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American Morning

Surgery for TB Patient; Parts of Classified national Intelligence Report Revealed Today; Senator Vitter Speaks for First Time Since Phone Linked to D.C. Madam

Aired July 17, 2007 - 08:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome. It's Tuesday, July 17th.
I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you.

I'm John Roberts.

Thanks for being with us.

We begin this morning with a CNN exclusive, a rare operation on the Atlanta attorney whose tuberculosis sparked an international health alert.

CHETRY: Yes. The reason we say exclusive is because our own Sanjay Gupta is actually going to be observing this surgery that is set to take place in just a couple of hours from now.

Surgeons will try to cut out the disease in one portion of one of Andrew Speaker's lungs. It was an easy sell for the young attorney. He told -- he told our Dr. Gupta about why he wants to undergo this surgery and get it over with.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW SPEAKER, TB PATIENT: With the amount of treatment I'm going to be on, the doctors said, "If you go ahead and have the surgery, you don't have to worry 10 years from now or 20 years from now or 30 years from now if it's ever going to come back. And that's worth the peace of mind to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Yes. And so in just a few minutes, Sanjay will be getting exclusive access to the rare procedure.

ROBERTS: Yes. He joins us now from Aurora, Colorado, outside of that medical center.

And Sanjay, how soon are you going to be scrubbing in here?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think Andrew is already being prepped for surgery here, so probably in the next half an hour to 45 minutes, I'm probably going to head in as well. We'll talk to Andrew a little bit and then go into the operating room with him and show you this pretty unusual procedure.

As you guys correctly pointed out -- I just want to make this clear -- his diagnosis at one time he was given was something known as XDR, extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. Surgery in that case may have been life-saving for him, as there is very few treatment options. His diagnosis now is being called multidrug-resistant.

He is still opting for surgery. He's 31 years old. He sort of wants to get this thing taken care of, and surgery's going to give him his best shot at that so he doesn't have to deal with this for the rest of his life.

With any operation there are some rinks. We had a chance to talk to his surgeon yesterday specifically about this risk. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOHN MITCHELL, CHIEF GEN. THORACIC SURGERY, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: The surgery actually is recently low risk. There is morbidity or possible complications and some mortality associated with it, but in general terms, it's going to be a low-risk procedure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: And I have to tell you, it's a pretty fascinating procedure, as they've outlined it for me as well. It's actually all going to be done through a few tubes in the right side of his chest. They're going to have a video camera sort of in his chest filming the whole thing, and then the instruments to actually remove part of his lung.

I'll point out another very interesting thing. They actually put a bag into his chest and they put the diseased portion of his lung into that bag, seal it up before they bring it out.

The goal is not to release any of that tuberculosis bacteria into the operating room and into the rest of the hospital, trying to keep everyone safe. So that's part of what we're going to be seeing here in just a little bit.

ROBERTS: Sanjay, how rare is an operation like this? We've been saying -- we've been using that word, "rare," but does it happen very often at all?

GUPTA: Well, it is pretty unusual. With regards to extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, there's only been about 50 cases in the last 10 years. With multidrug-resistant there's been about 124 cases in -- talking about in the United States within the last year.

And about half those people get operated on. So, you know, maybe 50, 60 times it's happened.

This is a little bit, again, of an unusual case in that the diagnosis has sort of shifted around a bit, but a fairly rare thing. And I think a lot of surgeons around the world will probably be interested in seeing this as well.

CHETRY: So does he still have to continue on those -- that medication as well as a complement to this? Or is he just cured after this surgery if all goes well?

GUPTA: A great question and a very specific protocol here. He does have to continue on some of the medications basically until the all of the cultures, anything that he would cough up or anything don't show bacteria for a total of eight weeks.

At that point he is considered essentially non-infectious. He'll be monitored, certainly, but he should be essentially -- essentially cured but still need monitoring.

CHETRY: All right.

Sanjay Gupta, it will be interesting for you to report back to us on what you get to observe.

GUPTA: I'll have a full report for you.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Sanjay.

ROBERTS: Looking forward to that.

Now to secrets revealed from the classified national intelligence estimate and what officials at the highest levels of homeland security are worried about.

