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Baseball's "Steroid Era"; Mike Huckabee Announces Ed Rollins Will Lead Campaign

Aired December 14, 2007 - 14:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: He's got momentum and he's trying to keep it going. Republican White House hopeful Mike Huckabee turns to a political heavyweight to run his campaign.
Reaction to baseball's steroids scandal. We're going to hear from a former pitcher known for not mincing words. He wrote the book on the sports problem four decades ago.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN NEWSROOM in Atlanta.

Two things breaking and two things happening live right now. First to Kennesaw, Georgia. That's just outside of Atlanta.

Right now a bomb squad here at this SunTrust Bank at 1184 Barrett Parkway. They are trying to find out if indeed a briefcase left inside this bank has explosives. The bank was robbed, that suspect is on the loose. The bank has been evacuated.

We're working details and we'll let you know as soon as they happen.

The other story, Mike Huckabee. We told you at the top of the hour he has shocked everybody the way he's turned around those poll numbers, and apparently now he's brought in a heavy fighter to run his campaign. He's going to make that announcement this hour. You'll see it live here on CNN.

Now getting ready for round two, more snow from the Plains to the Northeast. Oklahoma and Kansas still trying to recover from that disastrous ice storm earlier in the week. Several hundred thousand people still don't have electricity, and Massachusetts is just one state digging out from under mounds snow. Even more could fall before these roads are cleared.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Also this hour we're waiting for that live event with presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee. He's expected to make an announcement of who's going to lead his campaign. You'll know the name and you'll know the background.

We'll announce it this hour as soon as he steps up to the mikes.

President Bush is urging baseball to get its House in order. Congress has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday on charges contained in the blockbuster Mitchell Report which names 85 players accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. At the White House, Mr. Bush spoke this morning of players' obligations as role models

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just urge our -- those in the public spotlight, particularly athletes, to understand that when they violate their bodies, they are sending a terrible signal to America's young.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And those kids are listening. As CNN's Alina Cho discovered, the Mitchell Report has sent a lot of little leaguers in search of new heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These kids are disappointed, they're disenchanted, and they don't know what to think anymore about the sport they love so much. Baseball's biggest scandal in years in some ways has hit the littlest fans the hardest.

(voice-over): The New York Metro's little league team had a winning season this year and they did it simply by playing hard and fair. But can the same be said of many of their major league heroes? Grown men, it turns out, who may not be the best role models.

NATHANIEL CRAMER-GIBBS, LITTLE LEAGUE PITCHER: They are cheaters. They are ruining the sport for kids and even people on their team.

CHO: The lineup of seven MVPs and 31 all-stars in the report was disappointing. But to see hometown hero Roger Clemens, one of the greatest pitchers of the last 20 years, tainted by allegations of steroid use, even though he vehemently denies them, was almost too much to handle.

RYAN THIER, LITTLE LEAGUE 3RD BASEMAN: When I was younger, I tried to have windups like them and stuff and now they cheated and I never want to be like them.

CHO: Jimmy Haber has coached little league baseball for seven years. He says the major leagues are setting a bad example.

JIMMY HABER, LITTLE LEAGUE COACH: We sending out a message to them that if they cheat at work or they cheat at school, they're going to make more money, and that is the way they're going to get ahead in life and that is not the right message.

THIER: When someone hits a home run, I will always like wondering do they take steroids and are they naturally hitting it or is it like the drug hitting it?

CHO: And what does this 12-year-old say he'll do when he sees his former hero Andy Pettitte head to the mound at Yankee Stadium next year?

THIER: I'll boo him loud.

CHO (on camera): The coach we spoke to says baseball should be embarrassed. Even Mitchell said while it's important to deal with the players who used steroids, the reality is hundreds of thousands of children are using them, too, and some believe these kids are learning what to do, both the good and the bad, from the pros.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We also asked to you e-mail us on your thoughts on whether kids should still look up to major league players. Here's what Billy writes: "My son is a huge Roger Clemens fan. If these allegations prove to be true, then my son will sadly learn his first lesson about hypocrisy in the money-hungry arena of major league sports."

