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Wall Street Waits for Fed Decision; GOP Candidates Have High Hopes for Florida; Bill Clinton Stumps for Hillary in New Jersey; Allegations Arise of Troops Killing Captured Iraqis; Exercise the Key to Staying Young

Aired January 29, 2008 - 13:00   ET

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


KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Your vote, your money, your home. A big day for all three. Seven hours till the last polls close in Florida in a primary that could have a big say in who the GOP nominee will be.
DON LEMON, CO-HOST: And we're also watching the big board on Wall Street. And investors are watching the Fed for another rate cut.

PHILLIPS: Foreclosures soar. Lawmakers scramble. On the table today, your mortgage and your tax dollars.

LEMON: We're covering it all from Florida to Washington, Chicago, New York and beyond.

Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live in the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: But first this hour, blizzards, bitter cold and dangerous winds all over the place. Chad Myers, working out to be one wicked winter.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Temperatures going down by 50 degrees in five hours in some spots here. And blizzard-like conditions across south of Omaha, into Kansas City and up into places like Iowa, Algoma, Iowa, in fact now under the gun, more snow coming in.

They sent the kids to school this morning. Now the roads are all covered in snow, and they're going, "What are we going to do with them?" And some of the schools up there in northern Iowa are in lockdown until things get a little bit better.

Another thing we're talking about today: severe weather, significant tornadoes possible today, with a lot of energy in the atmosphere. A big cold front going to push down through.

Drop temperatures in Chicago right now. You're still -- at this point in time, you're still in the 40s, but behind it, this is Algoma. This is a tower cam from Algoma, from KCCI in Des Moines. And that's what it looks like now. Air temperature there is zero. Zero degrees! And that's as good as you're going to do for the rest of the day. To the east, severe weather, to the west of the blizzard and to the southwest, three's extreme fire danger, even worse than we had a couple of days ago. We'll keep you up to date as the day goes on.

LEMON: And our weather center, a very busy meteorologist today. All right.

MYERS: A tap dance, buddy (ph).

LEMON: Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Now to our financial security watch, as smart money's banking on another interest-rate cut from the Federal Reserve. We're going to know tomorrow when chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues wrap up a two-day meeting.

In the meantime, CNN's Ali Velshi is at the Chicago Board of Trade. And our Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange.

Ali, let's start with you.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're actually right. You said the smart money. The rest of us guess about what the Fed is going to do.

Here at the Chicago Board of Trade, these men and women around me are placing real money on what's going on and on bond trading. Now the money, the smart money here says that the Fed is going to cut rates tomorrow about 25 hours from now, probably by about half a percentage point, 50 basis points.

Now, that means that the Fed rate, which is 3.5 percent right now, might drop to 3 percent. Three percent higher than that is the prime rate, 3.5 percent. So that's -- for those people out there with -- with loans -- I'm sorry, 6 percent is what I meant to say. If the Fed cuts rates, you get a discount on your debt.

Also, the folks over here trade bonds. Bonds are where your fixed mortgages are set. The fixed mortgages don't move up and down with the Fed rate, but if the Fed cuts rates, fixed mortgages come down, too. So that will start to happen. That's why we're looking at this so carefully.

If the Fed cuts rates in 25 hours -- and the mood here is that the Fed will cut rates. Once again everybody in America with debt gets a discount -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Give us the word as soon as you know.

VELSHI: I will.

PHILLIPS: Ali Velshi, appreciate it.

LEMON: All right. CNN's Susan Lisovicz keeping track of what's happening with the markets. She joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange. She's on the floor.

What do you have for us, Susan?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, it's very quiet here, because there is really so much debate as to what the Federal Reserve would do. Why would the Federal Reserve cut interest rates again less than one week after -- or one week, I should say, after it made that emergency dramatic rate cut of three-quarters of a percentage point? Well, I'll give you a couple reasons.

One is that the Census Bureau today reported the biggest one-year drop in the rate of home ownership on record. Those records go back to 1964. The home-ownership rate just under 68 percent right now.

A separate report said 405,000 households actually lost their homes last year, completely foreclosed. And that foreclosure activity of all kinds shot up 75 percent from a year before.

There was a separate report that showed home prices plunged on record. That was by a record amount, 8.4 percent in November.

So these are a lot of different reports suggesting that, not only are we not out of the woods, that things are getting worse.

Stocks in the meantime, quiet ahead of that big decision by the Fed and its statement that accompanies it, tomorrow afternoon -- Don.

LEMON: All right, 405,000. Oh, my goodness. All right, Susan, thank you very much for that.

