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American Morning
YouTube Debate: Who Came Out on Top?; Global Search: Campaign to Find Madeleine McCann
Aired July 24, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Eight for '08. In a new style debate, the Democrats for president take questions straight from you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Global warming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reparations (ph) for slavery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Troops be out of Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you going to be any different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: This morning, who scored, who stumbled.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've had a White House that hasn't invested in the kinds of steps that have to be done to overcome the legacy of slavery.
JOHN EDWARDS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It would be wrong for me to impose my personal faith beliefs on the American people.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need to set a time line to begin bringing our troops home now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Instant analysis from voters in an overnight sound off from our viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I keep asking myself, "who's really worthy of being the next president of the United States."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The YouTube debate and how it could reshape the race for president, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome. It's great to see you today on this Tuesday, July 24th. I'm Kiran Chetry in New York. JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, which last night was the scene of our very first CNN/YouTube debate. The first of two. It was the Democrats last night. It will be the Republicans on September 17th in Florida.
It was a really interesting evening. We had 39 questions paired down from almost 3,000 that were submitted to YouTube. And they really kind of ran the gamut of topics, really kind of ran the gamut of people as well, crossed a lot of different demographics. It's not just young people using YouTube. There are some folks who are well up there towards AARP status who also submitted questions.
And it was interesting to see how the candidates responded to them. Because, don't forget, these were real questions from real people, very often from a very deeply personal perspective. And, historically, those are the type of questions that candidates do not like to answer. So here's a quick look at some of what happened last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm wondering, since this is such a revolutionary debate, that if you as politicians can do something revolutionary, and that is to actually answer the questions.
ANDERSON COOPER, MODERATOR: Senator Obama, how do you address those who say you're not authentically black enough? Hey, it's not my question. Jordan's question.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, when I'm catching a cab in Manhattan in the past, I think I've given my credentials.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I couldn't run as anything other than a woman. I am proud to be running as a woman. And I'm excited that I may . . .
JOHN EDWARDS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Do I personally support gay marriage? The honest answer to that is I don't.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe we should bring all the troops home by the end of this year, in six months, with no residual forces.
SEN. JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The truth of the matter is, if we started today, it would take one year -- one year to get 160,000 troops physically out of Iraq logistically.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's only one thing worse than a soldier dying in vein. It's more soldiers dying in vain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like for each of you to look at the candidate to the left and tell the audience one thing you like and one thing you dislike about that particular candidate. EDWARDS: I admire what Senator Clinton has done for America, what her husband did for America. I'm not sure about that coat.
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You notice what CNN did, they didn't put anybody to the left of me. Think about it.
Senator (INAUDIBLE) is . . .
COOPER: I'm not sure it would be possible to find any.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Not possible to find anyone to the left of Dennis Kucinich. He argued that a little bit, saying that he's in the mainstream in the Iraq War and a lot of other things.
But let's get some more reaction as to what happened last night. A real sort of mile post in terms of presidential debates and really where the whole idea of presidential politics on the Internet is going. Joining me now is Amy Schatz. She is a reporter and blogger for "The Wall Street Journal."
So what did you think about last evening?
AMY SCHATZ, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": I just thought it was an incredibly interesting format. You know, we've seen people in the past ask questions during debates, mostly during town halls, but we've never seen them talk about it in this kind of way because, you know, you're having people asking really deeply personal questions from the comfort of their own living rooms, which we've never seen before. And normally people get very nervous.
ROBERTS: There was one woman, a cancer patient, who in the middle of the question took off her wig to show that she was, you know, bald through chemotherapy.
SCHATZ: Right. I mean there's some very powerful things. And when you have that kind of thing happening on the screen, it's really difficult for the candidates not to answer that question.
ROBERTS: So who flourished and who flopped last night?
SCHATZ: You know, I think everybody sort of had a moment where it was -- they did pretty well, they did an interesting thing. You know, clearly, Senator Clinton, Obama, they sort of dominated the fact and they had the most time. You know, they had some good lines. I thought, you know, John Edwards had some really good lines and, you know, Senator Biden certainly had some excellent one-liners.
ROBERTS: Yes. And we should point out too that we did some dial testing last night and in the dial testing John Edwards' response about health care, where he was talking about, you know, you have to take this out of the hands of the big drug companies and the big medical companies and insurance companies. That rated the highest of all of the responses. Amy Shatz, stay with us throughout the morning. We want to keep coming back to you, get your thoughts on this and sort of where this whole political process is going too in the era of YouTube.
But, first, let's go back to New York and here's Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. And remember, the Republicans are going to be doing the same exact thing. September 17th is set for them. They're going to be doing it in Florida. So we'll get a chance to see St. Petersburg, how the Republicans respond to this quite unique and 21st century format.
