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American Morning

Quake Relief; New Hampshire Floods; Checking for Leaks

Aired October 12, 2005 - 09:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, visits earthquake-ravaged Pakistan, as India, one of Pakistan's oldest enemies, puts aside differences and sends in help. A live report is ahead.
Just what they don't need, more rain and lots of it, predicted for the northeastern United States. Still under water from weekend flooding. It could happen again. We're live there.

And after a private meeting with the top prosecutor, "New York Times" reporter Judy Miller agrees to testify once again before a grand jury in that CIA leak case.

Those stories are all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

Look at it there, that shot we were just showing you, which is really right outside of our door. A downpour in Columbus Circle here in New York. Just rain, rain, rain, as we mentioned, just what the people in many parts of the northeast don't need. Flooding is a huge problem today.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Chad was showing us that white blob on the map. That's what it looks like underneath the white blob, deluge.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: And for folks up in New Hampshire, you know, that's a big concern this morning.

We're also looking at what's going on overseas right now. Aid and recovery efforts, and there's a weather story there, as well. We'll get to that in a moment.

Also, the Katrina czar issue.

S. O'BRIEN: Should there be one, or should there not?

M. O'BRIEN: Should there -- to czar or not to czar. Or should it be a czarina? Questions we are asking. That will be a little bit later.

Let's get over to Pakistan, though, and begin there.

Relief workers are in a race against time. They're using a break in the weather there to reach earthquake victims in the mountains of Pakistan. Planeloads of supplies from 30 countries are now coming in to Pakistan, including some help from India.

India and Pakistan, of course, gone to war twice over this very region, Kashmir. And that's where most of the damage is.

Federal officials say at least 20,000 are dead. Local officials say maybe double that number. Still trying to tally it all.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise tour and detour, we should say, to Pakistan today. She promised long-term help and an increase in the $50 million the U.S. has already committed.

Satinder Bindra is in the rural village of Garihabibullah in northern Pakistan -- pardon me -- where relief aid is slowly getting to the people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aid is getting through in these parts. But it's getting through very slowly.

I've come up here by road. Roads are opened, but they are extremely clogged. And these roads are slow. It takes a lot of time to get up here.

I've seen army convoys set up camp. There is some food available. But one must note here that there are no blankets and no tents.

There's tens of thousands of people who are camped out in the open, and as night falls and as the temperatures get colder, these people get very bitter. They're complaining that their government has failed to understand their problems. The government, in response, saying that given the nature, scale and scope of this tragedy, it's hard to meet everyone's expectations.

I'm in a small village called Garihabibullah, and what you're seeing is locals and volunteers. They're trying to dig through the rubble here. As you can see, they're digging even with a pick ax.

Now, five days after this tragedy very little heavy machinery has gotten here. And just this morning, some heavy machinery gotten here. Just one digger, in fact.

This was once a girls' school. This rubble was once a girls' school. Seven hundred and fifty students studied here, but last Saturday, 150 of them were killed.

These people are still trying to find survivors. But as night falls, they are giving up hope.

Early in the day, I noticed some students had come back to the school. They were emotionally traumatized. They didn't want to come in at first. And then when they did come in, they told me they were searching for their friends, they were looking for their friends.

And one girl in particular telling me something very haunting. She said she couldn't understand quite, as she put it, "why god would be so cruel to children."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: And that was Satinder Bindra, reporting from northern Pakistan. And we'll keep following this story for you all day long, of course -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Back in this country, in New Hampshire, four people are still missing after weekend flooding, the remnants of Tropical Storm Tammy. The hardest-hit town was the town of Alstead. It's about 50 miles from New Hampshire's capital of Concorde.

CNN's Chris Huntington is there.

Chris, good morning. Oh, what a terrible toll that little town is taking.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Soledad. This is a tightly-knit community of about 2,000 people. They all know each other. They all know the people that are missing, and they certainly know the people who are deceased.

I'm standing here just along the banks, or a little bit out into the Cold River. This is a river that used to be about 15 to 20 feet wide. It's now more than 100 feet wide.

This is an old truck that washed down the river, we're told, from a yard about a mile up river. It came down through a bridge that's up there that's still barely spanning the river. The erosion to the sides of the river is the real problem around here.

