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American Morning

Tony Blair Announces He'll Step Aside; Alberto Gonzales to Testify: 9th U.S. Attorney Comes Forward; Heart to Heart With Mom: Tips for a Healthy Heart

Aired May 10, 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): White House showdown. Moderate Republicans confront President Bush on Iraq.

JOHN DICKERSON, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, SLATE.COM: It's a sense of how tough things are for the White House, but they're saying that not all hope is lost yet.

CHETRY: Their warning now fueling the great war debate on Capitol Hill today.

Plus, the reverend's rebuttal.

REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: I'm the one that belongs to a race that couldn't join the Mormons. And I'm the one that's the bigot?

CHETRY: Al Sharpton fires back at claims he slammed Mitt Romney's religion. Will it clear the air or stir up the controversy on this AMERICAN MORNING?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: And welcome. It is Thursday, May 10th.

I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.

Also on our AM Radar this morning, the Tony Blair announcement. Just a little while ago, he said he's going to be stepping down as the leader of the party on the 27th of June. That will clear the way for an election to be held. And this is to elect a new leader for the Labour Party.

It's expected that Gordon Brown, current chancellor of the Exchequer, might win that one. And that would make him, then, prime minister, until they call a general election in Britain.

But end of an era there in Britain. Tony Blair, after a decade of being in power, announcing that he's about to go.

CHETRY: And this weekend, of course, this Sunday, we're all going to remember our moms, give a thank you for all the years of TLC. But Dr. Sanjay Gupta has another idea, pretty unique, for moms and daughters in their 30s, 40s and 50s. It could be the most precious gift of all.

ROBERTS: How about this: a condemned man's last request. Last meal, right? What do you want for your last meal? Some people pick ice cream, some people pick steak.

This guy wanted a pizza donated to a homeless man. The state said no. It sparks public outcry, waves of donations. We'll tell you all about it.

First, though, we have a departure day on the calendar. British Prime Minister Tony Blair announcing in the last hour that the end of June will be his last days in office. And the announcement this morning, he stood by his relationship with President Bush and his decision to go to war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And then came the utterly unanticipated and dramatic September the 11th, 2001, and the death of 3,000 or more on the streets of New York. And I decided we should stand shoulder to shoulder with our oldest ally. And I did so out of belief.

And so Afghanistan, and then Iraq. The latter bitterly controversial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Bitterly controversial almost an understatement.

Full coverage of the end of Blair era from Robin Oakley. He's outside 10 Downing Street for us this morning. And Ed Henry, who's outside the White House.

Robin, let's begin with you.

Is the Iraq war going to be Tony Blair's legacy?

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: Almost inevitably, John. It dominates things at the moment. It is the reason he's being pushed out of office sooner than he would have wanted to go. It's the reason why the opinion polls have turned against the Labour Party, which took a hammering in local elections across Britain last week. And it will be the dominant factor in Tony Blair's legacy, particularly because he is perceived in Britain to have been a poodle to an unpopular president in George W. Bush.

Tony Blair has never been able to surmount that obstacle, but today he said in those remarks over Iraq -- he went on to say, "This is a test of will and belief. We have got to see it through."

The big question is whether his likely successor, Gordon Brown, will maintain the same kind of policies -- John. ROBERTS: Ed Henry, what is the White House expecting? Will Gordon Brown be any kind of a change from Tony Blair? Christiane Amanpour was saying about an hour ago that he might be expected to show a little more independence, but that the basic relationship would still be there.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's what senior White House officials are saying privately. They expect the relationship to stay pretty similar.

They point out that while Queen Elizabeth was here, well, she's not the head of state. Clearly, that visit showed a lot of goodwill still between these two close allies. But the bottom line is this is a blow to President Bush, clearly.

This was his staunchest ally, as Robin noted, in the Iraq war. That was really one of the dominant factors in Mr. Blair's downfall.

Now the last standing key ally for the president is John Howard, the prime minister in Australia. He's also facing a tough re-election because of the unpopularity of the war in Iraq for standing with the president.

And as Robin said, you know, Blair was seen as Bush's poodle. Howard has had that same problem. That sends a signal to other world leaders about standing with the president.

Now, the White House also finally points out, though, that on the flip side, the president now has these emerging alliances with people like Angela Merkel, the chancellor in Germany. But there's nobody who is going to replace Tony Blair. They were this close. You know that.

ROBERTS: And Robin Oakley, looking down the road, if Brown does win election as leader of the Labour Party, is it expected that he could win the next general election, or might the conservatives really mount a daunting challenge to him?

OAKLEY: At the moment, the conservatives are ahead in the polls, with a sufficient margin to give them a real chance of winning the next election. Gordon Brown is going to have to show that he is in some way different from Tony Blair.