Meantime, new this morning, the U.S. and Iran holding ambassador level talks right now in Baghdad. Envoys are discussing the deteriorating security situation in Iraq. There are new pictures in to CNN of these high level talks that are taking place in the heavily fortified Green Zone. The U.S. is accusing Iran of supplying weapons to militants and stirring the sectarian violence there. Iran denies the charges, blaming the U.S. invasion ford the bloodshed. Today's talks followed a historic meeting in May. Up until then there had been no official contact between the U.S. and Iran for 27 years.
President Bush heads to Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina today where he'll be talking about his Iraq War strategy. The White House says the president will telling American service members that his surge plans is making progress, but that it needs more time. He's also expected to talk about the link between al Qaeda and al Qaeda in Iraq. President Bush has been criticized for calling Iraq the central front in the war on terror.
And a chilling threat from the leader of the terror group Hezbollah. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah says that Hezbollah has rockets that can hit every corner of Israel, including Tel Aviv. He made the claim during an interview on Arab television. Senior military officials in Israel say Hezbollah is not capable of striking all parts of Israel, but they say Hezbollah has rebuilt much of its arsenal since last year's month-long war.
Bulgaria's president issuing pardons to five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor. They arrived in Bulgaria today after being held in Libya. The medics had been sentenced to death in Libya for allegedly infecting hundreds of children with the AIDS virus. It's a charge all of them deny. They served eight years in jail. During the trial, a French scientist testified that poor hygiene at the hospital likely lead to the contamination of the blood that was used in transfusions.
Well, FEMA says that serious concerns over air quality will not stop it from selling or donating its disaster relief trailers. Last week, documents surfaced that show unhealthy levels of formaldehyde in some of the trailers and a government's panel found that FEMA lawyers discouraged an investigation into the problem. Formaldehyde is used in embalming. Prolonged exposure can cause breathing problems. FEMA provided about 120,000 travel trailers to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. And you think you're doing something good if you drink diet soda, right, instead of the sugary soda? It may save you some calories but now a new study suggests that people who drink it are not much healthier than those who drink the regular stuff. People who drink one or more diet drinks a day, according to this study, were 44 percent more likely to be overweight, have high blood pressure and to suffer from our health issued that lead to heart disease. The rate in people drinking diet soda was only 10 percent higher.
Now there's no proof that diet drinks cause any of the problems, just that people who drink them may tend to be less healthy. Our Elizabeth Cohen will be along later this morning to make a little more sense out of that one for us, coming up.
John.
ROBERTS: Interesting study.
Extreme flooding to report to you today again in England. Rivers are still rising today and some are on the verge of bursting over their banks. We have seen mass evacuations and some dramatic air rescues. There is, though, a little bit of good news this morning. Efforts to save a power substation apparently have been successful. Up to a half a million people could have lost power if it had failed. Hundreds of thousands of people have got no drinking water, though, at the moment and things could get worse in some places. CNN's Alphonso van Marsh is in the hard hit town of Tewkesbury this morning.
What's it looks like where you are, Alphonso?
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well as you mentioned, just a little bit more good news in this very, very tragic situation. Officials want situations and scenes like these, as you see behind me, cars practically submerged in water, they're trying to help the people that need it.
As you mentioned, very much a battle for power in the central and western part of this country with recruits from the army, from the navy, from the air force, from the fire brigade, working with local officials to save that power plant. Working through those hours of the late night last night, they did manage to keep waters like these from going into that power plant and keeping power on for more than half a million people. Officials telling us that the water came within two inches of a wall of sandbags that they actually put around that power plant.
But today there still are hundreds of thousands, some 350,000 people without basic utilities. People like the ones living down there. You can see a section of housing and the emergency vehicles trying to help those who either do not have water or do not have electricity. And I should tell you that it seems like the water here is only up to my knees, but there are some parts of the country where the water is upwards of 15 feet than it normally would be at this time of year. Officials saying that the worst is not over. More rain expected. They hope that the river levels go down soon.
John.
ROBERTS: And the ground in England saturated at the best of the times, Alphonso, so it's going to take a while for that water to either run off or seep in.
Alphonso van Marsh for us this morning in the town of Tewkesbury, England.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Time now for a look at some of the other stories our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents are following for us. And it's Rob Marciano with today's extreme weather.
We saw the terrible flooding pictures coming to us from the U.K. and also Texas here in the states a big concern.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: We have an update now on a story that we first brought you right here on AMERICAN MORNING yesterday. Fallout after a major security breach was exposed at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Our Alina Cho is watching this one live in our New York City newsroom. You had a chance to talk with some of those officials at that airport yesterday and have an update for us.
Hi, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kiran. Good morning.
You know the most significant change, at least for now, is that effective immediately, the TSA will begin screening all employees of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport 24/7. Now this follows a startling report by CNN affiliate KNXV. We told you about it yesterday.
