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Republicans Prepare for Presidential Debate; President Obama Pushing Jobs Plan; Perry's Unprecedented Run; CNN/Tea Party Express GOP Debate; President Presents His Jobs Plan as Legislation to Congress; Walgreens Fires Pharmacist for Defending Self with Gun from Robbers; Rick Perry's Political Past; Jackie Kennedy Audio Released

Aired September 12, 2011 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BALDWIN: Today is the very first day you can visit the new 9/11 memorial at the World Financial Center in lower Manhattan. It was open only to families during yesterday's 9/11 memorial service there. But if you haven't heard about this, the story behind this, it is incredible. The names are arranged around the footprints of the towers, not alphabetically but in a pattern that loved ones chose so the names of victims who had a connection would be near one another forever. Tech expert Katie Linendoll explains how a computer programmer helped design the whole thing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATIE LINENDOLL, CNN TECHNOLOGY CONTRIBUTOR: Not only do have you 76 these very large bronze panels that have to be grouped and sub grouped by names, you also have to take into consideration typography, which names can span two panels. Names ending with a "t" cannot follow first names beginning with a "j." Also, how many names are going to follow on a grid.

So the city of New York didn't know if it was possible. And Local Projects, a group here in New York City that took on the project, hired freelance computer programmer Jared Thorp, who I had the chance to speak with, and say, How did you actually go about it and lay this out?

And he told me it took the algorithm about a month to create, and then six months later, to actually make everything tweak and everything laid out, to really create this human connection.

And what was amazing was the success of the software showed something much deeper. We started to see all of these names that had much more meaning behind them.

We take for example, Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial firm -- 704 employees were lost. And this loss was so significant that the names take up half of the pools, the bronze slabs around one pool, showing the impact of a such a terrible event. And then also two brothers, John and Joseph Vigiano, 34 and 36 years old, that were -- passed away that day, they were first-responders, but now they can be forever memorialized right next to each other on the bronze plating.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: How about that? You can also learn a lot more about the design of the memorial. Just go to CNN.com/911. And then to plan your visit there, go to 911memorial.org and you can reserve a time.

And here we are, top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And, tonight, folks challenging President Obama will be squaring off, telling Republicans why they deserve the nomination. But this time, some of the questions will come straight from the Tea Party movement. Here we go. The news is now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: These candidates know if they want the Republican nomination, the road may go through this group, the Tea Party movement. And hours from now, they will take the stage just as President Obama delivers his jobs plan to Congress.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, here it is.

BALDWIN: Plus, they're called al Qaeda babies.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. military was finally able to drive out al Qaeda fighters.

BALDWIN: CNN Arwa Damon speaks with women sitting in the shadows revealing their stories of horror.

DAMON: "I fought, but he put the gun to my head and said, 'Either I kill you or I kill your children.'"

BALDWIN: And Walgreens fires a pharmacist for fighting back when robbers attack. Sunny Hostin is on the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Here we go. We are counting down to the big debate. And it is a wakeup call for seven Republicans. And what I'm talking about here is any presidential Republican candidate here not named James Richard Perry, AKA Rick.

Our poll released today, CNN and Opinion Research Corporation, shows the Texas governor has cemented his lead over the rest of the GOP field. Let me share this with you. First you can see Republicans' choice for president, Rick Perry, 12 points ahead of Mitt Romney. Sarah Palin, Ron Paul the only others there who actually got double digits. Best chance of beating Barack Obama, Rick Perry by a long shot over Mitt Romney.

Next one, strongest leader, Rick Perry once again double digits ahead of Mitt Romney. Most likely to get the economy moving, say it with me, Rick Perry. Rick Perry sweep in that poll. So that debate tonight there, inside there from Tampa, 8:00 p.m., co-hosted by CNN and the Tea Party Express, eight Republicans in all ready to go.

Let's go to Gloria Borger live for us from Tampa.

And, Gloria, as we pointed out, a month ago today, Governor Perry wasn't even in this race.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

BALDWIN: So does his rocket to the top say more about him, Gloria, or does it speak more about Republican voters' feelings about the rest of the candidates?

BORGER: I think it is a little bit of each, Brooke. Look, this was a really unsettled field. I would still argue it could still be unsettled.

