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American Morning
Commissioner Bud Selig is Promising to Fix Baseball's Doping Problem After the Mitchell Report; New Numbers and New Hope for Mike Huckabee; A New Energy Bill has Passed the Senate
Aired December 14, 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: A new CNN/opinion research poll shows that Huckabee is now the leader among likely Republican voters in South Carolina. And after polling just three percent back in July, you see today 24 percent in that crucial early state.
Fred Thompson second with 17 percent, and Rudy Giuliani right behind Thompson at 16 percent. His numbers, though, almost half of what they were in July.
For the Democrats, Hillary Clinton still leads with 42 percent. Barack Obama gaining. He is now at 34 percent, up from 27 percent in July, and John Edwards at 16 percent in his native state.
CNN's Jessica Yellin has had a look at these polls as well, and she's live up in Des Moines to help us go behind the numbers. Jessica, good morning, and what are they attributing this Huckabee surge to today?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kiran, Mike Huckabee has been steadily picking up in South Carolina for some time now, but this amazing surge for him is a great sign that he is not just a one state in Iowa phenomenon. The read into this poll is that he really does connect with the state's evangelicals and values voters. His is a message that they accept and voters there in this poll say, they find him to be believable.
Now, he is still also, he's still I should point out not taken the board in every state. In New Hampshire, he still is not a significant leader there, where his message isn't connecting quite as well yet. But here in two early states, both Iowa and South Carolina, he is now the leader. I should point out, though, that even in this South Carolina poll we're talking about right now, 22 percent of those polled say they aren't going to make up their minds until they see how folks in Iowa and New Hampshire vote, so this is all still very much up in the air -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Jessica Yellin, thank you. Also, can we switch to Democrats for a second? You had a chance I'm sure to see yesterday's debate. Did anyone stand out to you, and what do they have to do to try to stand out before the Iowa caucuses?
YELLIN: You know, there was no real winner yesterday. The format didn't lend itself to allow them to clash with one another, and so they seemed to be very collegial and in agreement on most issues. But the one thing they keep trying to define themselves as is the candidate most capable of making change, creating a change in Washington.
So Hillary Clinton is saying she's the change candidate who has experience. Barack Obama says he's a fresh outsider. John Edwards says he's the most forceful who can really shake things up, and it's just a question of which one of those messages is going to connect. They really all have to hit the trail and connect with voters, face- to-face here in Iowa for one of them to come out ahead on January 3rd. It's going to be a fierce match right down to the wire.
CHETRY: It sure is. But boy, the political headline today, that amazing turnaround and a big change in the polling in South Carolina. Jessica Yellin, thanks for being with us.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: The other big story that we're tracking this morning. The northeast waking up to iced over roads and cars this morning and there is still more bad weather to come. This is what it looked like throughout the region. Snow coming down in West Hartford, Connecticut, slowing traffic, forcing people to bundle up as they clear up the sidewalks.
Take a look at this. In Boston's Logan Airport, the storm dumped more than 10 inches of snow, breaking the old record by a full three inches. More than 100 flights were canceled there, and you were right in the middle of it. These are some of the I-Report pictures you sent us showing traffic tie-ups and commuting nightmares. The big news though, round two is on the way.
CNN's Reynolds Wolf is tracking our extreme weather live from downtown Hartford for us this morning. Reynolds, what's it like there on the ground, and what's it going to look like this weekend?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, to set the scene for you, right now things are in pretty good shape. I can tell you, just about six hours ago when we first came into town, it was entirely a different situation. We had anywhere from six to eight inches of snow here in the city. West Hartford, not to far from this location, they had 11 inches of snowfall officially.
But as you can see, right up the street here. We are on the corner, by the way, of Trumble and Jewel in downtown Hartford, conditions look OK. Now, the roads aren't perfect granted they had a lot of snow that fell in a very quick rate of time. But we've seen a lot of city plows out here. People are making their way up and down the streets. Something else, too. A lot of your city services, the city buses we've seen those. We've seen a lot of taxis. A lot of things are still working here.
And noticing that the temperature right now is around 30 degrees, certainly the snow is not going anywhere but later on today it's expected to go up to about 45, so the snow's going to be gone. However, John, we are expecting another storm system to move in as we get into Saturday. I'm going to talk about that coming up towards the bottom of the hour.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it, Reynolds. Thanks very much.
WOLF: You bet.
