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CNN Live Today
9/11 Commission to Release Final Report This Week; Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee Talks Obesity
Aired July 19, 2004 - 10:27 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Here are the stories now in the news. A crisis in Palestinian leadership appears to be deepening. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei has called a cabinet meeting to discuss in Gaza, which he says is in chaos. Qorei announced his resignation Saturday but says there is no written response from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on that issue or claims that two officials who now say they are in charge of general security in Gaza and the West Bank.
There are a few new details on an explosion that took place just a short time ago in Gaza. Witnesses say that at least two people were wounded by the blast inside a family home linked to militant groups. Some Palestinians blamed an Israeli air strike. But residents say they saw no Israeli helicopters or planes. They suspect it may have been a bomb-making accident.
A wildfire in Southern California has chased thousands of people from their homes, the L.A. County fire department says as many as 800 homes are currently threatened by the fire, 1600 homes near Santa Clarita are under mandatory orders to evacuate. Statewide several wildfires have burned more than 40,000 acres.
The federal investigation is ratcheting up at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Two electronic data storage devices were reported missing from the lab earlier this month, prompting serious security concerns and a halt to classified work. Meanwhile, a watchdog group is reporting that classified information had been recently sent over the lab's insecure e-mail system.
As we mentioned earlier this hour, the 9/11 Commission releases its report this week and it focuses very much on the future. It calls for reforming U.S. intelligence by empowering one person to oversea all of it. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash is at the White House with the view from there.
Dana, good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. And the president has been out over the past week or so talking about the need for reforming the intelligence community. that in the wake of a Senate report about Iraq's prewar intelligence that was faulty, they said. But the White House this morning is being very careful not to take a position yet on a key recommendation, we understand from sources, of the 9/11 Commission.
And that is creating a new cabinet level position to be in charge of all 15 agencies of the Intelligence community. That the 9/11 Commission, we understand, will recommend. It will help streamline the information and coordinate information on intelligence.
Now, spokesman Scott McClellan said here this morning simply that the president is open to additional views and additional ideas that build upon the reforms that have already been implemented since September 11.
But meanwhile, the president's acting CIA director, John McLaughlin has taken a position and the White House notes it is his personal position, and that is that he thinks it would simply add another layer of bureaucracy. And he says besides that on paper the director of intelligence is supposed to be in charge of all the intelligence agencies.
The problem many say, however, is that since that law was implemented more than 50 years ago, other agencies -- intelligence agencies have sprung up at various cabinet levels that this particular CIA director doesn't have control over. So some former CIA directors say what is needed at this point is to have one person in control of it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STANSFIELD TURNER, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: If you read the Senate Intelligence Committee's report of last week, he and Director Tenet spent rather little of their effort on managing the intelligence community as the job of director, focused most of their attention on a running of the CIA and did a good job of it. I happen to think that you can't do both of those jobs, run the community well, run the CIA well with one person. It just is more than an individual can handle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whose Pentagon controls actually most of the intelligence purse strings in the government, he testified before the 9/11 Commission back in March and he argued that this actually -- this proposal could hinder intelligence gathering.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Fostering multiple centers of information has proven to be better at promoting creativity and challenging conventional thinking. There may be ways we can strengthen intelligence, but centralization is most certainly not one of them.
BASH: So Daryn, there you get some of the arguments on all sides of this debate. And it is a debate that is still going on here at the White House. the president again not taking a formal position and not intending to do so, at least until this report comes out formally on Thursday -- Daryn.
KAGAN: We will be looking for it. Dana Bash at the White House. Dana, thank you. Meanwhile, the Democrats presumptive challenger for the Oval Office is taking a day off from the campaign trail today. John Kerry has no public appearances and his running mate also staying close to home. John Edwards awakened in his own bed in Raleigh this morning and will focus on his home state of North Carolina. He has a fundraiser planned this afternoon in Durham.
Some California Democrats are stewing a pointed remark talked out by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over the weekend. They say his comment was sexist, homophobic and distracting.
Take a listen for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: If they don't have the guts to come out here in front of you and say, I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers, and I want them to make the millions of dollars, I don't want to represent. They don't have the guts, I call them girlie men. We should go back to the trailer (ph) and we should fix the budget.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Yes, you heard it. Schwarzenegger says he is not going to apologize for calling lawmakers "girlie men." His spokesmen said that if Democrats complain too much about it, maybe they are making the governor's point for him.
