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American Morning
NFL Star Sean Taylor Dies; Decision Day: Dow Futures Up After Huge Dive; Real Smart Car
Aired November 27, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: While Mitt and Rudy slug it out off stage on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome. A busy news day on this Tuesday, November 27th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROB MARCIANO, CO-ANCHOR: And I'm Rob Marciano, filling in today for John Roberts. Good morning.
CHETRY: Good morning. Good to see you this morning. Unfortunately, we start off with sad news, and that's the death of star Redskin player Sean Taylor, defensive player, a safety. The news coming in just about an hour ago that a gunshot wound turned fatal.
He was shot in the leg yesterday at his home in Miami. It happened in the early hours when he and his girlfriend of seven years, as well as their 18-month-old baby were sleeping in the bedroom. A family friend telling us this morning that the blood loss was too great and that Taylor never regained consciousness.
Our Alina Cho is following the latest developments from the national update desk -- Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, we just got word of this about an hour ago. CNN has independently confirmed that Washington Redskins' star safety, Sean Taylor, has died, after undergoing six hours of surgery last night. Just moments ago, we received some video of family members grieving outside the hospital. We are still waiting for reaction from the Washington Redskins. But within the past hour, we did speak with Taylor's attorney and friend, Richard Sharpstein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD SHARPSTEIN, TAYLOR'S FORMER ATTORNEY: He had lost a massive amount of blood from the gunshot wound to his thigh, which had severed his femoral artery. And they were worried that he might not make it, and if he did, that he might have permanent brain damage because of the oxygen loss to the brain, and he never regained consciousness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Now all of this began early Monday morning. The 24-year- old was airlifted to a Miami hospital after being shot in the thigh near a critical artery. As you heard, he lost a lot of blood. Police say Taylor's girlfriend called 911 just before 2:00 a.m. saying someone had broken into their home. Taylor apparently tried to defend himself with a machete and was shot.
Now, his attorney told us that police are investigating whether that incident is connected to another recent break-in at the home. A kitchen knife may have been left on a bed during that home invasion, and police are now looking for what they call an unnamed suspect. Now, teammates and coaches have said that Taylor was troubled in recent years, but they really saw a change in him recently and that coincided with the birth of his daughter, who is now 18 months old.
His attorney says he had been with his girlfriend for seven years, since high school. His girlfriend and baby were at the home at the time he was shot, but they thankfully were not injured. Now, Taylor had missed the last two Redskins games because of knee problems, but he was at the height of his career. He was tied for the NFC lead this season with five interceptions. His attorney, Kiran, called this a senseless, tragic death. It is of course an enormous loss for the NFL and the worst possible news for his family.
CHETRY: It sure is, Alina, thank you. You know, earlier I also spoke with Taylor's former attorney, Richard Sharpstein. He shared a lot of new information with us. We're going to hear a little bit more about what Sharpstein told me a few moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARPSTEIN: He had lost a massive amount of blood from the gunshot wound to his thigh, which had severed his femoral artery, and they were worried that he might not make it. And if he did, that he might have permanent brain damage, because of the oxygen loss to the brain, and he never regained consciousness, and expired early this morning.
It was early morning, and they heard noise. Sean and his girlfriend heard noise in the living room, and they responded. Sean got to the bedroom door, locked it at first, tried to get a small machete that he keeps under the bed to defend himself, but the door was burst into.
Two shots were fired. One hit him in the leg, and one into the wall. He went down immediately. The people, and I say people fled. We don't know yet because Jackie, his girlfriend, was under the covers and didn't come out until she heard them clear.
Now, there are some circumstances that the police are investigating. The same house, his house, was burglarized two weeks earlier. It was some items were taken. It's unclear, and there's been talk about whether or not a kitchen knife or some kind of knife was left on the bed, whether this was a purposeful action on Sean -- in taking Sean's life or in shooting him, or whether it was a burglary gone awry. The police are still investigating those circumstances.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So again, we heard from Sharpstein about the police investigation that's taking place now as well to figure out who was behind this and what the motive was. Sharpstein also said that Taylor's father is the police chief of Florida City. That's about 20 minutes away from Taylor's home. We hope to talk with Sharpstein again live coming up in just a few minutes.
Meanwhile, we're going to bring in medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. Taylor, Elizabeth, was shot in the leg. Now when you first hear that someone's shot in the leg, you don't always associate that with being fatal, of course, unless you're talking about hitting a major artery, like it seems in this case was hit.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, usually you think if someone's shot in the leg, that means that they can survive it better than being shot, for example, somewhere in the torso. However, what can happen with the femoral artery is this.
The femoral artery runs from the abdomen to the thigh. It's a large artery in the body. It's about the size of a person's pinky. If the bullet totally gets that artery and basically, for want of a better term, kind of snaps it in two, the artery will seal itself up and that's actually a better situation if the bullet actually gets the whole artery. It will just stop -- it will just spasm and stop pumping and that will be it.