Well, you won't see a foreclosure sign in front of this house. There it is. Well, but there are plenty popping up on just about every corner of the nation. As hundreds of thousands of people lose their homes, a House panel meets this hour to try to find shelter in the foreclosure storm. We'll monitor that and what they say on the Hill this afternoon.

PHILLIPS: Bringing home the bacon, historically a top priority of lawmakers of both parties, accomplished by attaching pet projects called earmarks to spending bills. Presidents hate them. And in his final State of the Union speech, President Bush issued this warning to Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you send me an appropriations Bill that does not cut the number and cost of earmarks in half, I'll send it back to you with my veto.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Mr. Bush is scheduled to sign an executive order targeting earmarks just after 2 Eastern. We will have live coverage from the White House.

The economy could be a driving force in today's Florida primary. The high-stakes Republican battle is drawing the most attention, with the Democratic race on the back burner since no delegates are at stake.

Florida had the second highest number of foreclosure filings last year. And Republican Mitt Romney is banking on his business chops to give him an edge. Rudy Giuliani, meantime, hopes Florida will be his springboard, not his swan song.

Let's get straight to Orlando and CNN's Dan Lothian.

Hi, Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Well, you know, you talk about Rudy Giuliani. He has spent so much time here in the state of Florida, in the Sunshine State, some 57 days. He really passed up some of the early contests of Iowa, South Carolina, spent some time in New Hampshire, but really has just camped out here in Florida, hoping that he can pull off a win here, use that as a bump going into Super Tuesday and then use Super Tuesday to bump into getting the nomination. He has pointed out that winning Florida, the Republican -- Republican winning Florida would win the nomination.

But, you know, he's still confident, even though he's showing that the polls are showing that he's down in third place or so. And he's not giving up. This morning at an event in Miami Beach, he was talking to supporters and saying that he felt confident that he can win. He's still planning on the future. He hopes to go out to California tomorrow to take part in the Republican debate.

But he says, you know, depending on what happens tonight, depending on what happens in Florida will decide what his next move will be. He will make that decision tomorrow morning.

So still remaining confident, Rudy Giuliani. And also pointing out that he is above the fray. What he's talking about, the other two front-runners, Senator McCain and Mitt Romney, who have been duking it out at the top. It's very close for the No. 1 spot here in Florida.

And certainly, whoever wins here, the Republican that wins here could use that to catapult into front-runner status and certainly would be the momentum need going into the February 5, rather Super Tuesday.

They have been going at each other and they continue doing that today. Senator McCain pointing out that Governor Romney has flip- flopped on a lot of key issues. Governor Romney going after Senator McCain on issues such as immigration. So it really has been a tight battle for that No. 1 slot.

As we were talking to some of the voters here today, they say that they've really been turned off by the negative campaigning, the tone of the campaigns, although one of the people I talked to, a woman who's a Republican, says she's voting for Mitt Romney. But she says she doesn't like what has been taking place. She said the campaign should be about honor, integrity and the issues, not about negative campaigning -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And we'll be tracking it. Dan Lothian, there in Orlando, Florida. Thanks, Dan.

And right now you can be a part of the best political team on television. If you're a Floridian voting today, share your experience with us and the rest of the world. Send your video or pictures in an I-Report to CNNpolitics.com.

LEMON: Right now, let's go to the Democrats. As we said, they don't have any delegates at stake in Florida this year, but that won't stop Hillary Clinton from heading to the state tonight to thank her supporters.

The Dems are looking ahead to Super Tuesday one week from today and the two-dozen states holding contests. One of those states is New Jersey. And that's where Bill Clinton is stumping for his wife today.

We'll -- we'll get to Jim Acosta in New Jersey in just a moment. But first we want to tell you -- there he is.

Jim, we thought we lost you there for a second. Tell us about Bill Clinton stumping for his wife today.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don.

That's right; he was in New Jersey today, which is a critically important Super Tuesday state coming up for Hillary Clinton.

And this was not the Bill Clinton that we saw down in South Carolina. Gone were the jabs that were directed at Barack Obama. This was all about those bread-and-butter domestic issues that defined his presidency and that he feels defines his wife's campaign for the White House.

During a fairly lengthy speech to a packed audience here at the Camden County College in South New Jersey, Bill Clinton ticked off all of the issues that he says are critically important in this race: health care, the economy, the budget deficit.

And he also talked about the need for more of a universal health care program in this country. Here's what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the things I worry about is when the Baby Boomers retire, we'll impose an unconscionable burden on our children and their ability to raise our grandchildren. To avoid that, we have to do a better job of keeping seniors well.

