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American Morning

Terror Suspected Tied to Jill Carroll Kidnapping Killed; Heated Debate: Other Side of Global Warming; War Funding Fight

Aired May 03, 2007 - 08:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Deadly washout. Heavy winds and pounding rain slam Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You couldn't see across the street.

CHETRY: Trees down, streets flooded. And more extreme weather on the horizon.

And climate of fear. Is global warming the real deal?

GLENN BECK, CNN HEADLINES NEWS: We need to take a step back. The correct decisions will not be made when fueled by frantic alarmism.

CHETRY: Glenn Beck exposes another side of the debate and talks with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: And welcome. Thanks so much for being with us on this Thursday, May 3rd.

I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Roberts.

Stories on our AM radar this morning. Some breaking news out of Iraq.

Apparently, the U.S. military announcing a senior member of Al Qaeda in Iraq has been killed, the fellow who was tied to the kidnapping of Jill Carroll. And also word today that the Democrats may have backed off on their demand for troop withdrawal tied to war funding.

We're going to talk with Steny Hoyer -- he's the House majority leader -- straight ahead about all of that and where this whole thing goes next.

CHETRY: It's also interesting because we are still awaiting confirmation about Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu al-Masri. In the meantime, they're talking about another one.

ROBERTS: Yes. And they do seem to be launching military operations against a lot of these people. The al-Masri thing, though, was like an intra-Sunni battle, so that's probably why it has been difficult to confirm, because the U.S. military not directly involved in that.

Well, we also talked a little earlier with LAPD chief William Bratton about the immigration rally, about what went wrong, why did riot police move in. He talked about more than 200 rounds of rubber bullets fired. And we're going to have much more on his comments a bit later.

ROBERTS: We begin with breaking news this morning. The U.S. military says it has killed a senior member of Al Qaeda in Iraq, the guy who was tied to the kidnapping of American journalist Jill Carroll.

CNN's Arwa Damon is working the story, joins us now live from Baghdad.

There was some initial confusion here, Arwa. It appeared as though they thought that they had gotten the actual leader of this Islamic State of Iraq. Now they are saying they got the chief of information for that organization?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we're actually getting two different versions. And let me try to shed some clarity on it.

What we do mow both from the U.S. military and from the Iraqis is that a man named Muharab al-Jaburi (ph) has been killed. Now, the U.S. military is saying that he is a senior figure in the Ministry of Information, the Islamic State of Iraq's Ministry of Information. The Iraqis believe that he is Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who is the head of the Islamic State of Iraq. But regardless, according to the Americans, he is a very senior figure within that deadly organization.

ROBERTS: So how did this all happen?

DAMON: Well, John, it was kind of hard to put the pieces together, but according to the U.S. military, he was captured, he was actually killed in a raid that took place west of Taji some two days ago. He was killed in that incident.

The U.S. military held his body for two days and conducted DNA tests before releasing him over to the custody of the Iraqis. This coming out, of course, of that press conference with Major General William Caldwell.

The Iraqis have a slightly different version of what happened. But again, bottom line is, a senior figure within Al Qaeda in Iraq, within the Islamic State of Iraq, has definitely been killed.

ROBERTS: And of course, Arwa, we started off the week with news, and this came from the Iraqi Ministry of Information through tribal sources on the Sunni side of the equation, that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who is the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed. Have we learned anything more about that? Have they produced a body? DAMON: No, John, they have not. The Iraqis right now still saying that they believe that he was killed, but they are basing that information on their tribal sources. And they are also saying that they do not have a body in their custody.

The U.S. military is also shedding a lot of skepticism on al- Masri's possible death, saying that they don't have independent confirmation of this either. But Major General William Caldwell did say in that press conference they were conducting multiple operations against al Qaeda targets. Remember, Al Qaeda in Iraq has been deemed one of the most deadly organizations operating in this country, potentially the one organization that could jeopardize the entire future of Iraq.

ROBERTS: All right. Arwa Damon for us live in Baghdad.

Arwa, thanks very much.

CNN has learned that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going to meet with the Syrian foreign minister today in the first high-level talks between the two countries in years. Rice is in Egypt at a conference on stabilizing Iraq.

