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Unemployment Rate Falls; Gingrich's Surge to the Top; Cain Says Wife was Unaware of Accuser; American Abducted in Pakistan; Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.6 Percent; Stocks Set to Rally; Baby Boomers Outliving Their Money; Penn State Helping Sex Abuse Victims

Aired December 02, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, ladies in red. You all have a great weekend.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: You too.

WHITFIELD: All right, let's begin this hour with some big news on the economy.

Just minutes ago, we learned that the nation's unemployment rate has fallen to 8.6 percent. That's the lowest rate in nearly three years.

Christine Romans is back with us in New York now.

So, Christine, what a marked improvement, 120,000 jobs added in November. Where are we seeing the most growth here?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and we had the last two months actually revised hire, as well. Many more jobs created in September and October than we had thought.

The growth we're seeing is in the retail industry, no surprise there. About 50,000 jobs created in the retail industry, about half of those were in clothing stores, and also in apparel -- you know, accessory stores. You also saw leisure and hospitality. That means, you know, hotels, restaurants, too, food and drinking places. Anything that has to do with people starting to get out and spend money there. You saw them adding workers in those places.

Also, professional and business services. Twenty-seven thousand jobs created there. And in health care and education, we saw about 20,000 jobs created.

So, retail, food and drink, professional, medical system, medical places. This is where we saw jobs created and we saw more jobs created, as I was pointing out, in October and in September than we had thought.

So, on average, running more than 125,000 jobs on average created every month so far this year -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: So you spelled out the growth sectors, but we're talking about a pretty sizable drop in a very short amount of time. I imagine the markets are going to respond very positively as a result of this.

ROMANS: Yes, you know, futures are up. They have been up all morning, but certainly they have been up on anticipation that maybe this jobs report was going to show that you are seeing a little bit of momentum. You're seeing some growth in the right direction in the labor market and certainly anything below 9 percent, psychologically, is good.

It's been kind of stuck up there. Stubbornly high at 9 percent for a long time. But there are a couple of other technical factors to keep in mind. There are two surveys here. One that counts how many jobs are created and the other one that's used to count the unemployment rate. So sometimes they don't work exactly in tandem.

One of the things we saw in terms of the unemployment rate is big job gains for adult men age 28 and older. So you saw men gaining in jobs in that particular survey and you saw more women dropping out of the workforce.

And when you see people kind of getting discouraged after a long time and dropping out of the workforce, sometimes the unemployment rate falls and you get this kind of the false sense of optimism that things are better, not necessarily all that much better because you have fewer people in the workforce. But that's one of the reasons why the number dropped so precipitously, but it did -- it did drop from that 9 percent level and it does correspond with some jobs gains in the -- in the other survey that do show people were adding some jobs in the private sector.

Government jobs, Fredricka, just for the record, we lost another 20,000 government jobs in the month.

WHITFIELD: All right. Other than that, lots of signs of encouragement.

Thanks so much, Christine Romans in New York. Thanks so much.

ROMANS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right. Not necessarily because of the economy, but Newt Gingrich is a very happy man and a confident one these days with just a month until the first contest of the 2012 primaries. He has zoomed to the top of the pack and says that he is gaining steam by the day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I mean it's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high I'm going to be the nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Polls like this one out of Florida yesterday. Check out the numbers. A full 50 percent of the state's likely primary voters now choose Gingrich. That's up from 11 percent, just one month earlier.

Candy Crowley is our chief political correspondent and host of "STATE OF THE UNION."

Good to see you, Candy.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: All right. So we have seen several candidates surge in popularity just like this and then fade just as quickly. So what does Gingrich have to do to maintain this momentum leading into the Iowa caucuses?

CROWLEY: Well, he has less than a month to put together an organization that can deliver a vote that matches what he's getting in polling. It's one thing to call people and say, who do you like? And it's another thing to see if they show up in Iowa as an Iowa voter on a caucus night.

And -- so there's kind of two schools of thought that we're looking at now. There are some people say -- Newt Gingrich, who has been operating on a shoestring, who just opened his first campaign headquarters in Iowa, cannot get it together between now and the caucuses in early January. Much less in New Hampshire for the New Hampshire primary.