So if you want to plan that covers everybody, brings costs in line with our competitors so you can afford it and keeps us well, elect Hillary president. And that's exactly what you will get.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Now the only moment that he seemed to draw any contrast between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was when the former president said that, you know, the voters back in 2000, they hadn't heard of 9/11. They hadn't heard of Katrina. They hadn't heard of what was happening in Pakistan, because none of those things had happened yet. And you need a president who is prepared to take on those issues.

But there was not even a mention of that catch phrase that has been used on the Hillary Clinton campaign, which is "ready on day one." We didn't even hear that today.

Bill Clinton did share the stage with Governor Jon Corzine from New Jersey, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. We talked to Governor Corzine after this event was over. And he believes that the Clintons perhaps learned a few lessons from what happened down in South Carolina. Bill Clinton obviously created some controversy down in the Palmetto State with some of his comments about Barack Obama. All of that was gone from this event that we saw here today -- Don.

LEMON: And after what happened yesterday we saw the endorsement by the Kennedys, and a lot of people were sort of watching the body language and the faces last night at -- for the State of the Union. Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama greeted lots of colleagues but not each other at President Bush's State of the Union address last night, Jim.

ACOSTA: That's right. There was a very interesting picture that was taken down in Washington at the State of the Union address. There was a moment when Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy shook hands. Obviously, this happened on the day that Ted Kennedy, the patriarch of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, endorsed Barack Obama, which was a huge win for Obama in this race for Super Tuesday.

And at one moment, it appeared -- and this is according to people who were there at the time -- I wasn't there, certainly -- that Barack Obama seemed to turn away from Hillary Clinton and that they sort of missed one another, if you want to put it that way, in terms of greeting one another.

So it's possible that a lot of the negative feelings that were generated down in South Carolina are still alive and well. But perhaps what happened here in New Jersey today, Bill Clinton, you know, not really going negative, staying positive. The sunny summer Bill Clinton, as some have described it, was back in full force. We'll see if we'll see more of that as the days move forward here, Don.

LEMON: We shall see. Jim Acosta, much appreciated.

And check out CNNpolitics.com today for the latest on the Florida primary from all angles and for a look ahead to Super Tuesday. It is the place to go for the precious polls, the latest fights, the political ticker blog and much, much more. CNN.com.

PHILLIPS: The U.S. Army launches a criminal investigation over the deaths of some captured Iraqis. Were American soldiers to blame? We're going to get the latest from our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

LEMON: Here's what everyone wants to know. Everyone. What is the real key to staying young? Researchers say they have found the answer. And you might be surprised by what they discovered.

PHILLIPS: Whiskey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Sixteen past. Coming up, about two seconds. There we go. Sixteen past the hour. Three of the stories we're working on for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

This is the scene across the west right now. Heavy rain -- heavy snow, I should say, is triggering avalanches, collapsing roofs and causing car wrecks. Searchers are looking for three snowmobilers missing in Colorado in the mountains there.

U.S. and U.N. officials trying to keep Kenya from spiraling completely out of control. The killing of an opposition lawmakers is inflaming the already-fierce protests over last month's presidential election. Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan is talking with Kenyan leaders while the U.S. is calling for calm.

Well, she was a singer, an actress, a writer and the only child of President Harry Truman. Margaret Truman died today in Chicago. She was 83 years old. Recalling her time in the White House, which began while she was in -- in college, she once said, quote, "Some of it was fun, but most of it was not."

PHILLIPS: It's one of the most dangerous jobs for U.S. troops in Iraq, going into the field to hunt for bad guys. The Army is now investigating allegations that American soldiers killed Iraqis captured in the field last year.

Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with the latest.

Barbara, what did you find out?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, all of this is, as you say, allegations only. But the Army has opened a criminal investigation into whether members of the 1st Infantry Division last year killed Iraqis they had captured and detained.

All of this being very cautiously discussed here at the Pentagon. Very few details are available. Army officials we have spoken to are indicating that this happened last year when this unit of the 1st I.D. was on their deployment in the Baghdad area. And it is believed that the information is just coming to light because a soldier tipped the Army off that some misconduct may have occurred.

Earlier today, the Pentagon spokesman, Jeff Morrell, spoke about it with great caution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEFF MORRELL, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: We, of course, take seriously any credible allegation of abuse or mistreatment of detainees, and so I think the Army criminal investigation command has now opened an investigation into this matter. I think they've even requested assistance from -- from other soldiers who may have been in this unit at that time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Indeed, what Mr. Morrell was saying there, in fact, the Army has put out a statement asking anybody who has any information about this alleged incident to come forward and report to Army investigators. That's a fairly unusual step for them to take in how they announced all of this: a press release put on their Web site last Friday night at 9 p.m., just noticed today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr from the Pentagon, thanks.