A hidden camera investigation essentially found that during the overnight hours, between midnight and 4:30 a.m., a security checkpoint at the airport was staffed by private security guards, not the TSA. Some 20 U.S. airports have adopted this policy and it is sanctioned by the TSA. In Phoenix, dozens of airport workers were seen simply showing their badge, they were waved through, bags unchecked.
Now the TSA responded yesterday by saying, the workers never have to go through security, no matter what time it is. They say that's because the workers have already been thoroughly vetted by the FBI with background checks and they've been fingerprinted, as well. But this report certainly has called into question that policy. Some called it a security loophole. So in Phoenix, the TSA is thoroughly reviewing all security measures. And, Kiran, the federal security director at the airport is now on administrator leave.
CHETRY: That's interesting. It's also interesting to see if this happens at other airports around the country.
Alina Cho, thanks so much.
CHO: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, the new federal minimum wage goes into effect today. It's the first in a series of wage increases that we'll be seeing. Ali Velshi is here with more on that.
Hi, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran.
Unmitigated good news for millions of Americans who earn the federal minimum wage, particularly if they live in states, about 20 states, where the state minimum wage is lower than the federal. It goes up today from $5.15 an hour to $5.85 an hour. A 70 cent increase. And it's the first of three increases. A year from today it will go up to $6.55 an hour and then two years from today it will got up to $7.55 an hour.
It's the first wage increase in about 10 years. Thirty states and the District of Columbia already have minimum wages that are higher than the federal levels. So it doesn't effect anybody in those states right now. It does effect, as I said, people in about 20 states.
This is going to, obviously, effect minimum wage workers. It will help them. A lot of small businesses complained that it will hurt them.
But in the end, what is it does is it puts more money into the pockets of more Americans and, as we know, two-thirds of this economy is based on Americans spending money. These people will likely spend more money because Americans, as you know, are not fantastic savers. So it probably has a net positive effect on the economy, especially at a time right now when we're not entirely clear which way things are going.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Ali Velshi, thanks.
John.
ROBERTS: We could hear for the first time today from the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons management on the future of Michael Vick. Vick has been ordered to stay away from Falcons training camp. Last week he was indicted on charges that he ran a vicious dogfighting ring in Virginia. Rusty Dornin is live now outside of Falcon's headquarters with more.
What's the team saying this morning, Rusty?
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're not saying a lot yet, John. We're outside the headquarters here of Flowery Branch, Georgia, where in just two days the Atlanta Falcons will be reporting to training camp. Now people knew Michael Vick would not be coming on the first day because he's going to be at an arraignment hearing in Virginia. But now the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, is saying, stay away. You can see the headlines in "The Atlanta Journal- Constitution." That statement does read from Roger Goodell, "while it is for the criminal justice system to determine your guilt or innocence, it is my responsibility as commissioner of the NFL to determine whether your conduct, even if not criminal, nonetheless violates league policies, including personal conduct policy."
Now, the NFL has asked the Falcons to not do anything until they review this case. Now, remember, that the commissioner did talk to Michael Vick sometime in April about the case when this whole thing first broke. Now they may be looking very carefully at whether Vick, whether the NFL commissioner feels that Vick lied to him then. Of course, in that indictment, it does show or it does alleged that Vick was involved in the killing of eight dogs that month with the three other suspects.
So this afternoon it looks like the Atlanta Falcons will also be having a press conference. We're not sure exactly what they're going to be talking about. But, of course, this pressure has been mounting. We've had the PETA and other animal rights activists that have been protesting in front of the Atlanta Falcons training camp, also at the NFL headquarters in New York. We've heard about this whole issue even on the floor of Congress. There was one senator complaining about all of it. So the pressure has been mounting and now the steps are going to be taken to discipline in some way Michael Vick.
John.
ROBERTS: Rusty, hey, real quick. There, of course, has to be a presumption of innocence here regarding Michael Vick, but there's a lot of talk that this could be the beginning of the end of his career. What are you hearing?
DORNIN: The way that you even say that, right here in "The Atlanta Journal-Constitutional," that's exactly what the local sports writer Terrance Moore (ph) is saying. He's asking that same question. Of course, we know that Nike has already withdrawn one of the shoes that bared Vick's name on it. There are going to be a lot of people, of course, in the marketing areas that are going to be pulling back. And the question is, do the Atlanta Falcons want this man to represent their team, want him out there on that field? And that is a big question on everyone's mind right now.
ROBERTS: Yes, probably the preeminent question in a sport or at least in a field where, obviously, public relations is a huge part of the game. Rusty Dornin for us this morning.
Rusty, thanks.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, we have some amazing, new video of that World War II plane that landed on a highway in Wisconsin. It was caught on a dashboard camera of a state trooper. And there you see it just coming right underneath the car.
