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miércoles, 10 de octubre de 2012

In Ohio, Obama slams China, Romney - CBS News

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By Leigh Ann Caldwell Topics Campaign 2012 President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event at Seasongood Pavilion, Monday, Sept. 17, 2012, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

(Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

(CBS News) China has once again entered the campaign discussion as President Obama launched another round of attacks against his opponent Mitt Romney on his China policy and announced that he is filing another trade complaint against the country.

"Now, I understand my opponent has been running around Ohio claiming he's going to roll up his sleeves and take the fight to China," Mr. Obama told a crowd in Cincinnati Monday. "Ohio, you can't stand up to China when all you've done is send them our jobs."

The president was referring to Romney's time at Bain Capital, a private equity firm that bought companies and moved jobs to China. It has been a common attack on the campaign trail in an effort to smear Romney's time at Bain, although many of the outsourcing claims either happened after Romney's time at Bain or didn't happen exactly the way Romney's critics describe them. The Obama campaign renewed the attack Friday when it launched a new television ad accusing Romney of outsourcing jobs overseas and continued the barrage today.

The president also announced a new enforcement action against China for what it claims is illegally subsidizing exports of automobile parts. The administration says the subsidies totaled $1 billion and is harming American auto parts makers.

"These are subsidies that directly harm working men and women on the assembly line in Ohio and Michigan and across the Midwest... . It's not right, it's against the rules and we will not let it stand," Obama said. "American workers build better products than anyone. 'Made in America' means something. And ...when the playing field is level, America will always win."

This is the second complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) filed in recent months against China. In July, President Obama filed another complaint challenging the country for what it said was imposing illegal duties on $3 billion worth of cars and SUVs. That announcement was also first announced in an Ohio newspaper, the Toledo Blade, and was highlighted the same day at a campaign stop near Toledo.

12.4 percent of Ohio's jobs are tied to the auto industry, according to figures provided by the administration, and the state is a crucial presidential battleground state. Although both candidates heavily contest there, Ohio, is a state that President Obama has consistently held a slight advantage. In the latest Quinnipiac/CBS News/NY Times poll in August, Mr. Obama held a 6 point advantage over Romney.

When asked if the timing was political, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said it wasn't. "The president doesn't believe that we should delay these kinds of important actions merely because we're in the middle of a campaign," Earnest told reporters en route to the Cincinnati event.

Romney, who has said on the campaign trail that he will confront China on its currency manipulation, released a statement criticizing what he called election-year tactics. "Campaign-season trade cases may sound good on the stump, but it is too little, too late for American businesses and middle-class families," Romney said. "I will not wait until the last months of my presidency to stand up to China, or do so only when votes are at stake."

"There's actually been a willingness on the part of the Obama administration to resort to the WTO in other fields," Joshua Meltzer, fellow at the Brookings Institution told CBS News.

Since taking office, Mr. Obama has filed additional complaints with the WTO against China on the issue of the country's wind energy manufacturing and raw materials exports. The WTO sided with the U.S. in both instances.

But while campaigning in Ohio and Michigan, Mr. Obama has consistently highlighted the bailout of the auto industry, the increase of manufacturing jobs and tough talk against China - all things he did at his latest campaign stop.

He said his goals are "to export more products and outsource fewer jobs," he told the crowd. "I bet on American workers. And three years later the American auto industry has come roaring back."

As he began to inject his opponent into his speech, the crowd began to jeer. Mr. Obama responded with a line he's repeatedly used on the campaign trail: "Don't boo. Vote."

Mr. Obama also reminded voters that early voting in Ohio begins October 2, and said voting early leaves more "time getting other folks to vote."


domingo, 30 de septiembre de 2012

AP: US destroying secret info amid Beirut unrest - CBS News

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(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - Diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut have started to destroy classified material as a security precaution amid anti-American protests in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa.

The leader of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah called for sustained protests in a rare public appearance at a rally in Beirut. Already Monday, rioting demonstrators battled with police outside a U.S. military base in Afghanistan and the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia as violent protests over an anti-Islam film spread to Asia after a week of unrest in Muslim countries worldwide.

A State Department status report obtained Monday by The Associated Press said the Beirut embassy had "reviewed its emergency procedures and is beginning to destroy classified holdings." It also said that local Lebanese employees were sent home early due to protests by the militant Shiite group Hezbollah over an anti-Muslim film produced in the U.S.

The turmoil surrounding the low-budget movie that denigrates the Prophet Muhammad shows no sign of ebbing nearly a week after protesters first swarmed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya in the eastern city of Benghazi. At least 10 protesters have died in the riots, and the targeting of American missions has forced Washington to ramp up security in several countries.

Violent anti-U.S. protests persist in 3 countries
Video: Libyan official on attack: Took months of planning
Video: Mitchell on Muslim protests: "There's nothing new about this"

In Washington, a State Department official said there was no imminent threat to the heavily fortified Beirut embassy, which is about an hour away from where the nearest demonstration is planned.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss security procedures, said the decision to "reduce classified holdings" was routine and made by embassy staff.

In Libya, the ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi destroying classified documents with Sean Smith, the Foreign Service information management officer killed with Stevens in the attack Tuesday, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

After Tuesday's incidents, the State Department ordered all U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to review their security postures. As a result, a number of missions decided to destroy classified material, the official said. It was not immediately clear which other missions besides the one in Beirut had taken that step.

The official stressed it was normal under circumstances such as those of last week for embassies to reduce the amount of classified material that they hold. Classified documents are also routinely culled as part of normal embassy operations.

Earlier Monday, the State Department renewed its warning to U.S. citizens to "avoid all travel to Lebanon because of current safety and security concerns." It said U.S. citizens "living and working in Lebanon should understand that they accept risks in remaining and should carefully consider those risks."

The new alert, which superseded a May 8 warning, said the potential for a "spontaneous upsurge in violence remains" in Lebanon and that Lebanese authorities are not able to guarantee protection if violence erupts quickly.

The warning also noted that the Fulbright and the English Language Fellow programs that gave grants to American scholars to live and work in Lebanon during the academic year have been suspended "because of the deteriorating security situation and the increased possibility of attacks against U.S. citizens in Lebanon."

Protests against the movie turned violent for the first time in Afghanistan on Monday as hundreds of people burned cars and threw rocks at a U.S. military base in the capital, Kabul. Many in the crowd shouted "Death to America!" and "Death to those people who have made a film and insulted our prophet." They also spiraled out of control in Indonesia and Pakistan, while several in the Middle East were calm.

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group, has rarely been seen in public since his Shiite Muslim group battled Israel in a month-long war in 2006, fearing Israeli assassination. Since then, he has communicated with his followers and gives news conference mostly via satellite link.

On Monday, he spoke for about 15 minutes before tens of thousands of cheering supporters, many of them with green and yellow headbands around their foreheads -- the colors of Hezbollah -- and the words "at your service God's prophet" written on them.

Nasrallah, who last appeared in public in December 2011 to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashoura, said the U.S. must ban the movie and have it removed from the Internet and called for his followers to maintain pressure on the world to act.

"This is the start of a serious movement that must continue all over the Muslim world in defense of the prophet of God," he said to roars of support. "As long as there's blood in us, we will not remain silent over insults against our prophet."

He called for a series of demonstrations this week to denounce the video.



viernes, 21 de septiembre de 2012

First ever great white shark spot-tagged and released off Cape Cod - CBS News

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(CBS News)The end of summer brings relief for some in Cape Cod after the area saw an increased number of shark sightings in the last few months as well as the first great white attack in Massachusetts since 1936. Now, a new mission is underway to learn more about the sharks' habits. For the first time last week, a group of fisherman and scientists successfully caught, spot-tagged and released a white shark in the North Atlantic ocean, off of Cape Cod.

CBS News special correspondent Jeff Glor joined OCEARCH, a group of scientists, at sea as they attempted to tag white sharks with GPS tags so they can track their migration and breeding patterns. Despite the notoriety and widespread fear of sharks, scientists have acquired astonishingly little information about their numbers and day-to-day habits.

"I think everybody on the boat felt like this was the most important shark we've ever caught," OCEARCH co-captain Brett McBride told Glor of the shark the team caught last Thursday.

Chris Fischer says he founded the non-profit OCEARCH with the goal of uniting the world's best fisherman and the world's top scientists in an effort to study and protect sharks.

Fischer estimates there are "hundreds" of sharks off the coast of New England," and said "they're supposed to be a a lot of sharks in the ocean. They're the great balance keeper."

"We don't know where they breed, we don't know where they feed, we don't know where they give birth," Fischer told Glor. "So until we figure that out, we can't even put policy in place to protect them."

Fischer believes that their techniques are more humane than previous practices. "Back in the day, when these scientists wanted to learn about white sharks, they would go out and kill them all and sample them. Now at least we have a system where we let them all go alive."

This system involves affixing satellite-enabled tags to the sharks' dorsal fins. Once sharks are tagged and released, they can be tracked in real-time, anywhere in the world for five years.

