Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Rudy Giuliani's Illness; Shopping Surge Helps Retailers; Pope Benedict Delivers Midnight Mass
Aired December 25, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Christmas at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the birth of baby Jesus in St. Peter's Square.
Shopping surge - did a last minute rush save the season for retailers?
Plus, all quiet on the campaign front. A rare down day in Iowa before the mad rush to the finish. We're live from the campaign trail on this special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
Hey, good morning to you. Thanks very much for being with us. Merry Christmas. It's December 25th. I'm John Roberts.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As you open up your presents, we're glad you're spending part of your day with us. Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho. Kiran Chetry has the morning off.
ROBERTS: Good to have you with us this morning.
Topping the news this Christmas morning, thoughts for thousands of American heroes who are thousands of miles away from their families. President Bush made Christmas Eve calls to 10 U.S. troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other hot spots around the world. The White House says he thanked them for their sacrifice and wished them a happy holiday, even though they will be far away from their families and friends. The president made the calls from Camp David, where he'll be spending Christmas today before heading down to the western White House in Crawford.
At this time last year, President Bush was putting the finishing touches on plans to increase troop levels in Iraq. This Christmas, thousands more soldiers are in the war zone. Special meals and care packages from the states are giving them a taste of home as they celebrate with their military family. The new year may bring new hope, with December on pace to be the safest month for them since the war began. And perhaps some of those troops will be able to come home in the new year.
Alphonso Van Marsh is embedded with the 3rd brigade at the 101st airborne division live for us today at Camp Striker in Iraq. Good morning to you, Alphonso, and how are the troops celebrating Christmas?
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are celebrating the best they can, given the job they have in Iraq. As you mentioned, we are at Camp Striker in the dining facilities. This is one of the biggest U.S. military dining facilities in the entire country. At any given time, except for right now, some 1,800 people come and eat their Christmas meal. This is a hive of activity. As we speak, in a few hours, this will be packed full of hundreds of service members just trying to get a bit of a morale boost with that Christmas meal, given that they're so far away from their families, so far from home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CROWD: O little town of Bethlehem.
VAN MARSH (voice-over): This isn't Bethlehem, it's Baghdad, where these carolers are active duty soldiers separated from their loved ones at Christmas.
CROWD: We won't go until we get some so bring it right here.
VAN MARSH: Crime scene investigator Jim Yinglin (ph) is using a Web cam to see what his family and daughter are up to at home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was telling me that she was eating Chex Mix and that mom was making pumpkin loaves.
VAN MARSH: Army specialist Justin Valliers (ph) shows me pictures of his new daughter e-mailed from his wife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just some of her first moments when she was born in the hospital laying there.
VAN MARSH: Amaya (ph) is 2-weeks-old. She's never met her father, but Valliers (ph) is beholden, not bitter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's probably like my best gift that I get for Christmas, it's just the anticipation waiting and knowing that she was born and I can't see her. I mean, the picture was just -- it's hard to explain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ho, ho, ho, merry Christmas.
VAN MARSH: Meanwhile, Santa's doing his part to spread the Christmas cheer, visiting soldiers at bases around Baghdad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just want to see the troops and hand out some candy canes and make them smile.
VAN MARSH: Santa, who really is an army major with the 3rd brigade, has the beard and stuffed belly, but he's also carrying a pistol.
This is Christmas in the war zone. Here Santa travels by Blackhawk helicopter instead of reindeer and sleigh.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAN MARSH: Now, what you're seeing here is actually a lull. There are literally waves of U.S. service members coming into this dining facility.
As I mentioned, some 1,800 at any given time getting that special Christmas meal, some 10,000 portions of turkey, 10,000 portions of ham, 8,000 portions of you name it that's being served.
By the end of Christmas day, some 24,000 meals will be served for the men and women serving here in Iraq at Camp Striker. Back to you, John.
ROBERTS: Alphonso, I have actually eaten in the dining facility, or DFAC, as they call it there at Camp Striker. I know the troops are sometimes reluctant to talk about this on camera. But certainly in private they'll give you a sense of it. How are they feeling about the reduction in violence there and the idea that maybe soon they'll be able to come home?
VAN MARSH: Well, what a lot of people, I should say that service members that we're talking to, especially in the last couple of days since we've been here, the idea that these deployments at this moment do seem like they will be 15 months in duration, many of the service members have only been here a little over two months.
What's on their minds today, John, is the prospect they will very much be here again next Christmas on their minds. But knowing that what they're doing, they believe is the right thing. John?
ROBERTS: Alphonso Van Marsh for us this morning from the DFAC there at Camp Striker where I've got to say, they've got some pretty good chow. Alphonso, thanks very much. We'll check back with you a little bit later on. Alina?
CHO: Also new this morning, a holiday tradition going on right now in Vatican City. Take a look.
POPE BENEDICT XVI: The prince of peace reminds the world where true happiness lies.