CHETRY: Reports out of London this morning suggest Prince Harry's deployment to Iraq is on hold. The delay prompted by concerns for the prince's safety, as well as worries that his presence will be a distraction for his unit.

This is something that they've talked about in the past and made the decision before to go ahead with it. But once he is deployed, the prince will be shadowed by a personal security detail. Again, it's still on hold.

Meantime, Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, arrives in the U.S. today. And the first stop is Richmond, Virginia.

It's her first visit to the U.S. In 16 years. She will be traveling to Jamestown, Virginia, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first English settlement. She's then going to attend the Kentucky Derby. That's on Saturday.

And she'll love it, right? That's where they wear all the hats.

ROBERTS: Yes, absolutely.

CHETRY: And she loves to wear hats.

ROBERTS: And the queen has got an entire closet full of hatboxes.

CHETRY: She sure does.

There are also some plans for a state dinner in Washington, and a chat with the crew on the International Space Station. A busy schedule.

ROBERTS: As the queen should have when she is here.

And, of course, controversy over that photograph that Annie Leibowitz took of her the other day, which many people think makes her look regal and Victorian.

CHETRY: I didn't see it yet.

ROBERTS: Others say it looks like a movie set.

Last week it was the Democrats. Tonight, the Republican presidential candidates get to debate. Ten contenders for the White House will debate tonight at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.

Among those who will be in attendance, former first lady Nancy Reagan. She says that her husband always wanted his library to be a place where policymakers debate the future.

CHETRY: L.A. police chief William Bratton promising a complete and very public investigation after a May Day march turned into a melee with LAPD police officers using batons and rubber bullets to disperse crowds at an immigration rally.

We spoke with Chief Bratton earlier on AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF WILLIAM BRATTON, LAPD: Was the force appropriate to the threat? Was it random? Was it targeted?

Our great concern is that there were almost 240 rounds fired by our officers during that event, but there were no arrests during that particular event. And that's a question that I have serious concerns about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Bratton also said that a small group of agitators, they were the ones at the rally, and they were the ones trying to provoke the police.

ROBERTS: Well, was Don Imus simply doing what he was hired to do? A clause in his contract that CNN has obtained exclusively apparently shows that CBS wanted him to be "irreverent" and "controversial". Now Imus has hired a First Amendment attorney and may sue CBS Radio for the $40 million left in his contract when he was fired for making sexist and racist comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was shown part of Imus' contract.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: What stands out in the contract is that Imus is supposed to be controversial and irreverent. That's what his statement about the Rutgers basketball team was. How is CBS going to argue what he said was so controversial and so offensive that it isn't what they asked for in the contract?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The contract also says that CBS would have to warn Imus before it could fire him for any offensive comments that he made. Sources say that no warning was ever given to him. We'll talk more with Jeff Toobin coming up in this hour.

CHETRY: And another turn for former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey. He is entering an Episcopal seminary. The nation's first openly gay governor, raised a Roman Catholic, is now an Episcopalian. McGreevey can decide if he wants to become a priest after he completes the three year Masters course of divinity.

And coming up, did they compromise or did one side cave? We're going to talk with one of the Democrats' chief negotiators about whether the Dems have given up on their demand for deadlines to bring troops home.

And an issue that may not have universal agreement. What some say is the other side of the global warming debate.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Extreme weather in Texas. Three people now reported killed from those intense storms across the state. We're talking about hurricane force winds, fierce flooding, and hundreds of thousands left without power.

It's 11 past the hour right now, and we're going to head over to Chad Myers with more on this.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Well, it used to be that if you believed in global warming, a lot of people didn't want to hear from you. But is the reverse now true, and is it just as dangerous to silence the opposition?

CNN's Headline News Glenn Beck focused on that last night. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have had several friends who have essentially been told, if you speak out on climate change, you will essentially be fired.

BECK (voice over): Meanwhile, in Oregon, the state climatologist, George Taylor, is under fire for his take on global warming. GEORGE TAYLOR, CLIMATOLOGIST: Most of the climate change we have seen up until now has been as result of natural variations.

BECK: Solely because of this opinion, Governor Ted Kulongoski wants Taylor to be stripped of his title.

GOV. TED KULONGOSKI (D), OREGON: I just think that there has to be somebody who says that this is the state position on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: And Glenn Beck joins us live now from his studio here in New York with more.