The pilot actually had to swerve out of the way of some traffic. Amazingly, he does not hit any cars. Clipped a couple of road signs. They're blaming this on a complete engine failure.
There it is right there on the side of the road, the World War II era plane. A father and son on the plane were headed to an air show. The troopers just happened to be in the area helping someone who was stranded on the side of the road. And there you see the trooper running, trying to, I think, slow down some cars and make sure that people are not going to try to keep driving with that plane there on the road. Traffic was a mess for a while, but no one hurt.
John.
ROBERTS: Wow, that's not something you see every day, Kiran.
CHETRY: No, not at all.
ROBERTS: One and a half million acres on fire. That tops your "Quick Hits" now. Forty-five wildfires are burning in 11 states, most of them in the west. Firefighters say that they are concerned that high winds are going to fan those flames today.
It could take weeks to repair the damage caused by mud slides in Colorado. The mud slides damaged dozens of homes and forced people to leave the area around Alpine, Colorado. Water contamination is also a major concern.
Moving up in the race for '08. Coming up, we're going to talk to the man who's pushing John Edwards out of the top tier in New Hampshire.
Plus, viewers sound off with video messages overnight. We'll see those next on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, here. Well, he's not -- he's still running third here, but, you know, he's still holding his own.
CHETRY: Hi there. John, you're back with the governor, Bill Richardson.
ROBERTS: Hey, thanks very much, Kiran. For some reason I've lost everything coming down from New York.
Bill Richardson was one of eight presidential hopefuls who were answering questions last night from you via YouTube during last night's Democratic debate. So how does he think he did? The New Mexico governor joins us now.
So give me an objective perspective on how you did last night, governor.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, very objectively, I think I did well. Anyway, I've got moment going in New Hampshire and Iowa and Nevada around the country. And yesterday was a good day for me because ordinary people asked the questions. And I do better in these kind of settings and town meetings. And this was like a media town meeting. So I felt good. No offense to anchors, but these are the kind of questions we get on the road from ordinary people.
It was an interesting format. More of an exchange. That's good. More of an ability to contrast candidates. And you're able, I think, to spend a little more time getting your message out. So for a candidate like me that's trying to move into the top tier, it was very good.
ROBERTS: Now, of course, there were a lot of different questions last night. When you count the number of questions that were submitted, education was the number one issue for people who submitted these questions to YouTube. But it turned out at the end of the night that Iraq was again the big issue facing our country and the one that the candidates seemed to be most passionate about. You again reiterated your plan to get all troops out of Iraq within six months. Let's take a quick listen to how you answered one question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARDSON: The diplomatic work cannot begin to heal Iraq, to protect our interest with our troops out. Our troops have become targets. You're going to say six months because there's a civil -- it might provoke a civil war. There is a civil war. There is sectarian conflict.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Another question that we got about Iraq, and some of this was prompted by Joe Biden's campaign asking people to send in these questions, but there are also some independent ones as well, and that is, when you get troops out of Iraq, then what? So under your plan, you would remove troops very, very quickly. So the question is, how do you prevent Iraq from descending into chaos?
RICHARDSON: Well, American troops, I believe, have become targets. So I want to get them out of the way. And the point I wanted trying to make for other candidates is, troops are dying, over 100 every month. And my plan is, until you get the troops all out, you can't start diplomacy, like getting the three groups in Iraq together in a coalition government. Like in all . . .
ROBERTS: Yes, but there's been no indication that they want to get together and no indication that any of the international participants would like to get more involved, as well.
RICHARDSON: No, but, John, you use the leverage of our withdrawal and then you engage in diplomacy to get the three groups together. To almost force a coalition government. And all-Muslim peacekeeping force. Get Iran and Syria in there.
So my point is that all these other candidates are still talking about, even though we've had 160,000 troops, they're still ready to leave 50,000 troops behind. I don't. I move them out and I deploy them around the region for contingencies, into Afghanistan. So there is a difference in our approach. And I believe I got that out in the debate last night and some of your poll tested video groups have been good. In Nevada, I apparently -- a lot of the voters felt I did that.
ROBERTS: Well, what about New Hampshire. You're in number three now. Mostly as a factor of John Edwards slipping. But you've become a contender in New Hampshire now. Can you convert that into a nomination?
RICHARDSON: Well, yes. If you do well in Iowa, if you do well in New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina (ph), you're off, you rocket into the next series of primaries, which is February 5th, which is a bunch of primaries. And I believe that this debate will allow me to continue that forward momentum into the fall, into the winter.
So I was very pleased with my performance. I wish I had gotten a little more time. But the best part was that ordinary people are asking the questions and anchors are not. No offense, John. I would have loved to have you.