So there is that and then there's others who say, look, this is a brand new world. You don't have to organize the way you had to organize the old-fashioned way. There's the Twitterverse. There's blogging. There's just the Internet in general and friends can tell friends, and they'll show up at the caucuses.

I don't see huge signs that Newt Gingrich has a huge presence that is somehow going to produce massive droves of people going to caucuses. There still tends to be a very mano y mano day where you say, let's -- you know, you send a person to a house to knock on a door and say, you need to come and caucus for Newt Gingrich.

So he's got to somehow find the organization to match those poll numbers. He's got to put it together in a very short time.

WHITFIELD: All right, meantime, so, you know, he is winning over the voters, at least if you listen to the polls and listen -- you know, look at the polls, but at the end of the day, he has to win over his own party and we know that there's been a concerted effort by the party to say, we're not necessarily crazy about this candidate, so how about this one? Is Newt somebody the party is excited about?

CROWLEY: The party will be excited about whoever wins and -- so if he wins the nomination, the party will be excited about Newt Gingrich. The question is, you know, what is -- what is the big question? It's not -- it is, as we say, can Newt Gingrich put together the organization, but it is also, can Newt Gingrich convince Republican voters that he can beat Barack Obama?

You can say all you want about how -- what the conservatives in the party really want as a pure conservative. Perhaps that's true. But what they most want is for Barack Obama not to be in the White House in -- after the November elections, in the January after the November elections.

So the fact of the matter is that Newt Gingrich has to prove his electability. And right now what we're seeing at least in a recent CNN poll, most folks looked at Mitt Romney as the more electable of the candidates. He had almost twice the votes I think at that point than Newt Gingrich did.

So he's got to show some electability there. The party will come around the numbers. You know? You can say all you want. Well, they don't like him, they don't like him, they'll like him if he can win. Trust me.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: All right. Everyone's a winner. All right. Thanks so much, Candy Crowley, appreciate that.

We'll be watching of course, 9:00 a.m., starting this Sunday.

Today Herman Cain faces the toughest day of his presidential bid and it's far from the campaign trail. He meets with his wife about allegations of a 13-year sexual affair. Cain says it was only friendship and he never told his wife about it.

Senior political editor Mark Preston is in Washington.

So, Mark, is the future of Cain's candidacy riding on this?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Oh, to be a fly on the wall of that conversation later today that we expect to happen in Atlanta.

You know, since the accusations have come out last Monday that he had an extramarital affair, Herman Cain has stayed on the campaign trail. He has not met face-to-face with his wife. Now in interviews he had said he has spoken to her several times a day and appears that she's supportive -- at least supportive enough to let him stay on the campaign trail for the past five days.

However, the day of reckoning is today. Herman Cain himself has said, Fred, that there are three things he's going to look at as he decides whether to continue on with this presidential bid or abandon it.

The first thing is the emotional toll it's taking on his family. The second thing is, does he have the support to continue on, and the third thing is, does he have the money?

As for his timetable about what's going to happen. Let's take a look at what he said last night on FOX. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Before Monday -- I haven't set the exact date, before Monday, I -- we will make a decision. We will make a decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: And this is really what the conundrum is for Herman Cain at this point. This weekend he's also going to be opening up his Atlanta headquarters. He has $80,000 worth of television ads running in Iowa. At the same time, he is saying that he is considering abandoning his presidential bid.

This is not the message you want to be sending to supporters or potential supporters -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: No, not at all. All right. Mark Preston, thanks so much.

We'll have another political update with you next hour. And a reminder for all the latest political news, you want to go to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com.

Overseas, al Qaeda's new leader has claimed responsibility for capturing a 70-year-old American aid worker in Pakistan three months ago and he reportedly posted a statement online listing his demands.

CNN's Zain Verjee is following this story for us from London now.

Zain, what do you have?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi, there, Fred. Yes, he's saying that there's specific demands that need to be met in order for Warren Weinsten to be released. Warren Weinstein is an aid worker. He had been living in Pakistan for seven years and then just disappeared in August.

It wasn't really clear whether he was kidnapped by criminals or what exactly was going on. But it seems as though, based on this message by Ayman al-Zawahiri that he is in their captivity. If that is the case what Zawahiri is saying that he wants all al Qaeda prisoners released that the west is holding. He wants all prisoners in Guantanamo Bay released. He wants all of Osama bin Laden's relatives that are being held released, and also he's demanding that the U.S. stop its bombing of Afghanistan, of Yemen, of other places like Somalia and also in Pakistan where the U.S. is reportedly operating drone attacks in those area.