But it was clear that voters were looking, Republicans were looking for somebody other than Mitt Romney. Don't forget, Mitt Romney's been to this rodeo before. He didn't do so well in 2008. There are still some concerns, residual concerns, about him, about his authenticity and about whether he's the person to take the fight to Barack Obama, because more than anything else, Brooke, Republicans want to win.

So they are looking at Rick Perry. And right now, Rick Perry's biggest competitor is Rick Perry, because he's got to introduce himself to the American people. He's using these debates to do so. And so, Republicans and the rest of America are looking at him and trying to figure out just who he is. So far, Republicans like what they see.

BALDWIN: Now, Rick Perry seems, though, Gloria, to have backed away from his longtime critique of Social Security, that being he called last week and of course in his book "Fed Up" calling it a Ponzi scheme. But it looks as though Mitt Romney will try to hammer him on that tonight. What does Mitt Romney need to do to try to chip away at Rick Perry? And are the Romney people shocked at Perry's rocket rise to the top?

BORGER: Well, what Rick Perry did today in a piece in "USA Today"'s kind of nuanced in a way, Brooke. He didn't quite back away from it, but he said we need to reform it, not kill it. We need it reform it for younger voters.

I would argue that's a little bit of a nuanced shift. But it doesn't really matter because Mitt Romney and perhaps Michele Bachmann are going not to chip away at him, they are going to hammer away at him. There is a flier I want to share with you that is being circulated in the state of Florida right now.

And in it, Mitt Romney sounds like a Democrat, dare I say. He says, "Rick Perry, how can we trust anyone who wants to kill Social Security? Rick Perry, reckless and wrong on Social Security."

So you can be sure there's going to be some fights about that tonight at the debate. And Rick Perry's going to throw it right back at him, telling Mitt Romney that you once called Social Security a criminal enterprise. So how is that any different from what I think?

And people familiar with Rick Perry's thinking on this told me that what -- you know, what he's going 20 say is, look, somebody's got to be the truth-teller in this race. And he's going to present himself as the truth-teller, willing to talk straight to the American people because he's just not a regular politician.

BALDWIN: Who, Rick Perry?

BORGER: We will see if it works.

BALDWIN: Rick Perry is the one...

BORGER: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I read his op-ed and he mentioned the word honesty or honest like three different times. Right. That's interesting. That's sort of a theme that's pervasive.

BORGER: Right. You got that.

BALDWIN: Also something else in the poll, Gloria, Republican voters were asked which GOP candidate is most likely to fight for their beliefs. Again, Rick Perry takes that with 29 percent. Romney is way back. He is at 11 percent. Does that say something to you?

BORGER: It does. Three out of 10 think that Rick Perry will fight. Only one out of 10 think Romney will fight. That tells me two things. One is, they want someone who's going fight and Perry looks like their guy right now. They don't think Mitt Romney is going to fight because -- and this again goes back to 2008 -- what does he believe? Did he flip-flop on issues like abortion? Did he flip-flop on all kinds of things?

Mitt Romney hasn't made that mistake this time around. He's been very careful, for example, to not back away from his health insurance plan in the state of Massachusetts, said it was right for Massachusetts, maybe not for the federal government. But there is still a question there about how hard Mitt Romney would fight. And they see Rick Perry as a fighter.

And so that's why, when he gets attacked in these debates, it is kind of good for Rick Perry because it shows you that he will fight back just as he would fight back against Barack Obama. It's clear that Republicans kind of like that feistiness about him. They want a fighter.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, we will all be watching 8:00 tonight Eastern time.

BORGER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much.

BORGER: It will be fun.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

BALDWIN: And now listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: "I pushed him. I fought, but he put the gun to my head and said, 'Either I kill you or I kill your children.'"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What an ultimatum. A mother faced with that knew what she today do to save her family. Sadly, hers is not the only story. We are learning more and more about the violence women have endured at the hands of terrorists in one part of the world. Arwa Damon shares their stories next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We know from history that women oftentimes bear the brunt of violent regimes. We have witnessed it happening this year in Somalia, in Egypt, Libya, Syria. The crimes are the same, brutal rapes and beatings carried out in Iraq by members of al Qaeda who seized an opportunity to grab power after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Today, al Qaeda in Iraq is diminished but sadly so are the lives of the women they victimized.

CNN's Arwa Damon sits down with a mother and her children whose lives were ransacked by these terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON (voice-over): Inside this house, not far from Baghdad, there are memories of horror.

