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Bush Pushes Health Care Reform; Alternative Fuels; John Kerry Will Not Run Again

Aired January 24, 2007 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips.

Your health insurance and the president's plan. How many people would it help? Our Elizabeth Cohen has a reality check.

LEMON: And they lost everything. Now they may get something back. Katrina victims thought they were getting nothing. Now they may get millions.

PHILLIPS: A CNN exclusive, Wolf Blitzer one on one with Dick Cheney. His take on Iraq, the State of the Union and the search for Osama bin Laden.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And this just coming in to CNN. We're getting word that Senator John Kerry will announce soon from the Senate floor that he will be not running for the presidency. You know, with so many various politicians coming forward putting their hats in the ring, saying that they want to be the next president of the United States, John Kerry now, as we are being told through sources within CNN, that he will not run for the presidency in 2008.

We should hear from him later on this afternoon. We are monitoring that. We'll bring you more as it happens.

LEMON: Kyra, let's talk now about the State of the Union. Familiar setting, different tone. President Bush went to Capitol Hill last night to report on the State of the Union and to look for support. Support and, in the case of Iraq, a little more patience.

He asked lawmakers in both parties to back the new surge in U.S. troops. He called his plan the best chance for success and he warned the consequences of failure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We went into this largely united in our assumptions and in our convictions. And whatever you voted for, you did not vote for failure. Our country's pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work. And I ask you to support our troops in the field and those on their way. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And unlike Iraq, the immigration issue has given the president some common ground with Democrats. Last night, he called on members of both parties to secure the borders but also to welcome new arrivals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: We need to uphold the great tradition of the melting pot that welcomes and assimilates new arrivals. We need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country without animosity and without amnesty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The president staked out new ground on the environment, calling global climate change a serious challenge. He proposed a 20 percent cut in gasoline usage over the next decade and a dramatic increase in the use of ethanol and other alternatives -- alternative fuels.

Well, it's that last issue Mr. Bush is especially energized about today. His first post-address road trip took him to Bio Fuels Research, a station in Delaware.

CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the White House with details on that for us -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don, and President Bush arrived here at the White House from his road trip to Wilmington, Delaware, about 20 minutes ago. And he spent the morning at this DuPont facility that conducts research into something called cellulosic ethanol, and what that is is ethanol not made from corn but from nonfood sources such as switchgrass or wood chips.

And while there, the president announced that he had taken the step of signing an executive order to mandate that the federal government itself take the lead in meeting this new goal that he announced last night of cutting gasoline consumption in the U.S. by 20 percent over the next 10 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: We're going to purchase more -- hybrid and flexible fuel vehicles that run on ethanol. We own a lot of cars. And therefore, it's one thing to say this is the goal; it's another thing to actually participate in achieving that goal. And that's what we're going to do.

Secondly, we're going to purchase plug-in hybrid vehicles as soon as they hit the market. I think that will give some surety to those who have invested in new technologies to know that the federal government is going to be a purchaser.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KOCH: The experts point out that the president's goal of producing some 35 million gallons of renewable fuel over the next 10 years could make one of his other goals more difficult to achieve, and that's achieving fuel economy in cars. President Bush wants to see that boosted by some four percent, starting in 2010.

The problem is that ethanol is less fuel efficient than gasoline. So Don, basically using more of it will make it much more difficult to increase the fuel efficiency of vehicles.

LEMON: And Kathleen, at this hour, the president is meeting with the new commander in NATO, NATO commander in Afghanistan, I should say. What can you tell us about General Dan McNeill?

KOCH: Well, General Dan McNeill will have a very tough job ahead of him. As you said, the president is meeting with him at this hour. He will be the first American to head up NATO troops in Afghanistan.

And the situation there has been gradually deteriorating, actually significantly deteriorating over the last year. Some of the figures, Taliban attacks up 200 percent in December. Suicide attacks last year quintupled. Roadside bomb attacks more than doubled. Direct insurgent attacks nearly tripled.

So the administration is very hopeful that General McNeill can help to begin to turn those numbers around, Don.

LEMON: All right. Kathleen Koch at the White House. Thank you so much for that report.

Another big theme of last night's address, helping more Americans afford health care. Would the president's plan work?

CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us later this hour to take a closer look at that.