However, if the bullet gets part of the artery, let's say like 50 percent of the artery, that is a worst case scenario. It becomes, as one vascular surgeon put it to me, like a hole in a pipe, where it will keep pumping and blood will just keep coming out like a hole in a pipe.
CHETRY: You know, when you ask these types of questions, like how could you then survive that, wouldn't somebody, I mean, just in the early moments after that wound need to know how to do first aid, know how to apply pressure or do something?
COHEN: It's a little bit tricky because a lot of people think what they ought to do in that situation is just apply pressure, let's say with a gauze pad. Just apply pressure to the leg and that actually is not going to help much.
What has to be done according to this vascular surgeon I talked to, who's the head of vascular surgery at NYU, he said, yes, you have to take your finger and get right there into the artery and be right there plugging it up. Again, imagine a hole in a pipe. You have to get right in there and plug it up, and that has to be done pretty quickly.
CHETRY: Yes. In this situation at least what we're hearing is that he had never regained consciousness, even when he was at the home. When the ambulance arrived there, he was already unconscious. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
MARCIANO: Kiran, delegates from Israel and across the Arab world are in Annapolis, Maryland, today, for brand new Mideast peace talks. Even with representatives from Syria and Saudi Arabia there, the talks are sparking protests by thousands of Hamas loyalists in Gaza. The talks could change their lives and impact the mission for U.S. troops in Iraq. Iran was not invited.
The nation's supreme leader says the talks are doomed. Well, we have it covered for you from Maryland to the Middle East State Department. Correspondent Zain Verjee is in Annapolis. Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House. First now, to Middle East correspondent Aneesh Raman who is inside Iran this morning with perspective from that country. Good morning, Aneesh.
ANEESH RAMAN, MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Rob, good morning. They're not just predicting failure here. Iran and Hamas are actually now planning a conference of their own here. We don't know when it will be, but we do know from Iran's perspective, it's less about the Palestinian issue and more about challenging yet again President Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAMAN (voice-over): In the midst of Tehran, it's hard to miss Palestine Square and this monument of Palestinian resistance. Iran has incredible influence with Hamas, which of course controls Gaza, and similar influence on Iraq's Shiite-based political party.
The U.S. says they're even destabilizing Iraq by supplying weapons and training to Shia militias. And if that wasn't enough, the west believes Iran is also pursuing nuclear weapons. The Islamic Republic denies it, so Israel isn't buying it.
MIRI EISIN, ISRAELI GVT. SPOKESWOMAN: They're not as close as they would like the world to believe, but they're not as far away as would make us comfortable.
RAMAN (on camera): In Iran, the Palestinian cause has always been linked with an antagonism towards Israel, and you see it virtually everywhere. Right now, we're just off a main highway that runs through Tehran and across it is a mural with a portrait of Hamas's spiritual founder, Sheikh Yassin. But just above it, a familiar slogan "down with the USA and Israel."
(voice-over): Many Iranians say the Palestinian cause is about helping fellow Muslims. But it's disastrous economy riddled with unemployment is raising deep concerns here about the money leaving home.
TRANSLATOR FOR UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The help should be given inside Iran, says this woman, not to the Palestinian people. We need help. There's poverty and unemployment.
With all that at stake for Iran's president, Annapolis is another welcome challenge to see if President Bush can influence a conference of its neighbors, including allies like Syria. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants failure because it will show America cannot affect the Mideast, but Iran can.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAMAN: And that is the key, Rob. Iran's support for the Palestinians has largely been more rhetorical than practical, and now they're seizing up on this moment to try and show yet again, that President Bush has no influence in Iran's neighborhood.
MARCIANO: Well, no doubt they'll be watching this conference very closely even though they're not invited. Thanks. Aneesh Raman live for us from Tehran -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, new this morning. Another wild ride on Wall Street today. Dow futures are up about 80 points. That comes after a 200-plus point dive yesterday.
Some Asian markets also suffering big losses overnight. Yesterday, slump officially sent stocks into a correction phase. It's forcing many families to make some big money decisions on everything from their holiday budgets to their retirement funds. Ali Velshi is all over this today, and we're going to be joining him in a few minutes.
Meantime, also new this morning. A new military claim from Iran. The defense minister announcing Iran has a new missile capable of hitting Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East. He says the new missile has a range of 1,200 miles. He did not say if it's been tested.
MARCIANO: Kiran, a new concern and fire watch issued this morning in Malibu, California. Forecasters say the Santa Ana winds could return, creating critical fire conditions tonight through tomorrow.
Right now, the wildfire that started on Saturday is 97 percent contained after it destroyed 53 homes. And the wife of millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett is asking a probate court in Illinois to declare her husband legally dead. Peggy Fossett says that while the family still grieves, after nearly three months "We must accept that Steve did not survive when his plane disappeared over the Nevada desert." The court petition says Fossett's estate is worth tens of millions of dollars. His plane was never found.