And Joel had this to say: "A cheater is a cheater. The revelations of steroid use cast a shadow over what forever will be known as the steroid era, and the stars under that shadow have lost their luster. Kids can't trust the sport anymore. Baseball is in trouble."

Frank had a bit of a different take, though. He says, "I think kids who look up to ball players should not stop. If we throw these players to the side, we are teaching kids it's OK to turn your back on someone. We don't turn our backs on other drug abusers. Also remember these are allegations."

So what do you think? E-mail us your thoughts at cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. More of your e-mails straight ahead.

Well, a double homicide on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Two grad students were found shot to death last night in an apartment complex for married students. Both were from India, both were Ph.D. candidates.

One of the victim's wives found the bodies. And police are calling the attack a home invasion and searching for thee men seen leaving the area. The university decided to keep the campus open, but notified all students electronically of the situation.

An Arizona man of accused of being the notorious "Baseline Killer" will go to prison for a long, long time, but not for the nine murder counts against him. Mark Goudeau was convicted in September of raping two sisters in 2005. A Phoenix judge today handed Goudeau a sentence of 438 years for that conviction. He still faces trial and 74 other charges, including the murder counts. The "Baseline Killer" got his name from the road where those first killings occurred.

And we're waiting for Mike Huckabee to step up to the Mike. The presidential hopeful says he's got a big announcement on who's going to lead his campaign. We'll take that as soon as he steps up there. Jim Bouton has been shaking up the baseball establishment for 40 years. We're going to find out what the outspoken ex-pitcher has to say about the steroids scandal.

Think there were no winners in the mortgage crisis meltdown? Think again.

And a new "Jackass" movie is coming out, but don't go running to your neighborhood theater.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A triple homicide right now being investigated out of Phoenix, Arizona. Apparently, a police officer was driving down the street this morning in this area of -- it looks like Indian School Road on 103rd if you are familiar with the area. This video coming into us now from KNXV, one of our affiliates there out of Phoenix.

An officer's driving down the road. He finds this abandoned vehicle, and inside he finds three dead bodies.

Now, not quite sure when exactly this happened, because these vehicles were towed away from an apartment complex because there was some re-paving going on. And that was at the beginning of December. So, not quite sure if those bodies have been in that car since the first week of December, or if indeed this triple homicide happened just recently. They're working that now.

We'll bring you the information as we get it.

Meanwhile, it's 2:13 Eastern Time right now. Here's some other stories that we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(NEWSBREAK)

PHILLIPS: The movie "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" was just nominated for a Golden Globe, and it tells the true story of a man with a condition that left him paralyzed except for one eye, and how he blinked to communicate his thoughts.

We're going to get you that story from Dr. Sanjay Gupta in a minute. But first, Mike Huckabee stepping up to the mikes.

Let's listen in.

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Sorry to keep you waiting.

First of all, let me -- yes, come on over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me.

HUCKABEE: Well, I'm deeply grateful for all of you coming today. Over the past few months we've had an extraordinary momentum in the campaign, and especially in the last several weeks, where the momentum continues to grow, not just in Iowa, but across the country. One of the questions that is often posed to us is, now that you are truly gaining in the national polls and you're in a position to continue toward the nomination, do we have the necessary infrastructure in place to actually carry the campaign all the way to the nomination and to the White House?

And the answer for us has always been yes, we do. And the same kind of enthusiasm that we've seen that got us to this point we believe will continue to carry us on, but we also recognize the need of bringing in the level of expertise that we want and today we are able to announce.

As many of you know, our campaign has really been somewhat of a surprise to many people because we have not had the level of resources that the other campaigns have had. Frankly, we don't regret that because we've been able to run a very disciplined and frugal campaign, and to get where we are not because we spent the most money, but because our volunteers, our people, have the kind of heart that literally drove us beyond just what money could buy.

Today I would like to make an announcement that I believe will help to fill in many of the gaps that we've had up until this point and will help us in that vast national infrastructure and movement. Ed Rollins, who has served presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, and has held significant positions in a number of White House staffs, including running the 1984 campaign for President Ronald Reagan that was the largest landslide campaign in the history of the United States, where 49 states were carried by President Reagan, has agreed to come on as our national campaign chairman and as senior adviser to the campaign.