ROBERTS: Governor Richardson, thanks very much. Always appreciate you getting up early. You are the only person who will do it.
RICHARDSON: Thank you.
ROBERTS: It's always good to see you here at 6:15. Thanks.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, thanks, John.
Well, Madeleine McCann was last seen two months ago. The little four-year-old disappeared. Her parents launched a vigorous campaign to try to find her. Her father is going to be joining us live on AMERICAN MORNING with the latest on the investigation into her disappearance and also how her high-profile case may be able to help other missing children. That's when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, last night's debate was the first of its kind because you, the viewers, got the ask the questions. So now we're looking for you to do the post show wrap-up as well. CNN's Jacki Schechner has been monitoring our iReports. People giving you reaction to the debate last night.
What did they think about the first ever YouTube debate?
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The reaction has been really positive, Kiran. Good morning. We've actually had iReports streaming in overnight. And when I say streaming, they had been nonstop. But the format, people were pretty happy with. Let's take a listen to how they thought the candidates do. IReporter Jason Autry (ph) from Greenville, South Carolina, is our first one. We're going to follow that up with Brad McQueen (ph) from Austin, Texas. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON AUTRY: I think that the person that I'm leaning towards right now would be Clinton. She seems to be the most honest, the most up front and the most frank. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHECHNER: The second one comes from, again, Brad McQueen from Austin, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD MCQUEEN: Regarding the debates tonight, I really thought that John Edwards really stood out. I didn't really think about him as a contender until tonight. Hillary Clinton did great. Barack Obama, he looked really inexperienced.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHECHNER: Well, there you go, Kiran. We have a pretty mixed bag. But I will say, just scouring the blogs last night and then taking a look at some of the iReports that have come in, Clinton did particularly well and a lot of people thought very favorably of John Edwards.
CHETRY: Yes, apparently in the dial testing as well, he did really well, even with the universal health care comments that he made.
Were there any people that were disappointed because we had so many submissions and in the end they had to be whittled down to about 39 or 40?
SCHECHNER: I think people pretty much understood that there weren't going to be 3,000 questions in the time allotted. But we do have another iReport, take a listen. Somebody who was a little more critical of our format.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel that the next time you have this sort of debate, you allow every candidate to respond to the people's questions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHECHNER: Now, Kiran, she obviously wanted everyone to respond to every question, which, again, would have taken up on a tremendous amount of time. We checked in last night with the Dodd clock, Senator Chris Dodd brought this back by popular demand, to find out how much they say each candidate got and how much Anderson Cooper spoke. Senator Barack Obama came out on top with a little over 15 minutes. But it was pretty even across the board as far as the top tier candidates were concerned. Of course, the second-tier candidates came in with a little less time -- Kiran. CHETRY: Yes. It was also interesting because -- because the first question was actually addressed towards Senator Dodd, and you didn't hear from John Edwards for the first 13 minutes of the debate. But it all evened out in the end.
It was just -- it really was interesting to see how the candidates responded. I'm sure they're used to fielding fly balls every now and then, but who knew you would have to answer a question from a snowman?
SCHECHNER: You can't have prepare for that one -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right.
Jacki Schechner keeping an eye on the blogs for us, I-Reports, viewer reaction.
Thank you. And thanks for showing people how to do it, in fact, because thanks to Jacki, I think a lot more people got their questions on YouTube.
Also, the candidates came up with their own YouTube-style videos. The one by John Edwards may have won the popularity poll. It was poking fun at the attention paid to his pricey haircuts at the expense of some of the more serious issues. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Give me a head with hair, long, beautiful hair, shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen. Give me down to there hair...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, we're going to have more on that and show you a little more of it when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: A shot of sunrise over Charleston, South Carolina. Our thanks to our friends at WCSC here in Charleston for that shot. Seventy-six degrees right now, and it's going to be pretty muggy here today, up to a high of 88, a little bit of cloud, a little bit of sunshine.
It's going to be one of those lazy, hot summer days here in the South.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Tuesday, the 24th of July, post-YouTube debate day.
I'm John Roberts. Welcome back.
CHETRY: Hi. And I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.
Also, new this morning, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledging more funds to tackle some of Britain's worst flooding in nearly 60 years. Rivers are still rising today. Some are on the verge of bursting their banks. Entire towns are under water. Hundreds of thousands of people have no drinking water.
But there is a bit of good news this morning. Efforts to save this power substation have apparently been successful. That station serves some 500,000 people.
The U.S. and Iran holding ambassador-level talks right now in Baghdad. Envoys are getting together to discuss the deteriorating security situation.
These are some new pictures in to CNN of the high-level talks taking place in the heavily-fortified Green Zone.
