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American Morning

Presidential War of Words; Wayward Whales Head Back Toward Pacific; Anti-Price Gouging Bill

Aired May 21, 2007 - 08:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Buckle up. Gas prices hit the highest level ever, with new calls for Congress to take action.

Al Sharpton face to face with Mormon leaders today. What did he really mean about Mitt Romney?

And on the move.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're hoping that they continue on their southerly course.

ROBERTS: A life-saving swim for two humpback whales, finally heading in the right direction on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Always good when you can get a whale to go where you want it to go.

Good morning to you. It's Monday, May the 21st.

I'm John Roberts in Washington.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry in New York.

And it really is remarkable when you look at the progress of these two. Mom and calf, moth of them injured, and they've been moving at a pretty good clip. They've already covered about 25, 30 miles so far. When we talked about this years ago, it took Humphrey the whale 27 days before he finally got going in the right direction.

So we'll keep monitoring it, but we could see some major movement today.

ROBERTS: Other stories on our radar this morning

(NEWSBREAK)

ROBERTS: Five minutes after the hour.

It's the kind of verbal sparring that you rarely see, president on president. The White House is blasting back at Jimmy Carter after Mr. Carter called the Bush administration "the worst in history" in terms of international relations.

Just this morning on NBC, the former president explained the context of his remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, what I was actually doing was responding to a question comparing the -- this administration's foreign policy with that of Richard Nixon. And I think Richard Nixon had a very good and productive foreign policy, and my remarks were maybe careless or misinterpreted, but I wasn't comparing the overall administration, and I was certainly not talking personally about any president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So, former President Carter clarifying his remarks there.

CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley is here.

The actual quote from the "Arkansas Democrat-Gazette" was, "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation and the world, this administration has been the worst in history."

But perhaps we were missing some context here. Are you willing to give him a break?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it must sound a little personal to the White House when you call it the worst administration as far as international relations are concerned. Nonetheless, it seems like -- I think we're seeing some, "Well, I was misinterpreted, maybe I was overly harsh." So I think we're seeing just a little backing off by the former president.

ROBERTS: Jimmy Carter, of course, a well-known statesman in his years after leaving the presidency, but he didn't have the greatest record on international relations either.

CROWLEY: Exactly. Exactly, which is why I think the White House was emboldened to go ahead and respond back to him and sort of engage in this where, you know, when you respond, you just keep the story going for a little longer. But it seems the White House sort of weighed that and figured, hey, this is -- this is a guy we can take on.

ROBERTS: Hey, some big news that you and I were talking about just a little while ago, this new "Des Moines Register" poll out in Iowa. It's got Mitt Romney on top now all of a sudden by a big margin.

CROWLEY: Twelve points. I mean, pretty amazing.

And what this does -- look, this is, once again, the snapshot, which we always warn people. This doesn't say what's going to happen next month, much less in January. Nonetheless, what this does is enable Romney to say, not only can I raise money, but, look, I can talk to voters. And, you know, voters beget money, money beget voters. So, you know, this is a good -- this is a good pump-up for him.

ROBERTS: That same poll also has John Edwards on top.

CROWLEY: Right. And John Edwards has worked a lot in this state. I mean, he's poured money into the state, he has been there, not just in the election season, but in the time between the 2004 election -- I'm sorry, between -- yes, between the 2004 election and now.

So, that he's ahead is not all that surprising, but he's ahead by a pretty good margin. And probably, we should explain to people that the national polls don't always follow this. So -- but the Iowa polls...

ROBERTS: And the nationals don't really mater.

CROWLEY: Exactly. The Iowa polls are much more important at this point, because that's where they go first.

ROBERTS: You heard the speaker of the House say she wants to get a war spending bill on the president's desk by the Memorial Day Weekend. That gives them five days.

CROWLEY: It does. You and I both raising our eyebrows at that.

Well, I mean, I think they're sending the president a bill, and then they're sending the president a bill he'll sign. So -- and you heard her say, well, we'll either find a compromise with the White House, or we'll stand firm on this.

ROBERTS: Right.

CROWLEY: So, I'm not sure which one she was saying. You'd be better off -- you know, you'd be better at telling me that. But I sort of heard her say, well, we're either going to send him a bill of compromise, or we'll send him one that has us standing firm on troop withdrawal.

ROBERTS: Yes. So you've got to wonder, is this going to be -- get a bill that the president can sign, or try to get the best positioning by the Memorial Day Weekend.