He will join our campaign manager Chip Saltsman in overseeing the big picture of the campaign, but will also work directly with me as a senior adviser, as well as with Chip Saltsman in Little Rock, and be available to us and help us to take it to the next level and to the next step.

Ed Rollins is a name very familiar in American politics. His extraordinary record of helping to bring achievement and victory to presidential campaigns is certainly well known. So I don't have to read a lengthy biography, but obviously we're quite pleased in that Ed will help us not only to assemble an expanding team, but also to give us the kind of really experience that he has had, and it will be a tremendous benefit to us.

This is not to say that we're not extremely grateful for the people who have gotten us here so far. In fact, the amazing thing for all of us is the dedication and the professionalism and the sheer quality of every single person, whether it's volunteers who paid their own way to move to Little Rock from places all over the country when they have never even been to Little Rock before, to people who are here in Concord today, who moved here from Oregon to be a part of our New Hampshire operation and will be here through the primary. That's been the secret weapon for the campaign. A lot of people have never understood it.

If we had to pay all the people that are working full time for us, it would have taken all the money that the other candidates have had, but fortunately for us we have people who are dedicated not to their paycheck, but to their country in a way that is simply amazing to me. And as a result, there has been a growing momentum.

Today, it's with extreme joy, pleasure and excitement that I present to you national campaign chairman and senior adviser, Ed Rollins.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you.

ED ROLLINS, HUCKABEE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Thank you very much.

First of all, I want to announce that I never played baseball, never taken steroids, never been drug-tested. Anyone who does campaigns for as long as I have maybe should be drug-tested, but the reality is -- thank you for all turning out today.

I'm very excited about this campaign, and I've been around this game for a long time. And I can tell you I knew all the candidates. I've been very friendly with many of them who are running.

We have some very, very significant people running for president this year. And I've known Rudy Giuliani and I've known Thompson and I've known all these guys for many, many years.

The guy I knew the least was Mike Huckabee. I knew who he was, I knew what he had done in Arkansas, but over the last six months I have watched him build his campaign and build his own communications skills to inspire people to where I think we're in a very exciting place, on the verge of winning Iowa.

We're on the verge of coming back here and doing very well in this state. We're ahead in many other states. But the critical factor that always occurs in -- getting off the plane yesterday in the snow -- and it was very nice in New Hampshire -- reminded me of how wonderful it is in the wintertime, and if we didn't have a snowstorm it wouldn't be New Hampshire. But to come here and to be reminded of the first time I came here, it was 1976 with Ronald Reagan and we lost a very close election, as you may remember. Not many of you were alive then, so -- you're all kids.

But we lost a very close election to Gerald Ford. We come back here in 1980 and we won here.

PHILLIPS: And there's the official announcement, Huckabee's new national campaign chairman, veteran Republican strategist and the architect of Ronald Reagan's 1984 landslide election victory you may remember. We're talking about Ed Rollins there, now stepping up to the mike and announcing what he's going to do for Mike Huckabee's campaign.

As you know, Huckabee has had a tremendous surge lately in the polls. Now he's bringing on Ed Rollins. It will be interesting to see how that makes an impact on this presidential race, specifically there among Republicans.

We're going to take a quick break. We're going to talk with Dana Bash right on the other side of that about what this means for the race.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A big announcement there in New Hampshire. Political heavyweight Ed Rollins signing up with Mike Huckabee's campaign. He's going to lead it.

Dana Bash keeping track of the new developments. She joins us now from Des Moines, Iowa.

He's got quite the background.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He does have quite a background, certainly. The background, sort of what he's most known for, Kyra, is what he did for Ronald Reagan.

His re-election, of course, was history-making. He won 49 states. That is, as I said, what Ed Rollins is known for.

More recently, his reputation and his record in terms of running presidential campaigns has been mixed. He helped Jack Kemp in 1988. That didn't go very far. He angered some Republicans by backing Ross Perot's Independent bid in 1992.