Glenn, good to see you this morning.

BECK: Good to see you. Welcome to CNN. I'm a big fan of yours. Glad you're with us.

CHETRY: Well, thank you. Thank you. It's great to be here.

You know, you raise an interesting point, because as we talked about in the intro, it used to be that, you know, a lot of people didn't have any opinion on global warming, and now it appears that most people think that global warming is caused by man. And when you raise a different opinion, it makes for some heated debate. Let's put it that way.

BECK: Yes. You know, I'm concerned. The reason why we did the special last night is I'm really concerned.

You know, I have a national radio program as well, and so many people have called me up and said, my kids have to make a decision on whether or not they can disagree with their teacher and get graded down because they're in art class, in English class, in math class. People are being shown "An Inconvenient Truth," and it is unchallenged. And I think it is really a frightening thing to have propaganda put into our schools and done in such a way where children are afraid to challenge it because they may have to -- they may get a lower grade because the teacher doesn't agree and the science is settled, when it's anything but settled.

CHETRY: You know, I don't know if you heard this yesterday. There was a green hotel, I believe it was in California...

BECK: Yes.

CHETRY: ... where instead of the bible they are putting Al Gore's book, "An Inconvenient Truth," at the nightstand.

What do you think?

BECK: Kiran, I have to tell you, I think it is so appropriate. I think Al Gore should just start wearing a priest collar.

I think we're entering the dark ages here where scientists are being -- I mean, here's the situation. Where Ward Churchill can say they can take down the World Trade Center because it's nothing but a building filled of little Eichmanns, and yet you cannot have scientists -- they'll be stripped of their title or discredited if they say, wait a minute, I don't think man is causing global warming, or I don't think the Kyoto treaty is the best use of our money.

I think it's amazing that this has become dogma, not science. That this has become a religion and not science.

CHETRY: A recent poll showed about 60 percent of Americans think global warming has started.

BECK: Yes.

CHETRY: And there's a very small amount who think it's never going to happen.

Is the debate about -- I mean, we have gone up -- what is it -- .7 degrees?

BECK: Yes, about .7 degrees Celsius. Look, there is no...

CHETRY: So there is no denying it's happened. But I think the cause and how we can help is something that is up for debate.

BECK: Yes. There are three -- there are three questions -- really, kind of four.

There's -- has the global gotten warmer? Yes, it has. It's undeniable.

Is this a lasting effect or is this just a cycle? That's still up for debate.

The next one is, is man causing it?

And the fourth one is, if man is causing it and the other three are true, then are we able to stop it? Even there, some scientists say it's already too late. There's a lot of debate.

CHETRY: Right. But we are a pretty smart people. And if we can figure out ways to not destroy our planet, shouldn't we at least try?

BECK: Oh, of course we should. Nobody -- I mean, I want clean air. I want water. I mean, I think this is -- this is -- it's obscene to say that people who are on the other side of the debate don't want a clean planet.

I have children, and I think about -- I think about all of the issues that we're facing today as a generational issue. I mean, I don't want to leave our planet in a worse shape for our children. It's not about us.

As we get older and have children, it becomes less and less about us and more and more about our children. We should do the right thing. CHETRY: What are people going to get when they watch your special?

BECK: Well, the special was last night. I hope they just got a look at the other side, enough to where they say, wait a minute, let's use reason here. Let's not silence dissent. It is important to have a conversation and important to have a reasonable conversation on this without the, you know, shock waves of 20 feet of sea level rise.

CHETRY: And I guess I made a programming decision that we're going to run it again at some point.

BECK: Oh, good. Go for it.

CHETRY: Glenn Beck, always great to talk to you. Thanks a lot.

BECK: Great to talk to you. Bye-bye.

ROBERTS: The White House and Democrats are backing off from some of their hard-line positions to come up with a new war spending bill. President Bush is sending top aides to the Capitol today. Yesterday, both sides came out of a White House meeting saying they were looking for common ground.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was in that meeting. He joins us now live from Capitol Hill.

Good to see you again, Congressman. Appreciate you being with us.

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MAJORITY LEADER: Thank you. Good morning.

ROBERTS: Hey, got a question for you right off the top here. What was this whole battle over timetables all about? Because take a look at this.