Well, the California fight is over fiscal fitness, but physical fitness is becoming a national concern. Medicare now considers obesity a disease. And that means the agency might eventually pick up the tab for treatment including surgery and diets.
Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson explained the change in policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY THOMPSON, HHS SECRETARY: The big change is is that we have got such a huge problem in America with people that are overweight and obese. Sixty-five percent of Americans are either in one of those two categories. And the kind of diseases that are affected by obesity, such as strokes and heart attacks and some cancers, are causing such a tremendous problem we decided we have to do something about it. And that's why the government has decided to change its policy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Well, now we focus on someone who has made changes for himself. Obesity began to weigh on Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee after the Centers for Disease Control identified his state as having a 22 percent obesity rate. His plan of attack started at home with himself. The governor enrolled in a weight loss program. And take a look for yourself. He has dropped 105 pounds. Doesn't want to share what he weighed before he started. I think that's perfectly fair. But he says he can tell us how he's changing the shape of Arkansas. The governor, Governor Mike Huckabee, what is left of him, is joining us from Seattle.
Good morning.
GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE (R), ARKANSAS: It's great to talk to you, Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, can I just say you look fantastic.
HUCKABEE: Well, thank you. I appreciate it. I feel fantastic. In fact I feel better than I've felt since I was a teenager. I'm not sure I felt this good when I was a teenager.
KAGAN: One hundred and five pounds, really, this time last year, 105 pounds more?
HUCKABEE: Right. It's an amazing journey. And I woke up and finally through a number of things realized that I was digging my grave with a knife and fork and that if I didn't make some lifestyle changes that I was going to die within 10 years. Diagnosed with diabetes a little more than a year ago, I was one of those folks that Tommy Thompson was talking about that had made some very bade choices. And I realized that I couldn't blame anybody else. I had to accept responsibility. And I had to make some changes. And the big thing, Daryn, was not saying, I'm going to lose weight. I think that's the wrong focus and it's one of the reasons so many people fail. The goal is not weight loss, the goal is health and fitness. And if one gets healthy and fit weight take cares of itself. And it really is more about what goes on in our mind rather than just what goes in our mouths.
KAGAN: Absolutely. But basically how did you do it? I'm sure you get asked that all the time.
HUCKABEE: Well, yes, and people say, OK, what type of program?
KAGAN: How do you do it? Exactly.
HUCKABEE: There was a program that I entered through our med school, University of Arkansas Medical Science Campus. But the real -- the essence is of it is, you take in fewer calories and you output more calories.
KAGAN: You are kidding. This is groundbreaking, Governor.
HUCKABEE: Isn't that rocket science amazing?
KAGAN: Shocking. Amazing how that works.
HUCKABEE: It really is the simple formula that our doctors have been telling us all along, eat less, exercise more. But it's not just what -- how much we eat but it's how we eat and much and how often.
KAGAN: And exercise. HUCKABEE: Portion control. Exercise is a very critical part. There are a lot of people quite frankly that may be a little overweight but exercise regularly who are healthier than rail skinny people who never get any exercise. So, again, it's also -- it's not a program where you say, all right, I'm going to do something for three months and lose 15 pounds. It's, I'm going to change my life. I'm going to eat differently. I'm going to eat more fruits and vegetables. I'm going to eat lean meats. I'm not going to eat junk food. I'm not going to pour into my body a lot of refined sugar and things that frankly have no nutritional value. It's an amazing change not only in terms of the way one looks, but the energy and just the overall sense of health. And I've completely reversed diabetes, Daryn.
KAGAN: Excellent.
HUCKABEE: I now have no symptoms. Three weeks ago my doctor told me that I will live as long as anybody, much to the chagrin of some politicians in Arkansas.
(LAUGHTER)
KAGAN: Good news-bad news, perhaps, in the world of politics. But no, that is actually excellent news. But the other interesting part of the story is, you're not just making it about you, you are looking at your home state and saying, not just the population, but especially kids are at risk. You are trying to change a culture that, as you've said, in the South, if you can eat it you fry it and pour gravy on top.
HUCKABEE: Well, and you know, part of the reason for that is because like so many other southerners, I grew up very poor. The fact is the things that we grew up eating that became sort of our conditioning, we ate them not because they just stretched the waistline but they stretched the food dollar for a family. And so it is cultural and it has to do with a whole lot of factors. But I can't make that an excuse and say now I can't do better.