CHETRY: Time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning. And a fight over a teddy bear that school kids named Muhammad has now turned into an international incident.
Emily Chang has this from the world update desk this morning in London.
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. Well, this teacher faces up to six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine. Her name is Gillian Gibbons. She's 54 years old from Liverpool here in England. She works at the British Unity School in Khartoum. It seemed to show innocence.
She asked her 7-year-old students to name a teddy bear. They came up with the name Muhammad. That is the name of Islam's prophet. It's also the most popular name in the country. Police stormed her home. They detained her, about a law about insulting faith.
Now, Gibbons moved to Khartoum just a few months ago to teach. We spoke to a few of her colleagues here in England. Here's what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK WIDDOWSON, FORMER COLLEAGUE: I think she's in this out of all innocence. All I know is that Jill wouldn't go out of her way to offend anybody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's a very adventurous woman. You know, she doesn't like to do things by the norm and she's always been a fabulous traveler. She will just travel anywhere and really immerse herself in different cultures.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANG: Now, British officials have visited her in custody. They say she hasn't been charged yet, and they are working with local authorities. Meantime, the school has been closed for fear of retaliation. The school director says he fears for her safety. He said this teddy bear was simply meant to help the kids learn about animals -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Emily Chang at the world update desk for us. Thank you. And Jacqui Jeras at our weather update desk tracking extreme weather in the northeast today. Hi, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran. Yes. Kind of wintry and very windy across the northeastern corridor this morning. The rain showers are starting to move out, but the wind speeds are going to be on the way up.
Let's go ahead and show you the radar picture and show you where the worst of the conditions are right now. You can see some rain coming on, off the lakes into the Buffalo area right now. And the snow is starting to diminish, though, into the northern tiers so that's some good news. In fact, the winter storm warnings that were in place were just canceled early.
But check out these winds. Boston winds have been in the teens and the low 20s. That's sustained winds, and we could see some gusts as much as, say 30 miles per hour, and so that could cause some delays at the airport. Be aware of that as we head into the latter afternoon hours for today.
The cold front associated with this system bringing in some nasty squalls. They've all pushed offshore right now, though, you could still see a little bit of action into the outer banks and the squall line diminishing into the gulf of Mexico, could be bringing in some more thunderstorms later on today.
We also have a lot of wind and wintry weather across the Great Lakes. We'll talk about these storms coming up when I see you again around the bottom of the hour -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Jacqui, thanks so much -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Kiran, weather is getting colder, flu season is upon us. And the big question this year is, how do we keep our kids healthy when there's all this talk about bad cold medicine? Well, we're going to tell you. Stay with us. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Welcome back. Some of the best shots of the morning in our "Quick Hits" now.
Waist-deep in water in Jakarta, Indonesia. Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes as sea water flooded parts of the capital. It's the peak of an 18-year high-tide cycle, and the government is under fire for failing to fix a sea barrier that breached over a week ago.
And violence and mayhem on the streets of a Paris suburbs for the second night in a row. Police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at rioters armed with Molotov cocktails. The violence triggered after two teenagers died in a motorcycle accident involving a police car. Police say at least 77 officers have been injured.
And this may have been a little bit awkward. Former Vice President Al Gore back at the White House yesterday. Gore was among the 2007 Nobel Prize winners invited to the White House to meet with President Bush. The two men also had a 40-minute meeting in the oval office, talking about, guess what? Global warming. It was the first time they had met privately in nearly seven years since shortly after the Supreme Court declared Bush the winner of the 2000 election.
I think we remember that.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, 17 minutes past the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" and certainly a lot to talk about today as we all digest the news that we are officially in a correction.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And this isn't my mistake that I have to tell you about a correction. This is a market correction. What a relief. It's somebody else's mistake.
The market, the Dow and the S&P are officially in a correction, which means they are 10 percent off their highs. The highs on both of these markets were set on October 9th. They have been going up and down since then. But take a look at what happened yesterday.
A big slice off of both of those indices. All of them actually, put the Dow and the S&P into that position where they're down 10 percent from their highs. What does this mean for you?
Well, this is your investment. If you have investments that mimic the Dow or the S&P 500 in your 401(k), your Dow is just up a smidge on the year. The S&P 500 is now negative for the year. Now if you need this money immediately, that's probably a problem. Most people should be investing for a longer term.
And a colleague of mine just pointed out that if you are smart and you've been investing in terms of dollar cost averaging, which means a certain amount comes off of your paycheck every month and goes into your 401(k), opportunities like this are good because you actually get more shares for the money that you invest.
So over the long-term, probably not a problem. If you are looking for short term money, there are some things you need to do, and I'll come back and talk to you about that.
MARCIANO: And you said if you are smart.