CROWLEY: Exactly.

ROBERTS: Candy, thanks very much. Always good to see you. Appreciate it.

CROWLEY: Good to see you.

ROBERTS: Kiran.

CHETRY: We have an update now for you. Some good news this morning about the two wayward humpback whales which swam 90 miles inland in California, into a river delta. Well, they have now done a 180, and they're heading back to the Pacific Ocean. They do still have a long way to go, and they have to get all the way down the Sacramento River and under the Golden Gate Bridge.

CNN's Dan Simon is live in Marin County, near the Golden Gate Bridge, with more on the -- on the path this morning of the nicknamed Delta and Dawn.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Kiran.

The fog has rolled in, so it's a bit tough now to see the bridge behind me. But at this point it's believed that the two whales are about a third of the way here.

So, if they continue on their present course -- and it's believed they're going about five to 10 miles per hour -- they continue on that course, it's possible they could reach the bridge some time this afternoon. And making sure that the whales went on the right course, so to speak, yesterday some Coast Guard cutters were in front of these whales making sure that they're going in the right direction. About nine of these Coast Guard cutters were out there, and they were making sure that the whales didn't go in tributaries and things like that.

Now, those efforts were suspended overnight because it was too dangerous really for the whales to have those boats out there. But as soon as there's daylight, those boats are going to be back out there and try to pinpoint the whereabouts of these particular whales. There's also going to be some helicopters in the sky to see if they can't find them -- Kiran.

CHETRY: And when we talked to you earlier, you seemed to think that possibly by this afternoon they could be making their way down to where you are. It seems like they're traveling pretty quickly. The last case that we knew about this, 25 years or so ago, it took Humphrey the whale 27 days, and he wasn't nearly as far into the river as they are.

SIMON: Well, you know, that time, you know, it took a while for Humphrey just to get going, to get out of the delta. They used what's called a hydrophone to eventually get Humphrey out of that area.

Once Humphrey got going, he got to the ocean fairly quickly, but in this particular case, it took a little bit more than a week for these whales to get going. But there still are some challenges ahead. There's some muddy deltas out there. So the concern is that they might get trapped in some of that mud, and that's why crews are really going to be watching them today -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right.

Dan Simon, we'll be watching, as well. And I know you will. Thanks so much.

Well, California's governor getting tough on the environment, actually taking a shot at the feds. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Connecticut governor Jodi Rell co-wrote an op-ed on global warming in today's "Washington Post". They criticized the Environmental Protection Agency for being slow to react to global warming and for standing in the way of efforts by their states to enact tougher emission standards for automobiles.

In Pennsylvania, still no word on what caused a charter bus to crash along Interstate 80. Thirty-two people were hurt and two were killed. That bus was heading to Chinatown in New York when it ran up an embankment and flipped on its side.

Ahead, we're talking about record gas prices. Gas prices at a record high. Oil, though, is not. So, are oil companies taking unfair advantage, and can anything be done to bring prices into line?

We're going to talk about it coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

The most news in the morning is here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: And some pictures to show you right now. This is a fire burning near Payson, Arizona. It's northeast of Phoenix. It's 90 percent contained this morning, and everyone was allowed to go back home.

In southern California, firefighters expect to contain a wildfire that forced thousands of campers to leave the Angeles National Forest over the weekend. Twenty-five hundred acres burned there.

And then in southern New Jersey, things are looking up. A fire that burned 17,000 acres of pineland is under control this morning. National Guard officials think it was a flare dropped from a jet that sparked that fire.

Well, they needed some rain in Florida, maybe not like this, though. Up to seven inches in Miami. Flash flooding on the roads. Unfortunately, most of it fell on the coast, not inland, where it was really needed.

And you have some numbers -- Chad Myers joining us now, by the way, in from Atlanta to enjoy our weather, which is pretty nice up here.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: Coming up to 17 minutes after the hour.

The price of gas keeps climbing. A record again this week. The national average now $3.19 a gallon. Some in Congress are calling for an investigation into possible price gouging.

Senator Maria Cantwell is a member of the Energy Committee, a senator from Washington State. And she joins me now.

Good morning to you. Thanks for coming in. Appreciate it.

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D), WASHINGTON: Good morning. Good morning.

ROBERTS: So, the price of gas right now, $3.19 a gallon. The price of oil less than it was post-Hurricane Katrina. But the gas prices are higher.

Do you think there's gouging going on now?

