Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Defiant Akin Still In Senate Race; Syria Spilling Over; Tropical Depression Forms In Atlantic; Campaign Cash Advance; Michael J. Fox Returning To TV; Homicides In Chicago Up Sharply; Riding With Chicago Police; Best Buy Earnings Tank; "Fifty Shades" Helps Lift Barnes & Nobles; Hispanics In College At Record High; Rosie O'Donnell's Heart Attack; Hiring America's Next CEO
Aired August 21, 2012 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Suzanne, thank you.
I'm Brooke Baldwin.
And on the very day Republicans reveal part of next week's convention platform, a constitutional amendment to ban abortion nationwide, a fire storm involving one of their own just got a little hotter. I'm talking about Missouri Congressman Todd Akin. He says he used the wrong words and has asked Missouri voters for their forgiveness, but, he says, he is not, I repeat not getting out of this Missouri Senate race. Akin said over the weekend that victims of what he called legitimate rape rarely get pregnant and he has spent the last couple of days trying to explain exactly what he meant by that. We have seen major developments in this story really in the last 30 minutes or so. That's why I want to bring in Dana Bash.
We know, Dana, he's been on multiple radio shows. In the last couple of minutes, he says he's in. Why?
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's let him explain it for himself. I should note that he did this in one of the few friendly forums left for him, and that is Mike Huckabee's radio show. Listen to him explain why he says he's staying in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TODD AKIN (R), MISSOURI SENATE CANDIDATE (voice-over): Because we are going to continue with this race for the U.S. Senate. We've given it a lot of thought. And the first thing we felt we had to do was we had offended some people and we tried to respond to that and let people know that we didn't mean anything or to take in any way rape anything less than very, very seriously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: So that's him explaining why. And there was another comment that he made that struck us all about the way he believes that his party, again many in his party, not just the leadership, but several Tea Party groups and conservative radio hosts and columnists, the way that they have reacted or, in his words, overreacted to the comments he made about rape. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AKIN: It does seem just misspoke one word in one sentence on one day. I hasn't done anything that was morally or ethically wrong, as sometimes people in politics do. We do a lot of talking and to get a word in the wrong place, you know, that's not a good thing to do or to hurt anybody that way. But it does seem like a little bit of an overreaction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, as you can imagine, Republican Party leaders are not happy at all, Brooke. Just as we were coming on this show, I got an e- mail from the spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. This is the arm of the Republican Party in charge of electing Senate Republicans. And I'll just read you some of the quotes.
Brian Walsh saying, "by staying in this race, Congressman Akin is putting at great risk many of the issues that he and others in the Republican Party are fighting for, including the repeal of Obamacare." And goes on to say that they "continue to hope that Congressman Akin will do the right thing for the values he holds dear." Effectively saying they still hope that he will, at some point, step down. But he made very clear today that's not happening by the deadline, which is 6:00 Eastern, for him to do so voluntarily without a lot of procedural and financial hurdles.
BALDWIN: Yes, so you point out, members of the national party, they're not necessarily supporting him. A big chunk of change he is now no longer getting. People in his own state are not supporting him. Dana Bash, just, quite frankly, is he being stubborn at this point?
BASH: You know, that's definitely the way most of the Republican Party thinks he is being. They think he's being very stubborn. From his point of view, he believes that he is doing what is his constitutional right and what is his calling. This is something that he believes that -- let me just take a step back and explain to you, maybe give a little bit of color as to the kind of candidate he is.
BALDWIN: Sure.
BASH: He is not the person that the Republican leadership wanted to be the nominee to run against Claire McCaskill in the first place. He was probably their last choice. In fact, I was told point-blank he was.
He knew that and he stayed in the race and he won the Republican primary to challenge Claire McCaskill. So he made that point today. He was told before he couldn't win. He did win. He beat somebody with a lot of money. And he says he's going to continue to do that.
He made the point also in that radio show today that some of the grass roots supporters that we're not hearing from are contacting him, contacting his campaign, giving them money. So, you know, he's basically in this and he is -- maybe stubborn is a good word for the way he's reacting to the pressure from Republican Party leaders.
BALDWIN: Just a question. Just wondering. Dana Bash, appreciate all your reporting on it. Thank you so much, from Washington for us.