VELSHI: Which maybe you are smart, yes.
MARCIANO: I wish I was in that group.
VELSHI: Listen. Markets that are low are an excellent opportunity for people to start investing. What you should buy is the question. It doesn't mean you should throw your money in, but this is a good time for to you look at investing.
CHETRY: All right. Thank you, Ali.
MARCIANO: Thanks, Ali.
CHETRY: Time now for a check of the "Quick Vote" question, and it goes along with what we've been talking about and your money this morning. And that is, that the Dow tanked yesterday. It's now 10 percent off its high, and it seems that every day we're hearing more economic reports that are not so good. The threaten to eat away even more of our 401(k)s, housing crisis, credit crunch, devalued dollar seems to just keep on sinking.
And so we're asking this morning, do you think we'll be in a recession next year? Cast your vote, CNN.com/AM to weigh in right now.
Eighty-six percent, Ali.
MARCIANO: Wow.
CHETRY: Eighty-six percent saying yes, and 14 percent saying no. We're going to continue to tally the votes throughout the morning. As Ali pointed out and a lot of analysts point out, it's not necessarily one of the markers of a recession.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: But if it feels like a recession and people stop spending their money --
VELSHI: They can start that recession.
CHETRY: All right. So we're right now, overwhelmingly yes.
VELSHI: Wow. OK.
CHETRY: Thanks.
MARCIANO: We'll see you in a little bit, Ali, thanks.
An 83-year-old could spend the rest of his days behind bars. "Quick Hits" now. Oscar Wyatt will be sentenced today for conspiracy in the oil-for-food scandal. The Texas oilman faces 18 months to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors say he kicked back millions of dollars to Saddam Hussein in exchange for oil contracts. Some big names will plead for leniency on Wyatt's behalf, including former GM Chairman, Roger Smith, and actress Farrah Fawcett.
And Michael Vick's lawyers are heading to court as well. A Virginia judge today will set a date set today for the state dog fighting trial. The Atlanta Falcon's quarterback has already entered a guilty plea to federal charges and is awaiting sentences there. Vick's lawyer will fight the state saying he can't be charged twice for the same crime.
CHETRY: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. The car that doesn't crash, and it brakes on its own. Special sensors detect when a car is in danger of crashing. Is this the future of automobiles? Find out when we go inside the zero accident car, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. It's the closest thing we might get to a royal memoirs here in the U.S.. The most prominent surviving member of the Kennedy clan, Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, agreeing to a monster advance for his life's story.
Reports put the payday at least $8 million. Kennedy is 75 and the youngest of the nine children of Joe and Rose Kennedy. He'll be the first Kennedy of his generation to pen an autobiography.
MARCIANO: Well, it will be the future of the car. A car that just might be smarter than you and can even slam on the brakes to keep you out of trouble. Kyung Lah takes us for a spin in Tokyo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH (voice-over): From the packed maze of Manhattan, to the sleepy suburbs of Rhode Island, to the tangled streets of Tokyo, when its car versus pedestrian, the pedestrian almost always loses. Here we go.
What you're seeing us drive is the car engineers hope will give pedestrians a fighting chance.
LAH (on camera): So hit a speed of 60 miles per hour. And don't brake.
LAH (on camera): As we pick up speed on the Toyota test course, this special sensor detects I'm about to blow through a red light, picking up a signal emitted from the light.
LAH (on camera): And it brakes on its own.
LAH (voice-over): It's not just red lights. Engineers are conceptualizing cars that can even detect a pedestrian is about to run out in front of you. Or another car is about to sideswipe you.
LAH (on camera): So the idea is to create a car where it's nearly impossible to have any sort of pedestrian accident.
LAH (voice-over): Honda already is marketing cars in Japan equipped with night vision and hoods that reduce the extent of head injury if there is an accident. And Toyota hopes to have its concept for sale in three years.
The goal says, Toyota engineer, Hiroyuki Kanemitsu, is to warn drivers before they get into an accident and not to become dependent on the safety devices.
That's where a New York City pedestrian group believes this technology could actually cause more accidents.
PAUL WHITE, TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES: These kinds of devices send drivers the message, OK. Drive however you wish. This technology will make you and your family and people on the streets safe, and that's just not true.
LAH: How much technology could do to save lives? No engineer could say for sure, but they say there is one certainty. As long as drivers and pedestrians share the streets, accidents are inevitable. Kyung Lah, CNN, Susono, Japan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: How'd you point out? Of course, they need help. They're driving on the wrong side of the car.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly. I mean, you know, when your starting from the passenger side it's hard to see things. But don't you wonder though if it's going to make people less aware?
MARCIANO: More blackberry, more phone, more coffee.
CHETRY: Yes. Because hey, the car's going to brake for me if I need it to. Fascinating.
MARCIANO: Yes. Good stuff.
CHETRY: All right.
