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Drilling Tactics; Isaac Threatens GOP Convention; Republican And Democratic Conventions, Storms; Middle Class Falls Further Behind; Penn State's Ex-President Speaks; Homicide Rate Rises in Chicago; Bill Clinton Stars in New Obama Ad; Good and Bad Economic News from the CBO; Age of Father Could Contribute to Autism

Aired August 23, 2012 - 13:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: The uncertain path of Tropical Storm Isaac which is churning in the Caribbean. And we are following why the FBI is concerned about anarchists disrupting the national convention -- Republican convention in Tampa. So, let's get right to it.

Mitt Romney on the campaign trail in Hobbs, New Mexico, and his focus is energy today. I a speech, just moments ago, Romney spelled out his energy plan, and it calls for more drilling, fewer regulations and what he say will make this country energy independent in eight years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I'm the president of the United States in a few months here, I will set a national -- I will set a national goal of America and North America -- North American energy independence by 2020. North American energy independence by 2020. That means we produce all the energy we use in North America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Mitt Romney, he is calling for more drilling, fewer regulations when it comes to the U.S. Energy Policy. He says it's going to make the country energy independent by 2020. Let's bring in Alison Kosik of the New York Stock Exchange. Talk a little bit about this, Alison, because first of all, not surprising, he is talking about Virginia and North Carolina, two very important battleground states where drilling is very important. He is talking about more drilling, less regulations here. Is it possible -- is it likely when he says we need to be energy independent, and he can make it happen by 2020?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well -- and it is achievable so he's not so far off of mark. But here's what one analyst told us, Suzanne, that, you know what? We're already kind of well on our way to weaning ourselves off of Mideast oil already. Because you look at what has been happening here in the country in the past six -- in the past six years or so, domestic oil production, the amount of oil that we produce right here at home, that amount has gone up while the amount of oil that we import has actually gone down. Today, more than half of the oil that we use is actually produced here in the U.S. And the oil that we do import, it may not come from where you think it does. In fact, more than half the oil that we do import, it actually comes from the western hemisphere, from Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and the Caribbean. Only 22 percent of the oil that we import actually comes from the -- comes from the Mideast. We spoke with Frank Barastro, he's at the Nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies, and he thinks that what he's hearing from Romney as far as his energy plan goes, he calls it too simplistic and one dimensionally because what really needs to happen to get us more independent is you need to have this combination of increased production, new efficiency standards, and alternative energy. Now, what Romney is saying that getting -- by getting America off foreign oil, that would create three million new jobs, and it would bring in a lot of revenue -- new government revenue up to $1 trillion worth, something that the Congressional budget office, though, is disputing -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And, Alison, we know that former President Bush, he always talked about weaning ourselves off this addiction, he used to call it, to foreign oil. President Obama, the administration, is really focusing on renewable energy, solar and wind power. Explain to us -- describe for us, if you will, the difference between Romney's plan and what we are already seeing from the president.

KOSIK: Yes, and what you're referring to -- what the president was talking about was kind of that all of the above approach, you know, expanding production and the use of alternative energy like wind and solar, natural gas, biofuels and nuclear. He's -- and also, believe it or not, many may not know this, he's also done very little to restrict fracking, that's that controversial process of extracting oil through rock, it's controversial because there's a concern it contaminates ground water. He's also opened up new areas for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. And he's also indicated he'll issue permits to drill in the arctic. But at the same time, what the president has done, he has increased environmental and safety standards for offshore drilling and he's tightened emissions rules on power plants. And he's actually issued fewer permits for drilling and part of the reason for that is that moratorium after the BP spill in 2010 -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: It's a hot political issue. Thank you very much, Alison, appreciate it.

KOSIK: Sure.