For his part, McBride claims the work is "not as dangerous as it looks" and maintains "I'm not a thrill seeker...I've got to go home to a wife and kids...I'm not going to go home with just one less arm."

In Cape Cod, OCEARCH has partnered with Dr. Greg Skomal, of the Massachsetts Division of Marine Fisheries. Skomal is also seeking answers to the recent uptick of shark activity in his area and says there has been little focus on finding out any real information about sharks.

"We've spent a lot of time trying to figure out why they occassionally bite people and not necessarily how they live," Skomal told Glor.

After the group caught and spot-tagged a great white shark last Thursday -- who the group named Genie -- for the first time ever in the North Atlantic ocean, Fischer gushed about the importance of OCEARCH's work.

"The ocean is getting hammered, it doesn't have a lot of time left," he said. "It's the one place where I find real clarity and peace. And, if we don't do it, then who?"

Redskins' Brian Orakpo and Adam Carriker to miss rest of season with injuries - CBS News

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Sports Blog CBSSports.com Official Partner

Topics Football Washington Redskins outside linebacker Brian Orakpo sits on the bench in the final seconds of an NFL football game against the St. Louis Rams, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012, in St. Louis. The Rams won 31-28.

(Credit: AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

(CBS News) ASHBURN, Va. - The Washington Redskins lost more than a football game Sunday - they lost two of their top defenders to season-ending injuries.

The team said Monday that linebacker Brian Orakpo and defensive end Adam Carriker are expected to be out for the season after being hurt in Sunday's 31-28 loss to the St. Louis Rams.

Carriker, who registered 5.5 sacks last season, suffered a right knee injury and will be sidelines about five months after surgery.

Orakpo, who was had injured his left shoulder, said after the game that "it just ripped on me, man. Same injury as before. It's just frustrating, man." It was actually not the same injury, according to the team's official Twitter feed:

Orakpo had 59 tackles and 9 sacks last season and coach Mike Shanahan said that the team will miss his production.

"He can do it all," Shanahan said. "He's everything you look at in a Pro Bowl linebacker."

He said both players will get surgery within the next week.

According to CBSSports.com's Ryan Wilson, Rob Jackson and Chris Wilson will get the chance to take over for Orakpo while Doug Worthington and Chris Baker will be given opportunities to replace Carriker.

"Fatal Vision" murder convict Jeffrey MacDonald hopes DNA evidence will clear ... - CBS News

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(CBS News) Jeffrey MacDonald's lawyers are going back to court over DNA evidence in the so-called "Fatal Vision" murders.

MacDonald has served 30 years for the killings of his wife and two young daughters. The former Green Beret doctor has always maintained his innocence. And he wants one more chance to get out of prison.

Timeline of events in the Jeffrey MacDonald case
"48 Hours": Jeffrey MacDonald: Time For Truth

MacDonald insists that a group of drug-crazed hippies invaded his home in Fort Bragg, N.C., on February 17, 1970, that they attacked him and savagely stabbed his wife Collette, and their two daughters, Kimberly, 5, and Kristen, 2.

He recounted the story to CBS News' "48 Hours" in 2007, saying, "I heard a female voice say, 'Acid is groovy. Kill the pigs.'"

The brutal crimes - just months after the murders committed by Charles Manson and his followers - became a national sensation and even led to a best-selling book and NBC mini-series, "Fatal Vision."

MacDonald has been in prison since 1982, serving three life terms for the murders. But a new book by acclaimed filmmaker and author Errol Morris says MacDonald was telling the truth all along.

Morris - whose 1988 movie "The Thin Blue Line" helped win freedom for a man wrongfully convicted of murdering a police officer - told Rita Braver of "CBS Sunday Morning" that DNA evidence not available at the time of MacDonald's trial now points to his innocence.

"Sunday Morning": True crime? Errol Morris reexamines the evidence

Morris said, "They did find hair under the fingernails of one of the girls that could not be sourced to anybody in the house."

And it wasn't MacDonald's, Morris said.

Morris also said MacDonald's story is supported by Helena Stoeckly, who repeatedly confessed to being in the house with her drug-using friends the night of the murders.

Stoeckly said in a 1982 interview with CBS News, "I walked into the master bedroom (while MacDonald was unconscious). ... Collette was sleeping on the bed."

But during MacDonald's trial, Stoeckly suddenly couldn't remember many of the details of that night, and Morris said he knows why. "The prosecutor threatened her and told her essentially to change her story, or he would indict her for murder," Morris told "CBS This Morning."

MacDonald faces an uphill legal battle and prosecutors still believe they got the right guy. But MacDonald remains hopeful he will be released someday. He told "48 Hours," "There's a legitimate possibility that I will be winning this case."

Watch Anna Werner's full report in the video above.

jueves, 20 de septiembre de 2012

Palace legal action fanning interest in Kate topless photos? - CBS News

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(CBS News) Lawyers for Prince William and his wife, Catherine, will be in a Paris court later Monday. They plan to make a criminal complaint against the photographer who took topless pictures of her.

But there's an argument about whether the royals taking legal action will limit the photos or just make them more intriguing.

One place where all the fuss about a royal's topless photos may seem spectacularly out of place is where William and Catherine, the former Kate Middleton, happened to be Monday - the South Pacific paradise of the Solomon Islands - where the unclothed human form is no big deal.

Royal family seeks injunction over topless pics

The remote islands may seem like another world to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Back in their real world, though, their lawyers were busy taking action in the courts in France.

A Paris celebrity gossip magazine was first to publish pictures of the frolicking, half-naked couple enjoying what they thought was a private holiday at the queen's nephew's house. The royal lawyers are making a formal criminal complaint against the photographer who took the pictures and against the magazine.

That didn't stop another European publication - this time in Italy - from putting out a special issue containing a 26-page photo spread of the couple. An Irish newspaper has printed them, as well. Outside of Britain, the royals are treated with less reverence.

Neil Wallis, a newspaper editor, told CBS News, "It is seen as, if you like, another celebrity complaining about their privacy. How ever much as I sympathize with Kate, it's not going to close the door. The horse has bolted."

(CBS News correspondent Seth Doane is traveling with the royal couple on their tour through Asia. Watch his latest report in the video below.)

Palace lawyers are said to be considering what to do as the photos show up more and more places. Should they launch suits everywhere or make an example of the French? Because the more they talk about the photos, the more everybody else does, too.

Wallis said, "They are literally financially becoming more valuable, the pictures you must not see, the pictures they tried to ban, that literally is music to the (paparazzo's) ears."

Legal action over Kate topless photos

The problem for William and Kate is that the penalties under French law for invasion of privacy are piddling compared to the circulation boost for the magazine -- about $45,000, although there is provision for jailing the editor for a year. Still, the couple are said to be livid as the photos continue to be published. They're going to have to make a decision whether to continue the legal pressure - and so the concentration on the photos - or move on.

Watch Mark Phillips' report in the video above.

martes, 18 de septiembre de 2012

Teens who "sext" more likely to have sex, study finds: What can parents do to ... - CBS News

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By Ryan Jaslow Topics News ,Kids and family ,Research texting, sexting (Credit: istockphoto) (CBS News) Teens who "sext" - or send sexually explicit text messages - aren't keeping their risky behaviors within the confines of their smartphone, new research suggests.

Rather than serving as a substitute for risky behaviors, the study of nearly 2,000 teens found kids who sent such messages were more likely to engage in risky behaviors, such as being sexually active and having unprotected sex, raising their risk for sexually transmitted diseases.

One in four teens admit to sexting, study finds
Watch: "Sexting" not as common as some feared: Study

"No one's actually going to get a sexually transmitted disease because they're sexting," Dr. Eric Rice, a researcher from the School of Social Network at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, told Reuters. "What we really wanted to know is, is there a link between sexting and taking risks with your body? And the answer is a pretty resounding 'yes.'"

For Rice's study, published online in the Sept. 17 issue of Pediatrics, he and his team looked at survey data from more than 1,800 Los Angeles-area teens between grades nine and 12, who were part of a nationally representative Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of youth-risk behaviors. They determined 15 percent of the adolescents who had a cell phone said they sexted, with more than 50 percent of the responders saying they knew someone who had sent a sext. The majority of students with a cell phone who were surveyed did not engage in sending such messages.

Not surprisingly, teens whose peers sexted were more likely to sext themselves - about 17 times more likely than their counterparts who didn't send the messages.

But teens who said they themselves sexted were seven times more likely to be sexually active, and nearly two times more likely to engage in unprotected sex than their peers.

Teens who identified as Black/African American were found to be more likely to sext than other groups studied. Teens who identified as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning/unsure) were more likely to sext and say they both had sex and had unprotected sex than students who identified as heterosexual.

The researchers called the latter finding "particularly alarming," since unprotected sex raises risk for transmission of HIV and of other sexually transmitted diseases.

Though the researchers found only a minority of surveyed teens overall said they sent sext messages, they believe this behavior could serve as a place for parents, doctors and educators to intervene and head off risky behaviors.

"We recommend that clinicians discuss sexting as an adolescent-friendly way of engaging patients in conversations about sexual activity, prevention of sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy," the authors wrote, adding such discussions should also be built into the health curriculum at school.

