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American Morning
Will Super Tuesday be Last Stand John Edwards?; Interview with Senator Bob Graham
Aired March 02, 2004 - 08:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get right to our top stories, though, first. We begin in Iraq this morning, where a series of explosions ripped through crowded streets in Baghdad and Karbala at the height of a religious festival for Shiite Muslims. The blast in Karbala killing at least 85 people, injuring more than 200. Dozens more were killed in those attacks in Baghdad. We've got much more on this story, of course, in our next half hour.
In New Jersey, testimony in the trial of former NBA star Jayson Williams resumes today. Members of the Harlem Globetrotters expected to testify. Yesterday a witness testified that Williams cursed at a chauffeur, then snapped the weapon shut just before it went off. Williams is accused of fatally shooting a driver, and then making the scene look like an accident.
Several professional athletes, including baseball star Barry Bonds, reportedly received steroids. That's according to "The San Francisco Chronicle." Bonds personal trainer, they say, gave him the drugs from Bay Area laboratory cooperative. The newspaper report alleges that the New York Yankees star Gary Sheffield and also Jason Giambi were also given steroids from that lab. Four men connected with Balco, the name of the lab, were indicted last fall in an illegal distribution ring.
Dick Clark, the 74-year-old former host of "American Bandstand" being sued for age discrimination. Clark allegedly refused to hire a 76-year-old producer because of his age. Clark reportedly wrote a letter to producer Ralph Andrews saying, quote, "People our age are considered dinosaurs." Andrews claims he was passed up for a position that went to a 30-year-old.
And arctic weather didn't stop some 300 hearty souls from competing the fourth world ice swimming championships in Finland. Racers from six countries, all between the ages of 11 and 79, turned out for the freezing event. One participant claims that the freezing actually water keep her rheumatism under control. I wonder if that's the 79-year-old.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's what it's good for? You left me wondering.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
HEMMER: Politics now: Will Super Tuesday be the last stand for Senator John Edwards? Our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield now with us at the CNN Center, election headquarters for this day. Good morning, Jeff. How are you?
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: I'm doing fine. How are you?
HEMMER: I'm doing just fine as well. Thank you.
Where does Senator Edwards focus his efforts today?
GREENFIELD: He's looking essentially at four states. He's looking at parts of New York State, upstate, where job losses have hit hard. He's looking at Ohio, one of the worst hit manufacturing states, where the jobs and trade message look promising. He's looking here in Georgia, the one Southern state, where Edwards southern roots ought to help. And in Minnesota. That's one caucus state today where that outsider message of Edwards might play well, especially with onetime supporters of Howard Dean.
HEMMER: Go ahead and handicap this thing for us. No predictions. Stay away from that.
GREENFIELD: No, no, no. But if you believe the polls, they are not looking good for Edwards. Maryland, maybe he's trailing by about 10 points. The Georgia race seems to have tightened up. Some people say a lot in recent days. He has conceded, Edwards has, California, the biggest prize, with 370 delegates. Most of New York State looks very solid for Kerry. So if the poll numbers hold up, it's possible that Edwards could go 0 for 10. A strong late finish in a couple of these states would give him at least an argument for pressing on. There are four primaries next week. But with a blowout, it's just very hard to see how Edwards can be left standing.
HEMMER: If that's the case then, if John Kerry does well today, and these poll indications are right, how is the White House, how is president now starting to match themselves up against Senator Kerry?
GREENFIELD: Well, I talked to people in the Bush campaign recently. They do see a close race, and I don't think that's low balling. I think they think Kerry will have a united Democratic Party behind him, as Bush will have a united Republican Party. I gather they seem a little less interested in trying to make Kerry another Michael Dukakis, too liberal. Although "The National Journal" survey, that showed Kerry the most liberal senator, had to make the Bush campaign happy.
I think the Bush folks seem more interested in making the case that John Kerry is out of touch, both with ordinary Americans, and maybe more significantly, with the need for tough-minded action on terror and national security. They intend to honor his war record, but to go after him hard on his voting record and inconsistencies.
And they mentioned something interesting on this whole culture war issue. The Bush folks point to the following. They say, look, we are not fighting this culture war on, you know, all-out grounds. Bush is opposed to partial birth abortion, but he really hasn't taken on abortion rights per se. We are not gay bashing, they say, we're just upholding marriage as a traditional institution after Massachusetts and San Francisco put that on the table. So I think they think they can put Kerry outside the mainstream on some of these culture issues.
HEMMER: Jeff Greenfield at CNN Center, enjoy the night OK, I will be watching.
GREENFIELD: OK.
