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Mitt Romney Explains How Faith Would Affect Presidency; Omaha Mall Massacre; Grammy Nominations Announced Today

Aired December 06, 2007 - 11:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Then there will be the others who will freak out, if you will, and say, what about the separation of church and state?
Bill?

BILL BENNETT, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, yes, I suppose, though I think this was a pretty reassuring speech to many people. Now you could argue that there wasn't truth in advertising here, that when he said, I will tell you how my own religion and my own faith will inform my presidency, did we really get much sense of how his belief as a Mormon will inform his presidency? I'm not sure.

COLLINS: No.

BENNETT: It was much more generic. It was kind of a generic patriotic Judeo-Christianism (ph). I have to tell you, I can see this speech that he just gave being given by any of the Republican candidates and most of the Democrat candidates, frankly. So I'm not sure if he was responding to the concern, well, what about this Mormon thing, that he responded to it adequately.

Not that I think he had to. I don't think he was having a major problem on this. What he does with this speech though, Heidi, is opens up the question, and now I think he will probably get more questions on it, not fewer.

COLLINS: You know, I think that was sort of our read before the speech even began.

And Roland, to you now, did you get any definition of what it means to be Mormon? Did you see any questions answered here?

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, I didn't. I agree with Bill, I don't think it lived up to the billing in terms of him sort of dealing with this whole issue.

He sort of gave a unifying message of spirituality. It reminded me of what Joe Lieberman talked about in 2004, being the first Jewish candidate...

COLLINS: Yes.

MARTIN: ... sort of at the top of the ticket. But also, I think -- I mean, you have to understand several different things. I'm a graduate of Texas A&M University, where the speech took place. And so, that university is like 85 percent to 90 percent conservative.

And so you look at that particular place, that audience, being in the bible belt, being in Texas, what he is trying to say is, is that I am a person of faith. Forget the fact what my faith is, that I am a Mormon. You might be Christian. You might be Jewish. I'm a person of faith. I believe in God.

And so he was trying to touch those particular angles. And look, understand, Mike Huckabee is rising because he is speaking to those social conservatives, these evangelicals. And so Mitt Romney needs to identify with them, saying, you're a person of faith, I'm a person of faith, let's break bread together and let's agree to agree, or agree to disagree.

COLLINS: Bill, do you think he gave the speech because of Mike Huckabee?

BENNETT: I think not. I mean, Roland's point is obviously on his mind. They have got to be watching Huckabee, and that's a major concern for him. But I think he's been worried about this for a long time. I think he's wanted to do this for a long time.

There was passion in the speech. Did I see him misting up a little bit there?

COLLINS: Yes, I think so too.

BENNETT: Yes.

COLLINS: I actually wrote that down when he was talking. He got pretty emotional at one point there.

BENNETT: There's no question of his deep conviction and his deep belief. The only thing that was false in the speech was when he said the family is far from perfect. They're pretty close to perfect in terms of most Americans' view of them.

COLLINS: Yes, you know, I've got to say, too -- sorry.

BENNETT: Yes, go ahead.

COLLINS: Sorry, Bill. I was just saying, I have got to say that it seemed like this was such a speech about freedom and liberty.

BENNETT: Yes.

COLLINS: And obviously religion was tied in there, but he got very emotional when he said, "Americans should never falter when holding high the banner of freedom."

MARTIN: But I think that was very wise on his part, because, again, even if you don't agree with religion being a part of public policy, the reality is it is a part of our Constitution. This whole notion that we are able to celebrate religion -- and if you don't want to celebrate religion, you don't have to. And so I think he was trying to push -- trying to push the patriotic, the constitutional, but also the faith-based button all at the same time.

COLLINS: Right. So we need to know, what are your listeners thinking about this? Was he successful in doing that, Roland? What are you hearing?

MARTIN: Well, and again, we'll see what the reaction is going to be in the next 24 hours. You know, Bill got off the air just like I did a few moments ago, but it's really going to be a matter of -- look, my listeners are strong believers of faith, but I don't think he really addressed the whole issue of him being a Mormon. And I think -- and again, as Bill said, he's likely going to get more questions as a result, versus having this speech answer a lot of those questions.