ROBERTS: What now for baseball, after Senator George Mitchell's investigation revealed steroid abuse on all 30 teams and named several all-stars, MVPs, Cy Young winners? The list includes some of baseball's biggest names, not just sluggers like Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Jose Canseco also in there, but also, seven-time Cy Young award winner, Roger Clemens. The report says Clemens was injected with steroids and human growth hormone, and those were charges that Clemens' attorney vigorously denied.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, CLEMENS' ATTORNEY: It's not right to put somebody in a report with this kind of allegation and lack of proof because there's nothing he can do to combat it. He's not being charged with anything. He has just been smeared with something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Can Clemens make a case that he is being libeled, and what about the league? What might they do? AMERICAN MORNING legal analyst Sunny Hostin joins us now. So George Mitchell, Sunny, yesterday in the report, recommended against any kind of punishment for players saying the league's got to move forward from this.
SUNNY HOSTIN, AMERICAN MORNING LEGAL ANALYST: Right.
ROBERTS: But is there a D.A. somewhere who might see charges? Steroid use is illegal.
HOSTIN: It is illegal.
ROBERTS: And might the league itself seek to discipline some of these players currently on the rosters?
HOSTIN: I think so. I think that's right. I think we're going to sort of see this, you know, web of accountability. We know that there are all-star players on there. There are people that have contracts and so we may see contracts being withheld and scratched. We're going to see, I think, justice department is initiating investigations, and so now we're going to have subpoena power. People are going to be brought in.
This is a web that's going to go on and on and on. I think we're going to see a lot more of this story, and there is some D.A. out there that is chopping at the bit right now.
ROBERTS: Yes. That was one of the things that George Mitchell said in the report was he did not have subpoena power, so his investigation to some degree was limited.
HOSTIN: That's right.
ROBERTS: But what about the flipside of that coin? What about the players union? Might they go after the people involved in the Mitchell report, and might Clemens' attorney have some sort of legal recourse for him being named when he denies the charges?
HOSTIN: You know, I think what's really, really interesting about this, John, is that his attorney -- his lawyered up, obviously, Clemens' is lawyered up. And what's interesting, I think, is that he is using what most lawyers use, the best defense is a good offense. So he has no pun intended, but he's come out swinging here.
He's saying they can't prove this. This is not true. This is libel and you know, public figures are -- it's a difficult case for a public figure to show that he's been libeled, but I think we're going to see that. And so again, web of accountability. We're going to see a lot more, and I can't wait. I can't wait.
ROBERTS: Well, looks like this report is just the beginning in a lot of ways.
HOSTIN: No question about it.
ROBERTS: Sunny Hostin, thanks very much. We're going to have more on the baseball steroids story with our Veronica De La Cruz coming up this hour.
Major League Baseball President Bob Dupuy is going to be joining at 7:15 Eastern, and we'll talk with steroid investigator Former Senator George Mitchell at 8:15 -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes, from the page of the "New York Post" saying it all disgrace and then showing syringes with the names of some of the top players' names. A lot more on this throughout the morning as well.
Meanwhile, new this morning. Five men arrested for starting last month's wildfire at Malibu State Park in California. Police releasing the mug shot of three of the men overnight. This fire destroyed more than 50 homes and also forced 15,000 people to evacuate.
Police say the men illegally started a camp fire at a popular party spot in a cave, and they never tried to put it out or even warn residents. When the flames started spreading, they just left the scene. Police tracked them down using receipts and surveillance footage from a nearby store. The men are facing felony, arson-related charges, and if convicted, they could get several years in prison.
Well, the House approving a bill that would ban the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods when questioning suspected terrorists. It comes after the agency admitted it destroyed interrogation video tapes two years ago. That bill passed by a vote of 222 to 199. It now goes on to the Senate, but the president is threatening to veto it.
Waterboarding, and you'll see some photos of simulations of waterboarding, makes the subject feel as though they are drowning. The CIA says it does not use this interrogation technique anymore.
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is trying to boost his power in Iraq. Some of his close aides telling the "Associated Press" that he's studying to become an Ayatollah. If he gains that title, he could become even more powerful in the country. Al-Sadr is currently battling other Shiite leaders for control of Iraq's southern oil field. He was last seen publicly, though, in May.