HEMMER: All right, Jeff. See you tomorrow -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, joining us now, a senate colleague of Senators John Kerry and John Edwards, also onetime presidential candidate himself, Senator Bob Graham of Florida with us from Capitol Hill.
Nice to see you, senator. Thank you for being with us.
SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), FLORIDA: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Good morning to you.
Do you expect to endorse a candidate before it gets to the Florida primaries?
GRAHAM: I am seriously considering doing that. The Florida primary is going to be very important. If the race is not decided today, it will be a week from now, and Florida is the big prize. Even more, Florida will be the big prize in November, where it looks as if it will be almost as close as it was in 2000.
O'BRIEN: So that being said, want to give us an inkling of which way you're leaning?
GRAHAM: I will make that announcement publicly when I'm ready to make it.
O'BRIEN: In other words, no. All right, senator, I'll buy that.
Senator Edwards has said he is the guy who can do well in the South, and thusly, the guy to be the nominee for the general election for the Democratic Party. Do you agree with his argument that he has a much better chance in the South than Senator Kerry does?
GRAHAM: Well, first as a Southerner, I think the word the South is kind of old think. The fact is the states in the South are growing more distinctive, and you can't just run a race and assume that all southerners are going to gather around. You have got to identify what are the issues in Arkansas, as opposed to Georgia, and run a race targeted at the concerns of those people. So I don't think anybody can say they have a lock on the South, because I think increasingly, the south as a cohesive entity doesn't exist.
O'BRIEN: Interesting point. Senator Edwards also has said that he plans to stay in the race regardless of what happens today and into tomorrow. Do you think that's a good strategy, even if he has no victories in Super Tuesday?
GRAHAM: Well, that's a decision for Senator Edwards to make. He knows what his strategy is, what his resources are, how well his message is being received, and he'll have to make the judgment as to whether his situation after tonight is such that it warrants continuing his campaign.
O'BRIEN: How tough is that decision to make. It's a decision you had to make.
GRAHAM: It's a very tough decision, because you don't run for president lightly. You give it a lot of thought and consideration, you put a lot of yourself and your friends into this. Your family is extremely involved, and so the recognition that it's just not a winnable fight is a difficult one to come to, and it's a decision that all you but one of the 10 candidates for president is eventually going to have to make.
O'BRIEN: What do you think of a Kerry/Edwards ticket. Some people say a Kerry/Graham ticket would have a nicer ring to you. So weigh in on both of those options for me.
GRAHAM: Well, that's a decision that whoever the nominee is. And you're assuming it's going to be Kerry, and it certainly looks that way. Senator Kerry is going to have to decide what his strategy for victory is. Is he going to have to base it on geographical areas, such as the Midwest, or is he going to base it on some other things, such as age, or experience, or being outside the system? Those will be decisions that Senator Kerry will make, but he certainly is not focused on those today. He's focused on getting the majority of delegates so he's assured that he will be the nominee.
O'BRIEN: Getting through today and seeing what happens tomorrow. Senator Bob Graham joining us this morning.
Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for your time.
GRAHAM: Thank you very much, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: My pleasure.
Stay tuned to CNN for complete coverage of Super Tuesday. Wolf is going to kick off our primetime coverage tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time -- Bill.
HEMMER: In a moment here, Martha Stewart's lawyers expecting to have their final say today. Live at the courthouse here in New York City in a moment.
O'BRIEN: And after the amazing success of "The Lord of the Rings" series, Disney is now planning a fantasy epic of its own.
HEMMER: And Sanjay was out looking for a demanding new workout. He found one: iron yoga.
Still to come here after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: If you're looking to beef up your workout, iron yoga provides a weighty challenge. Recently, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joined the class to give the popular and demanding routine a try. He joins us this morning from CNN Center with all the details for us.
Sanjay, we saw a little bit of you on that tape. It looks kind of hard.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, thank you. Yoga can be hard enough as it is. Anybody that's never tried it before, it can be very challenging. But add weights to it, and it becomes one of the most challenging workouts you've ever had, but her's the thing, the payoffs can be tremendous.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Tree pose with military press and hammer curl. Familiar sounds you'll here in a not so familiar yoga class. In this New York health and racket club, the ancient art of yoga is pumped up. I decided to take the challenge, and as I found, it doesn't take long to work up a sweat.
ANTHONY CARILLO, CREATOR, IRON YOGA: With your left foot and leg, take a long step back, at least one leg length apart.
GUPTA: Combining weights with yoga is the idea of nationally ranked triathlete Anthony Carillo. He was the first to use weights with familiar yoga poses. Like many well-trained athletes, he wanted to challenge himself further.