CANTWELL: Listen, you guys have been doing great coverage on this, trying to get to the bottom, but we need a new federal law to make sure that price gouging is a federal crime and to make sure that the Federal Trade Commission has the tools that it needs to investigate oil companies.

ROBERTS: But you ducked the question. Do you think there is price gouging going on?

CANTWELL: Oh, I think we've seen in the state of Washington last year, Spokane had the highest gas prices in the nation. And the FTC did a preliminary investigation and showed that there were anomalies.

We have other instances where we think that maybe supply and demand isn't just about supply and demand. It might be about the artificial supply and demand. So, this is something very familiar to us on the West Coast, because we pay the highest gas prices. I have four refineries that are in the state of Washington, so why are we still seeing record prices?

ROBERTS: Well, what do you think is going on right now?

CANTWELL: Well, we don't have all the tools at our federal level to investigate this. That is, everybody always talks about antitrust laws and collusions, whether Exxon and Mobil are getting together to set price. That's not the question.

What we want is to make sure that if people are manipulating the market, as we saw with Enron and electricity, whether somebody has a scheme to take refinery off capacity, thereby to drive up the price, we want to make sure the federal government has the ability to investigate that.

ROBERTS: In 2005, you introduced an almost identical bill that failed by three votes. Had 57, and needed 60. Can you get it through this time?

CANTWELL: Well, I hope so. We passed it out of the Commerce Committee in a bipartisan fashion. And when we come back from the Memorial recess, the Senate is going to take up energy policy.

It will be part of a package. So I'm hoping that my colleagues -- you know, I know the oil industry is already taking out ads in newspapers. I hope the American public realizes that they could have further protections and we could get more information on this very important issue.

ROBERTS: You have got complaints on both sides here. Proponents say that -- or at least proponents of allowing things to continue as they are now -- say that these are price controls in disguise. Other people are complaining that the language of the bill is too vague to make it enforceable.

CANTWELL: Well, you hear these same complaints that they made about the electricity markets when Enron happened, oh, it's all about supply and demand and leave it alone, and we found out that there are very elaborate schemes, again, times in which the generation was taken down, just as a way to increase the price. Now, we don't know all the details here, but we know that we want the federal government to have the power that it needs, and these bases of federal legislation are based on other commodities.

So, why should you have gasoline treated differently than some other commodity that enjoys the same kinds of protections, like electricity or natural gas? I would think since it's such a key part of our economy it should have just as good as protection.

ROBERTS: Well, we'll keep following this.

Give us a projection. When do you think it might pass?

CANTWELL: Well, I think hopefully in the month of June when we return that we'll pass this, and hopefully it will be going to the president's desk and he'll sign it.

ROBERTS: All right.

Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington.

Thanks for coming in. Appreciate you being here.

CANTWELL: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Kiran.

CHETRY: Some other stories we're following this morning.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour.

Michael Moore's latest documentary isn't in the actual competition, but it is getting a lot of the attention at the Cannes Film Festival. "Sicko" is Moore's attack on the U.S. health care system. A crowd of more than 2,000 saw it debut over the weekend.

Moore is in hot water for taking sick people to Cuba to get treatment in the movie. The U.S. government is investigating whether he violated trade and travel embargoes.

And a Saudi billionaire didn't fare as well at Cannes. His 354- foot yacht hit the rocks offshore. The yacht leaked several hundred gallons of fuel, but it was quickly cleaned up. The partying on the beach resumed. The yacht was taken away to Gibraltar for repairs. We're going to be going live to Cannes later on this hour for a closer look at the festival. What are the great hits and what are the misses -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Sounds good.

Meanwhile, it's 24 past the hour right now, and Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business".

You have an interesting little survey here of what your car says about you.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. I mean, most people think it's sort of the styling, and you get some sense of what your car says about you because of what it looks like. And, you know, people make choices about cars.

We've been talking all about gas today and other days, so sometimes it's fuel efficiency, sometimes it's the power. What does your car say about you?

I picked a few keys ones here.

Cadillac owners -- Cadillac owners, the average age is about 54 years old. About $60,000 is the median income. Thirty-two percent more likely than the average consumer to have leased a vehicle in the past.

Big deal. I'm trying to find the numbers that sort of stand out.

Let's move it over to Acura owners. Forty-two years old is the median age of an Acura owner. Median household income way up, to $88,000. And they are more than twice as likely as all consumers to have used the Internet for traffic information in the past 30 days.

