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Plane Ordered Back to Philadelphia; Jobs Data Jolts Dow; Dow Up Triple Digits In Early Trading; Clinton Dazzles, Energizes Democrats; Obama Headlines DNC's Final Night; NBC Special Correspondent Tom Brokaw Taken To Hospital; Biden's Gaffes Star Of New GOP Ad; Clinton Delivers for DNC; Dow Up 200 Plus in Morning Trading; Why the Youth Vote Matters

Aired September 06, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now, a suspect now in custody after a U.S. Airways jet returns to the Philadelphia Airport. According to our affiliate, WPVI, the suspect has just been placed under arrest.

That flight, U.S. Airways Flight 1267, it was on its way to Dallas when a threat was called in just after 7:00 Eastern Time this morning. Now, the threat mentioned a passenger was carrying some sort of explosive liquid.

The TSA and FBR are still going through the plane right now. Tom Fuentes is a former FBI assistant director and a CNN contributor. Tom joins us on the phone. Hi, Tom.

TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (via telephone): Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: Are you surprised they made an arrest this fast?

FUENTES: Well, I think technically they made an arrest the second they got on the plane, had the person's name. He was in fact on that flight. He's no longer free to go so technically he's going to be in custody and that's technically an arrest.

Now whether they end up placing charges against him and charging him with some type of an act of terrorism or carrying a weapon or explosive on the plane is a different matter. But they received the phone call.

The authorities received a phone call. They were given the name of someone and told that this person is carrying a dangerous liquid on the plane. The plane was sent back. That person was, in fact, on the plane.

That's clear and now he's been taken in. So technically he's arrested, but we don't know for sure where this will go. Many times people call in phony threats or they call in information to the FBI or the police and say, I know this guy.

He's doing this, he's doing that and it ends up it's somebody mad at their husband or boyfriend or boss or some other personal reason to get that person into trouble. And that's always the possibility.

COSTELLO: Still, Tom, I just want to tell people what we're looking at. This is a bus full of passengers, the passengers finally taken off that plane. When the plane landed again in Philadelphia, 69 passengers on board the plane, everybody knew there was something going on and then FBI agents went aboard the plane.

TSA agents went aboard the plane, started searching and questioning people. But after the fact, if I'm a passenger and I found out it was a threat of an explosive liquid on board the plane. I would have wanted to be allowed to get off that plane right away.

FUENTES: Well, I think the fact that it's not likely the passengers are going to start running down the tarmac to escape. I think in this case, they'll get them into a more comfortable environment, backs to the airport.

Get them where they can be separated for questioning to see what they observed and particularly with regard to this individual passenger who's been accused or has been arrested, what was he doing? What did he act like before the flight took off?

What did he do during the flight? Did he talk to anybody else on the plane? Did he get up and go to the washroom or put something or take something out of the overhead bin or under the seat.

So they'll want to talk to the passengers and get an idea of what they saw. They're not going to do that on the airplane when they're all -- hostage takers keep people on the airplane. Normally they get them off.

COSTELLO: I'm saying that the passengers were kept on board that plane for a while before they were taken off.

FUENTES: Well, I'm not sure how long that was, but you're right. They shouldn't have been on there that long. But I think probably it might have been how long it took the arrangements to be made to get them to a better place, to be talked to.

COSTELLO: OK, Tom Fuentes, thank you so much for clarifying things. We appreciate it.

Again, that U.S. Airways flight in Philadelphia, the passengers being taken off the plane and an arrest has been made, but we don't know if the threat of some sort of explosive liquid was real. We'll keep you posted.

We're also following another breaking news story this hour. Journalist and author, Tom Brokaw, has been rushed to the hospital in Charlotte near the Democratic Convention Center.

An NBC spokesperson says the retired news anchor felt lightheaded while on the set of "Morning Joe" this morning. He was taken to the hospital out of caution. He's going to be evaluated. Brokaw is 72 years old.