CARILLO: I was in a warrior two pose that we did today in class. And as I'm in this pose, I'm thinking, OK, what weight training exercise that I normally do in the weight room can I add to warrior two? So it just made sense that I'm holding dumbbells. One arm could do a lateral raise, and the other arm could do a bicep curl.
GUPTA: Carillo started the pump-up yoga over a year ago. And these days, similar programs are popping up all around the country.
Dozens of health clubs have begun offering yoga classes with weights, bands, balls, and other resistance tools, all designed to draw a wider range of participants.
CARILLO: Some who are serious into the weight training, and circuit training and body sculpting, they sometimes feel that a yoga class won't give them the challenge. And I think now with this new dimension of adding dumbbells and weight training exercises to yoga, it's been able to attract that audience.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Well, I was definitely ready to cool down after that. But it can be a very challenging thing.
The thing that sort of struck me the most, Soledad, was the core muscles. They had this plank pose where you are sort of doing this modified pushup. And you're core muscles just feel, Soledad. I did it a few times, and it felt really good. O'BRIEN: But of course, Sanjay, all this is counterintuitive to what Yoga is supposed to be about, right, you know, the internal relaxing, meditating, right?
GUPTA: I asked that same question, because you know, the yoga purists are probably watching, saying, wait a second, how can you add weights to yoga? It is all those things that you said. But in fact, it is for people who want to sort of add an extra dimension to their yoga workout. If you want to also -- you know, yoga is for toning. It can do a lot of balance-type exercises as well, but want to add some weight to it to give yourself some more strength, there's an option for you.
O'BRIEN: So you think this is something you could do at home by yourself as opposed to trying to find a club where they are offering this.
GUPTA: I think probably at least the first two times you do something like this, it's not as simple as just picking up some weights and doing the same yoga poses with the weights, because the risk of injury is certainly there. You have to do these things very slowly. It's probably best to go to a gym first time, talk to someone who actually does this, either get a video or a book. It's really catching on, Soledad. So there are a lot of books and videos out there, a lot of gyms now offering this. At least the first few times, do it with someone who is trained, so you don't hurt yourself.
O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay Gupta, you look much healthier, much more muscular this morning. Bill and I were talking about that earlier, so it's working. Stay with it.
Thanks, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Here in New York, they're getting near the end of Martha Stewart's trial. Her lead attorney makes closing arguments today. And Deborah Feyerick back at her post today in lower Manhattan.
Deb, good morning.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well, both the prosecutor and Bacanovic's defense lawyer yesterday made the point that in every lie there is some truth. The question the jury will have to consider is who is telling the truth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): With her broker, Peter Bacanovic, seemingly ready to back up her story, Martha Stewart liked, prosecutors say, because she thought she'd never get caught.
Assistant U.S. attorney Michael Schacter told the jury, Stewart and her broker were wrong. They made serious mistakes and left behind a trail of evidence.
The government says that evidence includes phone messages, e- mails, and testimony from the young assistant who passed Stewart the tip, that Stewart's good friend, the head of ImClone, was trying to dump its company stock. That tip triggered Stewart's own sale of ImClone landing her in federal court. Said the prosecutor about the young assistant, if you believe Doug Faneuil, this trial is over.
In fact, Faneuil's testimony is so critical to the government's case, a lawyer for Stewart's broker spent more than two hours trying to discredit it. Defense attorney Rich Strasper (ph) called Faneuil a convincing liar, explaining, he lies by twisting a few key facts. It helps to explain what he did to lessen his responsibility and blame others. Bacanovic's lawyers say the government's evidence is like a house of cards, when you push on it, it collapses, because it has no foundation.
The government tried to show indeed there is a foundation, and it's built on Stewart's lies. The prosecutor pointed to a phone message Stewart received from her broker, which she changed, and then changed back. It was, he said, a peak inside Martha Stewart's head, explaining she'd done something bad and was willing to lie to the government.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: So Stewart's lawyer will present his closing argument this morning. If he is to get Martha Stewart acquitted, he will have to convince the jury there was never any lying -- Bill.
HEMMER: Deborah Feyerick, thanks, here in New York City.
In a moment here, pet owners required to keep their pets happy or face the long arm of the law. Jack has that right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back everybody.
We have got breaking news about WorldCom. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Thanks, Jack.
Yes, just finding out that U.S. attorney John Ashcroft is expected to file charges against former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers today.
CAFFERTY: Good.
SERWER: That is huge news.
Also reportedly, Scott Sullivan, the former CFO of WorldCom, is expected to plead guilty to charges.
CAFFERTY: So he presumably will testify against Ebbers.
SERWER: That's right. It looks like they got one to testify against the other. CAFFERTY: Good. I like the way this is going.
SERWER: So the dominoes continue to tumble, that's right. Really interesting stuff there.
