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American Morning
Southern California Wildfires; Classes Canceled at Pepperdine University Due to Fire; Baby Jaguar Named at Brevard Zoo
Aired October 22, 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): Breaking news. Extreme weather.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It came so fast, there was no stopping it.
ROBERTS: Hurricane-forced hot air drives wildfires in southern California.
Winter comes to Colorado's front range. And the South fights for water. Are there any drought solutions in sight?
Plus, endangered species. It's a girl and she needs a name.
Find out what you decided to call this adorable jaguar cub on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And good morning to you. Welcome back. Thanks very much for joining us on this Monday, the 22nd of October.
I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
And we are covering breaking news this morning out of southern California, and that is the fight against these devastating wildfires that have continued to pick up steam overnight and are still raging out of control right now. No one immune.
Well-known celebrities, average American families all in the line of fire. Flames are now within San Diego city limits. Ten thousand people around Ramona, just northeast of San Diego, as well as thousands of others in neighboring communities, have been told to leave their homes.
Seven more fires were burning in the ritzy Malibu area. These are live pictures coming to us from Malibu from KABC. Another there's another fire burning in Angeles National Forest, north of L.A.
At least one person was killed due to these wildfires and more than a dozen others hurt. Several homes, landmarks and a church burned to the ground in Malibu. Crews say that the fire may have started when power lines were blown down by the powerful Santa Ana winds. Right now, the concern is that those winds could send embers flying, and that would trigger flames even a mile or two away, wherever those sparks land -- John.
ROBERTS: On the fire lines and tracking this severe weather this morning, our Kara Finnstrom is live near Escondido, California, with new evacuations under way. Chris Lawrence standing by in Malibu, where expensive homes even some castles are burning to the ground. And Rob Marciano at our Weather Update Desk for us this morning as those dry Santa Ana winds fan the flames.
First, let's go to Kara Finnstrom, live near Escondido.
You're really feeling the effects of the wind there this morning, Kara. How bad is it looking today?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this wind has actually knocked us off our feet a couple of times. We understand that the main part of this fire is now approaching, and the winds have really picked up.
What you see behind us is part of the Witch Creek Fire. This was really lighting up this mountain side just about an hour ago. That part has died down, but we have been watching fire truck after fire truck pass us.
And just across the street from us -- and we're getting a strong wind gust now. Hopefully you can still hear us. But just across the street from us is the San Diego Wildlife Animal Park, and they -- security guards for that...
ROBERTS: Yes, unfortunately having some problems with the signal there with Kara Finnstrom in Escondido. That is a sign of how fiercely that wind is blowing this morning, because it actually blew the satellite dish on her live truck to the point where it lost its contact with the satellite.
We'll try to get that back and get back to Kara Finnstrom, because a very important story there in San Diego.
All it took was a few sparks to take a real-life setting for a fairytale and turn it into a nightmare. Firefighters say burning embers ignited the famous Kashan Castle in the Malibu Hills. It burned to the ground, along with several homes and a church.
Chris Lawrence live in Malibu, where crews are at the mercy of the Santa Ana winds this morning.
Chris, how is it looking where you are? We saw how it was where Kara was this morning.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, it's -- you know, I can definitely understand what the crew there in San Diego is going through, because here it will be calm one second, and all of a sudden, just like that, these gusts start kicking up. And that's going to make it very difficult, if not impossible, for some of the fire crews to really get a handle on what's -- on some of the fire later today. Take a look behind me. You can see what this fire did here.
This was a church, sanctuary, a daycare center. All of it just completely burned to the ground. And the problem with this fire was you had embers being blown a half-mile, three-quarters of a mile away by those 60-mile-per-hour gusts. Small firestorms just bursting out all over the place.
The fire jumped the Pacific Coast Highway, gave firefighters just a ton of problems because of that strong wind and those embers that could just send the fire in any direction possible. And no one was immune from this. This church, five homes burned.
Several celebrities live in the area. Director James Cameron, his home is evacuated. Singer Olivia Newton-John's home was evacuated. And Nashville singer Tanya Tucker, her home also evacuated. Her teenage daughter had to run out of the house with their dogs while their mom was performing in Las Vegas -- John.
ROBERTS: Are firefighters even anywhere near getting this thing under control, Chris?
LAWRENCE: Not right now, no. I mean, you know, when you've got gusts like this, there's just no way.
I mean, even with all their expertise and all the -- you know, the resources that are going to be brought to bear when the sun comes up, when this wind kicks up like this and you're talking about these huge embers, it only takes one. This ground is so dry. We're in the driest year on record here in California.
So, one ember starts another fire. So, there in one place, they have, you know, 100, 200 yards away, a half-mile away, there's another fire that sparks up. Just incredibly difficult situation to deal with.
ROBERTS: Chris Lawrence for us this morning in Malibu, California.
When can crews expect to get a break from the Santa Ana winds? Our Rob Marciano at our Weather Update Desk this morning tracking the extreme weather.