And the thing is there are ways for us to approach this. We launched an initiative in Arkansas called Healthy Arkansas. It's a building program in which we're trying to change the paradigm of health care, from pouring more money into paying people when they get sick, to encouraging people to get well.
And I realize, Daryn, that leaders can't ask others to do what they are unwilling to do. I have got a huge crisis in my state of Arkansas with children and obesity. And it would be really difficult for me to go out and say, kids, you have got to do better, when they look at me, their governor and they knew I wasn't doing better.
Now they can say, the governor is no gym rat. He is not some guy that has lived his whole life buff and fit, but he has made a change, so if he can do it, maybe I can too. And it is having a tremendous impact. And that is my hope and goal. It may be one of the most important things I've ever done as a governor. KAGAN: And the -- I can see how that would be true. And the economics I think is an interesting point because everybody, especially lower economic levels, they are not going to have access to expensive diet programs or, like you did, to a nice medical center. So how do they get those resources?
HUCKABEE: Well, we're trying to put together now some very simple and affordable ways for anyone to be able to access some basic tips. What I'm telling people, look, there is no magic pill. There is no sort of just some piece of easy change. You have to make the decision that you want to change. And then you first do two things. You have to recondition and unlearn the bad habits. That has to happen before anything is going to be successful. Then you have to introduce good habits and learn to condition yourself toward them. And it's doable. I think that the exciting thing is that I've lived through this now and sharing those thoughts and beginning to formulate, OK, now let me see what I've really learned. And it's been an exciting process and one that has really been life-changing for me. It sounds like it, 105 pounds later. I would say you're done, though. No more. We need to keep the rest of the governor here.
HUCKABEE: No -- yes, right now it's just that...
KAGAN: Well, not done but maintenance.
HUCKABEE: That's right. And I'm not even attempting to lose weight. And I really haven't been for a while. It's just a matter of staying fit and trying to get the exercise in every day. I get up at 4:30 most every morning to do it because if I don't make the time and set it aside, there will be too many things creep into the day. So it's a matter of saying that, just like I used to say, I can't miss a meal, these days I say I can't miss the exercise routine.
KAGAN: Excellent. Well, when you come through Atlanta we'll have to go for a run.
HUCKABEE: Sounds great, Daryn.
KAGAN: I'll show you the good running routes here in Atlanta. Congratulations, congratulations and especially on all of the work in Arkansas. Governor Mike Huckabee, 105 pounds less of him. Thank you.
Well, this is one family -- this is a ride that one family will never forget. An innocent hot air balloon ride that turned into a dangerous situation. More on that and how it ended.
And also saying good-bye to Bobo. The story of the escaped tiger that comes to a close. More on Bobo just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: Right now we're going to take a look at other stories making news coast to coast. Missing girl is a case in New Jersey. She is now considered a potential murder victim. The 16-year-old Brittney Gregory vanished a week ago from Brick Township. Today a 38- year-old man is due in court to face formal charges of murder. Her body hasn't been found yet and police are not commenting on the case.
To Loxahatchee, Florida, dozens of people turned out for the funeral of Bobo the tiger. As you might remember, wildlife officials sought and killed the big cat on Tuesday after it escaped from its owner, a movie actor who once played Tarzan. Steve Sipek says the killing was unnecessary.
To Baltimore, Maryland, this balloon will stay safely tethered to the ground today. Authorities have grounded the helium-filled balloon that bobbed aimlessly some 300 feet in the air this weekend. Some of the people onboard suffered some minor injuries from the jostling and its slamming at one point into police headquarters.
Every time they get behind the wheel they are risking their lives. The latest on Dale Earnhardt's condition after his escape from this race car inferno.
And this is what we're working on for next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Stock car racer, driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in the hospital today. You're about to see why he considers himself very lucky. Check out this view. Inside his car during a practice run for an upcoming race in Sonoma, California. His Corvette slams into a barrier, burning fuel, engulfs him with his car. He escaped with second degree burns on his chin and inside of his legs. He should be out of the hospital in a day or two. Incredible when you look at all those flames. Joining us from Charlotte, North Carolina, is Marty Smith, senior writer for nascar.com, and good friend of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Marty, good morning, thanks for being with us.