Here is the headline in today's "Washington Post". It says, "Democrats Back Down on Iraq Timetable."

When you are in a fight, you never want anyone writing that you are backing down. So what did you gain from all this?

HOYER: Well, I don't think it's a question of backing down. I think the Congress clearly reflected the views of the American people, John. And we passed a bill which reflected their views.

Over 60 percent of Americans thought the president ought to sign the bill. He chose not to. He vetoed the bill.

Under the Constitution, he has that authority. I think he was wrong, but he nevertheless had that authority. And it's clear that we can't pass a bill over the president's veto, and it's clear that he can't pass a statute without our help.

ROBERTS: So now you're in a position... HOYER: So it's incumbent upon us to work together. I don't think it's a question of backing down. It's a question of recognizing reality.

ROBERTS: So now you're in a position of compromise, concessions, however you want to put it. Democrat leaders are insisting that the next bill has to include language that influences war policy.

What type of language do you think needs to go into this next bill?

HOYER: Well, I think clearly we put in the bill the guidelines that the Defense Department has promulgated itself for the protection and training and deployment of our troops. How long they're in theater, in Iraq or in Afghanistan, how long they're home, how much training they have gotten, we think those guidelines ought to be pursued. And if they're not pursued, the president ought to tell the American public why they're not.

Secondly, we believe there needs to be accountability and responsibility of the Iraq government. So we put in benchmarks.

These are the president's benchmarks, not ours. The president set forth in January certain benchmarks that he expected the Iraqis to accomplish. But there were no consequences if they didn't accomplish them. So no motivation to do so.

We think it's important, as General Petraeus says, that there's not a military solution, but a political solution that needs to be reached. If a political solution is going to be reached, it is because the Iraqi government will perform. Now, we also put in deadlines that if they did not, then the troops would begin redeployment.

ROBERTS: But Congressman Hoyer, though, the president said...

HOYER: Well, the president said he was opposed to that, John.

ROBERTS: Right.

HOYER: ... so obviously I think we can still move ahead with benchmarks, we can still move ahead with economic consequences, and we can still move ahead with reporting requirements of the president on our progress.

ROBERTS: But the president has said he's not going to accept binding benchmarks. So is the next bill going to have any teeth?

HOYER: Well, I think it will have some teeth. I think it will express the will of the American people. And, very frankly, we're going to have a number of bills coming down the line, the Defense Authorization Bill, the Defense Appropriations Bill.

This matter won't be over when this supplemental is signed. There's going to be a continuing debate. General Petraeus says we'll know by September whether or not the surge that the president is involved in is working.

This is the fourth time we tried it. It has not worked before.

ROBERTS: Congressman Hoyer, are you going to be able to hold together the Democratic Party on a compromise, or are you going to lose the liberal wing of the party?

HOYER: Well, that remains to be seen. I think it depends upon what the compromise is. But it is clear, I think, that we intend to fund the troops, as Speaker Pelosi and I have said. Our troops are in harm's way.

We're not going to leave them defenseless. We're not going to leave them unsupported. They deserve to be supported.

It's the policies that we think are not right. The performance of our troops in the field have been magnificent. They have done everything we've asked them to do. But we have given them bad policies.

ROBERTS: And what do you say to these Democratic presidential candidates who say just keep on shoving the original bill down the president's throat until he swallows it?

HOYER: Well, I don't know which presidential candidates say that, but...

ROBERTS: Joe Biden said that.

HOYER: ... Nancy Pelosi and I, Speaker Pelosi and I, have both said we expect a bill to pass the Congress before the Memorial Day break which the president will sign. We expect to be talking with the White House. We hope to reach that agreement.

But when you say back down, or "The Post" says back down, we are not backing down. We are recognizing reality, we're recognizing our responsibility. But we're going to continue to press for what the American people want and what I think is necessary for a change in direction.

ROBERTS: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Thanks for being with us. Appreciate it, sir.

HOYER: Thank you.

CHETRY: Well, coming up next, would you be willing to pay to participate in a clinical trial if it meant being able to fight and beat a deadly disease? The controversial approach is next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Each year nearly 6,000 people are diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Now some of them are crossing new medical and perhaps ethical lines, paying to take part in a clinical trial to test an experimental drug.

