Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Bonds Indicted; Democrats Debate; Super Cyclone; After The Debate; Minding Your Business
Aired November 16, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Fight night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When somebody starts throwing mud, at least we can hope that it's both accurate and not right out of the Republican playbook.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: The candidates come out swinging in Vegas.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: You compared her to Mitt Romney tonight. It evoked a rousing boo from the crowd. Was that over the line?
ANNOUNCER: Exclusive one-on-ones. Did anyone land any punches?
Tainted title. Homerun king Barry Bonds charged with lying about steroids. What now for America's pastime?
Plus, extreme weather. Tracking a deadly cyclone and its catastrophic fallout on this AMERICAN MORNING.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this Friday, the 16th of November. I'm John Roberts in Las Vegas.
And Kiran, I tell you, it was a really interesting night last night. How far did Hillary Clinton go to redeeming herself after that disastrous disappearance in Philadelphia? And John Edwards, who won that debate two weeks ago, did he happen to open up a couple of wounds of his own on himself?
We'll be talking about that this morning.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. It certainly was a very interesting night. We're going to bringing all the highlights throughout the morning.
Thanks for being with us again. I'm Kiran Chetry.
But we start this morning with baseball's homerun king, Barry Bonds, bracing now for the fight of his life. A federal grand jury just indicted him for lying about steroid use. Now a strikeout in court could send him to prison. The maximum sentence for this: 30 years behind bars. The charges are sparking reaction from sports bars around San Francisco all the way to the White House.
CNN's Kara Finnstrom is working this story. She joins us live this morning from San Francisco.
And what is the reaction, Kara?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, even the White House -- they are expressing some disappointment. You know, all the America has been watching Barry Bonds as he chased this homerun record, smashing those homers out of AT&T Park right behind me. As he was chasing that record, prosecutors were chasing him quietly and slowly, building their case.
Now their claim is that Barry Bonds lied about using steroids. He said they used them and lied repeatedly to a federal grand jury that was actually looking into claims that professional athletes used this type of drugs. The perjury and the obstruction of justice charges that he is facing could carry up to 30 years in prison.
So what's the evidence that these prosecutors have against him? Well, there's been a 10-page indictment that is now been released. And in it, federal prosecutors say during their probe, they found tests that show that Bonds tested positive for using performance- enhancing drugs.
There's also been some question about whether Greg Anderson--that is Bonds's personal trainer -- may have flipped on him. He refused to answer questions about Bonds and actually went to jail for about a year because of that. His attorney has told the "L.A. Times" that that's not the case, that Anderson isn't talking.
We aren't hearing much at this point from Bonds's attorneys, but they did say that they feel federal prosecutors really don't have much to support their case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL RAINS, BONDS ATTORNEY: Now that their biased allegations must finally, finally be presented in open court, they won't be able to hide from their unethical misconduct any longer. The public is going to get the whole truth, not just selectively leaked fabrications from anonymous sources.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FINNSTROM: Now Bonds is due to appear in court here in San Francisco area on December 7th. That will be his first appearance on these charges. Right now, it's bad timing for him. He wasn't resigned by the Giants and he's been looking for a new park to call home.
Reporting live in the San Francisco area, Kara Finnstrom. Now back to you.
CHETRY: Kara, thanks. ROBERTS: It was like a Vegas prize fight, but with seven people in the ring -- eight, actually, if you include the audience which had its own say. And the morning after the big Democratic showdown, it looks like Senator Hillary Clinton may have won the round.
Just one week ago, opponents seemed to have her on the ropes over her inability to take a stand on immigration, a hot topic in the presidential race, specifically, whether or not undocumented aliens should get driver's licenses. But last night, she came out throwing counterpunches as others seem to wobble.
Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley who's got the wrap-up for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): No laid back above the fray frontrunner stuff this time.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am happy to be here tonight and this pants suit is asbestos tonight.
CROWLEY: This time she wasn't going to get burned.
CLINTON: I don't mind taking hits on my record, on issues, but when somebody starts throwing mud, at least we can hope that it's both accurate and not right out of the Republican playbook.
CROWLEY: If he did not back off, John Edwards at least felt the need to explain.
JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do believe, however, that voters need to know that we have choices. There's nothing personal about this.
CROWLEY: They pretty much began where they left off, the bickertons.
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hold on. One at a time. One at a time.
CROWLEY: But then there was a slap down.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's get to it, folks. The American people don't give a darn about any of this stuff that's going on up here.
CROWLEY: And the noticeably pro-Clinton audience was prone to hiss at some of the tough stuff.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And, you know, this is the kind of thing that I would expect from Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani where we start playing with numbers -- we start playing with numbers in order to try to make a point. EDWARDS: Senator Clinton defends the system, takes money from lobbyists, does all those things. And my point is simply that people have -- no, wait a minute.
