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House Committee Approves Authorizing Subpoenas; Parent Company Idling Sago Mine in West Virginia; Gore Testifies on Capitol Hill About Global Warming; Health Risks of Salt; Praise for Dog Gandalf who Found Lost Boy Scout; Continuing Violence in Iraq; Internet Ad Attack on Hilary Clinton

Aired March 21, 2007 - 10:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.

Developments keep coming in to the NEWSROOM on this Wednesday, March 21st.

Here's what's on the rundown.

Minutes ago, a House committee authorizing subpoenas. Lawmakers trying to force some of the president's top advisers to testify under oath about fired federal prosecutors.

HARRIS: Chinese takeout -- sure. Just leave the salt behind. A consumer group warning many Chinese dishes are loaded with what's bad for you.

COLLINS: Big screen, Hillary Clinton. A mystery spoof hits the Internet and sets chat rooms guessing. Who's behind this ad? Big brother, golden apple in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Offer made, offer rejected, showdown set. Minutes ago, a House committee voted to authorize subpoenas for top Bush aides. Democrats rejecting the president's proposal they speak privately and not under oath about the firing of federal prosecutors. That sets the stage for a constitutional challenge, one that ultimately may be refereed and refereed by the Supreme Court.

Here's CNN Congressional correspondent Dana Bash.

Dana, good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just a few moments ago was that committee voting along party lines, it seemed, according to our Deirdre Walsh (ph), who was in the room, to authorize the chairman of that committee to issue subpoenas to top Bush officials like Karl Rove if in fact in the end it comes to that. And from the Democrats' point of view, they think it would come to that if negotiations collapsed. Now, what the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who will now hold the power to send these subpoenas, he promised in this meeting is, he said, "Trust me" a couple of times. He said, "Trust me, I'm going to do this and hold this" if only everything collapsed. Because many of the Republicans said that the timing of this is wrong.

It's too early to go down this path to even threaten the idea of subpoenas because some of the Republicans thought what the White House offered was quite reasonable. And at least they should give time for negotiations to perhaps continue.

To remind our viewers of what this offer was from the White House, it was to allow Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, and other Bush officials to come and talk to members of Congress, but only in private, not in public. No public testimony. No transcript or record of the testimony. And it would not be under oath.

And Democrats today once again said that that's not acceptable at all. One even said that it's actually insulting and off the mark, because they insist that they want this to be part of the public record, part of their investigation into why federal prosecutors, eight of them, were fired -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Dana, wiggle room, I'm trying to think of what could be the compromise here. What if -- is it possible that Democrats will accept the president's offer and conduct these sessions without a transcript? And if they're not happy with subpoenas in hand as leverage, then threaten to use them?

BASH: That is entirely possible. That is really kind of the $64,000 question now a we look at how this plays out with the prospect of a constitutional showdown looming, with the prospect of this going all the way to the Supreme Court. And if you listened to how defiant President Bush was yesterday, he certainly made it sound like he's willing to do that.

Of course, as you're sort of alluding to in your question, Tony, both sides are now very much publicly posturing about where they are -- where they are right now in these negotiations. But in terms of the Democrats, we have a sound bite from the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, John Conyers, laying out what he thinks about the White House offer.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN CONYERS (D-MI), CHAIRMAN, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: What Fred Fielding said to us yesterday was so disconcerting and so off the mark, I mean, obviously anyone that comes before the committee would have to be put under oath. Obviously there would have to be a transcript. We don't do anything without a record.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: "We don't do anything without a record." That is what you hear from Democrats, you're going to continue to hear from Democrats.

Republicans are arguing, some of them, at least, Tony, that, you know, we have to compromise on this particular issue.

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: It's a tough one when it comes to the Constitution. What you may -- may see is perhaps some kind of compromise focusing on that issue, the record, having a permanent record. But that is going to be something we're going to be watching for as the hours and days proceed on this -- on this issue.

HARRIS: Can't wait to see how it all works out.

Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash for us.

BASH: Thank you.

HARRIS: Dana, thank you.

COLLINS: Politics and the power of the presidency. This latest battle line runs much deeper than a single issue.

CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: However, we will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The president defiantly vowed to go to the mat, all the way to the Supreme Court to fight Democratic threats to subpoena his top political adviser, Karl Rove, and former counsel, Harriet Miers.

BUSH: The initial response by Democrats unfortunately show some appear more interested in scoring political points than in learning the facts.

HENRY: But he also flashed a little anger with his own administration that the latest blow to their credibility was a self- inflicted wound by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

BUSH: While I strongly support the attorney general's decision and am confident he acted appropriately, I regret that these resignations turned into such a public spectacle.

HENRY: Particularly galling for the president is that the political crisis has only grown since last Wednesday when he tried to end it at a press conference in Mexico.

BUSH: What was mishandled was the explanation of the case -- the cases to the Congress. And Al's got work to do up there.

HENRY: But Gonzales has still not made his way to Capitol Hill to mend relations. And initial e-mails released by the Justice Department seemed to give Rove a bigger role in the flap than the White House originally admitted. Facing likely subpoenas compelling Rove and others to testify under oath and in public, the president has resisted, trying to paint this as a principled fight to preserve executive privilege.

BUSH: If you haul somebody up in front of Congress and put them in oath and, you know, all the (INAUDIBLE) and all the questioning, it -- to me, it makes it very difficult for a president to give good advice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And Ed Henry joining us now outside the White House.

There you are, Ed.

Hey, are they still sticking by their guns on all of this? The White House, I mean?

HENRY: Absolutely. Even before this vote in the House, Tony Snow was speaking to reporters off camera, and in anticipation of the vote said they're not budging an inch. He says that what the White House does not want is a media spectacle. He's charging it would be a show trial, a phrase we heard from the president as well.

We're going to keep hearing that from the White House. But I think one of the problems with their strategy at this point that they may face is the fact, as you heard Dana Bash laying out, they don't even want a transcript, let alone put officials under oath. And that was something Tony Snow was getting pressed on by a lot of reporters, the fact that there would be no record of what is said behind closed doors. And then how would the public really know what was said and what the testimony -- what Karl Rove and others had said behind closed doors?

Tony Snow basically said, well, you can have the senators come out of these private meetings, the House members, and then tell what they heard. But as you know full well, you're going to have Democrats like Chuck Schumer come out of that committee room and say, you know, Karl Rove implicated himself. And then you're going to have Republican senators like John Cornyn come out and say, you know what? Karl Rove's been vindicated.

If you don't have a transcript, if you don't have a record of actually what was said, then you don't really know what happened behind closed doors. So that's one area where you're going to see the Democrats press this White House over and over -- Heidi.

COLLINS: What could the overall fallout from all of this be? As you mentioned earlier the last time we spoke, Ed, you had said that it seems like the president and the White House saying, listen, if we open the door here, it's like opening a floodgate to many other issues that may come up either in this administration or beyond.

HENRY: That is the biggest factor here. Certainly as the president laid out, there's a principle of executive privilege. He's not a Johnny-come-lately to this. He's asserted that before.

He has a track record on that. So there is a principle at stake. But there is politics. And you said it right, the floodgates would be opened.

If the White House does not stand up here and if Karl Rove is compelled to testify under oath and in public, it's "Katie bar the door." You just wait. Democrats will be coming up here with subpoenas day after day.

If they feel -- you know, and they see blood in the water and they can attack, they're going to do it over and over again. This White House is fully aware of that.

The question ultimately, politically for the White House, though, is it worth a fight here if they take this to the courts, to keep fighting about this U.S. attorney issue in the courts maybe for another six months? Is that worth their time? They're going to have to make that decision, obviously -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Hey, Ed, who's getting all the work done?

HENRY: Well, you know, Tony Snow actually mentioned that. And you're going to start hearing people press both parties on that.

COLLINS: Yes.

HENRY: If they're spending so much time, both sides, on this flap, how are they going to get immigration reform done, healthcare? You know, there was a lot of big expectations in January with this new Congress. Well, maybe they'll sit down, maybe they'll work together. Well, as we see, it's already devolved into a lot of partisan battles, and they don't really have a legislative record so far -- Heidi.