Also happening now, the markets reacting well to the new job numbers, already the Dow was up triple digits this morning. Alison Kosik is live at the New York Stock Exchange to put this all into context. Wow, still rising?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, still rising. The Dow is up 183 points. We're about a half hour into the trading day. Yes, those new numbers, Carol, showing a brighter picture on the jobs front.

First of all, payroll process or ADP coming out with its numbers showing that private employers last month added 201,000 positions that surpasses expectations.

Also a second report, weekly jobless claims, they fell more than expected. Fewer people filing for those initial claims, falling to a level of 365,000.

Now to put in it perspective here, that level is still high. There are a lot of people out of work, a lot of people still losing their jobs. So it's stuck in a tight range.

You want to see that number keep dropping as opposed to keep hovering the way it has over the last six weeks, but still this ADP number showing that the private sector added this many jobs.

It really gives high hopes for tomorrow's big government jobs report, which happens to be the third to the last jobs report we are going to get before the election.

One other thing boosting the market, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, he is kind of the equivalent of our Fed Chief Ben Bernanke, he announced an unlimited bond buying program.

What that essentially is going to do is look to mop up all the bad debt in Italy and Spain. Those countries have been struggling with unsustainable borrowing cost.

So this, of course, giving a boost to the market because it is certainly a concrete step to try to get a handle on the debt situation in Europe -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Alison Kosik reporting live from the New York Stock Exchange.

Now let's head to Charlotte. The Democratic National Convention is counting down to tonight's big finale. But an elder superstar of the party may have stolen the show.

Bill Clinton made history night as soon as he stepped into -- stepped on stage. It's the first time a former president formally nominated his successor.

Over the course of 48 minutes, Clinton praised President Obama. He mocked Republicans. He electrified the crowd. Keep in mind, Clinton adlibbed nearly half his speech. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: In Tampa, the Republican argument against the president re-election was actually pretty simple, pretty snappy. It went something like this -- we left him a total mess.

He hadn't cleaned it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in. But it could have been because as the Senate Republican leader said in a remarkable moment of candor, two full years before the election, their number one priority was not to put America back to work.

It was to put the president out of work. President Obama started with a much weaker economy than I did. Listen to me now. No president, no president, not me, not my of any predecessors, no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just four years.

We could have done better, but last year the Republicans blocked the president's job plan costing the economy more than a million new jobs. So here's another job score, President Obama plus 4.5 million, congressional Republicans zero.

But I am telling you, the claim that President Obama weakened welfare reform work requirement is just not true. But they keep on running ads claiming it. Do you want to know why?

Their campaign pollster said, we are not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers. Now, finally I can say, that is true. I couldn't have said it better myself. People ask me all the time how we got four surplus budgets in a row.

What new ideas do we bring to Washington? I always give a one- word answer -- arithmetic. It's arithmetic. We simply cannot afford to give the reins of government to someone who will double down on trickle-down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So tonight, President Obama has a tough act to follow. Just about 12 hours from now, he'll deliver his acceptance speech and try to convince voters that he deserves another four years in the White House.

Keep in mind, Obama is considered one of the most gifted speakers of his political generation. But he has a far different style than Bill Clinton.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is at the DNC in Charlotte. She joins us live. What can we expect tonight, Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Carol, it's really interesting because I had a chance to be on the convention floor when Clinton actually delivered that had 48-minute address. He did a lot of adlibbing, but he did not go rogue. That was some of the things that -- some of the people I talked are a little concerned about.

But one of the moments really that captured that room and that audience was at the very end when you saw President Obama come out and former President Clinton bowing to him and the two men actually embracing.

You really got the sense it was the passing of the torch. But as you mentioned, Carol, he really set the bar high here, a lot of big grand expectations for this president. I want you to take a listen to what we expect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): Barack Obama's stirring oratory drove his ascent to the presidency.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is the United States of America.

MALVEAUX: He's made a sport out of outtalking his adversaries.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: John McCain likes to say that he'll follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell. But he won't follow him to the cave where he lives.

MALVEAUX: But in Charlotte, he faces perhaps his biggest challenger yet, can Barack Obama top Barack Obama?