PHILLIPS: Not trying to embarrass the president, not confident the president's plan will succeed. A ping-pong game with American lives. All those words from U.S. senators today from both parties on a motion to oppose the president's troop surge plan for Iraq.

The senior Republican on the foreign relations committee says he's no fan of a surge but a resolution is a waste of time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR (R), INDIANA: Usually nonbinding resolutions are designed to show unity on an issue or highlight an issue that few members know about.

In this case, we are laying open our disunity without the prospect that the vehicle will achieve meaningful changes in our policy. This vote will force nothing on the president. But it will confirm to our friends and allies that we are divided and in disarray.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: This is not a defeatist resolution. This is not a cut and run resolution. We are not talking about cutting off funds, not supporting the troops. This is a very real, responsible addressing of the most divisive issue in this country since Vietnam.

Sure it's tough, absolutely. And I think all 100 senators ought to be on the line on this. What do you believe? What are you willing to support? What do you think? Why are you elected? If you want a safe job, go sell shoes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the measure will likely pass. Democrats hold 11 seats on the committee, one more than Republicans.

Now, there's no shortage of danger zones in the Iraqi capital, and Haifa Street leads the list. Today, Iraqi troops and American troops converged there again to take control.

CNN's Arwa Damon was with them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: By the time we arrived on Haifa Street, the battle there was well into a seventh hour, still fairly intense. At that point in time, U.S. and Iraqi forces had identified a building that they called a machine gunner's stronghold. The insurgents there had sandbagged machine guns in. And the Americans had tried to call in the Apache helicopters, but they were unable to fire on that target.

Finally, they called in a precision guided missile that flattened that building.

A lot of the fighting that we saw today, highly reminiscent of the battle that took place in exactly the same location two weeks ago, the same intensity, the insurgents using pretty much the same targets.

But this time, the Americans and the Iraqis telling us that they were able to apply a lot of the lessons that they had learned in the past.

They also detained at least 21 individuals. Of those, six were detained at a school where they say that they also found a fair number of IED roadside bomb making materials.

Two of the detainees also came in wounded. According to an Iraqi soldier, one of them was trying to throw a grenade down at Iraqi troops from a rooftop. The other one was firing with a machine gun.

They also searched homes in one backyard, expecting to find a weapon's cache. Instead, they discovered buried under the lawn two civilian bodies.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: Well, from day one, he's been more than a second in command, calling plenty of shots in the Bush and wielding plenty of clout in Washington. Dick Cheney doesn't give a whole lot of media interviews, but one's coming up on CNN's "SITUATION ROOM" today. Our Wolf Blitzer joins us now with a first look at that.

Hi, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Don. Thanks very much.

The vice president was firm in his statements, not backing down whatsoever, and also insisting that the administration is going to move forward with its troop increase in Iraq, irrespective of what the U.S. Congress votes on.

Take a listen to this exchange I had with the vice president earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: What if the Senate passes a resolution saying this is not a good idea? Will that stop you?

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It won't stop us. And it will be, I think, detrimental from the standpoint of the troops, as General Petraeus said yesterday. He was asked by Joe Lieberman, among others, in his testimony, about this notion that somehow the Senate voted overwhelmingly for him, sent him on his new assignment and then passed a resolution at the same time and say but we don't agree with the mission you've been given.

BLITZER: You're moving forward no matter what the Congress does?

CHENEY: We are moving forward. We are moving forward.

The Congress has control over the purse strings. They have the right, obviously, if they want to cut off funding. But in terms of this effort, the president's made his decision. We've consulted extensively with him. We'll continue to consult with the Congress. But the fact of the matter is we need to get the job done.

I think General Petraeus can do it. I think our troops can do it. And I think it's far too soon for the talking heads on television to conclude that it's impossible to do, it's not going to work, it can't possibly succeed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The vice president also was firm in insisting that the situation in Iraq, while difficult right now, was not, in his words, terrible by any means. He says there is progress being made.

I pressed him on whether or not he had confidence in the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, upon whom whether so much is now resting on whether this new U.S. strategy is going to succeed. His answer was yes. And then I pressed him on whether or not Nuri al-Maliki was going to do the right thing in going after those Shiite death squads, the Mehdi army of Muqtada al-Sadr, for example, and he insisted that they have commitment from the Iraqi prime minister that they wouldn't do -- they would do that.