A link between teens who sext and teens who have sex was also confirmed by a July study in Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine. That study of teens at Texas public schools also found that teens who were merely propositioned to send a naked picture were also more likely to have sex. More than seventy-five percent of teens in that study who were asked to send a sext, even if they didn't agree to do it, admitted to having had sexual intercourse, compared to fewer than 40 percent of teens who had not been propositioned.

"While some have suggested that sexting may be a safe alternative to sexual behavior, it is not surprising that these online behaviors are entangled in teens' face-to-face interactions," Shari Kessel Schneider, a senior research associate at the Education Development Center in Newton, Mass., who was not involved in the new research, commented to HealthDay. "If a parent finds out their child is sexting, it's an important opportunity to engage their son or daughter in a discussion of what constitutes a healthy relationship and how youth can stay safe both emotionally and physically."

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends parents speak to their kids about sexting, even if the issue hasn't directly impacted their community, to gauge their child's understanding of the issue. For younger kids with cell phones who don't yet know about sex, it is important to use an age-appropriate example, such as by saying texts should never contain pictures of people without their clothes on. For teens, the academy recommends being very specific, telling them "sexting" often involves pictures of a sexual nature and is considered pornography.

The AAP has more tips for parents talking to their children about social media and sexting.


Better Information. Better Health.

Ryan blasts Obama in first major social-issues speech - CBS News

By Rebecca Kaplan Topics Campaign 2012 ,Social Issues Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., speaks at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., Friday, Sept. 14, 2012.

(Credit: AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) (CBS News) WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on Friday offered a harsh indictment of President Obama's values and leadership, arguing in a speech to the Values Voter Summit that his opponent is bent on expanding the size of government to usurp the power of religious organizations in America.

Making an explicit appeal to Catholic opponents of abortion rights, Ryan cited the controversial executive order from the White House earlier this year that required religiously-affiliated organizations to provide employees with insurance plans that include birth control.

"In the president's telling, government is a big, benevolent presence - gently guiding our steps at every turn," Ryan said. "In reality, when government enters the picture, private institutions are so often brushed aside with suspicion or even contempt. This is what happened to the Catholic Church and Catholic Charities this past January, when the new mandates of Obamacare started coming. Never mind your own conscience, they were basically told, from now on you're going to do things the government's way."

Ryan echoed GOP nominee Mitt Romney in calling the mandate "a threat and insult to every religious group," arguing that the Catholic Church and its affiliated charities have done more for women and children than almost any other group in America. His pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act drew a loud standing ovation, one of several in his 25-minute speech.

The Obama campaign fired back by noting that Ryan's budget has drawn heavy criticism from some Catholics for proposing to cut funds for programs that help the poor.

"Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan to be his running mate because he's the intellectual leader of the Republican Party. That leadership included a budget that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said failed a 'basic moral test,''' said Obama spokesman Danny Kanner. "Today, speaking at a values summit, he unleashed a series of over-the-top, dishonest attacks against the President that once again reminded voters that he's just not ready for prime time."

Ryan, himself a Catholic, represents the Republican ticket's best messenger to the community that gave a majority of its vote, 54 percent, to Obama in 2008, according to the Pew Research Center. The president did several points better than the two Democrats who preceded him, in large part due to his support among Hispanic Catholics.

The speech represented Ryan's first major foray into faith or social issues during a vice presidential campaign address. He painted the president as a hypocrite for telling Americans they are "all in this together."

"How hollow it sounds coming from a politician who has never once lifted a hand to defend the most helpless andinnocent of all human beings, the child waiting to be born," he said.

After saying that Obama constantly trades on former President Clinton's record, Ryan sought to make a distinction between the two. While Clinton sought to make abortion "safe, legal and rare, Ryan said, "The Obama-Biden ticket stands for an absolute, unqualified right to abortion - at any time, under any circumstances, and even at taxpayer expense."

During the health care debate, Obama signed an executive order reaffirming a ban on using federal funds to pay for abortions. But taxpayer money can still be used for abortions through the Medicaid program if the life of the mother is in danger or if rape or incest caused the pregnancy. He has also backed the federal ban on late-term abortions if there are clear exceptions for the health of the mother.

Ryan also touched on foreign policy, a topic at the forefront of the news cycle after attacks against American diplomats in the Middle East. He suggested that a lack of leadership and consistent expression of American values has contributed to unrest in the region.

"The least equivocation or mixed signal only makes them bolder," Ryan said of the people who carried out attacks in Egypt, Libya and Yemen, whom he labeled "extremists. "

"American foreign policy needs moral clarity and firmness of purpose. Only by the confident exercise of American influence are evil and violence overcome. That is how we keep problems abroad from becoming crises," he said.

Ryan was twice interrupted by hecklers who briefly shouted at him before being drowned out by the audience chanting "USA! USA!" At least one was forcefully removed from the speech.


lunes, 17 de septiembre de 2012

Romney snores and likes peanut butter, Snooki - CBS News

By Sarah Huisenga Topics Campaign 2012 Mitt Romney (L) and his wife Ann Romney talk on the campaign plane on September 1, 2012 en route to New Hampshire.

(Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (CBS News) NEW YORK - By now, Americans know that Mitt Romney is a successful businessman, Massachusetts' former governor and the driving force behind the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. What they might not know is that he loves peanut butter sandwiches, is a fan of Jersey Shore's Snooki and wants Gene Hackman to play him in a movie.

Those were just a few of the personal details revealed in a light-hearted interview with ABC's Live! with Kelly and Michael, which taped on Friday morning in New York but won't air until next week. Romney and his wife, Ann, sat for an interview with the show's hosts, Kelly Ripa and former New York Giant Michael Strahan (who recently replaced Regis Philbin), after the Republican nominee pulled in more than $4 million at a Manhattan fundraiser.

Though most of the interview was soft in tone, Romney was asked to name an area in which he agrees with President Obama. He cited the decision to take out Osama bin Laden and the importance that both men place on family.

"I think he's a fine husband and father, and I think the role model for our nation of being a good father is a very good thing. I appreciate that," Romney said. "We're concerned about schools and health care and I think the budget. We go about these things in different ways. We have different approaches to those things."

During the program's final segment, the hosts fired off a round of rapid-fire questions asking everything from the couple's guilty pleasures are (doughnuts for Ann, peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate milk for Mitt) to which of them hogs the blankets in bed (it's Ann, according to her husband. But for the record, he snores).

When asked to describe an embarrassing moment, Ann Romney told the story of staying overnight at the White House when George W. Bush was in office. While exploring the premises, she happened to walk in on Bush as he was having a massage.

"He was covered up, but I was so embarrassed that the next time I did see him I didn't know what I was going to say to him," she recalled. As it turned out, it was Bush who broached the subject first. "He looks at me and he winks as he does and says, 'I look pretty good, don't I?'"

Other tidbits the couple divulged: their favorite TV show is Modern Family. Both prefer the iPhone to the BlackBerry. Mitt does not sing in the shower, but does when riding horseback. And the Republican nominee is "kind of a Snooki fan."

"Look how tiny's she's gotten," Romney said of the Jersey Shore star's weight loss. "She's lost weight. She's energetic. Just her spark-plug personality is kind of fun."


Royals threaten legal action over topless Kate Middleton photos - CBS News

(CBS News) "Closer," a gossip magazine in France, hits stands on Friday with an issue topping headlines around the globe and showcasing topless photos of Prince William's wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

Palace officials say the royals are angry and said they are considering legal action. A royal source says all legal options are being considered.

Topless photos of Kate draw deep royal dismay

The Press Secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, released an uncharacteristically hard hitting statement Friday, invoking the name of William and Harry's deceased mother, Princess Diana. The statement asserted that the photos are a "grotesque and unjustifiable invasion of privacy...reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales."

It's a crime in France to invade someone's privacy, CBS News' Kelly Cobiella reported from Buckingham Palace on Friday morning. If the royal family decides to pursue legal action, it could result in a one-year prison term for the editor of the publication and fines up to $50,000, and possibly more if they take this into a civil arena.

(CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reported on the couple's ongoing tour through Southeast Asia and on the photo scandal. Watch his full report below.

Duchess Kate dons Alexander McQueen for state dinner
Watch: William and Kate shine in Singapore

The problem is, CBS News is told, that a lot of these publications actually budget for this, so they stand more to gain from the publicity and sales of the magazines than they lose in the fines.

The magazine reports that the photos were taken last week while the couple was vacationing prior to their Southeast Asia tour. William and Kate were reportedly staying at a remote chateau owned by the queen's nephew. A former tabloid editor in the U.K. told CBS News there's apparently a public road about half a mile from this chateau with a view of the pool, and with long lens camera you can get a picture of someone from that road. That, according to the former editor, may have been what happened here.

The couple is currently traveling in Malaysia and will go to Borneo, Indonesia, next on their Southeast Asia tour.

For more on this story, watch CBS News' Kelly Cobiella's report in the video above.