MARCIANO: All right. Listen, some stuff that you can't miss we've got coming up. It's flu season this year, and of course, the kids have been scared because they're not allowed to take cold medicine, theoretically of late.
CHETRY: That's right. And some questions as we ask every year, how bad is this year going to be? Will we have enough supplies going around? Well, we're going to be speaking to the director of the Centers for Disease Control joining us in the next half hour. We'll have that, plus our top stories when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: We are coming up on half past the hour in covering this breaking news this morning. The tragic death of that NFL star. It's Tuesday, November 27th. John Roberts is off. I'm Rob Marciano filling in.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We awoke to the sad news of the death of Washington Redskin safety. Sean Taylor died earlier this morning. He was shot in the leg while at his home in Miami yesterday.
A family friend and former lawyer told us earlier on AMERICAN MORNING that Taylor just simply lost too much blood. He was shot in the femoral artery right in his upper thigh and never regained consciousness. Sharpstein also explained what he knows about the incident when Taylor was shot.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
RICHARD SHARPSTEIN, TAYLOR'S FORMER ATTORNEY (on the phone): It was early morning, and they heard noise, Sean and his girlfriend heard noise in the living room, and they responded. Sean got to the bedroom door, locked it at first, tried to get a small machete that he keeps under the bed to defend himself, but the door was burst into, two shots were fired. One hit him in the leg and one into the wall. He went down immediately. The p and I say people fled. We don't know yet because Jackie, his girlfriend, was under the covers and didn't come out until she heard them clear.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CHETRY: Richard Sharpstein also telling us that Taylor's home was burglarized two weeks ago. He also mentioned talk of the placement of a kitchen knife on perhaps Sean Taylor's bed and questions about whether Sean Taylor was specifically targeted or whether he was the victim of a random act. Miami-Dade police are looking into all of those questions this morning. Sean Taylor leaves behind his girlfriend of seven years and their 18-month-old daughter. He was 24 years old.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, ANCHOR: Also new this morning, delegates from nearly 50 countries meet in the next few hours in Annapolis, Maryland, including Israel, and members of the Arab nations like Syria and Saudi Arabia. President Bush met separately with leaders of Israel and the Palestinian authority to talk about the difficult compromises ahead. Thousands of Hamas loyalists gathered in Gaza this morning to voice their opposition to the talks. A live report coming up about those talks in just a few minutes.
Meanwhile, four bank workers were killed in a shoot out in Iraq. An Iraqi interior ministry official told CNN that a man and three women died when the U.S. military fired on their mini bus. A U.S. military spokesman says the U.S. is investigating. And after seeing it with their own eyes, two republican senators are threatening to pull political and financial support from Iraq's government. Senators Lindsey Graham and Saxby Chambliss warned Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki that more progress needs to be made to stop sectarian violence and bring Iraq together. Both senators visited Iraq over Thanksgiving.
And Vice President Cheney will be at his desk today after doctors delivered an electronic shock to his heart to restore the rhythm. The White House doctors detected an irregular heartbeat yesterday when the vice president complained of a lingering cough from a cold. Cheney's had a history of heart trouble, including four heart attacks.
And doctors made a major medical mistake, operating on the wrong side of a man's head, and it's the third time they've done it. It happened at Rhode Island Hospital. The latest was Friday, with an 82- year-old patient. He's fine, but another patient died in August. The hospital is now facing a $50,000 fine by the state and the hospital also says it's giving nurses more power to make sure procedures are followed.
CHETRY: Well, the republican presidential candidates will be facing off tomorrow night in CNN's second youtube debate, already nearly 5,000 submissions for questions have come in from viewers. Here's a quick look at a sampling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is your one greatest strength and your one greatest weakness?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you believe universal health care is a bad idea, can you please explain to me why?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, so what should viewers expect? Chief national correspondent John King is in St. Petersburg, Florida with a preview for us this morning. Hi, John.
JOHN KING, CNN, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. 4,926 entries to be exact, questions submitted by everyday Americans and some overseas. Most here in the United States and as you just noted they do run the gamut from health care to the war in Iraq to domestic policy and so on and so fort. So it's a big challenge for the republican candidates not just because of the scope of the questions and the interaction they will have with everyday Americans, which we believe is quite unique and was successful when we had the democratic youtube debate but also comes at the a critical time.
When this debate is over, we will be exactly five weeks from the Iowa caucuses and the republican race is wide open. You have Rudy Giuliani leading in the national polls but the former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with a narrow lead in Iowa. He's ahead in New Hampshire as well, hoping to build early momentum. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, challenging out there in Iowa and Fred Thompson, the former senator, trying to break through. John McCain trying to come back.
It is wide open here on the Republican side so the stakes of this debate could not be higher as the candidates increasingly on the trail, they have been pointing at each other. This is a chance on national platform for them to try to make their case. Again, when they wake up Thursday morning after our youtube debate, it will be five weeks to Iowa and then New Hampshire, South Carolina, a key contest here in Florida. This is about to become a blur and the candidates know the high stakes.
