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American Morning
White House Complains Kerry Benefiting From Illegal Ads; Using Humor to Fight Fat
Aired March 10, 2004 - 07:00 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: A big fight over big money. The Bush camp complains that John Kerry is benefiting from illegal TV ads. Also...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like someone's belly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Using humor to fight fat. The government launches an ad campaign to fight what will soon become America's number one cause of preventable death.
And a brutal sucker punch puts one hockey player in the hospital and another under a criminal investigation on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good morning, welcome to Wednesday and the stories this hour.
The winner of yesterday's primary elections never in much doubt.
Wait till you hear what most primary voters believe is the number one issue so far.
Bill Schneider joins us in a moment for the after effect of last night. Stay tuned for more on that.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, Scott Peterson's lawyer wants another change of venue. He says perspective jurors are biased against his client.
I thought he already had made this argument in front of the judge?
HEMMER: He'll make another one.
O'BRIEN: Going to keep arguing it until maybe someone changes their mind?
HEMMER: Yes.
Also Jack Cafferty -- good morning, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Startling study out. This nation is grossly overweight.
The number of obese people has increased 50 percent in a ten-year period, and overweight -- and the related diseases threaten to become the number one cause of preventable deaths, surpassing even tobacco by as early as next year.
We'll get into that in a few minutes; figure out whose problem it is.
O'BRIEN: Pretty shocking really.
CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.
O'BRIEN: Half a million people, they say, will die.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to our top stories this morning.
First, three civilian workers, including two Americans, have been killed in Iraq in an attack. The incident took place near Karbala last night.
Coalition officials say they are questioning now six suspects. Iraqi police say five of the suspected attackers were dressed in Iraqi police uniforms, but it's not clear if they really were members of the Iraqi police force.
CIA director George Tenet says he does not believe that President Bush overstated the case for war in Iraq. Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, Tenet said policy makers are entitled to flexibility in how they interpret and assess that information.
Under sharp questioning, Tenet also said that he spoke up when he believed someone was misconstruing intelligence.
We're going to have more on this story, of course, coming up in our next half hour.
President Bush will not impose a time limit on questions from the commission that's investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan says the president will answer all questions raised, and a senior official says President Bush is willing to go beyond the one-hour time limit that had been promised for the meeting.
In Chesapeake, Virginia, formal sentencing set today for convicted teenage sniper Lee Malvo. The judge is required to follow a jury's recommendation to sentence Malvo to life in prison. John Allen Mohammed was sentenced to death yesterday after a judge refused to reduce his sentence to life in prison without parole.
Former Montgomery County police chief Charles Moose is our guest coming up in the next half hour.
And a fast-moving wild fire is now threatening homes in Northern Florida. Nearly three-dozen homes have been evacuated about 40 miles west of Jacksonville.
The fire that began as a prescribed burn is raging out of control due to high winds, but the blaze has consumed nearly 30,000 acres.
HEMMER: About a week and a half ago that place was getting drenched with rain.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HEMMER: It could use that now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Let's start with politics. Senator John Kerry is closer than he has ever been this morning to becoming the official Democratic presidential nominee.
The results of yesterday's four Southern primaries were academic. Senator Kerry won them all by wide margins.
More on the March stored (ph) a mathematical lock this morning now from Candy Crowley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another election night sweep for John Kerry.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas people voted, and they voted for change in this great country of ours.
CROWLEY: So what else is new? Not much. The primary season nobody saw coming has turned into the primary season everybody has seen.
Another day, another photo op or two. A shake and smile with one presumes actual voters in a Florida diner and a holding swing at the Little Big World Day Care Center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Senator Kerry -- he's running for president of the United States.
CROWLEY: John Kerry has done due diligence for the past several days, traveling Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida at rallies and town halls, asking Democrats to support him in the primaries.
But that's not what it's about anymore. This is what it's about.
KERRY: If the president wants to have a debate a month on just one subject and we go round the country I think that would be a great idea. Let's go do it.
CROWLEY: It's about engaging George Bush early and often one way or the other.
KERRY: George Bush you promised to be a uniter has become the great divider.
CROWLEY: With Kerry's nomination all but assured, the primary states are pretty much backdrops now, places to warm up for a general election already boiling and, of course, places to look for cold cash.
(on camera): A little change of pace for Senator Kerry this afternoon when he returns to Washington for a series of meetings with old friends and old foes.
That will include a meeting this afternoon with Howard Dean. Aides on both sides say they doubt anything major will come out of this session. It is just a continuation of their efforts to get to like one another.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Also this note from the Sunshine State. Florida voters report experiencing a few problems at the polls, but in about an hour's time one county will start a complete recount.