Buildings up and down the river here in Alstead knocked in, hanging over. There are some that are still precariously hanging over what's left of the embankment.

We spent yesterday afternoon with Marlene and Leroy Wade, who lost not only their home and their barn, but all of their land. About an acre and a half of land simply stripped away into the river. They don't even -- they can't even consider rebuilding, they have no land left.

The problem in this particular area is a culvert, and then a dam up river from here. The culvert backed up on Sunday to great amounts of pressure, and then locals described what they saw as about a 10- foot wall of water just washing down here. That was the problem on Sunday.

There's obviously concern and attention being paid by authorities to those structures up river. If they are clean and can let the water come out, you should be able to have runoff here, and it shouldn't be a problem even though they're expecting a great deal more rain in the next few days.

It's raining mildly here. Not as heavily as it's raining south of here. We're already hearing that there are problems in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

So, Soledad, for now, the situation here in Alstead in southern New Hampshire is stable. But they are still very concerned, and they're going to keep a wary eye out probably well through Friday -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: They certainly will. Other places, as well.

Let's get right to Chad Myers.

Chris Huntington, thanks for that.

Chad Myers has a look at just how the forecast looks for us today.

Hey, Chad. Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: "New York Times" reporter Judith Miller back before a grand jury now. She arrived at the federal courthouse moments ago in Washington. It's her second time testifying about the leaks of a CIA operative's identity.

AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken is live outside the federal courthouse in Washington.

Bob, what is the focus of her testimony expected to be now?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, one can only imagine that every time she goes in she remembers the time she went in and then left to spend 85 days in jail. Since she's gotten out she has appeared twice. This time because, subsequent to the testimony September 30, she has discovered, according to a variety of sources, some notes relating to earlier conversations than the one she testified about with the vice president's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, who has been frequently identified as a source of the stories that ultimately resulted in the identification of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame, which has led to this investigation. Plame, the wife of Joe Wilson, who had been sharply critical of the administration.

Scooter Libby, his name has come up quite a bit. There are going to be questions, we're told, about this after Judy Miller met yesterday at length with the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald. We're also told by a variety of sources that expected on Friday, scheduled on Friday to testify, is the deputy White House chief of staff, President Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove. This will be his fourth appearance before the grand jury. His, the other prominent name that has come up so many times.

Entering the building just a few moments ago, Patrick Fitzgerald. By all accounts, he is wrapping up an investigation, trying to beat the deadline of a grand jury whose term expires October 28, trying to decide, according to sources, whether there will be charges, what those charges might be and, of course, against whom they will be leveled.

So a lot is going on. A lot of increased activity as the prosecutor tries to wrap up an investigation -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Of course, Bob, it's worth pointing out he could extend that grand jury after the deadline, right?

FRANKEN: He could extend the grand jury. And it's also worth pointing out that the charges could go beyond the actual allegations that he violated the law making it illegal to identify undercover operatives. It could get into the realm many people believe of making false statements, something like that.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Bob Franken, thank you very much.

Let's check some headlines now. Carol Costello here with that.

Good morning again, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles.

Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News," at least 20 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq. The explosion taking place near Tal Afar within the past two hours. The apparent target, army and police recruits.

In the meantime, a new political deal could help get Iraq's proposed constitution approved in this weekend's election. The deal would make the constitution temporary to be re-evaluated and voted on again next year.

In New Orleans, a man shown on tape being punched by New Orleans police is set to appear in court today. You do remember the pictures. Do we need to remind you?

These images are disturbing. Robert Davis is accused of several charges, including public intoxication and resisting arrest. The officers seen hitting him in this videotape have already been in municipal court. They have pleaded not guilty to battery.

Here's what the New Orleans district attorney had to say earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDDIE JORDAN, NEW ORLEANS DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I think at this time we need police officers to be courteous and professional and responsible, even more so than before the storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Also, Robert Davis, a retired schoolteacher, denies he was drunk during that incident. He appeared on AMERICAN MORNING Tuesday and said he has not had a drink in 25 years.

Newly-released documents suggest the Roman Catholic Church ignored decades of sexual misconduct between priests and children. According to "The New York Times," Cardinal Roger Mahoney and his predecessors at the Los Angeles Archdiocese reportedly shuffled priests off to assignments in new areas but did not make accusations public.