We went through a lot of other issues, Don, as well. But on Iraq, there's absolutely no second-guessing as far as the vice president is concerned.

LEMON: And, Wolf, we said at the beginning of this, he doesn't give many interviews. Getting close to the end of his tenure. Did he seem more candid to you than in the past?

BLITZER: I've been covering the vice president for a long time. I was a Pentagon correspondent for CNN during the first Gulf War when he was the defense secretary. And I even remember when he was a congressman and he worked for Gerald Ford way back in the '70s.

He is very smart, he's very determined, he doesn't give a lot of interviews, as you know. But he also doesn't give a lot -- he doesn't show a lot of flexibility. He's got his firmly held views, and that certainly comes through in the course of the rather feisty exchange that we had earlier in the day.

LEMON: Ah, thank you Wolf Blitzer. Of course, we look forward to that. And you can catch this report in its entirety tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer.

PHILLIPS: Another U.S. Air strike in Somalia. The Pentagon tells us an air force gunship went after a midlevel al Qaeda operative in southern Somalia earlier this week. It was the second such attack this month. And we're told the target survived but was captured by Ethiopian ground forces.

Ethiopians are supporting the fragile Somali government in its first against Islamic rebels.

Well, we're just getting word that John Kerry, Senator John Kerry is not going to run for the presidency. We told you that at the top of the hour. Political analyst Bill Schneider now joining us from Washington to talk a little bit about this.

Why do you think he's not going to run?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There isn't much of a ground swell for John Kerry. If he's been exploring, I don't think he found very much.

We actually asked voters, Democrats around the country in our poll this month, would you like to see John Kerry run again for president of the United States? Only 45 percent said yes. Slightly more, 51 percent, said no. They didn't want to see him run.

Now, if you compare the 45 percent who wanted Kerry -- to see Kerry run with other leading Democrats, we found 75 percent said they wanted Hillary Clinton to run; 60 percent, Barack Obama; 59 percent, Al Gore, who, of course, lost the election to George Bush in 2000 but got more votes than Bush did. So a lot of Democrats would like to see Al Gore run, not John Kerry.

PHILLIPS: Well, a number of Democratic sources talking to our John King -- and I'm just looking at these note, Bill, as it's just starting to come in, and one of the sources saying, look, he came to the realization that a lot of people want something new.

Does he just think that his ideas, how he feels about the war in Iraq, health care, et cetera, just aren't fresh enough?

SCHNEIDER: Well, look, I'm not privy to John Kerry's personal thinking. He apparently made this decision only in the last 24 hours. So I don't want to speak to what he thinks. But I can tell you that a lot of Democrats believe that he should have won the election in 2004, and they criticize him for not having run a good campaign.

PHILLIPS: And, also, another source coming forward saying it would be much tougher to raise money this time around. Why is that?

SCHNEIDER: Hillary Clinton. She's absorbing an awful lot of money in the Democratic field. There's only a certain amount of Democratic money available and a lot of people are giving her money. And some are worried they're not sure she can be elected so they're holding back a little bit.

But, again, their view is that John Kerry had his chance. He ran a race in 2004 that he could have won, should have won, didn't win, and they're looking for somebody else.

PHILLIPS: And remember the misunderstanding -- well, he said it was a misunderstanding. He came forward. This was a few months ago. Remind me, Bill. I think it might have been Seattle, or maybe that's where he held a news conference, where he had made those comments about the military...

SCHNEIDER: Oh, yes.

PHILLIPS: ... that if you're not educated then you end up going into the military. He said it was all misconstrued. He was ad libbing a speech. Do you think that hurt him?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, I think it did. I mean, he might have been able to get over it, had he decided to run for president.

But the answer to the question is yes, it hurt him. Look what happened. He had to get out of the campaign for the last week or so before the election last November because of the storm of criticism over those statements, which he said was a botched joke, to be fair to Senator Kerry. He said he was trying to make a joke. It came out wrong. And he appeared to criticize American soldiers in Iraq, saying if you're not smart, than you could end up in Iraq.

That's not what he intended to say, but clearly it had repercussions so strong that he had to recuse himself really from campaigning for other Democrats.