And in Bay County, there apparently is a difference between the way absentee ballots and standard ballots were printed, keeping the scanner from collecting the votes correctly.
Well, the recount will not effect the result of yesterday's primary. So it goes in the Sunshine State -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well the Bush campaign today will file a complaint with federal election officials, charging that a multi-million dollar anti- Bush buy is illegal.
Mr. Bush's campaign claims that the campaign violates new campaign finance laws because it's being paid for with unregulated soft money contributions.
The $5 million ad buy was paid for by a group called The Media Fund, which is backed by Senator Kerry's former campaign manager.
The group says the charges are ridiculous, accusing the Bush campaign of trying to scare off its donors.
More on the story and also some exit polls from last night's primaries -- let's go to our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.
Nice to see you, Bill, good morning to you.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about this $5 million ad buy.
You have to imagine that this is only the beginning in what is sure to be a lots of debate over campaign ads and funding of them as well.
SCHNEIDER: Well that's right. The question comes down to this. Is this electioneering?
The ad says President Bush's priorities are eroding the American dream. It says it's time to take our country back from corporate greed and make America work for everyone.
Is that electioneering? If the federal election commission or the courts decide it is, then those groups will have to register as political groups and abide by fund raising restrictions no more than $5,0000 from a person.
The groups claim they can raise unlimited amounts of money because they say that's not electioneering; it doesn't tell anybody how to vote; it's issue advertising. It's advocacy ads and it's uncoordinated with the Democratic campaign.
It's an independent group. That's what this debate is all about. Democrats have a lot of success raising large amounts of money from big donors. Republicans have more success raising small amounts from small donors, lots of it, that President Bush has raised, that's used for political advertising.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. Right. Let's talk a little about the primaries and what happened yesterday.
In Florida -- which, of course, was the focus of many people -- there are polls as folks came out of voting and the polls looked into anger and confidence in the actual election process. Tell me a little bit about those polls.
SCHNEIDER: Remember Howard Dean -- how angry he was after he came in third in Iowa?
Well that feeling is shared by a lot of Florida voters. We asked in the exit poll how do you feel about President Bush, are you angry?
Well, look, 49 percent of Florida Democrats who voted yesterday said they were angry at President Bush and that goes for his brother too.
Forty-one percent said Governor Jeb Bush they're just as angry at him. One of the things they're angry about is of course what happened in Florida in 2000.
We asked them are you confident that your votes this year are going to be counted accurately? Only a quarter of the Florida voters said that they were very confident that their votes would be counted accurately. That is lower than in any of the other states, the Southern states, that voted yesterday.
O'BRIEN: Interesting numbers there. Let's talk about who is going to be the number two. Who would the voters want? When you look across the different states. Who is topping the list?
SCHNEIDER: Well, we gave the voters in each state a list and said who do you want John Kerry to pick; let's take a look at Florida. Top of the list in Florida is a gentleman named John Edwards from South Carolina. 44 percent.
Notice he comes out more than -- with more than twice as much support as the home state senator, Bob Graham who also briefly ran for president and who should be and could be on John Kerry's list.
Take a look at Louisiana. Top of the list? John Edwards from South Carolina -- from North Carolina. He comes out ahead of both Hillary Clinton and Mary Landrieu, the home state senator who might very well be on Kerry's list.
Take a look at Texas. There's no home state senator -- they're both Republicans from Texas, but there is a Hispanic who's on a lot of lists being talked about from a neighboring state, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. About 22 percent of the voters in the Texas primary were Latino. Bill Richardson happens to be a Latino. But yet got a very small number of votes. John Edwards has -- appears to have acquired a following all around the country as the top choice of Democrats for the vice-presidency.
O'BRIEN: Well these answers to the polls are fascinating. Bill Schneider for us this morning. Bill, thanks.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
HEMMER: U.S. Marines in Haiti will start helping police disarm Haitians. The Marines will follow the disarmament guidelines of other international forces, hoping newspapers and radio stations will tell the Haitian people that it is in their own best interest to cooperate.
Meanwhile, Haiti's newly selected prime minister plans to go to the country today. Gerard Latortue has been staying at his home in Boca Raton, Florida. A U.S.-backed Haitian commission selected the former U.N. official yesterday. Latortue will seek to build a transitional government and prepare the shattered country for elections.
Middle East news today, Palestinian militant leader Abu Abbas mastermind of the Achille Lauro hijacking back in 1985 has died in U.S. custody in Iraq. The Pentagon says Abbas appeared to have died of natural causes on Monday nearly 11 months after his capture by American troops in Iraq.
Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish-American tourist, was killed and thrown off the ship by Palestinian militants during that hijacking. In a statement responding to the death of Abbas, Klinghoffer's daughter said, and quoting now: "The one consolation for us is that Abu Abbas died in captivity, not as a free man. His trial and conviction also would have sent a clear message to terrorists everywhere that, if they kill an American citizen, they can run but they can't hide." End quote.
O'BRIEN: Some shocking sports news now. An All-Star from the Vancouver Canucks will meet with the National Hockey League officials today after a horrific on-ice incident. The Canucks Bertuzzi sucker- punched Colorado's Steve Moore on Monday night. Moore landing face first on the ice with Bertuzzi then on top of him.
Moore suffered a broken neck, a concussion and a deep cuts on his face. He is hospitalized now in Vancouver. Bertuzzi has been suspended indefinitely and now the Vancouver police are investigating.
HEMMER: Wow, a really shocking stuff to watch that. Absolute violence with which he hit that ice.
O'BRIEN: Unbelievable.
HEMMER: Second time in four years in Vancouver alone that police have looked into a situation like that. We'll see if anything comes of it.
In a moment, do fast food restaurants need Congress to shield them from lawsuits? Live at the Hill for more on that story in a moment here.
O'BRIEN: And a day after one D.C. area sniper is sentenced to death another faces his sentence. We're going to talk with the man who led the sniper investigation. Former police chief Charles Moose.
HEMMER: Also the CIA Director George Tenet under fire on Capitol Hill taking tough questions yesterday, denying the agency hyped intelligence in the run up to war. More on this in a moment as well here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A new government study says obesity may soon become the nation's number one cause of preventable death. Some people blame fast food restaurants and have taken their cases to court.
Today the House may pass a bill that would ban such lawsuits. Congressional correspondent Joe Johns is at the Capitol for us this morning with that story.
Hey Joe, good morning.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Soledad.
Backers of this bill say they are taking a stand against frivolous lawsuits, but critics charge if anything it's the legislation that's frivolous. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): Billions and billions served, but whose fault is it if you eat too many and get fat? Washington lawyer John Banzhaf blames the fast food industry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Banzhaf and many other lawyers want to sue fast food companies for their fair share of obesity, which costs Americans $117 billion a year, most of which is paid by non-obese taxpayers.
JOHNS: Banzhaf, who spearheaded the lawsuits against the tobacco industry, says the threat of similar lawsuits against fast food restaurants, will force them to serve healthier foods.
But the bill before the House would remove that threat by eliminating the right of consumers to sue if they gain weight.
REP. RIC KELLER (R), FLORIDA: We've got to get back to those old fashioned principles of personal responsibility and common sense, and get away from this new culture where everybody plays the victim and blames other people for their problems.
JOHNS: States are also moving to protect the fast food industry from civil lawsuits. At least 19 have such proposals as of March 1. Louisiana actually enacted a law. Despite all the attention there's no epidemic of litigation.
The high profile case against McDonald's was dismissed. Of a handful of other cases, none has been successful.
The industry says its insurance rates will go up if Congress doesn't act. Some argue a well-heeled interest group is trying to get around the courts.
REP. BOBBY SCOTT (D), VIRGINIA: We ought not have special privileges for the politically powerful. Cases ought to be tried in court.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Lots of politics here limiting liability is a key election year issue for Republicans but even if it passes the House it's uncertain whether it will pass the Senate -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Joe Johns for us this morning on Capitol Hill. Joe, thanks.
HEMMER: Going to be a major part of our coverage this morning. Jack's talking about it as well in the question of the day.
CAFFERTY: A study out, Bill and Soledad, obesity may soon overtake tobacco as this country's number one preventable killer. Two-thirds of Americans weigh too much.
Two-thirds. And the number of obese people is increased fifty percent in just ten years from the 1990 to 2000.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say if the trend continues obesity related deaths could be number one by next year, surpassing tobacco.
The study in the Journal of the AMA shows diet, physical inactivity accounting for 16.6 percent of preventable deaths in 2000. Not only is that almost as much as the 18.1 percent of deaths due to smoking, it's almost five times the number of deaths due to alcohol.
The government's taking all this very seriously. Well, sort of. The Department of Health and Human Services has added a touch of humor to the issue with its new ad campaign.
Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I help you, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Found these over by the stairs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are they?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Love handles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lots of people lose them taking the stairs instead of the escalator.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: Not bad considering it's a government production.
Who's responsible is the question of the day for fixing America's weight problem. Is it the government, is it the food industry, or is it the individual?
Here's a hint, the answer is C. You can e-mail us at am@cnn.com. We'll read your stuff during -- I mean, the government's tried this before, they tried it with prohibition and people continued to drink.