A high school student in Washington State suspended for warning his classmates about a sex offender on campus. Raydon Gilmore Jr. at Gig Harbor High School found his fellow student on a Web site that lists the state's level two and level three sex offenders. Well, he made copies of that announcement and then handed them out to classmates. He says that even though he got punished, he would do it again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAYDON GILMORE JR., SUSPENDED FOR DISTRIBUTING FLYERS: I just think it's the right thing to do. People should know about dangerous people that are attending class with.
MELONEY GARTHE, RAYDON GILMORE'S MOTHER: I'm frustrated that my son does something right and good and something that I'm proud of, and he's being punished for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, the school says that distributing the flyers amounted to harassment, and it interfered with the other student's education.
Record energy costs hit wholesale prices seeing their biggest jump in decades. Also, retail inflation numbers come out this morning. Ali Velshi tracking all of that and the impact it could have on your money at the business update desk. Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. Yesterday, we've got this news on wholesale inflation, which is the price that manufacturers and wholesalers pay for their materials and because of the high price of oil, we saw the biggest jump in 34 years, the biggest jump since 1973 in wholesale inflation.
Now, that's not as important to the average consumer. What really matters to the average consumer is consumer inflation, CPI as we call it, and that comes out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern today. Let's see what that sort of jump is. Obviously, all of you out there know exactly what you've been paying, the increase you've been paying for the goods that you're buying, but this is how it measures across the board.
It helps the fed make decisions about whether interest rates are too high or too low, and it does affect how people make decisions about their spending. So we'll have that for you later this morning, but that's what markets are looking toward today -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Ali Velshi, we'll check in with you throughout the morning on that. Thanks.
ROBERTS: No support for Michael Vick. Your "Quick Hits" now. The federal judge who sentenced the disgraced Atlanta Falcons quarterback just released excerpts from a five-page letter that Vick wrote asking for leniency right before he was sentenced. Vick wrote "I am not the bad person or beast that I have been made out to be." He was sentenced to 23 months in prison on dog fighting charges.
And NASA releasing e-mails that may shed some light on the so- called astronaut love triangle case. We're learning the relationship between former astronaut Lisa Nowak and Bill Oefelein may have been leaning in the platonic direction. The e-mails between him and Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman are far more personal.
Prosecutors say this supports the theories that Nowak viewed Shipman as a romantic rival. Police say Nowak drove from her home in Texas to Florida and attacked Shipman. Nowak is charged with attempted kidnapping and burglary with assault.
And will a recall of 1 million doses of meningitis vaccine cause a public health problem? We'll tell you what the CDC says just ahead.
And a sign of progress at the Bali climate conference. The United States and Europe now trying to reach an agreement on cutting global warming gases. We'll tell you what's happening today. You're watching the most news in the morning here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's coming up now to 15 minutes after the hour. Some of the amazing shots of the morning at our "Quick Hits" now. Not going anywhere for awhile? Check out the traffic jam on I-95 outside of Boston as snow slowed everything down. This was taken by I- Reporter John Sullivan from a bridge overlooking the madness. He says he jumped on a back road, still took him an hour to go four miles.
Sometimes an early exit is all that it's cracked up to be. Here's a student who got a half a snow day in New Jersey, all bundled up, scraping an inch of ice out of his car after he was let out of class.
And chilled to the bone. This student slushes through the big snowstorm in Providence, Rhode Island. Most of them also got out of class early there. Didn't go at all as the storm slammed into New England, and as Reynolds said, another one ahead coming up on the weekend.
CHETRY: Are you going to be able to make it home?
ROBERTS: Today? Yes. Shouldn't be any problem today.
CHETRY: All right. You don't have to come back Monday. So you're in the clear.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: I'm coming back. CHETRY: How about this one? The material girl, Madonna, getting a major music honor. You know you're old when the music you listen to starts to get, you know -- the artist starts to get inducted in the Hall of Fame and you're starting to get up there.
Well, Madonna is going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, the rock n' roll Hall of Fame next year, and she's not the only big name. John Mellencamp, he'll also be enshrined for his contribution. Also joining him, The Ventures, composer Leonard Cohen and the Dave Clark Five. The Hall's president calls the class trailblazers. The ceremony takes place March 10th in New York City. Congratulations.
ROBERTS: Another record for Alex Rodriguez. Your "Quick Hits" now.
A-Rod and the Yankees finalized a $275 million 10-year contract. It is now the richest contract in baseball history, topping A-Rod's previous $252 million deal that he signed with the Texas rangers back in 2000. The deal could also be worth another $30 million if A-Rod reaches several historic milestones, including breaking Barry Bonds career home run record. A-Rod was not named, by the way, in the Mitchell report that accuses dozens of players of using steroids.