CHETRY: How detailed was this study? I thought you were going to say you were a renegade if you have a convertible.

VELSHI: No. These are little weird things about these.

Now, take VW owners, Volkswagen owners. Forty-two years old, again, like the Acuras. That's the median age. The income, 77,000. And they are -- this is interesting -- 77 percent more likely than all consumers to have downloaded music or listened to audio clips within the last 30 days.

CHETRY: Wow. Yes, you know, they have like docking ports for your iPods built into the VWs sometimes.

VELSHI: Right. That's exactly the point, cool folks.

Buick owners...

CHETRY: Yes. I have a 1999 Buick Century that I bought for my husband's grandfather. VELSHI: This is interesting. One has an impression of what a Buick owner might be. They are 22 percent less likely to have used the Internet.

CHETRY: That's my husband's grandparents. That's pretty accurate.

VELSHI: There you go. So, you might want to look at this and consider who you are before you buy your car.

CHETRY: And yours is a yellow cab. What does that say about you?

VELSHI: I know how to make money off the rest of you folks.

CHETRY: Ali, thanks so much -- John.

ROBERTS: Our top stories are coming up, including the Reverend Al Sharpton facing the music today. It will be the music of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

What kind of a reception will he get when he visits the Mormons in Salt Lake City?

And a priceless treasure goes up in flames. What ignited a dramatic fire on the Cutty Sark in England.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: That's a shot this morning from New York City. And, of course, right in front of the Empire State Building it looks like there are two huge construction cranes. They're always building something around here.

In fact, John, I think your shot's nicer of the White House. When we take D.C., it always looks so idyllic. And then in New York there's construction cranes.

Anyway, welcome back.

It's Monday, May 21st. I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.

JOHN ROBERTS, CO-HOST: I'm John Roberts in Washington.

They are always building at the White House, Kiran. It's just that what they build is underground.

CHETRY: Really?

ROBERTS: Yes.

CHETRY: OK.

ROBERTS: Bunkers, communications centers.

CHETRY: I thought you were saying, you know, they were always building consensus, and they're always building bipartisan support. They don't need construction cranes for that.

ROBERTS: Consensus? This is Washington.

Some other stories on our radar this morning.

Reverend Al Sharpton sitting down with leaders of the Mormon Church today. Is that meeting going to clear the air? You'll recall that Sharpton recently made remarks that presidential candidate Mitt Romney called a shot at his Mormon faith.

CHETRY: ... Candy Crowley, maybe it actually helped his poll numbers. He's polling at No. 1 in Iowa in some of the early polls, so we'll talk about that, as well.

Also, meantime, live at the Cannes Film Festival, Michael Moore, always a favorite son of this film festival, is debuting his controversial new film, "Sicko", about the health care industry here in America. And Leonardo DiCaprio also getting a little bit political. So we will take you there with all the buzz a little bit later.

ROBERTS: And one very brave and accomplished teenager. She just scaled Mt. Everest, all 29,028 feet of it. She's unstoppable. Made it to the top of the world's seven highest peaks, one on each continent. We're going to meet her, just ahead.

CHETRY: She blogged the whole way up, of course. That's the generation.

Well, we know the story: gas prices, they're high. Well, they're getting higher. In fact, we hit another record today. The national average for self-serve regular is now nearly $3.20 across the nation -- that, according to AAA --up 13 cents in just the past two weeks.

These high prices have led one woman actually to consider switching jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just changed my job, actually, and that was a major decision in my changing jobs, is the gas prices, and my commute to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Wow. She just didn't consider it; she actually did it.

Prices over this coming Memorial Day weekend will be about a quarter higher than they were this time last year -- John.

ROBERTS: Developing news in Iraq. Troops searching for those missing U.S. soldiers are finding some new clues. They have turned up equipment and clothing. The battalion commander who is running the search tells our Arwa Damon that he believes all three soldiers are still alive. If any of them were dead, he says, he would have heard about it.

Israel is stepping up its assault on targets in Gaza and threatening to hit Hamas political leaders if rocket attacks against Israel don't stop. An air strike today killed four Islamic militants traveling in a car in northern Gaza. The Israeli Defense Forces said the militants were involved in making the rockets that have pounded Israel during the past week.

And in Lebanon, a siege on a Palestinian refugee camp grows more violent. Army tanks today shelling the camp. More than 60 people, including civilians, have been killed in the fighting between the Lebanese army and Islamic militants believed to be linked to Al Qaeda.