Now U.S. officials have said that they're going to follow every single lead to try and get hold of this hostage. The family is really concerned. They have been appealing to the captors over the past while saying their hostage has asthma and a serious heart condition, as well. And so they're really concerned about the situation.

Zawahiri also said, Fred, that the fate of Warren Weinsten really lies in the hands of President Obama. But the list of demands is never going to be met.

WHITFIELD: All right. Zain Verjee, thanks so much for keeping us posted on that.

Also, coming up, the winds grew stronger, the concerns grew louder. New insights at the moments before this tragedy at Indiana State Fair.

And we'll have the latest on those ferocious winds that ripped across Southern California and we'll get a closer look at the damage, as well, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Checking news "Cross Country" now.

This morning, new insights into this summer's disastrous collapse at the stage at the Indiana State Fair. Seven people were killed and at least 40 injured.

CNN affiliate WTHR has compiled all the emergency radio traffic, including the growing sense of alarm as strong winds swept into the area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All units, all units. Severe thunderstorm warning until 9:45 for Marion County. Use your best judgment. Find shelter when needed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have they released fans from the grandstands yet?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have no information on that. I will check and advise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: In Southern California, wicked Santa Ana winds have toppled trees and scattered debris for miles. Nearly 500 power lines were down just in Los Angeles County. Gusts as high 140 miles were reported.

Hurricane-force winds also battered Utah. Some 50,000 homes and businesses lost power there and at least 16 semi trucks were knocked over by these winds.

Rob Marciano in our weather center.

So, Rob, you know, this is pretty incredible. I was in Los Angeles, actually, just hours before those big Santa Ana winds came in.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Really?

WHITFIELD: And people were talking about it all day, preparing for these big winds. But I don't think anyone anticipated that.

MARCIANO: Well, because it happens a lot, Santa Ana wind. So, folks who live in L.A. get them, you know, this time of year. Certainly several times during this time of year, but not like this, such a widespread event.

Let's go through what's happening right now. Relatively light stuff right now. We're talking about winds that are even gusting over 20 miles an hour on most spots. So, that's the good news. The bad news is that we're going to see winds kick up again today between 40 and 60 miles an hour and then another resurgence of some of these winds.

But look at the winds from yesterday. Mammoth Lakes -- now, granted, this is up at 11,000 feet -- mile-per-hour wind gusts but that's high as high as that instrument can record. So, it could have been higher than that. But even some spots outside of Los Angeles. OK, Centerville, Utah. Salt Lake City downtown 69 mile per hour wind gusts.

So, that's how extraordinary this event was and widespread damage across parts of U and also damage to parts of Las Vegas. And snows at the higher elevations.

The issue today and tomorrow is going to be the ongoing threat for critical fire danger, low levels of humidity and still those gusty winds. We have the typical, more typical Santa Ana winds today. More localized, I should say. And a little pulse tonight and tomorrow.

So, we're not quite done with this event yet. We're not going to see the winds we saw yesterday morning in excess of 100 miles per hour. But still strong enough to fly some debris around that is still on the ground, obviously. Any trees that were weakened may come down in the next 48 hours.

WHITFIELD: Yes, that's incredibly severe to see the kind of trees that came down.

MARCIANO: Huge oak trees and beautiful ones. So, it's quite a loss to place like Pasadena and other spots down there.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Rob. Appreciate that.

All right. The job market takes a step forward. A new report showing the unemployment rate is the lowest in nearly three years now. And it's enough to actually power a rally in Wall Street. We go live to the New York Stock Exchange momentarily.

Plus, we'll take a journey to fantasy land aboard the world's largest model train and railroad. It's pretty spectacular, especially if you're really into trains. You're going to like this one. You're going to see it for yourself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's hop aboard the world's largest model train railway and take a journey into a mini wonder land. I am talking about an exhibit in Hamburg, Germany.

And CNN's Zain Verjee, she's our engineer. She's going to take along for the ride.

Even though you're in London, but you're at the controls.