CHO: Pope Benedict is delivering his Christmas Day address from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, just an extraordinary sight. And just a couple of moments ago, the pope lamented the violent conflicts going on around the world in places like Iraq, Sudan, and Sri Lanka. Earlier this morning, the pope held a traditional midnight mass, and during it, he touched on environmental issues, a modern day message. He made an appeal for Christians around the world to protect the Earth from what he called reckless exploitation.
There were calls for peace in the holy land, meanwhile. They're coming from the first Palestinian to hold the Catholic Church's top position there. At midnight mass in Bethlehem, the traditional birth place of Jesus of course, Latin patriarch Michel Sabbah gave a politically charged address calling for an independent Palestinian state. Tourism officials expect about 20,000 visitors to Bethlehem on this Christmas Day.
And Queen Elizabeth II is expected to give her Christmas greeting on the Web this year. It will be posted on youtube.com right on her brand new Royal Channel, how about that? Those are older pictures of course. On her broadcast 50 years ago, she talked about the power of television, so that a half century ago. Now she's taking another technological leap.
ROBERTS: Wow. Also new this morning, a deadly suicide car bombing in the residential area of Iraq. It happened in the northern city of Baiji. At least 23 people dead, 80 more wounded. At least three of those killed are children. Authorities say a driver detonated a bomb in a vehicle right next to a truck that was loaded with cooking gas cylinders. It happened just outside of a complex belonging to the state-run oil company.
New details now in a foiled bomb attack in Turkey. Police in Istanbul found plastic bags stuffed with more than seven pounds of explosives near a ticket stand. One man was arrested. One government officials say the man may be a member of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. Police also arrested a second man in another part of the city and say they found more explosive in a safe house.
And a search going on right now for 14 men missing at sea. They went down with a freighter that sank before dawn off of South Korea's southern coast, about 280 miles south of Seoul. Maritime police say the 13,000-ton ship vanished in rough waters after it sent out a distress signal. It was carrying 2,000 tons of nitric acid bound for Taiwan. Crews did rescue one sailor who was taken to the hospital. The missing include 12 Koreans and two sailors from Myanmar.
CHO: Well, the roads should be clear this morning in the upper Midwest. Clear skies yesterday helped crews clear away snow from the latest winter blast, but the death toll has risen to at least 22. One of the latest victims, a Michigan woman who died when her truck rolled into a watery ditch. And at least eight people were killed on icy roads in Minnesota.
Well it's a Christmas morning straight out of a postcard in Utah. Take a look behind me there. Forecasters say a winter storm could dump eight inches of snow in the valleys near Salt Lake City and up to 18 inches in other parts of the state. Now before you start thinking powder day, John, the storm will also bring with it some fierce winds. Gusts could reach 75 miles-an-hour on the mountain peaks.
And thousands in Los Angeles have no power this Christmas morning thanks to some extreme weather. We're talking about those Santa Ana winds there. They returned with a vengeance, tearing down power lines, blowing out several transformers, and cutting power to about 10,000 homes and businesses. The National Weather Service says winds topped 94 miles-per-hour in the San Fernando Valley. Forecasters are warning that conditions are ideal for another outbreak of brush fires.
Well, Rob Marciano is taking this Christmas off. Bonnie Schneider in at our weather update desk taking a look at all of the weather on this Christmas morning. So Bonnie, what do you have this morning?
(WEATHER REPORT) ROBERTS: Big news in the retail world. It looks like the last- minute shopping rush did help salvage the holiday season. According to one industry analyst, sales from this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were up nearly 19 percent over the previous year. And shoppers who put their lists off until the last minute were happy to do their part.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was like OK, I can wait, wait, wait, way, and all of a sudden I woke up and thought, oh, my goodness. It's almost Christmas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, if you still need another present or two, there are, believe it or not, a few stores that are open this morning. For example, if you happen to be in New York City, if you live there or you're here visiting, FAO Schwartz, the toy store in Manhattan, is open.
Quick hits now. A multi-billion dollar deal involving Merrill Lynch. It announced the Singapore's state-owned investment company will buy more than $4 billion in Merrill Lynch stock. A U.S. advisory firm will also invest more than $1 billion. The injection of cash could help Merrill rebound from the credit crisis.
Republican presidential candidate and former prostate cancer patient Rudy Giuliani is saying that he is cancer free. He made the announcement after reading Christmas stories to kids in Harlem yesterday. However, Giuliani is still being pressed about the severe headache that forced him to turn his campaign plane around last week and check into a hospital in St. Louis. His campaign says that tests showed nothing alarming, but they have yet to disclose what those tests were or what doctors were trying to rule out.
Our Dana Bash is on the campaign trail. She's got more on Giuliani's announcement, plus other presidential candidates making headlines, that's coming up.
A famed chef with cancer of the mouth facing an agonizing decision. Save his sense of taste or his life. This morning, good news. This is a really incredible story. We've got it for you coming up.