He can do that, to some extent, by shuffling his team in the cabinet. But one way he's likely to have to show that he's different is that he is not as close to President George W. Bush. Remember, Gordon Brown's election would probably be in 2009 in this country, by which time George W. Bush would have gone from office in the U.S., and there might be a different policy being operated on Iraq. So, Gordon Brown has got to bear that in mind as he makes his political calculations over the time to come.

But he has lots of good contacts in the U.S. His operations at the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and so on, as Britain's chief finance minister, have given him a lot of U.S. contacts. He holidays regularly in Cape Cod. He is an Atlanticist, rather than a pro-European (ph) -- John ROBERTS: Well, it's certainly going to give you folks, Robin Oakley, a lot to chew over in the next little while.

And Ed, a lot to look forward to when Gordon Brown finally comes over here as the prime minister, should he win that election. But it's all but a given.

Thanks very much, guys. Appreciate it.

CHETRY: And still in Washington, there's another controversy brewing. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales headed back to Capitol Hill. He's going to be answering questions again about U.S. prosecutors that were fired, but now the plot thickens. A ninth U.S. attorney has come forward saying he was also shown the door.

CNN's Kelli Arena is live on Capitol Hill.

This is somebody who was replaced out of Kansas City, Missouri, by the name of Todd Graves. And this adds a new element to what Gonzales will be asked today.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. Todd Graves was asked to leave several months before those -- that other group of U.S. attorneys was asked to leave. And so it shows that maybe this whole process was started much earlier than had been revealed before. But again, the reason here that this is important is why.

Why was he replaced? And who was he replaced by?

There are some allegations that he just was not doing the Republican Party's bidding, and so he was shown the door. And his replacement, a guy by the name of Brad Schlozman, allegedly was hiring career Justice Department lawyers based on their political affiliation, which is illegal. Again, these are all allegations at this point, but this is fresh meat for the Democrats when Gonzales comes to the Hill today to testify.

CHETRY: And in one of the papers, the local papers there, they are saying also that Schlozman, the one who replaced the one who was asked to resign, actually announced indictments of four voter registration workers just five days...

ARENA: That's right.

CHETRY: ... before the congressional elections back in 2006. And this is sort of at the crux of why Gonzales is being questioned -- were there political motives behind some of these firings.

ARENA: That's right, because, you know, what we've heard, you know, all along is that it is not illegal to fire a U.S. attorney. They serve at the pleasure of the president.

The question is whether or not this became a political process, whether or not any of these firings were meant to interfere with investigations or prosecutions, either to speed them up, slow them down, block them, whatever. If there's any evidence that that happened, then you have a real issue.

So far, we don't have any hard-core evidence that that's the case. But this is what Democrats keep drumming at.

CHETRY: All right. So, bottom line today, what does Gonzales have to do to keep his job?

ARENA: Answer more questions than he did last time probably. You know, I mean, the Democrats were complaining when he showed up before the Senate that he said, "No," "I don't know," "I don't recall," "I don't remember" close to 70 times.

You know, this all come downs to whether or not he can maintain the support of the president. And so far, the president has said, this is my guy, he's staying in. He's not going anywhere.

If there is a revelation that is serious enough that emerges from this continuing investigation, then he may have an issue to deal with. The president may very well have to say, OK, you know what? This is really getting out of control, you have got to go.

But for right now, you know, the hope is that he goes there today, he is cooperative. He keeps insisting that he has nothing to hide, that he wants to answer as many questions as he can. If he doesn't remember, he just doesn't remember -- and then hope that this all dies down and the Democrats move on to something else.

CHETRY: Kelli Arena, you're right, they hope they move on to something else.

Thanks a lot.

ARENA: You're welcome.

ROBERTS: The interesting thing is, the law says you can fire one of these U.S. attorneys for no reason. You just can't do it for a bad reason.

CHETRY: Right.

ROBERTS: This weekend it's Mother's Day. And if you're looking for something other than the ordinary gift, how about a heart-to-heart about heart disease with mom?

We are paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta with some tips for heart health. He joins us now live from Atlanta.

Sanjay, I don't know if you're just trying to save money here or if you're really trying to demonstrate your love for mom.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely not, John. And I have already thought about my Mother's Day gift.

And by the way, if you're married, you've got to remember your wife. I learned that a couple of years ago the hard way. Look, talking to the women that you love in your life about their hearts is really important. We are trying to become more of a culture of prevention and reminding people that heart disease is the biggest killer of men and women.

A lot of doctors don't know that, which is remarkable. Certainly a lot of people out there need to be reminded. And there are things you can do right away.

In your 30s, for example, you need to start thinking as a woman about potential heart risk factors. That's the first time you want to get screened, for example, for various things, including your cholesterol. If you have a family history, you might want to get some of the other tests as well.

In your 40s, your body starts to change. Specifically your hormone levels. They change. And that's why hormone replacement therapy was so wildly popular several years ago, until they found out about all the side-effects.