The files on 126 clergymen, some dating from the 1930s, were released as part of a settlement with 560 accusers. The settlement in the cases could reach half a billion dollars.

The power is back on this morning in parts of downtown Los Angeles after the third major blackout this month. One thousand customers were left in the dark Tuesday. Backup generators kept government offices open. But police were out on the streets guiding traffic. The mayor there has asked for a detailed report.

And switching gears to a much lighter note, hoping to dance their way into the history books, 400 youngsters at a Wisconsin grade school trying to make it into the "Guinness Book of World Records" for the most people being taught to dance at one time.

They're learning the polka, which as you might know, is Wisconsin's state dance. And we'll let you know if they make it.

M. O'BRIEN: No, we didn't know that.

COSTELLO: You didn't know that?

M. O'BRIEN: Roll out the barrel, baby. I had no idea.

COSTELLO: A lot of polish people in Wisconsin.

S. O'BRIEN: It looks like there's some older people teaching them.

COSTELLO: Well, they have to learn from someone.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. All right.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, the polka has some demographic challenges. And I think they're trying to bring on a new generation, right?

COSTELLO: Probably dancing to "The Beer Barrel Polka." That's a favorite. M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: "The Two Fat Polkas," one of my favorites.

S. O'BRIEN: I don't know any of the polkas, but...

COSTELLO: We'll teach you.

S. O'BRIEN: I appreciate that. We could rival those kids.

COSTELLO: We could.

M. O'BRIEN: Careful, I might start singing. Let's not do that.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carol.

Still to come this morning, conservative James Dobson reveals why he supports the Harriet Miers nomination. We'll find out what Karl Rove told him just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, is the U.S. prepared for a major earthquake like the one in Pakistan? A scientist predicts the likelihood of the big one hitting.

S. O'BRIEN: And recovery in New Orleans and the Gulf region. We're going to take a look at whether a hurricane czar is needed to finish the job.

Those stories are all ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: I don't think they'll be sweeping -- anyway...

S. O'BRIEN: We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: No disagreement that rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina is a massive job. President Bush joined Habitat for Humanity workers on Tuesday, his eighth visit to the Gulf. He said Washington should not dictate to New Orleans how to rebuild. Some folks, though, say a federal czar is needed.

John Breaux is a former senator from Louisiana, in D.C. this morning.

Nice to see you, sir. Thank you for talking with us.

JOHN BREAUX, FMR. LOUISIANA SENATOR: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Do you think a Katrina czar should be appointed?

BREAUX: Soledad, we don't do czars in the United States. I don't think one is needed in the sense of someone who can sort of dictate what's going to happen. But I think some sort of a national coordinator would be a good idea, because we have the city of New Orleans has a commission, Governor Blanco is forming a commission. You have the Corps, you have FEMA.

You need some authority, I think, to coordinate what a new New Orleans is ultimately going to look like.

S. O'BRIEN: You've highlighted just some of the problems, and I can throw some more in there. I mean, it's in some ways twofold. Short term, getting money to the people who need it right now, long term, the strategy for rebuilding the city and bringing the people back eventually.

How do you think it's going so far? Rate the efforts now.

BREAUX: Well, Soledad, I think on the first section, getting people fed, taking care of their medical needs and their short-term housing needs, are being met. It's much better today than it was yesterday. But the long term is the real challenge.

What's New Orleans going to look like? What do we do with the 9th Ward? How many hospitals do we snead? What kind of a school system are we going to utilize? What's New Orleans going to be like in the future?

Those are going to be around for a long time. We're not talking weeks, we're talking probably years. And that's why I think someone to coordinate the billions of dollars that is going to be spent from a national level is really a good idea.

S. O'BRIEN: It could be argued, though, whether you call it a Katrina czar or a Katrina coordinator that you add another level of bureaucracy in there that sort of could potentially slow things down even more. Isn't that a risk?

BREAUX: Well, Soledad, the bureaucracy is already there. When you're dealing with the states, the parishes, the city, with the federal government, with the Corps, or with FEMA, and you could add a whole bunch of other organizations, that's why a single coordinator, I think, is needed to try and make sure they don't step on each other, that they don't get crossed purposes with what New Orleans is going to look like.