COLLINS: And Bill, what about your listeners?

BENNETT: Yes. Well, very much the same thing.

I mean, what was interesting is that in this generic and general speech about the Judeo-Christian tradition -- again, which I think most of the candidates could have given, patriotism -- he talks about Jesus Christ and his belief in Jesus Christ. That is just the sticking point that a lot of people have in regard to Mormonism.

By the way, when Ralph Reed was on earlier saying, well, you k now, it's like the Kennedy speech, Ralph is a close friend, but this is not, this is not like the Kennedy speech. It's a different world in which we live.

And the problem that Evangelicals Christians -- Ralph will remember a group called the Christian Coalition, I think...

COLLINS: Right.

BENNETT: ... is that they think that Mormonism is not Christian, that because "The Book of Mormon" says -- it adds on, it's an addition to the bible.

So did he open this up? We shall see. But I'll tell you, if I open my phone lines tomorrow...

COLLINS: Right?

BENNETT: ... I bet you Roland will get the same thing, we would have this for three hours and nothing else.

COLLINS: You know...

MARTIN: Absolutely.

COLLINS: ... I bet you will. You know I'm going to check with both of you to find out what you get from those listeners.

BENNETT: OK. OK.

MARTIN: Sounds great.

COLLINS: I think it will give us a really good idea of how this speech was received.

To the both of you, thanks so much for being here.

BENNETT: You bet.

COLLINS: Bill Bennett and Roland Martin, thanks, guys.

MARTIN: Thanks, Heidi.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the hustle and bustle of holiday shoppers, then frantic screams, bursts of gunfire. Horror in a shopping mall in Omaha, but it could have just as easily have been your town.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is outside the mall this morning.

Ed, good morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.

Well, here officials with the city and the state, the governor, the mayor, the police chief, the fire chief, wrapping up on the tail end of a news conference here as Governor Romney was speaking, and we've gotten some more details as to exactly what has unfolded and what kind of progress authorities here are making on the investigation.

They have released the names of the victims, and they do say that their families have all been notified. Everyone has positively identified.

Three of the victims that were being treated at local hospitals have been treated and released. There are still two that are in critical condition. So we continue to monitor that closely as well.

And authorities are telling us that they do believe that Robert Hawkins, who was captured on -- they had a chance to look at the surveillance camera video inside the mall store. They said he went in through this entrance on the south side of the mall, and it only took a matter of minutes that he had walked into the mall, concealed the handgun under what appeared to be a hooded sweatshirt, and immediately went up on an elevator up to the third floor and began firing.

Authorities here say the whole incident only lasted several minutes. Not enough time for any of the mall security or the officers that were responding to the scene to do anything about it.

But Robert Hawkins also is a young man who officials here are saying was clearly troubled, had been battling a history of depression. We do expect to hear more from state officials. It appears that for the last couple years he was at least in some sort of state custody, foster care, perhaps. We're waiting to get more details on that, but clearly a troubled young man.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LAVANDERA (voice over): Just a few hours before the shooting rampage at the Omaha mall, Debora Kovac found a note from Robert Hawkins. It would turn out to be a suicide note.

DEBORA MARUCA KOVAC, HAWKIN'S LANDLORD: It basically just said how sorry he was for everything. He didn't want to be a burden to people. And he was a piece of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) all his life and now he will be famous.

LAVANDERA: Hawkins had moved in with Kovak's family a year and a half ago. She says he felt mistreated and rejected by everyone.

KOVAC: It seemed like his whole life he was kind of like a pound puppy that nobody wanted.

LAVANDERA: Kovac says Hawkins had a tense relationship with his family, that he had been in and out of foster homes, and had a history of fighting depression. But Kovac said he stopped taking depression medications because it made him feel weird.

KOVAC: When he first came and lived with us he was in the fetal position and chewed his fingernails all the time, and was unemployed and hopeless. After a while, he got a job and came out of that.

LAVANDERA: Kovac says she thought Hawkins was doing better. A few months ago, he started working at a McDonald's, but on Wednesday, he was fired from that job.