An Iraqi official who was in the room tells The Associated Press that there was a heated exchange as the U.S. accused Iran of supplying weapons to militants and stirring sectarian violence there. Iran denied the charges, and they went on to try to blame the United States for all of the bloodshed.
President Bush heads to Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina today, where he'll be talking about his Iraq war strategy. The White House says the president will tell American service members that the surge plan is making progress and needs more time. He's also expected to talk about the link between al Qaeda and Al Qaeda in Iraq. President Bush has been criticized for calling Iraq the central front in the war on terror.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez says that foreigners who criticize him will be deported. He's promised to pay close attention to statements made by those visiting Venezuela. The decision came after the head of Mexico's ruling conservative party criticized Chavez' role during a recent pro-democracy forum in Caracas -- John.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Kiran.
Here in South Carolina this morning, the Monday morning quarterbacking -- actually, Tuesday morning quarterbacking is already under way. Analysts and voters are picking apart the Democrats and their answers at last night's debate.
A lot of people are also talking about the format, how YouTube allowed everyday people to question the candidates as the country watched. It's already being called town hall politics in the 21st century, and the candidates seemed to like it.
We caught up with Barack Obama last night back stage. Take a listen to what he had to say about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I thought it turned out really well. And I thought it just goes to show you that our citizens are engaged in this process like never before, and I think the Internet is really giving them the tools to get more involved in the process.
ROBERTS: What did you think of the quality of the questions, the breadth, the depth?
OBAMA: The questions were terrific. In some cases, they were better than the answers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: There you go.
Well, joining me now is Amy Schatz, reporter and blogger for "The Wall Street Journal".
This was a relatively new idea for all of these candidates. Some of them have used YouTube. They all know about it. Their campaigns tend to embrace it. But it really was revolutionary in terms of debates.
How do you think these candidates responded to the challenge?
AMY SCHATZ, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": You know, they responded in a variety of ways. I mean, everybody certainly tried to answer the questions. I mean, you know, these guys are pretty accustomed to answering questions from normal people, but I think certainly there's no doubt that they were somewhat caught off guard by the questions that were asked.
They had no idea going in what they were going to be asked. I mean, clearly, there were going to be questions on the Iraq war, health care, education, but there's an enormous number of questions, like Barack Obama getting a question about, you know, is he black enough?
ROBERTS: Right.
SCHATZ: That was a -- that was a really interesting question, and he offered a really interesting answer.
ROBERTS: And it's a question that people have been asking -- people in the African-American community have been asking. But it's a question that a mainstream journalist probably would never dare to ask in a debate like this.
SCHATZ: Yes.
ROBERTS: You know who really impressed me? Was Hillary Clinton, because on the fly, she obviously had either a photographic memory or she had her pen going very quickly and very subtly on the table, because she had the names down of all of the questioners. And there was one particular run of questions on health care, and she rattled off the top of her head the names of every person who asked a question in that montage.
SCHATZ: Yes, she was working really hard with that pen, as were all of them. After she did that a few times, they were all sort of answering the questioners by name on these videos. So, you know, there was a lot of that, trying to appeal personally to these people.
ROBERTS: Pretty interesting.
We'll come back, we'll talk more about this.
SCHATZ: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Amy Schatz from "The Wall Street Journal".
Thanks -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Some "Quick Hits" now.
Smoke-free Illinois. That will be the future. The governor signed a law Monday that will ban smoking statewide in Illinois in all public places, and that includes bars, restaurants, as well as workplaces. It will go into effect the 1st of January.
There's some new technology and safety standards that might be making our roads safer. There are new numbers though that show they're still deadly.
The traffic fatality rate last year was the lowest ever recorded, though. There were nearly 1,000 fewer deaths when compared to 2005.
Injuries also declined about 6 percent. Forty-two thousand people still died, though, and that's roughly 75 percent of the number killed in the Vietnam War, if you're making a comparison.
The father of missing 4-year-old Madeleine McCann is in the United States. He's touring the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, hoping that his daughter's high-profile case may help other missing children's cases.
Gerry McCann is going to be joining us live, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Forty-two minutes now after the hour..
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: The search for Madeleine McCann has captured worldwide attention. The 4-year-old British girl disappeared on May 3rd during a family vacation in Portugal. She was snatched from her hotel room in the middle of the night while her parents were having dinner 50 to 100 yards away.
Madeleine's father Gerry is in the U.S. He met with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales yesterday to discuss efforts to tackle child abduction.
And Gerry McCann joins me live this morning from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia.
Gerry, thanks for being with us this morning.
GERRY MCCANN, FATHER OF MADELEINE MCCANN: Good morning.
CHETRY: First, let me just say that my heart goes out to you. I know everyone who has been following this case, it's -- anyone who is a parent, anyone who loves children can just understand how heartbreaking this must be for you. So, first, let me just say that we are sorry for what's happened to Madeleine.