MALVEAUX: So, this is not a political storm, but Tropical Storm Isaac could threaten the Republican convention in Florida. Some forecast maps taking the storm on a path that could actually hit Florida. Now, the convention that begins Monday, that's in Tampa. And today's Florida's governor said that the state is going to be prepared. They are going to coordinate with some of those convention organizers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SCOTT, GOVERNOR, FLORIDA: Local times teams will make the evacuation plans for their areas depending on what happens. The convention will make its own decision. But the goal is with this information -- by having everybody together, we'll have the same information so we can coordinate our efforts and work together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The actual site of the convention, it's in a mandatory evacuation zone, so if Isaac becomes a category two hurricane, they are certainly going to take a look at these possibilities. Now, it's not in the forecast right now, but even if the storm hits nearby, flooding could be a big problem. Here is Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was only about eight weeks ago in Tampa, Bay Shore Boulevard, a main drag underwater. This was no hurricane, but Tropical Storm Debby which delivered significant flooding to downtown Tampa, just a few blocks from the "Tampa Bay Times" forum where the Republican national convention will be held. If Tropical Storm Isaac turns into a hurricane as projected, Tampa could find itself in its crosshairs in the coming days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN LAMARRE, METEOROLOGIST, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: With a hurricane of category one that could come our way -- the hurricane category one, anywhere from three to six feet of flooding could impact this area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Brian Lamarre, Chief Meteorologist with the National Weather Service's branch in Tampa, says that city is right at sea level in some places, just above it in others. Tampa's mayor says, if the storm comes that way, public safety trumps politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB BUCKHORN (D), MAYOR, TAMPA, FLORIDA: If we had to make that decision to cancel or to postpone or to move the convention, we will do that knowing full well that my obligation and city's obligation is to move people out of harm's way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: It would be the second straight Republican convention affected by a big storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, all of the program tonight has been cancelled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: In 2008, much of the first night of the GOP convention was tossed out. That event was in St. Paul, nowhere near the storm zone. But officials didn't like the optics of opening up a glitzy event while Hurricane Gustav raged down in Louisiana.

(on camera): A worse-case scenario for Tampa, according to Lamarre and other experts, that a strong hurricane around category three strength comes ashore right around here, just north of Tampa. Now, because hurricane's churn in a counter clockwise motion in the northern hemisphere, they say that that could drive water from the Gulf of Mexico up Tampa Bay, trap the water in Tampa Bay, flood this area near Tampa -- in downtown Tampa near the convention center. Then, it would push water over this way making this area, St. Petersburg, into an island.

(voice-over): That has happened but not for more than 90 years. In October 1921, a category three hurricane slammed right into that point north of Tampa. Back then, this region was a lot less populated. Isaac's not projected to be that strong and may not hit Tampa, but if it does, Lamarre says, storm surge is the number one killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAMARRE: A lot of people live and work along the water, and so a lot of people make -- need to make sure that they get out in time before the hurricane comes their way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Tampa officials insist they are ready with solid evacuation routes planned, but a challenge around the convention will be the 50,000 or so added people in the downtown Tampa area, most from out of town, so getting them evacuated may be problematic. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Tropical Storm Isaac, getting stronger, expected to hit several Caribbean nations this weekend before closing in on the U.S. coast. I want to bring in our Chad Myers to talk a little bit about what we're expecting in the next couple of days and how soon it could hit here.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, I think the next place that would get hit significantly will be the Dominican Republic. It could be 10 to 15 inches of rainfall there that would cause flooding. Wind in Santo Domingo maybe 50 or 60. But then it goes right over Haiti, and if it goes over Haiti right at Port-au-Prince with all of those people living in tents, literally 400 and something thousand people living in canvas and plastic, because of the earthquake long ago, that it's -- that the next place where it's really under the gun. And I really appreciate all this focus on Tampa, and all this other stuff, but let me tell you, this storm could still go all the way to South Carolina, and it could still go all the way to New Orleans.

So, don't take your eyes off the prize. If you live in any of those areas, don't think that we're just talking about Tampa, because this could be a big storm. It would be a bigger storm and a bigger event if the storm stays south of the islands and in the warm water. That would cause the storm to get significantly stronger than what the forecast is right now. And let me get to the forecast, because I can show it to you. There's Tropical Storm Isaac, 200 miles south of Puerto Rico. It is forecasted to travel right over Port-au-Prince, right over Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico.