CNN's Kelli Arena will be at a briefing this morning where parts of the report will be declassified. She joins us now from Washington this morning.

Kelli, what do we expect to be the takeaway from this report?

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, in essence, the report is expected to say that the U.S. remains a target, a harder target to hit than it was before, but a target, nonetheless. It's supposed to talk about how al Qaeda continues its quest to get its hands on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

We'll also hear about how al Qaeda has increased its effort to try to get operatives inside the United States to do harm. And a lot of experts, John, have said that al Qaeda is very likely to turn to Europe to recruit.

I spoke to the homeland secretary, Michael Chertoff, yesterday about that. Here's what he had to say on that front.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: If you look at what we've seen over the past several summers, in England, in other parts of Europe, you see an increase in the activity of people that we call sometimes homegrown terrorists who appear to be citizens or even natives of countries in Europe who have become radicalized in some cases because they've gone to South Asia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: So, if this report is saying that al Qaeda has basically regained a lot of its capabilities, a lot of people will probably ask, John, how did this happen? Haven't we been fighting a war on terror for several years?

And experts say, look, you know, al Qaeda is not just going to stand there and take the hits. It's going to continue to recruit, it's going to continue to train, and it's going to continue to try to find ways that we are vulnerable.

ROBERTS: And, of course, the question that Americans are asking today, as we anticipate the release of this report, Kelli, is when we talk about renewed capabilities, exactly what might those capabilities be?

ARENA: Well, capabilities to get inside the United States and pull off a spectacular attack. I mean, that's what we're talking about when they are talking about the United States, because the general belief is that when al Qaeda hits the U.S., it's not going to be small time. They're not doing little suicide bombings here and there, but that this is the prized target.

ROBERTS: All right. Kelli Arena for us this morning as we anticipate the release of this national intelligence estimate.

Kelli, thanks.

ARENA: You're welcome.

(NEWSBREAK)

ROBERTS: Seven minutes after the hour.

Our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents is working on other stories new this morning.

Senator David Vitter emerges with his wife for the first time since his phone number was linked to the alleged D.C. madam.

Our Sean Callebs is live in New Orleans for us this morning tracking the story.

Good morning, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Indeed, Senator Vitter is back in Washington, D.C., now. He says he is eager to put this scandal behind him and get back to work.

He did appear in a news conference here yesterday with his wife. He again apologized, but at the same time, said he has never had any involvement with a well-known New Orleans madam and that he has never gone to a notorious New Orleans brothel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DAVID VITTER (R), LOUISIANA: Unfortunately, my admission has encouraged some longtime political enemies and those hoping to profit from the situation to spread falsehoods, too, like those New Orleans story in recent reporting. Those stories are not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: Vitter's remarks lasted about five minutes. He did not take any questions from the reporters. And in his words, says he is not going to answer endless questions on this topic.

But there are constituents here who feel a sense of betrayal. Vitter is a staunch conservative who has made family values, traditional family values the cornerstone of his political career. And there are scattered recalls, John, for his resignation here in the state.

ROBERTS: Right. Well, it doesn't look like that's in the cards. And maybe they can voice their opinion in 2010, when he's up for re- election.

Sean Callebs for us in New Orleans this morning.

Sean, thanks very much.

News about "The Wall Street Journal" this morning and Rupert Murdoch. Ali Velshi with that.

Ali, this thing looked impossible just weeks ago. Now it looks like it might happen.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It looks like it's very close, actually. The bid from Rupert Murdoch to buy the Dow Jones Company, publisher of "The Wall Street Journal," seems to be gaining some steam.

What we've heard right now is that one of the trustees, the lead trustee at Dow Jones, is going to be presenting a deal to the family, the board, which is controlled by the Bancroft family, today at some point. And he will give them several days to decide on what is going on.

The family, or certain members of the family, have been looking for a better deal than Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion for Dow Jones. It hasn't surfaced. So at this point we look like we might be closing in on a deal.

