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American Morning
Laughs Return to Late Night But Not All the Writers Did; New Polls Out This Morning; Federal Prosecutors Now Launching Criminal Investigation into CIA; San Francisco Zoo Getting Set to Reopen Today
Aired January 03, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And show time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST: Welcome to the tonight's show.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, General Lee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The laughs return to late night but not all the writers did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST: Americans had been forced to read books and occasionally even speak to one another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Our correspondent was inside to see how the strike affected the funny on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome. It's Thursday, January 3rd. Caucus Day in Iowa. I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you from Des Moines, Iowa, I'm John Roberts. We are live at the Waveland Cafe this morning. It's been around, been a fixture here in Des Moines since about 1982. It's a place where everybody comes for breakfast in the morning and of course, the topic De Jure, as well as the eggs and bacon, politics. And we've had a couple of candidates in here already. They chatted with us and then hung around for awhile. They both had breakfast and press the flesh with some potential voters that they're hoping to sway for their sides.
Everything here depends on how many people the campaigns get to turn out. At school gyms and libraries across Iowa. The precinct caucuses begin at 7:00 a.m. local time and 8:00 eastern. We've, as I said, been speaking with the candidates all morning and our past half hour, Kiran talked with Senator Barack Obama. He is hoping to bring in the most new voters. Here's what he told just a few moments ago on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm expecting to do well. We've seen these enormous crowds as we travel across the state in this last week and the weather has been brutal. So, for these folks to be coming out, just to hear a candidate at the last minute, it's doubtful that they are not going to go to caucus. And we've got a great ground game, but most importantly I think the American people are just hungry and ready for change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, Barack Obama is wrapping up 160-mile swing across Iowa. He said his first action as president would be to sit down with his generals to figure a responsible way to get out of Iraq.
And on the Republican side, Fred Thompson dropped by the diner here in Des Moines. I asked him this morning about reports that if he does not finish better than third, he'll drop out of the race before New Hampshire and throw his support to John McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRED THOMPSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Any speculation as to what I may or may not do is just totally that. I mean, it's, obviously, some of the campaign thought it was to their advantage to put that out. I've never said that. I've never implied that in public or in private.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Thompson does confirm another quote attributed to him, though, that it's not such a good thing for a president to have too much fire in his belly. He says, the voters should be weary of anyone who wants the job too much. What's still ahead, as you can see behind me, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas has arrived. John Edwards is going to join us live as well, along with members of "The Best Political Team on Television" right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
And a reminder that we want you to join our team. Send us your I-reports from the caucus, cnnpolitics.com. We will show them tonight in our primetime election coverage begins tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern, here on CNN.
Kiran?
CHETRY: We will all be watching for sure. New polls out this morning, by the way, showing how the candidates fare in the next major battleground state New Hampshire. Five days to go until that primary. The Franklin-Pierce/WBZ-TV Poll of likely Democratic voters found Hillary Clinton with a four-point lead over Barack Obama. Basically, a statistical dead heat. The margin of error at 4.9 percentage points. John Edwards 9 points behind Obama.
And on the Republican side, John McCain with a six-point lead over Mitt Romney. Rudy Giuliani at 10 percent and Ron Paul with 6 percent. Mike Huckabee at 5 percent. The New Hampshire primary is next Tuesday. Federal prosecutors now launching a criminal investigation into the CIA agencies. The CIA as destruction of interrogation videotapes. The Justice Department tapping John Durham, a U.S. attorney from Connecticut, to lead that investigation. Attorney General Michael Mukasey called Durham, a quote, "Widely respected and experienced career prosecutor." Durham will be investigating whether the CIA broke any laws in 2005, when it destroyed tapes that reportedly showed two high profile al Qaeda prisoners, including Abu Zubaydah, being subjected to waterboarding. The technique stimulates drowning and is widely considered torture.
The army tests new high-tech helmets to measure the cost and effect of traumatic brain injury. These helmets are equipped with a battery-operated sensor that can record what happens to a soldier during an IED blast. It can also measure the jolt soldiers received from an explosion. The device weighs six ounces and attaches to the back of the helmet. There's also, according to a report, in "USA Today" more than a thousand soldiers who will get these helmets when they deploy to Afghanistan in the spring. Military says IEDs account for almost 80 percent of injuries on the battlefield.
Well, the San Francisco Zoo getting set to reopen today after the deadly tiger attack on Christmas Day. Also, a new witness has come forward telling "The San Francisco Chronicle," the tiger may have been taunted before she escaped. She says she was there with her family and saw the victims of the attack teasing the animals, screaming and growling at the big cats. She called their behavior, quote, "disturbing." Saying it actually caused her family to leave the area. She says, she saw the two men who were injured in the attack, but their attorney, Mark Geragos, denies his clients did anything to provoke the tiger. The witness also said the teenager killed in the attack was the last person in the group. It was the person in the group that she saw not taunting the animal.