CROWLEY: So, for the most part, things settled down. They discussed energy, Iran, trade agreements and whether sometimes, as it seems in Pakistan, U.S. national security trumps human rights concerns.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We forgot our principles. Our principles that -- we said to Musharraf, "You know, Musharraf, security is more important than human rights." If I'm president, it's the other way around.
CROWLEY: Big issues were mostly discussed without major disagreement. Exception -- Dennis Kucinich who took everybody to task for switching positions on the war, the Patriot act, and trade with China.
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just imagine what it will be like to have a president of the United States who's right the first time.
CROWLEY: As the frontrunner, Clinton got most of the attention, whether from her critics or the audience.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you prefer diamonds or pearls?
CROWLEY: For the record, Hillary Clinton prefers both.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Las Vegas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: All right. After the debate, I spoke with the three leading candidates who had even more to say about the issues and each other, but some of them seem to be in quite a hurry to get going.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLINTON: I thought a lot of good questions were asked and it was great having, you know, all of the voters actually participate because, after all, that's what it's about.
EDWARDS: I think the most important and fundamental difference between us is, I really believe that we're going have universal health care and attack global warming, do something about the people who have no voice in this government. It will never happen unless we wrest the power out of the hands of drug companies.
ROBERTS (on camera): You compared her to Mitt Romney tonight on Social Security. It evoked a rousing boo from the crowd. Was that over the line?
OBAMA: Oh, well, no, the -- what I said was is that, to use the figure of $1 trillion middle-class tax increase is a classic Republican line that's used and it doesn't apply in this situation. If you raise the cap, that's 6 percent of the population that could be remotely affected, not middle class Americans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Well, we're going to feature each candidate and have their entire interview throughout the morning here. That's beginning with John Edwards just a few minutes from now here on AMERICAN MORNING.
And then, coming up on November the 28th, it's the GOP's turn. This time you get to ask the questions. Go to CNN.com/youtube debates and post your questions for the Republican presidential candidates. That's Wednesday, November 28th, your voice will be heard only on CNN -- your home for politics.
And right now, let's go back to for New York and here's Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks, John.
And we're following breaking news overseas this morning. The number of people killed on the rise today after a monstrous cyclone slams Bangladesh, whipping winds, flooding rain, at least 240 people killed, and that number could grow.
The storm triggering water surges, washing away thousands of homes and crops. We have our Reynolds Wolf who's watching the storm's path minute-to-minute from the CNN weather center. We start with Emily Chang who's been following all of the breaking developments from our world update desk in London this morning -- Emily?
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, right now, Cyclone Sidr is roaring over inland Bangladesh. Now this is a jam-packed country, over 150 million people. The brute strength of this storm was visible from space. NASA captured this image as it slammed into the coast bringing winds over 130 miles per hour and torrential rains.
Now, more than 240 people have killed, more than 650,000 people are on the run after mandatory evacuations. Houses have been leveled, farms and crops destroyed. The coastal areas completely flooded. Power and telephone lines down across the country.
Now, the big problem with Bangladesh, it's an extremely low-lying country, very prone to devastating floods. Cyclone season is also a historic problem. Thirty-seven years ago, a cyclone killed more than a half a million people. Of course, in this case, the death toll expected to rise.
So, we will be watching this storm and bring you any major developments as they happen -- Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Emily, thanks so much. And by the way, Reynolds Wolf is tracking this from our weather update desk this cyclone in Bangladesh. And the region's getting slammed with storm surges. We're talking, what, four-foot-high waves? REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: Four-foot high waves. I think the original storm surge was in excess of 18 to maybe even 20 feet right along the coast. And of course, that move in. Well, you've got a very, very impoverished population. You had over three million that had been evacuated and, of course, those the numbers, as you mentioned, may actually rise, the number of fatalities.
Let's show you what is left of the storm and where it's headed. The storm no longer a tropical cyclone. On the map, you can see the path takes just to the east of Kolkata through Bangladesh. And now it is just south of the Himalayas in India.
Now the reason why the storm died out so quickly is pretty simple. It all has to do with the topography. Here's a look at Google Earth and we're going to zoom in and give you an idea of just how extreme the Himalayans are -- the highest peak going up to 29,000 feet.
So when that storm system made its way inland, well, plain and simple, it ran into this big giant wall that we know as the Himalayans and just caused this storm to die out. However, of course, it's still going to produce that heavy rainfall. It has something that we referred to as aerographic litmus. It's going to squeeze out the moisture from these clouds.
But it's also going to bring some heavy snowfalls to the high Himalayas. But certainly an awful thing to see and we're going to have, of course, more information coming out of there in parts of Southern Asia.
Let's now send it back to Kiran. She's got more -- Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, Reynolds. Thanks so much. And we're going to head over to John.
ROBERTS: Breaking news this morning in Pakistan to tell you about, Kiran.