PROFESSOR THOMAS BASILE, POLITICAL SPEECHWRITER: The expectations game definitely works against the president. It is a speech that is going to be compared to the '08 speech.

MALVEAUX: Obama comes from a long line of Democratic Party presidential candidates who faced similar speaking challenges. Recall how Bill Clinton's snoozer of a keynote speech in 1998 --

CLINTON: In closing --

MALVEAUX: Became history when it was replaced by his rousing 1992 nomination speech.

CLINTON: I have news for the forces of greed, your time has come and gone.

MALVEAUX: It's up to Obama to live up to Clinton's successful second convention speech.

CLINTON: Tonight, let us resolve to build that bridge to the 21st Century, to meet our challenges and protect our values.

PROF. COSTAS PANAGOPOULOS, POLITICAL SCIENCE, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: The president has to make a case for his own re-election and to remind voters why he elected them in the first place.

And what are the choices he's made that have been helpful and successful despite the fact that there may have been some things that the president did not achieve?

MALVEAUX: That means Obama's convention speech needs to be more Clinton than Carter.

JIMMY CARTER: As I've said many times before, we could have an American president who does not govern with negativism and fear, but the future.

BASILE: He's giving a speech in an environment where most people believe the economy is not improving. So he's got to find the silver lining in all of this and try and convince people that it's enough to give him that second term.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: My father was a foreign student.

MALVEAUX: This time, no falling back on the compelling personal story candidates often use to sell themselves to voters. And he'll no longer be making a presidential first as an African-American. So instead of hearing a lot of this --

PRESIDENT OBAMA: The change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.

MALVEAUX: Expect a lot of this --

PRESIDENT OBAMA: You need somebody who's going to wake up every single day and fight for American jobs and investment here in the United States. That's what you need. That's why I'm running.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Carol, talking to delegates after the speech that President Clinton gave, there were more than a couple of people who said they had hoped and wished that Clinton could run again because they would support and vote for him.

But President Obama really needs to convince people that the last four years is something that was worth the investment. That he needs more time, another four years, to complete the job.

We've heard the president say over the past couple of weeks that he does give himself an incomplete. And that really is part of the case that they are making here, that they were left with such a mess, an economic mess.

President Clinton also making this point last night, that they need more time, essentially, to get this done. We'll see if in fact this really generates the kind of support and the enthusiasm to get people to the polls -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Suzanne Malveaux reporting live for us from Charlotte. Thanks, Suzanne. We have an update on Tom Brokaw. Remember, we told you he was rushed to the hospital in Charlotte after an appearance on "Morning Joe." Well, he just tweet this out.

He said, all is well, early a.m., I mistakenly took a half dose of Ambien and made less sense than usual, made a better comeback than the giants.

So he's saying he is OK, but you knew something was up during his appearance on "Morning Joe." Let's take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BROKAW, RETIRED NBC NEWS ANCHOR: Their glass is not exactly clear in terms of where you walk and where you sit next. So the former secretary of the treasury -- stepped confidently into the party room and deeply into the pool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which proves he no longer walks on water?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a lot more exciting than the Republican convention, but the best part of the story is --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So you could see clearly there was something wrong. Of course, the folks over at MSNBC said, maybe something is wrong and they rushed -- they made Tom Brokaw go to the hospital. He's OK, though. It was the after effects of Ambien.

Those after effects can last pretty long for some people. So we're glad Tom Brokaw is A-OK this morning.

What does Joe Biden need to say tonight to help his party? We'll find out after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Before President Obama takes the stage, we're going to hear from Vice President Joe Biden. The vice president's has, as you know, countless slips of the tongue, so much so that a new GOP "Super PAC" video from American Future Fund edited some of those gaffes together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Where's it written we cannot lead the world in the 20th Century in making automobiles? Stand up. Let's see you. God love you. What am I talking about? Three-letter word, jobs, j-o-b-s, jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Tonight, Biden no doubt will be carefully watched by comedians looking for new material, but what are we really in for? Eric Bates joins me now from the Time Warner Center in New York. He is the executive editor of "Rolling Stone" magazine. Good morning.