And Rob, we look at the coverage this morning and it looks like we're covering a hurricane, with signals dropping out, correspondents getting blown around.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, at this point, hurricane- force wind gusts are not completely out of the question. Now, this is the time of day when these Santa Ana winds typically kick up. They'll fire up now through about lunchtime and then diminish somewhat late afternoon and evening, and then the cycle repeats itself.
So here's where the winds are coming from, and the advisories that we have out at this hour. They continue to blow out of the northeast. And that is a dry that is a down-sloping, a compression wind which heats up as they sinks down into the valley. So, high-wind warnings are posted not only through today, but through tomorrow afternoon as well.
And these are some of the observations over the last hour. Anywhere from 17 to 40 miles an hour sustained winds. These are not wind gusts, these are sustained winds over the last hour. So you get an idea just how intense the situation is.
What can we expect over today and the next couple of days? Critical fire danger for a good chunk of southern California, including Los Angeles, Malibu and some of the mountains around there. Extreme fire danger expected with relative humidity values at the height of the day 4 to 8 percent. Winds 30 to 50 miles an hour, gusting at times to 75 miles an hour.
And the situation will likely be the same tomorrow. I do see a bit of a change in the weather pattern, John, but likely not until the end of the week. So a good chunk of this week, at least through tomorrow, maybe through Wednesday, we'll see dangerous fire conditions.
Back up to you.
ROBERTS: A lot of work for firefighters ahead this week.
Rob Marciano for us.
Rob, thanks. We'll check back with you soon -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, we're following a developing and quite disturbing story out of Bahrain. Two U.S. Navy sailors are dead, a third critically wounded, after a shooting on a U.S. military base in Bahrain.
The Associated Press is reporting that a male sailor allegedly shot and killed two female sailors in the barracks of that base in Bahrain. That's according to a Navy official.
That alleged shooter was also critically wounded. The official did not say if the alleged shooter shot himself or if anyone else was involved. The Navy did say the shooting was not terror-related and only involved U.S. Military personnel.
Well, bare-knuckle politics at last night's debate in Orlando. Eight Republican presidential hopefuls attacking one another on who has got the best conservative credentials. They did save some of their best shots, though, for Hillary Clinton, clearly the candidate that they think is the one to beat if they want to win the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She hasn't run a corner store. She hasn't run a state. She hasn't run a city. She has never run anything, and the idea that she could learn to be president, you know, as an internship doesn't make any sense. RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a million ideas. America cannot afford them all.
No kidding, Hillary. America can't afford you.
JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Clinton tried to spend $1 million on the Woodstock Concert Museum. Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So, that's where they could agree, that Hillary should not be president. Well, McCain was referring to the fact that he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam back in 1969.
And we want to know what you think. The Republicans seem to believe that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee for president. So, do you?
Cast your votes, CNN.com/am. Right now, 63 percent say yes, 37 percent say no. We'll continue to update the votes throughout the morning.
And they're making history in Louisiana as Governor-Elect Bobby Jindal becomes the youngest at 36 and the first Indian-American governor in the country's history. He says he'll use a congratulatory call from President Bush as a chance to schedule a meeting to talk about hurricane recovery issues. Jindal said his parents came to the United States in pursuit of the American dream and they "found it right here in Louisiana."
John.
ROBERTS: Concern this morning about the space shuttle Discovery. A day before its scheduled launch tomorrow, engineers have spotted possible hairline cracks in some of Discovery's wing panels. Discovery is to deliver a new hatch module to the International Space Station.
Fewer eyes watching the skies. The FAA says nearly 830 air traffic controllers retired last year. Nearly a third more than the agency predicted.
The union blames unpopular rules imposed by the Bush administration, including staff cuts and a new dress code. It's also warning of safety risks with overworked controllers and undermanned transportation hubs, but the feds say there's not a problem.
And Red Sox nation in a state of euphoria today. The Red Sox clinched the AL pennant in their second trip to the World Series in four years with an 11-2 drubbing of the Cleveland Indians in game seven.
They had to dig themselves out of a 3-1 series hole to get there. Pitcher Josh Beckett was named the series MVP. He's going to start game one at Fenway. That will be Wednesday against the National League champion, Colorado Rockies, who have had a couple of weeks off now to get ready for that -- Kiran.
CHETRY: What do they start bringing goggles into the locker room, anticipating they're going to get doused with champagne? They want to be prepared?
ROBERTS: Good idea. That stuff stings.
CHETRY: Good stuff.
Well, it's a big day for a little jaguar. For the past four months, she's simply been known as "Baby". There she is. Well, today, you can help change that.
The Brevard Zoo in Florida conducting an online contest to find a fitting name. The choices -- Maya, Nindiri, Belleza, Beli and Mayala. You can vote at brevardzoo.org. The zookeeper's actually going to be here live a little bit later on AMERICAN MORNING to announce the winning name.
Well, it's the worst drought in north Georgia's history, according to Governor Sonny Perdue. And he's now declared a state of emergency for more than half of the counties in the state. Perdue wants to limit the water coming out of Lake Lanier, which also supplies parts of Florida, as well as Alabama. And without rain, the lake will run completely dry in less than three months.