There are concerns from critics and from the Bancroft family about the journalistic integrity of "The Wall Street Journal," a newspaper that's been independent for a very long time. Obviously, there have been a lot of deals recently with both newspapers and television channels coming together under larger ownership, so this is one of the concerns that, what will the Dow Jones Company and "The Wall Street Journal" be under Rupert Murdoch's ownership?

But at this point, the betting is that Rupert Murdoch is closer to owning "The Wall Street Journal".

ROBERTS: So what does your gut tell you? It's going to happen?

VELSHI: Yes. It's a lot of money for -- they haven't had a competing bid. So if the Bancroft family is interested in getting what amounts to about $60 a share, that's a lot more money than anyone else is offering.

ROBERTS: Yes, that's a pretty good payout.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROBERTS: Ali Velshi, thanks very much.

VELSHI: OK.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. A quarter past the hour now.

Ali Velshi has really been checking out some of the prime real estate for us. One of the big magazines saying here are the best places to live and here is why.

So what did they find out?

VELSHI: Great feature. I'm getting no work done this morning even though there is, like, the Dow nearly at 14,000, and Rupert Murdoch maybe buying "The Wall Street Journal". All I've been doing is sitting on this Web site dealing with research into the top places to live in America..

"Money" magazine has got this big feature on air right now -- on the site right now. And I wanted to pick a couple of interesting points.

Sometimes it's income, sometimes it's property value. The place where homes are most expensive and the place where the median household income is the highest is -- drum roll, please -- Hillsborough, California. It's in northern California -- a small place -- population 10,500.

Median household income -- look at that -- $263,000. Median home price, $2.6 million. Annual spent on vacation per year, it doesn't seem as high as you'd think for that crowd.

OK. So that's income.

Now I want to tell you about the best job growth. In Tooele County, Utah.

You know Tooele?

ROBERTS: Yes. They make racks for cars. Or is that Thule from Sweden?

VELSHI: No, that's Thule.

ROBERTS: Oh, OK.

VELSHI: No, this is -- this place used to be a mining town. It's now got -- it's now into science and tech.

And it's got -- it's got a good average salary. But look at that, 112 percent job growth. It's almost fully employed, the whole place. So if you're looking for a job, that might be a place to look.

Most importantly, however, is the list of the place with the most singles.

ROBERTS: And?

VELSHI: State college, Pennsylvania.

ROBERTS: State College, Pennsylvania?

VELSHI: By a long shot.

CHETRY: How about that?

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: So why are you living in New York City?

VELSHI: 76.5 percent of the population is single.

When you go down this list, by the way, it's like a lot of college towns.

CHETRY: It's a college town. Of course they're single.

VELSHI: A lot of college -- in fact, I haven't seen one -- you know, I'm really having to dig through to see if there aren't college towns on this list of singles, but there's 25 of them.

So, I'm telling you, best home prices, least expensive home prices, best income, most singles, check this out on money.com. You might be able to waste as much of your day as I have already wasted on the Internet.

CHETRY: It's pretty neat, though. You're right, you can check it out and see where your town ranks.

VELSHI: It's good stuff.

CHETRY: I lived in State College. I was single, but I was 2. So...

VELSHI: I think we're -- I think we're excluding the 2 -- that category, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: Yes, that's a little too single.

Ali, thanks.

CHETRY: Well, senators are gearing up for all-night fight over the war in Iraq. Democratic leaders are saying that they want to force Republicans to get on the record about the war. Republicans are calling it political theater.

Joining us now with his take is Missouri Republican Senator Kit Bond.

Senator Bond, thanks for being with us this morning.

SEN. KIT BOND (R), MISSOURI: Good morning. Good to be with you.

CHETRY: So they rolled out the cots, they're making a big deal about this all-nighter. What they want to do is they say they want to get a plan through and get people on the record about whether they support it or not.

Obviously, you do not support that plan, but would you be willing to consider perhaps something else? Perhaps something that two of your highly respected colleagues senators, Warner and Lugar, have proposed about rethinking whether or not U.S. troops should be in the combat zone come October?

BOND: When we confirmed General David Petraeus in February, he promised to implement a totally new strategy, which he has done. It's a counterinsurgency strategy. And he said that he needed at least until September to see if it's working.