ROBERTS: Five minutes after the hour now. Big economic story today. It's the fact that oil touched a hundred dollars a barrel yesterday. It's also a big story on the political campaign trail as well. Where is it headed today? Ali Velshi, back up in New York, "Minding Your Business." So, Ali, how is it looking?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, oil is trading a little lower than these hundred dollars. In fact, it just touched a hundred dollars yesterday briefly, and then pulled back. Overnight, it went back up to $99.98 and now it's about $99.50. But later on this morning, we're going to get the report of how much oil there is in stock in the United States to make into heating oil and gasoline and things like that. And that, if it's lower than expected, and it has been in many cases in the last few months, that could send oil back up above a hundred dollars. John, as you know, it's a symbolic mark because we've been paying this price, this high 90s for sometime. It's more symbolic that anything else.
But it does translate for the average person. First of all, take a look at the price of gasoline and where it's been in the last year. It's not up as much as oil is. Oil is actually up about 70 percent over the course of the year, but gasoline is up about 31 percent. 73 cents. Right now, the average price for a gallon of gas across the United States is $3.05. That's actually lower than the high that we hit earlier this year. About $3.21 or something, was the high.
But this is people are feeling it in the northeast, in the way that they heat their homes with heating oil and they're feeling it, obviously, at the gas tank and that is working its way, as you said, into the economic picture and into the campaign, because 2007 was about higher energy prices and lower home prices.
John?
ROBERTS: And Ali, if oil is as high as it is now, what is going to happen to gasoline prices in the spring?
VELSHI: Yes, as you know, gasoline prices generally move up independently of the price of oil in the spring, as the summer driving season comes in and the mix for gasoline changes. So, you're going to likely see not much relief in sight. I think the fact is we're used to the $3 benchmark across the United States. In some places, obviously, like California, regular $4 gasoline is not something that's out of the realm of possibility. We've already seen it happen. So, this is a major concern.
In a tight economy when people don't have a lot to spend, John, there's extra money that goes to gasoline. You're not getting anything else for the money you're paying. So, you're paying 30 percent more for something and you're not getting anymore of the product that you're paying for. So, it's a problem.
ROBERTS: Well, definitely going to be a big issue on the campaign trail during this election year.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, the lights were on, the audience was seated, but most writer pens were still down as the late night talk shows returns to airwaves. In fact, only David Letterman and Craig Ferguson had their writers back with them. They hammered out a deal within David Letterman's own production company to bring their writers back. In the meantime, Jay Leno, feel time by taking questions from the audience. Conan O'Brien twirled his wedding ring and dance on the desk. All the host said that they stand with the writers but they have come back to save the other staffers job. Our Lola Ogunnaike was in Dave's audience and here's her low-down on the laugh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: Ladies and gentlemen, two long months but, by God, I'm finally out of rehab.
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was back on the air last night for David Letterman, despite the ongoing writers strike. Letterman hammered out an agreement with the writers union, so his writers could work. So it's writers in tow, Dave seemed crisp and ready for action. His beard was a running theme as were the woes of striking writers who delivered his top ten lists. The top demands of striking writers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like a date with a woman.
LETTERMAN: Number 4, writer and director Nora Ephron.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hazard pay for breaking up fights on "The View."
OGUNNAIKE: Letterman was not alone in his return. All the other late nighters were also on. Jay leno, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Kimmel. Jay was without his writers, but it didn't seem to slow him a bit. He even got a few laughs out of it.
JAY LENO, HOST: I shot some cell phone footages. This was not pretty. Just to give you an idea how the negotiations are going. Take a look. As you can see.
OGUNNAIKE: Conan also without his writers, supported a beard to rival letterman.
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST: I look like the character of young Kriss Kringle in Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Check it out.
OGUNNAIKE: There were a few misses for those without writers, but not many. And Leno seemed to relish, going back to his roots.
LENO: It's fun writing new stuff. You know what I'm doing? I'm doing what I did, the day I started. I write jokes and I wake my wife up in the middle of the night and say, honey, is this funny?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: All of them former writers themselves at some point. I mean, they were stand-up comedians and did their own stuff. So, how did it turn out without the writers?
OGUNNAIKE: Well, really, it was a chance for the people who didn't have their writers to prove that they still have their chops. Leno, actually held his own. A lot of people are wondering if he would flounder or not. He actually held is own and surprisingly, his show looked a lot like his show did pre-strike.
CHETRY: That's what I was going to say. If you haven't been following this in the news and you just turned it on, would you know their writers were on strike?
OGUNNAIKE: I don't really think so. If you looked at Leno's show. I mean, he had an interview with Huckabee. He had Emeril Gazione (ph). They both have a great relationship. So, there was nothing really new there. I think if you watched the Conan show you might thought something is amiss here. I mean, watching him twirl his wedding ring for, you know, many seconds on hand. That was a little uncomfortable and his bob dance back and forth, not good.
CHETRY: He used to do the staring contest with any retro for very long periods of time too, wondering if maybe writers were sick at that point.
OGUNNAIKE: That actually would have been a lot funnier.
CHETRY: Who was the clear winner, if there was one at all, of late night?
OGUNNAIKE: Well, I have to say, from the audience perspective, watching Letterman and the way that the crowd reacted to him, I was inside there and they were just so happy to see him. They love the beard. They love the jokes about the beard. He could have talked about that all night long and I would have been very pleased.