MARTY SMITH, NASCAR.COM: Thank you, Daryn. I appreciate you guys having me here. You're right, I just talked to Dale Jr.'s team. He should be home today. Actually they expect him home later today just fine. And as has been widely reported, they also anticipate he'll be racing this weekend in New Hampshire.
KAGAN: Yes, I want to look ahead to New Hampshire in just second. But first of all, if we could look at the video again. If you could talk a little bit about what you think what went wrong here.
SMITH: Well, essentially what happened was I can't see the video at all...
KAGAN: OK. You have seen pictures.
SMITH: Essentially what happened was there is a net that connect where the car is actually fueled and then where the fuel cell that holds the fuel. And when -- upon impact that neck broke. It was full of fuel and therefore ignited extremely rapidly and engulfed the car. I've been doing this for six-and-a-half years in NASCAR and I have never seen anything like this. It was one of the scariest wrecks that I have seen. And man, I'll tell you, super blessed that he got out of there OK and we're all obviously very, very glad that he's going to be all right.
KAGAN: Absolutely. We can talk about blessed, we can talk about thankful, but did it also help that he was wearing a full face helmet, a change that he made after his father died a few years ago?
SMITH: Undoubtedly. There is no question about it. If you think about him physically, he had burns on his chin. So had he not had the full face cover it might have been his entire face. So obviously yes, it is very important that he had on a full face helmet as well as fire retardant suit, as well. So yes, absolutely.
KAGAN: Let's talk a little bit about what junior was doing in the first place. This is an off weekend, so it is not a regular NASCAR event.
SMITH: Correct. We were off this weekend. No Nextel Cup series race. So Dale Jr. went out to Sonoma, California, where the Nextel Cup series actually just raced about a month ago and was racing Grand Am cars, a different racing series. It's an IMSA series, International Motor Sports Association series. He was racing Corvettes on behalf of Chevrolet, teaming up with a road racer named Boris Said to go out there and develop himself as a road course racer to take the knowledge he learned there and incorporate that in his Nextel Cup team to try to become a better racer and essentially just having fun on his weekend off. And of course, we almost had a tragic situation.
KAGAN: Now we look back a couple years ago, he had another accident on the same circuit, didn't he? In 2002...
SMITH: The IMSA circuit?
KAGAN: Yes. He had another accident in 2002 and he was asked, is this going to affect your driving? He told NASCAR officials, he told his fans no but later admitted that in fact it did affect his driving for some weeks to come.
SMITH: Yes. But that was not -- that was actually a NASCAR -- at the time Winston Cup series race at California Speedway. Yes. He suffered a serious impact, blew a right front tire I believe, hit the wall really hard and he did later admit -- several months later, actually, that it did affect his equilibrium, et cetera, but he did not tell anybody at the time. Racers are ornery, they won't tell anybody that they are hurt so they will stay in the seat.
KAGAN: So much of it is a mind game too. Now looking ahead this weekend, NASCAR moves to New Hampshire, you say Junior is expected to go?
SMITH: Yes, ma'am. He's absolutely going to race. He's going to be in the No. 8 car next weekend, which was obviously a primary concern for everyone. Racing -- the race that he was racing yesterday when he got hurt, you know, there's not all the ramifications that there is you know -- there's a lot of ramifications there when you consider his primary sponsor, Budweiser, in the Nextel Cup series, was not on this car. That's not his primary job. So he's out there having fun and that's where he got hurt. But yes, he's going to be going to New Hampshire and racing the 8 car. They see no trouble there.
KAGAN: All right. His fans will be watching. We wish him well. Marty Smith, Nascar.com, thank you for the information, appreciate that.
SMITH: Thank you.
KAGAN: Well, for the sixth year in a yank has captured a British Open, again a relative unknown, 38-year-old Todd Hamilton celebrated his first year in the PGA tour by capturing the sport's oldest major and he did it in high fashion. This is about as exciting as it gets for Hamilton. He made the four-hole playoff. He beat back Ernie Els, the world's No. 2 player. He's just a down home guy from the Midwest.