They -- how much do we spend on the war on drugs. As long as there's an appetite for drugs, people will use drugs. That's been a failure.
I mean, you can't legislate this stuff. What people have to understand is you will die if you don't stop the double cheeseburgers and the large orders of fries will probably take ten, fifteen years off your life.
Get up and exercise, don't eat so much.
O'BRIEN: Yes, but you can encourage insurance companies to underwrite lots of -- you know -- health care programs and gym memberships and maybe even gastric bypass.
CAFFERTY: That's true but who pays for all that? The underwriting that the insurance companies do.
O'BRIEN: I'm just throwing it out there, Jack.
CAFFERTY: I'm just saying but somebody has to pay for that stuff, right? I mean, there's a cost attached to everything.
O'BRIEN: But there's a cost to people being obese so you have to weigh those costs. I'm right on it today aren't I?
HEMMER: Keep going girl. We have three hours to go.
CAFFERTY: Cross town bus?
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: I'm quite through, are you?
CAFFERTY: I'm all done. I'm going to go eat.
O'BRIEN: Get me a Whopper.
Still to come this morning, got change for a million bucks? Here's the answer that one woman got at Wal-Mart, up next.
Stay with us, you're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Michael Eisner's role at Disney cut in half. What about his pay, though?
With that and an anniversary for the Nasdaq. The kind of anniversary we really don't want to remember.
Our Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business." Good morning to you.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning. Welcome back to you, Bill.
Actually, a couple of anniversaries this week for the Nasdaq.
Let's talk about what happened yesterday in the markets, though. First of all, check out the action.
Another dreary day on Wall Street kind of matched the weather up here in New York. And you can see the Nasdaq slip sliding away.
The big problem is a lot of people are concerned there's no catalyst for the market going forward. We've been moving up, month after month, and now there's just nothing powering us ahead. That brings us to anniversary number one.
Coming up this week on Friday, that is the one-year anniversary of the bull market, the recovery, on Friday year to year. But, the one that Bill's talking about, the biggy, March 10, 2000, where were you when the Nasdaq peaked.
HEMMER: Tell us.
SERWER: Back in the day. You know where I was? I was richer. That's where I was. 5,048 is where the Nasdaq was then. There it is. There's the slide, all the way down...
HEMMER: It was going to 10,000 right around then, don't' you remember that?
SERWER: Nasdaq 10,000 there were books, I mean, you know. That was Dow 36,000. And we're down 60 percent from that peak so you know obviously a long way.
Let's check out some of the big names, some of the stocks that really have taken a beating over the past couple of years, look at that. Those are some names that we all know.
And don't love.
You know, computer companies, technology companies, Lucent out of AT&T of course, and it's been a tough year.
HEMMER: How the mighty have fallen. Sun Micro was in the news yesterday, too, so.
SERWER: Yes, that's right.
HEMMER: Listen, the Disney family is really has it in for Michael Eisner do they not?
SERWER: Yes, this is pretty interesting stuff, kind of a low- profile members. Walt Disney's only surviving daughter, he had one daughter also pass away a couple of years back.
Diane Disney Miller yesterday in the "L.A. Times" coming out and saying that Michael Eisner should step down.
You know she is saying that she doesn't necessarily agree with her cousin Roy Disney, about asking him so quickly because it would make them vulnerable to Comcast, but she says its time for him to go.
Meanwhile, "The New York Times" reporting that Michael Eisner is re-negotiating his contract so he gets to keep all the goodies even though he's only the CEO not the chairman.
The beat goes on there too.
HEMMER: He's just not going away, that's right.
March of 2000, huh? Where were you? You were richer.
O'BRIEN: So was everybody.
HEMMER: Thanks Andy.
O'BRIEN: Have you guys heard the story -- this Georgia woman tried to use her millions to buy $1,600 worth of stuff at Wal-Mart. One little problem, though. Her millions were in the form of three $1 million bills.
HEMMER: Get out.
O'BRIEN: Well, the U.S. Treasury has made bills the size of $100,000 dollars before but it's been 35 years since they made a bill worth more than $100 bucks. But the woman insisted on using her $1 million dollar bill that was a fake.
Finally, the Wal-Mart employee called police. The woman was jailed on forgery charges.
HEMMER: You mean they didn't fall for that?
SERWER: The Statue of Liberty gave it away?
O'BRIEN: Nine hundred thousand dollars back in cash?
SERWER: In change, right.
HEMMER: Let's break here in a moment, five weeks until tax day, a good chance you'll be over paying this year. We'll see how you can prevent that.