President Pervez Musharraf has appointed a brand new Cabinet, reportedly made up of all of his allies including a new prime minister. They are going to in charge of until national elections early next year.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was freed from house arrest overnight. Her release came just a few hours before a top U.S. diplomat meets with Musharraf, hoping to end marshal law in the country.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte says he's on the way to Pakistan to, quote, "put the political process back on track in a country vital to the war on terror."
Also new this morning, one of the biggest threats to our security doesn't come from Iraq, Iran, or North Korea. It comes from China. A panel investigating U.S.-Chinese trade gave Congress that warning yesterday. It says Chinese espionage is the single greatest threat to U.S. technology with hackers looking for ways to launch cyber attacks on U.S. infrastructure and steal military secrets.
China denied hacking into Defense Department computers and that was back in September -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, a ground test goes horribly wrong in an airport in France. Police say an Airbus jet crashed, nose first, into a noise barrier during an engine test, injuring nine people onboard and one on the ground. An Airbus spokesman says the plane, for an unknown reason, just started rolling up an embankment.
Seconds away from disaster at 25,000 feet, the FAA says that -- the cockpit warning sensor saved two airliners. There you see it right there on the graphic from crashing in midair over Indiana. That's how close they came. Close to 60 people were on board the planes. Here's a simulation of just how close they were. Just 600 feet apart when they passed each other.
The FAA blamed the 26-year veteran air traffic controller for the close encounter, saying that he was in the middle of a shift change and simply forgot that the Midwest and United Express jets were in the same area.
Well, he has never had to put up with air traffic delays aboard Air Force One, of course, but President Bush trying to offer some help for people who will be crowding airports over Thanksgiving weekend. The president says he is opening some restricted military airspace on the East Coast to commercial carriers from Wednesday through next Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These new routes will help relieve air congestion from Maine to Florida for nearly five full days surrounding the holiday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Critics say that it really does nothing to fix a lot of the problems that are happening on the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK FORREY, NATL. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOC.: The bottom line is you can only land a number of aircraft at one time on any given runway. So the capacity at the end game and at the beginning game needs to double or increase before you start killing delays.
This is just another gimmick to try and appease the flying public. It's not going to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Air traffic controllers say there are 7 percent fewer controllers to handle the Thanksgiving congestion compared to last year.
ROBERTS: And update this morning to tell you about. And a big story that happened just one state over from us here in Nevada.
Two news helicopters crashing in midair this past summer -- you remember that. Police now releasing the 911 tapes.
(BEGIN AUDIO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: 911. What is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Do you guys have the helicopters that just hit central?
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: The what?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Helicopters. You have two helicopters that just hit each other in the air.
(END AUDIO TAPE)
ROBERTS: The crash raising questions about the safety of allowing pilots to double as on-air reporters. We'll play more of those tapes for you coming up later on AMERICAN MORNING.
And he was on the attack in last night's debate. What did John Edwards have to say about Hillary Clinton after it was over? My exclusive interview with him coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: Today's "Weather Update" brought to you by...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Sixty minutes after the hour now. He has led the attack on Hillary Clinton from within his own party and threatened all of Congress with taking away their health care.
Here's what John Edwards told me after last night's debate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (on camera): I've got to ask you about this threat that you have made repeatedly and you said it again tonight, that if Congress does not pass the universal health care by July of 2009, you will move to take away their health insurance. You've got to know when you make a threat like that, you can't, under the constitution, do that?
EDWARDS: Oh, of course, you can. The president of the United States has enormous power. I don't think I did say it tonight, by the way, I wish I had like I did.
I think the president has enormous power that we completely ignore. The president has the bully pulpit. He can say to members of Congress and his own administration, which I will do, if you don't pass universal health care by July of 2009, July of this year, I will use every power I have to take your health care away from you.
It's so classic that when you raise an idea of shaking up Washington, which is exactly what I'm doing, by threatening the health care of politicians in order to get health care for Americans, which is what this is about -- I don't care about taking anybody's health care away. We want to get health care for everybody.
But what happens when you do it, the Washington politicians circle the wagons and say, "You can't do that, that's not possible. You can't do that. You can't threaten our health care." Well, I will as president of the United States. I'm going to shake the place up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: John Edwards on his threats to take away members of Congress' health care if they do not come up with a plan for universal coverage of all Americans by July of 2009.
And coming up in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, we're going to hear what Senator Hillary Clinton had to say after it was all over. Right now, let's go back to Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, John. We look forward to that.
Meanwhile, still ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, Santa on the most wanted list? An armed robber hits a half dozen stores wearing that seasonal disguise. The latest on the search and the reward. It could help your holidays.
Plus Starbucks keeps on raking in the dough and the high-end Joe's. So why is the coffee giant feeling jittery all of a sudden? Ali Velshi joins us. He's "Minding Your Business" today. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Just about 23 minutes after the hour now. And here's the "Hot Shots" of the morning.