And what about American Lance Armstrong. He today has the day off to rest and regroup along with the challengers in the Tour De France. Armstrong has surged from sixth to second place and silenced doubters who said he was past his prime. Armstrong is trying to capture a record sixth title in cycling's premier event. Thursday is supposed to be the big, big deciding day in the Tour De France. We're back in a moment. We'll have a look at your forecast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
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Aired July 19, 2004 - 10:27 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Here are the stories now in the news. A crisis in Palestinian leadership appears to be deepening. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei has called a cabinet meeting to discuss in Gaza, which he says is in chaos. Qorei announced his resignation Saturday but says there is no written response from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on that issue or claims that two officials who now say they are in charge of general security in Gaza and the West Bank.
There are a few new details on an explosion that took place just a short time ago in Gaza. Witnesses say that at least two people were wounded by the blast inside a family home linked to militant groups. Some Palestinians blamed an Israeli air strike. But residents say they saw no Israeli helicopters or planes. They suspect it may have been a bomb-making accident.
A wildfire in Southern California has chased thousands of people from their homes, the L.A. County fire department says as many as 800 homes are currently threatened by the fire, 1600 homes near Santa Clarita are under mandatory orders to evacuate. Statewide several wildfires have burned more than 40,000 acres.
The federal investigation is ratcheting up at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Two electronic data storage devices were reported missing from the lab earlier this month, prompting serious security concerns and a halt to classified work. Meanwhile, a watchdog group is reporting that classified information had been recently sent over the lab's insecure e-mail system.
As we mentioned earlier this hour, the 9/11 Commission releases its report this week and it focuses very much on the future. It calls for reforming U.S. intelligence by empowering one person to oversea all of it. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash is at the White House with the view from there.
Dana, good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. And the president has been out over the past week or so talking about the need for reforming the intelligence community. that in the wake of a Senate report about Iraq's prewar intelligence that was faulty, they said. But the White House this morning is being very careful not to take a position yet on a key recommendation, we understand from sources, of the 9/11 Commission.
And that is creating a new cabinet level position to be in charge of all 15 agencies of the Intelligence community. That the 9/11 Commission, we understand, will recommend. It will help streamline the information and coordinate information on intelligence.
Now, spokesman Scott McClellan said here this morning simply that the president is open to additional views and additional ideas that build upon the reforms that have already been implemented since September 11.
But meanwhile, the president's acting CIA director, John McLaughlin has taken a position and the White House notes it is his personal position, and that is that he thinks it would simply add another layer of bureaucracy. And he says besides that on paper the director of intelligence is supposed to be in charge of all the intelligence agencies.
The problem many say, however, is that since that law was implemented more than 50 years ago, other agencies -- intelligence agencies have sprung up at various cabinet levels that this particular CIA director doesn't have control over. So some former CIA directors say what is needed at this point is to have one person in control of it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STANSFIELD TURNER, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: If you read the Senate Intelligence Committee's report of last week, he and Director Tenet spent rather little of their effort on managing the intelligence community as the job of director, focused most of their attention on a running of the CIA and did a good job of it. I happen to think that you can't do both of those jobs, run the community well, run the CIA well with one person. It just is more than an individual can handle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whose Pentagon controls actually most of the intelligence purse strings in the government, he testified before the 9/11 Commission back in March and he argued that this actually -- this proposal could hinder intelligence gathering.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Fostering multiple centers of information has proven to be better at promoting creativity and challenging conventional thinking. There may be ways we can strengthen intelligence, but centralization is most certainly not one of them.
BASH: So Daryn, there you get some of the arguments on all sides of this debate. And it is a debate that is still going on here at the White House. the president again not taking a formal position and not intending to do so, at least until this report comes out formally on Thursday -- Daryn.
KAGAN: We will be looking for it. Dana Bash at the White House. Dana, thank you. Meanwhile, the Democrats presumptive challenger for the Oval Office is taking a day off from the campaign trail today. John Kerry has no public appearances and his running mate also staying close to home. John Edwards awakened in his own bed in Raleigh this morning and will focus on his home state of North Carolina. He has a fundraiser planned this afternoon in Durham.
Some California Democrats are stewing a pointed remark talked out by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over the weekend. They say his comment was sexist, homophobic and distracting.
Take a listen for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: If they don't have the guts to come out here in front of you and say, I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers, and I want them to make the millions of dollars, I don't want to represent. They don't have the guts, I call them girlie men. We should go back to the trailer (ph) and we should fix the budget.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Yes, you heard it. Schwarzenegger says he is not going to apologize for calling lawmakers "girlie men." His spokesmen said that if Democrats complain too much about it, maybe they are making the governor's point for him.