And a Christmas holiday for NASA workers will delay the shuttle launch. Atlantis was scheduled to launch twice in early December but due to delays, the earliest that they could try again is January the 2nd. But instead of making everybody come in during the holidays, NASA pushed that date until the 10th, to allow as many people to be home for the holidays with the family.
New studies show possible new ways to treat breast cancer. It's all very exciting here. Chemotherapy might not be the answer. We'll tell you what the studies say, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-one minutes after the hour. It happens from time to time. At this time yesterday, we goofed big time and we want to take a moment to make things right here.
When we told you about the progress of the world's first face transplant patient, we mistakenly used the picture on the left. That's Isabel Dinoire before she was mauled by her dog, four years in fact before she was mauled by the dog. The photo on the right is the newest picture, the one that we should have shown, showing what she looks like 18 months after her ground-breaking surgery. Our thanks to viewer Becky Malik (ph) who pointed out the error for us.
CHETRY: She still does look amazing, though.
ROBERTS: She does.
CHETRY: I mean, the way that they were able to reconstruct her face. She said before she couldn't go out in public because of how grotesque the disfigurement was. And now --
ROBERTS: And those incision lines that you see in the photograph on the right, by the way, fairly easily covered by makeup.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: So life is getting better for her. And again, thanks to Becky for writing in and pointing that out to us.
A recall of a vaccine by Merck should not pose a public health problem, an update on a story that we're talking about all day yesterday.
Merck recalled, as you'll recall, 1 million doses of its meningitis Hib vaccine this week and will probably now not make any more doses for a year. But the Centers for Disease Control and the FDA say don't expect the shortage to be a major problem. Check with your doctor, by the way, about what you should do if you've got a newborn or if you're pregnant and expecting.
A historic agreement will help seven western states get through their drought. California, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico all share the Colorado River and are in the midst of an eight-year-long drought. It's not crucial yet but a plan is now in place that will help 30 million people in the event of a severe water shortage.
CHETRY: They're reporting some progress being made at the final day of a U.N. climate conference in Bali. The United States and Europe nearing a compromise on restrictions for future greenhouse gases. The EU wanted strict limits and the U.S. wanted voluntary limits but again as we're saying, some progress coming to an agreement about that.
International correspondent Dan Rivers is at the conference this morning, and he has a look at what's coming up today. Hi, Dan.
DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there. Well, there is a little bit of light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel here in Bali. The conference was supposed to end an hour ago. It hasn't. We're all still here. We're all still waiting for the delegates to come out and tell us whether they have reached an agreement or not.
As you say, the cracks of the problem here is a disagreement between the U.S., Japan and Canada on one hand, and the Europeans and some developing countries on the other, on whether in this document right here, in the end production, whether it should mention specific quantifiable emissions cuts.
Now, this is not going to be a document that is implemented straight away. This is really a road map. It's being described for another two years of negotiations in trying to decide who should cut which emissions and by how much, but they can't even agree on the introduction. They're literally arguing over every single word, every single semicolon, full stop, comma, in this document. It's being -- I don't have minute detail, making sure that every one is happy.
We had a briefing a couple of hours ago from the German environment minister. He said that things were going more positively now. In his words, that the U.S. had a much more positive attitude than it did at the beginning of this conference. From the U.S. side, they object to putting these specific numbers in here because they're saying that will pre-empt any subsequent discussions that will carry out over the next two years and concluding Copenhagen. So we're still waiting he but we think perhaps, just perhaps, they might come up with a deal.
CHETRY: All right. Dan Rivers for us. Keep us posted, thank you.
ROBERTS: Well, the reindeer it would appear had a prior engagement, so Santa took the next best thing. It's your morning "Hot Shot." He landed a helicopter during the 60th Toys for Tots Drive at Omaha's Children's Hospital, also visited some of the sick kids there at the hospital.
Marines are helping sort through all of the donations this year because of all the various toy recalls that have occurred. There's your -- look at that.
CHETRY: That was so cute. The little kid standing in the window looking at Santa arriving via chopper.
ROBERTS: Teddy bear for that young girl there. And if you've got 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 that the image is yours and not someone else's.