But first, holiday greetings from some of our men and women serving overseas on this Christmas day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is PFC Chris Lewis (ph) from the 111th engineer brigade, West Virginia armed national guard serving in northern Iraq. I want to wish my wife Christina and my family from Charleston a merry Christmas. I love you all.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: Fifteen minutes after the hour. The presidential candidates are off for Christmas day. But they get right back in the thick of it tomorrow. Rudy Giuliani is not concentrating on Iowa, but he is spending an awful lot of time spending that mysterious headache that caused him to turn his plane around in midair and head for a St. Louis hospital last week.
The CNN Election Express is in Des Moines this morning. That's where we find Dana Bash on this Christmas morning. Dana, yesterday while he was wrapping and giving out presents in Harlem on Christmas Eve, Giuliani talked about his health. But he didn't talk about the headache, what he talked about was the fact that he is cancer free. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can tell you the results. I know the results now of all the tests. I'm perfectly healthy. I have - I don't have cancer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So the campaign is really focusing on this idea that there's been no recurrence of his prostate cancer, not that that was ever a question. But they have yet to answer a lot of important questions about what happened last week in St. Louis.
DANA BASH, CN CORRESPONDENT: You're exactly right. That's the second time, John, in the span of two days, that Rudy Giuliani unsolicited has brought up the fact that he is a cancer survivor. He had prostate cancer about seven or eight years ago and the fact that he is very happy about the fact that he is cancer free.
But on the key issue, what exactly caused his plane to turn around Wednesday night into Thursday morning last week? Why was he put in the hospital, and what specifically tests were done at the hospital and perhaps subsequently to sort of make them apparently confident that he's OK? We still don't know the answers to that. What his campaign is insisting is that they are going to put out a full doctor's report probably after Christmas.
So hopefully we'll get it in the next few days. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions about what happened. He says, again, that he had a very bad headache. That's the reason why they rushed him to the hospital.
You know, we sort of asked questions about the fact that he said on Sunday that he was prescribed to take an aspirin a day. That sort of sounded a little bit odd to us. Our own Sanjay Gupta said that might be because the doctors were a little worried about a potential stroke, a potential heart attack. His campaign pushed back very, very hard on that, John. But the bottom line is we don't know what the deal is. We don't know what tests he had done and what specifically the health problems he had.
ROBERTS: Well perhaps in the coming days we'll learn more about that. Meantime, everybody very happy that he is cancer free. I had a brother die from cancer in 1981, so I know how serious that is. Dana Bash for us this morning in Des Moines. Dana, thanks very much.
The Democrats are learning just how unpredictable Iowa can be. Several polls say it's a three-way race among Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. But there's one new poll, it's an American Research Group poll that has got Clinton jumping out again to a double digit lead over Obama and Edwards.
In fact, Obama is in third place in this latest poll. Take a look at that. John Clinton jumps from 18 to 20 percent. Clinton goes up from 29 to 34. And Obama, who must be in the next frame on that, actually dropped from 25 to 19. So he went down six points.
Jessica Yellin on the road with the CNN Election Express for us this morning in Des Moines. Why did Barack Obama drop so much, particularly among men, in the last few days?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well you know, John, there are two possible explanations. There are probably a world of explanations, but one is that Senator Clinton's message and Edwards' message in the last week has started to click arguably.
Clinton started with a new theme of introducing voters to family members and people she knows to argue that she's a very likable person. That's been one of her challenges.
And also, she's gone on the attack trying to differentiate herself from the other gentlemen and also adopting some of John Edwards' message about poverty. So maybe she's gained some traction. And Edwards has also remained strong.
On the other hand, all of this could really mean that it's just impossible to poll in Iowa. This state is notoriously difficult to measure because it's not a one for one ratio. Not every supporter necessarily translates into a vote because of their caucus system.
So you need to have geographic distribution within the state. You need to have support in the urban areas and the rural areas. So it's possible that none of this actually accurately measures what the actual results will be caucus night. And a lot of that actually depends on turnout, which could be based on weather and other unknown factors. John?
ROBERTS: It is an incredibly complex process, and as we saw in 2004, polls even a few days out can be completely wrong. So we'll see how this one goes. Jessica Yellin for us this morning in Des Moines. Jessica, thanks. Alina?
CHO: Thanks, John.
A controversy over home heating oil is heating up this holiday. Families like the one you're about to see in New York are starting to get shipments of free oil sponsored by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Now, the plan is backed by Joseph Kennedy's nonprofit group Citizens Energy. Calls for boycotts have been springing up online to fight the plan. That brings us to this morning's quick vote question. Take a look there.
Should Americans accept free heating oil from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez? Of course, it's controversial but it also helps a lot of people in need.
Cast your vote at CNN.com/am. And right now, 75 percent say yes, 25 percent say no. We're going to continue to tally your votes throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: This is a very controversial issue. A lot of people are saying, well, why shouldn't we accept the free oil? And then other people are saying, what are the oil companies doing for us? And other people are saying, hey, relations are so bad. Why accept that oil?
CHO: This is the man remember who called President Bush the devil so a lot of controversy about that. So cast your vote.
ROBERTS: Stirring it up on Christmas morning.
CHO: That's right, we're trying to.
Well presidential Christmas holiday plans for President Bush and a busy start to his final year in office. That's in the works. We're live in Washington ahead.