PHILLIPS: All right. We're expected to hear from Kerry later on this afternoon. Maybe I'll have a chance to get inside of his head then, Bill, since you're not able to do that.

SCHNEIDER: OK, I can't do that.

PHILLIPS: But you gave me great analysis. Thanks, Bill.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

LEMON: New questions in the case of alleged kidnapping. We're following the developments right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Cure-all or complication? The president's plan to make health care more affordable is sparking some feverish debate. We're going to examine the facts, straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's talk about health and taxes. President Bush wants to help more people buy health insurance by tinkering with the tax code. What would that mean for you? So let's check in with our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

What does that mean for everyone?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It could mean something good if you're one of the 47 million Americans without health insurance. That is a huge number. And this could help but only with a sliver of that 47 million. It will only help with about 3 million of those people.

What President Bush wants to do is to get more people to buy their own health insurance when they don't get it from their employer. How did the government get people to buy houses? By giving a tax deduction. Same proposal here, that a family would get a $15,000 tax deduction under his plan, and an individual will get a $7,500 tax deduction with this plan.

Again, this is for people who have to buy their own insurance because their employer doesn't give it to them.

So we made up an imaginary family of four. A family of four making $60,000 a year would see a tax savings of about $4,500 a year. And that's according to the White House.

Many tax experts we talked to said that family wouldn't see even really close to that kind of tax savings. They say the way the numbers are crunched, they thought it was a little bit iffy, and that family would see much less savings.

Now, an individual making $32,000 a year would see a tax savings of about $1,125 a year.

Now, the big question here, health insurance is extremely expensive. The costs are skyrocketing. So the big question is, if there's an individual making $32,000, are they going to fork over $8,000, $9,000, $10,000 a year for health insurance to get an $1,100 deduction back?

LEMON: That's a big chunk of money.

COHEN: It's a big chunk of money. The money they're getting back isn't nearly that much. That's the big question.

LEMON: Yes. OK, I know you have these two families, but does it -- does this help anyone? Who does it help? Does it really help anybody?

COHEN: Sure, it could help some people who fall into that category.

Now what's interesting is that many people, about 160 million people, get their insurance through their employer. Now, for those people, this probably won't really mean much. This will be kind of a wash.

But for one out of every five health plans, the employees would actually end up paying more and the reason why is that the Bush plan would count health insurance costs that your employer pays for, they count it as income. So on your W2, you would see that show up as income, which is not the case now. So some people might end up actually paying more.

LEMON: OK, so it helps people who can't afford it, who have trouble affording it. What about people like us who the company sort of helps or takes care of our health insurance?

COHEN: Right. In that case, it depends on what kind of a plan you have.

LEMON: OK.

COHEN: And one out of five cases it might actually make it more.

But here's something else that is a concern for many people, which is that there are some people who this won't help, and those are people, the working poor, who are very poor. Some -- many Americans are working, but they don't make enough money to pay taxes anyhow. So a deduction is not really going to help them.

Or if you have a pre-existing condition and you can't get insurance anyhow and so you're trying to get insurance and no one will insure you because, let's say, you're a cancer survivor, tax deduction doesn't really matter. If you can't buy insurance, you can't buy insurance.

LEMON: OK, so taking notes on what you're saying. Tax deduction across the board. If you have health insurance, you said $15,000 for families, $7,500 for singles. So who wouldn't this plan help?

COHEN: Right, it wouldn't help people if they can't get this insurance anyhow.

LEMON: OK.

COHEN: If you can't get this insurance because of pre-existing conditions.

And the general criticisms of this plan is why can't the president do what Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing? Why can't he create basically for everybody -- in other words, bring the cost of health insurance down so people can afford it?

LEMON: Right. Well, it seems to me, you said -- you know, about 50 million people, 47 million, but only three million would actually see some benefit...

COHEN: Right, and that's according to the White House.

LEMON: That's not a lot of folks.

COHEN: It's a pretty small sliver. Now the -- President Bush says he's going to get the states to help out some of those other people. But whether or not that would actually happen remains to be seen.

LEMON: OK. It's still kind of tricky. I know you broke it down. But still kind of tricky. Thank you very much.

COHEN: Still tricky, yes. OK, thanks.

PHILLIPS: The FDA advisory committee on birth control is meeting today and tomorrow. In and of itself, not information that's vital to your daily life, but media reports about the agenda prompted a clarification.