A marriage proposal that will sharply increase a guy's carbon imprint. An Iowa State University student got his girlfriend to go for a walk to the cross-country field, and when she turned about, she saw this: "will you marry me" in big bright lights. He got a little bit of help from his friends, who better be in the wedding party after running from room-to-room, up and down 10 flights of stairs to light up this special message. By the way, she said yes.
And if you've got a "Hot Shot," send it to us. The address is AMHOTSHOTS@CNN.com. Be sure to include the name, where you're from, a little about the picture or video, so that we can share it with folks on the air. And one more thing, please, make sure that the image is yours and not something that you ripped off from somebody else -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Sounds good. All right. Twenty-three minutes past the hour.
Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business."
You know, you set a high standard when you're a guy and do that. You know, 10 years later...
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. Yes.
CHETRY: ...you're sitting on the couch, drinking a beer, watching the game.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: And she says, "Remember when you ran from dorm room to dorm room for me? What happened?"
VELSHI: You will have to be prepared to live your life running around turning -- you know, hotel room lights on and off for your anniversary.
Good morning to all of you. Here's a little bit of math for you. I know you don't like math at this hour. But Starbucks came in with its quarterly results, made a lot of money. Its revenue was up 5 percent, the transaction revenue, the value of each transaction, up 5 percent, but its traffic was down 1 percent.
Starbucks making more money on fewer customers. Now what does that mean?
CHETRY: Probably they're charging a little bit more for, what, you have a mini one. Boy, I need a grande to get me through the day.
VELSHI: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what this is called because I don't go to a place that needs me to say...
CHETRY: That's a tall. That's a tall.
VELSHI: Yes, because to me that was the smallest size. So instinct would tell me I would have a small.
CHETRY: And this is a grande.
VELSHI: This is why studying Starbucks is very interesting to me because it's like watching ants or something like that. I have nothing to do with it, except if I did want to have something to do it, there would apparently be more space for me in the... Where do you go?
CHETRY: Where do you go? Dunkin Donuts in the morning?
VELSHI: Yes, I go where -- I go to the free one here in the kitchen.
But here's the thing that you didn't need to think about. They are charging more money for the coffee. Why? Because the cost of milk is up, the cost of coffee is up. They're getting fewer people in. From a business perspective, it's a good thing to make money with fewer people because fewer people mean fewer tables and fewer people to serve them.
CHETRY: Right. VELSHI: It's generally a good thing. The bigger question is why are fewer people going actually going into Starbucks?
CHETRY: But it's 1 percent. Isn't that...
VELSHI: But that -- since Starbucks started releasing these numbers three years ago, they've never, ever seen a decrease. Now what does that mean? Does that mean there's more competition? Does it mean that people are shying away from fancy-schmancy drinks as the economy starts to take a bit of a turn? Starbucks is big enough that its trends -- like we watch everything that happens in Wal-Mart?
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: Starbucks is one of those companies you should watch because enough people use it. That is there is a trend developing about the economy, you'll see it at Starbucks first.
CHETRY: Yes. It's interesting, though, I mean, because they sell way more than coffee now. You can get books, sandwiches, iTunes, I mean, you know?
VELSHI: I'll take your word for it.
CHETRY: I'll take you there sometime like a field trip.
VELSHI: Fine, Kiran, fine.
CHETRY: Ali, thanks. Let's check in with you in a few minutes.
VELSHI: OK.
CHETRY: Also, baseball's homerun king Barry Bonds now bracing for the fight of his life after a federal grand jury indicted him for lying about steroid use. Also strikeout in court could mean that Bonds could go to prison for 30 years. We're going to talk more about that this morning.
It also leads us to this morning's "Quick Vote." There's been a lot of talk about steroid use in baseball. Bonds, though, the first one facing this type of trial. So is Barry Bonds being unfairly targeted? Cast your vote: CNN.com/AM. We're going to get the first tally of the votes a little later in the hour.
Meantime, here's a story coming up that you don't want to miss -- an alert for fast food establishments and convenient stores in California. They're looking for a serial robber on the loose and police are asking for your health if you've seen this person. They're it the "Santa Bandit," of course, because of the hat this guy is wearing as he leaps over the counter robbing different stores at gunpoint.
We're going to talk more about this and if you've seen it, anyone who looks like this, we're going to ask call your local police. We're going to have more on that story and more when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back. ANNOUNCER: "Minding Your Business," brought to you by...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Beautiful shot this morning of the Las Vegas Strip. It is 3:30 in the morning over there. Today, 55 degrees and clear going up to 76 and mostly sunny. So a beautiful day in Las Vegas on this Friday, November 16th. I'm Kiran Chetry. Maybe it's going be sunny, temperature wise, but it certainly wasn't sunny last night at that Democratic debate.