We need the best and the brightest. And I think it's very important that that type of a coordinator is appointed.

That's not dictating to the state. The ideas need to come from Louisiana, but the federal government needs to be helping to coordinate that.

S. O'BRIEN: What would the candidate's resume look like to you, do you think? I mean, they know the area well, they'd be able to navigate the system. What else?

BREAUX: Really, I think someone who has the ability to understand command and control, who has run things before. I think also someone who can understand the politics, because this is also a great political challenge, because you've got to coordinate different views and different ideas. And so, the ability to run a business, the ability to run an operation, plus a political sensitivity I think is absolutely critical.

S. O'BRIEN: Hmm. Senator, that sounds like you, some would say.

BREAUX: Well, I...

S. O'BRIEN: If appointed, would you serve? Would you like to?

BREAUX: Well, I'd be happy to talk to anyone about it. I think there are a lot of good names out there.

I've suggested former Senator Bennett Johnson from Louisiana, who I think would be a terrific candidate. I -- you know, Jim Bob Moffett is the chairman of Freeport-McMoRan in Louisiana. There are a lot of good names out there that could do the job.

S. O'BRIEN: At the -- forgive me for interrupting you there. At the end of the day, isn't the critical question, do you rebuild a city that's below sea level?

BREAUX: Well, the answer -- the short answer is yes. Just like we'd rebuild Los Angeles or San Francisco if they suffered an earthquake, being in an earthquake zone.

The question is how do we do it? What type of structures? What type of levees do we have?

That can be done. I mean, that's engineering questions. If we have the political will to do it can be done.

S. O'BRIEN: John Breaux is a former senator from Louisiana.

Thanks for joining us. Nice to see you.

BREAUX: Thank you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. So for those of you keeping score at home, Marc Morial, no, John Breaux, sure, maybe, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Could be.

M. O'BRIEN: Available. The phone is on.

Still to come on the program, one scientist predicts the likelihood of a major earthquake hitting the U.S. We'll look at whether the U.S. is ready for the big one. And we'll take a look back at an earthquake that happened almost 100 years ago now, San Francisco.

But first a question for you. On average, how many earthquakes does southern California have each year? Do you know the answer?

S. O'BRIEN: I'm going to guess B, 350. Am I right?

M. O'BRIEN: Pretty good guess.

S. O'BRIEN: You don't know. Am I?

M. O'BRIEN: The answer after -- I do. But I'm cheating. The answer is after the break. I mean, I don't cheat, but I knew -- stay with us. We'll get you the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Before the break we asked how many earthquakes southern California has each year. And the answer, Soledad is C, 10,000.

S. O'BRIEN: OH, I thought -- wow, way off, huh?

M. O'BRIEN: But most of them are way too small to be felt, we're glad to tell you. Because that would certainly do a number on the real estate market there, wouldn't it? Speaking of real estate issues.

All right. Now, you've seen the devastation from that 7.6 magnitude quake in South Asia. There's a UC Davis, University of California Davis, researcher predicting there is a one in four chance that a magnitude 7 quake will hit San Francisco in the next 20 years. And as time goes on, those odds increase.

Joining me now is Simon Winchester. He is the author of "A Crack in the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of '06," the 100th anniversary approaching in April on that.

It's a great story in its own right. But juxtaposed against current events, it seems, well, you were rather prescient in writing it, Mr. Winchester. It's almost as if you knew.

SIMON WINCHESTER, "CRACK IN THE EDGE OF THE WORLD": I know. Some people say that every time I write a book you should go indoors, because the last one was about Krakatoa, then we had the tsunami, and now this.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, I think maybe we should stop you from writing. That might be one of the -- one of the cures.

Let's talk. I want to put San Francisco in context, because one of the points you make in the book is one that I didn't know much about. And that is how San Francisco was nestled in the middle of a lot of seismic activity, which at the time no one would have been able to really put together because we didn't understand plate tectonics and magma and the shifting of those -- of those great plates.

Let's take a tour of the world. This begins in April of 1905, ends in January of '07.

Here's what we had going on at that time. In April, big hurricane -- hurricane -- earthquake in India, 8.6. Central Asia, 8.1 in October of '07. This is geographically organized not chronologically. As you can see, we're just doing it by the globe here.