And now to something -- this is fascinating, OK. This is one of the starkest contrasts possible between the president on one side and his opponents on the other. We caught this earlier this afternoon. So listen if you would. First, President Obama. Then Congressman Paul Ryan. Each critiquing the other side's vision of how to achieve success. We're going to roll it. First the president speaking in Columbus, Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, a few months ago just up the road in Westerville, Governor Romney said, if you want to be successful, if you want to go to college or start a business, you can just, and I'm quoting here, "borrow money if you have to from your parents." One high school student in Youngstown asked him what he would do to make college more affordable for families like his. Governor Romney didn't say anything about grants or loan programs that are critical to millions of students to get a college education. He said nothing about work study programs or rising college tuition. He didn't say a word about community colleges or how important higher education is to America's future. He said the best thing you can do is shop around. The best -- the best thing I can do for you is to tell you to shop around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL RYAN, (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Even if Washington could be good at picking winners and losers, which they're not, they shouldn't be in the business of picking winners and losers. That's not the role of government. You see, it invites cronyism. It's corporate welfare. It's crony capitalism. It's basically big government and big business joining in a common cause to rig the rules, stack the deck and keep the small business person and the entrepreneur on the outside looking in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And that was Congressman Paul Ryan speaking today. We also heard from the president, who spoke within the past hour. Both on achieving success in today's America. As we said, two starkly competing visions there.
And a quick reminder to all of you. This time next week, I will be anchoring this show live from Tampa, where Republicans will be holding their national convention. Join us. Our whole CNN crew down there. That kicks off August 27th. I will see you then.
Meantime, a lot more happening here on this Tuesday. Take a look at this.
Dozens more shot in Chicago as the crisis there grows and CNN rides along with police on a night when the calls don't stop.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
The fists come out between neighborhoods. CNN gets up close proof the violence in Syria is spilling over into Lebanon.
And a mother loses her daughter to a parasailing accident. Now she's fighting for a crackdown against an industry with no rules.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: As you know, you watch us enough, we really follow the war in Syria very, very closely here. And one of the reasons we do that is the fact that this war could, could bleed across Syria's border and that is quite, quite frighten. Case in point. Take a look at our map and you can see this town right here. This is this Turkish town. It's not too far there from the Turkish-Syrian border. Well, just yesterday, a bomb exploded there and it killed about a dozen people. Was it directly related to the ongoing fight in Syria? We can't say. But what we can report is that this town, where this happened, is now housing tens of thousands of Syrians who have fled across the border. And some of these people include Syrian rebels.
Case number two, and, you know, we have talked about Lebanon there in the past. I just want to show you what happened today. And I'm specifically talking about this city right here along the water. This is Tripoli, not too far from the Syrian border. Watch this.
(VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That is some serious gunfire. And it looks a heck of a lot like Syria. But, no, this is Syria's southern neighbor. This is Lebanon, to be exact. This is the city of Tripoli, just south of the Syrian border.
And I want to go straight to Jim Clancy. He is joining me now from the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
And, Jim, question number one for you is, who is fighting in the video we just looked at? And is that fighting in Lebanon directly related to all the fighting we've been witnessing in Syria?
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In a word, yes. Directly related because what you have there are two neighborhoods. Arwa Damon, our correspondent bureau chief here and Christian Streib, the CNN cameraman, were up in Tripoli today. They literally ran into this fighting as it erupted once again.
This has happened before. Inside you're looking at one Syrian neighborhood -- excuse me, one, I should say, Sunni Muslim neighborhood, with many relatives, many people, Syrian relatives, that are fighting on the side of the Free Syrian Army. In fact, they're refugees from cities like Homs inside Syria who are now living in that neighborhood in Tripoli.
On the other side of the street, apply named Syria's Street, is another neighborhood. A neighborhood of Alawite Muslims who support President Bashar al-Assad. They even post posters of him on their homes along that street.
These two sides have clashed before. They did today with deadly results. At least four people reported killed, 40 wounds. The Lebanese Army tried to take armored personnel carriers in there speeding up that street, trying to divide both sides, shooting back at anybody that was firing, trying to put a lid on all of this. They filed to do that. They pulled back under a hail of automatic weapons fire and rocket propelled grenades. The fighting was continuing, we understand, as little as two hours ago.