CHETRY: All right. So, we'll see if they still got it as the strike continues entering its ninth week now. Lola, thanks. By the way, we wanted to ask our audience about this. The "Quick Vote" question of the day is, the return of late night, does it help or hurt the writers? As Lola pointed out, a lot of the show was focused on the writers and their cause, but at the same time, does it show that the show can go on without them? We ask you to cast your vote, cnn.com/am. You can still vote, but right now, here is a tally. 35 percent of you say that it is helping their cause, while 65 percent of you, say it is hurting their cause. And you're shaking your head, Lola.
OGUNNAIKE: You're wrong, people. You are wrong.
CHETRY: So, you think this is going to help them get closer to hammering out a deal?
OGUNNAIKE: I think it's a glorified PR campaign. And it appears to be working. Everyone on the audience was on the writer's side.
CHETRY: All right. We're going to continue to update the votes throughout the morning. Thanks, again.
John?
ROBERTS: Still ahead here, Kiran, from Des Moines, John Edwards is dropping by and Congressman Ron Paul, already here. He has raised millions of dollars online. He's got very strong grassroots support. What's Ron Paul's message that inspires so much support and how is he going to do today in the caucuses? He joins us live coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: He wants to pull out of Iraq and the war on drugs and abolish the income tax. Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul is not what he would seem to be your typical Republican candidate. He is sitting at the bottom of the polls here in Iowa, but he says, he could surprise some people today. Congressman Ron Paul joins us now. A lot of people think that you're outside of the mainstream of the Republican Party, but if you look back over history, you're right in line with the original principles of the Republican Party, are you not?
RON PAUL, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think so. I mean, remember when Republicans were conservative. They want to balance the budget. They cut back government, you know, I just think I feel very comfortable as a Republican. I've been elected ten times. But when you look at what we did once we got in power, we didn't do a very good job. We doubled the size of the Department of Education and we used to be elected to end the wars and now, we got ourselves into a mess and sort of a quagmire now. So, people are unhappy with the Republicans and I'm trying to, you know, reinvigorate the party and go back to their basic principle which really is defending the constitution and individual liberty.
ROBERTS: You have a tremendous well of support on the Internet. Any time we ever do anything on our website with Ron Paul attached to it, we get so many hits. It's just not to be believed. You have also raise in the fourth quarter of this year, $20 million including $10 million that was raised in two, one day campaign blitzes. But it hasn't yet translated into broad support in the polls. Why not?
PAUL: I don't think, many by hands, polls answer. I think today, we're going to find out a few answers. Maybe the individuals that support me haven't been on the voting calls and that they will register and come out. It is true. We have a lot of disaffected Republicans who have not been voting much lately and maybe dropped out two years ago and they might be the people who are being called. The people who voted in '06.
And we have a lot of young people just voting for the first time. But we have a lot of older people joining and said, you know, they are 50, 60. Two people this weekend call in and said I'm 70 years old and this is the first time I've ever voted. So we've touched on something which I think very important that people see some hope with what we're doing and they are invigorated.
ROBERTS: A lot of energy and excitement surrounding the caucuses. I want to ask you about some of the issues. There's one thing I wanted to get clear on here. Because, I've read a lot of your interviews and I haven't really got myself clear on this. Your foreign policy. You want to pull out of Iraq, but now, you want to bring U.S. troops home from everywhere around the world. Korea, Japan and Germany. You also have said in interview, you don't think that there is any chance that Iran, would ever attack Israel. But what do you do, as far as foreign policy? Do you withdraw within America's borders and hope that nothing happens before you have a chance to respond to it? It gets out of control before you have a chance to it?
PAUL: Well, what we want to do is not get involved in these unnecessary regions. Every civil war...
ROBERTS: But sometimes you can't help it.
PAUL: Well, you know, we can, that is my point. We took in advice of the founders and have a nonintervention foreign policy. Right now, we're engaged in Pakistan, but we just invested $10 billion to buy support from Musharraf. I think it's a lousy investment.
ROBERTS: So, let me ask you this question. What is the difference between a noninterventionist policy and isolation policy where some people believe?
PAUL: Yes. There is a big difference. An isolation is really wants to withdraw in the borders and they don't want to trade with people and travel and talk to people and they want to isolate themselves. They sort of (INAUDIBLE). They think they can make everything. See this whole notion that we have to be absolutely energy independent is sort of an old-fashioned notion that Japan is never going to be energy independent. You know, they import oil because they don't have anything. So, in the modern ages of economic understanding, is you don't need to withdraw yourself. So, the founders advised and the market advise is - you travel, you engage yourself. You go through diplomacy but you especially trade with people.
For instance, we've done ourselves a great deal of harm by not talking and trading with Cuba. I mean, the Canadians trade with Cuba but American citizens don't even have the right to go to Cuba.
ROBERTS: And there are a lot of people who wonder how you can engage with North Korea and China.
PAUL: Yes and we talk with the soviets. You know, it doesn't make any sense that we're so intimated and so frightened that we won't even talk to the Cubans. They're not going to attack us.
ROBERTS: I also want to get myself straight on your policy toward earmarks. You want to abolish this system of earmarks, but am I correct in assuming that in reading that, as long as the system exists at present, you're going to make sure the people in your congressional district get their fair share?