KOVAC: It might have been the straw that broke the camel's back, because he just couldn't take much more rejection and defeat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And some quick notes about the final hours leading up to the shooting. Authorities also say they have recovered some text messages that Hawkins had been exchanging with friends, also his ex- girlfriend. And we're also told that he had called his biological mother, as well as the family that he had been staying with. And authorities here say they continue to talk to those people to try to piece together the mindset of what drove Robert Hawkins to do this in Omaha yesterday -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Ed Lavandera for us this morning.

Ed, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: "I heard a crack and then it just crumbled." A construction worker describes the collapse of this unfinished parking garage in Jacksonville, Florida. Thirteen workers were taken to the hospital. Another is missing, and police don't know if he's trapped under the debris or managed to escape.

It happened while workers were pouring concrete on the sixth floor of the building.

HARRIS: An explosion in central Paris just a short time ago. A parcel bomb killing one person and seriously injuring another, according to the French Interior Ministry.

The device came in the mail to a building that contains several law offices, including the former firm of French president Sarkozy. A Holocaust Memorial Foundation office is also inside that building. The person killed reportedly was a female secretary for one of the law firms. The target of the blast is still unclear.

COLLINS: Homeowners, struggling to make your mortgage payments? Well, President Bush has a plan that may help you. He's getting ready to announce a deal today with the mortgage industry. It would freeze interest rates on certain subprime home loans for five years.

The goal is to slow the growing number of foreclosures. Not everybody with adjustable rate mortgages will qualify though. Only borrowers who have not missed a payment at the old lower rates. And your loan and rate change must fall within specific dates.

HARRIS: President Bush reaching out personally to North Korea's reclusive leader. The White House confirms President Bush this month sent a letter to Kim Jong-il urging him to fully disclose his nuclear program. The president also sent similar letters to other leaders involved in the six-party nuclear talks.

He stresses the U.S. commitment to the negotiations as delegates try to meet a year-end deadline. They want North Korea to disable a key nuclear facility that produced materials to make atomic bombs.

And today's launch of the space shuttle Atlantis scrubbed. While fueling the shuttle's external fuel tank this morning, NASA engineers found two of the tanks four sensors had failed. Under NASA rules, there can be no launch with fewer than three of the four sensors working. NASA now troubleshooting.

COLLINS: Grammy nominations coming up this morning. So, what do you think? Is this the year for the jazzy sound of Amy Winehouse?

Find out shortly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. How about this? Looking for some Grammy love. Nominations will be announced shortly in Los Angeles.

Our Kareen Wynter back on television after maternity leave.

Kareen, great to see you.

Hey, Kareen...

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, me? OK. You're talking about me.

HARRIS: Yes, I'm talking about you.

Hey, what are you hearing out there? What's the buzz? We keep hearing this Amy Winehouse name over and over again. WYNTER: Let me pull out my crystal ball.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

WYNTER: Well, country singing sensation Taylor Swift could get a few nominations; R&B sinker Akon, retro soul singer Amy Winehouse. But you know, Tony, some are saying that the morning is going to belong to The Boss.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WYNTER (voice over): Some 60,000 albums were released during the past year, but all the 50th annual Grammy Awards may need is a little magic. When nominations are announced, Geoff Boucher of the "Los Angeles Times" says Bruce Springsteen will be a leading contender.

GEOFF BOUCHER, "L.A. TIMES": I think it's The Boss' year. I think Bruce Springsteen, he has everything that the Grammy's love. He's a veteran songwriter. He writes his own songs. He has a wonderful band. He's had this triumphant tour with the E Street Band and this band "Magic" has gotten great reviews.

WYNTER: Another artist who could be a big factor, British retro soul singer Amy Winehouse.

BOUCHER: I think Amy Winehouse could find herself nominated for best album, best record, best song, and certainly best new artist. But, I mean, her personal troubles have become very public troubles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems like you can't create good music without some drama in your life, right?

AMY WINEHOUSE, SINGER: It would seem not.

WYNTER: Kanye West will likely join Springsteen and Winehouse for album of the year with his third CD "Graduation," a welcome bit of good news since the death of his mother in November.

BOUCHER: He's proven himself to be someone that's going to be around.