The initial reports that we see -- and I visited Ramadi just two months ago, and the changes there are fantastic. They really have in that Al Anbar province made a tremendous difference.

Now there are some who want to -- don't have the patience to give General Petraeus the six months of the surge that he asked for, and I just think that's unacceptable. Our troops in the field deserve to be able to carry out their mission and report on whether it's working. And I believe that there's strong evidence it is.

CHETRY: You know, I think that regardless of how people feel about the war, I don't think anybody doubts the incredible work that our troops have done there, and their professionalism and the fact that they do get the job done. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for their Iraqi counterparts.

In fact, General Pace, himself, speaking this past Friday, said that the number of Iraqi troops that are able to operate independently has actually fallen. They had -- as of March 2007 they had 10 battalions operating independently. That has since dropped. July 2007, now they can only say six can operate independently.

So when you talk about some of those steps backwards, how do you continue the argument that progress is being made?

BOND: Well, you can see it in Al Anbar. I visited co-located marine, Iraqi army and Iraqi police forces which had cleaned up the area. Right now, they are operating in Al Anbar and other areas with American troops embedded as trainers and leaders, and that is making the progress. It's going to take some time to get the Iraqi security forces up. Not years, but certainly it's not something that can be done in weeks.

CHETRY: Right. But is two months going to make a difference?

BOND: And we have a responsibility to let it work.

CHETRY: No, I mean, is two months going to make a difference? So let's say everybody waits until September, because short of, you know, the Senate getting enough support to pass a veto, we are going to wait until September to talk about this. What happens if the situation has not improved by September? Are you willing to change and throw your support behind some sort of withdrawal plan?

BOND: I don't think it ever makes sense to have a political timetable. And I think that's one of the things that really drives our troops mad in the field.

That's things I've heard from them. I've visited with them. I've had e-mails from them. I've seen National Guardsmen who come back. And they say this is not a war that should be run for political purposes.

And regrettably, with the stunt that the majority leader is pulling -- is going to pull, an all-nighter tonight, which is nothing but political theater, it shows that the Democrats really view this as an opportunity to win votes. We ought to be focusing how to support or troops to assure that they establish peace and stability in Iraq, because we just have a new NIE from our national intelligence estimate, from our intelligence community, which says that al Qaeda's threat to the United States is very strong. And they've also said if they can use Iraq as a safe haven, it will be even greater.

CHETRY: Your son is serving right now. This is his second tour, I believe.

BOND: That's correct.

CHETRY: He's with the Marine Corps.

What did he say about the effect of morale on this big political debate that takes place? There is Sam right now, by the way.

BOND: He's in Iraq. I'm not going to say any more. He is -- he is astounded, shocked, and he and his troops have not many good things to say about political leaders who want to pull the rug on them.

I believe that the troops over there know that they're succeeding in their mission, they're proud of what they're doing, and they know that they have made too many contributions and sacrifices, having lost their colleagues that they knew well, to cut and run now and see the whole thing deteriorate into chaos. They are very, very concerned about it. That's from a broad range of soldiers and Marines and Guardsmen I've talked to.

CHETRY: Senator Kit Bond out of Missouri.

BOND: Thank you.

CHETRY: Hopefully it won't be as long of a night as it's shaping up to be, but we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Thanks for being with us.

BOND: Thank you.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, the most news in the morning here on CNN. It's Tuesday, the 17th of July. I'm John Roberts.

CHETRY: And, I'm Kiran Chetry. America' top general is in Iraq right now, and he is actually taking a surprising step. He wants to show that things are safe enough that he could actually walk through the streets of one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq in the Sunni Triangle. The streets of Ramadi.

That is where General Peter Pace is right now. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr is actually traveling with him as well. She's traveling with the Joint Chiefs chairman in Ramadi, and on the phone with us now. Are you guys actually walking through the streets as we speak, Barbara?

VOICE OF BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, it is an extraordinary thing. I hope everyone can hear me. We are absolutely walking through the marketplace as we speak. General Pace just stopped and brought some fruits and vegetables from a dealer here in the market. He is stopping to say hello to every little kid he can find and take pictures with them.