Soyuz capsule safely ferries US, Russian crew back from International Space ... - CBS News

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This article by CBS News space consultant William Harwood originally appeared on "CBS News Space".

(CBS News) - Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA flight engineer bid their three space station crewmates farewell Sunday, strapped into their Soyuz ferry craft, undocked from the lab complex and fell back to Earth, making a pinpoint landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 125-day voyage.

Descending through a clear blue sky under a large orange-and-white parachute, the charred Soyuz TMA-04M descent module settled to a rocket-assisted touchdown near the town of Arkalyk at 10:53 p.m. Eastern, on Sunday.

The final stages of the descent were carried live on television relayed through the Russian mission control center and NASA's satellite network, showing the last-second firing of the crew's braking rockets and billowing clouds of dust and smoke as the module touched down and the parachute collapsed.

Russian recovery teams deployed near the landing site rushed in, reporting the descent module had tipped over on its side, a relatively common occurrence.

Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft lands in a remote area near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan In this photo provided by NASA, the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft lands in a remote area near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, Sept. 17, 2012.

(Credit: AP/NASA)

They quickly got to work opening the main hatch to help Soyuz commander Gennady Padalka, flight engineer Sergei Revin and American Joseph Acaba out of the cramped module after four months in the weightlessness of space. Padalka, the first out, looked relaxed and in good spirits as he rested in a recliner and enjoyed a cup of tea. Revin and Acaba quickly followed suit and all three were given quick medical exams before a two-hour helicopter flight to Kustanai.

At that point, the crew planned to split up, with Padalka and Revin flying back to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City near Moscow while Acaba was to fly back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston aboard a NASA jet.

Touchdown on the steppe of Kazakhstan marked the conclusion of a 53-million-mile, 2,000-orbit voyage that began with liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on May 15.

It also moved Padalka up to No. 4 on the list of most experienced space fliers, with 711 days in orbit over four space flights. Acaba has now logged 138 days aloft during two missions while Revin's mark will stand at 125 days for his first flight.

The trio bid their three Expedition 32 crewmates farewell Sunday afternoon, moving back aboard the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft that carried them into orbit last May. They undocked from the Poisk compartment attached to the station's Zvezda command module at 7:09 p.m. as the two spacecraft sailed 250 miles above Kenya.

After moving about seven-and-a-half miles away from the space station, Padalka monitored a four-minute 16-second deorbit rocket firing starting at 9:56:18 p.m., slowing the ship by about 258 mph to begin the long fall back to Earth.

At 10:40 p.m., the spacecraft plunged back into the discernible atmosphere at an altitude of 63 miles. Just before atmospheric "entry interface," the three modules making up the TMA-04M spacecraft separated and the central crew module, the only one equipped with a heat shield, continued the descent.

After enduring the hellish heat of atmospheric friction, the Soyuz descent module deployed its braking parachute around 10:38 p.m., at an altitude of about 6.6 miles. Recovery crews quickly spotted the spacecraft and Padalka radioed that all three crew members were in good shape.

Acaba, a former high school teacher and shuttle veteran, operated a battery of laboratory experiments during his stay in space, performed maintenance as required and operated the lab's robot arm during two dramatic spacewalks by other astronauts to replace a faulty power switching unit.

"We're at times glorified maintenance personnel," he said in a pre-flight interview. "It's just like living in your house. On a Saturday, you know, you got to fix the plumbing, you've gotta, you know, cut your yard, things break down, and the space station is very complex and takes a lot of our time to maintain it.

"If you look at the amount of time we spend on science, there's a goal of about an average of 35 hours per week between the three (U.S.-sponsored) crew members. When I first heard that number, well, it seems like a pretty small number, but if you look at other extreme environments where people are studying and living, we're right on par if not higher, because it takes a lot of effort to maintain this very complex laboratory-home up in space."

That responsibility now falls to Expedition 33 commander Sunita Williams, veteran cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, who were launched to the space station aboard the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft July 15.

They will have the sprawling lab complex to themselves until Oct. 17 when three fresh crew members -- Soyuz TMA-06M commander Oleg Novitskiy, Evengy Tarelkin and Kevin Ford arrive two days after launch from Baikoniur.

In a change-of-command ceremony Saturday, Padalka formally turned over command to Williams, a veteran astronaut and military helicopter pilot making her second long-duration stay aboard the station.

"I would like to express my (gratitude) to my crewmates for keeping (a) great psychological climate on the crew, sharing everything between us, we got along very well," Padalka, speaking English, said during the change-of-command ceremony. "It's time for tradition, 32 crew to hand over command to the new crew commander, Sunita Williams."

"Thank you Gennady, and thank you everybody," Williams replied. "Just like Gennady said, I want to thank everybody on the ground for preparing us, but most of all for the last two months I'd like to thank our (Expedition) 32 crewmates here who have taught us how to live and work in space and, of course, to have a lot of fun."

Speaking to Padalka, she said "you pay more attention to the people that work with you and for you than the people you work for. And that's universal leadership."

"I appreciate all the lessons learned and again, all the great humor that we've had up here," Williams said. "It's been a lot of fun and that's mostly because of you and your crew. We hope as our crew, Aki, Yuri and myself, to maintain that and pass that on to Kevin and Oleg and Evgeny when they get here. So thank you."

Creative arts Emmys pave way for prime-time show - CBS News

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By Lauren Moraski Topics Television From left, actors s Emilia Clarke, Rose Leslie, Michelle Fairley and Alfie Allen attend the "Game Of Thrones" party inside on July 13, 2012, in San Diego, Calif.

(Credit: Getty) (CBS News) The fantasy series "Game of Thrones" was the big winner Saturday at the creative arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, taking home six honors. But who will score big when the major awards are handed out live at Sunday's prime-time Emmy ceremony?

When the Emmy nominations were announced in July, "Mad Men" led the pack with 17 Emmy nominations, while the miniseries "American Horror Story" received a matching 17 award nods, including an acting nomination for star Connie Britton.

Pictures: Emmy nominations 2012
Pictures: Snubbed by Emmy 2012
Pictures: 2012 Creative Arts Emmys red carpet
Emmy Awards 2012: List of nominees
Special Section: 2012 Emmy Awards

Other leading Emmy nominees include the British-born soap opera "Downton Abbey," which earned 16 bids, and two miniseries, "Hatfields & McCoys," with 16, and "Hemingway & Gellhorn" with 15.

During Saturday's creative arts segment, History's "Hatfields & McCoys" and HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" won three awards each.

We'll see a lot of the same nominees on Sunday. Creative arts Emmy winners "Game of Thrones" and "Boardwalk Empire" will compete in the best drama category on Sunday, along with "Mad Men," "Downton Abbey," "Homeland" and "Breaking Bad."

HBO's new comedy, "Girls," won the casting in a comedy series award over the weekend and will be in the running for the best comedy series honor at the prime-time event, competing against "The Big Bang Theory," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Modern Family," "30 Rock" and "Veep."

Two hours of highlights from the Creative Arts Emmys will air Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET on ReelzChannel.

The 64th annual prime-time Emmy Awards will be broadcast live the following night, starting with a one-hour red-carpet special at 7 p.m. on ABC.


Bill Clinton to hit campaign trail, fundraise for Obama - CBS News

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(CBS News) The Obama campaign tells CBS News that former President, Bill Clinton has agreed to campaign for President Barack Obama in the key battleground states of Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire. He's even agreed to do fundraisers in October.

It's something the Obama campaign needs and they were delighted, CBS News has learned.

Special section: Campaign 2012

The Obama campaign had talked about the idea of the former president campaigning, but it was President Obama who actually asked Clinton to his the campaign trail on his behalf.

CBS News has been told the two men hung out together backstage for quite a while after Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention last week and have put aside any reported differences for their mutual benefit.

Clinton is going to kick off a campaign event and introduce President Obama on Tuesday night in Miami then again Wednesday in Orlando.

Florida is the kind of swing state where Clinton's favorability rating, which is 69 percent, could help the president across the board, not only persuading reluctant white working class voters, but also energizing new voters and volunteers.

viernes, 14 de septiembre de 2012

Deal reached on restarting 9/11 museum build - CBS News

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(CBS News) NEW YORK - Tri-State Area officials announced an agreement Monday that will lead to the completion of the Sept. 11 museum.

Political squabbling had brought construction of the museum on the site of ground zero in Manhattan to a screeching halt. Now, digging will soon resume after N.J. Gov. Chris Christie, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hashed out their differences, reports CBS Station WCBS.

The fountains that flow in the footprints of the twin towers have drawn more than 4.6 million people in the year since they've been open. But the memorial was to also feature a museum honoring the attack's nearly 3,000 victims, originally promised by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to be opened in 2009. Then delays pushed it to today. But the doors remain closed.

"It's been frustrating and painful for victims' families," Monica Reedman, who lost her husband, Michael Iken in the attack, told CBS News.

Cuomo said the agreement between the Port Authority and the foundation that controls the National September 11 Memorial & Museum was reached late Monday.