ROBERTS: Well, I tell you, there was a little bit of blood flying around last night. We'll tell you who got wounded, who might have done themselves some damage, and who might have helped themselves out last night. I'm John Roberts in Las Vegas where we had the Democratic debate last night. We'll have full coverage of that this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
First, breaking news overseas. A tropical cyclone slams into southern Bangladesh packing 130-mile-an-hour winds causing widespread destruction. At least 500 people have been killed. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated. The storm leveled homes and farms, coastal areas are totally flooded out today.
Also new this morning, a push for new sanctions against Iran. It's coming from the White House after the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said Iran is restricting access to its current atomic work and expanding uranium enrichment -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, there are new 911 tapes that have been released from a helicopter crash in Phoenix. It happened over the summer where two news choppers collided in midair while they were covering a police chase. All four people on board were killed. Calls came flooding into 911 after that accident.
(BEGIN AUDIO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: 911, what is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Do you guys have the helicopters that just hit Central?
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: The what?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Helicopters. You have two helicopters that just hit each other in the air above Central probably around Indian School. There was news helicopters.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Hold on, hold on, hold on one second. You guys got that? I'm sorry, hold on.
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: That's OK.
UNIDENTIFIED PHOENIX POLICE: Let me find out where command is and see if they need any more...
UNIDENTIFIED PHOENIX MEDCARE: Yes, you got this? Yes, one helicopter hit the other.
UNIDENTIFIED PHOENIX POLICE: Yes, flew into the bottom of the other one, right?
UNIDENTIFIED PHOENIX MEDCARE: Yes, well, one was hovering and the other one just was still moving and flew right into it.
UNIDENTIFIED PHOENIX POLICE: Yes. Hold on.
UNIDENTIFIED PHOENIX MEDCARE: It was freaky.
(END AUDIO TAPE)
CHETRY: Yes, and it ended up being tragic as well. The four people killed in the crash were pilots and photographers from two local TV stations.
More allegations swirling around the Illinois cop whose young wife has been missing for more than two weeks. The second wife of Drew Peterson -- seen there -- is now talking about her marriage to the man that police say is the prime suspect in the disappearance of wife number four.
Vicki Connelly was married to Peterson for 10 years back in the '80s and she says she's been watching all of this unfold with disbelief. She says that during their marriage Peterson beat her and threatened to kill her, saying he could make it look like an accident, saying -- so that she was so worried that she did tell some of their police officer friends.
Investigators are now looking into the death of Peterson's third wife. It was ruled accidental -- an accidental drowning -- despite some questionable circumstances back in 2004. That's Kathleen Savio, picture there. Her body was exhumed earlier this week - John?
ROBERTS: Just down 33 minutes after the hour. And now to last night's Democratic showdown. The seven candidates generating plenty of heat in their latest debate, most of it, though, it came from the top three. And this time, when Barack Obama and John Edwards pushed, Hillary Clinton pushed right back.
Malk Halperin is "Time" magazine senior political analyst, also the author of the "Undecided Voter's Guide to the Next President." He's currently on a book tour with it. You were in San Francisco, I guess, the other day and now here in Nevada. He joins us for some morning-after debate and analysis.
Hillary Clinton came in to this last night with people believing that she needed to throw a few sharp elbows and she certainly did.
MARK HALPERIN, SR. POLITICAL ANALYST, TIME: She did. Two weeks ago, she was on the defensive and she was having trouble explaining herself. Last night she was the one forcing the other candidates to explain themselves, defending herself and going out on an attack. She probably has stopped for now the day-after-day headline of, is she slipping, are the candidates making their main point which is she's not a straight shooter in their view.
ROBERTS: It certainly didn't take her long. The first question, she laid into John Edwards. Let's take a listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I don't mind taking hits on my record, on issues. But when somebody starts throwing mud, at least we can hope that it's both accurate and not right out of the Republican playbook.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Now for Timetalk.com(ph), you gave everybody a rating. You called hers as a B-plus. You said she was better but she's lost some of her luster. Explain that.
HALPERIN: Well, she dominated those earlier debates, John. We all watched those earlier debates. Part of her big national polling lead, part of the strength she built, even in Iowa, her weakest state, which she seemed the most presidential in the debate. But two weeks ago, that was a disaster. Last night, she did just fine. But she doesn't seem to be rising above the other candidates the way she had for so long. She's still ahead but she's still vulnerable.
ROBERTS: Another big question coming into last night's debate. Was Barack Obama going to rise to the challenge of getting in some really hard attacks on Hillary Clinton? It's not his nature. Let's take a look at this and see how far down that road he went.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I think she's a capable politician and I think that she has run a terrific campaign. But what the American people are looking for right now is straight answers to tough questions. And that is not what we've seen out of Senator Clinton on a host of issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So people looking for straight answers from Senator Clinton. You gave him a C-plus on his performance last night, in part, because there was one area where he couldn't come up with a straight answer.
