[Baldwin:] Let's go to Washington now for your "CNN Equals Politics" update. CNN's Paul Steinhauser standing by as always with the freshest news off the Ticker. Paul, let's begin with the news on Ron Paul and a former Obama staffer.
[Paul Steinhauser, Cnn Deputy Political Director:] Yes, let's start with that. Elizabeth Warren is her name. She was in the new as lot last year, Brooke. Remember she was the economic adviser to Barack Obama who set up the consumer financial protection agency, which is a brand new agency set up last year, and an agency that was not well-loved by a lot of Republicans. They would like to see it scrapped. Last year she set up the agency, but she wasn't named to head it. She went back to Harvard University. She's a law professor up there. And today she took the first formal steps to maybe launch a campaign and maybe take on Republican Senator up there Scott Brown. She formed an exploratory committee today. She launched a website. There are seven other Democrats already in the race, but none of them a lot of name recognition. And national Democrats think they need somebody maybe like Warren to run against Scott Brown. Remember, Brown was pretty popular up there. He won the special election up there last year. That was a big surprise, Senator Kennedy's old seat. He has about $10 million in the bank. So stay tuned. That will be one heck of a Senate race up there in Massachusetts, Brooke.
[Baldwin:] OK, I feel like one of the last times I talked to you, you were at the state fair in Iowa, right, very closely following the Republican race for the White House. What's the latest today on that?
[Steinhauser:] Remember I had a Twinkie log, fried Twinkies.
[Baldwin:] Oh, boy.
[Steinhauser:] Yes, no more say the fair. Back here in D.C. for now. All right, Ron Paul, last night he was in New Hampshire. He opened up his campaign headquarters in the first primary state in the nation. He's campaigning there today. He was talking about Rick Perry. And this is interesting because Perry has been in the news for those comments about calling Fed chief Ben Bernanke treasonous, in a way. Ron Paul is saying, wait a minute, I've been talking about the Federal Reserve for years, saying we should scrap it, it should be audited. Let's get rid of it. So Ron Paul may be trying to grab back some of that spotlight. And Brooke, you want more Ron Paul, stay tuned. Top of the hour, I think Wolf Blitzer has him on "
[The Situation Room." Baldwin:] We'll ask Wolf about that in a couple of minutes. Paul Steinhauser, thank you so much. And let's talk here about the president. The president of the United States heading off for a little vacation starting today. Let's go to Dan Lothian, who is a step ahead of the president already in the lovely Martha's Vineyard. Talk about the president I guess finally getting a little bit of
[R&r.; Dan Lothian, Cnn White House Correspondent:] That's right. And it's not without controversy, as you know. For weeks when word got out that the president was planning on coming here the third summer now in a row, there have been those who have criticized the president, both Democrats and Republicans saying that this should not be the place where he is right now, that he should be in Washington calling lawmakers back to Washington so they can deal with some of the tough issues out there affecting the economy. And the president, as you know, working on his new jobs proposal. But the White House pushing back on that saying, listen, this is someone who needs to get out, get a little R&R.; And when the president goes on vacation, it doesn't matter where he go, even here in Martha's Vineyard, that he might be leaving the White House, but he's not leaving his job. He's always surrounded by his team of aides. He'll be getting all the briefings on national security, on foreign policy matters, as well. So he might be away from the physical structure of the White House, but the White House itself will be following him.
[Baldwin:] Dan, let's go back to the double box because we were getting live pictures of the president leaving in Air Force One. There is the plane, I should say, at Andrews Air Force base, just a hop, skip and a jump away from Martha's Vineyard. And, Dan, I know you mentioned he has a big policy speech, the president does, when he comes back into town next month, certainly his team will be working on while he is away. Also making news, though, today, the fact that the president was calling on Syria's president to step down. And one big question, though, is why did it take so long?
[Lothian:] Right. And the administration has been asked this question now for several weeks, if not months, why the president did not call on Assad to step down much sooner. And what the White House and other administration officials have been saying is that they really want to get the allies behind them. They wanted to make sure that this was an international effort that there's no way that Assad could say will is this is simply the U.S. acting alone. So that is what they point to as trying to essentially get the international ducks in a row before coming out with a forceful statement that you heard today from Secretary Clinton.
[Baldwin:] Dan Lothian, thank you. That image behind you almost looks fake, but I know it's real. Enjoy it.
[Lothian:] It's very real. It's beautiful here.
[Baldwin:] Enjoy it.
[Lothian:] We are working.
[Baldwin:] Of course you are, very hard. Thank you, Dan. Speaking of boats behind Dan, let's talk about yachts, jewelry, cash, even prostitutes just some of the things allege allegedly provided to University of Miami football players. New developments today in that bombshell revelation that is clearly rocking the sports world. Back in two minutes.