"When he stormed in, his face was covered in a black mask. We were terrified, my daughter and my children. He had a gun. He took me to the room," Houda's chilling words describing the day in 2005 when al Qaeda fighters took over her village.

We're not disclosing anyone's real name or their identity.

"I pushed him. I fought, but he put the gun to my head and said, 'Either I kill you or I kill your children,'" she recalls.

He raped her on the bed she once shared with her husband. She tells us the man came back. He was always masked and she never knew his name.

"We were imprisoned," she says. He threatened to cut her head off if she left the house. Houda's husband had been killed a year earlier, one of many victims of the bloodletting that was rampant in this part of Iraq. They had five children whom the fighter would beat and lock in a room as he attacked their mother. And not even they were immune.

Her oldest daughter who we will call Zana (ph) was just 15. Another al Qaeda member came to claim her as his wife.

"They just took any girl they want. He came to me," Zana shudders. "He would only come at night, his face always covered." "She fainted. We poured water on her," her mother remembers of that night. "They finally left. She was a disaster and I couldn't scream for the neighbors. If I screamed, I would have exposed myself."

Rape in Iraq off then stigma advertises the women. That and fear of retribution of al Qaeda forced this family into silence. Their nightmare would last for the next three years.

(on camera): In 2008, the U.S. military was finally able to drive out al Qaeda fighters from various villages in Diyala Province, and that is when the troops made a disturbing discovery. Many of these areas were populated only by young girls, teenagers, and women. Many of them had little children or were pregnant. The U.S. military at the time speculating that al Qaeda was deliberately trying to breed a new generation of fighters or suicide bombers.

(voice-over): The al Qaeda militias had mostly fled, leaving the women and children they spawned behind.

Zana (ph) has a 2 1/2 little girl, Wurut (ph), a child without an official Iraqi identity card.

"The officials told me," she said, "there is no evidence that you were married or that this is your daughter."

Her mother was left with a 6-year-old boy. "Each time I see this child, I remember what I went through," Hoda (ph) says. "It's hard to love him. But then I remember, he's innocent."

No one knows how many children were conceived in such a horrific way, the off spring of a warped and brutal ideology.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Diyala Province.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Arwa, thank you.

Al Qaeda in Iraq is still very much active in Iraq. Dozens of its members just broke out after prison in the northern part of the country. They escaped through tunnel.

Coming up: he is described as a boot-scootin Texas cowboy. And one political writer says Texas Governor Rick Perry will probably some, quote, "red meat rhetoric" at tonight's CNN debate. We're going to go in-depth on Rick Perry's path, next.

Plus, many politicians say Iran is one of the biggest threats to the United States, especially if the country is able to develop nuclear weapons. And breaking today, new worries that Iran is now one step closer.

Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: News of Iran today, held a ceremony to inaugurate its first civilian nuclear power plant. The facility is now up and running and connected to the national electric grid. This plan is expected to produce 2 1/2 percent of the country's electricity when fully operational. Meantime, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog is concerned that Iran may try to develop nuclear weapons, which Iran is denying.

To Texas we go. Governor Rick Perry has certainly energized the Republican race for the White House and jumps right out ahead to the top of the polls here. Take a look at the new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll just released today. Perry, way out front, over the former front-runner, Mitt Romney.

But even though Perry is out front, you have to ask this question: are people supporting him just because they like him or because they just aren't very wowed by anyone else in this Republican race? And do they really know him? After all, he's only been in the race for a very short time. Wasn't even in it a month ago today.

Our Ed Lavandera takes a closer look at the Texas governor and his message.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NARRATOR: Sometimes, your instincts tell you when a man is right for the job.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wearing chaps and riding a horse. This was Rick Perry's first statewide political ad back in 1990.

BILL MILLER, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: I'll tell you a great story.

LAVANDERA: Legendary Texas political consultant Bill Miller remembers women posting pictures of Perry in chaps in offices all over Austin. He knew then Rick Perry had the "it" factor.

MILLER: It told me that yes, he is a good-looking good guy. When you meet him, you will get an energy and vitality off of him that you will feel, which will surprise you.

LAVANDERA: So, Miller isn't surprised to see Perry rocket to the top of the polls for the Republican presidential nomination. He credits Perry's risk-taking by joining the Tea Party movement early.