And a famous chef facing life-threatening cancer says he's in remission this morning. An extraordinary story, that's after choosing a riskier treatment option. We're going to bring you his story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back on this Christmas morning. An amazing Christmas story now out of Chicago. Earlier this year, star chef Grant Achatz shocked the culinary world by saying he had cancer of the mouth. Now he says he's cancer free thanks to a different kind of treatment that saved his sense of taste. An amazing story really. And CNN's Keith Oppenheim visited with him earlier this year when his future was uncertain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Grant Achatz is carefully snipping cedar leaves, the aromatic cover of a new dish that I was the first to try.
GRANT ACHATZ, CHEF: The idea is that the mushrooms on top of the beef are mingling with the flavors of the cedar. So...
OPPENHEIM (on camera): That's really fantastic.
ACHATZ: Good.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Achatz is the head chef at Alinea, a Chicago restaurant ranked number one in the nation last year by "Gourmet" magazine. Just 33-years-old, he's become famous for menus that blend exotic tastes and textures.
ACHATZ: Everything I see, everything I hear, everything I touch, I relate to food.
OPPENHEIM: But his talent and his life could be in jeopardy. Achatz has stage four cancer. It began with pain on his tongue. At first, it didn't seem like a big deal.
ACHATZ: Then it got really bad.
OPPENHEIM (on camera): Like how bad?
ACHATZ: Well, to the point where it was affecting my speech to a great degree and I was not being able to eat solid foods. And it became a big problem.
OPPENHEIM (voice over): The cancer spread to more than half his tongue. Most doctors recommended surgery to survive at the cost of potentially losing his palette.
DR. EVERETT VOKES, ONCOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: There would have been maybe some taste, but clearly a major compromise in how he would have been able to taste, talk and swallow.
OPPENHEIM: At the University of Chicago, Dr. Everett Vokes prescribed a different plan. First, reduce the tumor with chemotherapy and radiation, then consider surgery if cancer remains.
For Grant Achatz, saving his tongue seemed like the only course.
ACHATZ: You're dealing with your tongue, your pallet.
OPPENHEIM (on camera): Which were you more worried about, your career or your life?
ACHATZ: Career, easily, yes. Because like I said before, I never thought I was going to die.
OPPENHEIM (voice over): The truth is Grant Achatz doesn't know if he'll beat this cancer, but so far it hasn't taken his sense of humor.
ACHATZ: I mean, look around. Half my staff has shaved heads. So I'm going to fit right in.
OPPENHEIM: And it hasn't slowed his determination to be one of the world's top chefs.
Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: I remember this story well, when it came out, when Keith did the story. And just extraordinary because things seemed pretty bleak at the time. He had a great attitude about it, but such great news that he's in remission. ROBERTS: Just a great example of never limit your opportunities and never give up.
CHO: That's right. Remember this was experimental. We don't know much about the treatments but such great news. The ultimate, really, Christmas gift for him.
ROBERTS: That's such terrific news.
Hey, an update this morning on one of yesterday's big stories. A driver slams into a television studio as the news is on the air. Oh, remember that? We'll tell you where that driver is headed today. That's coming up in just a bit.
By this time next Christmas, by the way, we should know who the next president will be. Let's hope it's not a repeat of what happened in 2000.
CHO: Going to be a long year for you.
ROBERTS: How is the current commander in chief celebrating today? We're live at the White House. That story and today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back on this Christmas morning. A beautiful shot of New York City. All the skyscrapers there on this Christmas morning, the sun rising there -- 36 degrees and partly cloudy, going up to 44. You know, Christmas day is one of those few days in Manhattan, where you don't hear a lot of honking, don't hear a lot of cabs. Streets are kind of quiet.
ROBERTS: Somebody honked their home outside my apartment building at 1:15 this morning.
CHO: Oh, you're kidding me.
ROBERTS: Hey, I guess they just couldn't resist.
CHO: We can't all be lucky.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: And believe it or not, there were still a couple of stores that are open in New York City.
ALINA CHO, CNN, ANCHOR: Fao Schwarz, the toy store in Manhattan right on Fifth Avenue, one of the store open today. So, you still have a little bit of time. If you can go in. It's incredible.
ROBERTS: There are a tremendous number of tourist in town.
CHO: Yes, there are. Yes, there are.
ROBERTS: People who want something to do on this Christmas day.
CHO: And good morning, everybody. Welcome back. It's Tuesday, December 25th, Christmas day. Of course, we have you're with us as you're opening up your presents. Good morning. I'm Alina Cho. Kiran Chetry has the morning off. Well deserve, by the way.
ROBERTS: Good to have here this morning.
CHO: Thank you.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts.
New this morning, Iran maybe planning to build 19 more nuclear power plants. That word coming from an Iranian parliament member and Iran has announced that the one plant that is under construction, the one in Bushir, will be finished by March. Russia is building it under the eye of international regulators.