What's really extraordinary here is, of course, Ramadi was the real heartland of al Qaeda, if you will, just a few months ago. So many U.S. troops lost their lives on these streets and the battle for this city. Now, today, the streets are quiet. Rebuilding is underway. Perhaps one of the most extraordinary things is they have not have an IED attack on the streets of this city since February.

It's not to say that there aren't plenty of problems around. Lots of security challenges to overcome, but I don't think anyone really expected even six months ago that a chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff would spend the afternoon walking around the streets of the city. It's a pretty extraordinary event. We have some very interesting pictures we hope to bring pictures our viewers in the hours ahead. Kiran?

CHETRY: Barbara is that an accurate picture of what normal life is like there, or are they bringing out extraordinary security measures as well, as they did when Senator John McCain was walking through the streets of Iraq?

STARR: Well, let's be clear. There is very significant security here, of course. But, there are Iraqis walking right up to General Pace, shaking his hand, through the translator having conversations. It's a bit of an unusual day here in Ramadi because there is a sandstorm which is why we got grounded. We were supposed to be on a helicopter out of here.

So, the weather is pretty tough out here so there actually aren't a lot of people out on the streets. Make no mistake, there is security. The marketplace, as always, has security barriers because of concern about suicide car bombs. That sort of thing. But there are no helicopters overhead. There is the general's personal security and our drivers. But it's pretty standard stuff, I would say.

CHETRY: All right, Barbara Starr also traveling. And you said you are going to be able to bring some pictures back. Obviously, we're not getting them right now. But, how many people are they letting travel with General Pace? I think we just lost the phone connection.

But, as she said, really an extraordinary show, if you will, of the ability for the general, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to be able to walk through a marketplace, as she said, everyday Iraqis being able to come up to him in an effort to show that things are changing, things are getting better in the Sunni Triangle.

ROBERTS: Now, as she said the have a tremendous amount of security of security. Maybe not as much as when John McCain walked through that market in downtown Baghdad, but certainly still a lot, Which is very prudent because the threat can come from literally anywhere in Iraq these days.

Friends and family are mourning the loss of 40-year-old Robin Munis and looking for her estranged husband David. He is an ex-Army sharpshooter who is suspected of killing her. Munis was killed by a single bullet to the head, while performing on stage in Cheyenne, Wyoming on Saturday night.

Ty Warner was a band mate and good friend of Robin Munis, he joins us now live from Cheyenne. You were on stage with her Ty, what happened?

Yes, good morning. Well, we were -- we had two songs left before we were going to conclude our performance that evening at 12:30. About 12:20 going through one of the songs. And, suddenly, a shot or a loud pop rang out, some sort of loud popping sound. Robin was on my right. And this is all within about a three or four, to five-foot radius here, I believe.

So, with that pop I thought that someone had spilled maybe some water, a waitress or someone had spilled some water onto some of our equipment. And so, I thought it was electric shock. So, maybe she had -- someone had been shocked. So I looked over to my right and she was on the ground.

I thought that maybe she bumped up against the microphone and that is what shot her back. As I looked to my right I saw she was on the ground. And as I got closer, I realized that I saw what was evidence of a gunshot and she was lifeless.

ROBERTS: So she just went down in one shot? I mean, literally, she was killed instantly?

WARNER: My perception is that's, indeed, what happened. You can leave that up to the investigation, but that's the way I saw it. And, the bottom line to me is that it is in the blink of an eye that is how it happened. I mean, just like that. Just like that.

ROBERTS: How long had you known her? Did you know her husband as well? They were separated, I understand. Can you give us some sort of insight into what the relationship was like? Was there any warning that something like this could happen?

WARNER: Well, first of all, I want to say that it's a terrible loss for the musical community worldwide, because she was such a tremendous talent and star quality material. Regardless of whether you're a grass roots fan or whatever you are. But, the bottom line for this situation is that I had known her since last October.

We brought her into our ensemble because we reunited after a seven year hiatus, while I was overseas with the Department of Air Forces as a civilian, and we came back into Cheyenne. So, she fit into the slot perfectly. We were back to cruising altitude in terms of how great we were trying to operate as a band. And so, I'd known her since October. We were just -- it was just a seamless transition with her.