When AMERICAN MORNING continues. Great topic here. We'll get to it after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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t
Using Humor to Fight Fat>
Aired March 10, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A big fight over big money. The Bush camp complains that John Kerry is benefiting from illegal TV ads. Also...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like someone's belly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Using humor to fight fat. The government launches an ad campaign to fight what will soon become America's number one cause of preventable death.
And a brutal sucker punch puts one hockey player in the hospital and another under a criminal investigation on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good morning, welcome to Wednesday and the stories this hour.
The winner of yesterday's primary elections never in much doubt.
Wait till you hear what most primary voters believe is the number one issue so far.
Bill Schneider joins us in a moment for the after effect of last night. Stay tuned for more on that.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, Scott Peterson's lawyer wants another change of venue. He says perspective jurors are biased against his client.
I thought he already had made this argument in front of the judge?
HEMMER: He'll make another one.
O'BRIEN: Going to keep arguing it until maybe someone changes their mind?
HEMMER: Yes.
Also Jack Cafferty -- good morning, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Startling study out. This nation is grossly overweight.
The number of obese people has increased 50 percent in a ten-year period, and overweight -- and the related diseases threaten to become the number one cause of preventable deaths, surpassing even tobacco by as early as next year.
We'll get into that in a few minutes; figure out whose problem it is.
O'BRIEN: Pretty shocking really.
CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.
O'BRIEN: Half a million people, they say, will die.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to our top stories this morning.
First, three civilian workers, including two Americans, have been killed in Iraq in an attack. The incident took place near Karbala last night.
Coalition officials say they are questioning now six suspects. Iraqi police say five of the suspected attackers were dressed in Iraqi police uniforms, but it's not clear if they really were members of the Iraqi police force.
CIA director George Tenet says he does not believe that President Bush overstated the case for war in Iraq. Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, Tenet said policy makers are entitled to flexibility in how they interpret and assess that information.
Under sharp questioning, Tenet also said that he spoke up when he believed someone was misconstruing intelligence.
We're going to have more on this story, of course, coming up in our next half hour.
President Bush will not impose a time limit on questions from the commission that's investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan says the president will answer all questions raised, and a senior official says President Bush is willing to go beyond the one-hour time limit that had been promised for the meeting.
In Chesapeake, Virginia, formal sentencing set today for convicted teenage sniper Lee Malvo. The judge is required to follow a jury's recommendation to sentence Malvo to life in prison. John Allen Mohammed was sentenced to death yesterday after a judge refused to reduce his sentence to life in prison without parole.
Former Montgomery County police chief Charles Moose is our guest coming up in the next half hour.
And a fast-moving wild fire is now threatening homes in Northern Florida. Nearly three-dozen homes have been evacuated about 40 miles west of Jacksonville.
The fire that began as a prescribed burn is raging out of control due to high winds, but the blaze has consumed nearly 30,000 acres.
HEMMER: About a week and a half ago that place was getting drenched with rain.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HEMMER: It could use that now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Let's start with politics. Senator John Kerry is closer than he has ever been this morning to becoming the official Democratic presidential nominee.
The results of yesterday's four Southern primaries were academic. Senator Kerry won them all by wide margins.
More on the March stored (ph) a mathematical lock this morning now from Candy Crowley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another election night sweep for John Kerry.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas people voted, and they voted for change in this great country of ours.
CROWLEY: So what else is new? Not much. The primary season nobody saw coming has turned into the primary season everybody has seen.
Another day, another photo op or two. A shake and smile with one presumes actual voters in a Florida diner and a holding swing at the Little Big World Day Care Center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Senator Kerry -- he's running for president of the United States.
CROWLEY: John Kerry has done due diligence for the past several days, traveling Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida at rallies and town halls, asking Democrats to support him in the primaries.
But that's not what it's about anymore. This is what it's about.
KERRY: If the president wants to have a debate a month on just one subject and we go round the country I think that would be a great idea. Let's go do it.
CROWLEY: It's about engaging George Bush early and often one way or the other.
KERRY: George Bush you promised to be a uniter has become the great divider.
CROWLEY: With Kerry's nomination all but assured, the primary states are pretty much backdrops now, places to warm up for a general election already boiling and, of course, places to look for cold cash.
(on camera): A little change of pace for Senator Kerry this afternoon when he returns to Washington for a series of meetings with old friends and old foes.
That will include a meeting this afternoon with Howard Dean. Aides on both sides say they doubt anything major will come out of this session. It is just a continuation of their efforts to get to like one another.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Also this note from the Sunshine State. Florida voters report experiencing a few problems at the polls, but in about an hour's time one county will start a complete recount.