The U.S. and Iran are planning a new round of talk on security in Iraq. Iran insists the talks be held between ambassadors not at a lower level. U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker says that's just fine with him. The last meeting between U.S. and Iranian ambassadors back in May broke a 27-year long diplomatic freeze. U.S. officials say there are signs that Iran is using its influence with Shiites in Iraq to lower violence and stop the flow of illegal weapons into Iraq as well.
At least 150,000 people are flooded out by monsoon rains in Sri Lanka. Take a look at this. The rains have made parts of eastern and central Sri Lanka impassable, making it very difficult to get relief supplies in. No deaths reported so far though. 31,000 Sri Lankans died in the tsunami that hit three years ago tomorrow.
CHO: A multimillion dollar settlement for the family of a woman who died in a tunnel collapse at Boston's Big Dig. It happened back in 2006. You may remember this story. The car, the woman, and her husband were riding in was crushed when part of the tunnel's ceiling caved in. The husband escaped with only minor injuries. The accident was blamed on fast drying epoxy that used to secure the ceiling but apparently wasn't strong enough. The company that makes it has agreed to pay the victim's family $6 million.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Where two people were injured, Michelle and the weather made the rescue work all that much more -- oh!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: I could watch this a million times. And it was one of yesterday's most talked about stories. Remember this? And this morning the driver of the van that slammed into Chicago's WLS-TV Studio will appear in court. 25-year-old Gerald Richardson is his name. He's charged with felony damage to property. He was also ticketed for reckless driving and no proof of insurance. Station officials say the crash may have been deliberate. That's because witnesses say he actually made several u-turns before gunning the van into the window of the street level studio. John. ROBERTS: Coming up at 33 minutes after the hour, NASA is going back to the moon, but they are going to make a stop in New Orleans first. The space agency is awarded more contracts and high paying jobs at an assembly facility in the eastern part of the city. It was the site where the space shuttle's external fuel tanks were built. Now workers will build the new Orion crew module as well as the upper stage of the new rocket that will send astronauts back to the lunar surface.
And astronauts aboard the International Space Station are celebrating Christmas this morning 220 miles above the earth. The two Americans and one Russian will feast on smoked turkey with cornbread dressing and candied yams. All of it though in pre-sealed pouches. Tomorrow, a Russian module will arrive with gifts for the crew, including fresh tomatoes and onions. Meantime, astronaut Dan Tani is looking forward to coming home next month. You'll recall that his elderly mother tragically died last week in Chicago in a car accident with a train.
President Bush and the extended first family all spending Christmas at Camp David. The President will return to Washington in 2008 and kick off his last year there with a busy swing to the Middle East. Our White House correspondent Ed Henry live on the north lawn of the White House. Merry Christmas to you, Ed. So, this is an auspicious time for President Bush, going into his last year. Some would claim that it's absolute lame duck status. But he's going to try to get some things done.
ED HENRY, CNN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Merry Christmas, John. A busy year ahead for the president. That's why he is getting a little bit of that down time you mentioned with the First Lady as well as her mother, their twin daughters as well, Jenna and Barbara at Camp David. Yesterday the President making that traditional phone call he makes every year around the holidays to members of the military, thanking them for their service.
Of course, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be pivotal to the President's legacy, but also given the unpopularity of the war in Iraq, the President in 2008 will be trying to chisel out other pieces of the legacy, other positive things, and in particular he will be crisscrossing the globe. He's going to be going in the summer to Beijing for the Olympics. If February, he'll be going to Africa to talk about his initiatives on aids in Africa, battling malaria and other diseases. But specifically, as you mentioned, the first one up at the beginning of January, he'll be going to Israel as well as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, other nations along the way. And he joked just last week about the busy road ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. GEORGE BUSH, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I don't know what I'm going to do after the presidency. I've got an exciting 13 months ahead. I know you're just waiting me to say sprint to the finish line, so I won't.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HENRY: For now, he's not doing any sprinting. He's JUST exchanging presents and a holiday lunch today at Camp David includes roasted turkey as well as sweet potato casserole. I understand, in addition to red velvet cake, two pies. Not just one - pecan and pumpkin. John.
ROBERTS: I'll tell you, a calorie bomb that pecan pie. Ed, you know, I asked the question this morning of people here, see if they knew the answer as to why the President spends every Christmas at Camp David rather than running right off to the western White House, on the ranch there in Crawford. Illuminate for us and for our viewers the reason why he does that.
HENRY: Well, you know from covering the White House, John, tomorrow he'll be going to Crawford through New Year's. He's at Camp David now because it really gives a break to the Secret Service. When he goes to Camp David, of course, it's guarded by the U.S. Marines. There are still secret service officers here, I will tell you this morning, working away just like any other day, protecting the White House, protecting the residents. But at Camp David, as you know, the Secret Service do not have to be there. It's a much smaller footprint, if you will, than if he were at the White House or if he were at the ranch for the holidays. It's a tradition, I understand, President Bush's father started it as well many years ago. It sort of gives the Secret Service a little bit of a break so they can be home with their families for the holidays.