(LAUGHTER)

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, it's a wonderland that we should say, seeing it's in Germany. It's pretty incredible. Just look at this, you got 39,000 feet of tracks.

Now, this has been built since 2001 and it's supposed to go on until 2020. They've got 890 trains, 300,000 lights, 215,000 trees, 200,000 human figures just all over the place, and they've got these little humans everywhere and in a really realistic things like funerals or, well, some unrealistic things like they have some humans being chased by UFOs and weightlifting cows. But, you know, some people breathing fire.

But the thing about this is that the detail, Fred, is totally crazy because it's so --

WHITFIELD: Oh, it's incredible.

VERJEE: -- incredibly meticulous and then there's actually, they have Europe. They've got, you know, Switzerland and Baltic Sea and then they have the U.S. in this. And they pick Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite Park, Mt. Rushmore, and it's in this incredible mini detail.

What they're working on now is the Baltic Sea and they're simulating high tide on it every 30 minutes and then they're going to put on a fleet of ships and just make it really cool. So, this is -- this is kind of the world's biggest model. Yes.

WHITFIELD: So, as I'm looking at this, OK, this is going to be -- this is an exhibit. Is it in a museum there in Hamburg? So, you as a patron want to come see it and can you look at it in one big span or, you know, do you have to go from room to room? I mean, this just looks gigantic and colossal, 39,000 feet.

VERJEE: It's in one massive space in Hamburg and, yes, you can go in and take a look at this exhibition. And it's 39,000 feet, and by 2020, it's actually going to be double this size. So, people have just been working on it and you can see, look at that cruise liner. I mean, everything is just mind blowing the way that they've done this.

In this city, yes, they've got like fake firemen and policemen and working engines and sirens and it's incredibly realistic.

So, yes, if you're in Hamburg at any point, swing by.

WHITFIELD: You might as well just schedule the entire day to do this because it looks to really take it all in and appreciate all the intricacies here, you're going to have to be there a few hours because it's extraordinary. It's starting to look more and more real the more I look at it. Like real life.

VERJEE: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: All right, Zain.

VERJEE: Except cleaner.

WHITFIELD: Except cleaner, that's bright. I saw no litter on the streets there. Funny.

All right. Zain, appreciate that. Thanks so much.

(MUSIC)

WHITFIELD: All right, back to this country now and the economy.

Some very encouraging signs on the job front. The economy added 120,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate plunged to 8.6 percent, down from 9 percent.

Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange.

This is some pretty huge news and how are people reacting to it?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is big news and some of the folks I'm talking to are pleasantly surprised by it. You can see how Wall Street feels about it. We are expecting to see a triple-digit gain for the Dow at the open.

And, in fact, stocks were open before the jobs' report and we were seeing these gains holds about, you know, seven minutes before the opening bell. But these gains are holding following the jobs report which was, by all accounts are very upbeat because the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in almost three years.

We're also seeing stocks getting a lift from Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants new laws put in place in Europe and rules to fix the debt problems there and not just pledges of support or just lip service. She wants to see something concrete. So, that's also helping to give the markets a boost this morning -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: OK. And I wonder. You know, back to the unemployment rate in this country, particularly noteworthy. But is it too good to be true and will it be revised somewhere in the near future, or should we settle on this 8.6 percent for now for a while?

KOSIK: All good questions, Fredricka. First of all, the unemployment rate, it's never revised like other unemployment rates are. But it could wind up ticking up next month. So, don't be surprised if it does that.

Now, some analysts and traders I'm talking with, they're a little skeptical on this. They're questioning the unemployment rate at this point because they say this drop is huge. You usually see the unemployment move a tenth of a percent, a tenth of a percent, that's more typical. This was a move of almost a half of a percent. It was a huge decline.

So, why this happened is really up for debate. The more popular view is that people are either leaving the labor market altogether or finding temporary work because the fact is the labor market, the labor force got smaller in November. It means people literally dropped out and they stopped looking for work. They got discouraged.