PAUL: That's basically it. I'm a representative and they make requests. And sort of like, if an individual comes and he has social security benefits or even food stamps, it's a program. I'm going to help them work out their problems with the federal government. But there is also a constitutional issue. Who has the responsibility to spend the money and designate how it's going to be spent? The Congress or the executive branch? For instance, everybody knows about the bridge to nowhere. There was an earmark.
ROBERTS: It was heading to nowhere.
PAUL: Yes. But it was secretly done and that was wrong. But once it became known, we went, the Congress went and, you know, and removed the earmark but they still got the money because the executive branch did it.
ROBERTS: So, what's happens if you abolish the system and there's no more money coming back to the district?
PAUL: No. It all stays there and they had more, because you never get your money back. All you get is less money and more bureaucrats and more regulation. So, if you didn't have a Department of Education, every state would have more money, not less money and they wouldn't have, no child left behind to deal with. They hurt themselves. This pretense that if you go to Washington and you hire a bunch of bureaucrats and politicians to run your life until you're better off but the American people have awakened now to realize, we're not better off with the federal government running our lives and running the economy.
ROBERTS: Congressman Ron Paul, it's always great to see you.
PAUL: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Thanks so much for dropping in. Good luck in the caucuses tonight.
PAUL: Thank you, everybody.
ROBERTS: Now, let's go back up to New York and here is Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks so much, John.
Well, still ahead, we go inside the San Francisco Zoo. It's reopening today after that Christmas Day tiger attack. There are still a lot of questions, plus a new eyewitness has popped up. We're going to be getting a live report next.
And he just finished off a marathon. Final push in Iowa. 36 hours nonstop. We'll talk live to John Edwards coming up and hear what he is telling voters to help close the deal. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, the San Francisco Zoo is getting set to reopen today. It's nine days after a tiger escaped from its enclosure and killed a young man. A new witness has also come forward speaking out to "The San Francisco Chronicle." She says that she witnessed four young men gathered around the tiger's enclosure and that they were taunting the tiger before it escaped. She says, in fact, it was so disturbing that she chose to leave and remove her young children from the scene. She says that the one person who was not doing the taunting is the one who ended up killed, Carlos Sousa, Jr.
AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence is live at the San Francisco Zoo. He has a look right now on what they are planning today as they reopen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As families return to the San Francisco Zoo, officials are questioning whether the victims provoked a tiger to attack on Christmas Day.
SAM SINGER, SAN FRANCISCO ZOO: There are a number of things that have been found in the tiger's grotto that the police are looking into.
LAWRENCE: A zoo spokesman says they discovered a large rock, branches, and pine cones things not usually found in the habitat. SINGER: It's too soon to determine or to tell whether those were part of taunting or whether the kids were throwing those things at the tiger.
LAWRENCE: The 350-pound Siberian mauled one teenager to death and attacked his two friends. All the big cats have been removed to secure the habitat. This is a blueprint of one of the security upgrades that the zoo is considering, including a glass wall in front of the viewing area that rides about 19 feet above the bottom of the moat. That's three feet higher than the recommended height. It's nearly seven feet higher than the old wall. Investigators believe the tiger jumped the moat and scaled the wall.
The survivors have hired celebrity attorney Mark Geragos. He says the teenager bled to death, while zoo workers wasted crucial minutes responding to his friends cry for help. I ask the zoo director to respond.
Did he take the attack seriously enough to alert the police what was going on?
MANUEL MOLLINEDO, DIRECTOR SAN FRANCISCO ZOO: My staff reported to the police and to the fire department what they knew at the time.
LAWRENCE: But 911 dispatch logs show the first call to the fire department showed little sense of urgency. The zoo worker even suggested the victim reporting a tiger attack might be mentally disturbed in making it up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Now, whichever families do come here today when the park reopens at 10:00 in the morning, will find this new notices posted all over the zoo reminding them not to provoke the animals. The big picture, the zoo plans to install surveillance cameras around that tiger habitat, also a park wide emergency notification system and the glass wall, none of which was in place on Christmas Day.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Hopefully those changes will prevent any future tragedies there. Chris Lawrence, thank you.
John?
ROBERTS: Kiran, thanks very much. A lot of excitement here. Senator John Edwards has just joined us. We'll be talking to him in just a couple of minutes. Also ahead, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will open up his mailbag to answer your medical questions. Stay with us for the Special Election Day Coverage. It's caucus day here in Iowa. Coming up, also, "The Best Political Team On Television" with a closer look at where the candidates had been telling us this morning and how that may play out when people meet tonight, 7:00 eastern. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back. It's Thursday, January 3rd. I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.
Hey, John.
ROBERTS: Hey, good morning to you. From Des Moines, Iowa, I'm John Roberts. We are at the Waveland Cafe in Des Moines, where we've been having an awful lot of fun this morning. (INAUDIBLE) a lot of candidates through here. Ron Paul was here just a little while ago. We also had Bill Richardson and Fred Thompson. John Edwards is here as well. We're going to be talking with him coming up in just a few minutes. Thanks to Dave Stone, "Stoney", as he is known for all of his hospitality this morning.