MILLER: We didn't know where it was going or how it would play out. He is risk-taker, but a smart one, because the bets he has made have paid off for him politically.

LAVANDERA: Harold Cook is another veteran political consultant in Austin, he know knows a thing or two about crafting political messages. He says Perry has a great narrative but he hasn't locked up the nomination yet.

HAROLD COOK, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: If you hope to knock Perry down as a Republican opponent, you're going to have to get the middle of his own jobs narrative and you're to knock it down a couple notches. The notches are there to knock, they just haven't tried yet.

LAVANDERA: Cook is a Democrat. And he wouldn't let an opportunity slip by without trying to burst the Rick Perry phenomenon bubble.

COOK: As easy as Perry is to underestimate, it's also kind of easy to overestimate Perry. He is not some magic monolith of a campaign here. Since 1994, the only thing you've had to do as a Republican in Texas to win your election is to avoid being the Democrat.

LAVANDERA: Rick Perry is also used to being the front runner. He's always had the lead and he is comfortable in front of crowds. He was a yell leader, kind of like a male cheerleader at Texas A&M University.

MILLER: So, all that, you know, in a weird kind of way helps him, and I think makes him a better politician, a better campaigner. And certainly, by all accounts, he is as good a campaigner as anyone has seen down here in our lifetime.

NARRATOR: Rick Perry --

LAVANDERA: But there is still months left in this race. Rick Perry can't ride off into the sunset as the Republican nominee just yet.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Austin, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Ed, thank you.

Rick Perry says he is about to get brutally honest with the American people. But will that honesty fly with the Tea Party movement? We're going to take you live to Tampa where hours from now, less than four hours to be precise, the Tea Partiers will ask him some very direct questions.

Also this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the person that returned Keenan safely to our family, I would like to say thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A 3-year-old goes missing. Several days later, he shows up, unharmed. Now, investigators say a kidnapper had a change of heart. We are on the case with Sunny Hostin, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It is CNN Political Ticker time and Jim Acosta joins us live from Tampa, Florida, where in three and a half hours, GOP Republican contenders face off. We'll be watching all eight -- and our own Wolf Blitzer moderating this whole thing.

Jim, exciting night.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is, Brooke, you know? And we have been talking all day, is this going to be a Social Security smackdown.

I had a chance to catch up with Jon Huntsman who did break out a little bit in that last debate in California, who says he's going to challenge Governor Perry and even Mitt Romney on this issue of Social Security, trying to bring back some of the comments that both of those contenders have made over the years on that very important subject.

And it's interesting to have that discussion down here in Florida because this is such a crucial state when it comes to senior voters. They are going to be watching this very carefully. And having said all of that, I will say that we did go into Tampa earlier today to talk to some senior voters. And they said, yes, we are sort of interested in that subject. But really at this point we are sort of feeling out all of these candidates. And even though we are wrapped up in the very importance of each -- you know, each and every one of these debates, I get the sense, a lot of voters out there still haven't decided where they are going yet. They really want to watch these debates and learn about the candidates -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: And, also, Jim Acosta, we learned today, just what, within this afternoon that Louisiana governor officially has now endorsed Texas Governor Rick Perry.

ACOSTA: Well, it's been sort of an endorsement word today. You remember earlier this morning, Tim Pawlenty came out in favor of Mitt Romney. So, I think what you are saying at this point is sort of the pregame, you know, gamesmanship if you will that goes on before these debates happen, you know, trying to own the narrative a little bit going into the debate.

And last week, that first debate really turned into a smackdown, a duel between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. And even some of the candidates after that debate, like Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman were saying earlier today, they were concerned that that debate was becoming sort of a mano-a-mano kind of affair and they're going to try to avoid that, keep that from happening tonight. And I think that's going to be the thing to watch, Brooke, is there a candidate out there besides Mitt Romney, besides Rick Perry, who can break out of this field and become sort of the third candidate in waiting if either ever these other two front runners a this point self-destruct. That's going to be the one to watch.

Michele Bachmann had to opportunity at one point, if you look at the new CNN/ORC poll that came out where she's at 4 percent. It's possible she has lost that opportunity. But she may be able to get back into it tonight. We'll just have to see. But that's the one thing I'm going to be watching. Who else besides those two can really break out of the pack, Brooke?

