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American Morning

GOP Showdown; CNN YouTube Debate; Oil Prices Surge; Exploding Cell

Aired November 29, 2007 - 06:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry in New York.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts in St. Petersburg, Florida. Kiran, it was a lot of mud being thrown on that stage last night. What did you think?

CHETRY: Very entertaining. And in a couple of minutes we'll get some breakdowns on what the audience thought and the times they thought were the best of the debate and the times that were not so good. I guess you could tell by some of the boos at different points what they didn't like but boy, all in all, a very interesting debate.

ROBERTS: Yeah, our dial testing will tell us they liked it when they were on the issues or did they like it when they were trying to duke it out with each other to try to highlight their differences. All of that we'll get into in the next three hours here on AMERICAN MORNING.

With just five weeks until the first poll that really counts, republican candidates went at it here last night on CNN. The question came right from you through the power of You Tube and they jump started some of the most heated exchanges on the issues to date, at least on the republican side, everything from immigration to Iraq to what would Jesus do.

Dana Bash joins us now live with a little bit more on this. You watched the debate last night. What was the highlight for you?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well definitely, right off the beginning when Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney were responding to a question about immigration, specifically the whole issue of sanctuary cities. It set off fireworks right from the start. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The mayor said, and I quote almost verbatim, if you happen to be in this country in an undocumented status, and that means you're here illegally, then we welcome you here, we want you here, we will protect you here.

RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In his case there were six sanctuary cities.

ROMNEY: The policies of the mayor pursuing a sanctuary nation or pursuing a sanctuary city are frankly wrong.

GIULIANI: He had sanctuary mansions not just sanctuary cities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So there you go, there you have it. That was literally right out of the box, the very first question they started going at each other and they started going at each other hard. Are there really that many differences between them? It's true that Romney was governor of a state that had sanctuary cities and clearly New York City was.

BASH: That's right. Look, there are some differences between then on immigration, on their records but you know what this really illustrated first of all was how incredibly tense it was between these two men. Mitt Romney of course is doing well in the early states. Rudy Giuliani is doing well in terms of the national polls but these guys are fighting over an issue, that really is the issue, immigration that riles the republican base. They want to hear these candidates talk about this in Iowa, in New Hampshire, in South Carolina. That's why you saw them go at it so aggressively. They have been doing it from afar, this time they did it up close.

ROBERTS: Mitt Romney also attacked Mike Huckabee last night saying that on immigration it was like talking to Mike Huckabee was like talking to a liberal from Massachusetts. Mike Huckabee was talking about the program he tried to get through in Arkansas where the children of undocumented aliens would have access to scholarships. Here's what Huckabee had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In all due respect, we're a better country than to punish children for what their parents did. We're a better country than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So he says, "We're a better country than to punish the children of illegal immigrants for what their parents did." It's a lovely notion but is that what the republican base wants to hear?

BASH: No, especially not in the state where Mike Huckabee is doing the best and that is that is the state of Iowa. I mean this is a state where 86% in a recent poll of republican voters there say they think immigration is a very, very important issue. Mike Huckabee realizes that his stance on immigration, giving tuition breaks to children of illegal immigrants, that that isn't going to help him in Iowa. He said it is what it is. And no shocker, he quoted scripture to me.

ROBERTS: He said I got to go what I got to do regardless whether it's popular or not. One of the things we like to do at the You Tube debates is we ask the campaigns to send us in a video, a You Tube style video. Most candidates choose to promote themselves. Fred Thompson went at it a little bit differently last night. Look at this. Apparently we don't have that. What he did was, he said that, rather than talk about himself, he put on the other candidates, Mike Huckabee talking about raising taxes and who was the other one as well?

BASH: And it was Mitt Romney and Mitt Romney back when he was governor talking about his stance in favor of abortion rights. That was interesting that ad for two reasons. Number one it was really the first attack ad of the whole campaign season when you talk about the republican candidates. Everyone was trying to figure out who's going to do it first and we have the answer now and it was Fred Thompson. And his aides fully admit it was for one reason, to get attention and it got attention. But there was another interesting moment that that elicited which was from Mitt Romney and he basically said, look, I was different then and if you don't agree with that, I'm sorry. This has been his Achilles heel and he really faced it last night.