But as your estrogen levels goes down, it also wreaks havocs on your cholesterol levels. This is the first stage, in the 40s, that many women may want to start thinking about a statin medication.

In your 50s, as some doctors say, it's time for sort of your 50,000-mile checkup. You need to get rescreened for a lot of these things.

Also, start thinking about stroke possibly, as well. Risk factors for stroke. If you have any of those risk factors, or a strong family history, to pay specific attention to one of the arteries that leads to the brain called the corotid artery. You have two of them on either side. You might want to get those checked out.

But these are some of the things you need to start doing early. People believe that we can start to dramatically bring down the number of women who have heart disease and heart attacks in this country, but it means starting very early -- John.

ROBERTS: Sanjay, something that many mothers experience as they get a little bit older is heart palpitations, irregular heartbeat. Is that something that they should be concerned about, checked for?

GUPTA: Well, for the most part, it's probably not going to be a problem. About one in four people do have some sort of heart palpitation. You can have an arrhythmia from time to time, and sometimes they can be just a normal variant, if you will. Sometimes they can be associated with just being a little dehydrated as well.

If it's something that's more problematic, if it causes fatigue, for example, if it's causing some sort -- more significant, then you might want to get it checked out. Sometimes it can actually cause little blood clots to farm in your heart, and those blood clots can go up to your brain or elsewhere in your body, and that can be a problem. You might need to be on a blood thinner.

ROBERTS: Always important to look after your heart. And Mother's Day probably a good day to do it.

Sanjay, thanks very much.

GUPTA: Mother's Day. And if you'll indulge me, happy birthday to my mom as well. It's her birthday today, Mother's Day on Sunday. She's got a two-fer coming up.

ROBERTS: Fantastic.

CHETRY: You need to get to the mall -- soon.

ROBERTS: So he's going to talk about -- going to talk about her brain with her today, and then her heart on Monday.

GUPTA: Exactly.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Like every day. Thank you.

ROBERTS: And if you sent a question in for Sanjay, stick around. He's back later on this hour with his mailbag and some answers to your questions.

Talk about a body part every significant day to your mom.

CHETRY: And buy her a gift, too. You can't just get away with heart talk.

Well, a death row inmate in Tennessee refused to eat his own last meal. Instead, Phillip Workman asked that a vegetarian pizza be delivered to a homeless person.

The prison refused, saying they don't donate to charities. Well, that upset a few people, who were then willing to pay for some of the pies.

So homeless shelters across Nashville say they received 150 donated pizzas, $1,200 worth. Orders placed in Workman's name. He was on death row for killing a police officer.

ROBERTS: A group of GOP leaders make a trip to the White House to confront President Bush. Their message: the war is endangering the Republican Party.

Up next, a GOP lawmaker joins us to talk about what that might mean for the war funding fight.

And later, how far would you go to save a life? Find out how a tenacious trooper and a little modern technology helped track down a heart transplant patient.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Quarter past the hour now, and we head over to Rob Marciano for a look ahead.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: The House could vote on a new war funding bill today. It's an installment plan of sorts, paying about half now and the rest later, but only if the president shows progress in Iraq. It's a nonstarter at the White House, and House Minority Whip Roy Blunt has got his own words to describe it.

Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt joins us now from Washington.

Congressman, what words would you use to describe this bill?

REP. ROY BLUNT (R-MO), MINORITY WHIP: Well, I think this plan is sort of act two of the melodrama now that's been going on for almost a hundred days to just talk about things that aren't going to happen. This plan is even worse than the first plan. I think it's both dumb and dangerous.

Any time you give an insurgent extremist group a short-term deadline and say the message here is just create all the chaos you can and all the danger for both Iraqis and Americans in Iraq, and you only have to do it for 30 or 40 days, that's a stupid thing for to us do. It will not happen.

The president won't sign the bill. I think Democrat leaders in the House understand that. And it's really time to get down, John, to a bill that the president will sign, that funds the troops, that doesn't include all kind of needless, extra, pork barrel spending, and get this job down.

ROBERTS: Right. But there's no question, though, Congressman Blunt, that the patience in the Republican Party is beginning to wear just a little bit thin. We have been talking all morning about this meeting at the White House on Tuesday, where a group of Republican congressmen, led by the House minority leader, John Boehner, went over to talk to President Bush, and they were very candid about their thoughts on the Iraq war.

Let's take a quick listen to what Congressman Ray LaHood told us just a few minutes ago about that meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RAY LAHOOD (R), ILLINOIS: The American people are war- fatigued. The American people want to know that there's a way out. The American people want to know that we're having success -- either the government or our men and women who are doing the hard work. And it's not reflected on the television screens, and it's not reflected in the numbers, particularly as the surge began.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So, what about that, Congressman Blunt? Is the patience of the Republican Party wearing out when it comes to this war?