Back to you.
BALDWIN: So, Jim, with the video that we saw, and you're talking about Tripoli, we saw what looks eerily reminiscent to the Lebanese civil war from the 1980s. In fact, Jim Clancy, we went, only as CNN can, deep down into the vault and we found a clip of a very familiar face reporting from where you were back in 1983. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: Sukilgar (ph), in the hills above Beirut. Many people believe the Lebanese army was born here, tested for the first time under fire by Syria backed Drew's militia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So that was a bit younger Jim Clancy.
CLANCY: All right. Well --
BALDWIN: That was you doing a stand-up many years ago. I know you've gotten to know this part of the world very, very well, Jim. I mean, what are people saying there about the prospect of Lebanon sinking back into a civil war directly as a result of the conflict in Syria?
CLANCY: That's a small town overlooking Beirut. It was almost 29 years ago. And, you know, that's the thing that I think a lot of Lebanese worry about. They don't want to see a return of that on their territory. They have too much at stake.
Yes, emotions are running high. There are links between these two countries. Indelible links. The question is, can the politicians, can the religious leaders, can the Lebanese army put a lid on all of this and control it so that it does not spill over? That is the challenge tonight. And many people are just looking on and they're saying, this is the test. Can they do it? How far have we come? What lessons have we learned? It's being put to the test in Tripoli tonight.
Brooke.
BALDWIN: Jim, what is your personal gut feeling as to what happens next? CLANCY: Well, there's no reason for Lebanon to sink into renewed conflict. Once again, it's up to the politicians, the religious leaders and, yes, the Lebanese army and security forces to act in a firm way in order to bring things into line. But the risks that are posed by the conflict in Syria area great. And there are forces that are at work. Some say, you know, trying to cause destabilization in Lebanon. Trying to, in one way or another, influence the conflict that is ongoing in Syria in favor of one side for the other. There's no denying all of that.
And, you know, a lot of people are concerned. I'm concerned. But at the same time, I don't think you need to blow it out of proportion tonight. I think what really needs to be done is for those politicians and those other leaders to get to work setting things right, getting these communities to at least, you know, stay there fire and not bring the conflict into Lebanon.
Back to you.
BALDWIN: Jim Clancy, we appreciate you being able to put this story into context the only way a veteran journalist truly can. Clancy, we appreciate it, there for us in Beirut.
And it is a feat she says she will keep trying until she finishes. But Diana Nyad's attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida fails again. We have exclusive pictures from the moment it ended.
Plus, we are just getting word of a planned explosion in New York where they're building another subway. We're going to take you there, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, I want to take you right to New York and these pictures just in. Look at the scene here. This is -- these are pictures from our affiliate WABC right there in Manhattan. This construction blast apparently a little too powerful goes awry. We are told this was supposed to be a controlled blast for the subway. Instead, it was just simply too powerful. So reports of some broken windows, possible damage there to the streets. At least the good news is, no injuries were reported. Several city agencies are at the scene. Clearly you can see a number of them there inspecting the surrounding buildings for structural stability after the blast. There you have it. This is East 72nd Street, right around 1st through 3rd Avenues in Manhattan.
And now a family trip turns into tragedy in Texas. We are seeing dramatic new video of a car wreck that killed five children and injured six others on Monday. A back tire blew causing the driver to lose control on their way to a water park. Police say none of the kids had on their seat belts and there were just too many people in this SUV. The driver could face five criminal charges.
A close call for a top U.S. military officer in Afghanistan. General Martin Dempsey's plane was hit by shrapnel from two rockets. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs was not on board, not anywhere near, but two Bagram Air Base workers were slightly injured. Dempsey left Afghanistan on another plane. His visit comes at a time of growing takes on U.S. troops by Afghan security forces.
And sorry to have to report this. Diana Nyad calling it quits on attempt number four here to swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida. According to her team there, another round -- oh, look at her face -- another round of painful jellyfish stings to her face and a lightning storm pushed the 62-year-old off course. There was also the constant threat of sharks possibly attacking the swimmer. She turns 63 tomorrow.