But, look, the bottom line for Mike Huckabee -- and he made this very clear at this press conference that's still going on in New Hampshire -- is that he understands -- I've asked him, everybody asked him, how are you going to deal with the fact that you have gone from basically an asterisk in the polls to the front-runner here in Iowa and in South Carolina, according to our new poll today, and you basically have a very, very small infrastructure and not a lot of funding? So what Mike Huckabee said is that I am still loyal to the small band of aides who have been working with me, but I realize that I need to sort of get this on a different track, on a national track, and that is why he got Ed Rollins on board.

Ed Rollins is going to be now Mike Huckabee's national campaign chairman, and Rollins made clear that he understands the challenge of sort of turning this into an insurgent campaign -- from an insurgent campaign into one that surges and continues to surge. He made clear he's going to hire some people in order to make that happen.

So, it is going to be interesting to see how Mike Huckabee, whose appeal is his authenticity -- his appeal is kind of the fact that he runs a different kind of campaign -- how he's going to marry that with the fact that he is bringing on somebody who is a veteran Republican strategist -- Kyra PHILLIPS: Dana Bash, it's going to be interesting to watch no, doubt. Thanks so much.

And you can tune in to CNN Monday night. Mike Huckabee will be Larry King's guest at 9:00 p.m. They're going to talk faith, politics and, of course, the Republican's bid for the White House. That's Monday night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, on "LARRY KING LIVE."

(BUSINESS REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Don Lemon is off, and you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We are following two bank robberies now. We're not sure if they're related, but they're both happening here in Atlanta, Georgia, one in Kennesaw just outside of the city there at this Suntrust Bank. Pictures coming to us via WSB, one of our affiliates here in Atlanta. Police right now trying to figure out if a briefcase left here in this bank is indeed full of explosives. The bomb squad is on the scene. We are also trying to track details on that suspect who's still on the loose.

Is it connected to this other bank robbery that we've just learned about in Norcross, Georgia. That's a good question, but we're getting word now from the FBI. Right here, these pictures captured on surveillance video, armed bank robbery, Norcross, Georgia. All we know from police right now is that they are looking for a getaway vehicle. Apparently, it's a mid-1990 Chrysler Minivan with a handicap placard on the rear view mirror and a red dye pack exploded in the front seat area of this van. Don't know if that was shot into that car by law enforcement or not.

There's a pretty good picture of that armed robbery suspect right now, obviously wearing different clothing than what was described as the other bank robber. The other bank robber apparently left in a black sweatshirt. This suspect wearing gray, but this car apparently has a red dye pack that exploded in the front seat of a minivan, 1990 Chrysler Minivan.

So, two bank robberies that we're following right now. Not sure if they're connected, one in Kennesaw, one in Norcross. We'll bring you more information as we get it.

The nation and the national past time are reacting to yesterday's bombshell from former senator George Mitchell on the prevailance of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. More than 80 players are named, nearly all of them staying silent or denying the reports, but not everyone is keeping quiet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM PIATT, NAMED IN MITCHELL REPORT: At the end of the day, I made a mistake. But if I could go back and change it, I wouldn't, because I learned a lot about my character and myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Interesting hearing from a former -- or a player, active player right there named on that list.

Now, 40/20 game winning pitcher, Jim Bouton, may be the best remembered for what he did off the field. He wrote baseball's tell- all book of 1969 titled, "Ball Four," focusing on baseball's drug problems back then. He joins me on the phone from the snowy hills of North Egremont, Massachusetts.

Jim, thanks for being with us.

VOICE OF JIM BOUTON, FORMER MLB PITCHER: Hello, nice to be here.

PHILLIPS: Well, this is something you wrote about a long time ago. And now, look at here we are with this massive problem with steroids within Major League baseball. Are you surprised and what was your first reaction?

BOUTON: I wasn't surprised and I, of course, was sad to see the game come to this sorry state. As you mentioned, I talked about amphetamine use 37 years ago. It took them that many years to finally come up with a rule against amphetamines.