COLLINS: The honeymoon's over.

CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry for us.

Ed, thanks so much for that.

HENRY: Thank you.

COLLINS: And the fallout on the constitutional showdown over those federal -- fired federal prosecutors. CNN contributor, former congressman and former U.S. attorney Bob Barr -- interesting insight in the NEWSROOM coming up. Don't miss this.

HARRIS: Let's get you to Fred in the NEWSROOM now. Fred is following a story on the company that operates the Sago Mine in Charleston, West Virginia.

Good to see you, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you.

Operates and owns the Sago Mine. International Coal Group says it is shutting down. The spokesperson says it is purely a business decision because of high production costs and weak coal prices.

Twelve miners died in that Sago explosion back in January of 2006. There was one sole survivor. Many families of the victims are still suing the International Coal Group.

It is unclear when the International Coal Group will be shutting down the mine there. Still unclear, as well, is the cause of the explosion. We've heard everything from lightning, to also friction between the rocks and the metal roof support. That's still out.

But the latest news, that the Sago Mine, which is owned and operated by International Coal Group, the Sago -- the International Coal Group says it is shutting down.

HARRIS: Fred, and do we know whether if this is a -- oh, go ahead.

WHITFIELD: And apparently, we're just now getting a statement from the International Coal Group, Tony, which says it is not shutting down permanently. We'll try to sort out those details and try to bring that to you when we get that.

HARRIS: Just about to ask that. OK, Fred. Appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Global warming. A former vice president takes his environmental campaign to Capitol Hill.

Al Gore testifying before lawmakers about global climate change and pushing for government action. You see live pictures there on your screen of that. His appearance certain to fuel more speculation about his political future.

Congressional Correspondent Andrea Koppel is on the Hill.

Is this about his political future, Andrea, or about global warming?

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, some would say it's about both. Certainly the former vice president has said that he is not seeking the nomination, but he also has not ruled out such a possibility.

But his arrival here today on Capitol Hill came before a crush of reporters. The room in there is overflowing. In fact, they've had to get a couple of extra rooms for spectators because Al Gore is a celebrity.

He is here today to speak about what has been a lifelong cause of his, fighting global warming. And although he didn't bring his statues with him, you know that just a couple of weeks ago he won two Oscars for a documentary that he did on global warming and climate change. He did, however, bring a number of boxes filled with what he says are a half million letters from Americans who are asking for real action from Capitol Hill on global warming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL GORE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is building. And it's building in both parties.

The faith communities, the evangelical communities, the business leaders, 10 of the CEOs of the biggest corporations in America just the day before the State of the Union Address last month, most of them in their personal lives have been supporters of President Bush. That's irrelevant to this issue. They had a press conference the day before the State of the Union Address calling on you to act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Now, the vice president's message today is that the world is facing a global emergency, in his words, because of global warming and because of climate change. His message is well received and expected to be well received by many Democrats, but not all of them. And definitely not well among many Republicans.

He can expect to get a lot of pointed questions, heated exchanges between Al Gore and a number of Republicans who sit on two committees here, actually, Heidi. This is sort of unprecedented. Two committees holding this hearing here in the House. And then he's going to travel this afternoon over to the Senate, where there are really going to be fireworks when he faces off with Oklahoma senator James Inhofe, who is the top Republican over there on one of the energy committees -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Now, that will be an interesting exchange, I can almost guarantee.

We'll be watching all of it throughout the day.

Andrea Koppel, thank you.

HARRIS: You are in the NEWSROOM. And when we come back, a twisted new tactic for Iraqi insurgents said to have kids in cars as decoys. The children killed when insurgents blew up the vehicles.

The story in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Also, a spoof tries to demonize a presidential candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: ... a little bit more about what I believe in and trying to do, and really help this conversation about our country get started.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Who's behind this explosive Internet-only spot? 1984 collides with 2008 in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And a dog shall lead them straight to the missing scout. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MISHA MARSHALL, SEARCHER: He looked left about three times. So I knew he was interested in something. So that kind of puts you on alert.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: More on Gandalf the hero dog, good looking, too, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And Chinese food, it's mostly veggies, so it's healthy, right? Well, hold that thought and pass the salt, please.