The panel wants to make clear new lower dose birth control pills are not significantly less effective at preventing pregnancy than older formulas. The agency says one of its press releases seems to have been misinterpreted.

Straight ahead, what he said may not matter as much as what you heard. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, analysis of the president's speech from different ends of the political spectrum. Bay Buchanan and Julian Epstein join us live.

LEMON: And Senator John Kerry expected to make a major announcement on the Senate floor very soon. He is -- get this -- not running for president. We'll bring that to you live as soon as that happens.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And our sources telling us they are getting the word that Senator John Kerry is going to announce that he is not going to run for the presidency in 2008. We're expecting to hear from him live from the Senate floor. We'll take that when it happens. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say and why he has decided not to run.

The Hillary factor is interesting, some of our analysts saying she's the one that's absorbing all the money and the support. That may influence why he's not running. We'll wait to hear from him.

LEMON: Let's talk about some business news now. A landmark insurance settlement is offering new hope to thousands hit by Hurricane Katrina. Susan Lisovicz joins us from the New York Stock Exchange with details on all of this.

Good news for them, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good news, and it comes after lots of threats of litigation, Don.

State Farm has agreed to settle with hundreds of Mississippi home owners and could reopen thousands of other claims. Under the settlement, State Farm will pay about $80 million to more than 600 Mississippi policyholders who sued the company for refusing to cover damage from Hurricane Katrina.

The company also agreed to pay at least $50 million and possibly hundreds of millions of dollars to home owners in that state whose claims were originally denied but have not sued. About 35,000 Mississippi residents are eligible.

State Farm and other insurance companies have denied coverage claims, maintaining that flood damage is not covered under policies it issued. Homeowners, however, say it was wind and water that ravaged their homes, not solely flooding.

The settlement comes just two weeks after State Farm was ordered to pay nearly $3 million to a Mississippi couple in a similar case.

And Don, you know the lawyers who write these insurance policies are going to be busy in the future. Anyone who lives near the water.

LEMON: Yes. Right. You know, I don't know if we would even know at this point, because a lot of people are wondering if their insurance premiums were going to go up because of all these lawsuits.

LISOVICZ: Well, I mean, State Farm and other insurers, they are a for-profit business.

LEMON: Yes.

LISOVICZ: And we're talking about a massive hit on, you know, on their profits. But on the other hand, you know, there are years where you have nice weather, and there aren't people that make these kinds of claims.

LEMON: Yes.

LISOVICZ: So that's the kind of business they're in. It's very cyclical and not predictable.

LEMON: Right. So let's get back to your other -- how about home owners in other states, are those policies through other insurance companies, are they -- what's going to happen with them?

LISOVICZ: Right, well, we have not heard the end of the story. I'm sure that is no surprise to most of our viewers. State Farm and other insurers like Allstate and Nationwide are fighting hundreds of other Katrina-related suits along the Gulf Coast, mostly in Louisiana, not surprising.

Attorneys in those cases say they're hopeful this development will prompt insurers to settle quickly, but All State and Nationwide are stressing that their policies and procedures are different from State Farm's. All State, for instance, tells "The Wall Street Journal" the company will continue to resolve claims on an individual basis.

In other news, Senate Republicans have blocked an effort to advance the minimum wage bill passed by the House of Representatives two weeks ago. That measure would boost the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, incrementally over two years. Doesn't include any tax break. Republicans want those breaks to help small businesses cover the higher labor costs a minimum wage hike would bring.

Obviously, raising the minimum wage after 10 years was one of the top priorities by the new Congress.

Taking a quick look at the markets. Stocks modestly higher. Tech stocks staging a bit of a rebound after getting off to a rough start last week, to the earnings season. Dow right now, up 39 points, Nasdaq up 1 percent. That's latest from Wall Street.

Coming up, the president taking his energy plan to the road. Some say it's not enough. I'll have details. Back to you, Don and Kyra.

LEMON: All right, thank you very much, Susan. The second half of the NEWSROOM starts right now.

PHILLIPS: Hello, I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: I'm Don Lemon.