It's a big day here in Iowa. A lot of folks come down this morning for a little bit of breakfast, talk politics a little bit more, before they go meet tonight 7:00 central time for those all- important caucuses, which will give us our first indication of how this presidential race may be going.
Kiran?
CHETRY: And want to get you up-to-date on some of the other stories this morning before we get back to the election.
New this morning. Video that has emerged of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto just moments before her assassination. It's amateur video and it shows a close up of Bhutto standing up in her car that was through the sunroof waving to the crowd after a rally. It then shows a bright yellow flash, seemingly an explosion there but does not show the gunman as seen in previous videos. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has asked for help in the investigation. A team from Scotland Yard is expected to arrive in Pakistan next week. Musharraf will hold a news conference this morning with 200 international journalists.
A hundred bucks a barrel for oil. Well, that was the reality. Briefly getting into triple digits yesterday. A record. Oil then closed in New York trading at $99 and change. But if a government report due out this morning shows a bigger than expected drop in supply. Oil prices may climb yet again over a $100 a barrel yet today.
There are some new details about a brazen prison break inmate who chipped their way out of their cell just like the movie "The Shawshank Redemption." They left behind a sarcastic note thanking a prison guard for help. That guard, 40-year-old Rudolf Zurich was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in his home in New Jersey hours before he was said to speak with investigators. They say Zurich has been cooperating with them about the escape and it doesn't appear that he did anything wrong. His death is now being investigated. Meantime, those inmates are still on the run. John.
ROBERTS: As you say, Kiran, this is it, the big night here in Iowa. Caucus night. They will begin at 7:00 local time. Polls too close to call at the top of each party. Candidates have been making the most of every last second, many of them driving by here. We're going to talk with John Edwards as we said, coming up in a moment. But right now, we're joined by members of the best political team on television, CNN's Dana Bash is here, John Dickerson and CNN analyst also for "Slate Magazine" Joe Johns as well.
Everybody is out on the campaign trail. So, the big story that kind of popped up this morning was this idea that Fred Thompson, if he doesn't finish at least third or maybe better than that, he may drop out and throw his support behind John McCain going into New Hampshire. Here is what Fred Thompson told us about that this morning. He shot the whole thing down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRED THOMPSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Any speculation as to what I may or may not do is just totally that. I mean, it's, obviously, some of the campaign thought it was to their advantage to put that out. I have never said that, I have never implied that in public or in private.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So Dana, what do you think about all of this? I mean, he also went on to say we'll see what happens after tonight.
DANA BASH, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Right. The bottom line is the voting is tonight. The caucus is tonight. So, in a lot of ways it's putting the cart before the horse. But, you know, he does have a very strong organization here. He's got a guy, Bob House, who is a veteran organizer in Iowa. But I've been out with him. A lot of us have been out with him. The rumors and the talk about him sort of not having the fire in the belly there is no question it's real.
And if you talk to his close advisers, they are saying, you know, let's see what happens tonight. They do say, you know, if he does a distant third or even beyond that, even fourth, that it's possible that he will not survive through the weekend. They also say that, you know, we'll see what happens with, you talked about John McCain. He and Fred Thompson were thick in the Senate, very, very close. We have to be careful. The caucus is tonight so we don't want to again, get the cart before the horse. But it is possible if you talk to his closest advisers.
ROBERTS: Joe and John you were out on the road with Barack Obama last night and you've also been following John Edwards. The democrats are so close on policy issues. Is it really coming down who is putting themselves out there as the best leader?
JOE JOHNS, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly. There is also that issue if you look at these things. Last night, I went first to see Edwards and then I went over to see Obama. And one of the things that struck me was the different kinds of energy in these two campaigns. The energy coming out of the Edwards campaign is a little bit dark. There's a lot of anger in there like many people say. He is saying I'm not going to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies and so on. You look at Obama, there is a lot of light and there's a lot of that sort of feel good and it almost comes down to whether these voters in Iowa are viewing the world in sort of angry terms or are they viewing them in very optimistic terms? And that, it seems to me, one of the things people are going to be deciding tonight.
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: What the debate is about is they are all saying they're for change but the debate is about how do we bring it back, how do we govern, how do we behave once we get to the White House and that is what this energy is also about is because they are all making their different arguments basically about how they would deal with the interests and how they would run an operation once they came to Washington. It's not exactly about issues but it's about the structure of how they will govern.
ROBERTS: Dana, you and I have talked about this a lot in recent days but certainly bears repeating in looking ahead. The Huckaboom. Does it extend beyond Iowa? He is not polling so well in New Hampshire but he is polling well in South Carolina, Nevada, Florida, Michigan and California. Could he extend it beyond here and what would a win do in these other states?
BASH: Right, you know, traditionally somebody who is a long shot coming in second, that is not enough. They usually flame out. But you know what, Huckabee, there's a reason why he went on Jay Leno last night. He is trying to maintain his national exposure. He is already looking beyond Iowa. He has been leaving here every so often to go raise some money but in order to have structure in these other states. But the reality is he doesn't have a structure in the other states.