ROBERTS: But, again, Ty was there any indication of trouble between her and her estranged husband?

WARNER: To answer your question, no. Because she's not the kind of person that we would know that. Whatever the (unintelligible) or whatever she was doing, she was first class about it whether it was taking care of her children or getting the home set up after the estrangement or things like that.

I did say to her that morning -- or that afternoon, as we were doing our sound check. I said it's been quite a Friday the 13th for me as well because a couple of things had happened. Not to that degree. She said, Ty, it certainly has, it certainly has been that kind of day. And, so you wonder what she means by that.

But, the bottom line is that we have a very strict drinking and driving policy with the orchestra and David, at times, would help whoever was drinking and driving -- drinking, excuse me, get back to their home safely. So, on that account there was nothing to lead me to believe that the inkling of what was to come actually did happen.

ROBERTS: Well, it's a terrible tragedy. I know that between the two of them they had four children as well, and you and other friends of hers have established a memorial fund. We wish you good luck with raising money for her children. Ty Warner joining us from Cheyenne, Wyoming this morning. Ty thanks very much.

Robin's husband, David Munis as we've mentioned has been missing since the shooting. There's an ongoing manhunt in search of him. Munis is described as 36-years-old, a white male about 6'4", 215 pounds. He's got brown hair and hazel eyes, is considered armed and dangerous.

Joining me now is Captain Jeff Schultz he's from the Cheyenne Police Department. What's the status, what's the latest on the manhunt? Captain, do you have any idea where he might be?

CAPTAIN JEFF SCHULTZ, CHEYENNE POLICE DEPT.: Good morning. We have a lot better idea this morning than we did last night. Around 10:00 p.m. Local time last night, we had a citizen call into the Albany County sheriff's office, reported that she had seen the vehicle. Deputies responded to the location where she thought the vehicle was. Found Mr. Munis' vehicle. He was not in it.

So this morning we're beginning, under the guidance of Sheriff Pond of Albany County, we're starting a search of the ground in the area where the vehicle was found.

ROBERTS: My understanding is he's an avid hunter, knows the wilderness quite well. Do you think that he has gone to ground, out in the hills there surrounding Cheyenne?

SCHULTZ: Very hard to tell. That's certainly a possibility. We're going to have to find out later today. We will have the assets on the ground, we'll have a helicopter up in the air, so hopefully combined we will be able to find him this morning.

ROBERTS: You probably heard Ty Warner say that he didn't see any inkling of trouble between the two of them. Do you have any reports as talk to either witnesses or people who knew them that there was something brewing? There might have been some hint that something like this was coming.

SCHULTZ: We had absolutely no idea something like this would happen. We had no reports of disturbances between the two. We had that one harassing phone call report about six hours prior to the shooting, but other than that, we had no reports of anything (ph).

ROBERTS: Tell us more about that. Because this is the first time we're heard of that from you. What was this harassing phone call?

SCHULTZ: There was a call from Mrs. Munis about six hours prior to the shooting. She called the police, wanted assistance because he was calling a number of times on her cell phone. We ended up speaking with him by phone. He was very cooperative with us. He agreed not to speak with her anymore, they agreed to work it out through a third- party and that was the end of the call.

ROBERTS: Right. You're considering him armed and extremely dangerous. Obviously, these investigations sometimes break when you get eyewitnesses who call in. What advice are you giving people in the Laramie and Cheyenne area today regarding David Munis?

SCHULTZ: If anyone were to come in contact with him, please don't try to approach him. Please call law enforcement as soon as possible, give us a location of where you saw him and we will try to find him from there.

ROBERTS: All right. Captain Jeff Schultz of the Cheyenne Police Department. Good luck with your manhunt sir, and thanks very much for joining us this morning.

SCHULTZ: Thank you.

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: A dose of raw politics on deck. Desertions and big dollars are all of the buzz on the campaign trail. A look at who's winning and who's losing this early in the game, ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: It's time now for Raw Politics live, and when we mean live, we have Tom Foreman right here in the flesh.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What fun we're having here!

ROBERTS: You're a real person. You're not just this guy that lives in a box.