Now, that said, why don't you take your eyes off the prize? Because this is one potential side and this is the other potential side. This would be catastrophic for somebody in the Gulf Coast area, because, at this point in time, we'd have to have a three in the middle of that hurricane. That would be a big hurricane if that's happen because it stays in the water, water is warm, water make storms get bigger. If it stays over Cuba for a longer time, it would be more of a dead storm. Cuba would just really take the stuffing out of it, because it would be over land, land kills our hurricane for a while and so do the mountains, but then when we get back up here, it gets stronger. Understand that that is still the forecast distance of error for this time. This is five days away from where we are now, and you just have to understand that this may go well, it may go badly.

And I tell you, the first thing -- the only thing I can guarantee you about this storm, is that we're going to change our mind before it gets somewhere, because these models have been changing their mind all day long. They are now to the west of Florida, not to the east like some of them were, and so they're kind of getting packed in here into the Gulf of Mexico, well far enough west of Tampa, that it really does not become an issue for Tampa. If that changes, I will certainly tell you. How does this work? And I show you the lines all of the time, but I don't ever really get to show you the model, the forecast itself. So, there we go. Here's the model itself predicting what it thinks the storm will do every six hours. And this is still a long way away. Let me tell you, models are wrong all the time. And this is just one, but the people of the panhandle of Florida, possibly all over to Louisiana with this scenario would get hit very hard, maybe even touching the Florida Keys and Key West. But it would stay far enough away from Tampa that we wouldn't have to worry about it, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And, Chad, I understand that there's even more trouble brewing in the Atlantic, perhaps another tropical storm that's formed, do we know?

MYERS: There are -- there are others out there. And, in fact, I can show you on this computer model, this is Joyce, J O Y C E. It is up here in the middle of the North Atlantic. It came from the Central Atlantic and has made a big, long turn, it's almost off the map, and it even misses Bermuda. There's another bit of storminess coming off the African coast. September 10th is the peak of hurricane season. I haven't looked at the calendar today but we are getting very close, --

MALVEAUX: Yes.

MYERS: -- like two weeks away or so from that. And so, we are -- honestly, we could have one or two named storms in the water for the entire time for the next month. MALVEAUX: Wow. It's right around the corner, the peak, that's just a couple of weeks away. Chad, thank you, appreciate it.

MYERS: Yes, you're welcome.

MALVEAUX: Federal agencies, they are warning of another potential threat to the Republican national convention in Tampa. And the Democratic convention in Charlotte. They are concerned about possible violence by anarchists. An intelligence bulletin obtained by CNN warns that extremists may try to close down bridges in the Tampa Bay area. Now, officials are concerned they might try to use IEDs or homemade bombs as well. Of course, security is going to be tight, both at Tampa and Charlotte, but the feds say that there are things that state and local agencies should be on the lookout for. So, what are they? They include anarchists getting their hands on explosive materials, taking firearms training. Also, extremists preparing for violence with groups that they oppose.

And Sunday, on the eve of the Republican convention, CNN's coverage kicks off at 8:00 p.m. Eastern with a profile of the presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, and watch "Romney Revealed, Family and Faith and the Road to Power" followed by a preview of the convention, that's at 9:30. Then on Monday, live coverage of the RNC from Tampa, Florida, that's beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

Here is what are working on for this hour.

(voice-over): The U.S. is known around the world for having a big middle-class, but a new report says it's shrinking fast. We will look at the numbers.

Penn State's former president is defending himself against accusations of covering up child sex abuse in the Jerry Sandusky case. Watch our interview with Graham Spanier.

And a study finds a link between a child's risk of autism and the age of the father.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The news is not good for America's middle class. According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, the middle class has, quote, "endured its worse decade in modern history." So these are some of the numbers we're talking about. Back in 1970, middle class income accounted for 62 percent of the U.S. income. Upper class income equaled 29 percent of all U.S. income. And fast forward now to 2010. The middle class accounted for only 45 percent of U.S. income, while upper class income rose the 46 percent.

I want to bring in Paul Taylor. He's executive vice president of Pew Research Center.

Paul, first of all, your numbers. When you just take a look at the numbers alone, it really looks like people are struggling. This is a middle class that has lost a great deal of net worth. You say 2001, you take a look at the net worth of a family, middle class family, it's $130,000. In 2010, now we're talking about $93,000. What is going on?