So, whether if he doesn't do as well as everybody thinks he is going to do here. You know, that kind of energy could dry up. New Hampshire is obviously the next stop. He doesn't play as well there because he is somebody who wants to abolish the tax code and he is for a fair tax and that doesn't play so well in New Hampshire. He is traveling around with the former governor of South Carolina and he already got his sights set there just like here. That's a place where there is a strong evangelical base so if he can do well there, you never know.
ROBERTS: Anybody willing to make a prediction who wins on either side?
JOHNS: Oh, no!
ROBERTS: There you are. With that strong commitment, let's take it back to New York. Bold pronouncements.
CHETRY: At least we know one thing, they all will be right.
Well, he is fresh off a 36-hour nonstop push and sitting down with us to talk about his message. Where he stands on some of the issues. John Edwards joins us live on AMERICAN MORNING, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Democrat John Edwards is just off a 36-hour campaign push to let Iowans and let them know his position on the issues. Will it be enough to give him a boost in tonight's caucus. John Edwards joins us now. How did it go? 36 hours on the road, that's pretty intense. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning.
ROBERTS: Did you sleep last night?
EDWARDS: I did, I did. It went great. We had 36 hours nonstop campaigning and culminated last night, with 3,000, 4,000-person rally here in Des Moines. It has a lot of energy and excitement, a lot of movement. It's all encouraging.
ROBERTS: Big news today, of course, on the economy. Hundred dollar a barrel oil. You got some things to say about this. As president, what would you do about the price of gas?
EDWARDS: Well, the starting place is we need to be investigating the oil companies to see whether they are gouging people.
ROBERTS: They've been investigated how many times?
EDWARDS: Yes, they need to and here's the thing. If we investigate them and they are not violating the law but they're up at the edge of the law, then we might have to actually modify the law. We should use a strategic petroleum reserve. Released them with some petroleum into the market could break the price down.
ROBERTS: Does that ever work?
EDWARDS: It works but if you have to bring the price down, it's very much a temporary fix. And so the real answer here is to get America off its addiction to oil.
ROBERTS: And you say the oil companies need to be investigated but they are not the ones setting the price of oil. It's the market setting the price of oil.
EDWARDS: So we think. That's why we need to find out what they are doing. What's happened is the oil industry is becoming vertically integrated. The same people who are refining, other people selling the gas at the pump. What is happening in between, we don't know. So at least for me, my perspective, the Justice Department should be looking at it.
ROBERTS: For the last couple of days, you came out with some new ideas on Iraq saying you will pull out all troops including trainers within 10 months. Bill Richardson seemed to suggest that that was his idea before.
It was yours. But the question I have is if you pull out everybody including the trainers, General David Petraeus has said, look, the progress that we've made in Iraq is reversible. You do not risk running into a reverse.
EDWARDS: That's a threshold question and that question is what is it that will drive the Suni and Shiite leadership toward the political compromise and my own judgment, it's a judgment call. My own judgment is we need to start leaving. We need to continue leaving. That's what creates the openness for them to actually reached a political reconciliation.
ROBERTS: But they are more segregated now than they've ever been.
EDWARDS: They are but that doesn't change the fact that they understand as well as we do that if they don't reach some kind of political compromise, there cannot be stability in Iraq.
ROBERTS: And now, you have never been to Iraq though you have asked to go.
EDWARDS: Correct.
ROBERTS: Can you make a clear and measured decision about what to do militarily on the ground there without having been on the ground?
EDWARDS: Oh, of course. We get daily information about what is happening on the ground in Iraq. I have a whole panel of very experienced military advisers that's we work with regularly. Now, we get very good and accurate information about what's happening on the ground.
ROBERTS: Now, you have said that if you do become the nominee, you would like to make a trip over there. Would you go over to Iraq with an open mind that if the situation, as you saw it on the ground, were different than you understood it to be, you might modify your plan?
EDWARDS: This is impossible to imagine that happening because the underlying issue is not military. The underlying - there is no military solution in Iraq. The underlying issue is there is serious movement politically and at least right now, there is no sign of that.
ROBERTS: I've known you for a long time. We sat down and we talked about you potentially running for president. Oh, gosh it has to be six years ago.
EDWARDS: I remember.
ROBERTS: And we talked about leadership and the idea that the strength of leadership is often measured in who people surround themselves with. So, if you became president, who would occupy the key positions in your cabinet, Department of Homeland Security? Secretary of State, Defense?
EDWARDS: Sure. I've actually gone through every one of those positions, made a list of people for consideration and haven't made a final decision on any of them. I could tell you the kind of people that I would consider. I'm looking for experienced, competent, independent-minded people who will challenge and test me. I do not want to be surrounded by yes people. I want people who will say you are wrong about this, Mr. President, you have not considered this. I think when you surround yourself with yes people, good decisions don't come out.
ROBERTS: You got a couple of names you could illuminate for us? EDWARDS: I have names.
ROBERTS: Just so we know the type of people you're thinking about.
EDWARDS: And I have no interest in telling you who they are.
ROBERTS: You just, in the last 12 hours I got an e-mail from your campaign where you're talking about the operation that everybody has got here, other campaigns have got here in Iowa and how it's so much bigger than yours. You're playing the underdog.