Charged, tried, convicted and jailed for 22 years -- all of it wrongly. Now Pete Williams is free at last. His story straight ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: First day of freedom in -- in many of a year -- for Pete Williams. The Georgia man was freed last night after spending almost half of his life in prison. Convicted by eyewitness testimony Williams was cleared, finally, by DNA. Reporter Ryan Young of CNN affiliate WSB has more on Williams' 22-year ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIE "PETE" WILLIAMS, CLEARED BY DNA: Just happy, you know, I'm just overwhelmed with joy.

RYAN YOUNG, REPORTER WSB TV (voice over): Pete Williams, free from conviction, free from prison, and able to share with the world something he's always known.

WILLIAMS: The moment they told me, well, we found your DNA, was like, oh, my god, you know, I'm going home.

YOUNG: Thanks to help from the Georgia Innocence Project, Pete Williams had his DNA tested and finally proved he did not rape a woman in Sandy Springs nearly 22 years ago. Full of smiles, Pete Williams says he's looking forward to working again and that anger doesn't bind him.

WILLIAMS: I worked for about 10 years and then I gave it over to the Lord.

YOUNG: After enduring so much, Williams can enjoy some home touches and some new family moments.

WILLIAMS: I can't even explain, not in words, you know? It's fantastic.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: So what's the first thing Williams wanted to do when he got home? Take a bath. He's only been allowed showers since 1985.

LEMON: A shocking new claim in the Missouri missing boy case, but a top investigator says it is speculation. A St. Louis television station is reporting 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck may have helped the man who allegedly kidnapped him, abduct 13-year-old Ben Ownby.

Both boys were returned to their families after police found them in the suburban St. Louis apartment of 41-year-old Michael Devlin. Hornbeck had been missing since 2002. Ownby disappeared early this month.

Franklin County sheriff says that report is not based on official sources, and is harmful to the boys and their families. He says authorities aren't releasing details of the case and the media should wait for the facts to come out in court.

What he said may not matter as much as you heard. Ahead in the NEWSROOM analysis of the president's speech from different ends of the political spectrum. Bay Buchanan and Julian Epstein both join us live.

PHILLIPS: Senator John Kerry expected to make a major announcement on the Senate floor soon. He is not running for president. We're going to bring that to your live. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's go straight to the Hill. Our Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash has been monitoring what the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been saying. Coming out talking about this troop surge, not for it, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CONRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM: That's right and not just talking about it, Kyra. Just moments ago, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee actually voted.

The first formal vote here on Capitol Hill since Democrats took control here to repudiate the president on his Iraq strategy. And actually, think about what was going on here just last night, the president coming to Congress, saying that he really wants them to give him more time, give his Iraq plan to send more troops there, more time.

Well, 12 hours later, 9:00 a.m., the Senate Foreign Relations Committee gaveled in a hearing where they were going to discuss and debate a resolution that they just passed. The vote was 12-9. One Republican crossed over, a Republican sponsor of that resolution, Chuck Hagel.

Essentially what this resolution -- nonbinding symbolic resolution -- says is that it is not in the national interest of the United States to send more troops to Iraq. They changed the language slightly. There was a word in there, escalate, it had said that it was not in the national interest to escalate troop levels in Iraq. That had been seen by many as too partisan. It's a term that Democrats use. They changed that to increase.

But the headline here, is that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee defied President Bush and simply said they did not agree with his plan to send more troops to Iraq. The Democratic chairman opened it up by saying that this is not an attempt to embarrass the president, just an attempt to get Congress on record about its feelings on the president's plan. And there was a lot of impassioned debate on this, especially from the sole Republican sponsor of this, Chuck Hagel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES HAGEL, (R-NB), SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS CMTE.: We better be damned sure we know what we're doing, all of us, before we put 22,000 more Americans into that grinder. We better be as sure as you can be.

And I want everyone of you, everyone of us -- 100 Senators -- to look in that camera and you tell your people back home what you think. What do you believe? What are you willing to support? What do you think? Why are you elected? If you wanted a safe job go sell shoes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, what the Senator Hagel was reacting to were some comments by some in that committee, saying they were concerned about what kind of message this kind of resolution would send. Especially to, what many said were America's enemies, especially in the region.

For example, the ranking Republican on this committee Richard Lugar, of Indiana, he said that he does not -- he's not confident that this plan will work, by the president, but he also said that he's very concerned this kind of resolution will only show the enemies of the United States that the Congress and the United States is in disarray. And he also said that he didn't think the White House would listen anyway.