CHETRY: Yes, and as you pointed out, Rudy Giuliani ahead in a lot of the national polls but still behind Romney in some key states and then Romney, who had a real safe lead in Iowa, now starting to feel the heat of Mike Huckabee. So it seems like the jabs are getting a bit sharper.
KING: It's getting, the rhetoric is getting more pointed and more personal. That is the reflection of the stakes as you know, especially just between Romney and Giuliani. In the past 72 hours, it has been virtually by the hour the back and forth. They have been criticizing each other. Giuliani for example criticizing Romney's record as governor when it comes to the crime issue saying he made New York City much more safer. Giuliani is trying to suggest that violent crime went up in Massachusetts. Romney responding by answering that, and then again criticizing Giuliani on immigration, which has been a daily back and forth between many of the candidates but especially Romney and Giuliani. Romney saying as mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani not only welcomed illegal immigrants but did nothing to enforce the laws that should be used to discourage illegal immigrants from not only coming into America but staying in an American city.
So, it is getting much, much more personal. We're seeing that in the rhetoric back and forth, we're beginning to see it, Kiran, in the TV ads, in the mailings going out to those voters in the early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire. And again it's a reflection of the stakes. This is a remarkably tight republican race. No clear front-runner at all, a divergence, if you will, between the national polls and the state polls and because the stakes are so high, it is getting much, much more personal. And I'm going to bet right now, you will see some of that at our debate tomorrow here night.
CHETRY: All right. And hopefully we'll see some of those questions that people carefully crafted and sent in and answered to their satisfaction as well from these candidates. John King in St. Petersburg, thanks so much.
KING: Absolutely.
MARCIANO: Well, if you caught the Monday night football game you saw it was a mess and on all that slop, they had the coin toss but the NFL forgot something before the big game and has a few real-life Patriots upset. We'll talk about that part of the story coming up when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Your "Quick Hits" now. The San Diego Zoo's newest panda cub finally has a name. Zhen zhen or precious in English, went out over 2,400 names submitted by the zoo visitors. Zhen zhen was born in August but in Chinese tradition the zoo waited 100 days to actually name the cub.
And Lincoln Center kicks off its holiday season in style. Thousands came out despite the gloomy weather to watch the 18th annual tree lighting ceremony in Manhattan. People waived hundreds of magic wands as the tree came to life.
And good news for skiers and snowball throwers but bad news for drivers trying to get up and over Mt. Hood. The National Weather Service has issued a snow and blowing snow advisory that stretches across the higher elevations of the Pacific northwest. Some area resorts are starved for snow so they'll take all they can get.
Jacqui Jeras says to make that drive many time up in the past to go skiing in Mt. Hood meadows. I like to see a little bit of white on the radar there. What's going on?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: I think you're not alone with that, Rob. Yes, they got some numbers, too, a good 6 to 12 inches. The higher up you go, the higher the totals were. Most of that snow on Mt. Hood though starting to kind of fizzle out. Here, you'll see some occasional snow showers here throughout the day but the heavier stuff has been on up into the northern cascades and there you can see the snow continuing to come down, even a few sprinkles over there down into the Seattle area, just kind of an overcast day though overall for you. We do have winter storm warnings in effect for the northern cascades in Washington state and also into the bitterroot, you guys could pick up a foot of snow as well before all is said and done.
Now, this is a real potent storm system which is coming on down toward the south and high pressures is going to be building in from the west pushing the system out and as it does so, we're going to see a very strong wind begin to develop again across parts of the west. Now, today we're just going to talk moderate, relative humidity will be just above critical levels. So, we're looking at a moderate danger with 30 to 40 mile-per-hour wind gusts. We're talking about fire weather here but by tomorrow, those winds will be sinking southward. They will be picking up and we're looking at a significant Santa Ana event again. So critical fire danger is expected across southern California. So what, 97% contained now, Rob, on those Malibu fires. They've got maybe a good 12 plus hours to go. They need to get that out before those winds pick up late tonight and tomorrow.
MARCIANO: And we certainly hope that more sparks don't fly as the winds pick up tomorrow. All right. Jacqui Jeras in the severe weather center. Thanks, Jacqui. Kiran, back over to you.
CHETRY: All right. We've been talking about what parents can do if their little ones come down with a cold now that cold medicines for kids under 6 have been pulled from the shelves but getting the flu can be even worse. Today, the federal government is out with a new push to prevent the flu. And Dr. Julie Gerberding is the director from the Center for Disease Control. She joins us this morning. Thanks for being with us, doctor.
DR. JULIE GERBERDING, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL: Good morning.
CHETRY: Let's talk about the importance of flu vaccines for high risk kids and for children in general but first of all which children absolutely need a flu shot?