EDWARDS: I am the underdog.
ROBERTS: Wait a second. How can you be the underdog? You came here, you came second in Iowa in 2004, propelled you into the vice presidential nominee and you started coming here, I think spring of 2005 to lay the groundwork. You're a veteran of Iowa. So, how do you (inaudible).
EDWARDS: Oh, I don't deny that, no doubt about that. What is different from me and Senator Clinton and Senator Obama is they have spent massively in Iowa and have massive campaign organizations. They've outspent me, you know 5 or 6 to 1. And the fact we're in a dead heat now I think, I actually says something about my message of ending corporate greed and strengthening the middle class and fighting for the middle class. People are responding to it. They also know, by the way, when they hear me speak that it's not philosophical or intellectual or political. It's something that comes from in here. It's something for 54 years believed and I believe it today.
ROBERTS: All right. I though your heart is I think a pinch (inaudible).
EDWARDS: I was pointing here!
ROBERTS: Senator, thanks very much. It's always great to see you tonight in the caucus sessions.
EDWARDS: Thanks, John. Thanks for having me.
ROBERTS: All right. Take care.
And you want to watch CNN tonight because we're going to have complete coverage of the Iowa caucus with the best political team on television starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Make sure you tune in for that. Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, we already know that talking on cell phones while driving can be dangerous but that is not all. Our Veronica de la Cruz joins us now to explain texting and driving some.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN, INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: That thing right there.
CHETRY: Just don't look at it. DE LA CRUZ: A lot of problems. Put it down. You know, we all hate traffic and now it seems that chatting on your cell phone also can add to that problem. New study says that not only can talking while behind the wheel shorten your life and someone else's but it can also lengthen your commute. The study shows those that those that talked on their phone drive about 2 miles per hour slower than those who don't . And while the 2 miles per hour might not seem a lot If you commute about an hour a day. It could add about 20 hours a year to your drive to and from work.
CHETRY: It seems like a no-brainer. You're just distracted when you're on the phone.
DE LA CRUZ: Completely.
CHETRY: Even if you do have a wireless, you're still looking down for numbers, you're looking through your address book so you're not really paying attention to the road.
DE LA CRUZ: You're focusing on the conversation and not thinking about the road.
Well, apparently youtube has caught the attention of Japan's Prime Minister who has began posting videos to the website. Get this. Kind of cool, right? Some say he is trying to raise his country's international profile. In his New Year's message, this is what we're looking at here. Prime Minister Yazu Fukura talks about the challenges facing the world in the coming year and promise his nation will play a leading role in finding solutions. So, youtube is not just for the water-skiing squirrel anymore, everybody uses it.
CHETRY: How about it?
DE LA CRUZ: Pretty cool. And a new Canadian study out, Kiran, shows that regardless how popular social networking and online dating sites have become, women are hesitant to admit that they meet on the internet. The national study called "surfing for love," shows there's a huge contradiction what women say about the popularity of online dating sites and their own sense of shame and secrecy about it. A professor of the study remarks how women actually say that the sites are for losers.
CHETRY: That's interesting. But men don't say that?
DE LA CRUZ: No. It's the women say I don't ever go on match.com and those sites are for losers yet they are. So there you go.
CHETRY: You find the one you love, and you found true love. More power to you.
DE LA CRUZ: Right, exactly.
CHETRY: Veronica, thanks. Well, what foods should you avoid if you're taking Lipitor for cholesterol? Just one of the many questions in Dr. Sanjay Gupta's mailbag this morning. We'll he checked them out and he's going to be answering them for us. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Just coming up on ten minutes to the top of the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning. We have been sitting down with the candidates at the Waveland Diner here in Des Moines all morning. Gov. Richardson told us early this morning that his name is not necessarily at the top of the polls but he says the democratic front runners are following his lead on Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm the one that is the most consistent that has said within a year, but with a diplomatic plan and we can safely and in an orderly way do it in a year but get the three groups in Iraq for a political compromise. A U.N. peacekeeping force and donor conference so that we're not spending $570 billion in this war money that should go at home. This is the fundamental issue here in Iowa. And so all of these candidates are now shifting to my position. Senator Clinton, Senator Edwards saying get the troops out as soon as possible. Richardson has been right and is gaining.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Richardson has been pushing his resume in the closing hours as governor, former U.N. ambassador and former Secretary of Energy in the Clinton administration. Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is back with us again this morning. He is reaching into his mailbag to answer your questions. He joins us now from Atlanta. Hey, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. How are you?
CHETRY: Great. You know, a lot of people take Lipitor and our first question is about that.
Gina in Urie, Wyoming, wants to know. She said she just started taking statins for high cholesterol. Lipitor being a statin drug. What are some foods and/or drinks I should avoid while taking this medication?