ROBERTS: He said we all make mistakes, I changed my mind. Dana Bash, good to see you. Thanks very much for coming in.

After the debate I had a chance to catch up with a few of the candidates and talk to them and hear their thoughts on how they fared. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUCKABEE: I wish every debate had been like this. I think it would have been a wonderful experience. Some of the questions were tough but you know facing the American people ought to be a tough task.

GIULIANI: I thought this might have been the loosest in terms of the each one of the candidates. They seemed more like themselves.

REP. RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nobody looked at me for 35 minutes and it was getting desperately close to the end where I thought it was very, very unfair. But it was unfair but not terribly unfair because I got my ad up at the right time and it was a great ad and then I had two questions, so I think we did well toward the end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And I'll have much more on my interviews with the candidates a little bit later on here on AMERICAN MORNING. After the debate was over, CNN found out that the man who asked one of the most intense questions of the night had a connection to the Clinton campaign. We didn't know it at the time. But we do know it now and we want to clear things up for you. He is retired army brigadier General Keith Kerr who asked about the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. After the candidates gave their response to his You Tube post, General Kerr who was in the audience, had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. KEITH KERR, U.S. ARMY (RET.): American men and women in the military are professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians. For 42 years, I wore the uniform, the army uniform on active duty in the reserve and also for the state of California. I revealed I was a gay man after I retired. Today, don't ask, don't tell is destructive to our military policy. (END VIDEO TAPE)

ROBERTS: Well, later CNN found out that General Kerr is in face a member of Hillary Clinton's lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender steering committee. CNN's senior vice president and executive producer of the debate, David Boreman says, "We regret this incident. CNN would not have used the general's question if he had known that he was connected to any presidential candidate." Prior to the debate CNN had verified the general's military background and that he had not contributed any money to any presidential candidate. Following the debate, Kerr told CNN that he has done no work for the Clinton campaign. He says he is a member of the Log Cabin Republicans and was representing no one other than himself. We're going to talk to General Kerr life later on AMERICAN MORNING. But right now, back to New York and here's Kiran.

CHETRY: The curtain will rise tonight on Broadway for the first time this holiday season. Broadway stagehands and theater producers reaching a tentative agreement overnight to settle the 19-day strike. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called it great news for everyone who earns their living on Broadway and for everyone who lives, works and visits New York City. Our Lola Ogunnaike has been following this story and, you know, when you talk about who visits the Broadway shows are what bring in a ton of tourists this time of year.

LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Kiran and this could not have come at a better time. They were negotiating for two days. They finally came to a compromise last night at about 10:30. It was over how many stagehands it would take to actually set up a show and make the show run. They finally came to a compromise. It could not come anytime sooner. The strike has lasted nearly 19 days and cost New York City $40 million. I went to Times Square last nights after the news was announced and I spoke with several business people.

I spoke with one restaurant manager, he was ecstatic. He said his business has been down 60 percent. He was all too happy that they finally came to a conclusion. Even the cab driver who drove me home once I told him the strike was over, he said yay and he quickly got on his dispatch to spread the news. So you know this not only effected Broadway, it effected all the ancillary businesses. Thanksgiving is second-most profitable week. New Years, the week between Christmas and New Years is the most profitable week so it looks like there will be happy holidays on Broadway after all.

CHETRY: When are they officially going to be back on lights on?

OGUNNAIKE: Performances are back on this evening.

CHETRY: Not wasting any time. Lola, thanks so much.

Well, some other headlines new this morning, troops in the Philippines storming a luxury hotel in Manilla overnight firing tear gas and ramming the hotel with an armored personnel carrier. And this whole thing was seen live on TV. There you see it. Rebels were holed up in the hotel. They were demanding the resignation of the president of the Philippines, hotel guests were evacuated and the rebels surrendered shortly after that siege began.

Also, new violence this morning in Pakistan, right at the time when Pervez Musharraf was sworn in as president. At least 12 lawyers were hurt when police charged into a rally with batons. Musharraf retired as general, delivering on a promise he had been making for some time to hand over the military reigns. In an exclusively interview with CNN, President Bush called it an important step but not enough. We're going to show you what else he wants a little bit later.