CHETRY: Well, there is some new studies out that could mean big changes in the way we treat breast cancer. One of the most devastating things, of course, the side-effects of chemotherapy. Is it always needed, and could gentler forms of chemotherapy actually work for most women? We're going to have a big look at that study coming up.
Also, are little leaguers reacting to seeing their baseball role models tainted by the drug scandal? Alina Cho went to find out. These are childhood heroes for many of the kids. We're going to have that in the day's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Shot this morning of Washington D.C., our nation's capital. There's a look at the White House. It's 42 degrees, cloudy right now, shaping up to be 53 degrees and sunny. Not a bad December day, but I wonder if they cleaned up from all the action last night.
ROBERTS: Yes. It's been a lot of holiday cheer at the White House over the past week as they host all the Christmas parties. Last night was the television and radio Christmas party. A lot of our colleagues went. You and I invited but unfortunately, we had to be here this morning. So --
CHETRY: Time to make the doughnuts. We have to clean the coolatta machine. A lot of people in Iowa though went on a campaign trail in New Hampshire. So --
ROBERTS: True.
CHETRY: Maybe it was a little --
ROBERTS: There are probably fewer people there this year than we had in the years' past.
CHETRY: I'm sure it was fun, though. Welcome back, by the way, December 14th, it's Friday. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: Good morning, I'm John Roberts. We are tracking extreme weather for you right now. There could be as much as another foot of snow on the way for parts of the northeast. This is people digging out from yesterday's snow and ice storm. Here's a picture of West Hartford, Connecticut, blanketed by snow. A seen repeated throughout the region. 100 flights were canceled at Boston's Logan Airport, where the storm dumped more than ten inches, that's a new record. And if you're traveling this weekend, make sure you get there by tonight, because round two is on the way.
Our Reynolds Wolf is watching your extreme weather from downtown Hartford for us this morning. How much snow are we expecting to see, Reynolds?
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, new this morning, some breast cancer patients could do without chemotherapy or maybe they could get a gentler version of the treatment according to some new research. There's one study suggesting that some women did better when given a less harsh drug than the one that's typically been used for years in chemo treatments. There's another study that found that a genetic test maybe able to help predict weather some women need chemo at all. Doctors say the findings will speed the growing trend away from chemo for many breast cancer patients and targeting it up to a smaller group of women who trully need it.
An FDA Advisory Panel gives thumbs down to over-the-counter sales of Merck's, cholesterol drug Mevacor. The advisor says the drug is too complicated for consumers to figure out on their own if they should be taking it. The FDA does not have to follow this recommendation. It usually does though, and this is the second time a thumbs down has been given to be getting this Mevacor for use over- the-counter since 2000.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning. Already looking forward to the next hurricane season. One of the leading storm forecasters is making his predictions for 2008. Hurricane forecaster William Gray of Colorado State University says there will be 13-named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three of those will be major. He also says at least one of those major hurricanes will hit the United States. Last year's forecast overshot the mark by a little bit. Gray called for nine hurricanes in 2007. Only six of them formed.
New Jersey is poised to become the first state in 40 years to outlaw the death penalty. State lawmakers gave their final approval yesterday to replace capital punishment with life in prison without parole. Governor Jon Corzine is expected to sign that bill into law next week.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Commissioner Bud Selig is promising to fix Baseball's doping problem after the Mitchell report link. Dozens of current and former players and many childhood heroes to steroids and other performance-enhancing substances. Former baseball star Jose Canseco talked to Larry King last night. Canseco admitted to use steroids and says it's a problem that so widespread it may have no effect on individual records or hall of fame nominees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSE CANSECO, FORMER MAJOR LEAGUES: Now we're realizing that there were so many members in this steroid era that I think you can't just say OK. One pitcher should be in the hall of fame because he was using steroid. If he was using steroid because all of the other hitters were probably using steroids. I think you just put it in a section of its own. This was the steroid era, fine, these players were breaking records. I think they should be inducted into the hall of fame, because everyone was playing on an even field, the steroid field.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, pitcher Roger Clemens has mentioned in the report, 82 times, accused of being injected with steroids and human growth hormones but his lawyer denied the allegations and says that there's no charges, that Clemens is just being smeared. Our Alina Cho talked with some young ballplayers to hear what they think of their heroes now. This is the thing. Even if you're not a sports fan, a lot of parents wondering, what do you say to your kids who look up to these guys?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, they look up to them. It's really sad, Kiran. You know, these kids are disappointed, they're disenchanted and they simply 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.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: 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're cheaters. They're just 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 THIRD BASEMAN: When I was younger, I look up to them and stuff and tried to like, have like windups like them and stuff and now like, they cheated and I really don't 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 are 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's the way they're going to get ahead in life and that's not the right message.