"By ensuring that no additional public funds are spent to complete the Memorial and Museum, today's agreement puts in place a critical and long overdue safeguard to finally protect tollpayers and taxpayers from bearing further costs, and, at the same time, put the project on a path for completion," Cuomo said in a statement released Monday night.

The Port Authority owns the World Trade Center site. The museum was once scheduled to open this year. Work slowed late last year when subcontractors at the site stopped getting paid.

(To watch Jim Axelrod's "CBS This Morning" report click on the video player above.)

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Construction on the museum will begin at the end of the month, according to Mayor Bloomberg.

"Were going to build a museum that is really important to the families of the 9/11 victims and to all of those that contributed photos and mementos and trying to preserve the memories of those they loved that are no longer here," Bloomberg told reporters, including WCBS's Sean Hennessey.

Meanwhile, Tuesday's anniversary will mark the first time elected officials will not be included in the reading of the victims' names, but politicians are still invited to attend remembrance ceremonies.

"It's a very solemn day tomorrow, and the message I guess is your heart goes out to the families, but for those of us that didn't lose anybody, we've just got to make sure that we educate the next generation so this does not happen again," Mayor Bloomberg said.

Spokesmen for Cuomo and Christie said the governors were fine with the decision made by the memorial organizers to exclude politicians from Tuesday's ceremony.

Complete CBSNews.com coverage: 9/11
Feature: 9/11 in photos

The museum, built beneath the memorial's trees and reflecting pools, is nearly complete. The ornate entrance, and main exhibition halls are ready to go. But a funding dispute between the foundation and the Port Authority - the agency in charge of construction - has left the museum unfinished and at least a year away from opening, at best.

"It's about, do we have the money now to finish where we are, and do we have a plan in place to ensure that the museum can be sustainable financially going forward," said Scott Rechler, vice chairman of the Port Authority.

The annual cost of operating the memorial and museum is pegged at $60 million - that includes extra security and fountain maintenance. By comparison, the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor costs $3.4 million to run . . . Arlington National Cemetary, $45 million.

Two months ago, hundreds of victims' relatives wrote a letter to the Governors of New York and New Jersey (who jointly oversee the Port Authority), calling the halted work "a betrayal of those who died on 9/11."

Those words seem to have resonated. Late last night - at the 11th hour, so to speak - an agreement between New York's Mayor and the Governors of New York and New Jersey put an end to the stalemate, said Jim Axelrod.

(To watch Axelrod's "CBS This Morning" report click on the video player above.)

Bloomberg said there will still be fundraising to do and the project will take as long as necessary to complete.

"Our first concern is safety, our second concern is making sure we do it right so that this museum is the same quality as the memorial and will be around for many generations," Bloomberg said. "Our third concern is that we do it as affordably as possible and then and only then do we worry about a date."


Former CIA director on SEAL book: "We're not going to accept this kind of ... - CBS News

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(CBS News) Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is speaking out for the first time about the Navy SEAL who continues to make headlines with his revealing book about the night Osama bin Laden was killed.

Panetta spoke with "CBS This Morning" co-host, Norah O'Donnell, and while he maintained that Americans have a right to know details about the raid, he came out against the SEAL -- who goes by the pseudonym Mark Owen -- and his book.

"There's no question that the American people have a right to know about this operation," Panetta said. "But people who are a part of that operation, who commit themselves to the promise that they will not reveal the sensitive operations and not public anything ... when they fail to do that, we have got to make sure that they stand by the promise that they made to this country."

Panetta allowed that while much of Owen's account is sensitive but not necessarily classified information, he added that "there's always fine lines here, but we are currently reviewing what is classified and what isn't."

He also told O'Donnell that the book could compromise U.S. security, explaining, "It tells our enemies essentially how we operate and what we do to go after them and when you do that, you tip them off."

In addition, his account could put Owen himself at greater risk. "He was very much a part of the operation that got bin Laden," Panetta said. "There's no question that that should make him concerned, makes us concerned about his safety."

Norah O'Donnell mentioned that many other publications have published in-depth details about the raid, but Panetta insisted Owen's book is different.

"There's a fundamental difference ... the people that presented some of the details of the operation were authorized to do so by the president of the United States who has the authority to do that and informed the American people as to what happened. In this case, that was not the case."

Panetta stopped short of saying that Owen should definitely be prosecuted, but said "I think we have to make clear to him and to the American people that we're not going to accept this kind of behavior."

Panetta turned to touch on the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the lack of attention being paid to the conflict due to the presidential campaign.

"I'm concerned that not enough attention is being paid to the sacrifices being made," he said before adding, "there's a war going on."

He also told O'Donnell he thinks the U.S. is safer today than it has been in years.

"I know there's a political debate going on about that issue ... I think if you look at the facts, the fact that we were able to bring bin Laden to justice, the fact that we've decimated al Qaeda's leadership ... the fact that we got rid of Qaddafi in Libya ... I think the bottom line implication is that America is safer."

The defense secretary went on to say that he is confident we are taking the right steps to monitor Iran's potential nuclear capabilities. "We have pretty good intelligence on them, we keep a close track on them," Panetta said, "We think we've got the ability to be able to strike at them effectively if we have to ... whenever we have to, we have the forces in place."

He spoke with O'Donnell about his current role at the Pentagon and the potential defense sequestration budget cuts that may soon go into effect. He admitted that the Pentagon has not yet begun preparing the looming cuts, and added;

What's irresponsible is the fact that...they put these cuts into place and they are failing to come up with the answer as to how to prevent this from happening...They said 'Let's put a gun to our head and if we don't do the right thing, we'll blow our heads off.' Well, now they've cocked the gun. This thing's supposed to take effect in January, but the whole purpose of it was both Republicans and Democrats to do the right thing and to prevent this from happening. That's what irresponsible.

Mitt Romney lead hidden by doubly skewed New York Times/CBS News poll - Examiner.com

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Mitt Romney lead hidden by doubly skewed New York Times/CBS News poll - Arlington Conservative | Examiner.com Skip to main content Follow us Google+Follow @examinercom OnTopic custom content solutions Learn more about how Examiner.com can help your site. Examiner.com Log inSign up News & InfoBusinessIndustrySmall BusinessStock MarketPersonal FinancePoliticsPolicy & IssuesDemocratRepublicanNonpartisanGovernmentElectionsNewsTop NewsCrime & CourtsEnvironmentWeather & ClimateSportsNFLNBANHLMLBMiLBCollege SportsHigh School SportsSoccerFantasy SportsFight SportsScience & SpaceAstronomyVideoMore Mitt Romney lead hidden by doubly skewed New York Times/CBS News poll Mitt RomneySeptember 14, 2012By: Dean ChambersSubscribe  Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns at Van Dyck Park September 13, 2012 in Fairfax, Virginia. Romney and U.S. President Barack Obama are spending significant time competing in Virginia, one of the primary battleground states. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns at Van Dyck Park September 13, 2012 in Fairfax, Virginia. Romney and U.S. President Barack Obama are spending significant time competing in Virginia, one of the primary battleground states. Credits:  Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images Tweet 3Email Get Republican alerts! E-mail * do not change Contact Email Contact Email2 Contact Url Subscribe to Blog Remember my Info Related topicsMitt RomneyElections 2012Polls and SurveysPresidential Race Advertisement

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll of the presidential race released today is yet another doctored poll that shows President Obama leading when its data indicates a Mitt Romney lead. The survey of 1170 registered voters, polled between September 8-12, has Obama leading over Romney by a 49 percent to 46 percent margin. Unskewing the data indicates a Romney lead over Obama by 51 percent to 44 percent. By doubling skewing the sample, over-sampling Democrats and under-sampling independent voters, the survey reports the three percent Obama lead rather than a seven point Romney lead.

The New York Times/CBS News poll data on the percentages of Democrats, Republicans and independents that support Romney or Obama along with the over all results are used to calculate the partisan make up of the sample, since that information was not reported in the internals of the poll. That calculation, which is sufficiently accurate for the purpose of this analysis, show the survey sample included approximately 44 percent Democrats, 39 percent Republicans and 18 percent independent voters.

While the New York Times/CBS News poll reported Obama leading by a margin of 49 percent to 46 percent over Romney, the survey reported Democrats supporting Obama by a 93 percent to five percent ratio while Republicans supported Romney by a 90 percent to seven percent margin. Similar to most other such national polls of the presidential race, this one has independent voters going for Romney by a 51 percent to 40 percent margin.

The Rasmussen Reports partisan data measured from hundreds of thousands of voters by Rasmussen Reports, which measures the partisan percentages at 37.6 percent Republicans, 33.3 percent Democrats and 29.2 percent independents. The difference means the New York Times/CBS News poll over-sampled Democratic voters by seven percent and under-sampled independent voters by 11.2 percent.

When the data from the New York Times/CBS News poll is unskewed by weighting their reported percentages between Romney and Obama to the partisan affiliations showed by Rasmussen's extensive data results on that issue, the overall picture of Obama's approval to disapproval rating is different. With Republicans weighted 37.6 percent, Democrats at 33.3 percent and Independents at 29.2 percent, the results calculate to a Romney lead of 51 percent to 44 percent.