BLUNT: Well, I think the country's patience is wearing out on this. Some of our members reflect that.

I think clearly there's no doubt that September becomes a very important date. It's the date that General Petraeus has himself established to report back. And I'm hoping we see good success, not only on the ground, but just as importantly, with the Iraqi government.

The biggest disappointment I think in Iraq has been the unwillingness of the Iraqis themselves to step forward and grasp the opportunity they have here. I know that's what the vice president's told the Iraqis yesterday.

I was with Secretary Gates yesterday. The early indications of the Petraeus plan are good. And we need to give that plan a chance to work.

But remember, General Petraeus has said he's going to report in September. I think that's going to be a very important time to those members that you have talked about and talked to today.

ROBERTS: Right. And if -- when General Petraeus reports in September that -- if he reports in September that things aren't going well, then what do you, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, do?

BLUNT: Well, you know, we've got a long time between now and September -- 100, 120 days. Lots of things can happen, lots of things will happen.

I really think even the members that went to the White House this week told the president we know that we need to get the job done right now that needs to be done. That's going to be my focus, to give the troops what they need, give the generals what they need. Don't handcuff the commanders in the field, and then see what happens.

It's -- to try to ensure failure is, I know, the wrong thing to do.

ROBERTS: Congressman LaHood also told us -- he said if there isn't a good progress report from General Petraeus, the way forward is going to be very, very difficult.

Where do you come down on that?

BLUNT: Well, I think everybody knows that. And that's why we have been talking about things we can do to get better cooperation and better reaction from the Iraqis themselves.

Our troops are doing the job they need to do. Our generals are doing the job they need to do.

We need to see the level of Iraqi cooperation necessary. I believe they're getting that message, but handcuffing the troops, having a deadline for defeat is not the way to win here. How we -- how we got into Iraq is now much less important than how we leave, and leaving with success there is still critically important to the future of our children and grandchildren against the enemy we face. We just saw the Fort Dix, New Jersey, events this week. This is not a war that ends if we decide to leave. And how we leave really matters, and the condition we leave both Iraq and Afghanistan in really matters, John.

ROBERTS: All right. Congressman Blunt, thanks very much. Appreciate your time, sir.

BLUNT: Thank you.

ROBERTS: And this programming note for you. The man in charge of all of the day-to-day Amy happenings, General Richard Cody, is going to be in the CNN NEWSROOM for a rare interview. That will happen this morning at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.

CHETRY: Al Sharpton under fire for some comments he made about Mitt Romney, but now he's firing back and he's pointing the finger of blame at somebody else.

We're going to discuss more on this story coming up next.

Plus, the skinny on Skippy. A new way to sell peanut butter by changing the models in the commercial?

I didn't know they had models in peanut butter commercials.

ROBERTS: I thought the model was a squirrel? No?

CHETRY: That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Want to show you some pictures just in to us of the devastating flooding in the Midwest. About 25 miles north of Kansas City right now.

These pictures came in from our affiliate, KCTV, in Tracy, Missouri. And as you can see, I mean, the floodwaters probably, what, a couple of feet from hitting the roof of that restaurant?

ROBERTS: That's pretty serious stuff. And you don't really see an sign of it going down just yet, though it's supposed to as the day progresses.

CHETRY: Meantime, it is 26 minutes past the hour, and Stephanie Elam is "Minding Your Business".

You are always welcomed, but you're even more welcomed when you bring Happy Meals.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy Meals. I know. I know. But first we've got to talk about peanut butter first. We've got to get the deal on peanut butter. And it's about Skippy peanut butter. The makers of that brand are saying, you know what? We don't want any more super-skinny in our ads. So they don't want to promote unhealthy slimness, as they're calling it.

It's part of that growing global trend to fight eating disorders. And they are saying they're not going to impose strict criteria, but they want their models and actors to have a body mass index of between 18.5 and 25 as a guideline.

The World Health Organization says a BMI under 18.5 is actually underweight. So that's why they are going ahead with this.

Now, moving from peanut butter to Happy Meals, let's talk a little bit about it.

"Shrek 3" will hit movie theaters on May 18th. And shortly before that, you will find Shrek at your McDonald's. And the reason being is that they are making a big campaign with their Happy Meals.

Of you course you guys get the toy. Got to have the toy and the Happy Meal. And the Happy Meal says, "Be a player. Get up and play an hour a day."

The idea here being, instead of having your basic standard burger, fries and milkshakes, it's being replaced with apple slices, salads, and milk, and promoting physical activity.

So, of course...

ROBERTS: And it's all being sold by an overweight ogre.

ELAM: An overweight ogre.

AUTOMATED VOICE: I'm an ogre.

ELAM: Who tells you he's an ogre. He says other things, too, but they don't sound as nice.

CHETRY: What does the donkey say?