HALPERIN: On the very question that she had trouble with two weeks ago -- should illegal immigrants be given driver's licenses. Just as Senator Clinton, two weeks ago, walked into her biggest vulnerability, he went in there and gave an answer that was fighting his message. His message is be clear.
Wolf Blitzer asked him several times, "Are you for this or not?" His answer was the equivalent, as we say in Vegas, of humina-humina- humina. Finally, he said yes but you come out there and say, "I'm giving straight answers, she isn't," and then not give a straight answer on a top issue. I was really surprised.
ROBERTS: And then there was John Edwards. You gave him a C-plus as well. Maybe thought that he won the debate in Philadelphia. How did he do last night?
HALPERIN: Not nearly as well. He was on fire in Philadelphia, very direct, very aggressive, making the contrast. He tried a few times last night. You know, the crowd was not on his side. On several occasions, he went aggressively at her. You have to have a feel for the room.
The room did not like his aggression. He backed down when Senator Clinton went after him, as we saw there, he backed down. He was never that aggressive again. And that took him off his game.
ROBERTS: The crowd was almost the eighth candidate in the room last night. You said in your Time.com rating that he seemed almost petulant and irrelevant. Hard words.
HALPERIN: Well, petulant because he started a delicate line to walk Iowa even though we're here in this state. Iowa is really their focus. It's the first contest. He can't come off as too negative there. Iowans do not like that.
In terms of irrelevant, it's hard with all those candidates on the stage. You and Wolf and others, Campbell, tried to spread the questions around as best you can. But oftentimes, even strong candidates can get lost, not speak for long stretches. That happened to him. That's a problem when you're trying to make an impression.
ROBERTS: And time is running out for him as well to try to narrow that gap in Iowa and New Hampshire.
HALPERIN: That's right.
ROBERTS: Mark Halperin, always good to see you. By the way, if you want to check out Mark Halperin's rating, go to Time.com. It's a great read.
Now it's the GOP's turn in terms of debating. This time, you get to ask the questions. It's our second CNN-YouTube debate. Go to CNN.com/youtubedebates. Post your questions for the Republican presidential candidates. All of the instructions are there on how to do it. It's Wednesday, November 28th. That's when your voice will be heard only on CNN -- your home for politics -- Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, John. Still ahead, it's that time of year -- a stickup in a Santa hat. Police in Escambido, California on the hunt for a woman who pulled off an armed robbery spree wearing a holiday disguise. Police released a security video from a 7-eleven Monday night.
There you see her hopping over the counter. Also a sunglasses on her face wrapped in a bandanna as well. She forced a customer to the ground, grabbed cash, and took off in a getaway car. There's a $500 reward being offered right now in the case. Well, Barry Bonds could be trading his baseball uniform for a prison uniform. Baseball's homerun king now facing 30 years in prison if indicted on perjury charges? What's next for Bonds and for baseball? We're going to talk about it coming up with Ryan Smith, BET" talk show host and sports attorney on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, baseball's homerun king indicted yesterday. Barry Bonds indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, all of it stemming from his testimony to a grand jury when he said he never knowingly used steroids. Now, Bonds has been defending himself for years including the night that he broke baseball's all-time homerun record.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARRY BONDS, PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYER: The record is not tainted at all -- at all, period. You guys can say whatever you want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So what do these charges mean for baseball and for Bonds? Joining us to talk about it is sports attorney and BET talk show host Ryan Smith joins us. Ryan, good to see you. So even what should have been the best and shining light of his career, he's still having to defend against these comments. And you look at the papers, boy, I mean, in "The New York Post, " of course.
RYAN SMITH, SPORTS ATTORNEY: Wow.
CHETRY: This is liar in asterisk.
SMITH: Wow.
CHETRY: What is Barry Bonds's future?
SMITH: He, you know, it's tough to say. Right now he's a free agent. So you got to say to yourself, are teams are going to want to sign him. And the big thing is he brings controversy - everywhere he goes, not to mention the fact that he's, you know, an older player, he's got bad knees. But now, he's a lightning rod for controversy and everybody was always saying, if this indictment happens, we're all going to try to stay away from - not necessarily collision, but it's hard for a team and its fans to want to get behind somebody who's under indictment.
CHETRY: Because of the distraction?
SMITH: Yes, it's a distraction. He can void his contract. If he has to go to jail in the middle of the season...
CHETRY: Right.
SMITH: You know what happens then, that's all a big problem for a team.
CHETRY: You know, his attorney, you know, Michael Rain, said yesterday in response to the indicted. Let's hear what he said, quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAIN: Every American should worry about a Justice Department that doesn't know if waterboarding is torture and can't tell the difference between prosecution on the one hand and persecution on the other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, what he went on to say was that they leaked an official document to every media outlet in the nation and withheld it from Barry Bonds himself, his lawyer, as well as everyone who could read it and defend him. Is raises the question, is he being targeted? Is it being singled in this world of steroids allegations in baseball?