But the report also shows that the economy gained a lot more jobs in September and October than originally reported. So, the other side of it, Fredricka, is that people may be finding full-time jobs -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

Baby boomers as millions enter retirement age, they now run the risk of actually outliving their money.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to be a burden to my son. Frankly speaking, hope that I'll be killed in a car accident. That's the best that I can hope for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: My goodness. Straight ahead we continue our look at baby boomers and the challenges they face.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. The opening bell is just minutes away on Wall Street and stocks are ready to take off. Just about an hour ago, investors got a new jolt of optimism when we learned that the jobless rate has plunged to its lowest level in nearly three years, down now to 8.6 percent.

Christine Romans is breaking down the jobs report. Alison Kosik is at New York Stock Exchange.

Christine, let's begin with you.

This is an amazing boost to the economy. Should people feel overly confident that, indeed, the joblessness -- OK, now the markets are opening -- that the unemployment rate is seeing some encouraging signs?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I wouldn't call it an amazing boost to the economy. I would call it a labor market moving in the right direction. And here's why. You had 120,000 jobs created in November. That's not even enough to be into overall the unemployment rate -- and that's really important to note that you've got to be creating more jobs in this every month.

The unemployment rate fell and that is a very good thing. It's below 9 percent, but it fell for a variety of different reasons. Among them, because some people did drop out of the labor market -- 315,000 people said, you know what, I'm going to stop looking because they were so discouraged, they dropped out of the market.

So, that's one of the reasons why you saw the labor market have these two different reactions. Jobs created 120,000 of them created in the month, but you saw the unemployment rate drop so much. You saw the unemployment rate drop so much because there were some revisions from the prior couple months. We have more jobs created in October and November than we had thought, more around 200,000 jobs.

Boy, we want to be creating jobs like that every single month and then maybe in five years, we would get back to where we started. Only about a third of the jobs lost of the 8.8 million jobs have been lost in the great recession have been recovered here.

Where are you getting jobs? It's in retail. It's in leisure and hospitality. It's education and medicine. Eds and meds, that category saw some jobs creation. Jobs lost from the government. Some 20,000 jobs lost from the government.

So, you always see this pull and push in these numbers. You also see revisions because the government is always taking a look at new data and revising for the last few months.

But, overall, unemployment rate below 9 percent, definitely good news. Futures, though, or stocks, rather, off their highs and taking a close eye one Europe as well. So, I wouldn't -- 8.6 percent is still not good enough, Fred. But, boy, it's certainly better than 9 percent.

WHITFIELD: Well, Christine, it didn't seem like more than a couple weeks ago some analysts were saying that they didn't see the unemployment rate would dip below 9 percent for some time to come. And then, here we have a 9 percent drop in just a matter of weeks, seemingly overnight.

ROMANS: And what we'll need to see is if next month, it stays at 8.6 percent or goes to 8.7 or goes to 8.5, or something that economists like to call noise. Statistical noise in these numbers.

There's two different surveys. I'm not going to get too technical on you. But the job report is two different surveys put together, that each measure something else. So, we're going to be looking to see what kind of noise there is in the unemployment.

I'm not diminishing the importance of 8.6 percent. I want to be clear. That is a good number, better than 9 percent. We need it at this stage of our recovery to be better than 8.6 percent, but that shows you there is hiring and things are getting better, no question.

But you'll see a lot of analysis today as we dig into these numbers. What is the move behind that? Some people did drop out of the labor market and that's one reason why that number dropped.

WHITFIELD: All right. Christine Romans, thanks so much.

Let's check in over with Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.

All right. So, right now, we're looking at the markets opening 92 points up. What are the other indicators to look for?

KOSIK: Wall Street is also having its eye on Europe. You know, of course, the debt issue is still going to be sort of keeping the losses in check, but, really, I think that the jobs report that we just got is really going to be the driver today and a lot of what Christine said is absolutely true for what's going to be working on Wall Street today.

You know, one month, meaning this one month of a job report. It does not make the trend and, sure, the unemployment rate dropping this much is a great thing for a headline and that's really what you're going to se when you open up the newspaper tomorrow, that's going to be the headline.

But you really have to look deeper into it because it's true. You know, the workforce did get smaller. That labor force participation rate, it did get smaller.

And, also, you have to realize that we are in that holiday shopping season. Those temporary workers are finding that temporary work, which means they're not filing for those unemployment benefits that could also be a factor in it, as well.

You know, people dropping out because of just getting discouraged that they can't find a job. That could be a factor, as well.