ELAM: You have to -- there you go. Did you hear that? Shrek, yes.

And there's a toy every week. So, you get the box, and it's all the idea of being healthy.

They even show how their products are actually comparing to other meals, how they compare as far as calories and fats and all that idea.

So, the idea is that you can actually go to McDonald's and get something that's healthy but still fun.

ROBERTS: That's a pretty serious toy surprise.

ELAM: It is. It's pretty good. There's one every week. There's -- you know, the princess is in there, too.

CHETRY: Yes, the kids will still beg for the McNuggets, though, at the end of the day. You know kids.

(LAUGHTER)

ELAM: Probably and the parents, too. And one of the prizes, yes.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Stephanie.

CHETRY: Thanks, Stephanie.

ROBERTS: Sharp reaction from Al Sharpton. He is under fire for his comments about Mitt Romney, but now Sharpton says the real blame lies with someone else.

Also, tornadoes, wildfires, drought and floods. What's behind all of the extreme weather that's happening this week? Meteorologist Rob Marciano is going to break it down for us.

And how technology and tenacity helped to save a young boy. GPS on a cell phone, and the donor heart that he'd been waiting for.

We'll put it all together for you.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back. It is Thursday, May 10th. Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.

CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry.

We have a lot happening this half hour, so let's get right to it. Reverend Al Sharpton finding himself in a bit of hot water trying to explain what he meant by some comments he made about presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Here are the words that started it all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, THE NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: And as for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don't worry about that. That's a temporary situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Reverend Sharpton is speaking out again this morning, and he just talked with Roland Martin, who is a CNN contributor and radio talk show host. Roland joins us from Chicago this morning.

Hi. Good to see you this morning.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Likewise, Kiran.

CHETRY: What did Al Sharpton say to you today about this controversy?

MARTIN: The main thing he said is you have to push this issue in context, in that we played his comment, but that was set up by a question from Christopher Hitchens. This was a theological debate that was taking place. And so you had Sharpton, he said he was defending the faith, where it was Hitchens who was suggesting that somehow atheists, they're the ones who drove the civil rights movement. He said so -- Hitchens brought up the past of the Mormon Church regarding exclusion of African-Americans, and Sharpton's comments was about it will be believers of faith who will vote on Romney and make the decision, not atheists.

CHETRY: OK, so he did back away from what his initial defense to those comments was. He said he was referring to Mitt Romney when he said, as for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God. He backed away from that, at least on Paula Zahn's show yesterday. Didn't say that again. What he said was -- he didn't say he was referring to Hitchens. He said, hey, don't be mad at me, be mad at Hitchens; he's the one that insulted Moronism in the first place.

MARTIN: What he said was that Hitchens raced the question about the history of the Mormon Church, and his response to Hitchens was based upon that, and so he wasn't necessarily backing away. He said you have to look at this whole thing in context. And that's why we talked about this initially, what I wanted to hear, when I first saw the story, I got the same impression the Romney camp did -- he was speaking about Romney. Yet when looking at -- but then I said, wait a minute, but what caused the response? There had to be some kind of question or issue that caused him to respond that way, and so then that's what we got. But Sharpton said, look, I wasn't talking about Romney, I was sitting here talking about the whole issue of bigotry and when it comes to the faith.

And, Kiran, what I find to be interesting in all of this, some people say that we shouldn't be talking about faith. We shouldn't be talking about in the campaign, but everybody has been talking about it. And the Romney camp, to be honest, they need to walk a very careful line, because they've been trying to distance the conversation about the specifics of his faith and trying to keep it all general. And so if this continues, more folks might begin to say, wait a minute, let's look further at the question of the Mormon faith, and take the story to a whole new level.

CHETRY: You're right, there's two questions in play here, but one is -- when Al Sharpton was on Paula Zahn's -- and we watched this very closely -- last night, he almost seemed to repeat the allegation that Mormons were not real believers. His quote was -- and what Christopher Hitchens was bringing up, was that prior to '65 or '78, that the Mormon Church did not include African-Americans, and that there was some talk about that, which is an important and separate issue from what Sharpton said. He goes, I don't believe that as real worshipers of God because we believe that God doesn't distinguish people, doesn't distinguish different people. So he once again said the Mormon religion as real worshipers of God.

MARTIN: Well, yes. In terms of that distinction of you excluding people from being a part of your faith. And, look, we heard a similar comment -- people made the comment about Southern Baptists, when the Southern Baptist convention, frankly, was created out of slavery, to serve as a haven for people who did not want to abolish slavery.

And so that phrasing, frankly, has been used all the time, real believers. You hear the exact same comment, are you a real believer on the question of life? Are you a real believer when it comes to those issues? So, I mean, that's not surprising...

CHETRY: All right. I don't want you to go before -- I want you to hear this comment from Anderson Cooper's show last night with Ralph Reed.