That was actually quite a stunning remark from him.

Now, it's important to note that there are about four Republicans, Kyra, who are on this committee who have said they oppose the president's plan but didn't vote that way. Now, there are other resolutions that we're going to see come forward when this issue is on the Senate floor, likely as early next week. But this formally is the first vote by this -- by any committee or anything of the sort in congress to make clear that congress does not support the president's plan to send more troops to Iraq -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dana Bash on the Hill. Thanks so much.

You heard Dana mention the Senate floor, perfect segue, we want to go live to the Senate floor, as we wait to hear from Senator John Kerry. We're getting word he is going to announce he's not going to run for the presidency in 2008, as soon as he starts speaking, we will take that live.

LEMON: A night of firsts for President Bush. More Democrats than Republicans on the House floor for the State of the Union speech, and a woman in the speaker's chair. Mr. Bush focused on a host of domestic issues, but as always, Iraq loomed large.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whenever you voted for, you did not vote for failure. Our country's pursuing a new strategy in Iraq and I asked you to give it a chance to work.

The future of hope and opportunity requires that all of our citizens have affordable and available health care. I propose two new initiatives to help more Americans afford their own insurance.

Let us build on the work we've done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So how did the president do? Joining me from Washington is CNN contributor Bay Buchanan, haven't seen Bay in a while, president of the American Cause and political consultant and democratic strategist Julian Epstein. We haven't seen him for a while, as well. And we just want to warn you, as you guys know, we're waiting for Senator John Kerry, and his announcement he's not going to run.

You're look live there now at the Senate floor so we may have to interrupt you but we would like you to stick around because we'll get reaction to that.

I'm going to start with you, Bay. Good to see you again.

BAY BUCHANAN, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Thanks very much. Good to be on.

LEMON: Overall reaction to the speech last night?

BUCHANAN: I think the president did a masterful job. I think he showed real graciousness, he was very engaging. He spoke directly to the American people. He made some powerful points. I believe that his performance last night really will change the minds, for one, it changed mine.

LEMON: Well, according to our Opinion Research Corporation poll, just overall reaction to the address last night, they said it was very positive; 41 percent of people said it was very positive. Somewhat positive, 37 percent, and negative, 20 percent. That is a whole lot better than the president's approval rating

BUCHANAN: Sure was.

LEMON: Julian, as of late, do you think this will give him a bump, this speech last night?

JULIAN EPSTEIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I thought it was a decent speech. I thought it was uncharacteristically conciliatory towards the Democrats. And I think that it is a recognition by the president that he was defeated in the elections in November. And I think in many ways this is a defeated president.

While there were some bouquets that were thrown out, both to Nancy Pelosi and on some domestic issues, energy, immigration, in particular, maybe a little bit on health care. The major centerpiece, as you pointed out, was Iraq. I think this administration is seeing the collapse of its centerpiece of what the rationale -- the very rationale of this administration has been. It's been a very narrow- minded policy that has been based on half-truths, and mistruths about Iraq, and also on politicizing the war.

I think ultimately what happened with this very narrow-minded strategy is you've seen a total collapse, as you'll likely see next week when a bipartisan panel votes to essentially say they have no confidence in the president's plan.

BUCHANAN: You know what's interesting?

LEMON: Let's stick with Iraq. I'm going to get your response, Bay.

BUCHANAN: Sure.

LEMON: The president doesn't have the support he did in the beginning. A lot of the folks who went over there, at least some of the folks who are serving in Iraq, or have served, at least conveyed that they thought that they'd probably be coming home right now. One of them, is Captain Rose Forest. She spoke to us after the president's speech. Let's take a listen to what she has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. ROSE FOREST, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: A year ago, I watched the president's State of the Union Address from Iraq. It seemed to me that he promised us that he was going to bring us all home. And this year he seems he's encouraging not only an escalation, but a continuation, long term, of troops in Iraq. And I don't think he justified it in his speech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Go ahead, Bay.

BUCHANAN: I disagree. There's no question wars are unpredictable that soldier shows know that, as well as any of us. And that the president's intent was good last year. But things have turned south over there in Iraq and what the president's point were -- I believe were excellent -- one that we can't -- a failure's not an option. That it's not in our interest.

