Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge (L) testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee along with (R) Frances Townsend, former homeland security advisor to President George W. Bush - February 12, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Here are the big stories on the agenda today:
- Did the Bush White House use the politics of fear during the 2004 election? There are explosive new allegations that there was political pressure to raise the country's terror threat level, before the 2004 election. And they come from the man hired after 9/11 to stop another 9/11: the first Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. We’re live from Washington. We’re also talking to CNN Contributor Fran Townsend, who was a Bush homeland security insider during that time.
- Hurricane Bill is now a powerful category three storm and it could again become a category four. It’s expected to bring extremely dangerous rip tides as it heads up the Atlantic – in line with our East Coast. Rob Marciano's tracking the extreme weather for us this morning.
- And from town halls to talk radio, President Obama keeps pushing his make or break plan for health care reform. He says there's still way too much misinformation going around. Plus, see why the president thinks, quote – "everyone in Washington gets all wee-wee'd up."
- This weekend only! Across the country, car lots are bracing for a busy, busy weekend. After a month and nearly three billion bucks, the amazingly popular "cash for clunkers" program expires on Monday. So just how successful has the rebate program been? Will some dealers ever see a dime? What will its end mean for Detroit?
- The tractor pull isn’t in town, so we’re going to them. Rob’s Road Show is live in “Pull Town” today, for the National Tractor Pull Championships, at the Wood County Fairgrounds in Bowling Green, Ohio.