Check out this one in Italy, a 7.9 which occurred on September 8 of '05. By the way, in each of these cases, 19,000, 12,000, 2,500 killed.

In Jamaica, way up here on the screen, 1907, January 14, a 6.5, 1,600 killed. In Colombia, Ecuador, 8.8, 1,000 killed in January of '06. Chile, this one in Valparaiso, which occurred just a couple of months after the San Francisco quake, 20,000 dead, an 8.2 quake. And finally, of course, April 18, 1906, 5:12 in the morning local time, a 7.8, 3,000 dead in San Francisco.

What that tells me is that when you start looking at what we're seeing now in Pakistan, and what we saw with the tsunami, could we be in a similar era right now?

WINCHESTER: Well, that's what people seem to think. I mean, another thing that happened in 1906 was that Vesuvius was erupting. And this last 12 months, or rather longer than that, beginning in December 2003, with the big earthquake in western Iran in Bam, we've had a nonstop series of extreme seismic events with the culmination, of course, so we thought, being in Banda Aceh on the 26th of December last year. And now this terrible earthquake up in the Palmiers and the Hindu kush last Sunday.

So it looks as if the world has certain periods which are unusually seismically active. And that seems to be because we now know that there are these 26 plates, these tectonic plates that cover the world, and when one moves, let's say way up in the Arctic, it seems logically likely that it will actually jiggle the others so that eventually they will move, too.

I mean, immediately after Banda Aceh, there were 144 earthquakes over the pole in Alaska. Every time there's an earthquake in Alaska today, the geysers in Yellow Stone National Park change the rate at which they erupt.

So the whole world seems seismically connected, which does allow us possibly to talk about prediction.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Yes, and that's worth -- you think of it as floating on a raft of magma, I guess.

Let's get to the book, though. There are some distinct parallels that I saw between what happened in 1906, the earthquake, and the response, and what we've seen really in New Orleans here in the wake of Katrina and Rita.

Do you see the same things?

WINCHESTER: Well, parallels, but opposites, if you like. I mean, the way that people responded after 1906 was exemplary. I mean, there were soldiers on the streets of San Francisco 153 minutes after the shaking that destroyed the city. Every tent in the possession of the American Army was pitched in San Francisco a week after the event. Congress met at 4:00 in the morning of the day after the event...

(CROSSTALK)

M. O'BRIEN: How do you explain that rapid response? Why was it such a good response then and not so this time around?

WINCHESTER: People had the courage of their convictions to take tough decisions without looking over their shoulders wondering about the bureaucratic and legal implications. There weren't the thoughts of, oh, my god, dare I take this decision to deploy troops? Is it legal?

These days, you'd worry because of all the layers of lawyers that you shouldn't perhaps do it. So strong men rose to the occasion. And looking back on it, the response without, I have to say, CNN, without cell phones, without the Weather Channel, without any of the technology, they did it brilliantly. And San Francisco recovered in double-quick time, much, much faster than New Orleans has a hope of doing.

M. O'BRIEN: And you have to wonder, maybe we make it worse in some respects. One of the lessons of this book is that we just, as human beings whether through denial or whatever, we seem intent in building in places where we probably shouldn't be, and we make matters worse for ourselves, because we do live on a planet where these things happen.

WINCHESTER: Well, Europe, and Asia are full of ruined cities in, places that were built where they shouldn't have been built, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Heliopolis. America is a country without ruins. But I suggest to you that if a map of America is drawn in 500 years time, the places that are built where they shouldn't be built will no longer be there.

New Orleans -- what lunacy to build a city 20 feet below sea level in the path of hurricanes between a lake and a river? Phoenix, Tucson, there's no water there. They will become ruins that we will visit. And San Francisco, I think in 500 years -- it's a heresy to say so today -- people will go to the ruins of the Golden Gate Bridge and the TransAmerica Tower and gawk at them much we might gawk at Petra (ph), and say, my word, that was a sill ply place to build a city, because it will be destroyed again and people will get tired about having to rebuild it.

M. O'BRIEN: Sounds like you're thinking about a novel now, Simon, or a treatment for a movie. Simon Winchester, who writes eloquently in a great narrative style about actual events, nonfiction. Always a pleasure having you drop by -- Soledad.