And, all right, people are fretting over this one. Apparently we're saying calm down for now. Yes, a tropical depression has formed in the Atlantic. But Chad Myers is about to tell me, I think, that this thing should not be spoiling the RNC next week.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I cannot tell you that.
BALDWIN: You cannot --
MYERS: No.
BALDWIN: Definitely tell me --
MYERS: No.
BALDWIN: Not to bring my red CNN hurricane jacket when I go cover the RNC?
MYERS: You should take it.
BALDWIN: Great.
MYERS: Now the chance of anything is like 2 to 3 percent, OK, because --
BALDWIN: Two to three percent, OK.
MYERS: This is going to go left or it's going to go right, but kind of -- Tampa's right in the middle right now of what we would consider the model cone, where the models -- this thing isn't even a named storm yet, OK.
BALDWIN: OK.
MYERS: It's probably going to do a lot more damage to Haiti, maybe the DR, maybe Puerto Rico, even Cuba before it gets here. But the producers of our political units are freaking out --
BALDWIN: Calling up the weather guys.
MYERS: They're freaking out because this thing could end up somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico and they're all going to be in Tampa trying to cover this RNC thing. Could you imagine? All these people again trying to scramble out of the state that they just went to because they have evacuations? Now that is not the forecast, I just want you to know.
Thirty-five miles per hour storm. Right now it's just a tropical depression. There it is. It's going to be spinning around, going to get stronger as it moves into some very warm water here in the Caribbean.
Here are the models. The spaghetti models, as we call them, or fettuccini, whatever. It's going to come in here, probably south of Puerto Rico. Now, there are models that take it up and completely miss the U.S. There are other models that take it and completely miss Cuba and maybe into the Gulf of Mexico.
When you get a storm here, out here in the water like this, it's a dangerous event. You need to keep up to date because there are models bringing it as a hurricane on to the shores of the U.S. The official track, somewhere over Cuba, as a Cat 2 in about five days. Five days, OK, that's like three days away from the RNC. We'll see.
BALDWIN: OK. I just want you to keep that fettuccini, spaghetti, angel hair, whatever, away from Tampa and Cuba and Haiti as well, my goodness.
MYERS: I will do my best (ph). I understand.
BALDWIN: Chad, thank you very much.
MYERS: You're welcome.
BALDWIN: Millions of votes and hundreds of millions of dollars are on the line right now. So, who's winning the battle here for campaign cash and who's burning through it faster than he can raise it? We crunch the latest numbers from the campaign trail.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: By the time we get into October, early November, election's week, this could be big. Romney campaign has opened up a substantial lead over the Democrats when it comes to campaign cash. Paul Steinhauser with me now from Washington.
And, Paul, tell me about this.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, three straight months in a row now, Brooke, we've seen the Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee out raise the president and the Democratic National Committee. And I guess the key number to look at right now is cash on hand. Basically how much money does each campaign have in the bank.
Take a look at this. These are the latest figures. And the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee, $124 million. Sounds like a lot of money. It is. But you know what, that's down $19 million from last month, the month before. Look at that. The RNC and the Romney campaign, $186 million. That's $26 million more. And their cash on hand is going the other way, Brooke. It's going up. Now, that's just the campaign and the party committees. You factor in these super PACs. You know, you and I have been talking about this for a long time. These are the independent groups. And if you look at them, the pro-Romney groups are raising and spending a lot more money than the pro-Obama groups.
Where's the president's money? He spent a lot of it on campaign ads this past month or two. But you know what, those super PACs on the Republican side, they're keeping up and they're keeping pace.
The president has been talking about this, Brooke. He has admitted that he will be the first sitting president running for re- election to be out spent by the challenger. Take a listen to what he said on the campaign trail in New Hampshire over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Over the next three months, the other side is going to spend more money than we have ever seen. I mean they are -- they are writing $10 million checks, individuals, just to run the same ad over and over again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: And, you know, to a degree, he's got a point. You go to these battleground states, and you look at a lot of these ads, and most people can't tell. A lot of these are super PAC ads, not from the campaigns. But the battle for cash so important, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Money, money, money. Paul Steinhauser, remind us why it matters so much.
STEINHAUSER: Because, a, it pays for those ads. And those ads are important, right, the ads in the battleground states, the ads on cable TV, national cable, broadcast. You need money to pay for those.