WYNTER: And nu metal band Linkin Park could also make a strong showing in the top category with their ambitious disk, "Minutes to Midnight."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're getting older. You know, we want to make a more mature record, but we also don't want to leave our younger fans in the dark.

WYNTER: For best new artist, expect nods for R&B hit maker Akon, 17-year-old country singer Taylor Swift, and American Idol castoff- turned-best-selling-rock-act, Daughtry.

CHRIS DAUGHTRY, SINGER: The Grammys would be nice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it would be. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WYNTER: And, Tony, it's getting a little noisy in here. A little crazy. We're just going to give you a glimpse of all the action behind me, all the media getting ready for the nominations that begins, oh, in about a half an hour from now.

And some of the artists actually scheduled to announce the nominations include three time Grammy winner Fergie, R&B singer Akon, the group Linkin Park, and country singing sensation Vince Gill.

A big morning here. A huge morning.

HARRIS: Yes.

WYNTER: Lots of excitement. We'll be bringing it all your way.

HARRIS: Kareen, great to see you. Great to see you.

WYNTER: You too, Tony.

HARRIS: Kareen Wynter in Los Angeles for us.

COLLINS: A bible-toting granny says no a carjacker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULINE JACOBI, READ BIBLE TO ROBBER: You know, as quick as you kill me, I'll go to heaven and you go to hell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: You are going to love this story. Did she relent? Or did he repent?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Riding with faith. A fearless grandma takes on a robber.

Details now from Nick Paranjape of affiliate WMC.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACOBI: "I will hear from heaven and we'll forgive their sins."

NICK PARANJAPE, REPORTER, WMC: Ninety-two-year-old Pauline Jacobi reads her bible every day. Her strong faith keeps her going in life. And in the process, may have saved it.

Jacobi had just finished putting away her groceries inside her car at a nearby Wal-Mart.

(on camera): Only seconds after Jacobi got into her car, a man jumped in the passenger side. The man told Jacobi he had a gun and that he would shoot her if she didn't give him money. JACOBI: I said, "No. I'm not going to give you my money."

PARANJAPE: Jacobi told him no three times, then she started to talk to him.

JACOBI: You know, as quick as you kill me, I'll go to heaven, and you'll go to hell.

PARANJAPE: She told him to ask God for forgiveness.

JACOBI: I said, "Jesus is in this car, and he goes with me everywhere I go." And he said -- he just sort of looked around, and the tears began coming in his eyes.

PARANJAPE: Jacobi ministered the man for 10 minutes inside her car.

JACOBI: And he says, "I think I'll go home and pray tonight." And I said, "You can just pray anytime you want to."

PARANJAPE: As tears were rolling down the man's face, Jacobi voluntarily gave him all the money she had, $10.

JACOBI: And when I told him I was going to give him the money, I said, "Don't you spend it on whiskey either."

PARANJAPE: The man thanked her for the money and then...

JACOBI: He kissed me on the cheek.

PARANJAPE (on camera): And walked away?

JACOBI: And walked away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: I told you you were going to love that story. Jacobi says she doesn't want the man to go to jail, but she doesn't want him to hurt anybody either.

Police are still trying to find him.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Good morning once again everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Very quickly, let's get you to Creighton University Medical Center. That's in Omaha, Nebraska, where we're getting an update on the conditions of the victims of yesterday's mall shooting. Those victims being treated at that hospital.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was taken emergently (ph) to the operating room and -- where we did what we needed to do, and she is presently in the intensive care unit. We were able to manage these cases because of an organized trauma system, and as I alluded to early, I think it functioned extremely well, and we continue to be available to provide that sort of care to the city.

I'll take questions now.

QUESTION: Could you talk a little bit more about the specific injuries. Can you give some more details...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She appeared to be hit by two rounds, one to the abdomen and one to the back. Both of these injuries caused a great deal of soft tissue injury, and one of the things that we occasionally see sometimes again with either rifle wounds or assault rifle victim wounds is actually injury to tissues that are not even hit by the bullet, injuries that are caused by the blast wave. That occurred with her as well. We addressed these wounds in the operating room. We asked one of our plastic surgeons to come in and also take a look at the wounds as well.

We are not finished with surgery with her. She will have to go back in order to have these wounds addressed further, but she is presently stable and in the intensive care unit.