Well, we have some breaking news this morning. Deadly wildfires ripping across southern California. And it was a really close call for some students at Pepperdine University.
These are I-Reports coming in from students, the view from their campus as those flames closed in. We're going to be talking live with some students who got quite a scare, coming up.
It's also our ballot jackpot. Our Republican and Democratic strategists do not know what we're going to ask them. We've got a lot of great topics -- Schwarzenegger's plea, what he is saying to the GOP contenders for presidents about what he thinks they need to do.
ROBERTS: Telling them to move more toward the center here.
Huckabee rising. This is after the value voters convention over the weekend where he was number two in the overall vote behind Mitt Romney. But for the people who were there, delegates who were there at that actual conference, landslide, 5-1 -- 5-1.
CHETRY: Oh, yes, the favorite son, for sure. So does that help? Does this give him a little bit more sway? Can he pop up to the first tier? We'll talk about it.
Also, hating Hillary. Boy, you would think that the last GOP debate was more about Hillary Clinton than anything else. So we're going to talk about whether or not that's playing well and helping the candidates out. ROBERTS: And we talked about this just a couple of minutes ago -- broken barrier. Bobby Jindal, 36 years old, the first Indian- American to become governor of a state in Louisiana. What does that mean for the future of the Republican Party and for the future of Indian-Americans in this country, and maybe our relations with India as well.
We'll see. All that coming up.
CHETRY: That's right.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: All right. Here are some live pictures -- well, it looks like darkness right now, but we're going to see some flames quite soon.
I think this might be -- there you go. This is from KTLA. We of course have been following all morning the wildfire situation there. And only getting worse because of those winds.
We'll have much more on that coming up a little later.
Meantime, Bill Maher gets politically incorrect with a rowdy protester during his TV show. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
BILL MAHER, "REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER": Hey, do we have some (EXPLETIVE DELETED) security in this building, or do I have to come over and kick this guy's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of here?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There you go. Of course, you're allowed to say those words on HBO. It was all captured on live TV.
The guy had smuggled in a 9/11 (ph) as a cover-up sign. Well, Bill Maher helped push him out the door. He also threatened to kick out another woman who called him a coward.
ROBERTS: The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat after a would-be thief takes the bait and tries to steal a car. Police outside of Seattle set up a camera in the dashboard in a Honda Civic. It was a bait car with the keys conveniently left on the seat. You can see that guy give a fist pump there in celebration before he takes off, but the look on his face changed drastically when police say a bullet grazed his head after they tried to chase this guy down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there. You can actually see the bullet bounce off the windshield. He's been grazed. Obviously aware now that things are gone horribly wrong. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Yes, horribly wrong, indeed.
Police say they opened fire after he tried to run down three officers on a motorcycle. He did renew the chase. Eventually surrendered, though, after police shut the car down, sobbing, with his hands up. Now facing theft and assault charges.
Well, back to California now and the breaking news that we're following there. Raging wildfires causing a state of emergency across the south land. Thousands of people have been evacuated.
One of the areas threatened, Pepperdine University. This is an I-Report that we received showing the glow of the fire right next to the campus. Classes canceled there today.
Nathan Rix and Mika Gelcastas (ph) are Pepperdine students. They join us this morning from Malibu.
Folks, thanks very much for being with us.
We see that the wind has picked up there quite a bit. What's it like there today, and particularly at your college?
NATHAN RIX, STUDENT AT PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY: Well, it's been quite an -- quite an evening. The winds probably, I don't know, at least 30 to 40 miles an hour, maybe more, with gusts up to 100. It's been quite an evening. The campus has gotten pretty calm after a while, but yesterday it was quite a scene.
ROBERTS: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most definitely. I was...
ROBERTS: Go ahead, Mika (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry about that.
ROBERTS: Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, we were just woken up at 6:40 in the morning yesterday, and everything is calm now. But it was hard getting to sleep last night with the smoke in the air and everything.
ROBERTS: I'll bet.
You know, Nathan, you sent us some I-Report photos of what it was like there yesterday. As we take a look at some of these photos -- I know that you can't see them -- from memory, can you describe what you saw when you were taking these pictures? Because they're pretty spectacular.
RIX: Well, immediately after I left my residence hall, I went out and I saw just huge billows of smoke just rising over the ridge, over by the faculty condominiums. And, I mean, there's magnificent, just orange and yellow flames. And it was pretty scary at first, but I remember that from our safety meetings, that Pepperdine was actually designed to divert some of the flames and the fires itself.
So, we knew that everything was going to be all right. But initially it was pretty scary to be scratching your eyes and waking up and seeing that kind of thing.
ROBERTS: Oh, I bet.
You know, despite the fact that, as you said, Pepperdine was designed to kind of divert flames, with there being fire breaks built in to the design of the college, they did so evacuation there yesterday.
Mika (ph), did you want to describe that for us? What was the evacuation process? Where were students taken to?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure. As I said, I was woken up at 6"40 by the (INAUDIBLE) and my roommates and I were just surprised this was happening. So, as we went out to the cafeteria, we proceeded, and everyone was congregating a little bit, little by little.