And then you flip the coin on the other side and it could be, you know what? Those numbers in September and October about those jobs added to the economy, those were upgraded. Meaning more jobs were added than first reported.

So, you know what? People may actually be following full-time jobs. Anyway you cut it, good news jobs are being created. The fact is, though, it's a slow go. We need to see more jobs created.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alison Kosik, thanks so much. Christine Romans, as well. Thank you, ladies. We'll keep an eye on the money throughout the day.

Meantime for Americans, for those who do have jobs. The future size of the paycheck is being decided on Capitol Hill. Last night, the Senate rejected partisan plans to extend the Bush era tax cuts. Now, lawmakers are scrambling to find a compromise that will prevent a hike of more than $1,000 a year for the average American family.

Brianna Keilar is at the White House.

So, Brianna, how likely is a compromise?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think this is really the thing to focus on, Fred. The bottom line is compromise of some sort is expected to pass Congress before the end of the year and this is something that a lot of Americans care about because they've gotten a payroll tax cut over the last year. And if it were to expire, that would mean, as you said, about $1,000 less per family. And, you know, in this economy, that really can make a difference.

So, last night, what happened? You had two bills that the Senate rejected. You said their partisan plans, yes. It was a payroll tax extension with different ways to pay for it -- a Republican plan that would have taken it out of the federal payroll -- so, what pays for federal employees' salaries; and then the Democratic plan which would have put a tax on Americans making a million dollars or more.

So, both of them failed. Kind of back at square one here and there's still this disagreement over how to pay for them.

So, what we're going to be seeing is, of course, a lot of uncertainty and a whole lot of politics.

But just take a listen or take a look, I should say, at what President Obama said last night following this vote. He said, "Tonight, Senate Republicans chose to raise taxes on nearly 160 million hard-working Americans because they refused to ask a few hundred thousand millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share. That is unacceptable."

He added, "It makes absolutely no sense."

Now, Republicans say, Fred, that this surtax on millionaires, that it hits job creators, it hurts small businesses. But this is really, as you can see what the president is doing, what Democrats are doing -- they're really saying that Republicans are unfriendly to the middle class while protecting the rich and they're going to continue with that message for some time.

WHITFIELD: And, Brianna, before I let you go, I wonder the unemployment rate dipping to 8.6 percent, possibly a real shot in the arm for this White House as it talks about moving forward with the economy. Any reaction thus far from them about these new jobless numbers?

KEILAR: We don't have reaction yet. President Obama will be speaking next hour. He may say something. You know, it could have been worse, the numbers you could say for sure from the White House. These numbers will be welcome.

But they're not really enough to really trumpet. Certainly, they could be worse. But, certainly, you'll be hearing President Obama.

As we heard him months and months before, Fred, say that, you know, it's not to where he would like to see it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Brianna Keilar, thanks so much, from the White House.

Coming up: so she calls Elvis daddy and I'm not talking about Lisa Marie. Your showbiz headlines next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Elvis Presley's estate has just been hit with the king of all lawsuits by a woman who says she is his daughter.

A.J. Hammer is here with all the details on this.

Something tells me this is going to be ugly.

A.J. HAMMER, HOST, HLN'S "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Well, it's certainly going to be strange, Fred. There's the Swedish woman, her name is Lisa Johansen and she claims she is the real daughter of Elvis Presley.

She's not claiming she's the illegitimate daughter of Elvis. She is claiming she is the real Lisa Marie Presley and filed a suit against Elvis' estate. She's asking for 130 million bucks in damages for defamation and emotional distress.

Now, the woman did write a book back in 1988. It's called "I, Lisa Marie: The True Story of Elvis Presley's Real Daughter." She was whisked away to Scandinavia after Elvis' death to be raised in safety. The book got some attention, but that all fizzled when Johansen refused to step up to the plate and do a DNA sample.

But now, she's reportedly saying she's taken the DNA test. She's ready to prove her claim. We'll have to see about that.

But, Fred, it has been a while now. So, we kind of forget how strange the furor was around Elvis' death. You remember all the speculation that Elvis was actually alive. This is perhaps just another strange chapter in Elvis' afterlife.

WHITFIELD: Huh! And no picture of her? I mean, come on, it begs. We want to see resemblance. Is there?

HAMMER: Certainly hear her sing.