SMITH: You know, it's hard to think that he's not. He gave his testimony four years ago. They've been chasing him for two years. But this is a great strategy by the defense, to say it's David versus Goliath, it's the little individual versus the government and the government chases you for two years. They persecute you instead of prosecute you. Gave him testimony for two years. Great strategy by the defense saying David versus Goliath. The individual by the government. The government chasing them for two years, persecute you instead of prosecute you. It's their way of trying to get the media, the fans, everyone back on Barry Bonds's side because it looks very heavy.
CHETRY: You know, and of course, for baseball fans and you can't turn on sports radio or -- on the television without hearing it. So what does this mean now. He finished this year with 762 career homers, seven more than Hank Aaron, headed for the Baseball Hall of Fame and what now?
SMITH: Right. I think it's likely that we don't him playing again. You know, we can't sure for sure. It's just an indicted, these are just allegations. But the other things is, does his homerun record really count that? And a lot of people have been saying if he ever got indicted, maybe we're going to say, you know what, he did use steroids, the record wasn't valid? That's going to be the big question now. Are they going to put an asterisk on it? And are they want to go back to Hank Aaron?
CHETRY: I know this is early in the legal process. But do you see him serving time in prison for this?
SMITH: It's tough to say. I mean, we talk about the 30 years. But really, guidelines, precedence, more like three to fours, he's never had a criminal record. So, I don't know about prison time but they are going to go after him to the fullest extent of the law. He probably will not plea out because he's been fighting this. He's got the money. He's in San Francisco, probably, maybe a friendly jury there. So, I don't know if I see him serving jail time. If he does, I think it would be minimal.
CHETRY: All right. Ryan Smith, always great to have you with us. Sports attorney and "BET" talk show host, thanks.
SMITH: Sure.
CHETRY: Well, it bring us our quick boat of the morning. We want to find out which you think, is Barry Bonds Sports unfairly targeted. We want you to cast your vote at CNN.com/AM and right now, boy, it is split. It is so close. Fifty-one percent saying yes. Oh, does this surprise you, Ryan?
SMITH: It does surprise me.
CHETRY: Forty-nine percent saying that while you think that more people would say, he wasn't being unfairly targeted.
SMITH: A lot of people -- I thought a lot of people would say he wasn't but clearly it's even. You know, that's great. That's -- it's good to see people falling on both sides.
CHETRY: Right. Maybe it's just the San Francisco fans voting this morning. Who knows?
SMITH: They're all calling.
CHETRY: No, but thank you for your votes and we'll continue to get a check of that throughout the morning -- John?
ROBERTS: Yes. We'll see how it shifts. Karin, thanks.
The common cold just got a lot less common. Your "Quick Hits" now. The Center for Disease Control has a warning about a mutated version of the common cold virus. It's killed 10 people in Texas, Oregon, Washington, and New York State.
We'll talk with our Doctor Sanjay Gupta coming up about that on the top of the hour.
Congress wants to tighten up on mortgage lenders to make sure they find out if potential borrowers could actually afford the loans that they're being offered. Lenders could be fined for steering buyers toward risky mortgages. Lawmakers say the bill will help avert another mortgage meltdown crisis.
Well, when rappers started abandoning the dollar, you know that we've got problem here in the U.S. Jay-Z's new "Cash Flash" may speak volumes about the comparative value of the euro over the dollar. We'll have that story coming up next.
And the Internet buzzing this morning with discussion about last night's debate -- who won, who lost, and what was missing?
Internet correspondent Veronica De La Cruz breaks it all down for us. That's coming up after the debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING on this Friday, 50 minutes before -- before 7:00 actually here on the East Coast. And if you're just joining us, a look at some of the stories making headlines this morning.
We're following breaking news out of Bangladesh. They are being hit with some wicked weather. At least 500 people now killed by a tropical cyclone. This number has gone up as more people have been able to go out and survey the damage. Local government officials across the region telling CNN they expect the number of dead to go even higher. This storm triggering water surges, washing away livestock and crops, 130-mile-an-hour winds leveled homes, and knocked down power lines. More than half a million people living along the coast have been evacuated and left homeless.
Also developing out of Pakistan now, Pervez Musharraf appointing a brand new cabinet reportedly made up of all of his allies, including a new prime minister. They'll be in charge until elections are held next year. This is Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte says he's on the way to Pakistan to, quote, put the political process back on track in a country vital to the war on terror -- John?
ROBERTS: Was it Hillary Clinton's night? Did Obama steal the show?
Our Veronica de la Cruz has been on the Internet all morning taking a looking at what folks are saying about last night's Democratic debate. She joins us this morning. I was reading some of the blogs overnight. Veronica, what did you find out?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, lots of healthy discourse all over the internet, shall we say. The debate, you know, John, it was webcast it was blogged in real time. And this is what we saw this morning in the blogosphere.