We are paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Atlanta for more on this.

And Sanjay, this is a group of patients who are very, very aggressive with treatments, trying to push forward the bounds of research. But it is kind of unusual that they'd be paying for experimental treatment, is it not?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, it gets very tricky here, John.

ALS, along with several other diseases, are considered orphan diseases, meaning that not a lot of people have them. But obviously if you are one of those people who have them, you are going to try to push back the boundaries and push your investigators as well who are conducting these clinical trials to get them funded. And that's got investigators looking for some creative ways to try and raise money for those trials.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice over): Two patients, same devastating diagnosis -- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease.

LEE HOLLETT, ALS PATIENT: My right leg was kind of spastic and very weak.

HENRY GARDNER, ALS PATIENT: I noticed my foot dragging from time to time.

GUPTA: ALS is rare, and drug companies can lose money developing drugs only a small number of people will use.

Lee Hollett and Henry Gardner joined a small clinical trial for an experimental drug designed to slow the progression of the disease. Once under way, researchers were running out of money to make the drug and eventually turned to their patients for help.

DR. JAMES BENNETT, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: What I was really just asking people to do was to put your thinking caps back on and see what you can do creatively to help raise more money. But ethically, yes, it's been a challenge. I would have preferred to have never had to go to the patient community.

GUPTA: Hollett wrote a check for $4,500.

HOLLETT: It's no real difference from MS folks, you know, riding bicycles to raise funds for research.

GUPTA: Gardner chose not to pay.

GARDNER: I think a trial drug should be provided to and all of the clinical visits required thereof handled by the university and/or the manufacturer of the drug.

GUPTA: According to medical ethicists, asking patients to pay for drugs they are testing is a questionable practice.

DR. EZEKIEL EMANUEL, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: I would feel a lot more comfortable about this if there was some independent objective assessment separate from the investigator.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Now, you know, they disagree, obviously, on how to get these clinical trials funded, but both patients say they were treated fairly. They believe they were treated fairly. And best of all, I guess, for them, is that the clinical trial, at least the drug in the clinical trial, seemed to delay the worst of their disease. So, a good clinical trial, some difficulty, though, John, on how to fund it.

ROBERTS: Well, you know, you've really got to feel for these people, Sanjay, because even though it may delay the worst part of the disease, any time a diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is made, it's a death sentence for whoever, you know, is on the receiving end of that. So, you have got to, you know, sort of give these folks a break to say, god, anything that they can possibly do.

But do you think that this is a way of the future for other conditions as well?

GUPTA: Well, I don't know. This has been one of the more interesting stories we've covered in some time.

I think it's probably not the best model, at least financially. But what I will say, John -- and we have done a lot of stories on this -- the Orphan Drug Act has been around for over 30 years now. And when it was first conceived, it made good sense, to try and fund, give more money for diseases that didn't have a lot of people.

Drug companies, they're going to lose money if not enough people are going to take their medication, plain and simple. But to try and raise money in some other ways now if the Orphan Drug Act doesn't seem to raise enough money, I thin is going to be a model.

Exactly how that takes place, though, is harder to say. It's hard for a patient because of the reasons you just stated to be objective in a situation like this.

ROBERTS: Yes.

GUPTA: And if an investigator has any financial ties to the outcome of the trial, it gets even more dicey.

ROBERTS: Yes. I did lots of stories on this years and years ago. Of course, the people that I talked to are now long dead. So you've really got to feel for them.

All right. Sanjay, thanks very much.

GUPTA: Thank you, John. ROBERTS: By the way, we have been asking to you e-mail Sanjay. He will be back to answer your e-mails in our next half hour. So stick around for that.

Also, hurricane-force winds, massive flooding. Intense and deadly storms move across parts of Texas. Chad Myers shows us what's to come for today.

The most news in the morning is on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

ROBERTS: We begin this morning with breaking news. The U.S. military says a major player in al Qaeda in Iraq is dead, killed by U.S. forces. He is said to be the chief information for the Islamic state in Iraq, and is also a suspect in the kidnapping of two Americans, including Christian activist Tom Fox and journalist Jill Carroll. Fox was eventually killed. Carroll was released last year after two months in captivity. And there's news out of the conference in Iraq going on right now in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet with the Syrian foreign minister today. It's the first high-level meeting between America and Syria in years.