MCCANN: Thank you. Thank you very much. It has been very difficult.
CHETRY: Can you update us on any progress in the investigation into your little girl's disappearance?
MCCANN: Well, the investigation is still very active 82 days after she was abducted, but very disappointing news. You know, we still don't know where Madeleine is, and clearly that's the only thing that will bring happiness back to our family, is the day we get her back. But the police are still working very hard and following quite a lot of information that is coming in.
CHETRY: I understand they're questioning this suspect for a third time, somebody by the name of Robert Murat. Do you think that they're doing enough to try and get answers out of people?
MCCANN: You know, the Portuguese police are working very hard. And I can't comment too much about any individuals, but, you know, they want to solve this and are putting a tremendous amount of effort and long hours, and have had quite a bit of help also in tactical aspects from the U.K. police and others.
CHETRY: You're in the United States, you're meeting with some of the top child protection officials, even Alberto Gonzales, our attorney general.
What are you hoping to learn or accomplish by your trip here to the United States?
MCCANN: Well, I think the national center here is regarded as the leading center in missing and exploited children, and particularly what we're interested in, relation to child abduction. So we're really here to land on a fact-finding mission.
It was absolutely fantastic that Attorney General Gonzales took time to see us yesterday. And clearly, he's made child welfare and child protection a major issue. And I (INAUDIBLE) to learn from how things are done here in the United States.
CHETRY: You know, it is commendable that in a time of personal tragedy, as you're dealing with the disappearance of your own daughter, you're also working to try to raise attention and awareness in Europe for missing children.
MCCANN: I think that's absolutely right. I think the scale of the problem is much greater than we ever imagined. And we are clearly interested in raising -- or keeping the profile of our daughter Madeleine's disappearance, but raising the wider issues and about other missing children. And there's been clear benefit to that for some other missing children -- who have had renewed interests in their own cases, as well.
But there has been a huge amount of public goodwill and support. And the general public don't want these sorts of crimes and the perpetrators to go unpunished. And I hope that we can channel that huge amount of public goodwill into making some tangible, long-lasting benefits for all children.
CHETRY: Gerry, is there any truth to this article that was in Britain's "Daily Mail" that you and your wife could face a child endangerment probe because of the circumstances surrounding Madeleine's disappearance?
MCCANN: That certainly was news to us, and we've been assured that the authorities have considered that what we did was well within the bounds of responsible parenting. And, you know, what we want to keep the focus on is, you know, Madeleine was targeted by a predator...
CHETRY: Right.
MCCANN: ... and she was taken out of her bed while she was sleeping, and that, you know, we shouldn't have to be worrying about people getting into your homes or your gardens or your playgrounds, for that matter, and abducting children. That's the real criminal act here.
CHETRY: Yes, absolutely. There's no doubt about that.
Well, our thoughts and prayers are certainly with you and your family, and we hope that Madeleine is found safe and sound.
Thanks for being with us, Gerry McCann.
MCCANN: Yes. Thank you very much.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: Kiran, thanks.
A bionic hands tops our "Quick Hits" now.
A sergeant injured in Iraq has become one of the first to sport what is being called the i-LIMB. And his fingers and joints all working together just like a normal hand. It is controlled by a tiny computer chip that translates electrical signals made by nerves in the arms.
And as if a hand wasn't good enough, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have unveiled the first robotic ankle for amputees. The prosthesis actually provides power for walking. They're also studying ways to attach this device directly to the amputee's bone for a more comfortable fit, as opposed to just slipping it over the end of a stump.
New ground was broken at last night's YouTube debate. For the very first time, the candidates faced the people over the Internet.
Up next, which candidates handled the new format well and who didn't do so well, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The Internet is now a major force in national politics. We got a true sense of it in last night's YouTube debate.
James Kotecki has advised a couple of presidential candidates on how to use the Internet, specifically YouTube, in their campaigns. He joins us now.
And Kiran's also joining us from New York.
Let me ask you, first of all, James, do you think that the world shifted on its axis last night, or was this just an interesting little side note in the presidential debate?
JAMES KOTECKI, INTERNET MEDIA STRATEGIST: I think this was definitely the most interesting debate I had ever seen, the best debate I had ever seen. We had more interesting questions, much more emotionally compelling questions that we had never seen before. And the best part is that this debate was simply a catalyst for a larger conversation that was happening on YouTube long before the debate, and will happen long after the debate was over last night.
ROBERTS: Right -- Kiran.
CHETRY: James, it's also interesting how, you know, the candidates were able to sort of embrace YouTube and how YouTube works. Let's listen -- all of the candidates were asked to do a 30-second YouTube-style video. Let's look at some of John Edwards' right now, and I'd like to get your thoughts on it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Give me a head with hair, long, beautiful hair, shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen. Give me down to there hair, shoulder length or longer. Here, baby, there, mama...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. So he has this song playing. Of course, he was criticized for the $400 haircut. And at the very end, he asks a question, after showing a lot of video of tragedies, like Hurricane Katrina, "What really masters?"