PAUL TAYLOR, EXECUTIVE VP, PEW RESEARCH CENTER: Well, it has been a terrible decade for almost everybody, but particularly the middle class. We had a shallow recession at the beginning of the decade. We had a very deep recession towards the end of the decade from which we haven't fully recovered. We had the housing market collapsed and most of the middle class wealth is tied up in its house. We have, of course, the high unemployment. You add it all up. This is the first decade in the modern era since World War II where the middle class has less income at the end of the decade than they had at the beginning. And as you noted, they have much less wealth. They've lost about 30 percent of their wealth. Most of it, the value of their home.

MALVEAUX: Paul, how do they get it back? How do we recover?

TAYLOR: Well, that's better left for the folks who are going to be in Tampa and Charlotte in the next couple of weeks. That's what this presidential campaign is all about. This report was designed to say, here's where we are now, here's how deep this hurt has been. We asked people, have you recovered from this recession, that's now three years officially that the recession is over, but nearly half say, no, I haven't recovered, half of the middle class. Then we said, how long you think it's going to take for you to recover? And almost half of those say at least five years. And a small share, about 10 percent, say I will never recover. So this country is hurting and the middle class in particular is hurting.

MALVEAUX: Is there anything that you found surprising by this survey that was revealed?

TAYLOR: Well, the numbers you showed at the beginning are actually sort of interesting. One of the things that's happened to the middle class is it's actually gotten smaller. We asked people in our survey what class you consider yourself in. And about 49 percent say I think of myself as middle class. We asked the same question four years ago, 53 percent. That's not a big decline, but it's in sync with the same findings we have when we look at census data and we look at the group in the middle and we look at the group in the middle.

And what we find is today about 51 percent of the country is in what we can statistically define as the middle class, about two-thirds to double the national income medium. That's about $40,000 a year to just under $120,000 for a family of three. So about 51 percent are in that statistical middle right now. You go back 40 years --

MALVEAUX: Right.

TAYLOR: And you adjust for inflation and everything else, 61 percent were in that middle. The middle class is getting smaller. There are fewer people in it. People have gone both up and down the income scale. But as your first chart pointed out, all the money has gone up. So the middle class has a smaller slice of a shrinking pie. And that's one of the reasons why it's in such a ornery mood as this election goes into its final weeks. MALVEAUX: I can understand that. And people, how are they feeling about the 401(k)s, their retirement plans and their futures?

TAYLOR: We have declining confidence. We asked this question many times over the last several years and the -- do you have enough money? Are you confident you have enough money to last through your retirement? Fewer and few people say they're very confident about that. And the group that's least confident -- or actually not the people who are already retired, it's the people on the cusp of retirement. The folks in their 50s and early 60s. They are feeling the pinch, in part because their 401(k)s famously sort of became 201(k)s, or maybe they hadn't put in enough to begin with. But they are feeling very vulnerable.

MALVEAUX: All right, Paul Taylor, thank you so much. I know not a lot of good news here, but you bring up a really good point, and that is, watch those conventions, Democrats and Republicans conventions, to see who's got the plan you believe is actually going to turn things around for the middle class. Thank you, Paul. Appreciate it.

TAYLOR: Thanks for having me.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

"Forbes" calls them the women who run the world. The magazine out with its list of 100 most powerful women. They lead countries, companies, charities, rule entertainment and media empires. The oldest person on the list is Queen Elizabeth at 86. Youngest, Lady Gaga at 26 and -- 26 years old. Oprah Winfrey, she just missed finishing in the top 10. She comes in at number 11.

Here's a look at the top five. "New York Times" executive editor Jill Abramson. She is at the number five spot. Number four, Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Number three, Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in at number two. And the number one most powerful woman in the world, according to "Forbes," German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The class of 2016. They get started in college this fall, as a matter of fact. Some as early as this week. I'm going to drop off my niece tomorrow. They come from a very different world than a lot of their professors. So let's give you some examples here.

They've only known women to hold some powerful positions. The secretaries of state in their lifetime, well they've included Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton. One of the many cultural facts of Wisconsin's Beloit (ph) College that includes its annual mindset list. So, some other things that they talk about, the class of 2016. Caller IDs, GPS systems always available. Gas stations never fixed flats, but they do serve cappuccino. And Coke and Pepsi always been sold in recycled plastic bottles. The list is meant to remind professors about the cultural influences in their students' lives.