ERIC BATES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, "ROLLING STONE": Good morning.

COSTELLO: So I just interviewed a Republican congressman who called Joe Biden essentially a clown and they can't wait until he debates Paul Ryan.

BATES: Yes, I saw that interview. It made me laugh because I think you can say a lot of things about Joe Biden, but you shouldn't underestimate him. He is a guy who has a lot of experience. He is a guy who knows how to step up and give a speech.

And he is a guy who knows how to debate. So I don't think it's going to be -- people are watching the undercard in this debate very carefully because of Paul Ryan.

But I think it's going to be tough for him to match up with Joe Biden because Joe Biden has been there for a long, long time.

COSTELLO: It's interesting that Republicans are painting Joe Biden the same way Democrats painted Sarah Palin in 2008.

BATES: That's right and they really couldn't be more different. I mean, Joe Biden is a guy who has been in Washington for a long time, has served in a lot of positions. But more importantly, he's been in the White House for four years.

And he's been in the oval office next in President Obama during pretty much all of the major decisions that this administration has made and has been an integral part of this administration. So he knows what's been going on from the inside out.

COSTELLO: But still, public perception is a real problem for the vice president. A recent Pew survey found more people had negative words in mind than positive ones when asked to describe Joe Biden.

Here are some of the top words on the list, idiot, incompetent, clown and stupid. Certainly that's a little bit of a liability for President Obama.

BATES: Well, in some ways, I think Joe Biden is gaffe-proof. I mean, people don't think what he says or gaffes. People think what he says is just Joe Biden. That's who the guy is.

It's part of his appeal and is part of what makes him a bit of an albatross for the administration. But when he puts his foot in his mouth, I think people have a tendency -- it does make him seem buffoonish.

But when you look at the positive words that people use for him, I think the top two are good and honest. And part of his appeal is people feel like he just speaks his mind and sometimes what's on his mind comes out a little nutty. COSTELLO: So do you think he'll veer off script tonight?

BATES: No. He'll be totally on script tonight. I think what we've seen is Michelle Obama came forward and presented Barack Obama the man. Bill Clinton came forward and presented Barack Obama, the values, the principles, the policy.

Biden is in a position to give us Barack Obama, the leader. As I said before, he's been there with him in the decisions about the stimulus, health care, Bin Laden. And can really give us a view of how Barack Obama has been commander in chief over the past four years.

COSTELLO: Eric Bates from "Rolling Stone" magazine, thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

BATES: Good to be here.

COSTELLO: CNN's primetime coverage of the Democratic National Convention continues, 7:00 p.m. Eastern with Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper.

We've heard a lot this week about the president being cool under pressure. But a new book reveals Mr. Obama lost his cool during a showdown with Republicans over the federal debt ceiling.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: More on that breaking news about that U.S. Airways jet that had to turn around on its way to Dallas and go back to Philadelphia International Airport because somebody on board the plane had called in a threat, a threat that there was some sort of explosive liquid on board.

We do know that authorities have arrested one person. Susan Candiotti is live in New York. Susan, you have more information about how this threat was called in. Tell us.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, well, what happened is either a phone call came in to the Philadelphia Police Department or I'm told by the FBI there may have been a Facebook posting involved in all of this.

With someone claiming that a passenger on board that U.S. Air flight had explosives. Now according to the FBI, for all intents and purposes, it appears that this was a hoax. But nevertheless, obviously they didn't take any chances.

The plane was turned around, landed safely at Philadelphia's Airport. Eventually all the passengers were taken off the plane, into a secure area and stayed there while one passenger was taken into custody.

Apparently, this is the person, according to the FBI, that someone said had the explosives. No explosives were found. The plane has been cleared. Again this one passenger is in custody.

We're not aware of any charges being filed at this time or whether the person is even under arrest, as they continue to dig into this. Because if in fact, someone was claiming, according to authorities that this passenger had explosives, it wouldn't have been the person themselves.