Just ahead of the meeting, the U.S. military announced that Syria is making progress on one of the administration's key complaints, cutting back on the flow of outside fighters coming into Iraq. A shift in policy going on here.

CHETRY: It sure is, and we'll keep our eye on what's going on in Egypt.

Meanwhile, another developing story for us in Texas, extreme weather. A violent storm cell threatening part of the state for the third straight day. Parts of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area are underwater now. This video coming to us from one of our affiliates, KDAF. Cars almost completely submerged, trees down, roofs ripped right off of homes. One woman was killed when her car was overtaken by rising waters. Another killed, struck by lightning.

We received this iReport video from a viewer named Tom Eaton. It gives you an idea of just how strong the winds were, nearly 80 miles per hour in some places. Power lines are down. Almost 300,000 people without electricity until this morning.

Severe weather expert Chad Myers will be along at quarter until the top of the hour with the very latest on that.

ROBERTS: Was Don Imus simply doing what he was hired To do? a clause in his contract shows that CBS wanted him to be irreverent and controversial. Now Imus has hired an attorney and may sue CBS Radio for the $40 million left on his contract when he was fired for making sexist and racists comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. Earlier we spoke with CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin who says the two sides will probably try to settle, and that Imus has a tremendous amount of leverage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Several things about this contract suggest that in the negotiations over settling this contract, Imus is in a very strong position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: One of those things is a clause which says that CBS would have to warn Imus before it could fire him before making any offensive comments. Sources say that no warning was ever given.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's campaign has taken control of the MySpace page that bears the candidate's name. The page has 160,000 friends, or at least had them. The Obama campaign was concerned about someone else getting control of the Web page.

Thirty-five minutes after the hour now. The long shadow of Ronald Reagan hangs over tonight's Republican debate. Ten contenders for the White House will square off at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.

Our CNN political analyst Bill Schneider is up early and joins us now from Los Angeles.

Bill, is the elephant in the room tonight going to be George Bush?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POL. ANALYST: Yes, indeed. He is, of course, the Republican president. But he's a very unpopular Republican president. I think the candidates are going to try to make the case that if they're elected president, they would strike out in their own direction, because the country wants change. It would be very unlikely that they'll directly criticize Mr. Bush, but they know that the country wants change. And each candidate is going to try to map out the way in which he or she -- well, they're all he -- would change the country. Many of them in a more conservative direction.

ROBERTS: Yes. Well, I guess the question is, do the candidates just totally ignore him? Do they embrace him, to some degree? Or do they, as John McCain seems to have been doing in recent weeks, after initially embracing President Bush, run away from him as fast as he can?

SCHNEIDER: Well, they can raise some criticisms about the record. I think you're going to hear a lot of criticism about government spending. We have to stop building up this enormous deficit. That's not what conservatives do. You're going to hear that. In order to establish their own identity, I don't think they're going to criticize Mr. Bush by name. They're going to talk about mistakes that were made during the Iraq War. But you won't hear a lot of harsh critique of Mr. Bush. What you will hear again and again and again is candidates saying I'm a Reagan Republican, I'm a Reaganite, even candidates who aren't that conservative, like Rudy Giuliani, says that Ronald Reagan was one of his heroes.

ROBERTS: In fact, take a listen to what he said recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRES. CANDIDATE: Ronald Reagan was a leader, which is a combination of being a visionary and a practical person who can achieve results.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So I mentioned we can expect to hear more of that tonight, Bill, particularly since this is at the Ronald Reagan Library. But last week with the Democrats, we had eight Democrats on stage. Tonight we've got 10. Is that going to leave a lot of room for substance, or are these candidates going to try to answer a question in a way that they don't fall into a big hole?

SCHNEIDER: They're going to try to avoid falling into a hole. They're also going to try to give you a memorable soundbite that'll be played all over the news.

But the one thing that that doesn't look like it'll happen is they won't be able to engage each other. That's a very difficult thing with a debate with 10 candidates, it's really a joint press conference. They can't ask each other questions. I wish they could, and there is one candidate whose shadow is kind of big over this race. That's Fred Thompson. He's not running, so therefore he's not a member of this debate.