Also following breaking news this morning of a pipeline explosion, it happened in Minnesota late last night and the fallout this morning on oil prices can be felt. That explosion killed two workers. It shut down four pipelines that carry 1.5 million barrels a day. The price of a barrel of oil had fallen to under $91 yesterday. But after news of that blast, oil surged up more than $4 to $95.17. Ali Velshi joining me now with more on the fall out from this. First of all, horrible tragedy, two people killed.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, two people died while trying to get that fire out on this pipeline. This is a pipeline that takes oil from Alberta through Saskatchewan into northwestern Minnesota. The explosion happened at Clear Brook, which is about 215 miles northwest of Minneapolis. It then takes the oil down to Chicago and Detroit. Oil is stored at various points along that pipeline so there won't be shortages of distilled product all along there. There may be places because they can't get this pipeline up for a few days where there will be some shortages perhaps price spikes, but you can see how tight we are in oil supply when something real does happen, this isn't speculative, it sends the price of oil up more than $4 this morning.

However, the price of oil was one of the contributors to the day we had on the market. It was a record setting day. The Dow had its biggest percentage gain of the day and it was the second largest point gain of the day. It was up 2.55 percent. The actual number was 331 points. Now the only day that the Dow this year has gone up more than 331 points was back on September 18 and that was the day that the fed cut interest rates by 50 basis points.

There were a couple other things working in favor of stocks yesterday. One is that the fed came out and said or suggested that rate cuts could continue to come. A couple days ago, Goldman Sachs had suggested that the fed rate could go down as low as 3 percent. We're at 4.5 percent right now, which means your prime rate is 7.5 percent. Imagine another 1.5 percentage points below that. That's what got markets going yesterday. We also have news on housing which I'll bring you later in the show, Kiran. And in the debate last night we heard a lot about a fair tax. I'm going to tell our viewers what a fair tax is later on as well.

CHETRY: It will be interesting because that's another big campaign issue on the GOP side taxes for sure. It just goes to show you that we're talking, is there a recession on Monday or Tuesday and then a huge rally and rebound for the market.

VELSHI: And the thing is, we'll probably see these kinds of ups and downs a lot. That's the thing to remember. Most people are not happy with big swings like this in their own portfolio. You can protect yourself against that sort of thing but you're going the see these kinds of moves.

CHETRY: All right. Ali, thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: And here's it's swampy and it's going to be warm today. A cell phone horror story, could your mobile device be putting your life at risk? It is the most talked about story on CNN.com and we will bring it to you coming up.

And when immigration came up in last night's republican debate, the gloves came off. We're putting what the candidates said to the test, with the truth-o-meter, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: We have some incredible shots this morning in our Quick Hits now. A Mexican restaurant, this is in McAllen, Texas just swallowed by fire. There you see the flames. Hundreds of people watched as the building burned. Luckily no one was inside. This has been out of business for years and no one was hurt. But some amazing pictures from it nonetheless.

Accusing Bolivia's president of running an evil empire, a protester wearing a Darth Vader mask, joined a strike against President Evan Morales's government. Public schools, stores and transportation closed in cities across Bolivia yesterday as demonstrators demanded a constitutional overhaul.

And a bottle but no genie in Christina Aguilera's future. The pregnant diva stripped down for this sexy mama cover of Marie Claire magazine. There you see it. She was keeping the pregnancy secret during her tour. Hard to hide it now and the issue hits newsstands on December 11. John.

ROBERTS: The candidates went after each other hard in last night's CNN You Tube debate. This morning we're running some of their statements through our famous truth-o-meter. Phil Adair who's the Washington bureau chief was here for the debate and he joins me now. Good morning to you.

PHIL ADAIR: Good morning, John.

ROBERTS: A lot of this is going to center on Romney and Giuliani. On immigration is one of the strongest ones. Let's take a listen and we'll run it through the truth-o-meter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: The mayor said and I quote almost verbatim which is, if you happen to be in this country in an undocumented status, and that means you're here illegally, then we welcome you here. We want you here. We'll protect you here. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So the accusation from Romney there is that Giuliani was the mayor of a sanctuary city. True or not true.

ADAIR: As far as the statement goes, did he say that, true. The whole sanctuary city thing is more complicated. Giuliani had a policy in New York, sort of a don't ask, don't tell for city employees. Some people have labeled that a sanctuary city. But it's one of these thing that a sanctuary city is becoming a terms of art in this whole thing.