And Penn State's former president says he's another victim in the Sandusky scandal, claiming that he has been falsely accused of covering up child sexual abuse. Hear his side of the story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Penn State's head football coach and the university president both lost their jobs at the same time when those explosive allegations of child sexual abuse emerged from the school. Coach Joe Paterno died in January and until now Penn State's former president, Graham Spanier, has not said anything publically about the investigation, Jerry Sandusky's conviction or the scandal that cost him his career. Well, now he is speaking and he gave an interview to our own Jeffrey Toobin, CNN's senior legal analyst. And Jeff's in New York right now.

Jeff, first of all, explain to us why he is speaking up now and what is his main message?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think he's just an angry, frustrated person. And he's been a public person in his life and he feels like he's been wronged. He doesn't think he did anything wrong. And he spoke to me. And just, I should say, that the -- if people want to read it, it's available at newyorker.com. It was done for the "New Yorker" magazine.

MALVEAUX: So, what is his main point? I mean he says that he disagrees with this legal investigation?

TOOBIN: Right. I mean the Louis Freeh report, he says, was completely unfair to him. Jerry Sandusky was, we all agree, a complete sociopath and a very, very evil person. But what Spanier said to me is that, I didn't' know. I didn't cover it up. I didn't conceal anything, nor should I be criticized for failing to report since I was not informed that he was, in fact, behaving this way. This is what he said. Here's a tape of what he said about the Freeh report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM SPANIER (voice-over): The Freeh report is wrong. It's unfair. It's deeply flawed. It has many errors and omissions. I know they have had a lot of very good people on that team working on this. They interviewed, they say, over 430 people. Many of those folks have spoken to me about their interviews. Many of them described those interviews to me as a witch-hunt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOOBIN: You know, those are -- that's strong language. And I'm not sure I agree with it all, but it gives you some sense of how angry Spanier is.

MALVEAUX: Yes. I mean weren't there e-mails within that investigation that did disclose that he at least knew what was happening?

TOOBIN: Well, there are two incidents that he is accused of knowing something about and failing to do the right thing. The first is 1998. He was only copied on e-mails there. He says he doesn't remember anything about it. And it's worth pointing out that in 1998, those allegations were in fact passed to the police in State College and that investigation was closed without any charges.

2001 is a much more problematic situation for Spanier. That was the time, many people will remember, that Mike McQueary, the red- haired assistant -- graduate assistant --

MALVEAUX: Right.

TOOBIN: Saw what appeared to be a rape going on between Sandusky and a young boy in the showers at Penn State. Spanier's version of that is that by the time the story reached him, all he heard was that Sandusky was involved in horseplay. That's the word he heard. Not any sort of sexual assault. Not -- certainly not any rape. And he said given the fact that at that point Sandusky was not even an employee of Penn State, and all he heard was that this was horseplay, how he handled it which was telling Second Mile that he -- that Sandusky couldn't do this kind of thing anymore was an appropriate reaction under the circumstances.

MALVEAUX: And, Jeff, the investigation aside here, does he have any personal feelings about what happened to these young boys?

TOOBIN: Well, here's the tape. Here's an excerpt from the tape of how he feels about that question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPANIER: There are times when I am in a mode of substantial grief about what happened to those kids. And then I switch into times of grieving for myself, and my colleagues and the Paterno family, who I know so well, and the community that's suffering here. We always talked about the Penn State family. And that's how this place feels and how we operate. Everybody knows everybody. Everybody's connected. This is a trauma in so many ways at so many levels.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOOBIN: This is -- you know, this really is something that I think people will really have mixed feelings about, comparing his grief to the grief of the people who were abused by Jerry Sandusky. But if you believe that Spanier lost his job unjustly, you can see why he feels grief for himself, as well as for the victims.

MALVEAUX: And, Jeff, we've got to wrap it here, but real quick, is he doing anything? What is he doing?

TOOBIN: Well, he's still a tenured professor. He's a sociologist at Penn State. He's still doing some work apparently for the federal government. But let's not -- let's be clear, his career is ruined. And this is the thing he will be remembered for, for the rest of his life and beyond.