CAFFERTY: Now, what's the Disney studio up to these days. I mean, they are running ads in newspapers for stuff that may never happen.
SERWER: Yes, this is really -- my prophesies (ph) in here, Soledad O'Brien, asked something in "The Wall Street Journal," a really fascinating ad here. Check this out. This is a nude movie deal that Disney has, "The Chronicles of Narnia." It's a two-page, full-page thing here in "The Wall Street Journal." I can't remember ever seeing a movie a had in the Wall Street Journal, first of all. Second of all, the movie doesn't come out to December of 2005.
Now you might want to know, why is Disney doing this now? OK, let's talk about this. Tomorrow, of course, is the big annual meeting, Michael Eisner under fire. They want to deflect attention against that. Also, "The Chronicles of Narnia" would go up against "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings." They want to show they are in the game in that fantasy realm.
CAFFERTY: They're going to be in the game in two years.
SERWER: Right, a little far away.
Also of course they want to show that, you know, losing Pixar, they are still able to get movies. The movie has already been made by the BBC in 1988. There it is, if you're familiar with that C.S. Lewis thing. And it's interesting to me that's C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Rowling, they're all British, they all have initial first names. I don't what the conspiracy is here or something like that, but it's kind of interesting.
CAFFERTY: If they get rid of Eisner, make Pixar will come back to the table and do a deal with Disney.
SERWER: Maybe they can make a movie about Michael Eisner some day, what do you think about that?
CAFFERTY: That would be very interesting.
Time for a quick look at the markets.
SERWER: Yes, we do have time. Yesterday, a huge day. The Dow was up over 90 points, NASDAQ up over 1.4 percent. Today we are looking for a little bit of a pullback. And Alan Greenspan speaking at the economics club of New York at a luncheon, I don't know if you're going?
CAFFERTY: Yes, oh yes, I'm going to be there.
SERWER: Yes? Sign me up.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Andy, time for "The Cafferty File."
A town in Italy telling its citizens how to treat its dogs, its cats and its birds. It's a wealthy town, Reggio Emilia. It says people must, must pamper their pets or face big fines. I mean, like big fines. The rules include buying significant others for your birds. If you have a canary, you are supposed to get another canary so they are not lonely. Maybe the canary likes being by itself. Some of us do. Putting doghouses in shady sheltered areas, and it's also illegal to throw lives lobsters into boiling water. You're supposed to kill them first, then boil them. Yes, that's a good idea.
Now here's the deal, if you break any of these little rules in this town, the fines range from $30 to $615.
HEMMER: Tough crowd.
CAFFERTY: So take care of your bird.
SERWER: That's how you are supposed to cook lobsters, by the way.
CAFFERTY: Another reason to cast your ballot today, to vote for the 11th Commandment. Actually barring events unforeseen, we are going to do this as a question on Friday, the question of the day. But Britain's Methodist Church, along with a satirical Christian Web site, have decided that after 3,000 years, 10 Commandments are not enough, they need 11. Suggestions so far include stop war, reduce emissions, eat more donuts, and never get out your password. You can think about this in anticipation of Friday. We'll do our own version.
O'BRIEN: I like eat more donuts, but that's me.
CAFFERTY: Yes, the winners receive camera phones.
And for fans of the Atkins Diet, consider the following: cutting carbs can make you cranky. Researchers at MIT have found that carbohydrates help boost the production of serotonin, which actually controls your emotions. Not enough serontonin leads to mood swings, and depression and bitchiness. Their findings also show that a lack of carbs has more of an impact on women than it does on men. But we knew that, didn't we?
SERWER: So it's true about fat and happy then, right.
CAFFERTY: Yes. I've got two out of three.
HEMMER: I am impressed that you are thinking about the question of the day three days in advance. I mean, that is wonderful. Three days in advance. Bravo.
CAFFERTY: Well, we are getting a lot -- since I teased that as part of the file, a lot of people already writing in with their suggestions. And being as how I am always in search of any material, let alone good material, we are grabbing up this stuff, we're going to hold it and read it on Friday, and I'm only going to work a little bit. O'BRIEN: I thought you were going to say, you got all the e- mails already. You're not even coming in on Friday. I'm thinking for you.
Thank you, Jack.
Still to come this morning. With more than 1,000 Democratic delegates at stake today, we're going to hear from Senator John Kerry about how he likes his chances and how really feels about Senator John Edwards. That's ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: In a moment here, live back to Iraq, the latest on those deadly and massive explosions earlier today. Also a big decision in the sexual assault case against Kobe Bryant. Will his accuser's sexual history be introduced in the court? We'll have a look at that issue right after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
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with Senator Bob Graham>
Aired March 2, 2004 - 08:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get right to our top stories, though, first. We begin in Iraq this morning, where a series of explosions ripped through crowded streets in Baghdad and Karbala at the height of a religious festival for Shiite Muslims. The blast in Karbala killing at least 85 people, injuring more than 200. Dozens more were killed in those attacks in Baghdad. We've got much more on this story, of course, in our next half hour.