WINCHESTER: Thank you, Miles.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, did conservative James Dobson really get inside information on Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers? We'll take you live to the White House for a look at that question, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. A rainy day in New York City. Look at those pictures right outside our front door.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, it's been raining forever, wasn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: It feels that way.

Also picture to show you this morning. Take a look at this. And the weird thing is -- can you show this picture -- this is Saint Bernard Parish. Look at that car that's basically impaled on that fence. We saw this so often in New Orleans, really especially I think in Saint Bernard parish. I mean, street after street had not even four, or five or six, but sometimes 10, or 12 or 15 of these vehicles, leaning on the roof, the boat sort of hanging from the side, and you just -- you couldn't see -- and again, the pictures don't even really...

COSTELLO: Oh, no. Because that looks fake. That picture looks fake.

S. O'BRIEN: It does. It's like a movie set.

M. O'BRIEN: Or Photoshop. That's the real deal. Of course you see actual houses that were swept off their foundations as well.

COSTELLO: And moved across the street.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, people were saying, where's my house? Much less their car.

S. O'BRIEN: Why it's over there now. No question, yes.

(NEWSBREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: more on that controversy surrounding the Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers. In a taped radio show airing today, the conservative talk show host, evangelical Christian James Dobson tells more about what top White House adviser Karl Rove revealed to him about Miers in a phone call. Following that? Dana Bash live at the White House. Dana is certainly following it for us.

Good morning, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly trying, Miles.

Well, essentially last week James Dobson offered a hesitant, even sometimes tortured explanation about why he, unlike other conservative leaders, decided to support Harriet Miers' nomination. It left the impression with some he got a wink and a nod from the White House about her views. Now he's trying to set the record straight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BASH (voice-over): Christian conservative James Dobson insists top Bush aide Karl Rove gave him new backroom assurances on how Harriet Miers would come down on abortion or other key social issues.

DR. JAMES DOBSON: I did not ask that question. You know, to be honest, I would have loved to have known how Harriet Miers versus Roe v. Wade.

BASH: With Rove's permission and urging, Dobson is now talking about their private conversation, trying to clarify his cryptic comments last week, suggesting he reluctantly endorsed Miers because of inside information.

DOBSON: What did Karl Rove say to me? What we all know now, that Harriet Miers is an evangelical Christian, that she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life.

BASH: The GOP Senate Judiciary Commission threatened to call both to testify about their discussions. Dobson defiantly says he has nothing to hide.

Why is Dobson vouching for Miers' conservative credentials so critical to the president? His Christian organization, Focus on the Family, is an empire with remarkable reach. His radio show reaches 26 million in the U.S. a week, and there are 10 monthly magazines, plus a personally written newsletter.

His tremendous clout among rank-and-file Republicans and conservative Democrats comes from the wide appeal of his message, family issues. Dobson's an evangelical leader, but not a clergyman. He's a Phd in psychology. Bestselling books, videos, DVDs focus not just on religion, but practical guides for families. Niche specificity on issued like strong-willed children and bringing up boys.

TERRY HOLT, FMR. BUSH CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: Dr. Dobson has established himself as a kind of arbiter or conduit to that community, and he has quite a bullhorn. He can either help you or hurt you.

BASH: Karl Rove and top GOP leaders have been courting Dobson for years and talk to him frequently, making sure he's clued in on big policy initiatives and appointments before they're announced, in the hopes he'll approve, or at least not denounce, the move to his vast following.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Now Dobson did reveal some new information he said Rove told him in that phone call a couple of days before Miers was announced. He says that the reason why some of the nominees are candidates that some conservatives like and wanted didn't actually get picked is because they took their names out of the running because of the bitterness of the confirmation process.

But here's the thing, Miles, the White House says that rove did not give Dobson specific names, and they won't tell us the specifics either to help verify that comment.

M. O'BRIEN: And of course that call would not have been recorded, would it?

BASH: Don't think so.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Dana Bash, thank you very much.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, what does it take to be a top NASCAR driver?

You were just asking me that question this morning. Soledad, what does it take?