WHITFIELD: All right. So, let's move on to all of these celebrity shows, wife swap, reality, et cetera. There's a new, I guess, addition to the celebrity wife swap. Who is it?

HAMMER: Well, the wife swap franchise is now exploring the celebrity world. This is the first time they're doing it with celebrities. The cast of the premiere season of the show was just announced. Pretty eccentric.

Two of the pairings that really caught my eye, Gary Busey swapping with disgraced evangelical minister Ted Haggard. Flavor Flav and Dee Snider swapping with each other. The rest of the pairings include former "Growing Pains" star Tracey Gold, who is swapping with "Wilson Phillips" star Carnie Wilson.

In fact tonight, I'll have Tracey on "Showbiz Tonight." So, we'll find out all about that.

You have wrestler Mick Foley swapping with Antonio Sabato, Jr.; comedian Niecy Nash switching with "Family Ties" star Tina Yothers.

Of course, Fred, a lot of these stars are getting to be just as famous for their reality show appearances more so than their original careers. I think if I told a lot of people under certain age that Flavor Flav was in one of the most groundbreaking rap groups of all time, they wouldn't just quite connect that with the fact that, oh, that's the guy from the reality show "Flavor of Love."

WHITFIELD: Oh, my God.

HAMMER: This is what that cast is like.

WHITFIELD: This is what you call reinventing one self, they have just taken it to another level. That's all.

HAMMER: I suppose. That is the positive way of looking at all that.

WHITFIELD: There you go, always glass half full.

All right. A.J., thanks so much. We'll see you again next half hour with more headlines. And we'll tell you about 50 Cent teaming up with one of the guys from "Jersey Shore."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, remember the case of an Atlanta mega church pastor who was accused of sexual relations with young men? Well, now apparently the wife of Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside Atlanta has filed divorce. Vanessa G. Long filing for divorce some one year or so after those allegations first surfaced.

All right, checking our "Top Stories" across country now. A young boy turned away from a private school in Pennsylvania because he is HIV positive. The 13-year-old is suing Milton Hershey School for discrimination after it refused his enrolment because of his status last February. The school says that it made the right legal decision under the law.

And in San Francisco, BART says it will no longer blackout cell phone usage at its train and bus stations. The transit service came under fire after it blocked the communications during summer protests. BART says that action will be used only in the most extreme of cases.

And 72 hours under water; that's the goal for Florida diver Allen Sherrod. He is attempting to break the current world's record for the longest saltwater scuba dive. He began his three-day dive yesterday.

All right. A look at jobs and uncertainty through the eyes of baby boomers. Millions of them are entering into their retirement years, but will continue working for one simple reason. They have to. Many face the terrifying prospect of running out of money in their declining years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY WONG TOMITA (ph): No matter what your spouse or partner says to you, save your money for retirement. I listened and I shouldn't have. My name is Betty Wong Tomita. At this time I'm 68 years old and fortunate enough to work as a part-time recruiter at City Harvest. Am I worried? Am I apprehensive of my future? Yes.

If 50-something year olds have a problem looking for a job, a woman past 65 is really not going to have much choices. So I thought, well, I'll muddle through, I'll try to cut my expenses as much as I can. That was my solution to my problems. It's hard to move down from -- from what you're used to, but I had to do that. I don't want to be a burden to my son.

I -- I lived through taking care of my mother through her declining years. And I have a sister and a brother. The three of us shared the responsibility. I only have one son. I don't want to put on him what the three of us had to face.

And I don't know how to go about it. And, frankly speaking, hope that I'll be killed in a car accident. That's the best that I can hope for.

I'm 68 years old. I have lived life. I've had my life. But I can't live under a state of constant fear. I mean how can you? So, I feel I have to live my life now. One day at a time and one month at a time.

And I have a good life now. I live in a good place. I have good friends. I'm working. And what more can you ask from life?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow, Poppy Harlow of CNNMoney.com is joining us now. So, Poppy you know, Betty is not alone there. A lot of people who really fear getting older, those declining years, worried that retirement isn't going to be what they had hoped it was going to be.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Absolutely. You know I spent a long time talking to Betty about this, and she said the feeling that she has and that frustration, the inability to get a full-time job to make enough to live comfortably at that age is common among her friends. So it's not only a situation she is going through.