You're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And good morning again, everyone.

Tony Harris here.

You're in the NEWSROOM.

Coming up, mystery political ad online.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: It's not something that we had anything to do with or were aware of. And, frankly, given what it looks like, we don't have the technical capacity to create something like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So who did do it? Who did it? Details straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Welcome back, everybody, to the NEWSROOM.

I'm Heidi Collins.

Well, the vote is in. A short time ago, a House subcommittee authorizing subpoenas for top White House advisers as it looks into the firing of U.S. prosecutors.

CNN contributor Bob Barr is here with some great perspective. He's a former U.S. congressman and a former U.S. attorney himself.

We appreciate you being here today, Bob.

Listen, let's start by hearing some of what the president said about his offer to Democrats and, of course, the Democrats' response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: It will be regrettable if they choose to head down the partisan road of issuing subpoenas and demanding show trials when I have agreed to make key White House officials and documents available.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: All right, Bob. So that's what the president says. That is what his offer is.

If we go ahead and open up some of the newspapers today, we see from the "Chicago Tribune," a defiant President Bush vowed to fight any effort by Congress. From the "Los Angeles Times," "A defiant President Bush on Tuesday refused to make White House political strategist Karl Rove available..." And from "The Baltimore Sun," "Bush spoke in sometimes defiant terms." From the "USA Today" headline, "Bush Defiant in Prosecutors Probe."

Is this a defiant president or is this executive privilege?

BOB BARR, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's probably some of both. But what's really unfortunate here, both from the White House standpoint, as well as from the more important standpoint of what's best for the country, is the integrity of the Department of Justice is being used as a political football by the administration to prove who's the toughest hombre in all this. It's very unfortunate. And I'm not really sure that the administration has chosen the best line in the sand to draw here, so to speak.

Congress clearly has a right to inquire into the running of the Department of Justice, to inquire into the integrity of the process of hiring and firing U.S. attorneys, notwithstanding the fact that that that is technically a prerogative of the president. And rather than fight this, the administration really ought to be going out of its way to do what prior administrations have done, such as the Bush I administration and Reagan administrations, and that is take whatever steps are necessary to assure the American people that the integrity of our justice system has not been compromised.

COLLINS: I think you bring up a great point, and one that we really haven't heard very much about by way of using the Department of Justice as sort of a ploy in all of this. What about, though, also, Bob, the possibility of Democrats taking the offer, listening in to what is said between Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, whoever else is going to be testifying, and if they don't hear what they want to hear, if the questions are not answered, then moving forward and say, hey, we need to know and we need some transcript?

BARR: I think that here again the Congress, the judiciary committees in both the House and the Senate, have a pretty clear right to demand information that relates to the propriety of the running of the Department of Justice. These, after all, are all people, whether it's Karl Rove or a U.S. attorney or an attorney general, who are paid by the taxpayers with funds appropriated by the Congress. And Congress has a right to assure itself that these funds are being used properly and that is consistent with the appropriate standards of justice and integrity at the Department of Justice.

And if the administration, which I think probably threw down the gauntlet a little bit early in this fight -- I think there was really some substantial room to work a lot of this through, but the White House chose not to do that. If in fact the White House insists on not sending people forward, not making the information available, then the loser in all of this is the Department of Justice in the sense that justice is fair and impartial. That used to be the hallmark of the running of our government.

COLLINS: Yes, certainly. And you as a former prosecutor yourself, I wonder, what does the scandal do to that office? I mean, is this something that could possibly be politicized from here on out?

BARR: It's very unfortunate. You have political operatives both at the White House and at the Department of Justice drawing up lists of U.S. attorneys and ranking them according to some criteria. And this is apparently being done by a person at the Department of Justice that himself had no experience.