M. O'BRIEN: Most morning I ask you that. What does it take, Soledad? Because I want to be one, too.

S. Sanjay knows the answer to that question. He's got a look this morning at life in the fastlane.

M. O'BRIEN: It's a good excuse if you're pulled over for a ticket. I'm training, officer, I'm training.

Residents in New Orleans the Ninth Ward. They get a return home, but they're calling it a look and leave, and you can probably see why they can't stay just by looking at these pictures. We're going to tell you about that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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S. O'BRIEN: Part the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans just opened, reopened really, at this hour. It's the last area of the city where homeowners are being let back in. They're only really allowed a short so-called look and leave. The Lower Ninth Ward is some of the lowest ground in the city, some of the most heavily damaged, too, by Hurricane Katrina.

AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho is live in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Hey, Alina. Good morning.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad. You are absolutely right, they opened up the checkpoint about 30 minutes ago. And at that point, we saw the Red Cross come in, along with the Salvation Army, police officers and National Guardsmen. All of them will be here to assist residents as they get their first look at the damage.

Yesterday, we escorted two documentary photographers back to their home so that they could have a look for themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHO (voice-over): Keith Calhoun and wife Chandra have not seen their home in the Lower Ninth Ward since Hurricane Katrina until now. It is not pretty.

KEITH CALHOUN, LOWER NINTH WARD RESIDENT: This is it.

CHANDRA MCCORMICK, LOWER NINTH WARD RESIDENT: It's just a mess.

CHO: The home they've owned for 12 years in the historic Holy Cross section has been flattened.

CALHOUN: Basically, we just got to start over.

CHO: Chandra says there is a hidden blessing.

MCCORMICK: This is not good at all, but we have each other and we have our family, and that's going to keep us going.

CHO: The couple, along with their two children, have temporarily settled in Texas. For six weeks, they've been waiting to come back.

MCCORMICK: That was what I wanted to come back here for, you know, mainly to just see if I had anything of my work.

CHO: There is not much, if anything, that is salvageable. So Keith begins a new chapter of documenting, taking pictures of what's left of his home. Later, the couple checks on Chandra's mother's home. There's a surprise. They found boxes of their photos, pictures that tell the story of the Lower Ninth Ward.

CALHOUN: Do you see these men? Lifting two sacks? They were working for their money, despite how hard they worked, you know? They was able to take care of their family. And we leave this life back in the city.

CHO: The Lower Nine, as locals call it, is home to Fats Domino, a place where corner grocery stores are called "superets," where historically, blacks in New Orleans have found affordable housing. It's a place where neighbors say good morning and good night. It's why the couple says it's important to rebuild, why their family will be back.

CALHOUN: This is where we come back to. At least now I know what I'm facing. I know that, hey, you don't have nothing no more, but you got to keep going.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: Now residents who want to come back to the Lower Ninth Ward today for the so-called look and leave will have to do so between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Central Time. Soledad, no one will be allowed back in here after dark.

S. O'BRIEN: It seems so tough. You get a little bit of time to see the devastation, which is pretty complete, and it must be so hard on people.

How was that couple when you left them, Alina? How are they doing? CHO: Well, as you might imagine, if you see the home that you've lived in for the past twelve years completely demolished, it's really tough. They were fighting back tears, but they're moving on, and they are vowing to return to this area. They say this is a culturally rich area, and that these are the people here who helped build New Orleans, and they say they're going to come back -- Soledad.

Alina Cho is in New Orleans today. Alina, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: "CNN LIVE TODAY" coming up next. Daryn Kagan will be here with that, and she's here now with a preview.

Good morning, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles. In the next hour, we're expecting a court appearance by the man who's beating by New Orleans police officers was caught on tape.

And then, a fascinating discussion. What do women want? It might not be what you think. Two authors offer interesting perspective on women and how they are changing the way we live. Miles, it's a conservative Republican and a liberal Democrat. They got together, they wrote this book. Amazing when we women get together what we can accomplish.

M. O'BRIEN: Wait a minute, what does conservative Republican, liberal Democrat have to do with what the women want?

KAGAN: Well, just that you have women who look on the opposite ends of the political spectrum...

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, what they want politically? I get it.

KAGAN: Politically, economically, religion. We want it all, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: So I should be committing this one to memory?

KAGAN: Yes, Sandy would appreciate if you would take notes.