But money also buys you the get out the vote efforts, which are so crucial for each side. You know, the teams of workers to go into these states to help get their supporters to the polls. And money allows the candidates to travel too. So money isn't the only factor at all. The candidate and the stances on the positions are very important, but money is a big factor in modern politics, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Paul Steinhauser, thank you.
Next, talking about Michael J. Fox returning to your living room in a show in which art imitates his life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Thirty years after "Family Ties" love Alex P. Keeton and a dozen years after he left "Spin City." After Michael J. Fox announces, yes, he's coming back to TV and the series is said to be loosely based upon his life.
I want to go straight to "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer who's live with me in New York. I read this, this morning. I was excited. He's been away from TV, A.J. for quite a while. Why does he want to come back?
A.J. HAMMER, HOST, HLN'S "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Well, it is great news. We can only guess at this point exactly why he's coming back because he really hasn't publicly explained the move just yet, but terrific news for fans of Michael J. Fox and who hasn't really?
He has been appearing on more and more TV lately doing some great guest starring roles. He's been on shows like "The Good Life" and "Rescue Me." So I'm guessing he must just feel the time is right and he's able to handle a full production schedule.
Now all of the networks were reportedly bidding for this show. NBC wanted it badly enough to order 22 episodes of the series. It's not even fully cast yet. That is unheard of for a new show these days virtually anyway.
"Deadline Hollywood Daily" is also reporting that Fox has arranged to shoot the show near his home in New York City, which is a very big accommodation. Not too many sitcoms are shot in the city these days.
They are clearly betting on his appeal. Even though it has been, as you said, Brooke, more than a decade since he was star of "Spin City," I think it is an excellent bet.
BALDWIN: And you know, he has Parkinson's, he's been very public about his Parkinson's and interesting, this role -- this is a show he pitched that is sort of loosely based upon his own experiences.
HAMMER: It is. NBC says the character that he'll be playing is inspired by Fox's personal life. He's going to be playing a husband and father of three who is dealing with Parkinson's disease.
Now NBC hasn't announced the show's name yet, but they are characterizing it as funny, heart warming and personal. You know, this is definitely going to give him a whole new avenue to promote his foundation.
They have been working very hard doing some excellent work searching for a cure to Parkinson's disease and it's a nice return to NBC for him playing a dad on the network he became famous on for playing a teenager.
We can expect to see the new show in the fall of 2013. Brooke, as a huge fan of Michael J. Fox, both the man and the actor, I can't wait.
BALDWIN: I can't wait either. A.J., great news. A.J. Hammer, thank you very much.
HAMMER: You got it.
BALDWIN: Next, gangs, guns, drugs and violence all plaguing the streets of Chicago as we get out with officers to see what can be done to make it stop.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: It's been an awful scene in parts of Chicago this summer. Some of the highest crime rates in the entire country were in Chicago specifically in Englewood. That area saw a recent 50 percent jump in homicide, 50 percent.
CNN's Ted Rowlands took a ride along with the Chicago police on a recent hot Friday night. Ted, I imagine it was a bit unnerving.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, eye opening, that's for sure, Brooke. It really is to see these neighborhoods that have been besieged by violence. A couple things really strike you is, one, the amount of kids that are out there.
We have seen a number of kids die this year, more than 30 in the streets. But they are out and about at 11:00, midnight, you know, at night in these very dangerous areas. It's a problem for police.
The other thing is most of the people there were happy to see the police. You know, you hear and you kind of think that it's going to be this battle against police and the people living there and the mistrust.
And there is mistrust and police will tell you there is a mistrust, but most of the people we ran into really were happy to see the patrol cars rolling around.
BALDWIN: It's interesting. A lot of kids out and about. I did a ride with a gang member and that was unnerving. We have some numbers. This is from a Chicago Trib. They looked at the numbers and they found 38 homicides have been logged with the city as of Monday.
That is 38 so far just the month of August here and also more numbers, 346 homicides in 2012 so far. That's up sharply from the same time last year. The question is, what is the city doing to combat these huge numbers, this increase?
ROWLANDS: Well, the city has a new police superintendent. He has a plan that's been enrolled. We talked to him for our piece that's airing later tonight on Anderson Cooper's show and he basically said that he is disappointed.