I mean, for heaven's sake, taking a renowned prosecutor like Peter Fitzgerald and this person Sampson at the Department of Justice, ranking him basically as unqualified, you know, that says more about the people making the list than it does certainly about the people who were the subject of the list. I mean, these are very well thought out, very highly respected prosecutors. Otherwise, they would not have been appointed to these positions by Mr. Bush himself.

COLLINS: That all being said, if the president were to call you a little bit later on this afternoon, what type of advice would you give him for this particular situation?

BARR: Well, of course, I'd have to pick myself up off of the floor.

COLLINS: Yes. He doesn't call you all the time?

BARR: But I would certainly say, Mr. President, your predecessors in office, your father was under great pressure when I was U.S. attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, to take action against me for political reasons. Your father resisted those efforts. President Reagan, your supposed hero, resisted those efforts. Please, do something to assure the American public that this is an open process, that the Department of Justice is not being run based on political considerations, particularly where the rubber meets the road, and that is with the United States attorneys across this country.

Work with the Congress. And let's see if we can work this out, because there's far more at stake here than either you or the attorney general proving who's the toughest hombre in this -- in this dispute.

COLLINS: Something we didn't know about Bob Barr.

All right. Appreciate your time here today, as always, Bob. BARR: Sure.

COLLINS: Former congressman, former U.S. attorney and CNN contributor.

Thanks so much, Bob.

BARR: Thank you.

HARRIS: Children of war, are they now being used as a tool in insurgent attacks? A disturbing look in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Food for thought this morning. Your favorite Chinese takeout may hide more fat and sodium than you realize.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is sounding the alarm in a report today, including the worst of the worst, Chicken in Black Bean Sauce. It's said to have 3,800 milligrams of sodium. That is equal to one and a half teaspoons of salt. Much more than you should have in a whole day.

Chicken Chow Fun not so fun when you consider it, too, is high in sodium and loaded with 1,200 calories. Lots of fat also in unsuspecting places, like many like veggie dishes.

But you don't have to give up the chopsticks entirely. You do, though, need to know what to avoid.

I talked earlier with CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta about the study.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot of hidden dangers potentially in Chinese food. It doesn't have to be that way. Sort of focusing on the salt, though, it's pretty amazing.

You only need about 1,500 to 2,300 milligrams of salt on any given day. Most Americans get anywhere between 4,000 or 5,000 milligrams, four or five grams of salt a day, way too much. The typical dishes, as you pointed out, are over 3,000 milligrams of sodium.

COLLINS: Wow.

GUPTA: The most amazing thing, as well, is that's not even where most of our salt comes from. Most of our salt actually comes from processed foods, foods that you buy in stores. Seventy-five percent of the sodium you take in a day is probably in sources that you don't even recognize -- beverages, foods. Look at some of the labels sometimes. It's amazing.

We are getting way too much salt.

COLLINS: Oh, it looks so good. I'm hungry. But...

GUPTA: Come on, Heidi. Stay focused.

COLLINS: So, what is the effect on a person's body when you have too much salt? I mean, if you're a person with low blood pressure, you probably can have more, but that's not usually the norm.

GUPTA: Yes. I mean, you know, the numbers are there for -- you know, 1,500 to 2,300 milligrams -- a pretty good reason. Even in young people who have no history of hypertension, they are starting to develop cumulative effects of what sodium does to the body.

First of all, it causes you to retain fluids. So you may just start to swell.

COLLINS: Yes.

GUPTA: And that doesn't look pretty. But more than that, when you have that much fluid in your body, your heart has to work harder to actually pump that fluid through. That can lead to hypertension.

Your kidneys have to work harder as well to get rid of that fluid. And these are in people who are very young. Add up that cumulative effect over years, and you start to develop problems.

Sodium does have some good effects. It helps transmit nerve impulses through the body, it helps maintains an ionic balance. It's an ion in the body. And it also maintains your fluid.

Too much of it, though -- we're just getting way too much of it.

COLLINS: Yes. I didn't realize that salt could build up in your body, this cumulative effect that you're talking about.

GUPTA: The cumulative effect of the heart pumping too hard and the kidneys having to filter all that fluid.

COLLINS: I see.

GUPTA: Yes.

COLLINS: OK. So it does run through our bodies, but it can leave the damage behind.