MALVEAUX: All right, Jeff, thank you. Good interview.

Gun violence in Chicago is now so bad that Cook County's trauma unit is full. We're talking about every night. Want to show you firsthand what it is like at the ER.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Chicago's homicide rate is surging. This month alone, there have been at least 38 homicides.

Ted Rowlands shows us that many of the victims show up in the Cook County Hospital where the trauma unit is really stretched thin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 12:30 a.m., a 22- year-old gunshot victim arrives at the Cook County Trauma Unit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My arms. My arms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is hurting the most?

(CROSSTALK)

ROWLANDS: He's in pain, but stable and able to speak.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My arms. My arms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen, we just want you to slow down and relax.

ROWLANDS: After rolling him on his side, doctors start counting the bullet holes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALES: Four, five, six.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Six definite ones.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What were you doing when this happened to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was walking.

ROWLANDS: They find 13 bullet holes. Each one is bandaged until the doctors can see the x-rays. Then they will need a plan to save this man's life.

Meanwhile, two more patients have just arrived adding to what feels like chaos, but to the staff --

DR. ANDREW DENNIS, COOK COUNTY HOSPITAL TRAUMA UNIT: I'm Dr. Dennis.

ROWLANDS: -- including the attending physician, Dr. Andrew Dennis, it is another normal day in a Chicago trauma unit.

DENNIS: Well, the patients keep coming and coming. It's like machine gun fire. you can expect this to happen every single night.

ROWLANDS: Like the city of Chicago's homicide rate, the Cook County Trauma Unit patient rate is up 30 percent this year. On this night, seven shotgun victims and two stabbing victims, in addition to 18 others involved in battery cases or motor vehicle accidents.

Upstairs in the operating room, a 29-year-old gunshot victim is in surgery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I have a --

ROWLANDS: Doctors opened up this man's stomach and removed this .9 millimeter bullet. He has damage to his intestine and tailbone, but he is expected to survive.

(on camera): The trauma unit treats everyone from start to finish, beginning with emergency surgery and care if needed, and follow-up. But unfortunately, some of the patients come back.

DENNIS: So what happened to your leg here?

ROWLANDS (voice-over): New wounds reveal old ones. The x-rays for the gunshot victim in bed two show gunshot pellets from a previous shooting.

DENNIS: So now I have metal all over, and I don't know what is new and what is old.

ROWLANDS: And look at this man's scar. It shows where he was shot at point-blank range last year. Dr. Dennis handled that case.

DENNIS: Close your eyes.

ROWLANDS: There are some patients that can be difficult to deal with. This man was stabbed by his girlfriend and came in intoxicated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's like in the back. I'm going to stay fresh until the day I die.

What's up, Boo? I'm buzzing, baby.

ROWLANDS: Security is high. Some patients have police officers actually with them trying to get information from them as they get treated. A group of detectives showed up to talk the victim with 13 bullet holes who, according to the x-rays, may now have a major problem.

DENNIS: So how did this get here, is my question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got you.

DENNIS: It either went this way or it came up from the arm.

ROWLANDS: A bullet in his shoulder may have travelled through his chest, which could be life threatening, so Dr. Dennis orders more x-rays. Dying is common here. These death packets with information for families are sitting out on the table ready to use.

DENNIS: There is a lot of death that happens here and it is unfortunate. Not all of it is violence but a good portion of it is violence.

ROWLANDS: It is after 2:00 a.m. when the x-rays come back. The 22-year-old with 13 bullet holes is in the clear. The bullet that was a concern came through his arm. He was sent home the next morning, leaving the bed open for the next person who unfortunately will be arriving soon.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: As election draws closer, former President Bill Clinton is stepping up the support for President Obama's re-election with a new campaign ad.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: President Obama and Mitt Romney running neck and neck in some of the crucial battleground states. So in a new Quinnipiac/CBS/"New York Times" poll, President Obama leads Mitt Romney 49 percent to 46 percent in Ohio, and -- that was in Florida. In Ohio, Obama is at 50 percent compared to 44 percent for Mitt Romney. And in Wisconsin, the home state of V.P. candidate, Paul Ryan, the president ahead of Romney, 49 percent to 47 percent. But you have to know the margins in the Florida, Wisconsin, within the margin of error for these sample polls.