How do you think he did in terms of embracing the whole YouTube phenomenon?
KOTECKI: Well, you know, I think he has done pretty well. They certainly embrace the Internet a lot in his campaign. But there was actually a great moment last night when a reverend asked him a question about gay marriage via one of the video questions.
John Edwards responded, and then that reverend was actually sitting in the audience. So they went to him for a follow-up, to say, did you think John Edwards actually answered the question? He said, "No, I don't think he answered the question," and I think that was a very important moment in the debate, because when the citizens can not only ask the question, but they can ask the follow-up questions, we take control. We have the power in this debate, and people can get excited about having control over our democracy once again.
ROBERTS: There's also a great element of surprise...
KOTECKI: Right.
ROBERTS: ... when you don't know who it is that's going to show up in the audience.
KOTECKI: Right.
ROBERTS: And the candidates are always a little bit on edge wondering who it's going to be.
Do you think that last night moved the bar in terms of the Internet's role and YouTube's role, specifically, in presidential politics?
KOTECKI: I think the bar has already been moving throughout this entire campaign season. And I think this is just another indicator of that.
I think we're going to see more and more candidates engaging on YouTube, talking directly to people. And hopefully they learn from this experience, that YouTube is a very powerful political force and they should just engage directly to people who want answers on that medium.
CHETRY: You know, one of the other interesting things that you talked about, James, was how few of the candidates actually responded directly to the people who were asking the questions in the videos, instead responding to Anderson as the moderator.
KOTECKI: Right. Yes, the only three candidates that I could -- that I noted that actually responded directly by name to the people in the videos were Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich. And I was surprised, Hillary Clinton.
She was actually very good about responding to the people who asked questions by name. And I think that made her stand out among the other candidates as somebody who understood what we were doing here, is we were responding to real people, not just responding to a moderator anymore.
ROBERTS: So, James, real quick, who do you think won last night?
KOTECKI: Clinton most surpassed my expectations.
ROBERTS: All right.
James Kotecki, thanks very much. Good to see you again. Take care.
KOTECKI: My pleasure.
ROBERTS: Good luck as you continue to counsel these presidential candidates on how to use the Internet.
KOTECKI: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, the giant robots of "Transformers" may already be preparing to transform the box office once again. So how sure is a sequel?
We're "Minding Your Business" up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We're two minutes before the top of the hour right now. Ali Velshi -- or should I say Optimus Prime -- is "Minding Your Business" right now.
I'm not even going to ask.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Take me to your -- wait, I've got to press a little button here.
Take me to your leader.
CHETRY: I just have to say that I saw Ali when I was getting a cup of coffee in the kitchen, and you scared me.
VELSHI: I know. I really -- I'm very sorry for frightening you. I -- I didn't mean to startle you like that. It's just my new look. Optimus Prime.
CHETRY: There is a reason why you have this on.
VELSHI: Yes. I really thought this was fun. And I apologize. I really -- good thing you didn't have coffee in your hand.
But Optimus Prime is the character obviously from "The Transformers".
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: Very successful character. And "The Transformers" movie came out about three weeks ago. It's done wonders for Hasbro.
Hasbro is the toy -- second biggest toy company in the country. It didn't finance the movie, but it has benefited so much from these movie-related sales that there's talk that it might be involved in a follow-up transformer movie.
And for the back-to-school season -- I can't believe we're already talking about back to school -- they're thinking about bedding and clothing and things for kids.
But I should warn you, if you have the reaction that Kiran had to this, I felt terrible.
CHETRY: I really screamed.
VELSHI: You really -- yes.
CHETRY: I've always been afraid of the Transformers, even when I was little. It was a popular TV show.
VELSHI: I'm glad it was while you were on a break.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: Because you really did scream.
Now, you know, Hasbro, by the way, has done well from Spider-Man and NERF and all sorts of things like that. But last week, they had their second recall of Easy-Bake Ovens.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: The second one in a year. They recalled almost a million of them now. They've recalled almost a million in February with problems of people getting their fingers stuck in them and burning them.
So hopefully they will be able to work that out, because nobody wants that happening. But this is where they are putting their success.
CHETRY: All right. Thank you, Optimus. I appreciate it.
Would you like to do the honors?
Go ahead.
VELSHI: Oh, is it the end of the hour?
CHETRY: Yes. Go ahead.
VELSHI: All right.
Wait, is it on?
CHETRY: Let me turn it on.
VELSHI: Oh, you've got to turn it on first.
CHETRY: All right. It's on.
VELSHI: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
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