Well, it's the kind of verbal sparring that you rarely see: president versus president. The White House is blasting back at Jimmy Carter after Mr. Carter called the Bush administration, quote, "the worst in history in terms of international relations."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto responded to that charge, saying, "I think it's unfortunate. I think that he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of remarks."

This morning, President Carter told NBC that his remarks were careless and misinterpreted but taken somewhat out of context, saying he wasn't talking personally about any president, but he was doing some comparisons between the foreign policy of the Nixon administration versus this White House -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, John. Thanks.

Well, the Reverend Al Sharpton is in Salt Lake City today to meet with leaders of the Mormon Church. Sharpton has been under fire for his comments made earlier this month about Republican presidential candidate and Mormon Mitt Romney.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: As for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: His comment was a bigoted comment. It shows that bigotry still exists in some corners. And I thought it was a most unfortunate comment to make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, joining us now, AMERICAN MORNING's faith and values correspondent, Delia Gallagher.

Good to see you. DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

CHETRY: As well as CNN contributor Roland Martin who is simulcasting on his Chicago radio show.

Hi, Roland.

Hi, Roland.

Hi, Roland.

I'm hearing you over and over again. I'm hearing me over and over again, actually.

Roland, you had a chance to talk to Al Sharpton. What did he say about this trip? Why is he going?

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, what he said was -- is that the Mormons offered him an invitation to -- or he actually sought this particular meeting. And so he wanted to clarify his comments with them but also ask them some questions as it relates to his past with African-Americans. And so he said this would be an opportunity to do so.

And he's in Salt Lake today, and he's heading to Atlanta later for the funeral of Yolanda King. But it all revolves around those comments about Mitt Romney.

CHETRY: So he is making any apologies or he's just going to find out more?

MARTIN: Well, it's not necessarily an apology, but in terms of to have a dialogue with them over those particular comments.

But he also said he's going to challenge them with some questions regarding the Mormon Church's past as it relates to African-Americans. You know, it has not been long that, frankly, African-Americans have been allowed to be priests in the Mormon Church. And so they have a significant history when it comes to racism, and so he wants to be able to ask them some tough questions, as well, beyond explaining his comments about Mitt Romney.

CHETRY: In fact, that's what we're asking Delia right now about that history, some of the context between African-Americans and the Mormon Church.

GALLAGHER: Yes. Well, as Roland said, you know, since 1978 African-Americans have had full membership in the Mormon Church. So certainly, there has been a history of some institutional racism in the Mormon Church, and it's something that they have -- they claim they have renounced since 1978.

And so, certainly, they want to try to clear any of those misconceptions up in this period and take advantage of this visit, I think, of Al Sharpton to Salt Lake City to do that. CHETRY: And what about the impact on Mitt Romney as the only Mormon presidential candidate and this controversy and what it's sort of done in terms of talking about his religion?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think it's very interesting that he's managed to kind of stay out of this. He kind of got in his little zinger and then he stayed out of this. Right, Roland? He stayed out of the fray.

MARTIN: Yes.

GALLAGHER: And yet, he's going to get the benefit of it because he now -- you know, he's the Mormon candidate that the concentration is on Mormonism and who are they? What do they believe? They're going to have a chance to clear it up with Sharpton. Sharpton can come out and say, "OK, they're good guys after all." And so Romney, it's a win/win, you know.

CHETRY: But does it really matter, Roland, I mean, given the fact that you don't really have a big African-American turnout in the GOP primary anyway?

MARTIN: Well, actually, it does not necessarily matter when it comes to African-Americans, but it matters in terms of overall. There are lots of questions about his faith.

And look, people -- you know, CNN had a poll talking about who believes the Mormons are Christians or not. And folks are pretty much split on that. They have no idea. And so, it can help Mitt Romney if there's a greater understanding of what the Mormon Church is and about the religion.

Now, of course, if you do have that kind of history, and then there's evidence that it is continuing, that could somehow back fire. But, again, the whole issue is what does he actually believe in? What's the church? That's the advantage.

This is an opportunity, frankly, for us to learn more about what the Mormon Church is all about, just like, you know, when Joe Lieberman ran in terms of Jews, in terms of folks who are Baptists, who are Catholic. It's an opportunity to better understand faith and, frankly, too many Americans don't really understand other kinds of faith other than their own.

CHETRY: Yes. Roland, I think the irony here is that Sharpton is doing Romney a favor, in one sense. You know, to get it out there, to let the Mormons come out and say what they believe.