BALDWIN: Yes, pregame gamesmanship, so says Jim Acosta.

ACOSTA: I think. BALDWIN: And so it begins. Thank you very much. Of course, well be watching, 8:00 Eastern tonight, live from Tampa.

ACOSTA: You bet.

BALDWIN: Still ahead here, brand new tapes revealing Jackie Kennedy's deepest thoughts, including why she called Martin Luther King a phony and how fears of nuclear war kept her up at night.

Also, President Obama demands Congress pass his jobs bill. The thing is, he has only released the cliffs note version of it until now. Brianna Keilar has some new developments for us at the White House. We'll go to her, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We now know the president's jobs plan arrived this afternoon on Capitol Hill. In fact, it just did arrive, we're told. It's in the form legislation which the president showed off there in the Rose Garden today. It's $447 billion, that is the cost of this thing. The president said from the start it will not add from the deficit because it'll be paid for.

Brianna Keilar live for us at the White House. He told us today, how they plan to do that, tax increases.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tax increases, that's right. The big one, Brooke, limiting itemized deductions that wealthier Americans take on their taxes. So we are talking about individuals who make $200,000 or more per year or family who are earning $250,000 or more per year. This is the president's proposal.

So if those people use itemized deductions, as many Americans do when they file their taxes, then they would see their taxes increase under this proposal. There would also be tax increases that would affect hedge fund managers, oil and gas companies, and owners of corporate jets. Those sound familiar to you, Brooke, I'm sure. That is something the White House proposed during the debt ceiling.

BALDWIN: We heard those words before, didn't we, Brianna Keilar?

I know you are traveling with the president. He was in Richmond, back on road to sell this jobs plan. I'm guessing we may hear something like this. Here is the president talking about certain unnamed Republicans in Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the notion that folks will say we're not going to try to do what's right for the American people because we don't think it is convenient for our politics, we've been seeing that too much around here. And that's exactly what folks are tired of. And that's OK when things are going well. You play politics. It's not OK at a time of great urgency and need all across the country. These aren't games we're plague out here. Folks are out of work. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: This is a speech that you should expect to hear, that we have already heard some of on Friday when he was in Virginia. Tomorrow, president Obama is in Ohio, Wednesday he is in North Carolina. These are all swing states, Brooke, that President Obama won in 2008. Certainly, he's hoping to hang on to them in 2012 when he faces the tough reelection.

And since these are politically important states, Press Secretary Jay Carney was pressed today about whether these are sort of campaign stops. You know, a lot of these stops do certainly have the feel after campaign event. And to laughter, Carney said, "The president is campaigning." Then he paused and said "He is campaigning for jobs and growth."

So, now no doubt part of this reelection, strategy of the president's, is going to be convincing Americans that he is trying to take action here. And if he struggles, Brooke, to take action, it is trying to point to who is standing in his way. That would be Republicans. And that's why the president is prepared and has made it clear he is prepared to play a very powerful card, which is to say this bill, he sent up today, swallow whole and if you don't, I will paint you as obstructionists. So we will sort of waiting to see how that narrative plays out, Brooke.

BALDWIN: He was in Cantor's territory, and you mentioned Ohio, Boehner's territory. Here we go.

KEILAR: Here we go.

BALDWIN: Here we go. Thank you very much. You are about to see it, Rapid Fire. Let's begin with Diane Sawyer getting the very first interview with Arizona Congressman Gabrielle Giffords. ABC will air the primetime special November 14, the night before the book written by the congresswoman and her husband Commander, Mark Kelly will hit the shelves. The book is called "Gabby, a Story of Courage and Hope." Giffords was shot in the head in January while meeting with people in her home district in Tucson. Six others were killed and 13 wounded.

More than 70 people are dead after an explosion in a densely populated part of Nairobi, Kenya. This fire is mostly out, we're told. Red Cross officials say a pipeline blew up, probably while desperate people were siphoning fuel from it. A government spokesman expects the death toll to rise as the body count was revised. It happened in one of Nairobi's packed slums and it burned and flattened many makeshift homes there.