M. O'BRIEN: Taking notes. Thank you very much, Daryn.

Still ahead in the program, do racecar drivers have to be great athletes to be great drivers? Well, it is a test of endurance. Dr. Sanjay Gupta makes another "House Call" to the world of NASCAR. Tough assignment there, Sanjay. I guess you wouldn't call it a junket, would you? No. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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S. O'BRIEN: What kind of athletic prowess does it take to compete on the NASCAR circuit? All this week, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is demanding the physical demands of the sport. Sanjay's at the CNN Center this morning. Hey, Sanjay, good morning.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

You know, one of the interesting things in working on this documentary, people trying to ask, are NASCAR drivers actually athletes? We wanted to know just how fit do you have to be to drive in stock car's racing top circuit. To find out, we spent some time with somebody who definitely knows. He's veteran driver Rusty Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY WALLACE, 1989 NASCAR CHAMPION: It's very important to be fit, mentally fit, physically fit. These cars take a lot out of you.

GUPTA (voice-over): On the straightaways, Wallace and the other drivers travel almost the length of a football field every second. On the turns, they experience G-forces similar to the space shuttle on liftoff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two , one and liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery.

GUPTA: That means drivers are pulled sideways on the corners with the same force as astronauts are pushed down on the shuttle launch. Are racecar drivers athletes? A definitive yes says Dr. Steve Olvey who has studied them.

DR. STEVE OLVEY, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: Absolutely. Race drivers require all the same attributes that more traditional athletes require in their sports.

The heart rates that we saw in the more fit drivers would be very similar to what you would see in a very fit Olympic long distance swimmer, marathon running, somebody actually playing basketball, professional basketball.

GUPTA: NASCAR drivers also need to concentrate with few breaks as they maneuver in traffic at 180 miles per hour or more. Imagine hitting the fast forward button the next time you're on the highway.

Jack Stark is team psychologist for Hendrick Motorsports, one of the top teams in NASCAR.

DR. JACK STARK, HENDRICK TEAM PSYCHOLOGIST: No other sport, that I know of, no other sport demands that kind of attention to detail and focus for four hours.

GUPTA: Drivers need to stay mentally sharp in conditions like a sauna. The car is humid. And the temperature inside is routinely over 100 degrees, closer to 170 degrees by the floorboards. That's why he wears this special heel protector and has cool air pumped through the hose in the top of his helmet.

WALLACE: The hardest thing is being -- getting dehydrated real, real quick, physically just overheating and your body starts shutting down, concentration level starts going away. The most weight I've ever lost in one race was 11 pounds. GUPTA: Even with all the challenges, the 49-year-old Wallace remains in contention for the NASCAR championship.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Yes, he's actually in fourth place in that race for the Nextel Cup. Staying hydrated is a real challenge for NASCAR drivers. There's been studies on this that actually show reflexes start dropping pretty fast after you lose 3 percent of your body weight in sweat. For the typical NASCAR driver, that's about five pounds. And you heard at the end of that piece there, Wallace says he lost eleven pounds in one single race before -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Eleven pounds. That's just amazing. So what do they do? I mean, can they stop when they're changing the tires? Do they take a drink?

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, they used to simply have water bottles actually handed to them during pit stops. But now, it's actually pretty neat. They have many -- many of the helmets have hydration systems in the car that actually pump water or a sports drink through a tube. So they can get some of their hydration that way all throughout the race -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: You said it's like 100 to 107 degrees. I would imagine that kind of heat's very disorienting, especially if you're trying to drive, like, 200 miles an hour.

GUPTA: Yes, you know, and I actually did this myself. I didn't drive 200 miles an hour. But I did get in one of these NASCAR vehicles, drove a car that matched the specifications in Miami. And it was pretty hot down in Miami. It was so hot, in fact, sitting in the car that before I started, we measured all this. My body temperature actually climbed to 101.5 degrees. That's actually considered a fever. If I'd gone to the emergency room, I probably would have been admitted to the hospital -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow. How fast did you drive, Sanjay?

GUPTA: I got about 149. But, you know, never ask a guy how fast he drives. It's like asking a woman about her weight, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay. I wanted to know. Well, thanks.

A short break. We're back in just a moment. Stay with us.

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