And we all went to the cafeteria, and just as Nathan had mentioned, just billows of smoke everywhere. The sun was rising and it rose red. And kind of a scary thought. But Pepperdine did a great job of just calming everyone down.
They fed us breakfast as everyone filled up the cafeteria. And we were contained for a while. We were able to go back to the dorms for a little bit, and then we remained contained until 3:00.
ROBERTS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But as I said, Pepperdine did a great job. They had a worship service at 11:00, fed us lunch at noon, and everyone was just -- the administration did a really great job of calming everyone down.
ROBERTS: It's good that they took care of everybody.
And Nathan, briefly, what's the plan for today?
RIX: Well, the plan for today is just to stay on alert. Some of the flames are still roaring a few ridges over. So, we're really just waiting now., and hopefully the wind doesn't turn back in our direction. But we're going to be on high alert.
There are going to be emergency vehicles on campus all day long. And so we're just going to wait it out.
ROBERTS: All right.
Nathan Rix and Mika Gelcastas (ph), both of them seniors at Pepperdine University.
Thanks for joining us this morning to talk about your ordeal there. Thanks for getting up early. It's good to see you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure. Thank you.
RIX: Sure.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead, a baby jaguar gets a name. It's happening live on our show.
Actually, there's a live picture. Look it. She's so adorable.
Four months old now. Goes by "Baby". Not for long, though, because we are going to tell you.
They voted online all for a very long time. It's actually still going on if you want to go to brevardzoo.org and quickly get your -- get your vote in there. We're going to tell you what her new name is going to be.
Isn't she adorable?
It's happening next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
There she is. Whoa, her mom just pounced fast. See how fast they are, those jaguars?
It's a big day for an endangered jaguar cub at the Brevard Zoo in Florida. She's out playing with her mom, as we see. Her mom, by the way, is named Masaya.
ROBERTS: Now, for almost four months, though, the baby has simply gone by the name "Baby". Today, though, she's finally getting a name. It will be announced right here on AMERICAN MORNING thanks to everybody who voted online with the Brevard Zoo up there in Melbourne.
April Winters is a zookeeper for the Brevard Zoo. She joins us this morning.
April, the cub was born back on June the 27th. It took a long time for you to determine the sex of the animal, because I guess apparently you're not supposed to handle them while they're extremely young.
Why did you decide to let the public pick the name for this animal?
APRIL WINTERS, BREVARD ZOO ZOOKEEPER: Oh, well that's easy. We were a community-built zoo. And we just wanted to keep the community involved.
CHETRY: And, boy, a lot of people responded. So we are going to find out in just a couple of seconds. But first, we're going to ask you a couple of things about these jaguars.
They're an endangered species, and your zoo had really wanted to breed them for years. Why is it such a difficult process to get more of these endangered animals out there?
WINTERS: There's just not that many in the zoos. There's only about 100. And there's only 15 breeding pairs out of the 100. So -- and this birth is only the second birth so far this year.
ROBERTS: Right. And what about the care and upbringing of these animals? I know that there has to be a minimum of human interaction because these are such fierce, natural predators. Do you leave most of the rearing to the mom, or do you folks take a hand in it?
WINTERS: Well, she's definitely done all the rearing, but we've -- you know, we work with all three cats every day. And we're at the point where we hand-feed the baby, and she's already starting to learn behavior. She goes on to a scale so we can weigh her and she follows a target.
We use positive reinforcement to train her. And she's done great.
ROBERTS: Well, she sure is cute, and she seems to have no hesitation in smacking mom upside the head either with those great little big jaguar paws of hers.
CHETRY: She is adorable.
Well, let's get down to business. The votes have been tallied. The choices were Maya, Nindiri, Belleza, Beli and Malaya.
And now the winning name can be revealed. This will be the first time we know what that adorable little jaguar is going to be named.
It is Nindiri. Tell us about that name, April.
WINTERS: OK. Well, by boss researched it and came up with it. So he will be very happy.
In Nicaragua, there's a very large active volcano called Masaya, which is where the mother got her name. And there are several eruptive cones within that volcano, and one of them was Nindiri. So, Nindiri is part of Masaya.
CHETRY: So, it works out?
ROBERTS: So you've got the big mama volcano and the little baby volcano right there in the middle.
WINTERS: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Well, that's great.
CHETRY: Well, that's great.
WINTERS: Exactly.
CHETRY: A very fitting name, then. And that was the overwhelming choice. I checked the Web site out earlier today.
So thanks so much for joining us, April Winters, the zookeeper at the Brevard Zoo, and for letting us get an up-close look and our viewers get an up-close look of that adorable new baby, Nindiri.
ROBERTS: Maybe we can, you know, return back and visit with her again.
April, thanks very much. Good to see you. Congratulations.
WINTERS: Thanks. Good morning.
ROBERTS: Look at a story coming up now in our next half hour that you just can't miss. Smart cars, they have been a huge hit in Europe. They are just a little size bigger than your hip. And now coming to America as well.
CHETRY: That's right. They're rolling out next year. We had a chance to test drive one of them through the streets of New York.