This survey is not the only such poll recently to be skewed by over-sampling Democrats to skew the results in favor of Barack Obama. Earlier this week, the latest CNN/ORC poll was similarly skewed. Last month on the Fox News segment “Campaign Insiders” today, Democratic pollsters Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen both confirmed their belief that major polls are skewed in favor of the Democrats by over-sampling of Democratic voters when the surveys are conducted.

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Suggested by the author: Barack Obama leads five percent in heavily skewed Democracy Corps pollBarack Obama lead manufactured by heavily skewed Reuters/Ipsos pollMitt Romney possible landslide indicated by polling data released todayMitt Romney lead in presidential race denied by skewed Fox News pollBarack Obama leads narrowly in skewed TIPP poll Tweet 3Email PrintReport Dean Chambers, Arlington Conservative Examiner

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CBS News' guide to understanding political polls - CBS News

(CBS News) As the 2012 presidential election season heads into its final weeks, expect to see plenty of polls on the state of the race. Here are some explanations, guidelines and information to help navigate the plethora of polls that will be released in the run-up to November 6.

Many of the polls conducted so far this year have been among registered voters. Those are simply people who are registered to vote in their state, regardless of party affiliation or their likelihood to vote in November.

Beginning generally in September, after the party conventions, polls will start to report the results of the race among likely voters. In some cases, "likely voters" refers to voters who tell the pollster they are "very" or "somewhat" likely to vote in an upcoming election, but many polls use a more complex process. CBS News, like many other pollsters, uses a statistical formula that incorporates responses from a variety of questions to identify who is likely to vote. When comparing results from different polls, it's important to note whether the results are reported among registered or likely voters.

Tracking polls are daily measures of public opinion and use a unique methodology that adds some new poll respondents and removes some respondents every day. By their nature, tracking poll results may fluctuate daily. Most tracking polls are conducted in the week or so prior to Election Day; the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll is a notable exception.

The order in which poll questions are asked can affect the responses to questions. Some polls ask the "horserace" question (which candidate the voter supports) at the beginning of the questionnaire, so the vote question isn't affected by other questions, while others ask it further into the questionnaire. This can sometimes be a reason why polls show different results.

The margin of error describes the sampling error in a poll. On a sample of 1,000 respondents, the margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points, which means that 95 percent of the time, the poll results fall within three points in either direction of the results that would be found if everyone in the population were interviewed for the poll. In election polling for two candidates, the margin of error applies to the percentage supporting each candidate in the race. In other words, if the margin of error is three points, then the difference between the candidates needs to be six points to be outside the margin of error.



Remains of Libya attack victims return home - CBS News

Updated at 4:09 p.m. ET

(CBS/AP) ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. - President Obama on Friday honored the four Americans killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, recalling their lives in deeply personal terms and declaring the United States will never pull back on its principles or "retreat from the world."

"Their sacrifice will never be forgotten," Mr. Obama said as four flag-draped cases rested near him. He had come to witness the return of those slain in the assault on the American diplomatic mission, including the U.S. ambassador, Christopher Stevens.

In the heat of a presidential election year, the scene was a gripping reminder of the danger facing Americans in diplomatic and military service every day, and of the turmoil in an incendiary region of the world that continues to test Mr. Obama's leadership.

Always in the background, campaign politics gave way to a sense of sheer loss. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's voice broke as she spoke before the president.

"Today we honor four Americans who gave their lives for our country and our values," Clinton said.

CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan reports Clinton's attendance was a very personal mission for the secretary because she's said she sent Stevens to Libya and knew it was a risky assignment. Clinton appeared to be fighting tears as she listened to the president.

"They knew the danger, and they accepted it," Mr. Obama said. "They didn't simply embrace the American ideal. They lived it."

In addition to Stevens, the ceremony also honored three other Americans killed in Benghazi — Sean Smith, an Air Force veteran who worked as an information management specialist for the State Department; Glen A. Doherty, a former Navy SEAL who worked for a private security firm and was protecting the consulate in Benghazi; and Tyrone S. Woods, also a former Navy SEAL who had served protective duty in various U.S. posts.

Said Mr. Obama of all four men: "They embodied it: the courage, the hope and yes the idealism, that fundamental belief that we can leave this world a little bit better than before. That's who they were, and that's who we are. If we want to truly honor their memory, that's who we must always be."

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CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports eight busloads of people from the State Department traveled to the ceremony.

The transfer of remains came three days after an attack on the consulate, one of a series of assaults on U.S. outposts in Muslim countries that U.S. officials blame on an anti-Muslim video made in the United States.

Clinton said the rage and violence aimed at American missions was prompted by "an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with." Amid the somber ceremony, anti-American protests raged across the Middle East and North Africa over the video. U.S. officials are investigating whether the assault in Benghazi was a coordinated terrorist attack that took advantage of just such a protest.

According to U.S. officials, the assault is looking less like a premeditated or pre-planned attack and more like one which took advantage of the demonstration outside the consulate, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports. It is still described as well-executed and well-armed. A radical Islamic group called Ansar al Sharia is still the leading suspect.

Two Navy ships off the coast of Libya armed with cruise missiles have not been given any mission for now other than to hold station and should not be taken as a sign that military action is imminent, Martin reports.

The president met privately with family members of the fallen before stepping into a cavernous hangar at this base he knows well, home to Air Force One. Emerging from a C-17 cargo plane, six Marines each carried the cases on top of stands before four waiting hearses, as a color guard led the somber procession.

Clinton and Mr. Obama both spoke of how the four men lived their lives — and how their mission would go on.

"This work, and the men and women who risk their lives to do it, are at the heart of what makes America great and good," Clinton said. "So we will wipe away our tears, stiffen our spines, and face the future undaunted."

Said Mr. Obama: "The United States of America will never retreat from the world. We will never stop working for the dignity and freedom that every person deserves."

Also attending the ceremony were Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Arizona Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and Mr. Obama's rival in the 2008 election.

The return of the remains comes as many questions remain unanswered about the attack. The State Department still isn't clear what happened to Stevens for a five-hour period after the attack, leaving diplomats at the time wondering whether he had gone into hiding or had been kidnapped, Brennan reports. They don't know how his body ended up in a Benghazi hospital or who took it there.

Broadly, the attack draws into question one of the success stories of the Obama administration on the foreign policy front, Brennan reports. Libya was viewed as a test of a strategy to achieve maximum impact through minimum military engagement.

"The Master" is an acting masterpiece, critics say - CBS News

By Lauren Moraski Topics Movies

(CBS News) One of the most highly-anticipated movies of the year, "The Master," opens today, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams.

Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson is behind the 1950s drama about a naval veteran who returns to a home that World War II unsettled and becomes influenced by a new faith-based organization.

Photos: Fall Film Preview 2012
Pictures: Toronto Film Festival 2012

"The Master" garnered a lot of buzz at this week's Toronto International Film Festival, and critics have given it largely favorable reviews; it has an 86 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Both Phoenix and Hoffman have received kudos for their acting with critic Alison Willmore of Movieline describing their roles as "career-highs."

Check out what else critics are saying below:

Anthony Lane of The New Yorker: "On reflection, and despite these cavils, we should bow to The Master, because it gives us so much to revere, starting with the image that opens the film and recurs right up to the end."

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone: "'The Master,' the sixth film from the 42-year-old writer-director, affirms his position as the foremost filmmaking talent of his generation. Anderson is a rock star, the artist who knows no limits. Fierce and ferociously funny, 'The Master' is a great movie, the best of the year so far, and a new American classic."

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter: "A bold, challenging, brilliantly acted drama that is a must for serious audiences."

Claudia Puig of USA Today: "As impeccably rendered as it is, 'The Master' is enthralling, ponderous and elusive in equal parts. Aiming for epic, it's undeniably thought-provoking, but too ambiguous to fully satisfy."

Kurt Loder of Reason.com: "For a movie with not a lot of plot, or much of a point, 'The Master' is nevertheless mesmerizing, especially in its first half. Its central pleasures are the all-stops-out performances of Philip Seymour Hoffman and, especially, Joaquin Phoenix--roaring back from a two-year layoff following the very strange mock doc 'I'm Still Here.' Even after the picture has drifted off into the land of whatever, Phoenix remains an electrifying presence."

Richard Corliss of TIME: "'The Master' is neither a masterpiece nor, exactly, a [L. Ron] Hubbard expose. It's an overlong (2 hr. 17 min.) study of a drifter in postwar America who joins the retinue of a charismatic spieler with similarities to Hubbard and to other high-octane peddlers of the good life. And while the movie (the first to be shot in 70 mm since Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet 16 years ago) is glorious to watch, it brings no coherence or insight to its two main characters: the wastrel Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) or the shaman-showman Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Tell us: Do you plan to go see "The Master"?


"The Voice": "Start Me Up" with round one of blind auditions - CBS News

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By Lauren Moraski Topics Television Terry McDermott peforms on "The Voice," Sept. 10, 2012.

(Credit: NBC) (CBS News) "The Voice" returned Monday night for a third season with the first round of blind auditions.