ROBERTS: Giuliani fired right back at Romney accusing him of running a sanctuary mansion because he apparently hired a landscaping company that was hiring illegal immigrants. He said hey, don't hit me for being in charge of a sanctuary city. You were in charge of a state that had six sanctuary cities in it. Let's take a look at Giuliani's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANI: In this case there were six sanctuary cities. He had a sanctuary mansion, not just a sanctuary city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: All right. So let's run that one through the truth-o- meter.

ADAIR: Well, Romney's response was I did not hire illegal immigrants and we gave that a barely true. And the reason was he did and the "Boston Globe" did a very complete job looking into this and found that a landscape company that he hired had employed illegal immigrants. We gave him a barely true because we felt that his answer, what homeowner would ask the status of their lawn service was reasonable. But as far as whether he did it or not, he did. And so we gave that a wirily true.

ROBERTS: Romney also responded to this question, it was a very good too from a father and son saying what are you going to do about inner city crime? He said that 68 percent of African-Americans are born out of wedlock and therefore he would seek to focus attention on dual parenting, family values. Where did you find that statement that 68 percent of African-Americans were born out of wedlock?

ADAIR: That was true. We checked it out and we were skeptical. We heard that number, and thought there's no way that could be true, that's so high. We checked it out with the CDC who keeps those statistics and it was true.

ROBERTS: Right. It's good to be here with you in person. Thanks for running those statements through the truth-o-meter this morning. Kiran.

CHETRY: As you heard immigration a big, hot topic last night. And it brings us to this morning's quick vote question. Who from the debate last night do you think has the best solution for illegal immigration? Cast your votes, CNN.com/am. We'll have the first tally of votes coming up later in the hour.

Also, it's a blessing but a curse for a guy in Massachusetts. Timothy Elliott was thrilled. He bought a $10 scratch off ticket and won a million dollars. The catch is Elliott though is an ex-con and the terms of his probation say no gambling, so a court hearing will determine if he gets to keep his million dollars.

Also they're calling it a stunning drug bust in Florida. Police found marijuana plants with a street value of more than a million dollars inside a home in Orlando. They say it is one of the biggest they've seen in years. A man who was renting that home was arrested.

Well, cell phones we all use them and take them for granted. But could a freak accident put you at risk? It is the most talked about story right now on CNN.com. And we're going to bring it to you ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. 24 minutes past the hour, your cell phone, a ticking time bomb? Veronica De La Cruz joins us now with one of the most talked about stories on the web this morning. It almost sounds like a B movie plot.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, it is a crazy story getting a lot of attention on CNN.com. There are questions today about whether it was an exploding cell phone that killed a 33- year-old man in South Korea. The man was found dead at his work place. His mobile phone melted into a shirt pocket. Police believe that the lithium ion battery in the cell phone exploded. Koreatimes.com posted a photo of the phone after it melted.

We are looking at it right here. Next is a photo of that phone and how it would originally look like. The phone was apparently made by the LG Electronics Company, the world's largest cell phone manufacturer, the fifth largest rather. Repeated attempts to contact LG Electronics for a statement were unsuccessful. We asked the president of the watch group, the Wireless Consumers Alliance, about the potential dangers of cell phones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL HILLIARD, PRESIDENT, WIRELESS CONSUMERS ALLIANCE: Because you have so much energy packed into such a small space, that it can explode and when it does, the results are very horrific.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DE LA CRUZ: Doctors in South Korea say the man who died had burns on his chest, fractured ribs and internal bleeding. The Wireless Consumers Alliance told us they get reports about once a month about cell phones exploding in the United States but they have never heard of anyone dying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLIARD: And the message that needs to get out to consumers is that these are not toys, these are very sophisticated instruments. They require a lot of power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DE LA CRUZ: Hilliard also says the Consumer Protection Agency and the cell phone industry have been looking into this problem and are working towards a solution, such as a new battery design. In the meantime he suggests handling cell phones and lap tops accordingly. You might want to think twice before you put it in your shirt pocket. You do remember that recall with the lap top batteries not too long a lot.

CHETRY: So what I'm wondering is, is it that the battery has a shelf life and you need to replace it or is it something you're doing wrong with the phone?