GERBERDING: Well, you know, children from the ages of 6 months to 5 years of age definitely should get a flu shot. These little kids are at risk for hospitalization, and the complications that flu can bring. So we definitely want to get them vaccinated but any child with a medical condition would increase their risk so we want any child with diabetes, or asthma or any other kind of serious medical complication to also get the flu shot.
CHETRY: So, parents may be wondering is it too late, did we miss the window? When can you continue vaccinating?
GERBERDING: Absolutely, not too late. This is actually national influenza vaccination week and today is children's influenza vaccine day so we're really emphasizing that it's certainly not too late. The flu hasn't peaked yet this year. There are many months ahead of us and there's still time to get protected.
CHETRY: Yes, there's been some concern about this preservative in many flu shots called thymerisal, which is made up of mercury and some fear that there are links to autism because of this. In fact, when I went to get my flu shot the physician's assistant said because I'm pregnant I just want to make you aware that this does contain thymerisal. Is it safe to get a vaccine containing this preservative if you are pregnant or among young children and babies?
GERBERDING: You know, the amount of thymerisal in these shots is really not a health hazard to anyone but we also have a very large supply of thymerisal-free vaccine this year. So, if parents are concerned they should request that their pediatrician give them a shot that doesn't contain that vaccine. There's also for older children, a nasal vaccine that's extremely effective for healthy kids and that vaccine does not contain thymerisal either.
CHETRY: Is that the flu mist?
GERBERDING: That's right.
CHETRY: What age can children get that?
GERBERDING: It's not available for the youngest children. In fact, we don't have a vaccine at all for children under 6 months of age. So if you have a very young baby, it's important that you get vaccinated, and that other people in your family get vaccinated so that you're protecting the child.
CHETRY: Yes and that is the advice that we got as well, if you have a small baby, everyone around them should get the vaccine.
GERBERDING: Exactly.
CHETRY: And to offer them at least some protection. One other quick question, we've talked in past years about shortages of flu vaccine. What is the case this year in terms of how much it available?
GERBERDING: Well, I'm always respectful of something can go wrong in flu season but this year, we have the most doses ever. We have even more than we did last year and we're very confident that anyone who wants a shot or a vaccine is going to be able to get it this year so it's not too late. Please do it now.
CHETRY: OK. And one other quick thing before you go, if you're allergic to eggs you should not get a flu shot?
GERBERDING: The vaccine is made in egg so it is important that people with an egg allergy not be immunized. For those people, again, vaccinate those around them who aren't allergic and if they get the flu it's important to know there's also treatment so to seek medical attention early enough after the symptoms develop so that you can take advantage of the effective anti-viral therapies that we have.
CHETRY: All right. Hopefully this will be an easy flu season because as we've seen especially in the elderly and young children it can be devastating. Julie Gerberding, the director of the CDC, thanks for joining us.
GERBERDING: Thank you.
MARCIANO: It is Tuesday morning, that means it's time for a Monday night football update. And it was a sloppy one. The Pittsburgh Steelers though had a 3-0 win during old-fashioned mud ball at Heinz Field last night. The game was delayed for lightning, and the scoring, well, never really got started. But finally, a field goal with 17 seconds left lifted Pittsburgh over Miami. The dolphins are now 0-11. It was the lowest scoring game in NFL history or at least since 1993.
And not only was it an ugly end but it got off to a bad start when the NFL apparently decided to skip the national anthem. According to the Steelers, the league wanted to start the game as soon as possible after the weather delay. It would have taken a few more minutes to set up the mikes at midfield. There were no player introductions either.
Well, are taser guns a form of torture? The United Nation weighs in. We'll show you that just ahead.
And how a new benefit uncovered for testosterone, but don't go out and buy yourself just yet. That's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Peace talks getting under way in Annapolis, Maryland this morning just a couple of hours from now. In fact, delegates from nearly 50 countries, including Israel and the Arab world working toward a settlement. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us now with more. What's expected to come out of today? Hi, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. We expect President Bush to make remarks here and he is really going to stress that now is the time for Israelis, Palestinians, the United States, the Arab community to come together to support this Middle East peace process for a two-state solution, Israel/Palestine, living together side by side, in peace. We also expect, however, the president is going to emphasize what the Bush administration sees as a common threat, a threat to moderates and that is Islamic extremists, so-called terrorists and even what the President described as really what he sees as a growing threat from Iran and its support for Hamas, so you are going to hear, trying to rally this coalition behind those two key themes.
What you're not going to hear, Kiran, is really very much detail coming from the President on those sticking points that has really tripped up Israeli and Palestinians as well as the United States in these talks before, that is any kind of ideas like where the Palestinian refugees will return or the status of Jerusalem. Think low expectations for this summit, Kiran.
CHETRY: So, in the end, what would be considered success, what are they hoping to accomplish?