MARTIN: Sure.

CHETRY: This was also very, very interesting. He, of course, helming the Christian Coalition and the evangelical movement. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you believe they're Christian?

RALPH REED, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: My personal theological belief is that, you know, it's the Bible and you don't add to it or take away.

COOPER: Are Mormons Christians in your opinion?

REED: Well, you know, again, my purpose is not to -- I have my own personal beliefs. And -- but I'm not here to talk about what my beliefs are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: So he wouldn't say that Mormons were Christians.

MARTIN: That was a nice dance by Ralph Reed. And that's my whole point. And so when Romney continues this, this is what's going to happen; you'll hear more comments about this.

But look, take that out of the mix. You also had Fred Thompson, you had James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, saying in "U.S. News & World Report" that he didn't think Fred Thompson was actually a Christian. And so you have this whole issue of, are you actually a Christian? Are you not? Are you Christian enough? Who's the bigger Christian? And so you're going to have this whole dialogue back and for when you mix faith and politics.

CHETRY: All right. That's why we're glad we had you on the show. Roland, thanks.

MARTIN: Thanks, Kiran. I appreciate it.

ROBERTS: Coming up now to 37 minutes past the hour.

In just the past week we've had deadly tornadoes, flooding, drought and wildfires, now the first named storm of the hurricane season, which hasn't even started yet. What's behind all of this extreme weather?

Meteorologist Rob Marciano joins us now with some answers.

What did you come up with?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, I don't have a distinct answer for you. You can't blame it on El Nino. We talked about La Nina is not happening. It'd be a stretch to blame this entirely on global warming. What really has happened over the past couple of weeks in the U.S. have really just hit the brakes, and because of that they're all kind of interlinked.

ROBERTS: So where do you want to start on the map here?

MARCIANO: Let's go to Florida and show you -- well, first of all, much of Florida, at least the northern part of Florida, has been under extreme drought conditions. Over 200 fires are burning there, 11 large fires. Six are just new in the past couple of days, so they're torching because of that. They need rain desperately, aren't going to get it.

What sometimes happens, especially in the south -- what we've seen in the southeast, we've seen so much sunshine, it's dried up the land. Sometimes you get this, you know, self-feeding cycle, that dry land heats up a lot faster as it dries out, so you're not going to get much clouds. You don't have enough moisture. You get more sun, and the cycle kind of repeats itself.

Have you heard about this subtropical storm?

MARCIANO: Yes, I've heard about this subtropical storm. This is almost what happens in the desert, is it not?

MARCIANO: Yes, and it happened in the northern plains. It can happen where you dry out the land. So we need moisture in that land. We've got a subtropical storm. It's not unheard of to get one this early in the year. The problem with this one, it's bringing more wind than it is rain. We need it to get onshore and dump a little bit of the rain. When it does, maybe you get a quarter-of-a-half an inch in Florida. That's not going to be enough to...

ROBERTS: It looks like it's sucking more dry air down.

MARCIANO: It is. A lot of dry air, especially in the western end of the system, and it's just not getting the rainfall onshore that we need. ROBERTS: So we've got this happening in Florida. We've got what happened in the Midwest. We've got fires and drought out in the West, as well. Is this all somehow connected?

MARCIANO: It is. This storm started off. It was cut off from the flow, and the storm pretty much that's in the Midwest is also cut off from the flow. We've got a blocking pattern in place. It's like putting a log or a stone in a stream, and it just bumps that water up and around the stream. And you need a bigger log, or bigger rock or bigger course of water to push through that block.

ROBERTS: So what's that going to take?

MARCIANO: Well, we need a big storm, basically, to come through and clear things out. So we're not getting this; we're getting moisture that comes in here, and similar to what's happening with heat, you sort of, kind of can get the flood situation to feed itself. You've got saturated soil, and saturated air is more buoyant, so you can get more clouds and more rain, and it's tough to break out of this cycle. And hopefully over the next few days -- sometimes these patterns can last for weeks, John. So once -- we have to break this pattern before we really can start to a significant change in the weather.

ROBERTS: As we're seeing in the Midwest this just kind of sits there and reforms and reforms. In the meantime, out West that dryness continues as well. You know, when you talk about a storm coming along to break up this cycle, what kind of -- because we've got these huge storms in the Midwest. What kind of storm would do that?

MARCIANO: Well, we need it to happen over the next couple of months, because once we get into the summer season, that jetstream that drives these storms begins to lift a little bit more to the north and begins to weaken. I should point out that the tornadoes that we saw, it's tough really to blame that on anything, including global warming. We do get it this time of year, especially through Tornado Alley.

ROBERTS: So what can we do to effect the weather? I'm kidding.

MARCIANO: Thank you for not letting me answer that question.

ROBERTS: Forty minutes after the hour -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes, right. You thought you were going to get an answer out of that one?

