-to-machine technology from verizon wireless. susie ! the vending machine... already filled. cool bike. because the business with the best technology rules. i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover. but i am a voter. so washington... before you even think about cutting my medicare and social security benefits... here's a number you should remember. 50 million. we are 50 million seniors who earned our benefits... and you will be hearing from us... today and on election day. ♪ there is marine one outside of washington, d.c. getting ready to take off, bring the president of the united states back to the white house. he just wrapped up his bus tour in virginia, north carolina, where he ratcheted up the pressure on congress to pass his jobs bill. our white house correspondent, brianna keilar, has been traveling with the president and is joining us from north chesterfield, virginia. not far from richmond. is that right? >> that's right. south of richmond and here as the president did at all of his other stops in the last few days, he was going after republicans, urging congress to pass his jobs plan in pieces, but in these politically important states, of course virginia, but also north carolina, where he was yesterday and the day before, he's also been trying to shore up the support of his base. for the third day in a row, president obama dared congressal republicans to vote against popular parts of his jobs plan, like a $35 billion provision to save teachers, police officers and firefighters from losing their jobs to budget cuts. >> 63% of the american people support what's in the american jobs act. unfortunately, we've had 100% of senate republicans vote against it. a majority think it's a good idea to get firefighters on the job. >> the backdrop for the president's remarks, a fire house south of richmond. a short distance from the district of number two house republican, eric cantor. earlier in the day at a military base in hampton, virginia, first lady michelle obama helped the president promote his push to get veterans back to work. >> the last thing you should have to do is fight for a job when you come home. >> these were the presidents last stops on his bus tour through north carolina and virginia. he came here not only to cast republicans as his obstacle to creating jobs, but to rile up his base. >> it is great to be here in north carolina. >> tuesday, he addressed predominantly african-american crowds, a voting block that helped him win in 2008. monday, his first audience was mainly liberal white voters in asheville, whose frustrations he acknowledged. >> i have gone out of my way to try to find areas of cooperation with these republicans. in fact, some of you have been mad at me for trying too hard to cooperate with them, haven't you? >> now, wolf, something that we've seen the president do on this bus tour, kind of managing expectatio expectations. he's given two speeches a day and over and over, we've heard him say the american people realize these economic problems weren't created overnight and they're not going to be solved overnight. an acknowledgment it seems that the economy might not be a whole lot better by the time he's up for re-election next year and he's also making this argument that he's still the right choice to solve those economic problems. >> he's got a lot of work to do, obviously. thanks very much. meanwhile here in washington, retired seniors on social security will notice a change in their benefit checks next year. the federal government announcing today they'll be getting a raise, but that also means taxes will go up r for some workers. athee na jones is here and has been looking into this for us. seems like it's good news for some and not so good for some others. >> well, wolf, it is good news, but also complicated for some seniors. we have seniors and their advocates questioning how much of an increase they'll see. starting in january, nearly 55 million senior citizens will see a 3.6% increase in their monthly social security check. >> even if it's five cents, it's five cents more than i got now. >> it's welcome news for those who need the checks to stay afloat. it's the first increase known as a cost of living adjustment since 2009, because overall, inflation has remained low. some nine out of ten people aged 65 and older get social security benefits. >> social security check is my whole way of living. my rent. bills. anything that i need. food. all comes out of that. >> right now, the average monthly social security check is about $1100, so the increase would mean an extra $39. >> so many people on fixed income have to deal with inflation and the problems that are attached to senior living. medical problems and special diets and a need for special transportation. a lot of them are going to look for this $400 something a year as a bonanza. >> still, it's not all good news for seniors. increases this medicare premiums could mean some see little or not jump in their checks. >> this percent they're getting is going to go towards an increase in medicare premiums. that's good, but it's not money in senior's pockets. >> and for bern, it's a mixed blessing. >> it will help a little, but the rent will take a part of it. then i'm on a lot of medications that take it up. food have gone up. that take it up. >> now, wolf, there's also concern among some advocates that the bipartisan supercommittee tasked with cutting $1.25 trillion from the deficit will recommend changes to social security. and one other change. the amount of income suggest to social security is going up. meaning about 10 million workers will pay more. >> a little good news, maybe not so good news either. a lot to worry about. >> dozens of dangerous animals on the loose overnight. deputies are still searching for one after tracking lions, tigers and bears. jack hanns will join ugh lis li from ohio. stand by. but mostly, it acts like my personal assistant on set. unlike my real assistant who isn't quite as thin, light or powerful. ♪ he's right there, isn't he? ♪ get this dell xps 15z, designed with the 2nd gen intel® core™ i5/i7 processors, performance you need, style you want. delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet they're closing thousands of offices, slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it. ohio sheriff's deputies are still searching for a monkey after they escaped last night. the owner was found dead and an examination reveals he released the animals and then killed himself. deputies used night vision goggles to track down lions, tigers, leopards and bears. most of the animals that escaped had to be put down. >> there are 48 animals that we had to put down. they included one wolf, six black bears, two grizzly bears, nine male lions, eight lionesses, one baboon, three mountain lions and 18 tigers. obviously, very large part of this investigation we want to conclude is catching those two animals before they get out in the public and do anything. the director of the columbus zoo as well as the wilds has recommended that the monkey be shot and killed. it is very possible that this monkey is carrying her pieceb. >> jack hanna is the director of the columbus zoo. he's been assisting in the search in ohio. this is an emotional story for a lot of people, jack, but tell us what's been going through your mind as you've seen this unfold. >> you know, wolf, first person that's asked me this. it's been very difficult the last 14, 18 hours. i can describe this as like maybe noah's ark breaking apart. and breaking in front of us, all these, you heard 18 tigers. i do get emotional, wolf, because 18 tigers lost their live along with all these other creatures, but not one human being lost their life here. now, i'm getting calls from europe, b bbc, calls from all or the world saying you support the sheriff. one of the largest animals escaped in the history of our country and most of these animals lost their lives. think about what happened if these tigers -- sheriff told me last night before it got dark, they're coming down in front of his property. 18 tigers, lions, leopards, can you imagine? there's a neighborhood, wolf, right here. the place is right there by the way. can you imagine what would have happened this morning if the kids were on school buses out there waiting? this would have been something that nobody would have wanted to see. >> did authorities have the ability to use tranquilizer guns to bring the animals down, but not kill them? >> wolf, the problem was, by the time my team got here with the guns, it was 6:30. we have three tranquilizer guns. where do you start? plus, it's getting dark. darkness set in. at that point, the ones getting out had to be put down. if you hit him in the bottom of the neck, you don't know where the dart goes. so what do we do? send a sheriff up, is it asleep? bam. this afternoon, about four hours ago, one tiger we found crouched in the bushes. the vet gets within 20 feet. pops the animal with a tranqu tranquilizer and it comes toward the vet. we had to shoot the animal. to have no one hurt and killed here when 40 something animals get loose is unbelievable. am i upset? of course. we lost 18 bengal tigers. but