He thought that the numbers were going to be better after his new plan went it. It's a three-prong plan. They are looking at gangs, categorizing them. They are trying to predict retaliation murders, going there before they happen.
They are taking back street corners where drugs are being sold and they are holding felons for a little bit longer period of time. But he quite frankly says he does need help from this community.
He needs them to take ownership of their community and they need to work through the kinks. In terms of trust, they need witnesses to come forward to prosecute these people that are killing all these young and some cases innocent victims.
BALDWIN: Ted, just tell me, I know we're previewing this for "360" tonight, but tell me one moment that just really sticks with you that you'll be highlighting later tonight.
ROWLANDS: I think one of the things is it's almost a constant shatter on the radio of shots fired. I mean, it's unbelievable. You're sitting in that squad car and it's shots fired on 10th Street. Shots fired over here. Shots fired over here.
It's unbelievable how much running around these police officers are doing on a nightly basis for all of the gunfire that's going on in these neighborhoods. It's concentrated. I live in the Chicago area. This doesn't happen where I live.
That's part of the problem here too. It is so concentrated in four to five different areas around this city and the rest of the city knows it's not going to happen in their neighborhood.
The superintendent says that's one thing that has to change. The mentality, it has to be a full Chicago problem, not just these areas.
BALDWIN: Ted Rowlands, we will look for your reporting tonight at 8:00 Eastern on "AC 360." Ted, thank you very much.
And two words, sex sells. How one bookseller is getting a huge kick from mommy porn.
But first, the city you live in can say a lot about your financial success especially if you live in one of the top earning towns in America.
So "Money" magazine, they working were on crunching some of the numbers. We have the list, number five, lower Merion, Pennsylvania, the median income on a household there, $153,000 approximately.
Number four here is about 10 miles opulent coast line, an average family income just shy of that $157,000 mark at Newport Beach, California.
And number three nestled in California Silicon Valley, a median family income of 163 grand, Palo Alto, California. So think about it what might be the top two earning spots in all the country? That is after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Where did I leave you? Yes, we were talking money. "Money" magazine released its list of top earning American towns. So before the break, we told you number five, Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. Number four, Newport Beach, California. Number three, Palo Alto, California.
What are the top two you ask? Number two, it is Greenwich, Connecticut. Average family income there $167,000. The number one earning town in America is Bethesda, Maryland, stone's throw, of course, from the nation's capital, the average family income there $184,000.
So there you go, the top five. That's certainly good news if you live and earn that kind of money in those towns. But the good news, there's a bit of bad like this.
When it comes to earnings, electronics retailer, Best Buy is in trouble. Its second quarter earnings tanked. That is not good news, of course, heading into the holiday season.
Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange for me and I hear your sigh. Tell me what's going on.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right. Because, Brooke, if you look at this April through June quarter, if it's any indication, the holiday season for Best Buy is probably going to be just as rough.
You look at Best Buy's quarterly profit, it fell way short of forecast. The company even stopped giving out guidance about the future. It's not even sure what's going to happen in the second half of the year.
Yes, this is a company that's in a whole lot of trouble right now. Its sales fell in eight of the last nine quarters. What seems to be happening here at least part of the problem is that customers are using Best Buy kind of like a showroom.
You know, people are going in there. They are playing with their products, but ultimately they are walking out and not buying anything because they are going home and buying it online for a better price.
Now Best Buy did say that in June that they've got to stop the showrooming. It is their number one priority, but you know what? It is a double edge sword. You want to showcase your stuff, Brooke, but you don't want to do it too much where no one buys it. They just walk out empty handed -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: You know what people are buying.
KOSIK: Yes, nothing like a little erotic sex to help your bottom line if your Barnes and Noble. It's not giving any specific numbers at this point, but the head of the retail unit on a conference call told investors analysts that "50 Shades of Gray" clearly had the biggest impact on its number.
The trilogy, it told a total of 25 million copies here in the U.S. Many of those have been digital copies like on Barnes and Noble's nook e-reader or on M-Don Kindle.
Barnes and Noble, by the way, recently cut the price of the nook to try to keep its digital sales going. But overall, you look at the company it narrowed its loss from a year ago.