So where did this originate? Who made that original phone call or Facebook posting? There will be a press conference very soon at the airport where we hope to learn more details about this from the FBI, from the Department of Homeland Security and from Philadelphia police -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Fascinating. Susan Candiotti, thanks so much. Great information there.

Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, will Bill Clinton's magic put President Obama back in the White House?

It was classic Bill Clinton. Charm them, cajole them, dazzle them, with a few whopping factoids, or not, depending on your perspective. But most of all, some analysts say Bill Clinton got it done, that is persuade undecided voters to re-elect President Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: In Tampa, the Republican argument against the president re-election was actually pretty simple, pretty snappy. It went something like this -- we left him a total mess. He hadn't cleaned it up fast enough so fire him and put us back in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Many analysts say President Clinton made the case for President Obama better and more clearly than Mr. Obama has. For example, that question, are you better off today? Clinton said, heck, yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: When President Barack Obama took office, the economy was in free fall. It had just shrunk 9 percent of GDP. We were losing 750,000 jobs a month. Are we doing better than that today? The answer is yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN contributor and Republican Alex Castellano said, shut the front door, Bill Clinton probably just got Obama re-elected. Never mind the two men aren't exactly friends. Hillary anyone, but last night, all appeared to be forgiven.

That hug between the cool Obama and the cuddly Clinton seemed heartfelt. The talk back question for you this morning, will Bill Clinton's magic put President Obama back in the White House? Facebook.com/carolcnn. Your comments later this hour.

As I said, Clinton dazzled the Democrats last night. Everyone is talking about it. So why are they saying this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Tonight when everybody leaves, lock the door. You don't have to come back tomorrow. This convention is done. This will be the moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Thirty-two minutes past the hour. Welcome to NEWSROOM. I'm Carol Costello.

Checking our "Top Stories" now, cases of West Nile virus up 25 percent over the past week. Officials say they expected -- they expected the numbers to rise even more -- or will expect the numbers to rise over the next several weeks, the number of cases in the highest in the U.S. since 1999.

A judge could reportedly order the forced beard shaving of Colonel Nadal Hassan today. Hassan is charged with the attack on Fort Hood in 2009. He's been in contempt of court for not shaving. Beards are against Army regulations and soldiers can be shaved against their will.

Investigators searching for answers in a very bizarre and very scary bank robbery in California. Police say two men kidnapped a woman who worked at the bank and strapped what looked like a bomb to her body and then forced her to rob the bank. The bomb turned out to be fake but the two men managed to make off with a, quote, "substantial amount of cash". They remain at large.

President Bill Clinton delivered last night for his party when he formally -- when he formally nominated President Obama for re- election. There was some anxiety because the campaign didn't have a copy of his speech before he delivered it. But Clinton rallied the caucus in a way that only Bill Clinton can.

So much so, Republican consultant and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos praised Clinton's appearance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Tonight, when everybody leaves, lock the door. You don't have to come back tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

CASTELLANOS: This convention is done. This will be the moment that probably re-elected Barack Obama. Bill Clinton saved the Democratic Party once. It was going too far left. He came in the new Democrats took it to the center. He did it again tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Alex is in Charlotte. He joins us now. Hi, Alex.

CASTELLANOS: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: Ok so you had a whole night to sleep on it. Do you still feel the same today?

CASTELLANOS: Yes, I do. I thought that was a tremendous speech. It was like watching a Major League pitcher throw strikes effortlessly from center field. I mean Bill Clinton is an old pro.

But more importantly, he achieved a political objective. Bill Clinton did save the Democratic Party once. Remember, the Democratic Party, big spenders. They weren't trusted with the -- America's checkbook. Bill Clinton said, "It's the economy, stupid." And he moved the Democratic Party back to the middle.

Barack Obama, that's what a new Democrat is. He said, the era of big government is over. Barack Obama moved it back left. Spend, spend, spend is what America has seen from President Obama. Bill Clinton brought them back last night, said, remember that this is a party of economic responsibility. He talked about that. Now, that's very different than Obama's record.