Well, the California fight is over fiscal fitness, but physical fitness is becoming a national concern. Medicare now considers obesity a disease. And that means the agency might eventually pick up the tab for treatment including surgery and diets.
Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson explained the change in policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY THOMPSON, HHS SECRETARY: The big change is is that we have got such a huge problem in America with people that are overweight and obese. Sixty-five percent of Americans are either in one of those two categories. And the kind of diseases that are affected by obesity, such as strokes and heart attacks and some cancers, are causing such a tremendous problem we decided we have to do something about it. And that's why the government has decided to change its policy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Well, now we focus on someone who has made changes for himself. Obesity began to weigh on Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee after the Centers for Disease Control identified his state as having a 22 percent obesity rate. His plan of attack started at home with himself. The governor enrolled in a weight loss program. And take a look for yourself. He has dropped 105 pounds. Doesn't want to share what he weighed before he started. I think that's perfectly fair. But he says he can tell us how he's changing the shape of Arkansas. The governor, Governor Mike Huckabee, what is left of him, is joining us from Seattle.
Good morning.
GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE (R), ARKANSAS: It's great to talk to you, Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, can I just say you look fantastic.
HUCKABEE: Well, thank you. I appreciate it. I feel fantastic. In fact I feel better than I've felt since I was a teenager. I'm not sure I felt this good when I was a teenager.
KAGAN: One hundred and five pounds, really, this time last year, 105 pounds more?
HUCKABEE: Right. It's an amazing journey. And I woke up and finally through a number of things realized that I was digging my grave with a knife and fork and that if I didn't make some lifestyle changes that I was going to die within 10 years. Diagnosed with diabetes a little more than a year ago, I was one of those folks that Tommy Thompson was talking about that had made some very bade choices. And I realized that I couldn't blame anybody else. I had to accept responsibility. And I had to make some changes. And the big thing, Daryn, was not saying, I'm going to lose weight. I think that's the wrong focus and it's one of the reasons so many people fail. The goal is not weight loss, the goal is health and fitness. And if one gets healthy and fit weight take cares of itself. And it really is more about what goes on in our mind rather than just what goes in our mouths.
KAGAN: Absolutely. But basically how did you do it? I'm sure you get asked that all the time.
HUCKABEE: Well, yes, and people say, OK, what type of program?
KAGAN: How do you do it? Exactly.
HUCKABEE: There was a program that I entered through our med school, University of Arkansas Medical Science Campus. But the real -- the essence is of it is, you take in fewer calories and you output more calories.
KAGAN: You are kidding. This is groundbreaking, Governor.
HUCKABEE: Isn't that rocket science amazing?
KAGAN: Shocking. Amazing how that works.
HUCKABEE: It really is the simple formula that our doctors have been telling us all along, eat less, exercise more. But it's not just what -- how much we eat but it's how we eat and much and how often.
KAGAN: And exercise. HUCKABEE: Portion control. Exercise is a very critical part. There are a lot of people quite frankly that may be a little overweight but exercise regularly who are healthier than rail skinny people who never get any exercise. So, again, it's also -- it's not a program where you say, all right, I'm going to do something for three months and lose 15 pounds. It's, I'm going to change my life. I'm going to eat differently. I'm going to eat more fruits and vegetables. I'm going to eat lean meats. I'm not going to eat junk food. I'm not going to pour into my body a lot of refined sugar and things that frankly have no nutritional value. It's an amazing change not only in terms of the way one looks, but the energy and just the overall sense of health. And I've completely reversed diabetes, Daryn.
KAGAN: Excellent.
HUCKABEE: I now have no symptoms. Three weeks ago my doctor told me that I will live as long as anybody, much to the chagrin of some politicians in Arkansas.
(LAUGHTER)
KAGAN: Good news-bad news, perhaps, in the world of politics. But no, that is actually excellent news. But the other interesting part of the story is, you're not just making it about you, you are looking at your home state and saying, not just the population, but especially kids are at risk. You are trying to change a culture that, as you've said, in the South, if you can eat it you fry it and pour gravy on top.
HUCKABEE: Well, and you know, part of the reason for that is because like so many other southerners, I grew up very poor. The fact is the things that we grew up eating that became sort of our conditioning, we ate them not because they just stretched the waistline but they stretched the food dollar for a family. And so it is cultural and it has to do with a whole lot of factors. But I can't make that an excuse and say now I can't do better.