LEMON: What's the real key to staying young? What researchers have just found might surprise you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, listen up, all you vain people. Even not so vain people. Forget about the Botox. Put down those supplements and get off that couch! Researchers say they've discovered the real key to staying young. Is this a fountain of youth?

Elizabeth Cohen joins us now to tell us all about. It is a new study.

Can we call it the Fountain of Youth Study?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You should call it the Fountain of Youth Study.

LEMON: OK.

COHEN: Because the secret -- drum roll, please -- to staying young is -- exercise. Right, exactly. And that kind, Y-M-C-A.

LEMON: Yes, wow.

COHEN: That's right. The whole thing.

LEMON: I wasn't doing the "YMCA." I was just kind of doing a jumping jack here. All right. Don't start stuff now. Go ahead.

COHEN: OK. What this study found is if you do the "YMCA" dance -- no, just kidding. If you do exercise, it has a real profound effect on how your body ages. And I don't just mean you look better. I mean when they get down to the cellular level, when they look at the cells, they can see a difference.

So let's take a look at this study. It was really fascinating how they did it. Different from other studies that have had similar conclusions.

Let's say you have twins start out as babies, but they end up growing up. One is a couch potato, just hangs out, doesn't do anything. And the other is active. When researchers actually looked at the cells of the active twin, the cells looked nine years younger. So again, they weren't just looking at, gee, who had more lines on their face. This was much more scientific than that.

LEMON: This is the inside. This is what your body looks like. OK.

So how much exercise? Is it a particular kind of exercise? You know what I've noticed lately? Because every once in a while, you know, us vain people, we interview trainers and that kind of thing. Less weightlifting and more sort of calisthenics to get your heart rate up and get you moving.

COHEN: That's the key.

LEMON: Is that it? Yes.

COHEN: Getting the heart rate up. Getting it up is the key. People did all sorts of things. They ran. They jumped rope. They did swimming. They did all sorts of stuff. But it wasn't just a walk around the block. They really had to get their heart rate going.

And one of the things that's great about this is that they found a benefit, even when you were splitting it up. So let's take a look at the actual time.

What they found was that folks who did three hours a week got great results. And people who did about -- even just 1 1/2 hours a week, that is not much -- but pretty good results. They were better off than the couch potatoes.

And some of these folks split up. So they might do 15 minutes of jump rope on Monday and then 20 minutes of biking on Tuesday. It didn't have to be in one-hour segments. You could do all sorts of different things for different lengths of time.

LEMON: OK. Very interesting. So what do you mean -- I don't even get this. You know, I'm sort of in the business (ph). You look at someone's cells? What is that? Do you take a microscope? Do you take a picture? I mean, is it...

COHEN: Microscopes were used, yes.

LEMON: Oh, OK.

COHEN: I can tell you that. Microscopes were used.

LEMON: OK.

COHEN: And what they did was they actually looked at people's cells, and they looked at the telomeres. This may not be a word that you used in conversation every day, so I'll explain it to you. All cells have tails. You can see here the tail here actually is at the top of these cells. The one on the left has a long cell. That means that it is younger. The one on left, you can see it has a short little tail, a short little telomere. And that means that it's older. So those tails can tell you a lot.

And so what they found is that the more exercise people did, the longer the tail. So the younger the cells.

LEMON: All right. So it's like -- it's like roots when you look at that thing.

COHEN: It does look like that, yes.

LEMON: The long root that's dug in, even though it's older. It's sturdier.

COHEN: Longer is better. Yes.

LEMON: OK.

COHEN: OK.

LEMON: Thank you very much.

COHEN: You are so welcome.

PHILLIPS: A happy ending or perhaps a new beginning to a story CNN brought you last year.

"I need a kidney." That's what Butch Morgan told the world on a billboard in Houston. Well, just last week he got one, courtesy of Thomas Rearington -- or Riordan, rather, of Chicago. Riordan decided to donate one of his kidneys after seeing Butch's story on CNN. Both are doing fine, actually more than fine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUTCH MORGAN, KIDNEY RECIPIENT: Obviously, I mean you know, Tom was an angel God sent to me that I would tell him I love him -- I'll love him for the rest of my life. If I don't ever get to see him again the rest of my life, he will always be in my prayers, in my family, and my prayers. You know? And I know we will stay in touch, but I definitely -- you know? I love this guy. He's like -- he's a blood brother to me now.