THIER: Whenever I see someone hit a home run, I'm always wondering, did they take steroids and if they really, like are naturally hitting it or if it's like the drugs 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. Loudly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Oh. Well, the coach we spoke to says baseball should be embarrassed. Even George Mitchell said while it's important to deal with the players who use steroids, the reality is hundreds of thousands of children are using them, too, and some believe these kids are learning what they do, both the good and the bad, Kiran.
CHETRY: Isn't it a funny though, the little kids haven't figured out, they know what's right and wrong and all of these grownups in the major leagues going back and forth about when you should be tested.
CHO: That's right. You know, a lot of people had said, they were most stunned by the fact that Roger Clemens was named in the report but that was most startling. But frankly, I was more startled by the fact that Mitchell said so many children are using steroids and the question is, where did they learn this behavior? A lot of people think it's from the pros.
CHETRY: All right and we're going to be talking to George Mitchell a little bit later in the show as well. Alina, great report, thank you.
CHO: You bet.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: 38 minutes after the hour now. A quick-thinking 9- year-old tops your "Quick Hits". The little girl in Maryland saved her father, who suffered a heart attack while he was driving. She got on his lap and drove their pickup truck nearly ten miles at night along winding roads to get him to cell phone range, and then she called her mother for help. How did the little girl know how to drive the pickup truck? Her dad had previously taught her how to drive a tractor.
And grave robber, the city of Manchester, New Hampshire has disciplined the city employee for procuring the town Christmas tree from a cemetery. Apparently, the guy forgot to run an ad asking for a Christmas tree donation for this, so he had a crew go out and cut down a 50-foot spruce at the Pinegrove Cemetery. The city apologized for the tree robbery and says it will plant a new one in its place. The mayor's office said he had no idea at the time where the crew had come up with the tree.
Oprah Winfrey getting heat for campaigning with Barack Obama, but it's not political pundits who are going after her. These are critics that she has going to have to listen to.
And sleep or study, chronic procrastination has left you to choose between those two things, we've got a study that you've just got to hear, that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Change for a five in your "Quick Hits" now. The new $5 bill will go into circulation soon. There's a look at it right now. It's counterfeit proof. They say that it has splashes of color, new security features to keep the counterfeiters guessing. The government says it aims to have 1.5 billion $5 bills ready to go into circulation by March.
Well, the big eight has arrived in Times Square as in 2008. It traveled by subway, there it is, from the Bronx. The 8 actually took the 6 train. Well, there is no 8 train. Its seven feet tall. It has 180 energy-saving light bulbs this year. It will be on display at Time Square Information Center until December 19th.
Cloned cats that glow? Well, researchers in South Korea say they were looking for a way to treat genetic disorders in people, when they discovered that some of the cats turned up fluorescent red, there you see it, when exposed to ultraviolet light. It's almost like -- let see it one more time. How about it, it's like a candle in your pumpkin, when you put a candle inside of it and turn the lights off. A normal one would turn green, they say, under the lights but they modified a gene in the skin cells using a virus and that's what causes these cats to glow. There you have it.
ROBERTS: Pretty striking.
New numbers and new hope for Mike Huckabee tops your "Political Ticker" now. The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll released within the hour shows that Huckabee has gone from, look at these, a meteoric rise, back in July, he was at 3 percent, now at 24 percent in South Carolina. And look at what happened to Rudy Giuliani. Hillary Clinton holds her lead among Democrats in South Carolina with 42 percent, but Barack Obama is gaining on her. Up to 34 percent now from 27 percent in July. A top Clinton adviser has resigned after suggesting Democrats should be wary of Barack Obama because of his teenage drug use. Bill Shaheen was the national co-chairman for the Clinton campaign. He says his comment was a mistake and that the decision to step down yesterday was his own. Clinton herself apologized to Obama over the comment.
Some of Oprah Winfrey's fans are not happy about her campaigning for Obama. TV viewers are writing into her website. Some of them complaining that Oprah is pitting black against white in the campaign. Winfrey says she is offended by those remarks.