ROBERTS: It gives at the very least the presidential detail that's got to be with him 24/7 a little bit time with the family. All right. Ed, thanks for explaining that to us. Ed Henry at the White House this morning. Ed, thanks. Alina.
CHO: That menu sounded pretty good, too.
ROBERTS: The pecan pie.
CHO: My dad's favorite.
Christmas prayers in Afghanistan. Soldiers at Camp Eggers in Kabul celebrated Christmas mass and had a holiday feast in the mess hall on this 7th Christmas since the 9/11 attacks. 26,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan.
Point, click and pray. A new way to worship. All you need is high speed internet access and a little faith. How godtube, that's what we're calling it, is changing Christmas this year.
Just weeks ago, he was way ahead in the polls. But now Mitt Romney is struggling. Chief national correspondent John King takes a look at what's behind Romney's change of fortune.
But first, this holiday greeting from some of the men and women serving overseas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SGT. BREANNA LARSON, LSA ANACONDA: Hi. I'm Sergeant Breanna Larson in LSA Anaconda. I just want to say hi to my mom and dad and family and friends back home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. I miss you. I love you. And happy holidays.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back on this Christmas morning. Some Tasmanians in Australia are spending the holiday helping stranded dolphins. The pod became stuck on the beach near the City of Hobart. Take a look at those little guys there. Volunteers and marine experts jumped into action, keeping the mammals wet as they were brought to boat ramp. They were released into deeper waters later. One expert said the dolphins appeared strong once they were in deeper water. That is good news. This is the third straight Christmas by the way that dolphins have become stranded in the area and needs some help.
40 minutes after the hour. Time to get a check of the weather and the pesky Santa Ana winds in Los Angeles. A lot of people woke up to this Christmas with no power, Bonnie, huh?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER: That's terrible and it's actually going to get a little worse this morning because we do have extreme danger in terms of fire danger and also high wind advisories in place for L.A.. As you can see, high pressure building in the Great Basin is creating the Santa Ana effect where we have the winds blowing down slope on the mountain. Look for critical fire danger with relative humidity less than 10% and strong wind gusts in the forecast, possibly as strong as 70 miles per hour or greater.
We're also looking at some fierce winds across Las Vegas. We had a wind gust of 40 miles per hour there. You can see currently the winds have really picked up in San Bernardino, now at 28 miles per hour. It's not only windy there, we're seeing some strong winds through areas into Wyoming and Utah with an active snowstorm that will bring some heavy mountain snow to the mountains of Utah, Wyoming, and well into Colorado where we're expecting about one to two inches of snow in the Salt Lake City area but look for strong wind as well.
Well, the wind chill factor is making for a cold Christmas morning. In Duluth, it feels like it's only 2 degrees. Minneapolis, the wind chill factor is at 15 degrees. But it's looking a little bit better for the northeast. The wind chill factor in and around New York is at 29.
Well, here's a look at your forecast. A white Christmas for the mountain west and up towards the Pacific northwest. And wind, once again, we're watching very closely in Los Angeles. John.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks very much, Bonnie. We'll talk to you again soon.
It was a great summer for Mitt Romney, but winter is a different story. His early leads are gone in Iowa and New Hampshire. Our chief national correspondent John King explores why the GOP presidential hopeful has struggled. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A sign of the times, for Mitt Romney, the glow of the summer is a distant memory.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How are you doing? Eagles fan?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I am.
ROMNEY: Good to see you.
KING: Gone are once strong leads in both Iowa and New Hampshire. The candidate's wife hoping aloud the current tide will change.
ANN ROMNEY, WIFE OF MITT ROMNEY: I know he is the best candidate, and I have all the confidence in the world the other voters will wake up and see that too. So thank you.
ROMNEY: Thank you, sweetheart. Thank you.
KING: Romney is hardly the first to learn Iowa is a four-letter word for surprise.
ROMNEY: Thank you so much for being here. God bless you.
KING: Here in New Hampshire, the growing threat is the candidate who personified stubborn persistence.
ROMNEY: You know right now that Senator McCain and I are both battling for support and your vote.
KING: Romney only has himself to blame for his recent struggles. Providing fresh fodder of late for critics who call him loose with the facts and forgetful of his own record. This is Iowa last week.
ROMNEY: In my state when I was governor, we made it tougher for people with meth labs.
KING: Hours later, he conceded he proposed tougher penalties, but they never became law.
ROMNEY: So, I'm making sure that's corrected as quickly as I possibly can.
KING: Normally, enough said. But it came within days of claiming an endorsement he never received. And he also backtracked from saying he saw his father march with Martin Luther King.
ROMNEY: You know, it's a figure of speech. I saw my father as a champion of civil rights.
KING: He is clearly chastened. This is Sunday after talk of improving schools as governor.
ROMNEY: These principals made a difference. The Massachusetts kids and these kinds of principles were in place even before I got there as governor.
KING: Yet critics still see hypocrisy here.
ROMNEY: Reagan 101 says if you lower taxes it helps build the economy. Look I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan and Bush.
KING: Romney still voices confidence. And aide says in private meetings he shows a sense of urgency but not panic. The strategy is twofold. Keep watch on all his rivals but attack the main threats.