DE LA CRUZ: The investigation, it's going to take them 10 days to do the investigation to see whether it was the cell phone battery. So I'm not going to say that it was even the cell phone battery at this time. But he's saying to think twice and there was that lap top battery recall so you don't know if the two are connected.

CHETRY: It sounds like they don't really have an answer at this point to what you're supposed to do. You carry your phone everywhere.

DE LA CRUZ: We'll know in 10 days whether or not it was the battery in that cell phone that caused the explosion.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks a lot, Veronica. John?

ROBERTS: Coming up now to 27 minutes after the hour and it's time for our AMERICAN MORNING hot shot. An advertising balloon makes an unexpected landing in a Massachusetts town before taking off again. Dennis woke up to find this giant blimp in his backyard. What did he do? He called the telephone number on it. The owner lived in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania some 350 miles a way.

The owner said it must have come loose in a storm. But Dennis says he couldn't help her out because the balloon took off again later that day to parts unknown. If you have a hot shot, send it to us. The address is amhotshots@CNN.com. Be sure to include your name, where you're from, a little bit about the picture or video and one more thing, please make sure the image is yours and not someone else's. Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Coming up, why the rush to retire in Washington? A lot of senators that we have been reporting every day are leaving by the end of the year. Where are they off to and what payday awaits them? We're going to look at that and other stories when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: A foggy, steamy morning here on the Gulf Coast of Florida. There is the CNN Election Express outside of the Mayhap Theater to scene of last night's second CNN YouTube Debate. We'll be covering that all morning. We've got interviews coming up with Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, as well as Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. So make sure you stick around for all of that. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's Thursday, the 29th of November. I'm John Roberts in St. Petersburg.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, John, good to see you. I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.

And we start with breaking news out of the Philippines. Military forces using tear gas and a tank to storm a luxury hotel in Manila where rebels were calling for the resignation of the president of the Philippines. All of it playing out live on TV. The tense standoff finally came to an end. Emily Chang following the developments and how it all ended from our world update desk this morning. Hi, Emily.

EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. Well, just in the last few hours, rebel leaders including a top senator stormed out of a courtroom where they were on trial for an attempted coup and into a luxury hotel in the financial district of Manila. They took several civilians hostages calling for President Gloria Arroyo to step down. But almost immediately afterward, several soldiers and police officers loyal to the president surrounded the hotel and began to advance towards it. Several journalists had gathered inside the hotel. They refused to leave and began broadcasting live pictures from inside.

Soldiers first fired tear gas into the hotel. We saw some images of those journalists and rebel leaders inside wiping their eyes and mouths apparently burning from that tear gas. Then you could hear heavy machine-gun fire and a giant armored vehicle burst into the hotel lobby. CNN heard from a businessman who's staying at the hotel as a guest. He described running around the hotel trying to escape and running directly into armed rebel soldiers. He also said he helped two women who were apparently choking from that tear gas before they all fled to safety.

Now, just in the last hours, those rebel leaders did surrender saying they didn't want to risk the lives of anyone and the Philippine Defense Secretary declared the standoff officially over. We saw those rebel leaders walk out of the hotel and be taken into custody. But certainly, it's been a tumultuous seven years since President Arroyo came to power. She survived at least three coup attempts and this is certainly signs that arrest unrest is still lingering.

Luckily though, no one was killed in this standoff and there were reports of injuries and authorities have now imposed a midnight to dawn curfew there to quell any possible uprising overnight.

CHETRY: Yes, I mean, it's amazing that all of that was caught on tape and you could just see it as it was unfolding. Emily Chang for us in London, thank you.

Also new this morning, Broadway is officially back. The striking stagehands ended their nearly three-week walkout. They reached a tentative deal last night, coming out of the building to a lot of cheers because boy it's the height of the season and a lot of people were suffering financially because of this strike. More than two dozen shows will be back in business tonight. Meanwhile, TV and movie writers will meet with producers again today to try to end that strike. One late-night talk show though has decided to return to the air. Carson Daily resuming production of his NBC show.

Well, almost 3,000 families have to be out of their FEMA trailers by the end of May. That's a new deadline for closing trailer parks set up in Louisiana after hurricane's Rita and Katrina. Some of the smaller parks close in the next few days. FEMA says it will help everyone find new rental housing and that no one will be forced out. Trailers on private property are not affected.