And the thing is there are ways for us to approach this. We launched an initiative in Arkansas called Healthy Arkansas. It's a building program in which we're trying to change the paradigm of health care, from pouring more money into paying people when they get sick, to encouraging people to get well.
And I realize, Daryn, that leaders can't ask others to do what they are unwilling to do. I have got a huge crisis in my state of Arkansas with children and obesity. And it would be really difficult for me to go out and say, kids, you have got to do better, when they look at me, their governor and they knew I wasn't doing better.
Now they can say, the governor is no gym rat. He is not some guy that has lived his whole life buff and fit, but he has made a change, so if he can do it, maybe I can too. And it is having a tremendous impact. And that is my hope and goal. It may be one of the most important things I've ever done as a governor. KAGAN: And the -- I can see how that would be true. And the economics I think is an interesting point because everybody, especially lower economic levels, they are not going to have access to expensive diet programs or, like you did, to a nice medical center. So how do they get those resources?
HUCKABEE: Well, we're trying to put together now some very simple and affordable ways for anyone to be able to access some basic tips. What I'm telling people, look, there is no magic pill. There is no sort of just some piece of easy change. You have to make the decision that you want to change. And then you first do two things. You have to recondition and unlearn the bad habits. That has to happen before anything is going to be successful. Then you have to introduce good habits and learn to condition yourself toward them. And it's doable. I think that the exciting thing is that I've lived through this now and sharing those thoughts and beginning to formulate, OK, now let me see what I've really learned. And it's been an exciting process and one that has really been life-changing for me. It sounds like it, 105 pounds later. I would say you're done, though. No more. We need to keep the rest of the governor here.
HUCKABEE: No -- yes, right now it's just that...
KAGAN: Well, not done but maintenance.
HUCKABEE: That's right. And I'm not even attempting to lose weight. And I really haven't been for a while. It's just a matter of staying fit and trying to get the exercise in every day. I get up at 4:30 most every morning to do it because if I don't make the time and set it aside, there will be too many things creep into the day. So it's a matter of saying that, just like I used to say, I can't miss a meal, these days I say I can't miss the exercise routine.
KAGAN: Excellent. Well, when you come through Atlanta we'll have to go for a run.
HUCKABEE: Sounds great, Daryn.
KAGAN: I'll show you the good running routes here in Atlanta. Congratulations, congratulations and especially on all of the work in Arkansas. Governor Mike Huckabee, 105 pounds less of him. Thank you.
Well, this is one family -- this is a ride that one family will never forget. An innocent hot air balloon ride that turned into a dangerous situation. More on that and how it ended.
And also saying good-bye to Bobo. The story of the escaped tiger that comes to a close. More on Bobo just ahead.
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KAGAN: Right now we're going to take a look at other stories making news coast to coast. Missing girl is a case in New Jersey. She is now considered a potential murder victim. The 16-year-old Brittney Gregory vanished a week ago from Brick Township. Today a 38- year-old man is due in court to face formal charges of murder. Her body hasn't been found yet and police are not commenting on the case.
To Loxahatchee, Florida, dozens of people turned out for the funeral of Bobo the tiger. As you might remember, wildlife officials sought and killed the big cat on Tuesday after it escaped from its owner, a movie actor who once played Tarzan. Steve Sipek says the killing was unnecessary.
To Baltimore, Maryland, this balloon will stay safely tethered to the ground today. Authorities have grounded the helium-filled balloon that bobbed aimlessly some 300 feet in the air this weekend. Some of the people onboard suffered some minor injuries from the jostling and its slamming at one point into police headquarters.
Every time they get behind the wheel they are risking their lives. The latest on Dale Earnhardt's condition after his escape from this race car inferno.
And this is what we're working on for next hour.
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KAGAN: Stock car racer, driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in the hospital today. You're about to see why he considers himself very lucky. Check out this view. Inside his car during a practice run for an upcoming race in Sonoma, California. His Corvette slams into a barrier, burning fuel, engulfs him with his car. He escaped with second degree burns on his chin and inside of his legs. He should be out of the hospital in a day or two. Incredible when you look at all those flames. Joining us from Charlotte, North Carolina, is Marty Smith, senior writer for nascar.com, and good friend of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Marty, good morning, thanks for being with us.