But guess what? Tomorrow night he's coming to California to speak to the Lincoln Club, which is a big Reaganite organization. His presence will be felt in this debate as well.

ROBERTS: Yes, well he's really loved by the Republican Party, no question about that.

Bill, thanks very much. We'll talk to you again tomorrow morning, get a post-game wrap up from you -- appreciate it.

CHETRY: And coming up, we've asked for your e-mails and you've responded with some great questions. And now Dr. Gupta is going to answer them, just ahead.

Also, we all know that of course you can't put a price on a mother's love, but if you could assess the value of her work what's the dollar figure? We'll tell you.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Chef, chauffeur, personal assistant, psychologist, moms do all of these jobs in one day. Salary.com estimates that a stay-at- home mom would make $138,000 if she were paid for all of the things she does, the going rate for those jobs. That's up 3 percent from last year's survey. And if you're a mom who works outside the home, the survey says that you should be taking in $86,000 in addition to your outside job.

AMERICAN MORNING's faith and value correspondent Delia Gallagher joins us now with more about this. So they are putting a dollar amount on this sometimes -- some people would say this invaluable thing of what a mother does.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH & VALUES CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it's a great commentary on our society, isn't it, because the idea that something only has value if it has a financial dollar sign next to it.

I mean, obviously there's a great inherent value in our relationships, and being a mom and being a wife. Now you can't put a price tag on those things. Now that being said, I don't think there's a mom across America who wouldn't say great, give me $138,000 a year because they obviously do all kinds of things that they're not financially rewarded for it. But it's much more than that, of course.

CHETRY: It is interesting, because you talk about what is valued in our society and what isn't. And a lot of times people will say oh, you just stay at home as if you're kicking up your legs and just hanging out on the couch, when this survey showed they put in 92 hours, at least, stay-at-home moms, a week of all of this work.

GALLAGHER: Yes. Of course. And the nature of the works for is not the same as the nature of any other kind of professional work, because you're involved in raising a child. And all of those jobs go to raising a child and keeping people at home happy. So I think that there's a different type of work that we are talking about than the work that anybody does even outside of the home.

CHETRY: Yes. And some people say -- mom says you're almost relieved when Monday morning comes. You go to the easier job.

GALLAGHER: Yes, the whole idea that being a mom is the same as being a CEO, or being a journalist or being a secretary, you know, the very premise of course is wrong. And I think it just kind of shows where our society thinks that all of these kinds of descriptions are equal. They're not. Obviously in the family, and in love relationships, it's an entirely different thing than a working relationship.

CHETRY: And many would call it priceless.

Delia Gallagher, thanks so much.

GALLAGHER: You're welcome.

(WEATHER REPORT) ROBERTS: "CNN NEWSROOM" is just minutes away. Tony Harris at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead.

Hey, Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, John. Good morning to you. We've these stories on the NEWSROOM rundown for you. Summit on the sidelines -- the U.S. secretary of state is sitting down with Syria's foreign minister. The meeting at a conference to stabilize Iraq.

A once-a-year shot to guard against osteoporosis. A drugmaker touts its bone-building remedy, but there are side effects.

Quite the cooperative patient -- a bald eagle getting ready to soar again. The national symbol hit by shotgun pellets. The bird's doctors think it was deliberate. Heidi is with me in the NEWSROOM.

John, we get started top of the hour right here on CNN.

Back to you.

ROBERTS: Sounds like a great show coming up. Thanks, Tony. We'll see you soon.

Coming up, you're paging Dr. Gupta. He's going to be answering your e-mail questions on migraines among teenagers and more.

Stay with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: All week we have been asking to you e-mail us your medical questions now we are paging Dr. Gupta.

CHETRY: He's here from Atlanta now to answer some of your questions.

Hi, Sanjay. Thanks for being with us again.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: Well, One person wrote in wanting to know about migraines. A story that you did on Tuesday. Ray from Florida asking, "My 17-year-old daughter has migraines at least two or three times a week. We have been to many doctors, she had many tests done and tried many different types of medication, and they're still there." So what should he do?