The new reports says that million of Americans especially kids are needlessly exposed to CT scan radiation. That report appears in the New England Journal of Medicine. It says as many as 2 percent of all cancers in the country could be due to CAT scan radiation. Some expert say the warning is exaggerated but do agree that kids shouldn't be getting as many scans. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us at the top of the hour to weigh in on the results of those studies.

John?

ROBERTS: Important stuff. Look forward to his report. While the candidates were answering your video questions, CNN gathered a group of undecided voters together to get some instant feedback. It's called dial testing. The lines in blue along the screen are men and the yellow lines are the women. If they liked something that one of the candidates said, the bars rise.

One of the high points for voters was this remark by Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The first thing that I would get rid of would be the Internal Revenue Service. We have had a $10 billion a year industry. Which I'm not being facetious, if we enacted the fair tax, one of the most researched ways to revive our economic future. We would get rid of the IRS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Obviously, a pretty popular answer and when the bars dipped down, it meant that the undecided voters did not like what they are hearing. Like bickering among the candidates. Watch what happens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you hear someone that's working out there, not that you've employed, but that the company has, if you hear someone with a funny accent, you as a homeowner is supposed to go out there and say I want to see your papers? Is that what you're suggesting?

RUDY GIULIANI, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, what I'm suggesting is, if you are going to...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me -- let me finish my story.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let the senator respond and then we got to move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: There you go, voters at least on the dial testing seemed to appreciate issues more than fighting. And just hours before last night's showdown, a story surfaced about Rudy Giuliani's time as mayor of New York City and the affair that he had with his now wife Judith Nathan. According to documents obtain by the political website, Giuliani's office billed hotel, gas, and security expenses to various city agencies that were not the mayor's office. For trips to the Hampton. Nathan had a condominium there. Last night after the debate, I asked Mayor Giuliani about those allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANI: It was a perfectly appropriate set of expenses. It makes it look like there was something wrong with this. I was covered by the police 24 hours a day every day that I was mayor; I was covered because there were threats to kill me. I thought the way the story was presented was kind of like a hit job, and coming, you know, two hours before this debate. I kind of got the sense that it wasn't a legitimate story. It was kind of a hit job.

ROBERTS: Are you suggesting that this was perhaps opposition research of one of your opponents.

GIULIANI: Oh no, it couldn't be. This story is like five years old. We're going back to dates in 1999, 2000. What, this is 2007. So, you know, I kind of thought, coming two hours before the debate after seven years, it was. And of course if you look at it carefully, these are all legitimate expenses. I see this as a two-hour before a debate hit. Gosh, I wouldn't accuse any of my opponents of doing it. But who knows? It could be on the Democratic side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: One of the former mayors political advisors also said allegations that Giuliani tried to hide anything were nonsense. We'll have more of my interview coming up in just a little while but right now back to New York. And here's Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, John, thanks. Well, a small stampede in Washington. It seems over the last month, two dozen members of Congress resigning or announcing their retirement. So, what is behind that rush? Well, there is a new law that takes effect next year that would double the waiting period for a member of Congress to return as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill. A popular route to take after you decide to step down. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence has been investigating just how much money former members of congress make. Hey, Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, is it safe to say a ton of cash. I think it would be. You know, some of these senior level staffers can make $150,000, $250,000 a year, then you take somebody like a Senator Trent Lott or Representative Denny Hastert, upwards of a million dollars plus. And we're not just talking one job. We're talking about -- they may have two, even three things working at once. So, say you are consulting for a lobbying firm on one hand and then working for an investment bank or a private equity firm on the other.

I spoke with -- we'll call him a head hunter, one of the tops in the game. He's placed dozens of politicians into some of these positions and he says it all depends on the strength of their relationships that they develop while they were in office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL OLSON, KORN FERRY INTERNATIONAL: Their relationships are no longer there or they haven't kept their relationships up. The amount of what they can expect to be compensated will in a firm, you know, can drop.

LAWRENCE: Or if there's been a political change, you have the connections on the Republican side and now did they replace to go.

OLSON: Absolutely. You can certainly see that and that's why I think you see most of these folks try as best they can to have Bipartisan relationships.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Right now, there is a cooling off period of one year. Which means, they can't directly lobby until a year after they're out of office. At the end of this year, that jumps to two years and Kiran, in a town where you got an election every two years that could be an eternity.