We're going to talk about how many fuel miles you get to the gallon, how safe they are, and whether or not they're a practical -- a practical choice in a busy world.
We're going to talk about that when AMERICAN MORNING comes back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks for joining us on this Monday, October 22nd. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
New this morning, a disturbing incident at a military base in Bahrain where a male U.S. sailor allegedly shot and killed two female American sailors in one of the barracks overnight. The Associated Press quoting a navy official who says the alleged shooter was also critically wounded. The official did not say if that sailor shot himself or if anyone else was involved, but the Navy said the shooting was not terror related and only involved U.S. military personnel.
ROBERTS: Breaking news out of southern California this morning. A massive wildfire has now crossed into San Diego. More than a dozen others are burning right now. Thousands of homes are in danger. Brand new evacuation orders, including 10,000 people in the San Diego area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JERRY SANDERS, SAN DIEGO: This is a very quickly evolving situation. At an abundance of caution, we want San Diegans to collect important belongings and take important actions so that when evacuations are necessary, they can evacuate immediately. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The latest pictures from across southern California this morning. In the upper left corner, flames outside of San Diego burning now inside the city limits. San Diego's mayor also said police are making reverse 911 calls to inform people when they need to evacuate.
The upper right-hand corner of your screen there, one of at least seven fires tearing through Malibu. Several homes have burned to the ground and many multi-million dollar mansions also in danger today. The flames have already claimed two of Malibu's most prominent and beloved landmarks. In the lower right is the famous Castle Kashan and the lower left, Malibu Presbyterian Church, which narrowly escaped an inferno back in 1993, but was destroyed yesterday.
A fire fighting plane was spotted practically scraping the tree tops at Malibu. Take a look at those incredible pictures there. Erratic wind gusts hampered efforts to drop water from aircraft and pushed the flames overnight. About 1,400 firefighters are trying to take it on from the ground until the sun comes up. Then they should be back up there with the aircraft as well.
CHETRY: Can't take that for granted though. What a dangerous situation for them.
Also new this morning, the nation's highest honor for a man who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan. President Bush today will post-humously award the Medal of Honor to Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy. The Navy Seal gave himself up to try to save his four man team during a fierce firefight with the Taliban back in 2005. Only one of them made it out alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCUS LUTTRELL, PETTY OFFICER 2ND CLASS: He was in a horrible position. He left himself open so he could move back and forth to each individual guy. We were hurting bad. We were out of ammo. I look backed at Mikey. He took two rounds to the back and sat back up, hung up the phone. He finished the transmission, hung up the phone and then he flanked left again. That was the last time I saw him.
z (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The Long Island native's family will be accepting that medal from the commander in chief 2:15 in the White House rose garden. CNN will have that live.
Also, first lady Laura Bush is in the Middle East on a mission to raise breast cancer awareness, a topic that's rarely discussed in public in the region. She touched down in the United Arab Emeritus yesterday. She also plans to visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan. October is national breast cancer awareness month here in the U.S.
ROBERTS: Coming up now to 34 minutes after the hour and time for our Monday ballot jackpot. We stuff political hot topics in the box and pull them out at random letting our guests weigh in.
CHETRY: And who do we have today? Well, in Washington this morning, democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter and republican strategist Terry Holt. Good morning to both of you. Glad you're with us.
ROBERTS: Good to see you folks.
CHETRY: I think I went first on Friday. You go ahead.
ROBERTS: All right. Here we are.
First ballot jackpot topic, broken barrier.
Terry, do you want to take this one on? It talks about Bobby Jindal, 36-year-old, because the first Indian American governor in the United States down there in the state of Louisiana. What does this mean for the party?
TERRY HOLT, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, it's good news for a party that needs some good news on the electoral side. Louisiana was the subject of so much concern and worry and tragedy with the hurricane a couple of years ago. The state was horribly mismanaged by the democrats and I think this shows that republicans can be given a second chance at a new life and I think that for most political operatives like me, we need to hear a little bit of good news.
ROBERTS: Stephanie, the democrats have traditionally been the party of multi-culturalism. You got some competition here.
STEPHANIE CUTTER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes. Well I wouldn't read too much into this. I agree, Terry. You do need some good news these days but the fact is that Bobby Jindal has been running for this office for four years and the person he was running against was just a republican a year ago. I wouldn't read too much of this.
HOLT: But the state has been managed by the Democratic Party or rather mismanaged by the Democratic Party for a very long time.
CUTTER: And what is Bobby going to do when he gets on the phone with the president? He's going to give him a hard time about the federal government response in Katrina.
HOLT: And maybe they deserve it.
CHETRY: All right. Well, let's shake it out. Let's grab another one here.
We got Huckabee rising. This was interesting. There was a values voter that took place on Saturday. There was a straw poll done there and he came within a hair's breath; 27.6 for Mitt Romney, 27.2 for Mike Huckabee. And actually if it was just the people voting there, he would have run away with it. They were able to vote online a little earlier as well. Do we not count out Huckabee yet, a second tier candidate who really in the national polls is only at about one percent? Terry? HOLT: No, don't count him out. These people are crucial for a republican primary fight. They tend to be energetic, values voters volunteer and work on campaigns. And I would say that Mike Huckabee has slowly, but surely demonstrated a positive and energetic participation in this race. He doesn't have any money. Let's face it, you need big bucks to win one of these things, but I think the other guys that do well that look over their shoulder at Mike Huckabee.