FOREMAN: Yes, exactly.

And this political season is getting really, really tough right now. If you're a candidate out there right now, I'm telling you, you better put on your bike helmet, because it's getting tough and nothing shows it like the money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): In the uphill climb to raise money, the Democrats are rocketing away from the Republicans. The top three Dems have pulled in a record $135 million this year, their GOP counterparts only $93 million. The "raw" read, this is tres bad for the Republicans, because in most elections they run far, far ahead.

On the downhill spending run, however, Republican Mitt Romney leads everyone. He's dropped $32 million, much of it just to get his name out -- a new ad hitting the air even now. I spent $22 million to run for president, and all I got was this T-shirt.

Much of John McCain's press staff has now resigned. The campaign says it is retrenching. McCain says he will still take New Hampshire, just like last time.

Democrats hope Republicans will pay a political price for the war. They're planning to roll cots into the capital and stage a round-the-clock debate over their latest proposals to end the fighting, although they don't have the votes to pass any of them.

And on the red carpet, the latest financial reports show some big names are tossing money at the presidential contenders.

Examples -- the Hill got about $7,000; John Edwards, $5,000 from Ben Stiller. The Obamarama, about $5,000 from Will Smith. Rudy took a cool K. from Tony Sirico. That's Paulie Walnuts to you. And Mike Gravel got a check from Mark Ruffalo for $700.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: Seven-hundred dollars for Mark Ruffalo. You know, he's not exactly an A-list celebrity, but in fairness, so far, Gravel hasn't been an A-list candidate. So, again, this is how it works out.

ROBERTS: So Giuliani taking money from Paulie Walnuts. Does that mean that there's mob connections?

FOREMAN: Well, you know, I think it tells us whatever happened in the diner...

ROBERTS: Hey, I'm kidding.

FOREMAN: Whatever happened in the diner, Paulie's making out OK with Tony out of the picture now, so I don't know what the deal is.

CHETRY: You know, they make a big deal about these celebrity endorsements, but the actual amount of money isn't that much. What do they also they host parties and try to help...

FOREMAN: The main thing you're getting from a celebrity endorsement is not a check from Paul Newman, who also gave checks to a lot of people. And by the way, a lot of these celebrities give checks to several different candidates who may be opposing each other.

ROBERTS: You have to cover your backs.

FOREMAN: Yes, exactly. Mainly what you're doing is you're buying influence, a sense of connection, and connection to a lot of other people, because that's really the value of a lot of donors. It's not that this one donor will get you something, but that he will connect you...

ROBERTS: They will tell two friends and they'll tell two friends. FOREMAN: Yes, it's like that whole connection that the high school kids are doing on the Internet, where they're all saying you're part of my group, and then you expand your influence, much more than just in the hallway passing by the locker.

CHETRY: I want to see you back here tomorrow. You can report back on what happened at the cots.

FOREMAN: I'll be here all week. And by the way, with the cots, I have a question -- can you say you're working around the clock if you brought in cots to sleep? It seems I would leave the cots out, because we don't get cots when we work all night.

ROBERTS: When you're working, you work, and that's all there is to it.

FOREMAN: Exactly.

ROBERTS: Good to see you. We'll see you again tomorrow. CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away now.

Heidi Collins at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning, Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John.

That's right, new terror forecast on the NEWSROOM rundown. Former Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge is going to be talking about al Qaeda's comeback. He is live right here in the NEWSROOM.

And Republican Senator David Vitter returning to Capitol Hill today. His first day on the job since he admitted ties to an alleged call girl service.

And 50 points -- that's all the Dow needs to break 14,000. We watch Wall Street for this symbolic moment. All of the day's breaking news when Tony Harris joins in the NEWSROOM, top of the hour right here on CNN -- John.

ROBERTS: I can see, Heidi, that you're betting that it's going to make that record as well.

COLLINS: Fifteen by Christmas! That's my prediction.

ROBERTS: Spoken like a true investor. Heidi, thanks for that.

COLLINS: That's right.

ROBERTS: AMERICAN MORNING will be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, they were shaking and shimming on a Monday night at the New York City premiere of "Hairspray." And our own Lola Ogunnaike was there. She actually got a few dance lessons of her own.