Coaches Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton fittingly kicked off the two-hour episode with a rendition of The Rolling Stone's "Start Me Up."

Pictures: Celebrity TV judges
Read more: "The Voice" returns with three-episode premiere

The reported feud between Aguilera and Levine appeared to have simmered - at least for the cameras.

"Christina without a doubt has one of the best voices of our generation," Levine said at the start of the show.

Soon, it was down to business, as the first round of contenders tried to win over the coaches and make it on to a team. Scottish rocker Terry McDermott, who now calls New Orleans home, got the night going with a cover of The Who's "Baba O'Reilly." He wound up impressing the panel, with Shelton calling him "a real rock and roll singer." He picked Shelton as his coach.

De'Borah took the stage next to perform Train's "Hey, Soul Sister." Both Green and Aguilera turned their chairs. She goes with Aguilera as coach.

Country music filled the stage with Gracia Harrison, who sang "I Wanna Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart." Levine was impressed. "By far, you are the best country singer we have ever heard on this show...by far," he said. But Harrison chose Shelton as her coach; Levine wasn't pleased.

Devyn DeLoera took on the Aguilera song, "Ain't No Other Man," prompting Shelton, Levine and even Aguilera to turn around. It was no surprise, though, when DeLoera chose Aguilera.

Bryan Keith, the son of Grammy-winning Latin artist Ray De La Paz of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, hit the stage next to perform Bruno Mars' "It Will Rain." Levin scored his first team member of the season with Keith. "Bryan Keith was the win of the day," Levine said. "Finally!"

The evening also featured a familiar face. Daniel Rosa auditioned last season and returned to perform Gotye's "Somebody I Used to Know." "Daniel is an amazing example of exactly what can happen when you don't give up," Aguilera said. Rosa chose Green's team.

Joe Kirkland, one-time backup singer for the pop-punk band Artist vs. Poet, sang The All American Rejects' "Gives You Hell" and became part of Levine's team.

The last performance of the night came from Trevin Hunte, who peformed Beyonce's "Listen." He chose team Cee Lo.

A few contestants failed to make it on to any team: Anita Antoinette, Garrett Gardner, and Jessica Sharpe, who got emotional after the rejection.

"The Voice" returns tonight at 8 p.m. ET with part two of blind auditions. The third episode airs Wednesday and will go up against Fox's "The X Factor."

Tell us: Who was your favorite performer on the season premiere of "The Voice"?


Former Navy SEAL Glen Doherty one of 4 Americans killed in attack on US ... - CBS News

(CBS/AP) BOSTON - A former Navy SEAL from a Boston suburb was one of four Americans who died in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya Wednesday.

Forty-two-year-old Glen Doherty was killed with U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi, a family friend told CBS Boston on Thursday.

"He was on security detail and he was protecting the ambassador and also helping the wounded"' when he was killed, his sister, Katie Quigly told the Boston Globe.

Doherty was a 1988 graduate of Winchester High School.

A third victim has been identified as Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith, an Air Force veteran who had worked as an information management officer for 10 years in posts such as Brussels, Baghdad and Pretoria.

The identity of the fourth American killed is still not known.

A closer look at U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens
New questions about makers of anti-Muslim film
Romney's Libya gibes aimed to show contrasts with Obama

The four Americans were killed when a group of U.S. employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff as the building came under attack by a mob wielding guns and rocket propelled grenades. Stevens is the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in an attack since 1979, when Ambassador Adolph Dubs was killed in Afghanistan.

On Thursday, a senior Libyan security official said the attack was an organized two-part operation by heavily armed militants that included a precisely timed raid on a supposedly secret safe house just as Libyan and U.S. security forces were arriving to rescue evacuated consulate staff. Wanis al-Sharef, eastern Libya's deputy interior minister, said Stevens and another American were killed in the consulate as plainclothes Libyan security were evacuating them to the safe house. The second assault targeted the safe house, killing two Americans and wounding nearly about 30 Libyans and Americans.

Meanwhile the Obama administration has begun what appears to be a terrorist hunt in Libya, as evidence mounts that the attack was perpetrated by well-armed thugs and not an out-of-control crowd.

CBS News correspondent David Martin reports the FBI has opened an investigation into the deaths, and agents will be sent to sift through the wreckage for evidence. They will be accompanied by a second team sent just for their protection.

As part of the hunt for the attackers, officials say the U.S. will increase its surveillance over Libya, including the use of unmanned drones. In addition, the U.S. Navy is positioning two destroyers armed with cruise missiles off the coast of Libya.

One destroyer, the USS Laboon, moved to a position off the coast Wednesday, and the USS McFaul is en route and should be stationed off the coast within days. Officials said the ships, which carry Tomahawk cruise missiles, do not have a specific mission. But they give commanders flexibility to respond to any mission ordered by the president.

The investigation will focus on whether the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya was a planned terrorist strike to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and not a spontaneous mob enraged over an anti-Islam YouTube video.

After the attack, an elite anti-terrorist unit of about 40 Marines was flown in to beef up security at the American embassy in the capital of Tripoli. Air Force transport planes flew the bodies of the dead Americans out, along with at least three who were injured and the rest of the approximately 25 diplomats assigned to the consulate. At the same time, the U.S. State Department urged all non-essential personnel to leave on commercial flights.

Three Americans injured in the assault on the consulate in Benghazi were being treated Thursday at the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, near America's Ramstein Air Base, CBS News has learned.

Wanis al-Sharef, a Libyan Interior Ministry official in Benghazi, said there had been threats that Islamic militants might try to take revenge for the death of al Qaeda's No. 2 commander Abu Yahya al-Libi, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in June, and he said the U.S. consulate should have been better protected.

Confirming al-Libi's death for the first time in a video posted online Monday, al Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahri called on Muslims in al-Libi's native Libya to take revenge for his death.

U.S. officials believe the militants were using the demonstration against the video as a cover to get into the consulate and then take as much revenge as they could on Americans, Martin reports.

While the White House has been hesitant to call the attack planned, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers was not so ambiguous.

"Absolutely it's a terrorist attack," Rogers told CBS News Capitol Hill producer Jill Jackson. "This was not done by the Libyan government. It was done by an external group we believe has at least extremist ties, maybe al Qaeda ties, and the style and the signature of the attack clearly would be something that we have seen before and would be in line with something al Qaeda would do."

Romney doubles down on WH criticism of attacks
Obama on Libya attack: "Justice will be done"
Libya doctor: U.S. ambassador died of asphyxia

The White House says President Obama called the presidents of Libya and Egypt Tuesday and urged them to continue working with the United States to ensure the safety of diplomatic personnel.

Mr. Obama thanked Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf for his condolences over the deaths of Stevens and the three other State Department officers. The White House says the two leaders agreed to work together to bring the attackers to justice.

During a second call, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi promised Egypt "would honor its obligation to ensure the safety of American personnel," the White House said.

Mr. Obama told Morsi that while "he rejects efforts to denigrate Islam ... there is never any justification for violence against innocents."



Defending him on teacher's strike, Ryan pits Emanuel against Obama - CBS News

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By Lucy Madison Topics Domestic Issues ,Campaign 2012 Paul Ryan

(Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (CBS News) The two may agree on little else in the political realm, but vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on Monday threw his support to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel over his battle with the Chicago teacher's union, simultaneously using the opportunity to draw a line between President Obama and his former chief of staff over a contentious policy issue.

Emanuel, President Obama's chief of staff from 2009-2010, is locked in a bitter struggle with Chicago's powerful union over negotiations surrounding a new contract, and Tuesday marks the second day of strikes by approximately 26,000 teachers.

According to the Associated Press, about 11,000 students attended 144 schools kept open by the district, and approximately 7,000 more participated in activities at places like churches and libraries.

At a fundraiser in Portland, Oregon Monday night, Ryan called the strike "unnecessary and wrong" and said that he would "stand" with the outspoken Democratic mayor.

"I've known Rahm Emanuel for years," Ryan said. "He's a former colleague of mine. Rahm and I have not agreed on every issue or on a lot of issues, but Mayor Emanuel is right today in saying that this teacher's union strike is unnecessary and wrong. We know that Rahm is not going to support our campaign, but on this issue and this day we stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel."

Among the concessions Emanuel is demanding from the union, according to the New York Times, are tenure evaluations based on student test performance and the annulment of a promise for a 4 percent raise. Teachers, meanwhile, are pushing for provisions to reinstate teachers who work in schools that have been shut down.

"We stand with the children and we stand with the families and the parents of Chicago because education reform, that's a bipartisan issue," said Ryan. "This does not have to divide the two parties."

Despite his rhetoric, Ryan quickly pivoted to attacks on Mr. Obama, whom he accused of being "ambiguous," and whom Ryan suggested sides with "the union" over "children and parents."

"Where does President Obama stand?" Ryan asked. "Does he stand with his former Chief of Staff Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with the children and the parents, or does he stand with the union? On issues like this, we need to speak out and be really clear. In a Romney-Ryan administration we will not be ambiguous, we will stand with education reform, we will champion bipartisan education reforms."