In New Jersey, testimony in the trial of former NBA star Jayson Williams resumes today. Members of the Harlem Globetrotters expected to testify. Yesterday a witness testified that Williams cursed at a chauffeur, then snapped the weapon shut just before it went off. Williams is accused of fatally shooting a driver, and then making the scene look like an accident.
Several professional athletes, including baseball star Barry Bonds, reportedly received steroids. That's according to "The San Francisco Chronicle." Bonds personal trainer, they say, gave him the drugs from Bay Area laboratory cooperative. The newspaper report alleges that the New York Yankees star Gary Sheffield and also Jason Giambi were also given steroids from that lab. Four men connected with Balco, the name of the lab, were indicted last fall in an illegal distribution ring.
Dick Clark, the 74-year-old former host of "American Bandstand" being sued for age discrimination. Clark allegedly refused to hire a 76-year-old producer because of his age. Clark reportedly wrote a letter to producer Ralph Andrews saying, quote, "People our age are considered dinosaurs." Andrews claims he was passed up for a position that went to a 30-year-old.
And arctic weather didn't stop some 300 hearty souls from competing the fourth world ice swimming championships in Finland. Racers from six countries, all between the ages of 11 and 79, turned out for the freezing event. One participant claims that the freezing actually water keep her rheumatism under control. I wonder if that's the 79-year-old.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's what it's good for? You left me wondering.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
HEMMER: Politics now: Will Super Tuesday be the last stand for Senator John Edwards? Our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield now with us at the CNN Center, election headquarters for this day. Good morning, Jeff. How are you?
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: I'm doing fine. How are you?
HEMMER: I'm doing just fine as well. Thank you.
Where does Senator Edwards focus his efforts today?
GREENFIELD: He's looking essentially at four states. He's looking at parts of New York State, upstate, where job losses have hit hard. He's looking at Ohio, one of the worst hit manufacturing states, where the jobs and trade message look promising. He's looking here in Georgia, the one Southern state, where Edwards southern roots ought to help. And in Minnesota. That's one caucus state today where that outsider message of Edwards might play well, especially with onetime supporters of Howard Dean.
HEMMER: Go ahead and handicap this thing for us. No predictions. Stay away from that.
GREENFIELD: No, no, no. But if you believe the polls, they are not looking good for Edwards. Maryland, maybe he's trailing by about 10 points. The Georgia race seems to have tightened up. Some people say a lot in recent days. He has conceded, Edwards has, California, the biggest prize, with 370 delegates. Most of New York State looks very solid for Kerry. So if the poll numbers hold up, it's possible that Edwards could go 0 for 10. A strong late finish in a couple of these states would give him at least an argument for pressing on. There are four primaries next week. But with a blowout, it's just very hard to see how Edwards can be left standing.
HEMMER: If that's the case then, if John Kerry does well today, and these poll indications are right, how is the White House, how is president now starting to match themselves up against Senator Kerry?
GREENFIELD: Well, I talked to people in the Bush campaign recently. They do see a close race, and I don't think that's low balling. I think they think Kerry will have a united Democratic Party behind him, as Bush will have a united Republican Party. I gather they seem a little less interested in trying to make Kerry another Michael Dukakis, too liberal. Although "The National Journal" survey, that showed Kerry the most liberal senator, had to make the Bush campaign happy.
I think the Bush folks seem more interested in making the case that John Kerry is out of touch, both with ordinary Americans, and maybe more significantly, with the need for tough-minded action on terror and national security. They intend to honor his war record, but to go after him hard on his voting record and inconsistencies.
And they mentioned something interesting on this whole culture war issue. The Bush folks point to the following. They say, look, we are not fighting this culture war on, you know, all-out grounds. Bush is opposed to partial birth abortion, but he really hasn't taken on abortion rights per se. We are not gay bashing, they say, we're just upholding marriage as a traditional institution after Massachusetts and San Francisco put that on the table. So I think they think they can put Kerry outside the mainstream on some of these culture issues.
HEMMER: Jeff Greenfield at CNN Center, enjoy the night OK, I will be watching.
GREENFIELD: OK.
HEMMER: All right, Jeff. See you tomorrow -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, joining us now, a senate colleague of Senators John Kerry and John Edwards, also onetime presidential candidate himself, Senator Bob Graham of Florida with us from Capitol Hill.