ROMNEY: He voted against the Bush tax cuts. He voted against eliminating the death tax forever.
KING: And look to his strengths, resources.
ROMNEY: I apologize, if you see me too much on TV.
KING: And what even rivals concede are deep organizations in both Iowa and New Hampshire. John King, CNN, Milford, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: 40 minutes now after the hour. A ground zero tradition has ended. That tops your "Quick Hits." Every year since the 9/11 attacks, a Christmas midnight mass has been held at the site of the World Trade Center. This morning's mass, however, marked the last time that friends and family of victims will be able to gather on the grounds. Beginning next year, construction will stand in the way.
Raul Castro says that his brother is healthy enough to run for re-election. The interim leader of Cuba says that Fidel Castro is exercising daily and will be ready to run for a seat in Parliament on January the 20th. That will allow him to keep his place atop Cuba's governing body. Fidel Castro has said he doesn't want to stand in the way of a younger generation of leaders. He ceded power to his brother Raul back in July 2006 after undergoing intestinal surgery.
A new way to pray, the faithfuls answer to youtube, can godtube go viral? That's coming up.
And across the country this morning, people are packing up their campers and getting back to their normal lives. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, inside the world of the Christmas tree salesman.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: You might call it the Christian youtube. The faith- based Facebook. It's a web site launched back in July called godtube that features everything from a virtual prayer wall to video postings, like this one of a little girl reciting the 23rd Psalm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lay down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. Restores my soul.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Having a lot of fun doing it as well. Chris Wyatt is the founder of the website. He joins me now. You had this idea. You look at youtube and thought, I can do that, but you can throw a twist on it because you were a seminary student, right?
CHRIS WYATT: That's right, I was in the seminary, and I read a survey by the Pugh Institute that in just a few years about half of the people will be going to church as opposed to 2000. And I said, you know, I certainly can do something about that.
ROBERTS: So, you took this idea, got it off the ground. You were telling me a few minutes ago it took you three months to raise the capital to be able to do it. It was obviously a fertile idea because this thing just exploded right out of your basement, basically.
WYATT: Absolutely. No one was more overwhelmed or surprised than I was with the traffic that we received. And certainly, after that, all the world accolades. So, it was quite a surprising event to see happen.
ROBERTS: What's the appeal? Why would it explode so quickly?
WYATT: You know, I think it really is our product. The message of Jesus Christ certainly is you know the focal point of the website. And there's a lot of people out there that quite frankly want to explore Christianity in a whole new way.
ROBERTS: This takes youtube to another step in terms of production. Not only do you have uploaded videos that people like that young girl can put on the website. But you also have live streaming feeds of church services across the country.
WYATT: That's absolutely right. You can go to godtube.com and you can watch a church service from around the world. You can join a virtual bible study. I mean really, it's more along the lines of a next generation television network than it is say, for example, a youtube competitor or a Facebook competitor. Well, which we are that as well.
ROBERTS: I was surfing this a little bit. I noticed that most of the content is Christian. But you say that the web site is still for people of all religions, all faiths.
WYATT: Well, absolutely everyone is welcome at godtube.com.
ROBERTS: Are you concerned that some people might use this as a substitute for church? Some say, look, I don't have to get up, I don't have to get out of the house and drive to church, brave the crowds on Sunday. Because I can do it right here in the comfort of my den or my bedroom or whatever.
WYATT: There certainly, we're no substitute for church. Really what we are is Christianity on demand 24/7. You know, in an increasingly secular society, it's very difficult for the church to reach into the gated communities and into the gated apartment complexes. There we are, definitely in your bedroom or in your when you need us the most.
ROBERTS: It's 24/7. You don't have to wait until Sunday morning to watch the church services on TV.
WYATT: It's Christianity on demand. It certainly is.
ROBERTS: Do you want to make money on this?
WYATT: Well, I mean, you know, we are for profit corporation.
ROBERTS: You don't want to starve obviously.
WYATT: Yes, definitely. You know, we are a for profit corporation, but at the same time, we certainly have a mission. I mean that is to evangelize around the world.
ROBERTS: You do have some investors who want to put their money back. Chris Wyatt, he's the inventor of godtube. An amazing idea. One that was ripe for the picking.
ROBERTS: Thanks for joining us this morning.
WYATT: Thanks for having me.
ROBERTS: Good to see you. Good luck with everything.
WYATT: All right. And god bless.
ROBERTS: Thanks.
CHO: Interesting stuff. Actor Will Smith is furious. He says web sites quoting him as saying Adolf Hitler was a good person are getting it all wrong. It all began with an interview with the Scottish newspaper. That paper says that Smith believes everyone is basically good and goes on to quote him as saying, "even Hitler probably thought he was doing good." He has since put out a statement saying how angry he is and that "Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous, vicious killer.
Million of U.S. dollars were sent to Pakistan to fight Al Qaeda, but that's not where all the money ended up. We're going to have a live report from Washington at the top of the hour.