MARTY SMITH, NASCAR.COM: Thank you, Daryn. I appreciate you guys having me here. You're right, I just talked to Dale Jr.'s team. He should be home today. Actually they expect him home later today just fine. And as has been widely reported, they also anticipate he'll be racing this weekend in New Hampshire.
KAGAN: Yes, I want to look ahead to New Hampshire in just second. But first of all, if we could look at the video again. If you could talk a little bit about what you think what went wrong here.
SMITH: Well, essentially what happened was I can't see the video at all...
KAGAN: OK. You have seen pictures.
SMITH: Essentially what happened was there is a net that connect where the car is actually fueled and then where the fuel cell that holds the fuel. And when -- upon impact that neck broke. It was full of fuel and therefore ignited extremely rapidly and engulfed the car. I've been doing this for six-and-a-half years in NASCAR and I have never seen anything like this. It was one of the scariest wrecks that I have seen. And man, I'll tell you, super blessed that he got out of there OK and we're all obviously very, very glad that he's going to be all right.
KAGAN: Absolutely. We can talk about blessed, we can talk about thankful, but did it also help that he was wearing a full face helmet, a change that he made after his father died a few years ago?
SMITH: Undoubtedly. There is no question about it. If you think about him physically, he had burns on his chin. So had he not had the full face cover it might have been his entire face. So obviously yes, it is very important that he had on a full face helmet as well as fire retardant suit, as well. So yes, absolutely.
KAGAN: Let's talk a little bit about what junior was doing in the first place. This is an off weekend, so it is not a regular NASCAR event.
SMITH: Correct. We were off this weekend. No Nextel Cup series race. So Dale Jr. went out to Sonoma, California, where the Nextel Cup series actually just raced about a month ago and was racing Grand Am cars, a different racing series. It's an IMSA series, International Motor Sports Association series. He was racing Corvettes on behalf of Chevrolet, teaming up with a road racer named Boris Said to go out there and develop himself as a road course racer to take the knowledge he learned there and incorporate that in his Nextel Cup team to try to become a better racer and essentially just having fun on his weekend off. And of course, we almost had a tragic situation.
KAGAN: Now we look back a couple years ago, he had another accident on the same circuit, didn't he? In 2002...
SMITH: The IMSA circuit?
KAGAN: Yes. He had another accident in 2002 and he was asked, is this going to affect your driving? He told NASCAR officials, he told his fans no but later admitted that in fact it did affect his driving for some weeks to come.
SMITH: Yes. But that was not -- that was actually a NASCAR -- at the time Winston Cup series race at California Speedway. Yes. He suffered a serious impact, blew a right front tire I believe, hit the wall really hard and he did later admit -- several months later, actually, that it did affect his equilibrium, et cetera, but he did not tell anybody at the time. Racers are ornery, they won't tell anybody that they are hurt so they will stay in the seat.
KAGAN: So much of it is a mind game too. Now looking ahead this weekend, NASCAR moves to New Hampshire, you say Junior is expected to go?
SMITH: Yes, ma'am. He's absolutely going to race. He's going to be in the No. 8 car next weekend, which was obviously a primary concern for everyone. Racing -- the race that he was racing yesterday when he got hurt, you know, there's not all the ramifications that there is you know -- there's a lot of ramifications there when you consider his primary sponsor, Budweiser, in the Nextel Cup series, was not on this car. That's not his primary job. So he's out there having fun and that's where he got hurt. But yes, he's going to be going to New Hampshire and racing the 8 car. They see no trouble there.
KAGAN: All right. His fans will be watching. We wish him well. Marty Smith, Nascar.com, thank you for the information, appreciate that.
SMITH: Thank you.
KAGAN: Well, for the sixth year in a yank has captured a British Open, again a relative unknown, 38-year-old Todd Hamilton celebrated his first year in the PGA tour by capturing the sport's oldest major and he did it in high fashion. This is about as exciting as it gets for Hamilton. He made the four-hole playoff. He beat back Ernie Els, the world's No. 2 player. He's just a down home guy from the Midwest.
And what about American Lance Armstrong. He today has the day off to rest and regroup along with the challengers in the Tour De France. Armstrong has surged from sixth to second place and silenced doubters who said he was past his prime. Armstrong is trying to capture a record sixth title in cycling's premier event. Thursday is supposed to be the big, big deciding day in the Tour De France. We're back in a moment. We'll have a look at your forecast.
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