GUPTA: Well, let me start off by saying, you know, I actually suffer from migraines as well, so I have both a professional and a personal interest in this. A couple of things to keep in mind. I don't know what kind of doctors she's been seeing specifically, but there are specific headache doctors. It's true. There's a fellowship in headache medicine. There are many hospitals around the country. If you want to find one, you can go to the National Headache Foundation's Web site.

Here's a couple of things to keep in mind, though, I don't -- specific types of medications could make a difference, but also the dosing of the medications. The duration you've been taking of the medications.

And also something that's a common problem is actually getting what are called "rebound headaches" from taking too much medication. Some things to think about. Go to that Web site, see if you can find yourself a headache doctor, your best bet there.

CHETRY: You said it's called the Headache Foundation?

GUPTA: Headache Foundation, headache.org.

CHETRY: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Let's go to our next e-mail, Sanjay. The question, this one comes from Walter in South Carolina. His question was related to the melamine-tainted pet food that made it into chicken feed this week that we reported on. He asks, "A combination of melamine and cyanuric acid is said to have caused the deaths of the pets who ate the contaminated food." He says, "I think it would be useful to clarify.

So are we just talking about in the human food chain, just melamine, or melamine and cyanuric acid, and was that, in fact, what killed the pets?

GUPTA: Well, it is a bit confusing, John. Let me try and clarify this, because I was a bit confused by it as well.

Here's what happens. Melamine and cyanuric acid in combination, together, can actually cause these crystals to form in your blood vessels, and specifically the blood vessels in your kidney, and that can cause a problem. Why we weren't specifically talking about cyanuric acid as much is because melamine, one of the byproducts in melamine, can, in fact, be cyanuric acid. So was it a byproduct, or was it in fact two separate ingredients that combines to cause the crystals? We don't know the answer to that question yet, Walter. Toxicologists still looking into it to see which it might have been, but they also point out, as we talked about, John, that the risk to humans, in the human food supply, is very, very, very low.

CHETRY: All right. Well, that's good news to know. And also we're going to ask one last question that you can hopefully answer for us. Robin in Florida asks, "My mother can not take Boniva because she developed problems swallowing when she took it. Would this new shot -- and I believe she's talking about preventing bone loss here -- Would this new shot, Reclast be appropriate for her?"

GUPTA: She's talking about Boniva, which is a medication for osteoporosis, and that's Exactly right. This is what the medication was designed for. It is a once-a-year injection. People do get a lot of these side effects taking the pills, including GI side effects. Sometimes they've had trouble swallowing. The pill -- I'm sorry, the shot. I keep getting this wrong. The shot is once a year. It avoids the GI system altogether, so you don't get those side effects. It's not approved yet. That's one thing. Novartis, the company that makes this, is hoping to get it approved later on this year. There is one side effect to be concerned about, and that is that it could possibly cause atrial fibrillation, which is a heart rhythm abnormality.

Also some nuisance side effects, like fever and pain at the injection site.

ROBERTS: Are any doctors really going to have any information about that drug yet, Sanjay?

GUPTA: I think so. I think the medication, Novartis, is already putting out a lot of information out there. Some doctors have been using it off-label. As you know, John, that happens sometimes. But the actual approval for osteoporosis specifically is going to take a little bit of time.

Paget's Disease is another disease for which this drug has already been used.

ROBERTS: Great.

Sanjay, thanks very much for that. We'll do it again soon.

GUPTA: I look forward to it. Thanks.

CHETRY: That's right. Hopefully some of your questions were answered. And if you more of your medical questions, if you have any, keep sending them to us. Every week Dr. Gupta is going to be answering those. You can also tune in to "HOUSE CALL" every Saturday and Sunday, 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

ROBERTS: Here's a quick look now at what CNN's "NEWSROOM" is working on for the top of the hour.

HARRIS: See these stories in the "CNN NEWSROOM": Texas and Louisiana watching for another round of severe spring weather today.

A two-day international conference under way on Iraq. Secretary of Condoleezza Rice meeting on the sidelines with Syria's foreign minister.

The first of three new names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we are. At our first prom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS; Six decades late, high school sweethearts get their dance.

NEWSROOM, top of the hour on CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: And that is all for us here on AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks so much for being with us.

ROBERTS: We'll see you again tomorrow. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins begins right now.

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