Shares right now are slipping about 2 percent because remember, Barnes and Noble still lost money last quarter. But thanks to "50 Shades of Gray" it narrowed that lost.
BALDWIN: Gosh darn it, Alison Kosik, and there you go. Going to leave it there. Alison, thank you very much for us in New York.
Comedian, Rosie O'Donnell, she credits a TV commercial for saving her life. Have you heard the story? She now says all women should know the signs of a heart attack and our Dr. Sanjay Gupta shares them next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The Pew Hispanic Center has crunched the numbers and finds that more 2 million Hispanics are now enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities, 2 million. That is a record 15.5 percent of all U.S. college students.
So let's get a little deeper into these numbers with Rafael Romo. He is our senior Latin-American affairs editor and look at the numbers, a really huge change just from what -- a generation ago.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: If you look at these numbers and go back to 1972, 39 years from then to 2011, back then it was roughly 3 percent. Now it is 16.5 percent.
So you have five-fold increase in a little less than four decades. What's happening is there was a huge wave, migration wave in the '90s.
Those migrants had children then and those children are now going to grammar school, to high school and to college and for the very first time Latinos are the largest minority across U.S. colleges.
BALDWIN: Largest minority.
ROMO: Largest minority, still the minority, but the largest minority.
BALDWIN: So what does mean for the schools? Are the schools having to change, adapt because of these numbers?
ROMO: Well, yes and no. On the one hand, all of these kids were born here or most of them were born here. Speak more English than any other language. They're as American as can be.
But the reality is that there's a portion of these kids who are going to need ESL programs. Some school districts across the country are already adapting to that.
Many other school districts in places like California, Texas are used to that already and are implementing programs already so it all depends where you live. BALDWIN: I know the population shift is just beginning. I'm looking down on my notes because the Pew Center says almost a quarter of all students from Pre-K through high school are Hispanic. A quarter and that number is only going to climb.
ROMO: That's exactly right because Latinos are the most part are still a very young population. And when you have that, you have higher fertility rates. You have higher birth rates. That's being reflected in the population.
So right now, we're looking at 16.5 percent of the whole U.S. population are Hispanic. In the next few decades, that percentage is going to increase to maybe 25 percent, maybe even more.
But at some point during this century that percentage is going to stabilize and reflect what's been happening in the United States. That we have a zero increase in the population when it comes to percentage so that's going to happen with Latinos as well, but it's going to a little take longer than the general population.
BALDWIN: They're the largest minority at U.S. colleges.
ROMO: That's exactly right.
BALDWIN: Rafael Romo, thank you very much.
And even though his own party is asking him to drop out, the congressman in hot water over comments about legitimate rape, those were his words. He vows to stay in. This as tonight's deadline inches closer and closer. More on that.
Plus, Rosie O'Donnell, she has revealed this heart attack she had. Disturbing new statistics about how often women either ignore symptoms or have no idea what they are when they are experiencing them. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join me live with a warning for all of us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Actress and comedian, Rosie O'Donnell had a heart attack and didn't go to the hospital until the next day. This happened just last week and she has just now revealed the details in a poem that she's written on her web site.
CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here. I read this poem. It's long. It's pretty stunning. I want to read some of it here in just a minute, but first, take me back and tell me what the heck happened.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it caught a lot of people by surprise. This is how she ended up telling people through her blog. It was last Tuesday. I guess, she was walking through a parking lot and she heard somebody asking for help.
The person was, in fact, a woman in car who needed help getting out of her car. So Rosie apparently helped this woman. The woman was quite surprised that Rosie O'Donnell was helping her.
A couple hours later, Rosie O'Donnell started to have some sort of more vague symptoms, some pain. Some of it in her arms, but she said she also felt clammy and felt nauseated, did not feel well.
Interestingly, Brooke, she knew enough to take an aspirin. She had read somewhere that you should take an aspirin. So she took an aspirin, but didn't do anything else.
Did not call 911, did not call her doctors. She reprimands herself for that point in her poem, but the next day she calls her cardiologist, goes in. They get an EKG, which shows evidence that she probably had a heart attack and she gets a heart catheterization, you know, it all happened very quickly for her.
BALDWIN: So probably had a heart attack. That's what the doctors are saying.