But one of the other things I said in "Ball Four" was, I said -- I was talking about how competitive players are and how badly they want to win and how they'll do anything and take health risks. I said if there was a pill, I wrote this, if there was a pill that would guarantee a pitcher would win 20 games, but it would take five years off his life, I said we'd all be taking them.

And that is the attitude, the competitive instincts and players need to be protected against their competitive instincts by very, very tough drug rules that are set up and enforced by their own union and the owners and I blame the Players Association for not making this happen.

PHILLIPS: And why haven't those rules been set up? Why hasn't there been a stricter drug policy and why hasn't Major League Baseball done -- you would think you'd want your athletes to be healthy and not risk their lives like this and also, be natural athletes?

BOUTON: Well, you know, that's true, but, you know, this is a failure of leadership we have in the country and it's not just in baseball. It's postponing a problem. It's sweeping things under the rug. It's ignoring it. Let's forget about it. Let's not doing anything about it now. Let's push it off to the next generation, the next Congress. We're doing that in business, we're doing that in politics, we do that all over the place. Why should baseball be any different?

PHILLIPS: You know Jim, but it goes against everything that an athlete is supposed to represent. I mean, you're supposed to be proud of your natural ability and your talents and take care of your body and I thought that's what a true athlete stands for and basically, when you take steroids, you're a cheater.

BOUTON: That's true, and that's why there needs to be tough rules against it. I'm suggesting that the players and the owners need to go beyond what the Mitchell Report is recommending, and they need to ban not only currently known performance-enhancing drugs, but any new drugs that come along in the future, and the only way to do this is to take blood tests of the players each year and hold them in reserve so that if a new drug comes along, if those players can be shown to have taken that drug, they should have to be punished for that. That prevents a race with the chemist every year.

PHILLIPS: So, why doesn't Bud Selig appoint you to start doing this? Here we go. We've got the idea right now, Jim.

BOUTON: And the other idea I have is that there should be one strike and you're out. More games have been illegally impacted by drugs, by performance-enhancing drugs than ever have been impacted by gambling, and if one strike and you're out for gambling, why not steroids? Do players accidentally inject themselves with steroids? No, they make a conscious decision to cheat and they should be out of the game.

If you had that -- you combine that with the blood testing, then people would believe that they're watching a legitimate game out there and that nobody has an unfair advantage over anyone else.

PHILLIPS: So when you talk about homerun king Barry Bonds and you look at all these records that have been made since we've been talking about this, does this taint all the records? I mean, does this completely wipe out what we thought was an amazing athlete?

BOUTON: Well, he was an amazing athlete and he deserves credit for that, but he went over the line it looks like with the steroid issue and the issue of what to do about those records, that's a second stage. That has to be -- that has to be dealt with. Maybe we'll start dealing with that six months or a year from now, but what they got to do now is to get back on track and I think they have a crisis that's equivalent to the 19 Black Sox gambling scandal, and I think they need to do something just as tough to regain the credibility of the public.

PHILLIPS: And Jim, I just want to ask you real quickly. Back when you were playing, did you ever take any kind of drug, did you take one of these greenies?

BOUTON: Well, I took one pep pill one time, one amphetamine because I wanted to see what impact it had. And it made me so jangled, I couldn't concentrate. I was already sky high, you know, just being up for a regular game and the amphetamines sent me over the top, so that was the last one I took.

But I mean, if it would have helped me, I probably would have taken it. I don't think any of the players thought greenies were cheating. They would really be more in the category of performance enablers, if you were out late the night before or you had a hangover, it would allow you to play up to your level of ability, but not beyond your normal level.

It didn't make you bigger, faster, stronger or a better ballplayer and that's the difference between the amphetamines, although they're dangerous and there should be rules against them. That's the difference between amphetamines and the performance enhancers.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's hope we see some changes. It's a shame it's come to this point. Jim Bouton, great talking to you. Thanks for your time.

BOUTON: OK, your welcome.

PHILLIPS: And we'd like to know what you think, and then share your thoughts with us. In the wake of the Mitchell Report, should kids think of players as role models, after all of this of course? You can send your response to cnnnewsroom@cnn.com.