COSTELLO: Right, I was just going to say that. Come on, there's still a huge debt.

CASTELLANOS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And Barack Obama is not Bill Clinton.

CASTELLANOS: There's a huge gap. He is not.

COSTELLO: So I mean, four days from now, will people really remember Bill Clinton's speech?

CASTELLANOS: I think it's -- I think it's a powerful moment. Campaign stories and campaigns are told in moments. And this was one that I think will travel. Guys are talking about this on sports radio. "Did you see Bubba last night?" I got a text from a -- from a woman I know who said, "I want to sleep with him and vote for him."

So I think it's a pretty powerful moment. But Barack Obama has to catch the ball that Bill Clinton threw last night. He has to get on there tonight and say, "Yes, economic responsibility is important. Here's what we're going to do." He needs to put something on the table. Bowles/Simpson, something. Bill Clinton has set him up.

But ultimately, I think you're right, Barack Obama has to carry the ball across the line himself.

COSTELLO: And you know Barack Obama is a great speaker. But in a far different way than Bill Clinton. He was going to give his speech in that big football arena which is perfect for Barack Obama. Now he's moved indoors where he's not quite as effective. Because Bill Clinton showed so much charisma last night, is it possible that Barack Obama can make people kind of forget last night happened?

CASTELLANOS: You know, it's going to be a tough speech for him to give. In a way, it's like Michelle Obama and Ann Romney. Michelle Obama had a tougher job because she was telling us about somebody we already know and know well. There was a lot of paint on that canvas already. Ann Romney was telling us about someone that we didn't know well. So she had a fresh canvas to work with.

Tonight, we know Barack Obama. We know he gives great speeches. That's not what we need from him tonight. If he just does the same thing he always does, people stay where they already are. What does he have to do? This speech will actually be judged on substance. He has to say, look, we're going to take the country in a different direction. 70 percent of Americans think this country's on the wrong track. Let me tell you what's going to be different the next four years.

I think that boils down to economic responsibility.

COSTELLO: Alex Castellanos, thank you so much for being with us. Because I know you had a long night last night.

CASTELLANOS: All night, a good one.

COSTELLO: Thanks Alex. A good one, yes. Thank you, Alex.

CNN's primetime coverage of the Democratic National Convention continues at 7:00 p.m. Eastern with Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper.

I am sure you've been wondering what's up with Tom Cruise lately. Well, he's not doing a good job of staying under the radar. A new "Vanity Fair" article has some pretty surprising information about his dating life. It's actually shocking.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A bit of good news out of Wall Street, at least for today. The Dow has gone crazy up 200 points or more. Let's head to the New York Stock Exchange and check in with Alison Kosik. What's going on?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well there are new numbers Carol showing that the jobs picture here is getting a bit brighter. There were fewer layoffs last week. For one, weekly jobless claims fell more than expected to 365,000. I'm sure that is still a high range. It's kind of that tight range that they've been sort of treading water in. Now you definitely want to see that number keep dropping as opposed to kind of hovering the way it has been over the last six weeks.

But it is good to see that there were -- that we sort of are heading in the right direction now. Also a second report, ADP, that's the payroll processor said that private employers last month added 201,000 positions last month that blew away expectations. And what that's doing right now, it has a lot to do with this big rally that you're seeing here in the market, it's giving high hopes for tomorrow's government jobs report.

Everybody watching this very closely Carol because this is going to be the third to the last jobs report we will get before the election -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Alison Kosik, thanks so much. Reporting live from the New York Stock Exchange.

What politician doesn't want the youth vote? It's hip and it's cool naturally it could help you win. Obama overwhelmingly won younger voters in 2008. But this year, it's not clear if those voters will bother to vote.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TRAVIS STORK, CO-HOST, "THE DOCTORS": Daily vitamins can be helpful but they can also be harmful. I tell people that you should get most of your vitamins and nutrients from whole foods. Having said that, if you are taking a daily vitamin, it's just like any other pill. I want you to clear it with your physician. Make sure they're on board with the vitamins that you're taking because in general, when you need to supplement with a vitamin, it's when you're low.