Parents, a question -- could watching fast-paced cartoons, "SpongeBob SquarePants," impair your child's thinking? According to a new study published in pediatrics, four-year-olds who watched a mere nine minutes of the popular Nickelodeon show did worse on attention test than kids who watched slower-paced cartoons. Researchers believe the brain gets tired from all the stimulation from the faster-paced cartoons, and that's leads, they say, to lower scores. And I am pretty sure the Indiana National Guard never prepared Sergeant Jesse Fordice (ph) for this. The Purple Heart was there. He proposed to his girlfriend Kelly Osbourne. There she is fresh off the flight, off the escalator. Also a soldier over the weekend in Indianapolis International Airport, an Afghanistan veteran, was just returning from two weeks of military training. And after lots of hugs and kisses and a nice little ring, she said yes.

Still ahead, Walgreen's fires a pharmacist for protecting the store against robbers. Is the company right on this one?

Also a three-year-old little boy goes missing, then turns up days later unharmed. The family is calling this a miracle. People are calling it a kidnapper's change of heart. Sunny Hostin on both of these cases, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A Michigan Walgreen's fired one of its pharmacists after he pulled a gun on these two armed robbers. The whole thing was caught on surveillance tape. Take a look for yourself. You will see one of these men holding up a Walgreen's manager there with a gun to his back. Just watch, there it is.

The men that jumped from the counter in the very back of the store where the pharmacist worked, you see it there. The pharmacist fires three times at robbers. There he is with a gun in his left hand, and the men take off.

That pharmacist, Jeremy Hoven, who was fired after this incident is now suing Walgreens, basically, he says for wrongful termination. I want to you listen to what his attorney says about this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN SWANSON, JEREMY HOVEN'S ATTORNEY: Mr. Hoven, by way of this lawsuit, is challenging Walgreen's right it fire him for exercising his right of self-defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let me bring in Sunny Hostin. Sunny, just so I get this straight, Michigan public policy states that citizens have a right to defend themselves. Mr. Hoven is saying Walgreen's violating his rights of self-defense by firing him. Walgreen's says he violated company policy. What do you make of this?

SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION": Yes, that's about it in a nutshell. He certainly is suing them for firing him. He is saying this was wrongful termination. It's a federal lawsuit. And it is very true that in Michigan you have to have a permit to have a concealed gun, and he had that permit.

So Brooke, this is really odd case. I mean, bottom line is Walgreen's says they have a policy. Their policy is a non-escalation policy. That is a policy we see all over the country because statistically, that's the safest route. We have a statement from Walgreen's. What it says is our policies in this area are designed to maintain the maximum safety of our customers and employees. Store employees receive comprehensive training on our company's robbery procedures.

Now he says he never saw these procedures and how to react it a potential robbery situation. You know what I think is so interesting about this, Brooke?

BALDWIN: What's that?

HOSTIN: There was a robbery in this same store, an armed robbery a couple years ago with the same pharmacist. He was held by gunpoint. He asked Walgreen's to install a panic button. He asked for increased security, and they failed to do that. So just as a good corporate employer, I am surprised that they fired him, because many people see him as a hero.

BALDWIN: So given that history, given the fact that Mr. Hoven says, look, I was never given, manager never sat me down and told me about this policy, what do you think his chances are of winning the case?

HOSTIN: You know, I think he has a good chance. Remember in a civil case, just a preponderance of the evidence, a much lesser standard than a criminal case. And I guarantee you if he tries this case in front of six or 12 jurors, I don't know that he will find a panel that will side with Walgreen's when have you someone like this who many people are saying is a hero and think that what Walgreen's did was really just not being a very good corporate employer. So it is something that won't go away any time soon. I'm sure Walgreen's wants it to, but that's not going to happen.

BALDWIN: Well follow it and see what happens, of course.

I want to get to case number two. This is a story we rarely actually see a happy ending in cases like this and we love reporting when it does. This three-year-old Canadian boy abducted last week was returned home. He was held four days. We have sound. Here is the boy's father reacting to his son coming home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keenan is happily home. And he's playing with his brothers and sisters. Thank you. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Oh, gosh. Now, here is this man. This is who police say is the suspect. This is 46-year-old Randal Hopely, a known sex offender who lives a couple miles away from the boy's home. Police aren't saying why they've named him as a suspect but they are pleading for him to turn himself in. Sunny, this is a wonderful/bizarre case. You know, not only does this alleged kidnapper return the boy, but back home was still a crime scene. I'm sure it was still being watched.

HOSTIN: Well, we don't know if it was still being watched because the family moved out of the home and was staying with another family. And so certainly perhaps the police weren't there.