She even said that in her group of friends, Fred, they feel discriminated against by employers. She might not be able to prove it, but she said it's so hard for us to get full-time work.

If you look at someone like Betty, I thought it was so interesting she told me she used to run her own company, a recruiting company. She's now making one-fifth of what she used to make, and the problem is health care is so good these days, people are living longer. Things, food, energy is getting more expensive but incomes are depressed. People are making less and that is a reality and a fear that so many people have and I think that Betty embodies.

WHITFIELD: Wow that's incredible. And a very sobering eye- opening look. Thanks so much Poppy.

HARLOW: Sure.

WHITFIELD: So the generation that gave us free love and high divorce rates now finds itself at a crossroads. What it's like to be divorced, widowed, or a boomer trying to reinvent one's self. How hard is dating after 65 and can popular online dating sites help or hurt this generation? We take a look later on today as our "Baby Boomer Series" continues.

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WHITFIELD: All right, checking stories making headlines later on today.

More than 60 members of the California National Guard will return home from Iraq at 1:30 Eastern Time.

Three members of a breakaway Amish group charged with hate crimes will be arraigned in federal court in Youngstown, Ohio at 2:00 Eastern.

And then at 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time, President Barack Obama will deliver remarks at a Tribal Nation's Conference hosted by the White House.

All right, we're following lots of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with Paul Steinhauser -- Paul.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well Fred, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain he's facing allegations that he had a 13-year affair. He heads home today to Atlanta to talk to his wife about it. Will he keep his campaign for the White House going? Details at the top of the hour.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Christine Romans in New York. Digging into the latest jobs numbers, hiring is up. Unemployment is down. I'll tell you why and just how much better the jobs market is getting and where there are, I don't know, some fool's gold. We'll show you that at the top of the hour.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. Last night the winds dropped dramatically across parts of Southern California after the historic southwestern wind event. But it's not quite over yet. Details in the next hour -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, everyone. Appreciate that.

And Tim Tebow is on a roll. The Denver quarterback's success this season may be tied to faith and not just his own. We'll talk about that in the next hour.

WHITFIELD: All right.

Penn State is back in the headlines for a different reason though. Penn State now donating more than a million dollars to help sex abuse victims. Jeff Fischel here and now; so Jeff, that kind of money is coming from where?

JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORT: Yes. It's from the football program. And it's actually a nice gesture by Penn State. It's coming out of the share of the bowl game money Penn State will get from its conference, the Big Ten. The school says it will donate $1.5 million to the Pennsylvania Coalition against Rape and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

Now, the question is would the bowl game want all the controversy that might come with inviting Penn State? I do think the Nittany Lions will get an invitation. The school says it would accept if invited.

The school doesn't want to say no. It doesn't want to punish the players now. They had nothing to do with all the allegations against former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky.

NFL now: Thursday night game, the Philadelphia Eagles, their season continues to spiral out of control. The Seahawks intercepted backup quarterback Vince Young four times; took one back for a touchdown. Of course, Mike Vick still out with broken ribs and boy did Eagles miss him.

Meanwhile, Seattle is running back Marshawn Lynch, a huge game. Watch him well, yes you can. You'll lose him in the pile and then he pops out, 148 yards rushing, two scores. And after each one he's rewarded on the side lines with Skittles. It's a tradition his mom started with him when he was a kid. Seahawks roll 31-14. Eagles are a disaster.

All right. We have an update now on the Michigan State cheerleader who took a frightening fall during a game Wednesday night. There she is, Taylor Young. She did get tested at the hospital. She's fine.

After her family found out that all's well, check out her dad with his Facebook post with this picture his daughter, quote, "I'm glad to see your booty isn't getting big. No one likes a chick with a big butt. Love you." That's from her dad.

WHITFIELD: Ok.

FISCHEL: That family has a special sense of humor.

WHITFIELD: Ok.

FISCHEL: Some people are saying, dad, that's a little out of bounds. One of the comments after his was, "Too soon." Another one was, "Come on." WHITFIELD: Sense of humor?

FISCHEL: Clearly dad and the daughter have a relationship.

WHITFIELD: Ok. That's very interesting. Definitely makes you take pause. All right. Jeff, thanks so much.