So if you're low on Vitamin D, well then it makes sense to take a Vitamin D supplement. But vitamins there's a range that they should be in your body. They can either be too low which is bad or too high. You can have toxic levels of vitamins in your body. That's why it's always best to be safe, rather than sorry. So clear any supplements with your doctor. I urge you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Four years ago, a 16-year-old boy was on a mission to convince young people to vote even though he was too young to do that himself. Noah Gray called it "virgin voting" and he made his own documentary about it. Gray interviewed candidates like Ron Paul, Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee. He also spoke to young voters.

This just isn't some Pollyanna vision about politics. 46 million people under the age of 30 are eligible to vote this election, that's more than 21 percent of all voters. In 2008, just about half of young voters actually went to the polls. 68 percent of them voted for Obama.

So what will young voters do this year? Aren't they the ones worried about getting a job after college? Seems Obama and Romney are so focused on women, Latinos and the middle class, they've forgotten about young people.

Noah Gray, the producer of "Virgin Voting", joins me now from the CNN Grill in charlotte. Good morning, Noah.

NOAH GRAY, "VIRGIN VOTING": Good morning Carol, nice to see you.

COSTELLO: So is that how it seems to you, that no candidate is really talking about young voters this time around?

GRAY: I mean what we saw last night with Bill Clinton, I think, was pretty enlightening, was refreshing to see that we're now starting to hear a little bit more about young voters. I've attended a lot of debates this cycle, listened to a lot of speeches objectively. And we haven't heard too much about the youth vote.

The youth vote was huge in 2008. And it could be huge again in 2012. I'm calling on the candidates to really engage us a little bit more. But what we saw from President Clinton last night made me feel hopeful that we're going to be included in this conversation a little bit more because we care. We really do. We just need to be, you know, shown that we care about politics and that we should be voting because a lot of us do. We just don't know it yet.

The Republicans would say that young voters fell in love with President Obama and they've fallen out of love with him right now because of the tough job market out there, because of the huge college debt that many young people carry. Is that how it seems to you? Have many young people fallen out of love with Obama?

GRAY: I don't think that many young people have fallen out of love with him. I think that there's a difference in excitement that we saw in 2008, you know. You don't really feel that right now, again, because it's kind of been a lot of the Republicans dominating the election right now.

We were promised hope and change and, you know, we were all pretty hopeful. And I think that we haven't seen a lot of what we thought we were going to see. But I think as the election gets closer, we might see that excitement come back. And we started to see a little bit of it last night.

It seems like young people aren't really interested in even watching the conventions. When you hear that TLC show about Honey Boo-Boo had higher ratings than the RNC, what does that tell you about young people?

GRAY: It tells you that clearly young people, for the majority, we're not interested in politics. But that's because the politicians aren't catering to us. They're not showing us why we should be involved in politics. They're not really speaking out to us. They're not really including us.

46 million of us, we make up 21 percent of the electorate. That's a huge population that we should be included a little bit more. If the media includes us a little bit more, the politicians include us more, then I think if we are shown that we should be coming out and voting and we should care about what's going on, we're actually going to get off the couch and we're going to raise our voices and we're going to vote.

COSTELLO: Ok. Well, I suspect President Obama will talk about student loans tonight. We'll see. Noah Gray, thank you so much. Just one issue young people are interested in.

Thank you Noah. We appreciate it.

GRAY: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

Sports shocker, the Baltimore Orioles are relevant in September. We'll talk to a "Baltimore Sun" sports guy about what's different now and could they really sweep the Yankees and retake first place in the east?