Nice to see you, senator. Thank you for being with us.
SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), FLORIDA: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Good morning to you.
Do you expect to endorse a candidate before it gets to the Florida primaries?
GRAHAM: I am seriously considering doing that. The Florida primary is going to be very important. If the race is not decided today, it will be a week from now, and Florida is the big prize. Even more, Florida will be the big prize in November, where it looks as if it will be almost as close as it was in 2000.
O'BRIEN: So that being said, want to give us an inkling of which way you're leaning?
GRAHAM: I will make that announcement publicly when I'm ready to make it.
O'BRIEN: In other words, no. All right, senator, I'll buy that.
Senator Edwards has said he is the guy who can do well in the South, and thusly, the guy to be the nominee for the general election for the Democratic Party. Do you agree with his argument that he has a much better chance in the South than Senator Kerry does?
GRAHAM: Well, first as a Southerner, I think the word the South is kind of old think. The fact is the states in the South are growing more distinctive, and you can't just run a race and assume that all southerners are going to gather around. You have got to identify what are the issues in Arkansas, as opposed to Georgia, and run a race targeted at the concerns of those people. So I don't think anybody can say they have a lock on the South, because I think increasingly, the south as a cohesive entity doesn't exist.
O'BRIEN: Interesting point. Senator Edwards also has said that he plans to stay in the race regardless of what happens today and into tomorrow. Do you think that's a good strategy, even if he has no victories in Super Tuesday?
GRAHAM: Well, that's a decision for Senator Edwards to make. He knows what his strategy is, what his resources are, how well his message is being received, and he'll have to make the judgment as to whether his situation after tonight is such that it warrants continuing his campaign.
O'BRIEN: How tough is that decision to make. It's a decision you had to make.
GRAHAM: It's a very tough decision, because you don't run for president lightly. You give it a lot of thought and consideration, you put a lot of yourself and your friends into this. Your family is extremely involved, and so the recognition that it's just not a winnable fight is a difficult one to come to, and it's a decision that all you but one of the 10 candidates for president is eventually going to have to make.
O'BRIEN: What do you think of a Kerry/Edwards ticket. Some people say a Kerry/Graham ticket would have a nicer ring to you. So weigh in on both of those options for me.
GRAHAM: Well, that's a decision that whoever the nominee is. And you're assuming it's going to be Kerry, and it certainly looks that way. Senator Kerry is going to have to decide what his strategy for victory is. Is he going to have to base it on geographical areas, such as the Midwest, or is he going to base it on some other things, such as age, or experience, or being outside the system? Those will be decisions that Senator Kerry will make, but he certainly is not focused on those today. He's focused on getting the majority of delegates so he's assured that he will be the nominee.
O'BRIEN: Getting through today and seeing what happens tomorrow. Senator Bob Graham joining us this morning.
Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for your time.
GRAHAM: Thank you very much, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: My pleasure.
Stay tuned to CNN for complete coverage of Super Tuesday. Wolf is going to kick off our primetime coverage tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time -- Bill.
HEMMER: In a moment here, Martha Stewart's lawyers expecting to have their final say today. Live at the courthouse here in New York City in a moment.
O'BRIEN: And after the amazing success of "The Lord of the Rings" series, Disney is now planning a fantasy epic of its own.
HEMMER: And Sanjay was out looking for a demanding new workout. He found one: iron yoga.
Still to come here after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: If you're looking to beef up your workout, iron yoga provides a weighty challenge. Recently, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joined the class to give the popular and demanding routine a try. He joins us this morning from CNN Center with all the details for us.
Sanjay, we saw a little bit of you on that tape. It looks kind of hard.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, thank you. Yoga can be hard enough as it is. Anybody that's never tried it before, it can be very challenging. But add weights to it, and it becomes one of the most challenging workouts you've ever had, but her's the thing, the payoffs can be tremendous.
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GUPTA (voice-over): Tree pose with military press and hammer curl. Familiar sounds you'll here in a not so familiar yoga class. In this New York health and racket club, the ancient art of yoga is pumped up. I decided to take the challenge, and as I found, it doesn't take long to work up a sweat.
ANTHONY CARILLO, CREATOR, IRON YOGA: With your left foot and leg, take a long step back, at least one leg length apart.
GUPTA: Combining weights with yoga is the idea of nationally ranked triathlete Anthony Carillo. He was the first to use weights with familiar yoga poses. Like many well-trained athletes, he wanted to challenge himself further.
CARILLO: I was in a warrior two pose that we did today in class. And as I'm in this pose, I'm thinking, OK, what weight training exercise that I normally do in the weight room can I add to warrior two? So it just made sense that I'm holding dumbbells. One arm could do a lateral raise, and the other arm could do a bicep curl.