GUPTA: What that typically means is that some heart muscle has died. You can test for that with a blood test to see if you actually see evidence of that heart muscle dent. So I think they did see evidence of that.
Then when they did this catheterization where they are actually putting a little catheter up in the blood vessels, you can talk a look there.
They saw a narrowing that looked like that, about 99 percent narrowing. Take a look, Brooke. That's the stent. You dilate open the blood vessel and leave that scaffolding in place to hold it open.
BALDWIN: So she talks about as she point out that nausea, vomiting. Are those symptoms different in women from men, just curious?
GUPTA: Yes. Let me preference it by saying this that anytime you think -- if you're at risk of heart disease, if you're worried about a heart attack and you're starting to have unusual symptoms that come on rather suddenly, you need two worry about it whether you're man or woman.
Having said that, there are more typical symptoms, there's things that you think of, for men example, typically that the more crushing chest pain. This is some of what she specifically described in the blog.
For men typically it's chest pain. For women it more -- it can be chest pain, but it can also just being tired. It can be back pain. It can be the nausea that Rosie O'Donnell described.
So again, if you're at risk of heart disease or if have a family history or if worried about it and then suddenly something comes on that's unusual and comes on quickly, that's something you need to get checked out.
BALDWIN: Let's just pick up where that graphic left off because I had pulled a couple of quotes from this blog where she said. She said I became nauseous, my skin was clammy. I was very hot. I threw up she goes on.
Maybe this was a heart attack. I Googled women's heart attack symptoms, I had many of them, but really I thought, nah. At the very end, she basically said, if you think something's happening please call 911.
GUPTA: More women are likely to die of heart disease than men. People don't realize that and part of what you just describe. Women kind of blow this off. They are about 50 percent likely to call 911 if they're having a heart attack.
We just found these statistics out. There are about 79 percent of the time they will call on behalf of somebody else. They recognize the symptoms of somebody else.
BALDWIN: Helpful and busy and need to worry about themselves. Sanjay Gupta, it's a great reminder for all of us. Sanjay, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
As Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan hit the trail together, when it comes to the economy their differences with President Obama are pretty clear.
So to give you a better idea of their background, CNN compared Romney and Obama's resumes and some choices may come back to haunt both of them. With that, here Maggie Lake.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a race between the man who holds the oval office and the man who sat in the corner office. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, two men who say they have the best CV to fix the U.S. economy.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've spent 25 years in business. I know how business works. I want to use that experience to help businesses grow again.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Where we were losing 800,000 jobs a month when I was sworn to office, we've been creating jobs now for almost three years straight.
RYAN LIZZA, "THE NEW YORKER": The Romney campaign is closer to this sort of austerity point of view that some countries in Europe are trying. Obama for the last few years have been about priming the pump and stimulus.
LAKE: It's a tough job the candidates are applying for. U.S. economic growth has slowed to an anemic 1.5 percent in the spring. The jobless rate has been stuck over 8 percent for 42 straight months and spiralling government debt has undermined business confidence.
(on camera): Most hiring managers have stacks and stacks of CVs to choose from when trying to pick the right candidate to fill a key position.
But in this election, the American people have a choice between just two men who have very different ideas on how the fix the U.S. balance sheet.
(voice-over): First, the Obama CV. The president's campaign points to his success at saving the U.S. auto industry. His plan to overhaul the health care system and the creation of more than 4.5 private sector jobs.
But critics question Obama's sometimes rocky relations with Wall Street and what they call his commitment to big government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under Obama's plan you wouldn't have to work or train for a job. They just send you your welfare check.
LAKE: As for Mitt Romney, the GOP said his time as governor of Massachusetts and head of the 2002 Winter Olympics shows he can manage budgets.
And as former CEO of private equity firm, Bain Capital, he amassed a fortune. But that private sector experience has proved a rich target for the Democrats.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Took our benefits. We didn't have any more retirement and Bain, Mitt Romney they did not care about us as workers. They were looking at the mighty dollar.
LAKE: Well, Obama and Romney battle it out on the campaign trail, it may be the ability to reach across the political divide that voters should be most focused on.
LIZZA: If you want to get something done in this country, it's presidents who move members of the other party to his position.
LAKE: A tough job indeed in these days of divided government, but the stakes couldn't be higher.
Maggie Lake, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)