Rudy Giuliani is rolling out a new ad in New Hampshire. Highlighting his solution for illegal immigration. Giuliani wants to complete a fence on the Mexican border and create a national I.D. card. You can find all of the day's political news around the clock 24/7 at cnn.com/ticker.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, it's time of year when students are wrapping up finals, they're heading home for the holidays, and if you're still up cramming, maybe you should go to sleep. It's more important, they say, than that extra studying, according to a new study on pulling all-nighters. It found that students who have never pulled an all- nighter have average GPAs of 3.1, compared to 2.9 for those who have pulled an all-nighter. The difference between an "A" and "B", I guess, for some on average. Never could do it. Not that I didn't want to but could not stay up.
ROBERTS: Could not stay up. Well, they didn't have Red Bull back with you when you were in college. So, it would have made a difference.
CHETRY: Or Google. There's Google in these days. It seems like it might be easier for the kids.
ROBERTS: So listen, how long do you want to work until you retire? Well, for some people, there is a longer career in the skies available to them. Your "Quick Hits" now. The Senate has voted to extend the retirement age for commercial pilots from 60 to 65. Pilots reaching the age of 60 though, would be required to have medical checks every six months. The bill now goes to the president's desk.
A new energy bill has passed the Senate. It calls for better mileage from your car and more ethanol in your gas tank. But how soon will you see the changes? We'll tell you coming up.
And just what evidence was used to show steroid abuse in baseball? You can find it online and our Veronica De La Cruz is here to show it to us. She'll be joining us just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Well, its about ten minutes before 7:00 here in New York and if you're just waking up, here's a look at the stories making headlines this morning. We are tracking extreme weather for you today. This is what round one looked like yesterday. Some shots from Connecticut, as well as other parts of the northeast. There's West Hartford yesterday.
Snowplows out in full effect as storm brought significant snow accumulations to Boston, much of New England, Pennsylvania and New York and there is a second winter storm barreling toward the northeast, that's gathering in the rocky mountains right now and they say that, it's already going to hit parts that have already been hit hard like Oklahoma and Kansas. That's one could dump as much as a foot of snow in some areas in the northeast as well. We're going to have live report on the looming snow coming up in just a couple of minutes.
Also, police arrested five men. They say started the Malibu wildfires last month. Men were reportedly drinking at a popular party spot when they started that fire. It destroyed 50 homes, caused $100 million in damages. They say instead of alerting anyone to it, they just simply drove away.
Better mileage and more ethanol, two goals of a scaled back energy bill passed by the Senate, calling for an industry-wide average of 35 miles a galloon for cars, small trucks, and SUVs to be met over the next 13 years. That bill passed after Democrats stripped out billions of dollars in new taxes on big oil companies and now goes to the House, where it is expected to pass next week.
John?
ROBERTS: Yesterday's unveiling of the Mitchell report was a sad day for baseball. Our Veronica De La Cruz has been surfing the web for more on these steroid allegations. What have you found?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A very sad day for baseball, very sad day for the world of sports, and sports fans are not happy seeing their favorite players named in this Mitchell report yesterday. You know, even sadder is seeing all the proof right there in black and white. John, we're going to show you this website, its sportsillustrated.com. They've been posting photos of these canceled checks written by several of the named athletes sent to Kirk Radomski. There you see David Segui, Miguel Tejada, Mo Vaughn, Rondell White and others sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to Radomski, who pleaded guilty to illegal steroid distribution earlier this year.
Part of that deal agreeing to aid in Mitchell's investigation. So, John, we decided to do a little digging online to find out more about Kirk Radomski. It appears, the 37-year-old is now part owner of an auto detailing shop on Long Island and newsday.com reports Radomski began using performance enhancers himself before he began selling. And according to a newyorktimes.com article from April, neighbors of the Radomski said they could tell the couple had a lot of money but never seemed like they worked. The neighbor has quoted as saying the Radomski's had one of the biggest houses in the area, two Lexuses and were always getting deliveries until about two years ago. Now, it's important to note not every all-star is involved in steroid abuse. We also found some positive information on the web. Award- winning outfielder Dale Murphy, who most recently played for the Atlanta Braves, created this website, John, its called iwontcheat.com. It's part of his foundation which aims up protecting youth from the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs. The website has information about steroids and advice from professional athletes and coaches, among other tips and tools for parents. And again, that web address is iwon'tcheat.com. Because kids, they're so impressionable, like we just saw in Alina's report. You know, all of these kids looking up to these big athletes.