CHETRY: Yes, it certainly is a long time. But my question is so once they retire, they're no longer in Congress, shouldn't they just be free to earn a living?

LAWRENCE: Yes, I wouldn't begrudge anybody making a buck, you know. But a lot of the watch dog groups, they point to situations like Representative Billy Tauzin. Former Representative Tauzin. He was part of the committee that negotiated the terms for the Medicare prescription drug law. And that also included some protections for the drug industry. Well, when he retired, he took a job as a head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Some of the watch dog groups look at that and say, well, when he was in the office was he working for the people or was he working for his future employer? Now, he hasn't done anything wrong, but they look at situations like that and they say, well, maybe more needs to be done. And one of the things they're proposing is to make the rules similar to that of foreign corporations or foreign countries. People who lobby for them in that everybody you talk to has to be documented so it's more transparent.

CHETRY: I got you. So, it's currently one year and they're extending that to two years.

LAWRENCE: At the end of the year, the dead lines are almost here.

CHETRY: All right. Maybe, we'll see some worth retirements along the way.

LAWRENCE: I'm sure we might just do that.

CHETRY: Thanks so much, Chris. Well, Barack Obama has Oprah Winfrey. Hillary Clinton has Barbara Streisand. Now, we're going to hear from Mike Huckabee celebrity backer. Someone you definitely don't want to mess around with.

Also, an elderly woman watching her entire Christmas fund literally blows away down the street. All of that cash up for grabs. Would you take the money and run or do the right thing? Well, we're going to tell you whether or not she got it all back. Coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: And welcome back to the most news in the morning. Wow, check out that snow. Some big flakes falling in Portland, Oregon. Good for snowballs, not so good for drivers of course. A first few inches of the season fell in some of the higher elevation of the northwest and certainly a wintry mess down below as well. 44 minutes past the hour now, Rob Marciano tracking it for us. We have snow there. Possibly some lake-effect snow in parts of -- in parts of the north and it's just cold in a lot of the country.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: Some of the Republican front-runners were taking shots at governor Mike Huckabee at last night's CNN YouTube Debate. Evidence of how strong Huckabee is coming on lately. Of course, these days taking shots at Huckabee might come with a little bit of risk. I caught up with the candidate last night after the debate and asked him how he and his new celebrity endorser Chuck Norris got together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The chuck and Huck deal actually started when Chuck and his wife Gina took a good look at all the candidates and all of a sudden, we saw his column on "World Net Daily" that supported me. And we were just stunned and thrilled. And here we go

ROBERTS: So, Chuck, what do you bring to the campaign here?

CHUCK NORRIS, HUCKABEE SUPPORTER: Well, I don't know what I bring to the campaign except my support. That's why I started researching Mike and just found out that Mike is a guy who means what he says and says what he means and that's important to me and so, that's why I'm jump on the campaign trail with him.

ROBERTS: What did you think of the debate tonight? We're you comfortable with the format? Did you like taking questions directly from the public?

HUCKABEE: You know, if you're going to be president, you're going to work for the people, not for pundits. I love it. I thought it was terrific. Because, we heard from real people out there in America who got to participate in the process of Democracy. After tonight, I wish every debate have been like this. I think, it would have been a wonderful experience. Some of the questions were tough, but you know, facing the American people ought to be a tough task. It was tonight. But I thought it was a respectful and it was a fun debate. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

ROBERTS: You seemed to take one on the chin tonight from Governor Romney who said that talking to you on immigration and some benefits for the children of illegal aliens was like talking to a liberal from Massachusetts.

HUCKABEE: Well, you know, I'm going to let him say whatever he wants. You know, I'm running for president, I'm not running against these other guys. We're going to need to be united when it comes time to run against the other party next year. So, if others want to, you know, pop me at the kneecap, that's their business. But my focus is on what they're doing, my focus is on what I need to be doing to be the best president this country could have.

ROBERTS: So, you said that America is better than to punish the children, undocumented aliens for what their parents have done. Is that a message that resonates with the base? Is that what Republicans want to hear in this election?

HUCKABEE: I'm not sure they want to hear it. But it's what I believe. So, I got to say it. I'm not going to say something I don't really believe and I'm not going to pander to a crowd. I don't care what it is. The fact is I want a secure border. I don't believe in amnesty and I don't believe in sanctuary cities and I think we ought to have a heavy penalty on employers who knowingly hired. But I don't believe, you punish the unguilty for the guilty. And you don't punish your child for what the parent did. Whether it's a bank robbery or whether it's coming across the border.