But Brooke, you know, I specialized in child sex crimes. It is so rare for something like this to have a happy ending. Especially if what the police believe is true, that a convicted sex offender, abducted him. So this is really in so many ways, such a wonderful story in a sense.

Because you just don't usually hear about things like this. I think the parents did what they were supposed to do, in that they pleaded. They made that plea. You see it so off then. Many people think it doesn't work. Here you go, it does work.

They just asked whoever had their child, just bring him back somewhere public. Whether it be, you know, at the home or at a park. Somewhere public and walk away.

And that's apparently what happened so really kudos to the investigators. But also to the parents for making this plea and now they have their boy home.

BALDWIN: You're so right. You see it all the time. But you know, I guess, sometimes in some cases kidnappers listen and follow through. And hopefully this guy, if he is the guy, will come back and turn himself in. Sunny Hostin, thank you very much.

It has happened before, but once again Serena Williams losses her temper on the court and has a shout fest against the referee over the weekend. It is caught on video and an open mic. Her rant has just cost her big time.

Plus, we're going take you live to Tampa where the moderator of tonight's Republican debate is standing by. What kind of questions does Mr. Moderator Wolf Blitzer have up his sleeve? Maybe he will give us a hint or two, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Trending today, tennis superstar Serena Williams and her red-hot temper got her in trouble before. You remember a couple years ago? Here we go again.

This is the moment when Serena Williams lost this week in the U.S. Open, the women's singles final, but it is what happened earlier that got her boos from the crowd.

And as we just learned here, a couple thousand bucks in fines. First game, second set, Williams penalized for violating a hindrance rule. Here is how she responded to the umpire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERENA WILLIAMS, LOST U.S. OPEN SINGLES FINAL: You're the one that (inaudible) over the last time here. Yes, you. You have it out for me and I promise you that's not cool.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: And it didn't end there. There were more angry words from Serena Williams. She went on to lose the set and the match. Talking to reporters afterwards, she said, she didn't remember the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: I don't even remember -- I don't even remember what I said. I'm sorry. I was just so intense out there. It's the finals for me and I was just -- I have to go, I guess I will see it on Youtube. I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Or on CNN, I guess. Just in the past couple of minutes, we learn that U.S. Open tournament fined her $2,000 for verbally abusing the chair umpire. Technically, Williams is still under probation steaming from an obscure verbal outburst during the 2009 U.S. open semifinals match, and she also lost.

And CNN and the Tea Party Express are hosting this debate with eight GOP candidates tonight. We are just about three hours away from it.

Our Wolf Blitzer is there. Not only is he there, he is the moderator. Wolf and I were talking on Friday, you have a big crowd, Wolf. I mean, eight candidates, you know, seven gentlemen, one woman and unlike the New Hampshire debate, you are actually introducing these folks live.

WOLF BLITZER, THE SITUATION ROOM: We are. We are going to introduce them all. We're going to let our viewers see behind the scenes what is going on a little bit as we get ready for this debate.

It's going to be a good debate. I think a lot of these candidates are a little bit more anxious to stress the differences, let's say, between their positions and their challengers' positions. I'm hoping, as you know, Brooke, that everyone who watches this debate will know a little bit more about the eight potential Republican presidential nominees, potential.

And that they will know where they agree, they will know where they disagree on some of the most important positions of the day. It's no secret, jobs, the economy, Social Security, health care, national security.

These are the broad themes that we're going to get through tonight and I think they're obviously practicing. They are prepared. You know what I've been doing, Brooke?

BALDWIN: You've been doing your homework. You've been preparing questions yourself.

BLITZER: I've been doing my homework and I've been practicing. I've been rehearsing. It is not easy walking back and forth on that stage with eight candidates.

And the hard thing is to make sure you give as much of an equal opportunity to each of those candidates even though some are top tier frontrunners. You want to try to be fair. You want to make sure that all eight of them get a chance to explain his or her positions to the voters and the American public. So it's going to be good.

BALDWIN: OK. And then we know some folks have been preselected to ask questions. There are viewing parties in three different states. They will be taking all of them I'm sure at different points live. The red zone, are you excited?

BLITZER: We're going to have questions from Tea Party supporters in Phoenix, in Cincinnati, in Portsmouth, Virginia, as well as from the auditorium here in Tampa. So we're going to have a lot of questions from average folks who are interested in all of these critical issues and then I'm going to follow up.