All right, thanks so much.

Well, you've been e-mailing in your questions, and now it's time for Dr. Sanjay Gupta to answer a few of them, right after this break.

Also, it was not a cell phone, but something inside of that cell phone that allowed the state trooper to literally save the life of a young boy. He was waiting for a heath transplant. We'll explain the details ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Let's go to the in box. Time now for us here at AMERICAN MORNING to answer your questions. And here is a question this morning. "Is Mitt Romney the first Mormon candidate for president?" The answer, no. Romney is the fifth Mormon to run for the president. His father also ran, Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch ran for the GOP nomination back in 1999. The first Mormon to seek the presidency was the church's founder back in 1844, by the way. So there is your answer on Ask A.M. this morning.

CHETRY: I learned something, too, with that one. The first one was the church's founder.

Well, now it's time to ask more questions and get some more answers, and this time it's Dr. Gupta. Sanjay opens up the mailbag. He joins us now from Atlanta. Are you ready, Sanjay. You got your thinking cap on?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm ready.

ROBERTS: This first one comes to us from Ellen in Florida. She asks about the HPV vaccine. She says, "If HPV is spread from intimate contact, then why isn't it indicated that young men should take the new anti-HPV shot?"

GUPTA: Ellen, it's a good question. First of all, it might eventually get recommended for boys as well. The first studies were done on girls and young women, frankly because it was trying to prevent cervical cancer, and they have cervixes, so. But you're right, Ellen. You're point is well taken. This is a sexually transmitted disease. Some studies are going to be done on boys and young men as well. Eventually it might be recommended for them.

CHETRY: Good answer.

Well, our second question from Genie in Indiana. She asks, "When can a low heart rate be a problem? I am 60 years old and my heart rate, even walking around, stays about 50."

And, Sanjay, doesn't our president also have that, a low resting heart rate?

GUPTA: Yes, he does actually. His heart rate is around 52, at least on his last physical exam. And it can be a sign of just good conditioning, as it appears to be in the case with President Bush. A normal heart rate typically is between 60 and 100. Faster than that, and it's called tachacardia (ph). Slower than that it's bradichardia (ph), so 50 would certain by bradichardia.

It may not be any problem at all, but there are some things to sort of look out for. If it's also associated with some fatigue, some dizziness, some fainting, symptoms like that, then you might want to get it checked out. They might be able to give you a medication. Sometimes they actually implant a little pacemaker as well, just to make sure that your heart stays up to a normal rhythm and doesn't go into any abnormal rhythms either.

ROBERTS: And financial question this morning, Sanjay, comes from Patricia in North Carolina, who writes, "How do doctors diagnose asthma and distinguish it from chronic bronchitis or other lung congestion?

GUPTA: You know, Patricia, this could actually -- amazingly hard to do. Surprising actually. Asthma and chronic bronchitis. Doctors confuse this quite a bit. Asthma typically is caused by an inflammation of the airways, and the airways actually get small as a result. You can't get as much air through. You might get a whistling sound as you breathe. You might get congestion. People who have it certainly know what it feels like. Chronic bronchitis is more typically caused by an infection. If you really had to separate the two, chronic bronchitis is more associated with mucus production, more associated with a fever as well, Patricia.

ROBERTS: All right. Sanjay, thanks very much for that.

GUPTA: Thank you sir. Thank you, ma'am.

ROBERTS: Don't forget to tune in to Dr. Sanjay Gupta's weekend show "HOUSE CALL" for more answers to your medical questions. We've got that every weekend here on CNN.

CHETRY: That's a good show.

Another good show "CNN NEWSROOM," and it's just minutes away. Heidi Collins is at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead.

Good morning, Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Kiran.

That's right, we have these stories coming up on the NEWSROOM rundown. House Democrats expected to put a second Iraq War funding bill up for a vote today. Republicans delivering a blunt message to President Bush. We'll talk war with Army Vice Chief of Staff General Richard Cody.

Also Mr. Blair takes a bow. The British prime minister announcing his resignation. We review his 10 years at Number 10 with our Christiane Amanpour.

And a nasty and extremely contagious bug hitting hard in St. Louis. Sixty day care centers are now effected. What you need to know about shigellosis (ph). I hope I got that right. Sanjay Gupta's going to help us out with that one. Join Tony Harris and me coming up in the NEWSROOM at the top of the hour on CNN.

CHETRY: You got it right, but you don't want to get it.

COLLINS: No. No.

CHETRY: And you don't want your little son to get it either.

COLLINS: No, I do not. You're right.

CHETRY: Heidi, thank you.