QUESTION: What kind of injuries did the (INAUDIBLE) receive?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quite frankly, I don't know. He arrived -- he had never had any signs of life, and as I alluded to earlier, he was pronounced dead on arrival.

HARRIS: We are just getting an update there from the officials at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, getting an update on the conditions of some of those treated, being treated there right now.

We should tell you that before killing himself, Robert Hawkins shot a total of 12 people. Eight people died. That news conference just moments ago gave us a bit more detail. The victims ranged in age from 24 to 66 years old. Six of the victims were employees of the store where Hawkins carried out his rampage. Two were customers. Four other people were shot and wounded. One shopper was injured as he scrambled for a safe place to hide. At least two of the shooting victims are in critical condition this morning.

COLLINS: A presidential candidate speaking out on religion and defending his faith. Forty-seven years ago it was John F. Kennedy. Just minutes ago it was Mitt Romney. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider is live from Washington now to compare and contrast a little bit here.

Hi there, Bill.

We've been talking sort of all morning before the speech and now a little bit afterwards about how this one compared to John F. Kennedy's 47 years ago.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POL. ANALYST: Well, of course, they're dealing with, in some ways, a similar issue. In Mitt Romney's case it's anti-Mormon sentiment, or at least some hostility, reservations about the idea of voting for a Mormon for president. In Kennedy's case it was anti-Catholic sentiment. Very different constituencies of course. The Catholic church is the largest single denomination then and now in the United States. The Mormon Church is much smaller, about 2 percent of Americans, and many Americans really don't know very much about the Mormon Church and what its beliefs are.

In fact, Americans are even divided over whether the Mormon Church is, in fact, a Christian church or not. Mitt Romney tried to allay some of those issues. He talked about his belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind. He made those remarks in his speech. Very different. Kennedy didn't say anything about his religious beliefs or doctrine in his speech.

COLLINS: But these are very different times, too. We're talking about 1960 versus 2007. What's changed in the U.S. regarding religion in all of those years?

SCHNEIDER: Religion is a much more central issue in politics than it was 47 years ago. What intervened was the '60s, which introduced a lot of values conflict in American political life, issues like abortion, women's rights, gay rights, evolution, school prayer, tuition tax credits, vouchers. All those issues have become matters of controversy, and they divide really not Protestants and Catholics, religious Americans from those who are more secular and less religious.

In this speech Mitt Romney was addressing a Republican audience. Remember, he delivered it while he's competing for the Republican nomination. When Kennedy gave his speech; it was in September before the November election, and it was a general election audience. So they're very different audiences being addressed here.

Certainly. All right, nice to see you. CNN's Bill Schneider, thank you.

HARRIS: Sure.

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: And now a neighbor delivers the bad news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stevie, I need to talk to mom. Somebody just stole Santa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: What? Missing, big guy in red suit. Somebody's on the naughty list.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to quickly get you new video now. This is a search that's going on. You see the dogs being used there in Jacksonville, Florida. We brought you some pictures earlier of this parking garage that collapsed while it was in the middle of being built. What we're worried about here is the possibility that there is someone who is trapped. We understand that apparently 12 men and one woman were taken to the hospital, but of those now there are two in serious condition, 10 are actually in good condition, one in fair. Once again, the concern at this very moment is what you're seeing on your screen, one person that has not yet been accounted for. We understand that person to be male and 21 years old.

We are going to continue to follow this story. These pictures coming into us from the Jacksonville Fire Department there.

And once again, we're seeing quite a bit of these dogs that they have brought in now, the search-and-rescue dogs, to try to determine whether or not there is a person trapped in that debris or if, in fact, that person got out. We just don't know yet. So we will be watching this closely.

HARRIS: A grinch runs off with Santa Claus, and a family's Christmas spirit.

Shelby Kosto (ph) of affiliate WDTN has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDA SCOTT, NEIGHBOR: I just think it's wrong.

SHELBY KOSTO, WDTN REPORTER (voice-over): This spot in Berna Stockman's front yard is empty.

SCOTT: Why would you steal out of somebody's yard, do you know?

KOSTO: The robbery happened early Monday morning.