What about if it's just a special sort of treat that you have every now and then? Is that OK? Like chocolate cake?

GUPTA: I'm not going to be the grim reaper on salt here. You know, you can have your chocolate cake and eat it, too.

COLLINS: Flour less.

GUPTA: Right. Yes, exactly. But the point is, that if someone has hypertension, if they have heart disease, if they already have kidney problems or if they are someone who has actually had problems with too much salt in the past, get the significant swelling and the bloating. People talk about that a lot. If you've had that, you really want to watch out for those. You'll notice the effects pretty quickly afterwards.

COLLINS: OK. So I also made a comment when we talked to ...

HARRIS: What did you say?

COLLINS: I said something about my dad. Because he used to ...

HARRIS: You took a shot at Tom?

COLLINS: Yes. Because he put the salt on top of already salty foods. He brought an e-mail, I'm in trouble, he said, stop telling untruths about your dad. I no longer use any more than two grams of salt per day. And my blood pressure has dropped amazingly. Now 94/64 all due to reduced salt. Because he used to be salt crazed, on everything before tasting it, the whole bit.

COLLINS: Are you keeping up with his life, Heidi?

HARRIS: Of course, I am. I didn't know his blood pressure numbers. I don't know yours either.

HARRIS: I've got your back, Tom.

COLLINS: Hey, to get your daily dose of health news online, you can always log on to our web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library of information on diet and fitness. The address, cnn.com/health.

HARRIS: Among, our top stories this hour, D.C. Showdown. Just last hour a house subcommittee authorizing subpoenas for top White House advisers. Congress wants answers about the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

Democrats have balked at the offer to have key White House advisers interviewed in private and oath free. And the president is vowing to stand firm, setting the stage for a fight that could go to the Supreme Court.

COLLINS: Global warming. Former Vice President Al Gore takes his environmental campaign to Capitol Hill. He's testifying right now before lawmakers, about global warming.

Gore says the world faces a quote, "planetary emergency." And he says the momentum to do something about it is building.

AL GORE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT: We've been getting 100 new contacts per second in the last couple of days. We just started this a short time ago. This is building. And it's building in both parties.

The faith communities, the evangelical communities, the business leaders, ten of the CEOs of the biggest corporations in America just the day before the State of the Union Address last month. Most of them in their personal lives have been supporters of President Bush. That's irrelevant to this issue. They had a press conference the day before the State of the Union Address calling on you to act.

Adopt legislation. That will address this crisis. These are not normal times.

COLLINS: Gore getting a warm reception from Democrats who support his position, but he is likely to face tough questions from skeptics.

HARRIS: A missing scout safe and sound this morning back with his family. Michael Auberry was rescued yesterday. So how did the 12-year-old make it through three nights in the cold North Carolina mountains on his own and scared?

He found a way to survive. The Boy Scout told his father that he slept in tree branches. That kept him off the cold ground. He also wore two jackets, one of them fleece. That helped hold off the elements. Temperatures were in the 20s some nights. Michael's mess kit was found not far from the campsite. So he had no food for the bulk of the time he was in the woods. He says he drank creek water to keep going and hoped he wouldn't get sick.

But that wasn't completely effective. When rescuers found him, Michael was dehydrated and needed an IV. But after a few granola bars, amazing curing powers here, and the chicken fingers, Michael was in much better spirits. His dad says Michael's biggest worry now, make up work at school.

COLLINS: Michael was found with the help of volunteers including some of the four-legged variety. One in particular, leading rescuers to a welcome discovery. The dog's owner told us all about it earlier, on AMERICAN MORNING.

MISHA MARSHALL, DOG HANDLER: Michael turned out to be upwind of us. So Gandalf (ph) picked up his scent and worked us into where Michael was. We came around the bend and he was about 50 yards to our left, up a fairly steep incline. They'll turn their head in the direction that they're catching the scent. So he looked left about three times. So I knew he was interested in something. So that kind of puts you on alert. After that, he kind of took us in. We do it for what happened yesterday. We train quite a bit. All the people out there helped find Michael. I was just one part of it. And I can't express how much search and rescue volunteers help. And that's what we go out there with a positive attitude that we're going to find the person we're looking for.