And, you know, as you say, even if it doesn't directly affect some of the voters, you know, it helps the publicity and it helps his campaign in a certain since, I think.

GALLAGHER: Because...

MARTIN: Absolutely. And it keeps his name out there. And, of course, we saw the John Roberts talking about this morning, about a poll out of Iowa showing that Mitt Romney is ahead. I mean, he is certainly benefiting from having folks talk about him constantly, and so that does wonders for his campaign.

CHETRY: All right. If you were giving him political advice, he's refused so far to meet with Al Sharpton. Does he need to?

MARTIN: No. I mean, no, he doesn't need to, because again, he is being talked about; his name is out there. I mean, he is getting the political hits as a result of his controversy, as was stated.

He was very smart. He got in and made his comment, jumped back out. It shifts now to the Mormon Church and Sharpton, away from him. Yet he is still talked about in the context of that debate.

CHETRY: And but yet it does. And Delia, bring up the point once again or remind people, or for most of us who didn't know, until 1978, black people were denied priesthood in the Mormon Church.

MARTIN: Absolutely.

GALLAGHER: Yes. There is, as Roland pointed out -- there is the danger that it brings it all back up again. That, you know, what the Mormons kind of wanted to put in the past comes back.

But, you know, this is the election campaign. This is what's going to happen, because Romney is a Mormon. So it seems the best way for them to handle it is to accept these invitations and get their publicity out there and say, hey, we've renounced this.

MARTIN: And, Kiran, real quick, it's better to have this take place now in May than in October and November, just like the whole issue of Obama, is he black enough? I mean, again, there's some issues candidates want early before the primary. That way you're dealing with it now in May/June. It's no big deal, come October/November when you're heading into the first primary.

CHETRY: Yes, and good point.

Delia Gallagher, thank you.

Roland, always great to see you, of WVON Radio, by the way. Thanks.

ROBERTS: Thirty-nine minutes after the hour now. Some dramatic moments early this morning at a world famous London landmark. A huge fire raged on the Cutty Sark, which has been in dry dock on the banks of the River Thames in Greenwich for the last half century. It was built to make tea runs between England and China in the 1800s.

Here's a picture of the ship before the fire that caretakers are worried much of its original timber and iron can never be replaced. Wow. Look at that. What a difference.

The Cutty Sark was closed for renovations. They do not know yet how the fire started, but they believe it was suspicious. They're reviewing closed circuit television videotapes of the area around the time of the fire to see if there was anything unusual that's spotted on those.

"ANDERSON COOPER 360" airs weeknights at 10 p.m. Eastern. Here's Anderson with a look at what's on tap for tonight -- Anderson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "360": John, tonight lawmakers getting down to Key West, to Mexico, the Virgin Island. Trips to vacation hot spots, all in the name of homeland security. And guess what? You're paying for it. But we're "Keeping Them Honest", "360" tonight, 10 p.m. Eastern -- John.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Anderson, thanks very much.

A record set on Mt. Everest: a young woman sets foot on top of the world, and that's just one of the many steps in her historic journey. Meet her next on AMERICAN MORNING.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Eighteen-year-old Samantha Larson skipped her freshman year of college to get high, and did she ever. She's just completed a record-setting climb of Mt. Everest and is now believed to be the youngest person to climb the highest peak on seven continents.

Frank Buckley of affiliate KTLA has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, KTLA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a father/daughter trip that took them to the top of the world. Eighteen-year-old Samantha Larson of Long Beach and her doctor dad, David Larson, were part of a group that summitted Mt. Everest on Thursday.

Samantha's sister, 8-year-old Emma, and Samantha's step-mom, Janet Moore, got the news by satellite phone straight from the summit of Mt. Everest.

JANET MOORE, SAMANTHA LARSON'S STEPMOTHER: They were at the top.

EMMA LARSON, SAMANTHA LARSON'S SISTER: When she got the call I woke up, and I screamed.

BUCKLEY: Samantha, an honors graduate from Long Beach Poly High School, became one of the youngest and possibly the youngest foreigner ever to climb Mt. Everest.

At 18 she also became the youngest person to have completed the so-called seven summits, climbing the highest peaks on each of the seven continents, reaching the top of each with her dad. MOORE: Her dad has brought it out in her, but the determination and the "I'm going to do it," is coming from Sam.

