nevada and florida the unemployment rate is higher than the national average. in nevada and colorado, the unemployment rate is still above what it was when president obama stepped into the white house. but in the rest of the battleground states it s pretty interesting. the jobs markets are improving. they have been improving since when the president became went into office. still improving, iowa, virginia, nevada, all have pretty low unemployment levels. 5 pst in iowa, new hampshire 5%, virginia 5.6% and in ohio with 18 electoral votes, much more than iowa and virginia combined, significant drop in the unemployment rate 7.4% over the past year. 48th in the nation to much higher than that. it s a very interesting story, ohio, big manufacturing auto, this is one of those places where mitt romney had said don t have that auto bail jautout. nobody wins out ohio and mitt romney will have an uphill batter there. this is showing you population centers. some of these areas wher
al qaeda plot to blow up a passenger jet bound for the united states. a u.s. counterterrorism official tells cnn the explosive device is similar to the one used by the would-be underwear bomber. you may recall that on christmas day 2009. just like that bomb, this one did not contain metal, which raises real questions about whether it could have gotten past airport security. as of yet, the person who had developed that bomb had not yet bought a ticket. here s defense secretary, leon panetta. what this incident makes clear is that this country has to continue to remain vigilant against those that would seek to attack this country and we will do everything necessary to keep america safe. fran townsend is cnn s national security contributor, a member of both the dhs and cia external advisory boards. chad sweet is a former dhs and cia official, also the cofounder of the chertoff group, a global security firm. good to see both of you. fran, i know you ve been reporting on this
coming in at this moment about how the cia stopped an ambitious al qaeda plot to blow up a passenger jet bound for the united states. a u.s. counterterrorism official tells cnn the explosive device is similar to the one used by the would-be underwear bomber. you may recall that on christmas day 2009. just like that bomb, this one did not contain metal, which raises real questions about whether it could have gotten past airport security. as of yet, the person who had developed that bomb had not yet bought a ticket. here s defense secretary, leon panetta. what this incident makes clear is that this country has to continue to remain vigilant against those that would seek to attack this country and we will do everything necessary to keep america safe. fran townsend is cnn s national security contributor, a member of both the dhs and cia external advisory boards. chad sweet is a former dhs and cia official, also the cofounder of the chertoff group, a global security firm. good