COLLINS: Amazingly, this was the first search and rescue mission for Gandalf (ph). In case you're wondering, he's a shiloh shepherd.

HARRIS: You are in the NEWSROOM this morning. And when we come back, a spoof tries to demonize a presidential candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope you've learned a little bit more about what I'm believing and trying to do. And really help this conversation about our country get started. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So who's behind this explosive internet only spot? "1984" collides with 2008 in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And, a twisted new tactic for Iraqi insurgents. Kids in cars as decoys. The children are killed when the insurgents blow up the vehicles. The story in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Across Iraq, no let up in the violence. More lives lost in bombings and mortar attacks. In all, at least 20 people, including suspected insurgents, have been killed.

In Baghdad, a police officer and two civilians were killed in two separate roadside bombings. And more gruesome discoveries. Police say nearly three dozen bodies have been found across the city. The death toll for suspected insurgents also on the rise. The military says more than a dozen were killed today in raids in Anbar Province and north of Baghdad.

HARRIS: Terrifying new tactics for insurgents in Iraq. What do they mean for the U.S. led security crackdown? CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the already violent streets of Iraq, the U.S. military was horrified by what happened at a busy eastern Baghdad marketplace on Sunday.

MAJ. GEN. MICHAEL BARBERO, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF OPERATIONS: We saw a vehicle with two children in the back seat come up to one of our checkpoints, get stopped by our folks. Children in the back seat, lower suspicion. We let it move through. They parked the vehicle. The adults run out and detonate it with the children in the back.

STARR: And in Al Anbar province in the West...

BARBERO: Over the weekend, we had three suicide bombers detonate trucks loaded with chlorine in Al Anbar province.

STARR: That makes six chlorine attacks since January and a very mixed picture whether the security crackdown around Baghdad is working. Sectarian killings are down, but suicide and car bomb attacks are not.

BARBERO: So brutality and ruthless nature of this enemy hasn't changed. I mean, they're just -- they are just interested in slaughtering Iraqi civilians.

STARR: There are signs of progress. Iraqi security forces are stepping up. For the first time units now arriving in Baghdad are fully ready to fight. But the man who oversees Billions of dollars of contracts to rebuild Iraq sounded his own dire warning on Capitol Hill that there are many threats facing that country.

STUART BOWEN, SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL: Corruption within the Iraqi government is a serious problem inhibiting all progress in Iraq. We have called it the second insurgency in our reports.

STARR (on camera): Some other positive signs? General Barbero said that hundreds of Iraqi families are now returning to the country. And on the streets of Baghdad, U.S. troops are getting a record number of tips from Iraqi civilians about insurgent activity.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

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COLLINS: Will rough days on Wall Street catch the Fed's attention? An announcement on interest rates, today. We'll have a preview of that coming up, in the NEWSROOM.

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COLLINS: And now, we go to Rosemary Church standing by. Rosemary, I'm so busted. Coming up in about 15 minutes, YOUR WORLD TODAY.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: What are you two up to? Tony and Heidi. Let's have a look at what we're having. As Iran's president heads towards the United States, a warning from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei . His country will continue to rich uranium, no matter what the U.N. Security Council decides in the next couple of days. We're expecting a vote.

What's the definition of McJob? Is it low paid work with no prospects? Well fast food giant McDonald's says the dictionaries have got it wrong. But they're standing firm. We're going to take a look at that story.

And one animal activist in Germany says this 15-week-old polar bear should have been left to die after being abandoned by his mother. He's now being raised by humans in the Berlin Zoo. Life or death, what would you decide?

Those stories and more coming your way at the top of the hour. Back to you, Tony and Heidi.

COLLINS: I know what I just saw, but nobody ever asks me, so I'm not saying. Rosemary, thanks so much. We'll be watching.

COLLINS: Unraveling a mystery on the web. An attack ad aimed at Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama says he didn't do it. And no one else is copping to it. The one thing we do know, it's part of the new political frontier on the wild, wild web. CNN's Mary Snow reports.