Jennifer Skalka of "The Hotline"writes: HRC came off tonight as the smartest kid in the class but the directness and sense of humor that she lacked in the last debate. And on the flipside of that, Andrew Sullivan of "The Daily Dish," says Clinton will have pleased her supporters but I doubt she will have won over any waiverers or doubters. And Andrew Sullivan really hasn't anything nice to say about Hillary. Just thought I'd mention that.
We also receive an overwhelming amount of e-mails. CNN's i- Reporter Jeff Hedrick writes: John Edwards speaks with conviction, the way Bill Clinton spoke. And Brenna from Arkansas posted this: Obama was, by far, the most engaging of all candidates. Also, Charles Bean of Eureka, California says, "I would like to have heard more from Biden, Mitchell, Kucinich or Dodd.
We just don't hear much from them during the debate. And on that note, John, some of the candidates agree Senator Biden joked about his lack of face time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: I want Senator Biden to weigh in. Senator Biden...
BIDEN: Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
BLITZER: I want you to weigh in. Don't you, no. Don't make me speak.
BLITZER: I want you to, go ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DE LA CRUZ: And now Bill Richardson getting his first chance to talk about 15 minutes after the debate started.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Governor Richardson, go ahead.
Well--by the way, I'm Bill Richardson, I'm governor of New Mexico. Nice to meet you all. I...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DE LA CRUZ: And quickly, John, on Chris Dodd's Web site, the talk clock calculating how much time each candidate received the results, Clinton and Obama dominating, clocking in nearly 16 and 18 minutes respectively. And then Richardson who did complain about his late start was third with 14 minutes. And that is on Chris Dodd's Web site. John?
ROBERTS: Yes. You know, it was almost like the beginning of last night's debate was the sequel to the previous debate two weeks earlier. You know, a lot of lingering issues that had to get cleared up.
Veronica de la Cruz for us this morning. Veronica, thanks. We'll see you soon.
DE LA CRUZ: Of course.
ROBERTS: Your "Quick Hits" now. Remember this woman? She was kicked off of a southwest airlines flight because her outfit, according to flight attendants, was some was too revealing. Well, guess what? Now she's wearing even any less. Nothing, in fact, on Playboy's Web site.
Twenty-three-year-old college student Kyla Evert(ph) is opposing under the headline, "Legs in the Air" on its Web site. Playboy says Evert was too sexy for Southwest Airlines, but she's perfect for Playboy.
Look carefully at this picture. Those aren't dollars that Jaz-Z is throwing around. Why the rappers abandoning the dollar in favor of something a little more valuable. That story coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: "Minding Your Business" is brought to you by...
CHETRY: Three minutes before the top of the hour. Ali Velshi here "Minding Your Business." And it's really funny they did these -- they did question, the average American on how much time they spend doing various things.
VELSHI: "Time" magazine, good name for the operation to do it. "Time" has come out with this thing, which is really "Minding Your Business." It's created this statistical profile of who you are -- who the average American is. Not meant to say you're average. It meant to say, does your life stack up to this?
I'm going to do this a couple of times today but I'm going to talk about the morning routine. "Time" says you take 24 minutes on grooming in the morning. Kiran and I have been discussing that. Eighteen to 36 minutes eating breakfast or multitasking because that seems like a long time for hurried person for breakfast.
CHETRY: On breakfast? I mean, people are nursing a cup of coffee and probably reading through the newspaper.
VELSHI: That's exactly -- I think that sounds right if you're doing a few other things. Then it says if you've got kids, 12 minutes to get them ready for school, which I thought was very low. But Kiran says that in a frantic household, you're, you know, throwing the knapsack on and getting to do all these things, and then you hit the commute.
And the commute for the average American is 25 minutes long. That's how long you can sit in your car or wherever you happen to be. Thirty-eight hours per year is your time spent in traffic. We said - we've discussed that. That number is increasing across America.
And a lot of gas you waste. Doing that, by the way, is 26 gallons per person. So that's what the -- this is for you to take your morning routine and hold it up against that and say, that make sense.
CHETRY: That's right.
VELSHI: OK?
CHETRY: You don't need 24 minutes on your grooming because you don't do your hair.
VELSHI: I definitely not.
CHETRY: The touching of...
VELSHI: I'm definitely gaining on the grooming side. That's for sure.
CHETRY: Usually. VELSHI: I spend four minutes on grooming and it shows. I'll be back next time to tell you about who's -- how the average American is happy in their jobs, what jobs they like the most, and what they're the unhappiest about.
CHETRY: That was shocking. The people who are happiest in their jobs?
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: And the people who are the most miserable?
VELSHI: Stick around. I'll bring that to you later.
CHETRY: Doesn't mean no matter how much you make. It's interesting.
VELSHI: It's job satisfaction.
CHETRY: Thanks, Ali.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