CHETRY: All right. Let's ask Stephanie whether or not he would be a tough candidate to be up against. Because he really doesn't have many skeletons in his closet, I guess, when it comes to saying he's a conservative and being a conservative.
CUTTER: Well you know, Terry and I were just talking about this before the show. He is really the strongest candidate in this race, the most authentic. He's the one that gets the best reaction out of conservative voters and he's the best performer in each of the debates and each of these straw polls. He's always surprising. He's never disappointing. So I would definitely keep my eye on him.
ROBERTS: Maybe he's one of those dark horses, Terry. Because I remember another one from Arkansas.
HOLT: And from the same hometown.
CHETRY: That's right.
HOLT: You know I'm from that part of the country. And ultimately, you know, you have to win your neighbors over. You live close. You know each other. But you know, in this race, with all of the attacks that have been going on and we do have to demonstrate that we can beat Hillary Clinton. Let's face it. But in this race when everybody else is beating each other up, there is always room for someone who can come in and be a third way. And whether that's Thompson, McCain or Huckabee, I think it's too early to say.
ROBERTS: We'll see.
CHETRY: All right. Well, I want to thank both of you for joining us this morning, Stephanie Cutter as well as Terry Holt from D.C. this morning. Thanks.
CUTTER: Thank you.
HOLT: Thank you very much.
ROBERTS: We'll see you gain soon.
Never too early to start saving money for your future. Ahead, tips on how to invest for people in their 30s, 40s and 50s. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 20 minutes now to the top of the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning, documenting the damage and the danger in southern California.
Our I-reporters have been sending in amazing pictures from the fire lines, especially in Malibu. There's a live picture for you now. This is Canyon Country, thanks to our friends at KTLA for that live picture.
We've got amazing I-report pictures from Pepperdine University. This was taken by student Kelly Sayre. These are pictures of the canyon fire as seen from the campus as they were evacuating. Look at the orange glow of the smoke filling the sky behind that building.
Remember, if you would like to send in an I-report, just head to our website. The address is CNN.com/ireport.
Rob Marciano in the weather center in Atlanta, taking a look at just how bad the Santa Ana winds are going to be today. And Rob, we saw them gusting up to around hurricane strength yesterday. We saw in the last half hour they were sitting around 40 miles an hour. What can we expect as the sun begins to come up?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is the bad time of day right now as the overnight hours and the early morning hours. You can see we have this east-northeast flow. We have high-wind warnings that are posted not only for today, but through tomorrow until 3:00 in the afternoon. Last hour, we're seeing winds anywhere from 20 to 40 miles an hour. These are sustained winds. Those gusts could easily get 67 or 70 miles an hour. So that's certainly a concern.
When these winds switch -- I want to show you this graph. This is a bit confusing, but this is Ontario yesterday. Between five and six o'clock, temperatures went up 10 degrees and the dew point or the relative humidity in this case went from 80 percent down to 10 percent in just a few minutes when those winds changed. So it's just a dramatic change in weather out west when these Santa Ana winds kick up.
Of course the drought is a huge issue, only 2.8" of rainfall in Los Angeles. That is over 7" below where they should be, and the list goes down to Riverside, Ontario, San Diego and Ramona where those fires are happening.
Elsewhere we do have rain across parts of Texas. None of this is severe. We're getting a lot of rain across parts of Florida. Pensacola has been in a drought. They've received over 13" of rain since Thursday. Before that, they were almost two feet of rain below average. So, they're getting beneficial rain, although it's all coming in one spot.
And stop the presses here. Some rainfall in Atlanta. This won't be enough to relieve the drought. We'll take some of that rain they're getting in through Pensacola, Florida.
John, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Just to back up for a second there, Rob, those rainfall figures are from January? MARCIANO: From January 1st, just a little over 2" of rain in California and Los Angeles. I mean, they don't typically get a lot of rain, less than 20". When you've got about 10 to 20 percent of normal, I mean, that's certainly record setting. It looks like this year will break records.
ROBERTS: Incredible. Rob, thanks very much.
MARCIANO: OK.
ROBERTS: When it comes to saving for your future, it could be tough to know how much money to invest and where to invest it.
CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis has tips whether you're in your 30s, 40s or 50s.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Just how aggressive an investor should you be? That depends on your age.
DOUG FLYNN, FINANCIAL PLANNER: Typically, when you're in your 30s you want to be more aggressive. If, by nature, you are a little more conservative, that's OK. You still want to have the bulk of your money in the market for the long term. So, you just want to tweak your allocation a little bit more up in stocks if you're aggressive, a little bit less in stocks. But still as much in stocks as you can really afford to sleep at night with if the market goes down.
WILLIS: In your 40s, there's so much going on. Lots of big expenditures. You may think, boy, I really want to be conservative with my investing. Is that really the time to be conservative?