And so, if that causes people to say I'm not voting for Mike Huckabee because of that. Well, I got some people up here on this stage that will tell them whatever they want to hear. I'm just not going to be one of them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Well, while some of the things he said on stage last night might not necessarily resonate with voters in Iowa, a new CNN poll has Huckabee running virtually neck and neck with Mitt Romney these days.

Kiran? CHETRY: Wow and one of those polls has same way pulling ahead in Iowa at least. Well, a holiday disaster for one elderly woman became a Christmas miracle for some shoppers in Western Massachusetts yesterday, when all of a sudden money was blowing everywhere.

Police say it belong to an 83-year-old woman who was caught up in a freak accident. She put her purse in a shopping cart outside of the supermarket. Then a tractor trailer came along, snagged it, dragged it for about a mile. Most of the $1100 she had just taken out for the holidays went flying. $800 still missing. Stores set up donation jars and one anonymous customer left a check for the full amount. Well, she was too shy to go on camera but she wanted to say thanks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY OLIVE CORBIERE, VERY THANKFUL SHOPPER: I'm very grateful and very pleasantly surprised that some many nice people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: There she is. She didn't want to go on camera but once again thanking people for their generosity.

ROBERTS: A woman wanted in the United States for allegedly killing another woman while driving drunk is living the high life in Peru and posting the pictures on her MySpace page. Why isn't she being extradited to the United States for trial? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Breaking news out of Minnesota today. A deadly pipeline blast last night is pushing oil prices higher this morning. The explosion killed two workers and shut down four pipelines that carry 1.5 million barrels a day. It is the world's largest pipeline system. Oil has now surged to more than $4 to $95.17 a barrel.

Kiran?

CHETRY: Well, a fugitive living the high life and bragging about it on her MySpace page. Evelyn Mezzich, she was accused of driving while drunk in a crash that paralyzed one passenger and killed her college roommate at that time. Lindsay Brashier. Mezzich flew from the U.S., fled to Puerto Rico where her parents were born a year into the legal proceedings. Well, now Lindsay Brashier's mother is outrage that Mezzich is living a normal life and has not been extradited to face the charges.

AMERICAN MORNING's legal analyst Sunny Hostin, joins us now and all this came to light because she has a MySpace or one of those social networking pages, where she shows herself drinking and talks about drinking as a hobby and meanwhile she has run from these drunk driving charges.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really unbelievable. MySpace has become quite an investigative tool for law enforcement officers. She did flee to Peru and what's interesting is that she was charged with this intoxication manslaughter which is drinking while driving and killing someone. She appeared a couple of times in 1997 and then fled. And so she's not only guilty of this manslaughter charge, but also guilty of bail jumping.

Manslaughter, this intoxication manslaughter in Texas is punishable by up to two to 20 years. Bail jumping two to 10 years. So, she's looking at a significant amount of time and she wasn't able to be extradited pursuant to the treaty that existed back when this happened.

CHETRY: OK, so this happen back in 1996. We were looking at MySpace video, by the way a second ago. Since 9/11 though, our extradition laws have changed, including with Peru. Can they go get her now?

HOSTIN: They can go get her. It's in the works. They should go get here. This family has not received justice. And it's time for that. The treaty that was in place before was an 1899 treaty. I read the new treaty which was enacted in 2001 and it really does provide for her to be able to be brought back to the United States and she needs to be brought back to the United States.

CHETRY: Yes, what a slap in the face for the family to see her on this MySpace page.

HOSTIN: No question. Very, very cavalier about what happened and not only was one person killed, another person in the back seat was paralyzed.

CHETRY: Sunny Hostin, great to see you as always, thanks.

HOSTIN: My pleasure.

ROBERTS: Coming up to three minutes before the top of the hour. Fears this morning about the increased risk of cancer from CT scans. How worried should you be? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us at the top of the hour on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Your tough questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH DEARING, DALLAS, TEXAS: Do you believe every word of this book?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Their tough answers. Republican candidates come out swinging this morning. We'll talk with them.

Plus, was he a plant?

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