Let's check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): How did you get into this? I heard girdle, bra. Talk to me about the rundown.

JOHN TRAVOLTA, ACTOR: Well, there's about seven layers of undergarments, plus the prosthetics, plus the fat suit, plus the hair, plus the wardrobe.

ADAM SHANKMAN, DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER, "HAIRSPRAY": He kept saying more butt, more butt, more butt more butt!

OGUNNAIKE: What was it like playing in ice queen? Did you have fun?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER, ACTRESS: Not in the beginning. In the beginning, you know, I was a bit tentative and I kept looking for ways to make her nicer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PFEIFFER: Save your personal life for the camera, sweetie. Oh, shiny!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OGUNNAIKE: Can you show me how to shake my shimmy?

QUEEN LATIFAH, ACTRESS: You should know how to do that, girl. Just -- now it depends on what part you shimmying. You can shimmy that or you can shimmy these, you know what I mean?

NIKKI BLONSKY, ACTRESS: A little of that. A little of that. Whoa!

TRAVOLTA: You mean up here or here?

OGUNNAIKE: A little bit on the top and bottom.

LIZA MINNELLI, ACTRESS/SINGER: He can dance, man! I taught him a couple of steps.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: How about that? So you learned a couple of new dance moves?

OGUNNAIKE: Shaking my shimmy.

Come on, Kiran, you can do it, too, shake a little shimmy.

CHETRY: No, there's a lot of double-stick tape happening; I'd hate to have a wardrobe malfunction.

So what happened behind the scenes. Apparently a couple of little secrets were revealed to you.

Michelle Pfeiffer actually, who looked fantastic last night, told me that the crew members used to pinch Edna's posterior and sometimes John Travolta wouldn't even feel it because he had on so much latex, 40 pounds of latex. That was a whole lot of back! And a lot of front, too, let me tell you.

CHETRY: And he kept saying, I want more womanly curves out of this one.

OGUNNAIKE: He was very clear to me, he said to me last night, he didn't want to play a drag queen; he wanted to play a woman, very curvaceous, channeling Sophia Loren, but with a few hundred more pounds.

CHETRY: Do you think he pulled it off?

OGUNNAIKE: Thumbs up for the dancing. He was great. Thumbs down for accent, the Baltimore accents, but all in all it was actually a really fun movie.

Yes, Zac Efron also stars in "High School Musical." He plays Link in this film. He told me that he's been watching a lot of YouTube, watching Elvis clips to get into his character. So that was also good.

CHETRY: You ain't nothing but a hound dog.

He is adorable. He is a teen heartthrob, isn't he.

OGUNNAIKE: He is a teen heartthrob. The girls, all these little 13-year-olds are out there, outside screaming with their little cameras and their camera-phones. It was great.

CHETRY: He was channeling Elvis then.

Lola, thank you.

OGUNNAIKE: Thank you.

CHETRY: We're going to be back in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Time for another in our series of CNN Heroes. People dedicating their lives to improving the lives of others. Today, we meet a woman in Kenya who was saving the lives of girls through education.

Margery Kabuya is today's CNN Hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARGERY KABUYA: A girl here can get married as young as 10. Certainly by 13, a lot of them are already married. Girls are very, very important. Because they are a source of power (ph) and wealth. That is why it is difficult for a Maasai man to let a girl do anything else but get married.

Before a girl get married here, they must go through the female genital mutilation. When you delay marriage, you delay circumcision.

My name is Margery Kabuya. And we started a school for Maasai girls. We say, OK, what we're going to do is use the same process of booking the girls. The girls used to be booked for marriage. Now they're just being booked for school. We go through the exact same ceremony. We monitor the girl. When they are 6, another blessing is done and we give them the girl to take to school.

We are not saying the girl should not get married; we are just saying marry them off later.

We have managed to delay, at least delay, the female genital mutilation.

We will grow up into responsible girls, right?

I think the best thing is that it has given them opportunities that they would never have had. It has opened them and their parents to a different lifestyle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, that's going to do it for us. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you back here tomorrow.

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

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