FLYNN: Not really. In your 40s, you still have probably two decades to save for retirement. Of course, if you have kids, you're planning for college and have to invest appropriately for when they're going to go to college. Typically 30s to 40s you'll take one step over, a little less in stocks. You get a little more conservative over time as you age.
WILLIS: This is it. This is the last gasp, really, to get money together for retirement. Does it pay to be conservative? Does it pay to be aggressive?
FLYNN: In your 50s, you'll be a little bit more conservative than you were in your 30s and 40s. You want to have an amount in equities for the long term. That's the way you will keep pace with inflation and have your assets grow. When you're 50, you might have 30, 40 or 50 years of investing to go. Because your 50s are getting close to retirement, it doesn't mean you get out of the market because you're getting close to retirement.
WILLIS: Sometimes it pays to be aggressive.
Gerri Willis, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: All right. 45 minutes after the hour.
I want to take you back and show you some more live pictures of southern California. Take a look at this. We showed these to you. This shows how quickly things can change. A couple of minutes ago, we showed you this picture that was a little bit of a warm, orange glow. Now look at the fire that's racing up that hillside there. These from KTLA in Canyon Country, California.
Those winds, as Rob Marciano was saying a couple of minutes ago as we look at a picture here of Malibu, eally the worst time right now, the transition between the overnight hours into the morning hours. Those winds blowing steadily at about 40 miles an hour, gusting up to 70, which would take it to just about hurricane force in that area. They wouldn't count it, obviously, as a hurricane because it's not a tropical storm. As those Santa Ana winds continue to blow, so many thousand acres that have gone up in flames, so many homes and other structures, like churches that have been destroyed, so many people displaced. This is a huge story we're going to be watching today here on CNN. Make sure that you keep it right here.
"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. We have these stories coming up on the "NEWSROOM" rundown this morning.
Residents retreat in the face of those wildfires you're talking about. At least a dozen burning throughout southern California. The pictures are truly incredible. We're going to have live reports as well as your I-reports. Stick around for that.
And history made in Louisiana, voters elect the nation's first Indian American governor and he'll also be the youngest in office. We'll talk about that.
And taking the bait. A car set up to be stolen. Wait until you see what else shocked the driver.
Join me in the "NEWSROOM." We're going to get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN.
John.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it, Heidi. Thanks very much.
The shows will go on. But for how long? That's the question in Quick Hits now. Broadway stage hands have authorized a strike, perhaps during the busy holiday season. Stage hands will stay on the job for now although talks have stalled. A strike would affect most, but not all of the shows on Broadway. Some New York cabbies are off the streets. They're on strike as of 5:00 this morning, protesting new GPS technology and credit card machines. Those same cabbies struck for two days last month. If you can't catch a cab, here is a great alternative.
CHETRY: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING test driving the smart car. I wonder if this guy knows I'm in this lane. OK. There we go. I've got to try to get past this van. It is actually so easy to navigate. We take the smart car through the streets of Manhattan. Is it the car of the future or too little, too cheap? You decide ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
You know, what we have in front of us right now has really attracted a lot of attention here at Columbus Circle. This is the newest generation of subcompact car. This is called the smart car.
Joining us right now, the president of SmartU.S.A., the people who are manufacturing this and putting it out on the market, Dave Schembri.
Thanks for being with us.
DAVE SCHEMBRI, PRESIDENT, SMARTUSA: Terrific to be here. Thank you.
CHETRY: So this smart car is going to be the next one that's coming available. It's already available in Europe and is coming to the U.S. What makes it so special?
SCHEMBRI: You know there's so many things about this car which makes it special. It answers a lot of the questions facing commuters today, questions about urban congestion, about the environment and the economy. You know in America we love our cars and this car is a heck of a lot of fun to drive.
CHETRY: You know, it was fun. Actually, I took it out on the streets of Manhattan a couple of days ago. And when you're sitting inside, it really is surprising how roomy it is. I mean there is a lot of room until you look back here and you realize, wait a minute, there's no back seat. Is it practical for a family?
SCHEMBRI: You know, it is practical for a family, perhaps as a commuter car. For first-time buyers, it's definitely a car they could use as their primary transportation. But there's more space back there than you think. There's eight cubic feet of storage.
CHETRY: It's back here in the trunk part?
SCHEMBRI: Yes.
CHETRY: Show it to us. Why not? You could get a suitcase in here. Now one of the things I was wondering about, if you were to get rear ended by an SUV, do you have certain reinforcements in place because it is so small to make sure they're protected?
SCHEMBRI: Absolutely. The safety management system of this car is as amazing as the car itself. You'll notice it sits up high. It's 5.1 feet tall which allows for the energy to be absorbed underneath the vehicle in the event of a front or rear crash. In fact, you would see damage to the front of the car in the event of a front crash, energy underneath the car, damage to the front of the car and it would act like a NASCAR roll cage protecting the occupants.
CHETRY: It gets 40 miles to the gallon. Much more fuel efficient obviously than things out on the road but it is small. Is there any way to make it more fuel efficient or is that as good as it gets right now?