ROBERTS: That's one of the most important aspects of this report, is how it informs, how we go forward with our kids to tell them how to conduct their life and let them know that the fast track to the top is not the way to go. Veronica De La Cruz, thanks. Good to see you.
Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Well, a massive manhunt for a robbery suspect in Florida is now over. Police say 30-year-old Leon Davis turned himself in to sheriff's deputies. He's accused of setting two women on fire while robbing an insurance business. One of the women was six months pregnant. They say that he also shot a man who tried to help them. The women suffered burns over 90 percent of their bodies. Now, one had to undergo an emergency C-section. They are still in intensive care and there is no word on the condition of her newborn infant.
Well, still ahead, a student at Washington State High School gets suspended for warning the campus about a sex offender. Those warnings, though, are not what got him in hot water. We'll explain, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Three minutes until the top of the hour now. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business." He joins us now with yesterday's business news.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I apologize. You may have already seen this story. I'm definitely bringing this one to you late, deliberately, because it's taken me 24 hours to decide whether the business in this deal trumps the questions of appropriateness. Penthouse Media Group, most famous for Penthouse magazine, as you may have read, is paid $500 million for a company that owns a social networking site but this one has a twist. This site, the penthouse will now own is called adultfriendfinder. Some of you may have inadvertently experienced adultfriendfinder as a pop-up ad. Who would have think it was a half a billion-dollar legitimate business. There supposedly some video of this but...
CHETRY: Right. You're keeping yourself up on purpose as you talk about this. VELSHI: We can't scroll down this website for reasons of morality. According to Penthouse, adultfriendfinder, is one of the country's top 50 websites. They call themselves, the biggest sex and swinger personals community. Most 18 million members, more than 1 million of whom pay a membership fee. Now, this is what we've learn from our hours of research. Adultfriendfinder is peppered with sexy pictures and suggestive language and some suggestion that the relationship built on the site, might be of a shorter term, more casual nature.
Its worth noting that the founder of the site is responsible for more than 25 different online communities, not all of them of a sexual nature. It also owns jewishfriendfinder, koreanfriendfinder and as well as sights for seniors, Spanish speakers and Christians. Despite the fact that I joined social networking sites to figure out how they work, this one I've only read about. Penthouse Media Groups says the deal makes it the largest adult entertainment company in the world. The adult entertainment industry, by the way, is now worth about $13 billion a year. Sorry for bringing this to you late.
ROBERTS: Glad to see you having so much fun on your job.
VELSHI: Its business is broad.
CHETRY: Boy. You're making him drop his pen. He's so fired up about this. So you really didn't join it.
VELSHI: I did not join it. It requires a credit card and I'm not interested in putting my credit card on anything called adultfriendfinder.
ROBERTS: Pull out the hand. You got steady hands.
VELSHI: That's right. My hands are entirely steady.
CHETRY: I just can't imagine the spam mail you'd get.
VELSHI: I got more of this by the way. I'm going to tell you about where the best airports are for meeting up with people if you're getting stuck in airline delays. So, you don't turning lemons into lemonade.
CHETRY: Right. What does it say about air travel, and you have to find a silver lining?
VELSHI: That's right. I'm going to go through this airport because you meet the most people.
CHETRY: That's right, because my flight's delayed for so long.
VELSHI: Stay tuned for that. You do want to hear about this.
CHETRY: Thanks, Ali.
ROBERTS: You're watching the most news in the morning and coming up, some new research may change the way that we treat breast cancer. Chemotherapy not the best choice for everyone.
And the best present you could ever get for Christmas. Dad coming home from Iraq. We'll show you the father/daughter moment, coming up.
Can baseball clean up its act?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This report is a call to action.
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ROBERTS: The next step in the steroid scandal. We talk to the president of the league.
Extreme weather, spinning, sloshing and scraping. You ain't seen nothing yet.
And Huckaboo, from near worst to first. Brand new numbers on his unpredictable surge, on this AMERICAN MORNING. And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this Friday, December the 14th. We got a live picture of the White House there where they had the Christmas party last night. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to attend but a lot of other folks did.
CHETRY: I'm sure it was a blast. Others on the campaign trail also could not attend and we have some new poll numbers from that. Thanks for being with us this morning. I'm Kiran Chetry along with John Roberts. And all this new polls that just came out about an hour ago and they really show this amazing turnaround for Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee since the summer. This is a New CNN/Opinion Research Poll.
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