A possible medical breakthrough and new hope for people left severely paralyzed with what's known as Locked-In syndrome. Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at how patients could learn to speak for the very first time in years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: No word on why, but more middle-aged Americans are killing themselves. That's according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2004, the most recent year covered, there were 16.6 suicides for every 100,000 Americans between the ages of 45 and 54. That's a 20 percent increase over five years earlier. And it's the highest middle-aged suicide rate since they began keeping records in about 1980. Experts call it an unrecognized tragedy.

The movie "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" was just nominated for a Golden Globe. And it tells the true story of man with a condition that left him paralyzed except for one eye, and how he blinked to communicate his thoughts. Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us how a revolutionary new technology may help others with Locked-In syndrome find their voice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Watch closely. Blinking is this man's language. In the movie "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," Jean-Dominique Bauby tells his story by painstakingly blinking letters of the alphabet. It is his only means of communication. The film sparked hope for this man and his son. 24-year-old Eric Ramsey became paralyzed eight years ago in a car accident that led to a stroke. Now his only controllable movement is his eye muscle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had to blink that book with one eye. Had he never did that, no one would understand what Locked In means.

GUPTA: This condition is unlike other paralysis. Ramsey can still feel pain. An itch can become excruciating with no way of asking for relief. This neuroscientist, Bill Kennedy, hopes to improve Eric's life by giving him a way to turn his thoughts into speech. He invented an electrode that picks up signals from the speech area of Eric's brain. Those signals are decoded in labs, and it's 80 percent accurate and in identifying the sounds Eric is trying to make.

DR. FRANK GUENTHER, BOSTON UNIVERSITY: That is kind of like a spine-tingling moment where, suddenly, we really thought this was big and it was going to work.

GUPTA: Two years from now, with the help of a synthesizer, Eric may be able to speak for the first time since he was 16.

GUETHNER: Based on reports from paralyzed people who have lost both the ability to move and speak, the most common report is that they would like to have their speech back more than anything.

GUPTA: For Eric Ramsey, the ability to speak could be a life- changing experience.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you still have hope?

Yes.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: High-flying presidential campaign. Republican Ron Paul's blimp takes off on a search for support in South Carolina.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And topping today's political ticker, surging Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, turns to a longtime political strategist in a bid to keep his momentum going. He's named Ed Rollins as his national campaign chairman. The announcement just a short time ago in New Hampshire. Rollins is considered the architect of Ronald Reagan's 1984 landslide victory. He also ran Jack Kemp's 1988 presidential campaign as well as Ross Perot's 1992 campaign.

And tune in to CNN Monday night. Mike Huckabee will be Larry King's guest at 9:00. They'll talk faith, politics and of course, the Republicans bid for the White House. That's Monday night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern on "LARRY KING LIVE."

Mike Huckabee surging in South Carolina. He now leads among Republicans in our new CNN opinion research corporation poll with 24 percent. Fred Thompson is second, followed by Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney tied for third. Also in double digits, John McCain and Ron Paul.

Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton's lead over Barack Obama has been cut in half. But she's still on top with 42 percent. Obama is second with 34 percent. John Edwards got 16 percent. On the campaign trail, an apology from a Senator Hillary Clinton to her Democratic rival Senator Barack Obama. That apology after a top Clinton campaign adviser in New Hampshire said Democrats should be wary of nominating Obama because his teen-aged drug use could make it hard for him to win the White House. The adviser, Bill Shaheen of New Hampshire, has now resigned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, as soon as I found out that one of my supporters and co-chairs in New Hampshire made a statement, and asked a series of questions, I made it clear it was not authorized. It was in no way condoned. I didn't know about it and he stepped down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Bill Shaheen is the husband of former New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen.

It's not a bird, it's not a plane, it's Ron Paul's blimp. The Republican presidential candidate's airship took off from Elizabeth City, North Carolina this morning headed for South Carolina. The first stop, the town of Chester. Polls show Paul is gaining support in South Carolina.

And for all the day's political stories, go to cnnpolitics.com. Find out who is ahead in South Carolina and much more. Again the address, is cnnpolitics.com.