BUCKLEY: Next up for Samantha, college. She'll be a freshman at Stanford next year, and it's a good bet she'll be the only freshman who will be able to say, "Last year I climbed Mt. Everest."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And that is something to say. Frank Buckley of our affiliate, KTLA, in Los Angeles with the story of 18-year-old climber Samantha Larson.

How did you spend what would have been your freshman year?

CHETRY: What did I -- I was interning at a television station. That's what I did, because I just -- I wanted to be on TV.

ROBERTS: There you are. She wanted to climb Everest.

CHETRY: See that? And she blogged the whole way. We didn't have that back then.

It was also interesting to note a 14-year-old Nepalese girl was also one to climb. They don't always count the locals, because a lot of times they're actually assisting and helping with the foreign tourists that are climbing Mt. Everest.

ROBERTS: It's still climbing the mountain, though. Yes?

CHETRY: It still is. Just somehow doesn't count. Not fair.

All right. Thanks, John.

Forty-six past the hour. Chad Myers joins us.

You have no urge to climb Mt. Everest. However...

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: If there was a gondola that started from the base camp that went to the top, I would go. Probably a great view.

CHETRY: And then a couple years ago, didn't they have a story about how they were going to be able to make some little thin, fiber optic wire that took us all the way to the moon in an elevator? Have you made any progress on that?

MYERS: I didn't buy that stock. Thank goodness I didn't.

CHETRY: Me either.

MYERS: I did buy WebBand, and that didn't do so well, either.

CHETRY: One swift minute, and there goes the fiber optic chord.

MYERS: Exactly. (WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Hopefully OK for the whales making their way through the Golden Gate Bridge.

MYERS: They're doing so well.

CHETRY: They're doing great.

MYERS: They really are. Five miles per hour, that's pretty good.

CHETRY: Thanks so much, Chad -- John.

ROBERTS: CNN "NEWSROOM" is just minutes away. Tony Harris is at the CNN center with a look at what lies ahead.

Hey, Tony, how you doing?

TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST, "NEWSROOM": Hey, John, good morning to you. We have got these stories on the "NEWSROOM" rundown for you.

Now, it really hurts. Gas hits a new record high; $3.19 on average says AAA. Some drivers already paying more than $4 a gallon.

Israel targeting a card carrying Islamic jihadist. Palestinians say four people were killed in the attack, part of a new burst of fighting in Gaza.

The White House with a stinging comeback for Jimmy Carter. He calls President Bush the worst chief executive in history.

Heidi Collins is with me in the "NEWSROOM". We get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN.

John, back to you.

ROBERTS: We will see you then, Tony.

HARRIS: All right.

ROBERTS: And that's only 12 minutes away.

Coming up, the big green ogre brought in a lot of green this weekend. We'll tell you how "Shrek" did at the box office.

And movies on a smaller scale, at least for now, but big potential. We're taking you live to the Cannes Film Festival.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, Princess Fiona and Sir Shrek.

(TRUMPET FANFARE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: That was supposed to be our new theme music for AMERICAN MORNING, but I guess "Shrek" stole it.

All right. He might be an ogre, but he's still drawing a crowd. "Shrek the Third" racked up $122 million at the box office this weekend. It's the biggest opening ever for an animated film and the third biggest opening of all time.

"Shrek" actually bumped "Spider-Man 3" down to the No. 2 spot, followed by "28 Weeks Later", "Disturbia" and "Georgia Rule".

ROBERTS: Well, at the Cannes Film Festival this year, it was politics that took a star turn. Documentaries by Michael Moore, a new one. This is not the sequel to, but it's the latest one after "Fahrenheit 9/11".

And a new one called "11th Hour" by Leonardo DiCaprio making headlines. DiCaprio even got a little defensive when questioned about his own commitment to the earth and global warming.

Bradley Jacobs is on assignment for "Us Weekly" in Cannes, and he joins us now, live.

So these are two of the most talked-about films in the festival, Bradley, yet neither one of them are really in the competition. Let's talk about DiCaprio, first of all, this "11th Hour". It's an environmental film. It almost kind of builds on that documentary that he did back in 2000, when he toured the White House.

What are people saying about it there?

BRADLEY JACOBS, "US WEEKLY": Well, I interviewed Leo this weekend, and he said that, if it weren't for Al Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth", he probably wouldn't have been able to even make the "11th Hour", nor get all this attention.

People are saying it's very strong, and it helps the environmental cause. Leo himself has taken some knocks while he's been here, of course, but he's -- he's been very strong and he's holding forth. He says he drives a hybrid, he has solar paneling, but if you can't afford those things, what you should be doing, his message is, vote with your dollars.