And in Bay County, there apparently is a difference between the way absentee ballots and standard ballots were printed, keeping the scanner from collecting the votes correctly.
Well, the recount will not effect the result of yesterday's primary. So it goes in the Sunshine State -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well the Bush campaign today will file a complaint with federal election officials, charging that a multi-million dollar anti- Bush buy is illegal.
Mr. Bush's campaign claims that the campaign violates new campaign finance laws because it's being paid for with unregulated soft money contributions.
The $5 million ad buy was paid for by a group called The Media Fund, which is backed by Senator Kerry's former campaign manager.
The group says the charges are ridiculous, accusing the Bush campaign of trying to scare off its donors.
More on the story and also some exit polls from last night's primaries -- let's go to our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.
Nice to see you, Bill, good morning to you.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about this $5 million ad buy.
You have to imagine that this is only the beginning in what is sure to be a lots of debate over campaign ads and funding of them as well.
SCHNEIDER: Well that's right. The question comes down to this. Is this electioneering?
The ad says President Bush's priorities are eroding the American dream. It says it's time to take our country back from corporate greed and make America work for everyone.
Is that electioneering? If the federal election commission or the courts decide it is, then those groups will have to register as political groups and abide by fund raising restrictions no more than $5,0000 from a person.
The groups claim they can raise unlimited amounts of money because they say that's not electioneering; it doesn't tell anybody how to vote; it's issue advertising. It's advocacy ads and it's uncoordinated with the Democratic campaign.
It's an independent group. That's what this debate is all about. Democrats have a lot of success raising large amounts of money from big donors. Republicans have more success raising small amounts from small donors, lots of it, that President Bush has raised, that's used for political advertising.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. Right. Let's talk a little about the primaries and what happened yesterday.
In Florida -- which, of course, was the focus of many people -- there are polls as folks came out of voting and the polls looked into anger and confidence in the actual election process. Tell me a little bit about those polls.
SCHNEIDER: Remember Howard Dean -- how angry he was after he came in third in Iowa?
Well that feeling is shared by a lot of Florida voters. We asked in the exit poll how do you feel about President Bush, are you angry?
Well, look, 49 percent of Florida Democrats who voted yesterday said they were angry at President Bush and that goes for his brother too.
Forty-one percent said Governor Jeb Bush they're just as angry at him. One of the things they're angry about is of course what happened in Florida in 2000.
We asked them are you confident that your votes this year are going to be counted accurately? Only a quarter of the Florida voters said that they were very confident that their votes would be counted accurately. That is lower than in any of the other states, the Southern states, that voted yesterday.
O'BRIEN: Interesting numbers there. Let's talk about who is going to be the number two. Who would the voters want? When you look across the different states. Who is topping the list?
SCHNEIDER: Well, we gave the voters in each state a list and said who do you want John Kerry to pick; let's take a look at Florida. Top of the list in Florida is a gentleman named John Edwards from South Carolina. 44 percent.
Notice he comes out more than -- with more than twice as much support as the home state senator, Bob Graham who also briefly ran for president and who should be and could be on John Kerry's list.
Take a look at Louisiana. Top of the list? John Edwards from South Carolina -- from North Carolina. He comes out ahead of both Hillary Clinton and Mary Landrieu, the home state senator who might very well be on Kerry's list.
Take a look at Texas. There's no home state senator -- they're both Republicans from Texas, but there is a Hispanic who's on a lot of lists being talked about from a neighboring state, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. About 22 percent of the voters in the Texas primary were Latino. Bill Richardson happens to be a Latino. But yet got a very small number of votes. John Edwards has -- appears to have acquired a following all around the country as the top choice of Democrats for the vice-presidency.
O'BRIEN: Well these answers to the polls are fascinating. Bill Schneider for us this morning. Bill, thanks.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
HEMMER: U.S. Marines in Haiti will start helping police disarm Haitians. The Marines will follow the disarmament guidelines of other international forces, hoping newspapers and radio stations will tell the Haitian people that it is in their own best interest to cooperate.
Meanwhile, Haiti's newly selected prime minister plans to go to the country today. Gerard Latortue has been staying at his home in Boca Raton, Florida. A U.S.-backed Haitian commission selected the former U.N. official yesterday. Latortue will seek to build a transitional government and prepare the shattered country for elections.
Middle East news today, Palestinian militant leader Abu Abbas mastermind of the Achille Lauro hijacking back in 1985 has died in U.S. custody in Iraq. The Pentagon says Abbas appeared to have died of natural causes on Monday nearly 11 months after his capture by American troops in Iraq.
Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish-American tourist, was killed and thrown off the ship by Palestinian militants during that hijacking. In a statement responding to the death of Abbas, Klinghoffer's daughter said, and quoting now: "The one consolation for us is that Abu Abbas died in captivity, not as a free man. His trial and conviction also would have sent a clear message to terrorists everywhere that, if they kill an American citizen, they can run but they can't hide." End quote.
O'BRIEN: Some shocking sports news now. An All-Star from the Vancouver Canucks will meet with the National Hockey League officials today after a horrific on-ice incident. The Canucks Bertuzzi sucker- punched Colorado's Steve Moore on Monday night. Moore landing face first on the ice with Bertuzzi then on top of him.
Moore suffered a broken neck, a concussion and a deep cuts on his face. He is hospitalized now in Vancouver. Bertuzzi has been suspended indefinitely and now the Vancouver police are investigating.
HEMMER: Wow, a really shocking stuff to watch that. Absolute violence with which he hit that ice.
O'BRIEN: Unbelievable.
HEMMER: Second time in four years in Vancouver alone that police have looked into a situation like that. We'll see if anything comes of it.
In a moment, do fast food restaurants need Congress to shield them from lawsuits? Live at the Hill for more on that story in a moment here.
O'BRIEN: And a day after one D.C. area sniper is sentenced to death another faces his sentence. We're going to talk with the man who led the sniper investigation. Former police chief Charles Moose.
HEMMER: Also the CIA Director George Tenet under fire on Capitol Hill taking tough questions yesterday, denying the agency hyped intelligence in the run up to war. More on this in a moment as well here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A new government study says obesity may soon become the nation's number one cause of preventable death. Some people blame fast food restaurants and have taken their cases to court.
Today the House may pass a bill that would ban such lawsuits. Congressional correspondent Joe Johns is at the Capitol for us this morning with that story.
Hey Joe, good morning.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Soledad.
Backers of this bill say they are taking a stand against frivolous lawsuits, but critics charge if anything it's the legislation that's frivolous. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): Billions and billions served, but whose fault is it if you eat too many and get fat? Washington lawyer John Banzhaf blames the fast food industry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Banzhaf and many other lawyers want to sue fast food companies for their fair share of obesity, which costs Americans $117 billion a year, most of which is paid by non-obese taxpayers.
JOHNS: Banzhaf, who spearheaded the lawsuits against the tobacco industry, says the threat of similar lawsuits against fast food restaurants, will force them to serve healthier foods.
But the bill before the House would remove that threat by eliminating the right of consumers to sue if they gain weight.
REP. RIC KELLER (R), FLORIDA: We've got to get back to those old fashioned principles of personal responsibility and common sense, and get away from this new culture where everybody plays the victim and blames other people for their problems.
JOHNS: States are also moving to protect the fast food industry from civil lawsuits. At least 19 have such proposals as of March 1. Louisiana actually enacted a law. Despite all the attention there's no epidemic of litigation.
The high profile case against McDonald's was dismissed. Of a handful of other cases, none has been successful.
The industry says its insurance rates will go up if Congress doesn't act. Some argue a well-heeled interest group is trying to get around the courts.
REP. BOBBY SCOTT (D), VIRGINIA: We ought not have special privileges for the politically powerful. Cases ought to be tried in court.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Lots of politics here limiting liability is a key election year issue for Republicans but even if it passes the House it's uncertain whether it will pass the Senate -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Joe Johns for us this morning on Capitol Hill. Joe, thanks.
HEMMER: Going to be a major part of our coverage this morning. Jack's talking about it as well in the question of the day.
CAFFERTY: A study out, Bill and Soledad, obesity may soon overtake tobacco as this country's number one preventable killer. Two-thirds of Americans weigh too much.
Two-thirds. And the number of obese people is increased fifty percent in just ten years from the 1990 to 2000.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say if the trend continues obesity related deaths could be number one by next year, surpassing tobacco.
The study in the Journal of the AMA shows diet, physical inactivity accounting for 16.6 percent of preventable deaths in 2000. Not only is that almost as much as the 18.1 percent of deaths due to smoking, it's almost five times the number of deaths due to alcohol.
The government's taking all this very seriously. Well, sort of. The Department of Health and Human Services has added a touch of humor to the issue with its new ad campaign.
Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I help you, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Found these over by the stairs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are they?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Love handles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lots of people lose them taking the stairs instead of the escalator.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: Not bad considering it's a government production.
Who's responsible is the question of the day for fixing America's weight problem. Is it the government, is it the food industry, or is it the individual?
Here's a hint, the answer is C. You can e-mail us at am@cnn.com. We'll read your stuff during -- I mean, the government's tried this before, they tried it with prohibition and people continued to drink.