SCOTT: And I looked over, and here's this gentleman bent down.

KOSTO: Next door neighbor Linda Scott witnessed the whole thing.

SCOTT: And I took a second look, and I'm going, oh, no, and I say, hey, what are you doing? And he just turned and looked at me and kept pulling. And I said, put it back.

KOSTO: Scott ran next door to tell her neighbor that she had just been robbed.

SCOTT: Stevie I need to talk to mom, somebody just stole Santa.

BERNA STOCKMAN, HOMEOWNER: It was 7:30 in the morning.

KOSTO: And what did they say? STOCKMAN: And she told me my Santa was ripped off, and it was my son's.

KOSTO: Verna brought the inflatable Santa for her son, Stevie, four years ago, because he loves Christmas.

SCOTT: Christmas is really special to him, and, you know, every day Santa is coming, Santa Claus is coming.

KOSTO: Stevie has Fragile X Syndrome and functions between a 4 and a 7-year-old, but he understands this was no act of kindness.

STEVIE STOCKMAN: He took it. He stole it. I want it back.

KOSTO: Linda says she tried to chase down the thief, but it was too late. He got away.

SCOTT: I think it's awful. I mean, they're not even that expensive anymore. I think it's terrible to steal from anybody, but I think it's worse when you take it from someone like Stevie.

S. STOCKMAN: I loved that Santa Clause, and now it's been stolen. Now it's been stolen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Come on, people. It's Christmastime.

COLLINS: Yes. First I thought that was going to be kind of a funny story. Now I don't think it's so funny at all.

HARRIS: No.

COLLINS: All right, well, we want to look ahead a little bit here now.

In about 15 minutes or so "YOUR WORLD TODAY" will be coming up next on CNN. So Jim Clancy is standing by to tell us more about what the program will have.

Hi there, Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, no stolen Santas, at least internationally, but we've some stories coming up.

We're going to take a closer look at Mitt Romney and the role of religion in U.S. politics. Now the live audience supported the presidential candidate as he tried to strike a balance, but will the Religious Right? We're going to talk to a leading Baptist and get his take.

We're also going to take you live to Paris where a bomb exploded today. Jim Bittermann, our correspondent there, is going to join us with some details, with the casualties, and investigators still trying to figure out a motive. And also, from Iran, a look at the social and economic problems confronting President Ahmadinejad. It is the family nucleus, not the nuclear-enrichment program, that's putting women in the role of breadwinners there. Aneesh Raman is in Tehran. He'll bring us a report. Join Colleen McEdwards and me right here at the top of the hour. We gave Hala the day off.

HARRIS: You did, did you? All right, thank you, Jim.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

COLLINS: 'Tis the season for silliness. You'll stop and look twice at this window display. Rusty, the drug smuggling elf?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We want to take you directly to the Grammy nominations that that are being announced right now. You see Herbie Hancock there at the microphone. Now he's stepped away. Let's go ahead and listen in for just a minute. This is the 50th Grammy Awards, the anniversary there.

And there's Fergie. Let's listen.

FERGIE: The 50th Anniversary Grammys. OK. For best song rock vocal performance, the nominees are: Beck for "Time Tomb," Paul McCartney for "Only Mama Knows," John Mellencamp for "Our Country," Bruce Springsteen for "Radio Nowhere," Lucinda Williams for (INAUDIBLE).

(APPLAUSE)

For best rap song collaboration the nominees are: Akon, featuring Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown featuring T-Pain for "Kiss Kiss," Keyshia Cole Featuring Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim for "Let It Go," Rihanna featuring Jay-Z for "Umbrella," Kanye West featuring T-Pain for "Good Life."

COLLINS: Tony is sitting here singing all of these songs, I wish you could have heard him.

HARRIS: Well, it's this kid T-Pain, he is the one so far dominating. This guy who is the king of the ringtones and everything else. Nobody knows who he is.

COLLINS: Well, we just wanted to give a little flavor there of some of these nominations. Obviously all of those people standing behind, you see Vince Gill and several others, the Foo Fighters, Jimmy Jam, Taylor Swift, they are all going to announce a different category. So this will take some time. But we will have more on this throughout the day right here on CNN.