ROBERTS: Right.

JACOBS: Buy environmentally sound products, et cetera, et cetera. You know, it's got a lot of good buzz here.

ROBERTS: He got a little testy, didn't he, during a press conference? People were suggesting that he was flying across the Atlantic in a private jet and what was that doing to help global warming and fuel consumption? He had an answer for that, though, didn't he?

JACOBS: Yes. And people also criticized Al Gore for that at that conference. He said don't shoot the messenger. You know, the message, these people, himself and Al Gore, are trying to get the message across about the environment. And the way they travel should not -- you know, it's sort of incidental. That's his point. Don't shoot the messenger; we're trying to get this message out.

ROBERTS: DiCaprio also insisting that he took a commercial flight, not a private plane.

The other big movie there that, again, is not in the competition is this new Michael Moore film, "Sicko". How is that looking?

JACOBS: Yes. Well, I was a big fan and proponent of "Fahrenheit 9/11", and I have to say that I thought "Sicko" is even better.

It's -- of course, is about the health care industry in the U.S. It focuses on the 50 million people that don't have it. But, moreover, it focuses on the rest of us who do have health care and how many people with health care are still forced to go into poverty because of the high costs of health care and because they're often wrongly refused treatment by their health care providers.

It's very emotional. It's -- he manages to make you cry and laugh. There's a lot of levity in it, and I think it's actually going to be seen as a very important film.

ROBERTS: Right. We should point out, too, Bradley, that there were a lot of people who had a contrary opinion about "Fahrenheit 9/11".

But did Michael Moore talk at all about this controversy that he's embroiled in over the filming of "Sicko", where he went to Cuba with some patients to try to get them treatment, and the U.S. government now investigating that trip?

JACOBS: Yes. At the press conference he brought that up. He said he is being investigated. He talked about the possibility that he is going to jail. He's not afraid of that. Or he didn't say that he was not afraid to go to jail, but he did talk about this and the controversy of his filming.

But I have to say, that is, for me personally, one of the most important parts of the film, is when he takes these people who can't get health care in the states to Guantanamo Bay to make a point that al Qaeda detainees are actually getting better health care than these Americans, including 9/11 survivors.

ROBERTS: Well, of course, you know...

JACOBS: Not 9/11 survivors, but those who had...

ROBERTS: Right.

JACOBS: ... those who had worked at 9/11. ROBERTS: Right. Yes, down on the site there, the pile post- 9/11.

JACOBS: That's right. That's right.

ROBERTS: Well, and certainly a lack of health care crosses all political stripes there.

Hey, glad that you're enjoying your first Cannes Film Festival. You've certainly got the look down. Hope you're going to go out on one of those boats a little. Bradley Jacobs from "Us Weekly".

JACOBS: I've already been on one.

ROBERTS: Excellent. Good for you.

JACOBS: Thank you, John.

ROBERTS: The more the merrier.

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS (voice-over): See these stories in the "CNN NEWSROOM".

New record high. A survey puts the national average for a gallon of gas at $3.19 a gallon.

New fighting today between the Lebanese army and militants aligned with al Qaeda.

The alleged D.C. Madam making another court appearance this morning.

The wrong way whales make the right turn.

"NEWSROOM", top of the hour on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: And time now for one quick hit here. Can a deep cleansing mud pack actually help the aging face of the Taj Mahal?

Well, the Indian Parliament has been looking for a way to preserve the beautiful structure since it started turning from its pristine, gleaming white marble to a little bit yellowish.

The color change is being blamed on pollution in the area. Trying to put restrictions on how close cars can drive to it has not helped with that yellowing tinge. So now they think they can put this mud pack on, this clay treatment that's non-corrosive, non-abrasive, and hopefully, it will bring that gleaming white back all the time. ROBERTS: They try to keep cars about a mile and a half away, but I was in Agra a few years ago, and I'll tell you, there's an awful lot of pollution there. I don't know where you start.

CHETRY: Exactly. A lot of congestion, and the cars being a mile away hasn't really -- or a kilometer away has not really helped the poor Taj Mahal.

All right. Well, that's all here from this AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks for joining us today.

ROBERTS: I'll see you up there in New York tomorrow, Kiran.

CHETRY: Looking forward to it.

ROBERTS: "CNN NEWSROOM" with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins begins right now.

HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. You are in the "CNN NEWSROOM". I'm Tony Harris.

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