They -- how much do we spend on the war on drugs. As long as there's an appetite for drugs, people will use drugs. That's been a failure.
I mean, you can't legislate this stuff. What people have to understand is you will die if you don't stop the double cheeseburgers and the large orders of fries will probably take ten, fifteen years off your life.
Get up and exercise, don't eat so much.
O'BRIEN: Yes, but you can encourage insurance companies to underwrite lots of -- you know -- health care programs and gym memberships and maybe even gastric bypass.
CAFFERTY: That's true but who pays for all that? The underwriting that the insurance companies do.
O'BRIEN: I'm just throwing it out there, Jack.
CAFFERTY: I'm just saying but somebody has to pay for that stuff, right? I mean, there's a cost attached to everything.
O'BRIEN: But there's a cost to people being obese so you have to weigh those costs. I'm right on it today aren't I?
HEMMER: Keep going girl. We have three hours to go.
CAFFERTY: Cross town bus?
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: I'm quite through, are you?
CAFFERTY: I'm all done. I'm going to go eat.
O'BRIEN: Get me a Whopper.
Still to come this morning, got change for a million bucks? Here's the answer that one woman got at Wal-Mart, up next.
Stay with us, you're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Michael Eisner's role at Disney cut in half. What about his pay, though?
With that and an anniversary for the Nasdaq. The kind of anniversary we really don't want to remember.
Our Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business." Good morning to you.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning. Welcome back to you, Bill.
Actually, a couple of anniversaries this week for the Nasdaq.
Let's talk about what happened yesterday in the markets, though. First of all, check out the action.
Another dreary day on Wall Street kind of matched the weather up here in New York. And you can see the Nasdaq slip sliding away.
The big problem is a lot of people are concerned there's no catalyst for the market going forward. We've been moving up, month after month, and now there's just nothing powering us ahead. That brings us to anniversary number one.
Coming up this week on Friday, that is the one-year anniversary of the bull market, the recovery, on Friday year to year. But, the one that Bill's talking about, the biggy, March 10, 2000, where were you when the Nasdaq peaked.
HEMMER: Tell us.
SERWER: Back in the day. You know where I was? I was richer. That's where I was. 5,048 is where the Nasdaq was then. There it is. There's the slide, all the way down...
HEMMER: It was going to 10,000 right around then, don't' you remember that?
SERWER: Nasdaq 10,000 there were books, I mean, you know. That was Dow 36,000. And we're down 60 percent from that peak so you know obviously a long way.
Let's check out some of the big names, some of the stocks that really have taken a beating over the past couple of years, look at that. Those are some names that we all know.
And don't love.
You know, computer companies, technology companies, Lucent out of AT&T of course, and it's been a tough year.
HEMMER: How the mighty have fallen. Sun Micro was in the news yesterday, too, so.
SERWER: Yes, that's right.
HEMMER: Listen, the Disney family is really has it in for Michael Eisner do they not?
SERWER: Yes, this is pretty interesting stuff, kind of a low- profile members. Walt Disney's only surviving daughter, he had one daughter also pass away a couple of years back.
Diane Disney Miller yesterday in the "L.A. Times" coming out and saying that Michael Eisner should step down.
You know she is saying that she doesn't necessarily agree with her cousin Roy Disney, about asking him so quickly because it would make them vulnerable to Comcast, but she says its time for him to go.
Meanwhile, "The New York Times" reporting that Michael Eisner is re-negotiating his contract so he gets to keep all the goodies even though he's only the CEO not the chairman.
The beat goes on there too.
HEMMER: He's just not going away, that's right.
March of 2000, huh? Where were you? You were richer.
O'BRIEN: So was everybody.
HEMMER: Thanks Andy.
O'BRIEN: Have you guys heard the story -- this Georgia woman tried to use her millions to buy $1,600 worth of stuff at Wal-Mart. One little problem, though. Her millions were in the form of three $1 million bills.
HEMMER: Get out.
O'BRIEN: Well, the U.S. Treasury has made bills the size of $100,000 dollars before but it's been 35 years since they made a bill worth more than $100 bucks. But the woman insisted on using her $1 million dollar bill that was a fake.
Finally, the Wal-Mart employee called police. The woman was jailed on forgery charges.
HEMMER: You mean they didn't fall for that?
SERWER: The Statue of Liberty gave it away?
O'BRIEN: Nine hundred thousand dollars back in cash?
SERWER: In change, right.
HEMMER: Let's break here in a moment, five weeks until tax day, a good chance you'll be over paying this year. We'll see how you can prevent that.
When AMERICAN MORNING continues. Great topic here. We'll get to it after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Using Humor to Fight Fat>