GUPTA: Carillo started the pump-up yoga over a year ago. And these days, similar programs are popping up all around the country.
Dozens of health clubs have begun offering yoga classes with weights, bands, balls, and other resistance tools, all designed to draw a wider range of participants.
CARILLO: Some who are serious into the weight training, and circuit training and body sculpting, they sometimes feel that a yoga class won't give them the challenge. And I think now with this new dimension of adding dumbbells and weight training exercises to yoga, it's been able to attract that audience.
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GUPTA: Well, I was definitely ready to cool down after that. But it can be a very challenging thing.
The thing that sort of struck me the most, Soledad, was the core muscles. They had this plank pose where you are sort of doing this modified pushup. And you're core muscles just feel, Soledad. I did it a few times, and it felt really good. O'BRIEN: But of course, Sanjay, all this is counterintuitive to what Yoga is supposed to be about, right, you know, the internal relaxing, meditating, right?
GUPTA: I asked that same question, because you know, the yoga purists are probably watching, saying, wait a second, how can you add weights to yoga? It is all those things that you said. But in fact, it is for people who want to sort of add an extra dimension to their yoga workout. If you want to also -- you know, yoga is for toning. It can do a lot of balance-type exercises as well, but want to add some weight to it to give yourself some more strength, there's an option for you.
O'BRIEN: So you think this is something you could do at home by yourself as opposed to trying to find a club where they are offering this.
GUPTA: I think probably at least the first two times you do something like this, it's not as simple as just picking up some weights and doing the same yoga poses with the weights, because the risk of injury is certainly there. You have to do these things very slowly. It's probably best to go to a gym first time, talk to someone who actually does this, either get a video or a book. It's really catching on, Soledad. So there are a lot of books and videos out there, a lot of gyms now offering this. At least the first few times, do it with someone who is trained, so you don't hurt yourself.
O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay Gupta, you look much healthier, much more muscular this morning. Bill and I were talking about that earlier, so it's working. Stay with it.
Thanks, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Here in New York, they're getting near the end of Martha Stewart's trial. Her lead attorney makes closing arguments today. And Deborah Feyerick back at her post today in lower Manhattan.
Deb, good morning.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well, both the prosecutor and Bacanovic's defense lawyer yesterday made the point that in every lie there is some truth. The question the jury will have to consider is who is telling the truth.
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FEYERICK (voice-over): With her broker, Peter Bacanovic, seemingly ready to back up her story, Martha Stewart liked, prosecutors say, because she thought she'd never get caught.
Assistant U.S. attorney Michael Schacter told the jury, Stewart and her broker were wrong. They made serious mistakes and left behind a trail of evidence.
The government says that evidence includes phone messages, e- mails, and testimony from the young assistant who passed Stewart the tip, that Stewart's good friend, the head of ImClone, was trying to dump its company stock. That tip triggered Stewart's own sale of ImClone landing her in federal court. Said the prosecutor about the young assistant, if you believe Doug Faneuil, this trial is over.
In fact, Faneuil's testimony is so critical to the government's case, a lawyer for Stewart's broker spent more than two hours trying to discredit it. Defense attorney Rich Strasper (ph) called Faneuil a convincing liar, explaining, he lies by twisting a few key facts. It helps to explain what he did to lessen his responsibility and blame others. Bacanovic's lawyers say the government's evidence is like a house of cards, when you push on it, it collapses, because it has no foundation.
The government tried to show indeed there is a foundation, and it's built on Stewart's lies. The prosecutor pointed to a phone message Stewart received from her broker, which she changed, and then changed back. It was, he said, a peak inside Martha Stewart's head, explaining she'd done something bad and was willing to lie to the government.
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FEYERICK: So Stewart's lawyer will present his closing argument this morning. If he is to get Martha Stewart acquitted, he will have to convince the jury there was never any lying -- Bill.
HEMMER: Deborah Feyerick, thanks, here in New York City.
In a moment here, pet owners required to keep their pets happy or face the long arm of the law. Jack has that right after this.
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JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back everybody.
We have got breaking news about WorldCom. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Thanks, Jack.
Yes, just finding out that U.S. attorney John Ashcroft is expected to file charges against former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers today.
CAFFERTY: Good.
SERWER: That is huge news.
Also reportedly, Scott Sullivan, the former CFO of WorldCom, is expected to plead guilty to charges.
CAFFERTY: So he presumably will testify against Ebbers.
SERWER: That's right. It looks like they got one to testify against the other. CAFFERTY: Good. I like the way this is going.
SERWER: So the dominoes continue to tumble, that's right. Really interesting stuff there.