And what he's done is told the American people, I have a new strategy. And I'm asking you to give me the support. I thought he showed that he was somewhat humbled by the election results, that he understood he didn't have the support, but that he was trying to say, I've got the new strategy. I've got some answers, I'm trying to turn this around so we can get out honorably and leave behind us something we can be proud of.

LEMON: Do you think he was humbled by this moment, not only that the Democrats are in control, but also the first woman speaker? Let's look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Tonight, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of my own as the first president to begin the State of the Union message with these words, "Madam Speaker."

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Julian, significance of that moment?

EPSTEIN: Well, it was an historic moment. I think the president hit it out of the ballpark by the graciousness with which he recognized a speaker who he did everything to make sure never got into power. But I think he was very gentlemanly about it. And he couldn't have done any better on that point.

Of course, this is just window dressing. The real issue is has he persuaded the public, one, on the issue of Iraq, that he's got a plan that is going to work that isn't just throwing good money after bad. And good soldiers into a situation that there really isn't any plan, once they get there, that's different from what we're doing now? And has he really persuaded the public he's got anything that he's trying to accomplish on domestic policy?

Remember, nobody could probably -- if you asked an average citizen on the street if they could name one thing this president has accomplished, on the domestic front, other than tax cuts, in his six years, they probably couldn't name it.

LEMON: And you talked about trying to persuade the public, as he says, always, the state of our union is strong. Some very poignant moments. One, the basketball player Dekembe Mutumbo (ph), introducing him during the State of the Union. And also introducing Julie Eiger -- Eiger Clark, who started a website for babies, called Baby Einstein, in her basement. And then, of course, Wesley Autrey, the subway hero last night. An amazing moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: There is something wonderful about a country that produces a brave and humble man like Wesley Autrey.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You could not watch that without smiling. Do you think that this -- either of you, whoever wants to jump in -- did this help him, the president, win any support among the American people about the State of our Union?

BUCHANAN: I believe absolutely it did. You know, we hear so much coming out of Washington that's angry, and there's a lot of contention, and we don't agree with one another, we throw a lot of jabs back and forth. But what the president said last night is about this whole nation, we are good people, and we produce great men and women.

And so there's great hope when you have a country that -- that can produce these kinds -- this kind of quality individual across -- that are everywhere in this country. I think it was a Reaganesque moment. I think he gives hope to America, that we can turn things around, as bad as they may seem, and we can have a brighter future.

LEMON: OK, Julian, we're running out of time, but I'm going to give you the last word on this. It was an uphill battle for the president. Home run, or how do you think he did last night?

EPSTEIN: I think he hit a double, because he struck a conciliatory mood and he set a tone. He wanted to try to work with Democrats on domestic policy. I think Iraq at this point -- unless he changes course and recognizes that there needs to be some type of political solution between the Shia and the Sunni and that he needs to engage the neighbors in the region in that battle, or in that settlement, I think that this is a very, very perilous course both military and politically for him.

LEMON: Julian Epstein, Bay Buchanan, we haven't seen much of you since the midterms, and it's good to see you both again.

BUCHANAN: Thank you very much.

EPSTEIN: Thanks for having us.

LEMON: Again, we want to remind our who are waiting for a live press conference, Senator John Kerry is supposed to speak from the Senate floor a very short time from now. We'll carry it for you live. He's going to make a statement, we believe, to say that he is not going to run for president in '08.

PHILLIPS: Rob Marciano also has a look at your forecast and some of your I-reports when we come back. You're watching the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: There are areas already getting socked or soaked, it depends on where you live. Right, Rob Marciano?

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: We're waiting on a press conference -- or at least Senator Kerry to make an announcement. Senator John Kerry, from the Senate floor that he will not run for president in '08. We're monitoring that for you. As soon as it happens, we'll bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We are monitoring the Senate floor in Washington, D.C., where Senator John Kerry's expected to make an announcement today, a statement that he will not run for president in '08. As soon as that happen, we'll bring it to you live right here.

PHILLIPS: Also straight ahead, the world's most dangerous missions. Would you choose to accept them? Ahead in the NEWSROOM, insight on what it takes to be a member of the elite Blackwater USA Team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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