And former President Bill Clinton is starring in a new ad for President Obama's election campaign. The ad is called "Clear Choice." it is going to air in several battleground states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This election, to me, is about which candidate is more likely to return us to full employment. This is a clear choice. The Republican plan is to cut more taxes on upper-income taxes and go back to deregulation. That's what got us in trouble in the first place. President Obama has a plan to rebuild America from the ground up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Clinton has been a top surrogate for President Obama this year. And in campaign speeches, President Obama gives credit to President Clinton and his policies for the strong economy of the 90s.

President Obama says that Romney does not care about class sizes in our schools, but does the president's comments pass the test?

Tom Foreman has the fact check. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CROSSTALK)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Class size and what it means to how kids learn has been a long and hotly contested issue. President Obama and many educators clearly believe smaller classes with fewer students per teacher are the way to go. So his latest ad tries to school Mitt Romney on that subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Some of our children's greatest experiences have been in the smaller classrooms.

AD ANNOUNCER: But Mitt Romney says class sizes don't matter. And he supports Paul Ryan's budget, which could cut education by 20 percent.

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FOREMAN: But let's dig into the lesson plan. Did Romney really say class sizes don't matter? No.

MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you had a class of five, that would be terrific. If you had a class of 50, that's impossible.

FOREMAN: Addressing Philadelphia teachers in May, Romney cited an international study showing that sometimes schools with small classes fail. Sometimes schools with big classes succeed. Therefore, he says, class size should not be given excessive weight when we consider how to make schools better.

(on camera): Certainly, the president's education advisors would not agree, or would they? In a 2010 speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, sure, class size may matter up to third grade.

ARNE DUNCAN, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: But in secondary schools, at the high-school level, districts may be able to save money without hurting students while allowing modest but smartly targeted increases in class size. In fact, teachers in Asia sometimes request larger class sizes because they think the broad distribution of students and skill levels can help accelerate student learning across the board.

FOREMAN: As for Paul Ryan's plan to cut education funding, the truth is, while education may suffer under a Ryan budget, how much would be cut and where is not clear.

So the grade for this ad? I'm tempted to give it an "F" for false. We'll go with "M" for misleading.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MALVEAUX: This is a headline that caught our attention today from the "Daily Beast" web site. It says that "Yoga Teachers Love Obama." This article breaks down the political contributions to the president and Mitt Romney by profession. Here is what we are looking at. President Obama has more contributions from lawyers, CEOs, teachers and firefighters than Romney. He also leads among rabbis and Catholic priests and yoga instructors. Romney gets more donations than the president from stock traders, wealth managers, entrepreneurs, also from farmers and ranchers and homemakers.

A new government reports says the U.S. economy could slide into another serious recession. That is if Congress doesn't do anything before January.

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MALVEAUX: Good news and bad news coming from the Congressional Budget Office today. Massive U.S. spending cuts and tax hikes will shrink the U.S. deficit, but it will send the country into recession and raise the unemployment rate.

I want to bring in Alison Kosik from the New York Stock Exchange to talk about this.

They release this report, but Congress divided on which way to go on this. And, Alison, let's play this out if we can. If Congress doesn't do anything, and people are talking about going over the fiscal cliff.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. So if Congress does nothing, and that means that the enormous amount of tax hikes and across-the-board spending cuts would all happen at once, and here is what the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, is predicting would happen. They say GDP, meaning economic growth in the U.S., would shrink from a half a percent from the end of this year to the end of next year. We have not seen GDP shrink since 2009. That would really slam the brakes on the recovery. The CBO also says, if we go over that fiscal cliff, it would cause the unemployment rate to go back up to 9 percent by the second half of next year. Right now it's at 8.3 percent. But if Congress steps in to do something before January 1st to stop one or both of these policy changes, the CBO says the economy would create two million more jobs and the unemployment rate would stay at 8 percent. But there is a cost to that as well if Congress does step in -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Alison, talk about the debt, the idea of the spending cuts to reduce the debt. Would that actually happen?