And you've seen them on street corners or in parking lots, really a thankless job. People working and living out of campers selling Christmas trees. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Our CNN photojournalist with the special story of a family that's been doing it in New York City for 20 years.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's five minutes now to the top of the hour. Some very talented CNN photojournalists from across the country teamed up to put together a series of holiday stories for CNN.
CHO: That's right. CNN photojournalist Emmanuel Tambakakis introduces us to the romp family. They've been giving New Yorkers a very merry Christmas for 20 years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: this is our camper that we live in for about three or four weeks every year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It gets a little old after the first week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This year it's 32 days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of cramped in there.
We camp more than almost anybody I know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Little tight.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Pretty noisy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our camper we stay in every year, and this is our corner. Every year we camp out in Manhattan for a month while we sell Christmas trees. We always give a nice tree to the lobby at 302. 24 hours a day we're here.
BILLY ROMP: I'm Billy Romp. I'm selling Christmas trees here on Jane Street with my four employees.
PATTY ROMP: Patty Romp.
PERRY ROMP: Perry Romp.
TIMMY ROMP: Timmy Romp.
BILLY ROMP: My employees are really my family, my son Timmy who's 11.
TIMMY ROMP: I have a great time.
BILLY ROMP: My son Henry, who's 16.
HENRY ROMP: I stand out here and sell Christmas trees.
BILLY ROMP: My wife Patty.
PATTY ROMP: Merry Christmas.
BILLY ROMP: She is the brains of the operation.
PATTY ROMP We started back in 1988.
BILLY ROAMP: To tell you the truth, after that first year, I said we'll never do this again.
CHO: The people were so warm and friendly, we came back the next year. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the third year, we knew kind of we were lifers.
we were kind of aware of him for years before we really got to know him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long has it been, 19, 20 years?
BILLY ROMP: This is our 20th year here selling Christmas trees on Jane Street and Eighth Avenue.
PATTY ROMP: We never thought it would go 20 years. It was kind of a one year lark.
PERRY ROMP: This is my 16th year. The first time I came down here, I was less than 1 year old.
TIMMY ROMP: I have been here my whole life.
BILLY ROMP: I'm a Yankee, you know, from Vermont.
PATTY ROMP: We've never known a history of Christmas in Vermont. We've always had our Christmas here in the city.
TIMMY ROMP: I've never seen a December up in Vermont. Again, most of the kids down here haven't either. I live in Vermont, so I should.
BILLY ROMP: For me, Christmas means Greenwich Village.
PATTY ROMP: The community's affected us in a big way, I mean they give us so much support when we're down here.
We just have to put bowls and pine cones and seven more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a joy. It changes the neighborhood. It gives us a special atmosphere that we're very privileged to have.
People walk up and say, you can take a shower in our apartment. Do you need anything? Let me bring you some soup.
PATTY ROMP: It's hard to not come back. So we keep coming.
What Christmas was like for me before Christmas trees, I'd have to be a little embarrassed to say. I might have been a little bit of a scrooge. And now that I see what an effect it has on families and how important it is to so many different people, different cultures, I'm really into it now. I love the holidays because we have a lot of fun down here. We earn a lot of money. We get to be a part of people's whole Christmas experience.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's definitely the best part is making everyone's Christmas the best.
CHO: He's cute. That's a thankless job. It is a common sight around Christmastime to see people dragging their trees down the sidewalk. And so that's one family who's helping everybody celebrate a Merry Christmas, at least in New York.
ROBERTS: And by they way, Christmas in the city, a whole different aspect.
CHO: It is. It is. I know. You can see all the special holiday stories shot by some of our CNN photographers. That you can find on our web page at cnn.com/living.
ROBERTS: Meantime, the year's biggest party is less than a week away. If you've got memories, pictures, or even videos of your favorite new year's eve celebration, we want to see them. Go to cnn.com/iparty and sent them to us. And remember, you can watch CNN's New Year's eve special and ring in the New Year Monday night at 11:00 eastern with Anderson Cooper and AMERICAN MORNING'S Kiran Chetry.
CHO: Right in Times Square. Christmas with the troops thousands of miles from home. But families never far from their thoughts. We'll be live at Camp Striker in Iraq coming up. Wait till you see the mess hall there.
And a historic church goes up in flames in Hollywood. More of this dramatic video. The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
Celebrating Christmas around the world. Pope Benedict XVI greets the faithful this morning at St. Peter's Square. Late season rally. Procrastinators provide a shopping surge that could bail our retailers.
Plus, counting Christmas calories. Before you stuff yourself, find out just what's in the stuffing on this special holiday edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: And good morning. Thanks very much for being with us on this Tuesday, December 25th, Christmas day. I'm John Roberts.
CHO: Watch the pecan pie, I know you like it, lots of calories. Good morning everybody, I'm Alina Cho, in for Kiran Chetry who has a well-deserved morning off.
ROBERTS: We begin with a holiday tradition in Vatican City. Pope Benedict XV1 delivered his Christmas day address from the balcony of St. Peters Basilica. The pope urged world leaders.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