Up next, we're going to meet a trooper who used a little technology and some ingenuity to save a life. The mother of the young boy he saved tracking down a transplant patient. That's up next. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Police usually use GPS technology to find criminals. But in Pennsylvania they used it to save the life of a 10-year-old boy who was waiting for a heart transplant. Joining us now from Pittsburgh's Children's Hospital is Sue May. Police found her with the cell phone tracking technology, and let her know that a donor heart had been found for her 10-year-old son John. Also with us Corporal James Green, who was involved in the search.

Sue May, let me start with you and ask you -- your son had a transplant when he was 10 months old. He been put on the waiting list after suffering from coronary-artery disease for the last little while. How long were you told it was going to be for this heart to become available, and how long did it actually take?

SUE MAY, SON RECEIVED HEART TRANSPLANT: Well, they really couldn't say, but they said, on average, it takes maybe two to three to six months. And it actually took 33 days.

ROBERTS: So you figured that you had a long window of opportunity here and it would take a while. So what did you decide to do on Saturday with your young son John?

MAY: Well, we decided to go to try to go -- try to go to three concerts, because we live by three colleges and universities. And so we went to the first concert in Grove City, and whenever I go to a concert I always turn the volume down and just put it on vibrate and put my phone in my purse and then put my purse on my lap.

ROBERTS: Of course, you don't want your cell phone ringing at a concert. But Corporal Green, you there at the barracks received a phone call on Saturday afternoon. Who was calling? What did they have to say?

CPL. JAMES GREEN, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: That was Children's Hospital that called and talked to Trooper Dan Mesara (ph), advises him that we had a couple living in Harrisville that had a 10-year-old boy that needed a heart transplant, and they were unable to locate them.

ROBERTS: So what did you folks try to do?

GREEN: We sent a BOLO out, a five county BOLO out, to check on the vehicle. We had information they may be at a movie or shopping. So we sent all our cars to shopping centers, and movie theaters. We also responded to their house and talked to neighbors, and then Trooper Mesara contacted Sprint and had them do a trace on the GPS coordinates of the cell phone that she had.

So you had a be-on-the-lookout out looking for them, but you couldn't find them, so you used this GPS technology to try to locate them.

Sue, the troopers came in to the area where the concert was being held. What did they do?

MAY: Well, I saw the trooper come in. And then he went to the band director, and he talked to him. Then they stopped the music. And then I thought, oh my goodness, it had to be pretty important for them to stop the music. And then Corporal Green here said, is there a Sue May here. And then my first reaction was -- I thought oh, no. Then I thought, well, maybe it had something to do that I didn't have a Slippery (ph) Rock University sticker on my car or something. And then he said my name again, so I raised my hand. And that's when he said that the hospital has a heart for my 10-year-old son.

ROBERTS: Wow. That's amazing.

MAY: And then the crowd and the band, they all were clapping. And it was just overwhelming.

ROBERTS: Wow, that's terrific. Well, you thought you were getting a park violation; instead you got a heart for your young son. I hope he's doing fine.

MAY: Yes.

ROBERTS: That's great.

MAY: Yes, he is. He's doing very well.

ROBERTS: Sue May and Corporal Green, thanks for being with us to share that story. What a terrific story.

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM: The House set to vote today on a new bill to pay for the Iraq War.

Return to Capitol Hill, -- the attorney general explaining his role in the fired prosecutors case.

The Missouri and Plat (ph) Rivers expected to stay above flood stage until the weekend.

And a grandmother wrangles a law degree at age 70. NEWSROOM, top of the hour on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: This morning we introduce to you another CNN Hero, ordinary people who had an extraordinary impact on the lives of others. Queen Brown lives in Miami-Dade, Florida, where violent crime is on the rise. And as you're about to see, she has a strong motivation to try to change that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEEN BROWN: My name is queen brown. I'm a mother of four. I lost my youngest son to gun violence. His shooting was a random act. He was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An overflow of Grieving relatives crowd the emergency room at Broward General today.

BROWN: I moved my kids here from the inner city to provide a safer community for them. They all graduated from high school and all are college educated. It was a devastating blow to me to lose my son. I felt so helpless, and I wanted to do something. I wanted to get people involved.

Good afternoon, South Florida. And thank you so much for tuning in to What's Going On, the violence intervention program.

We can stop the vice in the community. There is something you can do about it.

You can teach your kid what to do. But as you and I both know, your kid can be a victim to someone else.

My children and I, we all chip in and we pay for the radio airtime.

We have a caller on line number one.

You're on the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have three sons, one of my every-day fears is that I will go through what you are going through.

BROWN: It's very therapeutic. I always feel like I have helped someone.

We're going to give that you information regarding how you can get your sons involved in this program.

The community has been very supportive. They want this show to stay on the air. I want the students. I want the parents. I want community leaders. I think, collectively, we have to deal with the core of what's causing the violence.

BROWN: My son's death was a call to service. You know, I saw so many areas where I was need, and I felt that I had just what it took to get in there and do it. It's because of Evretton (ph) that I'm doing this. His life is going to save other lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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