And here's a man who's got the spirit and a heap of trouble, too. Coming up in the NEWSROOM, a most amazing, coincidence.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kareen Wynter in Los Angeles. The writers strike continues, but that may not stop some hosts from going back to work. I'll explain when CNN NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We've all grown accustomed, lately, to seeing reruns in the late-night shows. But those reruns soon may be coming to an end. That's the good news. Entertainment correspondent Kareen Wynter joins me now with more.

Hey, Kareen.

WYNTER: Hi there, Kyra. Great news. It's fantastic news, especially for those night owls. You know, you may be seeing your favorite late night talk show hosts back on TV, without reruns very soon. Some industry insiders are saying that Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, Jay Leno and Craig Ferguson may return to the small screen as soon as January 7th, if not sooner. Of course, none of them has commented on whether they will or will not, but their late night ratings continue to plunge as the writers strike continues. Now the hosts have stayed off the job since the beginning of the strike. Some of them have even gone as far, Kyra, as to pay some of their non-writing staff out of their own pockets. Right now, there are no scheduled talks between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and television producers.

Now Kyra, this next story, a big talker here in Hollywood. Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria and her husband NBA star Tony Parker are flat out denying allegations that Parker slept with another woman just months after getting married to her. Now, French model Alexandra Paressant alleges that she had an affair with Parker in September, and that she was a guest at his July wedding in Paris, that big bash. Paressant says she was introduced to 25-year-old Parker by a mutual friend they share.

She also says that she and Parker began exchanging sexually explicit text messages , which eventually led to sex. She even claims that while Parker was in Paris, she had intimate relations with him and that she later visited him in San Antonio and saw the mansion that he's actually building there.

The publicist for 32-year-old Longoria issued this statement, that these allegations are completely 100 percent false and untrue. All high-profile couples fall victim to these sorts of things in the course of their relationship. It also appears that this is not the first time this woman has used an athlete, she says, to gain public notoriety. Parker also responded saying that I love my wife, she's best thing in my life. So we'll, of course, keep track of that.

Well did, she or didn't she? That's what many people are wondering when it comes to a recent public statement made by Oscar winning actress, Jodie Foster. After receiving an award, Foster thanked a few people. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JODIE FOSTER, ACTRESS/DIRECTOR: ...my lawyer Matt Saver, my mother Evelyn who dreamt it all, my beautiful Sydney who sticks with me through the rotten and the bliss. Here we all are, after so many years getting older together, staying young together. Thank you all for holding me and for being in this together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: OK, so here's the thing. Some who heard this acceptance speech are saying that the words, "my beautiful Sydney," are actually in reference to her longtime partner. If that's true, then it would be the first time, Foster's first public admission that she is in fact a lesbian. CNN has reached out to Foster's publicist, and so far we've not received any comments.

All right, switching gears. Coming up tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," the remarkable transformation of Hollywood's biggest stars, from Brad Pitt to Tom Cruise. The fascinating stories, that you know, you haven't heard. Don't miss this compelling special edition of TV's most provocative entertainment news show at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

And with that, Kyra, we'll send it back to you.

PHILLIPS: OK Kareen, good to see you.

WYNTER: I'll see you later.

PHILLIPS: It was just ten feet beneath the surface, but no one saw it for more than 300 years. Just wait until you hear what these divers found.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And lets check in, what's clicking with all you dot- commers right now. Some of the top videos this hour. Police in Baton Rouge investigate the shooting deaths of two Louisiana State University graduate students. The graduate students were killed in an apartment on the edge of campus. Police believe it was in a home invasion style robbery.

Scientists are trying to figure out how to communicate with brain injury patients who are no longer able to speak. An electronic implant that can read neural-signals may be the key in helping those living in the Locked In syndrome.

And an American servicemen deployed in Iraq makes his two daughters' Christmas wish come true, by wrapping himself up for an early special delivery.

Those stories, plus all the day's weather, sports and more at cnn.com. And by the way, we're going to interview them at the end of the day today. You'll hear from them next week.

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