I'm going to make sure that the candidates answer the questions. If they don't want to answer the questions, it's their right. It's a free country, but I'll press them. I will point it out if they don't want to answer the questions.

I will say, if you didn't want to answer the question, we will move on. So, you know, I will be fair. I will be responsible and hopefully we will get some answers from these candidates.

BALDWIN: I will be watching. You've been tweeting up a storm. We will all be tweeting at doing hash tag, CNN Tea Party, Wolf Blitzer. Thank you very much. Of course, doing your show there live in 10 minutes. Thank you, sir. We'll tune in.

Meantime, Rick Perry speaking of these GOP contenders, flying high in the presidential polls, but is he taking a page from the political past?

Plus, audio recordings of Jackie Kennedy from back in 1964. They had just now been released. Wait until you hear what the former first lady thought of Martin Luther King, Jr., of LBJ. Joe Johns standing by with your "Political Pop." We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I know a lot of folks have been comparing Texas Governor Rick Perry to former President George W. Bush. But there's another comparison that people haven't picked on as much. Joe Johns joins me now for today's "Political Pop." Joe, what's that comparison?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke. We've heard so many Democrats and Republicans making the comparison between Rick Perry and W, but we really have not zeroed in on that imagery that suggests Perry has more or less been channelling the Ronald Reagan image for years.

This is a point that was made a few weeks back by mediate.com. But it is totally worth exploring some more. One of the things that stands -- there you go. Isn't that wild?

BALDWIN: Wow. JOHNS: Stands out, Rick Perry's cowboy persona. Now there were those who are actually alive and paying attention including myself back during Ronald Reagan's days and they remember seeing pictures and video of Reagan in the hats and shirts, out on the ranch doing manual labor or whatever.

So now take a look at part of a Rick Perry ad that he did when he was running for Texas agriculture commissioner. And you tell me whether Perry is presenting a picture of more Reagan or George W. Bush. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell you when a man is right for the job. Texans across the state know that Rick Perry is the man who is right for agriculture commissioner because Rick Perry is a born leader and the only former rancher on the ballot.

Rick Perry, an effective legislator with solutions, an Air Force pilot, a family man, father and a Texan who shares our values and our beliefs. Rick Perry, a new leader from agriculture for Texas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Want to go out an lasso a steer or something.

BALDWIN: How about that, chaps and hat and everything.

JOHNS: Yes. Got it down. He looks authentic too, you know.

BALDWIN: He does. He does. Wayne Slater, "Dallas Morning News," he was saying, look, you know, he really is from a cotton farm back in the day.

Another story we have, I know a lot of us were talking about today, these pretty eye-popping audio recordings that were just released of former first lady Jackie Kennedy taken back in '64, part of this new book. What is she saying on these recordings? Give us the flavor.

JOHNS: Well, what we have seen in the reporting on the Jackie Kennedy tapes is just jaw-dropping. I don't think you would imagine a modern day political figure, even a spouse, giving such candid remarks as Jackie Kennedy did back in the day.

She gave, we think, just three interviews after the death of her husband, "New York Times," Christian Science monitor reporting that in several hours worth of interviews she called Charles Tegal of France an ego maniac.

She called the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, a phony. She called Indira Gandhi a bitter, horrible pushy woman. Questioned whether some other powerful women in politics were lesbians.

And during the Cuban missile crisis when the Soviet Union was aiming missiles of the U.S. from Cuba, Jackie Kennedy said she told President Kennedy that she and her children wanted to stay in Washington to die with him if they had to because they would rather do that than live without him. This is all supposed to be released tomorrow.

BALDWIN: And what do we know about this book that these recordings are released with?

JOHNS: Well, we know this was the result of several interviews that were done by Arthur Schlessinger, who was actually an aide to President Kennedy and this information being released, also the tapes, after the family said it was OK.

It is all supposed to come out tomorrow and I'm sure there are a lot of other tidbits in there. That people who have followed Camelot, and remain interested in, will be very interested in looking at.

BALDWIN: Absolutely. Joe Johns, thank you very much. That's your "Political Pop" for this Monday. That is it for me. I'm Brooke Baldwin in Atlanta. Now to Wolf Blitzer on the roll in Tampa, Florida. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts right now.