KOSIK: Yes, so, the whole point of the spending cuts, Suzanne, is to reduce the national debt and the deficit. Now the CBO is projecting that the spending cuts would bring down the debt from 73 percent of GDP this year to 58.5 percent in 10 years. Without the spending cuts to go into effect, the CBO projects that the GDP debt would skyrocket to 73 percent. And if that happens, it would improve the budget deficit to 4 percent GDP. Now if the cuts don't take effect, the deficit will hit a $1 trillion in 2013. But here in lies the -- this is part of the reason why you are seeing the Congress frozen on this issue, because it is a decision of whether or not doing nothing could cause a recession here in the U.S., or possibly getting a handle on the deficit and the debt. It is kind of a double-edged sword and nobody wants to touch this hot-potato issue in the middle of an election season -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Very true. And, Alison, the stocks, how are they doing?

KOSIK: Not too well. The Dow is down about 117 points. A pretty lackluster picture on the jobs picture. Unemployment claims -- first time that the jobless claims rose last week to 372,000. So you are seeing the layoffs still treading water, not giving much incentive for the investors to buy in today -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Thank you, Alison.

A new study shows that the older a man gets, the higher the chance he will father a child with Autism. We'll take a look at the connection.

MALVEAUX: Autism rates have increased almost 80 percent in the past five years. A new study says the age of fathers may be part of the reason why.

Elizabeth Cohen, tell us a little bit why this is the case. What does the study show?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's so interesting. This was a study out of Iceland. They took 78 families, so mom, dad, child. When they looked really closely at the genes, they found the mom was not the reason. The mom was not associated with any increased risk for autism. They also looked at schizophrenia. It was the dads. The dads were much more likely to have these random mutations linked to autism as they got older. So the numbers really tell the whole story. When they looked at the child -- I'm sorry, at the father. A 20-year-old father, that child would have 25 random mutations. So at age -- a 20-year-old father, 25 mutations. A 40-year-old father, the child would have 65 random mutations. Again, mutations associated with autism or schizophrenia.

And I mean, I guess the bottom line is, you know, eggs get old. As women, we hear that all the time. Go have those babies before your eggs get too old. Well, sperm gets old, too.

MALVEAUX: The same is true. What if you're somebody who wants to be a father, you're an older man, is there anything you can do to limit the chances of these mutations?

COHEN: No, there's nothing you can do. They just happen naturally.

But I want to add, if there's any 40-year-old men watching us who plan on conceiving a child tonight, it is OK, go ahead and conceive that child. Nobody is saying don't do it. In fact, as a 40-year-old man, the risk of fathering a child with autism or schizophrenia, it's 2 percent at most. So the risk is still very, very small. It's just interesting, the difference as you get older.

MALVEAUX: It's more of a risk as you get older, but that risk is still very small.

COHEN: The risk is still very small. You asked about what men can do. There is a discussion in this article in "Nature" that maybe men should think about banking their sperm at age 20. That way, if you don't get married and have a child until you're, say, 50, you can always go back to that 20-year-old sperm that you left in the bank. No one's actively encouraging this, but it is an interesting question.

MALVEAUX: Interesting debate.

Thanks, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

MALVEAUX: And encouragement for all the guys out there.

(LAUGHTER)

COHEN: All the 40-year-old men watching us who want to conceive a child tonight. That's right.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you.

The Mars rover has completed its very first test drive. We'll show you the pictures.

And he believes there's no such thing as disabilities, only bad technology. He is on "The Next List."

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am just in love with, enamored with the design of the human body, its elegance. Nature has often these very powerful principles that, if captured in a technology, in a device, can be very, very extraordinary in their capacity to help people move again. So it's -- that's the basic thesis of our work. We steal from the cookie jar of nature. We apply that and we build synthetic constructs that emulates that functionality.

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MALVEAUX: Not a Mars rover if it doesn't rove, right? It's another high-five moment for the NASA team operating the rover "Curiosity." 350 million miles away on Mars, the machine took a little test drive this week. You can actually see the wheel tracks in the Martian dust. Pretty cool. "Curiosity" roved forward, backed up a little bit, took some cool pictures. NASA hopes to soon send the rover on trips up to 100 yards a day. Pretty cool stuff.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Don Lemon.

Hey, Don.