CAFFERTY: Now, what's the Disney studio up to these days. I mean, they are running ads in newspapers for stuff that may never happen.
SERWER: Yes, this is really -- my prophesies (ph) in here, Soledad O'Brien, asked something in "The Wall Street Journal," a really fascinating ad here. Check this out. This is a nude movie deal that Disney has, "The Chronicles of Narnia." It's a two-page, full-page thing here in "The Wall Street Journal." I can't remember ever seeing a movie a had in the Wall Street Journal, first of all. Second of all, the movie doesn't come out to December of 2005.
Now you might want to know, why is Disney doing this now? OK, let's talk about this. Tomorrow, of course, is the big annual meeting, Michael Eisner under fire. They want to deflect attention against that. Also, "The Chronicles of Narnia" would go up against "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings." They want to show they are in the game in that fantasy realm.
CAFFERTY: They're going to be in the game in two years.
SERWER: Right, a little far away.
Also of course they want to show that, you know, losing Pixar, they are still able to get movies. The movie has already been made by the BBC in 1988. There it is, if you're familiar with that C.S. Lewis thing. And it's interesting to me that's C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Rowling, they're all British, they all have initial first names. I don't what the conspiracy is here or something like that, but it's kind of interesting.
CAFFERTY: If they get rid of Eisner, make Pixar will come back to the table and do a deal with Disney.
SERWER: Maybe they can make a movie about Michael Eisner some day, what do you think about that?
CAFFERTY: That would be very interesting.
Time for a quick look at the markets.
SERWER: Yes, we do have time. Yesterday, a huge day. The Dow was up over 90 points, NASDAQ up over 1.4 percent. Today we are looking for a little bit of a pullback. And Alan Greenspan speaking at the economics club of New York at a luncheon, I don't know if you're going?
CAFFERTY: Yes, oh yes, I'm going to be there.
SERWER: Yes? Sign me up.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Andy, time for "The Cafferty File."
A town in Italy telling its citizens how to treat its dogs, its cats and its birds. It's a wealthy town, Reggio Emilia. It says people must, must pamper their pets or face big fines. I mean, like big fines. The rules include buying significant others for your birds. If you have a canary, you are supposed to get another canary so they are not lonely. Maybe the canary likes being by itself. Some of us do. Putting doghouses in shady sheltered areas, and it's also illegal to throw lives lobsters into boiling water. You're supposed to kill them first, then boil them. Yes, that's a good idea.
Now here's the deal, if you break any of these little rules in this town, the fines range from $30 to $615.
HEMMER: Tough crowd.
CAFFERTY: So take care of your bird.
SERWER: That's how you are supposed to cook lobsters, by the way.
CAFFERTY: Another reason to cast your ballot today, to vote for the 11th Commandment. Actually barring events unforeseen, we are going to do this as a question on Friday, the question of the day. But Britain's Methodist Church, along with a satirical Christian Web site, have decided that after 3,000 years, 10 Commandments are not enough, they need 11. Suggestions so far include stop war, reduce emissions, eat more donuts, and never get out your password. You can think about this in anticipation of Friday. We'll do our own version.
O'BRIEN: I like eat more donuts, but that's me.
CAFFERTY: Yes, the winners receive camera phones.
And for fans of the Atkins Diet, consider the following: cutting carbs can make you cranky. Researchers at MIT have found that carbohydrates help boost the production of serotonin, which actually controls your emotions. Not enough serontonin leads to mood swings, and depression and bitchiness. Their findings also show that a lack of carbs has more of an impact on women than it does on men. But we knew that, didn't we?
SERWER: So it's true about fat and happy then, right.
CAFFERTY: Yes. I've got two out of three.
HEMMER: I am impressed that you are thinking about the question of the day three days in advance. I mean, that is wonderful. Three days in advance. Bravo.
CAFFERTY: Well, we are getting a lot -- since I teased that as part of the file, a lot of people already writing in with their suggestions. And being as how I am always in search of any material, let alone good material, we are grabbing up this stuff, we're going to hold it and read it on Friday, and I'm only going to work a little bit. O'BRIEN: I thought you were going to say, you got all the e- mails already. You're not even coming in on Friday. I'm thinking for you.
Thank you, Jack.
Still to come this morning. With more than 1,000 Democratic delegates at stake today, we're going to hear from Senator John Kerry about how he likes his chances and how really feels about Senator John Edwards. That's ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues.
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HEMMER: In a moment here, live back to Iraq, the latest on those deadly and massive explosions earlier today. Also a big decision in the sexual assault case against Kobe Bryant. Will his accuser's sexual history be introduced in the court? We'll have a look at that issue right after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
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with Senator Bob Graham>