MALVEAUX: Well, a lot of officials are still up in the air whether or not they'll have any kind of agreement, and anything written down when it comes to negotiations and what are they talking about? What are they negotiating? Essentially what you're going to see coming out of today is perhaps a picture of the three leaders shaking hands, all of the leaders coming together, and secondly, some sort of agreement, a commitment to a deadline or a timetable, saying, look, we'll take the next 14 months while President Bush is still in office to at least commit to moving the process forward, but it's far from certain whether or not it will be a real substantive agreement. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Suzanne Malveaux for us at the White House. Thank you.
MARCIANO: Well the U.N. is weighing in on tasers of all things.
CHETRY: That's right. Veronica de la Cruz has that story and much more in our tech hits this morning. Hi, Veronica.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Hi, guys. You know that we've seen the recent push for these consumer taser models. I know Kiran, you did the whole taser party thing. Women talking about having ...
CHETRY: Like Tupperware.
DE LA CRUZ: Isn't that crazy? Host your taser party. CHETRY: The woman was having a taser party as opposed to a Tupperware party.
DE LA CRUZ: It's actually this new fad, tasers. The company is trying to get people like you and I to buy them for protection. And like Rob was just saying, now a U.N. committee against torture is saying certain stun guns cause so much pain they might constitute a form of torture. The committee was particularly concerned with the taser X-26, which is made by Taser International. It was recently acquired by Portuguese Police, but the company stands behind its product. This is what is posted to its website, a statement which reads, "although no use of force device is risk free, medical experts and recent comprehensive reports have concluded that taser systems are among the safer use-of-force alternatives."
All right. Other news this morning, you know, people buy all sorts of things on ebay - cars, clothes, furniture, but a tiny town in Texas, an Italian man placed a winning bid of $3.8 million to become the proud owner of Albert, Texas. Albert is about 60 miles north of San Antonio and the town is tiny.
CHETRY: He's going to have to rename it. Though.
DE LA CRUZ: No one lives there permanently, but there's a pavilion, a dance hall, there you go, tractor shades, some peach orchards. There's also that tavern that Rob just mentioned, that's open on the weekends. The town's current owner has to make sure that that bid is legitimate. I wanted to talk about the baby panda really quick, Zhen Zhen. It was an online contest, right. And my theory it was probably the easiest thing to pronounce.
MARCIANO: I messed it up three times yesterday and if not for your help I wouldn't be able to pronounce it.
DE LA CRUZ: You did a beautiful job. Ming Xua, Ming Hsu and Xiao Li -
MARCIANO: On my way speaking...
CHETRY: What does Zhen Zhen mean again?
DE LA CRUZ: Precious.
CHETRY: I like it.
DE LA CRUZ: Sandiegozoo.org, it's the web site, just in case you want to check it out yourself.
MARCIANO: I know they didn't have any names that meant like ax murderer, or something like that.
CHETRY: Rob, he's a little adorable -
DE LA CRUZ: The baby panda is named precious. Suitably so.
MARCIANO: Now, 100 days old. All right. Thanks a lot. Well, new study shows more testosterone can help save men from deadly heart attacks. Don't go get those supplements just yet. We'll tell you why, coming up.
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CHETRY: Three minutes before the top of the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding your Business." You know, we're talking about the question because of that market correction. As to whether or not we're headed toward a recession, you're going to sort of fill in the blanks exactly what this means.
ALI VELSHI, CNN, BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This is what I want to say because of overwhelming results in favor of people thinking we're going to have a recession. So I wanted to let you know what a recession is, you can vote any way you want. But according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, who are the recession people.
A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale retail sales. You take a whole pot of stuff, you put it in there and you decide whether it's in a recession. Take a look at the recent recessions we had, the last one ended in 2001. But we've had about four in the last 30 years, 1980 and 1981 both saw recessions and in 1981 it lasted 16 months. Then in 1990 to 1991, eight months and 2001, another eight-month recession. They don't tend to last all that long but that is that is what a recession officially is.
MARCIANO: I always thought it was two consecutive months with negative GDP, that's not the case?
VELSHI: Right, there have been recessions that don't follow that particular pattern so they broadened out the definition some time ago. So, it's lasting more than a few months.
CHETRY: It's also interesting when they fall on presidential election years.
VELSHI: That kind of messes things up. The hearing lies the rub, what's going to happen in 2008. You tell us. And that's our vote, check it out. We're asking you, what do you think? You think we're going to be in a recession next year? Cast your vote at CNN.com.
CHETRY: Well, right now, 84% are saying yes and 16% are saying no. We're going to continue to tally the votes throughout the morning.
MARCIANO: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
CHETRY: Breaking news, the death of NFL star, Sean Taylor. The shock, the grief, and the search for the gunman who shot him.
Peace talks.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT, U.S.: Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security.
CHETRY: High hopes in Annapolis this morning. What the talks mean for the region and the U.S. troops in Iraq.
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