He added: "This is a critical lynchpin to the future of our country, to our economy, to make sure that our children go to the best possible school, and that education reforms revolve around the parents and the child, not the special interest group. This is something that's critical for all of us."

Mr. Obama has not directly addressed the Chicago strike, but he has both supported unions in the past and supported policies that upset them. On Monday, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt mocked Romney's newfound status as Chicago's "biggest cheerleader after attacking it for the past year" and for "apparently believ[ing] that fewer teachers and larger classrooms is the solution to education challenges."

Still, the strike poses a political conundrum for the president just weeks before a presidential election in which it will rely heavily on the financial and organizing support o the union.

On Monday, Romney accused the president of siding with teachers who were turning their backs on students, a comment Emanuel quickly wrote off as "lip service."


CBS News to Air '60 Minutes' Sports Program on Showtime - Bloomberg

CBS Corp. (CBS) said its network news division is creating a sports program modeled after its “60 Minutes” news magazine that will air on the company’s Showtime premium cable channel.

“60 Minutes of Sports” will begin in November and air monthly, New York-based CBS said today in a statement.

Showtime is adding sports programming as the network draws more subscribers for original series, including “Homeland” and “Episodes,” than its selection of movies. Since 2009, when the network’s biggest suppliers of films began their own channel, Showtime’s subscribers have risen 30 percent to 21.6 million, according to researcher SNL Kagan.

The sports magazine show will feature two original segments and one updated “60 Minutes” classic sports story from the news magazine’s archive, CBS said. Each broadcast will also contain a studio interview.

The show will use “60 Minutes” reporting and on-air personalities, while adding a dedicated group of producers to prepare stories, CBS said. The sports program’s executive producers will be CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager and Bill Owens, the executive editor of “60 Minutes.”

Showtime already carries sports shows on NFL football, Nascar racing and live boxing and mixed-martial arts bouts. Viacom Inc. (VIAB), Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (LGF) and Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer Inc., which had provided films to Showtime, debuted movie channel Epix in 2009.

CBS, controlled by Chairman Sumner Redstone, gained 2.3 percent to $36.99 at 2:46 p.m. in New York trading. The shares had climbed 33 percent this year through yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net

Obama opens lead, but both camps see tight race - CBS News

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This article originally appeared on RealClearPolitics.

(CBS News) As the post-convention smoke began to clear over the weekend, a handful of polls released Monday showed that President Obama has taken a small lead over Mitt Romney.

Gallup and Rasmussen daily tracking polls each showed the incumbent with a five-point advantage over his Republican challenger, and a CNN/Opinion research survey had Obama ahead by a similar margin of 6 percent. (An automated Investor's Business Daily/Christian Science Monitor survey had Obama leading Romney by a smaller margin of 2 percent and a new Washington Post/ABC poll gives Mr. Obama a 1-point lead among likely voters, which is virtually unchanged since before the election.)

With the media narrative gelling around the notion that the Democratic National Convention provided a significant boost to Obama's re-election hopes, the Romney campaign on Monday pushed back forcefully. Political Director Rich Beeson said the echo chamber was the same one that perpetuated a series of off-the-mark assumptions during the GOP primaries. Beeson pointed to three states that the president won easily in 2008 but where polls continue to show a tossup, suggesting that the Obama campaign's rosy assessment of the electoral map did not jibe with reality.

"They do this smoke screen all the time of talking about states that are out of reach," he said. "The fact of the matter is that they're nervous as a long-tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs over Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire. And they know if they're losing states like that, they're going to be losing in a lot of other places, so that's why they've built this Maginot Line around Iowa, because if the magic is gone in Iowa, it's gone all over the place."

Romney pollster Neil Newhouse released a memorandum warning reporters not to get "too worked up about the latest polling" and arguing that the "basic structure of the race has not changed significantly."

Newhouse cited the underlying weak economy, Romney's financial advantage, and several other key factors to suggest that reporters and commentators were guilty of wrong-headed groupthink that has solidified inside the Washington bubble.

"The stakes are very high in this election, and voters understand the future of our country is on the line," Newhouse wrote. "This may be lost on those living within the hyper-political world in and around the Beltway, but it is not lost in communities in battleground states."

Obama campaign officials were heartened by the response to their convention in Charlotte last week and were particularly buoyed by the well-received speeches that Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton delivered on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

But while the president's re-election campaign says it has a "small but important lead" in key states, they agree that their current advantage could be fleeting.

"It's more in the media than among our supporter base," a senior Obama adviser said of the perception that the president has opened up a sizable lead. "I think our supporters have seen how difficult the past few years have been, and they're not going to take a week of particularly good coverage and sit this thing out. Everybody understands this is going to be close."

Obama's post-convention bump of about four points in most polls is only a mediocre lift compared to recent presidential cycles, and it mirrors the boost he received after his 2008 convention in Denver.

But in a tight general election race that for months has largely been static, movement in the polls this late in the game is indeed noteworthy.

And for the first time since April, the president's campaign and the Democratic National Committee narrowly outraised their Republican counterparts last month, a surprising fundraising victory that might keep the Romney camp's overall financial advantage in check.

Still, Romney aides noted that the Obama camp did not release its updated cash-on-hand total, suggesting that the Democrats' burn rate remained far higher than theirs.

The Republican standard-bearer and his super PAC allies are expected to outspend their Democratic opponents by a significant margin during the election's final eight weeks.

That post-convention dash began over the weekend when Romney unveiled a revised version of his stump speech, which focused less exclusively on the economy and included several notable lines about God as well as a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

"For me, the Pledge of Allegiance and placing our hand over our heart reminds us of the blood that was shed by our sons and daughters fighting for our liberty and sharing liberty with people around the world," Romney said Saturday in Virginia Beach, Va. "The pledge says 'under God.' I will not take God out of the name of our platform. I will not take God off our coins, and I will not take God out of my heart. We're a nation that's bestowed by God."

The Republican's invoking of the Creator in "our platform" was a reference to the Democratic convention's removal of the word God from its party platform -- a move that the president successfully fought to reverse.

Romney's remark drew derision from the Obama campaign, which noted that the president has never suggested that "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency. The issue became a major headline in weekend news reports, adding to the perception that the Republican was changing his strategy of focusing almost exclusively on the economy.

One senior Romney adviser said that the candidate himself had decided to insert the new remarks into the stump speech and did not know whether the passage would remain a part of it.

"He's the one who decides what he's going to say, so I don't know," the adviser said.

With the conventions behind them, the candidates' next opportunity to alter significantly the race's trajectory may not come until they square off in the first of three presidential debates at the University of Denver on Oct. 3.

While the president and his allies were rallying Democrats in Charlotte last week, Romney was holed up in Vermont, where he studied up with senior aides and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who has been playing the role of the president in mock debates.

In a clear sign of the extent to which the Romney camp sees the debates as an opportunity to regain momentum, the Republican spent four days over the past week engaged in these formalized debate practice sessions.

An Obama adviser said that the president will do "some" debate preparation over the next few weeks and sought to raise expectations for Romney's performance by noting that the former Massachusetts governor has had, by virtue of the Republican primary campaign, far more recent practice than the president has.

"We've just got to build it into the schedule," the Obama adviser said of the president's preparation. "The fact is Romney's ready for these since he did 30 of them in the last year, and he's obviously dedicating a lot of time to it. They're obviously hinging a lot of their hopes on a good performance."

More from RealClearPolitics:

A Tale of Two Conventions

Scott Conroy Scott Conroy is a National Political Reporter for RealClearPolitics and a contributor for CBS News.

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martes, 11 de septiembre de 2012

"Bachelor Pad" finale: A night of surprises - CBS News

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By Lauren Moraski Topics Television "Bachelor Pad" 2012

(Credit: ABC) (CBS News) A drama-filled "Bachelor Pad" finale episode ended with a few surprises on Monday night.

Host Chris Harrison called it the "most shocking and most disturbing 'Bachelor Pad' finale."

(Spoiler alert)

The ABC show isn't a matchmaking series, but love was definitely in the air this season, culminating with a proposal on Monday. Tony Pieper asked fellow contestant Blakeley Jones to marry him.

"You're kidding me," Jones responded. "Oh my God! Are you serious? Absolutely!"

"Bachelor Pad," though, centers on a $250,000 grand prize awarded to a winning couple, which came down to Rachel Trueheart and her partner Nick Peters, and Chris Bukowski and Sarah Newlon.

Trueheart and Peters snagged the most votes from the season's eliminated housemates. It was up to the pair to decide how the jackpot would be distributed. Were they going to share the cash, or try to keep it?

If both winners voted "share," they split the money among the housemates. But if one voted "keep," then the other (and everyone else) would leave the series empty-handed.

In this case, Peters opted to go solo, and Truehart chose to share the winnings, which meant Peters will keep the $250,000 all for himself. It was a big shocker and also the first time in the show's three-season history that one person walked away with the full prize.

Not thrilled with Peters' choice, a shocked Trueheart said, "You are disgusting," before launching a few obscenities at her partner.

Tell us: What did you think about the "Bachelor Pad" finale?


 

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