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COSTELLO: Let's talk sports now. The American League East has been turned upside down. The Baltimore Orioles are fighting the New York Yankees for the division lead. The Birds fell a game back of the Yanks after last night. But they could move back into first during a four-game head-to-head series at Camden Yards starting tonight. O's first baseman Mark Reynolds is excited about this weekend in Baltimore.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK REYNOLDS, BALTIMORE ORIOLES: I've heard it's sold out, you know,. hopefully it's all Orioles fans. When that place is sold out, Orioles fans, great atmosphere. I'm actually a little nervous out there playing in front of so many people.

But it's fun. You know, I'm looking forward to it. This whole weekend should be a great time. Plus we have the Ravens on Monday night, off day. It's going to be a good night too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It's been 15 years since the Orioles were this good. "Baltimore Sun" sports columnist Peter Schmuck puts it in perspective. He says, quote, "The last time the Orioles were in first place in September, your college freshman was just starting to walk with any degree of confidence, your phone wasn't smarter than you and Seinfeld was entering its farewell season", end quote. Peter Schmuck joins us now. Welcome.

PETER SCHMUCK, "BALTIMORE SUN": Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: So I was listening to Mark Reynolds. He said he hopes the stands are filled with O's fans. What's up with that?

SCHMUCK: Because over the last 15 years, the stadium has kind of been taken over by Red Sox and Yankee fans, depending on which team is in town, which is really galling to people in Baltimore and real Baltimore Oriole fans. There's been a movement over the last few years to take back the Yards. We'll see what happens tonight and over the next four days.

These games were going to be close to sold out. They may sell out this entire series and draw 170,000 -- 180,000 people over the next four days. If 30 percent of them are Yankee fans, that's fine. But if 70 percent of them are Yankee fans, it's not.

COSTELLO: No. It's crazy to think that O's fans would not be on board. I mean are they still walking around in a daze not believing it's quite real?

SCHMUCK: Well, I think there's a little of that. I think there's some skepticism about this team. They've been seduced and abandoned before. You know they spent 60-some days in first place in 2005. And then the season just blew up with the steroid scandal and the collapse at the end of the year.

I think they're waiting for the next shoe to drop. But this weekend is probably going to determine that one way or the other. This is the biggest series -- baseball series in Baltimore probably since Cal Ripken's retirement.

And people are very, very excited it. I'm excited about it. We all have smiles on our faces because baseball is back and that's very important for the sports scene here in Baltimore.

COSTELLO: It's just unbelievable. Buck Showalter is one kind of a manager because I bet most of American can't name a single person but for Adam Jones on the Orioles, but they probably can name every Yankee. Yet the Orioles, they're in contention.

SCHMUCK: Well, not only are they in contention, but they're doing, I guess you could say, with mirrors or Oriole magic because if you look at the stat sheet, they rank in the bottom half of the major leagues in just about everything. In some cases, the bottom third of the major leagues. They also throughout the season have had the American League's worst defensive team. It just doesn't make any sense statistically. But as you know, the great 19th century British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli used to say, three kinds of lies, lies, damn lies and statistics. And in this particular case the Orioles are proving the numbers wrong.

COSTELLO: It will be an exciting series. I say, go O's. Thank you very much, Peter Schmuck, for joining us this morning from "The Baltimore Sun".

SCHMUCK: Thank you very much.

COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, will Bill Clinton's magic put President Obama back in the White House? Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Your responses next.

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COSTELLO: "Talk Back" question this morning, will Bill Clinton's magic put President Obama back in the White House? This from Paul, "It won't seal the deal but it sure helped a lot. Obama needs to pick up that momentum now and run with it. Trying to match that speech will be a little more than difficult though.

This from Vickie, "I loved his speech. It was informative, treated people with dignity and respect. Could have made the case a whole lot better than the Obama White House or Obama himself has done.:

This from John, "I sure hope not, as Clint Eastwood so honestly stated, when you have an employee who doesn't do his job you have to let him go."

And this from James, "It depends on what President Obama says tonight. If his speech is as good as his wife's speech and as informative as President Clinton's speech, he will win in November."

Keep the conversation going, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Thank you for your comments. And thank you for joining me this morning. I'm Carol Costello.

"CNN NEWSROOM" continues right now with Ashleigh Banfield.