SCHEMBRI: Well, there's other fuel derivatives that are on sale in other parts of the world and certainly one day they may come to America. This is a good combination of economy and performance and we think it's just right for America.
CHETRY: It tops out at 90 miles an hour, not that I tried on the street of Manhattan, Dave. Don't worry.
SCHEMBRI: It's surprisingly quick.
CHETRY: Now as we said, this is coming out January '08. Has there been a lot of pre-interest? Who are the type of people who maybe think this is right for them?
SCHEMBRI: You know, we talk about our target customers not being defined by age or income, but rather by attitude and lifestyle. It could be anybody from 18 to 90 that's interested in this car. You could go today on smartusa.com, reserve your very own smart 42. The response has been amazing.
CHETRY: Really neat. You said Florida, New York and California is where a lot of the interest is coming from.
SCHEMBRI: We've had reservations in all 50 states. Those are very high in our reservation process.
CHETRY: All right. You're a guy. Why don't you go ahead and sit down in the passenger seat so people can get an idea. It really does feel as though you're in a normal size car when you're in the front, right?
SCHEMBRI: It's unbelievably roomy. You know we've had two guys, 6'7" sit in this car with no problem at all.
CHETRY: Pretty neat. So here it is the Smart car. Dave, thanks so much for talking with us about it.
SCHEMBRI: Thank you.
CHETRY: And I'm sure, John, there's been a lot of people that just want to come see what the heck this thing is. It's not a golf cart. It's the new Smart car. Back to you.
ROBERTS: I bet you could put a set of clubs in the back of it though if you really wanted to.
CHETRY: Of course. You saw the trunk.
ROBERTS: Just hang them on the back there.
A lot of people around the country following the California wildfire story closely.
Our Veronica de la Cruz watching what people are reading online.
What have you got for us this morning?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well like you said, lots of people are watching those fires burn. You know, they're burning the path of Pepperdine University. Also, a bunch of celebrity homes being threatened. John also, this landmark, the Castle Kashan, has been destroyed. Now it wasn't in the fire's path, but the wind blew embers in its direction, igniting it. The castle was used in shows like "The Rothberg File." TMZ.com John also reporting that homes belonging to Sean Penn, David Duchovny, Olivia Newton John, director James Cameron all in danger right now.
Also popular this morning, Harry Potter fans making this next story very popular. Beloved character Albus Dumbledore has been outed by none other than the author herself. J.K. Rowling confirmed that Dumbledore is in fact gay, in love with a wizard from his past. Dumbledore's sexuality has been the subject of rumors among fans who did notice that the professor never had a close relationship with a woman. And there you go, it has been confirmed.
ROBERTS: Do you think Richard Harris knew that when he was playing Dumbledore?
CHETRY: You know, I have no idea.
ROBERTS: Well, too late now.
CHETRY: Finally John, from the world section of CNN.com, a pretty serious tragic story. Mayor of New Delhi plunging to his death after being attacked by a group of wild monkeys. Apparently he was standing on a balcony when the attack happened. Many buildings in New Delhi are overrun by these monkeys. The city has been reprimanded by the courts for not stopping these monkey attacks. And the problem is many Hindus believe that these monkeys are a manifestation of one of their gods. People continue to feed them. That's why these monkeys are congregating in public areas.
ROBERTS: He was knocked off his balcony by these monkeys?
CHETRY: Yes, a group of wild monkeys.
ROBERTS: That's incredible. CHETRY: Anyway, all the details online at CNN.com.
ROBERTS: All right. 55 minutes to the top of the hour. A quick look now at what "CNN NEWSROOM" is working on for the top of the hour.
COLLINS; See these stories in the "CNN NEWSROOM."
Southern California in flames. Fierce winds fan at least a dozen wildfires.
A week of Wall Street drops, ending with an exclamation point. We'll follow the markets this morning.
Tornado destroys home, but saves baby. 1-year-old sucked out to safety.
And Rockies meet Red Sox. Another post-season comeback propels Boston to the World Series.
"NEWSROOM" to the top of the hour on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Just a minute now to the top of the hour.
In case you missed it, your fellow viewers helped name a baby jaguar this morning. They took part in an online poll set up by Florida's Brevard Zoo and voted to name her Nindiri, which is one of three eruption cones in the largest volcano in Nicaragua, the Messiah volcano, which happens to be the name of her mother. Zookeepers were simply calling the baby cat baby for the first four months of her life. Now she has a name, Nindiri.
The final check of the Quick Vote this morning we asked. Republicans seem to believe she will be so do you think Hillary Clinton will be the democratic nominee for president? Right now 61 percent of you say yes. 39 percent say no. To all of you who voted, thanks very much. We'll do it again tomorrow.
Kiran, that's going to do it for us today.
CHETRY: That's right. We're out here again with the smart car. By the way, I just want to get in real quick, the red one, about $16,000. The blue one behind it, about $13,000. So I wanted to get the price in there.
Thanks so much for being with us. We'll see you back here tomorrow.
"CNN NEWSROOM" with Heidi Collins starts right now.
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