HARRIS: T-Pain -- who is T-Pain?

All right, Leeland Eisenberg said he decided to sacrifice himself to bring attention to mental health issues in this country. Eisenberg took five hostages at a Clinton campaign office in New Hampshire last week. Everyone got out without being harmed physically.

CNN's Jason Carroll interviewed Eisenberg in jail and asked him why he did what he did.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEELAND EISENBERG, HELD HOSTAGES AT CLINTON CAMPAIGN OFFICE: I wanted to sacrifice myself for the sake of mental illness and the discussion in this country of mental illness. Had I walked into a Dunkin' Donuts, it wouldn't have gotten the kind of national discussion and press that it deserves.

JASON CARROLL, CNN ANCHOR: Take me through the process of what you did.

EISENBERG: It all took about an hour to prepare for it. It honestly did. I took a cab. I went and got the flares, the duct tape, the electrical tape. I took some wire. I made it look like a bomb. I strapped it to my waist, whatever you want to call it.

I put a sweater on, and someone asked me if they could help me. And I lifted up my shirt and said, "Yes, you can get off that phone. Everybody in the back room get down and lay on the floor."

I kept repeating that, "Look, I swear on my mother's grave I'm not here to hurt you." I think I told one of them to call Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters. I wanted to talk to Hillary Clinton. I kept getting the runaround. And at that point, I think the Secret Service or somebody was diverting calls. That made me frustrated.

Then I think I tried to call CNN. In fact, I think I actually talked to Wolf Blitzer, and I got someone else on the phone. And that made me mad. I tried calming the kids down.

CARROLL: Was it your conscience that was getting to you, and that was the reason why you were letting the hostages go?

EISENBERG: I just couldn't see them suffering the way they were. It pained me to see that what I was doing was affecting them to the degree it was. They were young kids.

CARROLL: But you must have known that that was going to happen.

EISENBERG: You don't think that way when you're doing something like that. You're not thinking like that. You know what I mean? My whole thing is I wanted the police to kill me.

CARROLL: I also want to make sure that we talk about what happened when you walked outside. Again, you thought at this point it was going to be suicide by cop, that it was over?

EISENBERG: That's what I wanted. I was convinced of it. I can see him right in the window where he was in camouflage, and he had the rifle pointed right at me. It was a sniper rifle.

And as soon as the last hostage made it clear of the door and I came through the door, I thought that was it. I honestly thought that was it. And I stood there. I was, like, dumb struck. I'm like -- I couldn't believe it. I was actually disappointed. And I was stunned, because I thought for sure they would have blown my head off, and that's what I wanted.

CARROLL: I'm told you are on a suicide watch here.

EISENBERG: If that's what you want to call it. Yes.

CARROLL: What would you call it?

EISENBERG: I don't want to -- I don't want to make my situation worse by telling the truth.

CARROLL: At some point don't you have to take responsibility in some ways for your own actions?

EISENBERG: I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm not looking as an excuse, to say because I'm mentally ill this is why I did that, so, oh, don't hurt me, don't punish me. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying this is not about me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Eisenberg is being held on $500,000 bond, and a judge has ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

COLLINS: She's on a one-woman mission to remember the troops. From New York to Iraq with love.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: It all started with a pair of warn slippers, and snowballed from there. Meet Cindy Strasburg of Hemlock, New York, "Mama Cindy" to a lot of New York troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Three years ago she sent some slippers to a soldier overseas who complained about cold feet. And now she collects and ships not just slippers, but soap, socks, brownies, all kinds of items, even toys for Iraqi children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY STRASBURG, SENDING HOLIDAY GIFTS TO TROOPS: It's a wonderful blessing and gift to be able to give back just a small token of a thank you, and if I can make your life a little bit more happier and give you a boost of morale, then it's awesome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So far, Cindy Strasburg and her husband have shipped more than 1,000 packages overseas. Good for them. Love to hear that. Hope that the brownies and the socks are in a different box, though.

HARRIS: Yes, you'd hope so. Yikes.

COLLINS: They probably don't care. HARRIS: Right.

COLLINS: Thanks for watching, everybody. CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now.

HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. We'll see you tomorrow.

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