GUPTA: Well, Gina, great question and obviously you're not alone. About a hundred million people have cholesterol levels that are considered too high by their doctors. A lot of people don't need to take medications. Let me state that up first. You can try to avoid having high cholesterol problems by eating foods that are low in saturated fats, trying to get as many fruits and fiber-containing foods as possible in your diet but for some people it just doesn't work no matter how hard they try. Let me say one other strategy is exercise. It may sound obvious but the thing that exercise does, it actually raises your levels of your good cholesterol, your HDL. So it's very important. Now, if you do take medications like statin drugs to lower your cholesterol, you still have to stay on a low fat diet. It's still important to do that. And there are some foods you should avoid besides that. Grapefruit juice, interestingly, is one of them. I say that because if you drink grapefruit juice and you're also taking a statin medication, sometimes it can actually increase the amount of the statin medication in your bloodstream and that can be a problem so that is a food to avoid, Gina.
CHETRY: All right. Good advice. Thanks, Doctor.
Can you discuss the pros and cons of electroconvulsive therapy, that's given to people with severe depression. This question coming to us from Mike in Louisville, Kentucky.
GUPTA: Yes. Electroconvulsive therapy, ECT as it's known as well. Mike, this is something that has taken on sort of almost mythical sort of feature in our media. I mean, it's been in a lot of movies and people actually getting this shock therapy they've called it. It's become a lot more humane since people saw it in, for example, in "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest," it can be something that can be done in a very human way. It's often reserved in cases of severe depression and severe bipolar depression as well where medication doesn't seem to work. It's done in hospitals across the country still today. One of the concerns is it may cause memory loss. It may cause confusion as well in the longer term. So obviously this is something that needs to be done by someone who is trained in it, who actually knows how to administer, how much of the dose to administer. But you know, even today, so many decades later, electroconvulsive therapy is still done.
CHETRY: Very interesting. And our last question from Ron of Clayton, Georgia. I was recently given heavy doses of steroids as part of the treatment for pneumonia. Why do those steroids cause such awful swelling and bloating? This is a big side effect that many complain about if they've been on it, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Very good question. And it's a little counterintuitive, Ron. When you think of steroids you think of them being as a very potent anti-inflammatory. They're supposed to decrease inflammation in your body and they do. In the case of your lungs, it decreases some of the inflammation in your lungs. What happens as well though is it does a couple of things it can actually increase your appetite, it can actually increase the amount of salt that you keep in your bloodstream. That causes the bloating. It can also cause you to deposit little fat humps. People will actually get a hump of fat on their back or other places on their body even because of chronic steroid use. So, those are some of the problems. I think most doctors recommend you take the steroids for the shortest time possible and the smallest dose you possibly can.
CHETRY: And do those things go away for the most part after?
GUPTA: Some of the symptoms I just mentioned will get better if you stop the steroids, including add to that list things like making your bones brittle. That can be a real problem as well. A lot of that improves as soon as you stop the medication or shortly thereafter.
CHETRY: Sounds good. Thanks for answering questions as you do every week. If you want to ask one to Sanjay by the way, go to CNN.com/am. Every Thursday, Sanjay will answer your questions here on AMERICAN MORNING. Here's a quick look at what CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN, ANCHOR: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM. Iowa's caucus tonight. Follow the presidential candidates last minutes moves.
New violence. Police in Kenya stop election protesters.
Florida's citrus crop threatened by bitter cold.
Will oil close above $100 a barrel today?
The San Francisco Zoo opens today for the first time since a fatal tiger attack.
The writers' strike drags on, but late night comedians are back. NEWSROOM, top of the hour, on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And before we say good-bye this morning, we are going to take a final check of the quick vote. The topic today was about the writers strike and how it affected late night. So, we asked the return of the late night talk shows, does it help or hurt the cause of the striking writers? 37 percent of you say it helped the writers and 63 percent of you saying it hurt the cause and to everyone who voted this morning, thank you.
ROBERTS: Well, we have had an awful lot of fun, both yesterday and this morning here at the Waveland Diner in Des Moines today. Today is the big day. Caucus night. God, it seems like it's forever and coming. Some of the candidates on the road for almost three years now. And it could be a record turnout this evening as well. The fact that there hasn't been an incumbent president or vice president running since 1960 or the fact that there hasn't been an uncontested rather contest since 1960. You see some of the candidates there. Ron Paul, John Edwards came in as well. So, a lot of focus, a lot of excitement here in Iowa. They relish their part in picking the president of the United States and Fred Thompson also joining us this morning. And it could result in a record turnout tonight. You want to watch CNN tonight. We will have complete coverage of the Iowa caucuses with the best political team on television and it starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And thanks so much for joining us live from Des Moines. Kiran, I'll see you back in New York tomorrow.
CHETRY: Good, we're glad to get you back here. We miss you. You know, I was also thinking I can't imagine how many cups of coffee Bill Richardson must have had this morning. Because he was one of our first guests who joined us in the 6:00 hour this morning and he is still walking around with his coffee mug. ROBERTS: Nobody is getting a lot of sleep. In fact, there's an interesting article in "The New York Times" today about the odd things that happen when sleep deprivation creeps in among the candidates and the weird things the sometimes say. I know we have been suffering from it.
CHETRY: If you're going to contribute to that article, I was going to say, all right. Listen, a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING starts at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. We're going to be getting an early start. Of course, bringing you all the results of the Iowa caucuses and see what happens next. See you then. CNN NEWSROOM with Heidi Collins starts right now.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Heidi Collins.
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