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MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As this unauthorized anti-Hillary Clinton ad on internet site, YouTube spreads in cyberspace, so does curiosity of who's behind it. The remake of a famous Apple Computer ad depicting George Orwell's (ph) "1984", features Senator Hillary Clinton as big brother and portrays Senator Barack Obama as the liberator.

Obama says his campaign was not behind it.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not something that we had anything to do with or aware of and, frankly, given what it looks like, we don't have the textbook capacity to create something like that.

SNOW: As for senator Clinton's reaction, she says she hadn't seen the ad and didn't appeared too bothered by it.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anything which drives interest in these campaigns and gets people who otherwise are not at all interested in politics, I think that's probably to the good.

SNOW: The only clues behind the ad, a posting sign, ParkRidge47. Park Ridge, Illinois, is where Clinton was born in 1947. We tried contacting the post, but our e-mail went unanswered.

MICAH SIFRY, EDITOR TECHPRESIENT.COM: They said I want this ad to speak for itself. I'm not going to say who I am, but they obviously thought of it as a grassroots attack on Hillary Clinton.

SNOW: It's that grassroots element now on the internet that is really getting attention.

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN'S RELIABLE SOURCES: This is a historic shift from a world in which a few important media outlets kind of control the dialogue, to a game where anybody can play.

SNOW: Case in point, YouTube. It features moments not featured in campaign ads, like Democrat's John Edwards fixing his hair, Republican Rudy Giuliani shown out of context dressed like a woman. Web video postings also make it impossible to forget comments made on the record. For example, Republican Mitt Romney (ph) opposes abortion now, but in 1994:

MITT ROMNEY: I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country.

SNOW: Some say this election is not about how the candidates are using the internet, but rather how the internet uses candidates. Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MARKET REPORT)

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COLLINS: We're on Fed watch. Later today the Federal Reserve will make a decision on whether to raise, lower or hold steady on interest rates. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with a preview on all of this and what it means for you.

Hi Susan, any movement?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

COLLINS: Yes, a little conservatism, something like that, caution. All right, thank you Susan.

HARRIS: The Bluffton University baseball field is quiet now after that deadly bus crash. We will tell you when players and fans will return. Not long from now. That story in the NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: Well, we love this update. The team that's been battling tragedy is heading back to the baseball field. Bluffton University will play its first game of the season March 30th. Mark it on your calendars.

Four weeks after that deadly bus crash in Atlanta, the team will wear black uniforms to honor the five players killed. Two seriously injured survivors will be finding it easier to get around campus. Mike Rampco (ph) and Kyle King will be riding scooters. A disabled army veteran got the ball rolling with a fund-raising effort, but the Rascal Company went ahead and donated the scooters. Love this, love it.

COLLINS: Isn't that great? Love the people who are really going to be watching for that game.

HARRIS: Is that nice? And we're all wearing black. That's going to be very nice, yes.

COLLINS: Yes definitely.

Don Lemon here with us now. Tell us about what's coming up a little bit later?

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see both of you -- a lot coming up later. A skirmish over fired federal prosecutors becomes an all- out battle between the White House and Congress. President Bush's offer of closed door, off-the-record testimony from his inner circle flatly rejected by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy.

In last hour a house panel okayed the use of subpoenas even as White House officials promise to go to the mat over executive privilege. CNN's senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin will join us live with more on what's at stake in all this.

Plus, we'll update you on homesick scout Michael Auberry. Isn't this a fantastic story to tell? Lost for days but thankfully found alive and well thanks in part to the efforts of this dog. You've seen him, you've talked about him as well. Gandalf. We'll also have more on the canine search and rescue group that Gandalf works with. All that and much, much more when you join us at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Love that dog.

HARRIS: Yes.

LEMON: I said he's a, you know, hero dog, he should don a cape ...

COLLINS: I know, I love it, you're right.

LEMON: Caped crusader.

COLLINS: Got it. All right, well, as Don said, CNN NEWSROOM does continue just one hour from now.

HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins, see you tomorrow everybody.

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