THOMAS RIORDAN, KIDNEY DONOR: It is a good feeling that -- that you could, you know, extend somebody's life. That's actually what the doctor told me about it. He goes, "You put 20 years on this man's life." So for me to spend a week or two on the bench doesn't really hurt me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: If you want more information on how to become an organ donor, you can go to OrganDonor.gov. Once again, that's OrganDonor.gov.

LEMON: Well, the next time weather messes up your travel plans, think of this. See all those people? Hundreds of thousands of people stranded across China and not just for one day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I'm Don Lemon, live at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Blizzards, bitter cold and dangerous winds -- or winds, rather, dangerous winds all over the place. Chad Myers, the wicked winter right now, that's for sure.

MYERS: Kyra, you know what? I lived in the Midwest for a very long time. And I saw these big cold fronts coming. And you just have to know they are on their way before you even drive to work in the morning.

Milwaukee right now, 45. Minneapolis, one degree below zero. That's not the wind chill, that's the real air temp at this point in time. Fargo is 13 below. Well, this air rolled through Iowa this morning. It was pretty nice in Iowa early -- earlier during the day, earlier in the morning when all the superintendents were sending the kids to school. Well, now it is not so nice. And we have an actually -- live phone interview with Gena Ellis. She's up in Mason City.

Is that right, Gena? What are you seeing?

VOICE OF GENA ELLIS, MASON CITY, IOWA: That's correct. We're seeing a lot of whiteout conditions. In town we're fine, but once we get outside of town, out into the country and the rural roads, visibility is very, very poor. Down to zero pulling off to the side of the road until winds subside so we can get going again.

MYERS: Well that may be until Thursday. So, at least the snow is going to subside. Really though, not much snow is still coming down but this is what we call a ground blizzard. Tell us what you know about the schools. What are they doing with the kids?

ELLIS: You know a lot of the schools -- I checked online to see what was happening. And, a lot of the schools are canceling, they're sending children home, but a lot of the rural schools are actually holding the children there at the schools until the buses can get to them and get them home safely.

MYERS: Are you on the road right now or are you finally home?

ELLIS: Oh no, we're on the road. It is going to be a long drive home.

MYERS: What does it look like? You -- can't see, like, the front of the car?

ELLIS: Oh, no, absolutely not. Just barely to the front of the truck and that's it.

MYERS: No way. And now -- did you know this was coming? Did you watch local TV and say, yes, knew this.

ELLIS: Well we knew that there was going to be some wind coming and cold temperatures. We didn't really expect winds to be this high and the conditions to be like this.

MYERS: Yes. Well, 32 miles per hour is what I have right over Mason City right now. And maybe even higher gusts than that. Taking that very light, fluffy snow. And Kyra, here's part of the problem -- Gena thank you so much. Be careful out there, it's going to be a long drive, slow drive home.

Not much more snow, but visibility is not going to get much better for a while until all the snow gets in the ditches and then it doesn't blow around so much. It gets in the hedgerows (ph). We have very, very dry air. The temperatures are near zero, so the snow was very light. This very light snow is being blown around. If you get a nice snow at 33, 32 degrees, that's good snow-packing, snowball snow. That doesn't turn into a blizzard usually. It just kind of sticks there to the ground.

Well this is light snow that's just blowing everywhere. To the east we're going to have severe weather with tornadoes. To the southwest, fire danger over Texas. And then to the north, that's where the blizzard is right now. Dangerous conditions from Michigan right through Wisconsin, into Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and even the northwest parts of Missouri for today. Kind of an ugly day there in the midwest.

PHILLIPS: All right. But the good part, because you and I both grew up there, it was listening to that radio as a kid, keeping your fingers crossed that school was closed.

MYERS: Yes, well -- right. But the school wasn't closed this morning. They didn't close a lot of them. And the kids are at school, stuck there now because the buses can't get there. Today's one of those days in the Midwest where you just can't leave the house unless your tank is more than half full because you don't know how long you're going to be stuck in something. And you don't want to leave the house at all if you don't have to.

PHILLIPS: Good advice. Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: All right.

LEMON: And that bad weather is not only happening here, it's happening in other parts of the world. Deadly and paralyzing, the worst winter storms in half of a century, Kyra and Chad, have brought much of China to a standstill. Hundreds of thousands of people are stranded in airports and train stations. Power is out in many places. Dozens of people, sadly, have died from this.

This couldn't happen at a worst time, too. Next week is the Chinese New Year and millions of people are trying to make it home for the holidays. Later on, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM, a look inside one of those packed train stations with CNN's Hugh Riminton. He's also going to take us inside of this story.

Take a look at this. Among those waiting and hoping to get moving is CNN I-Reporter, Sam Dalili. He took this photo while stuck on a plane for four hours at a snowed-in airport in Nanjing. Now, Kelli Duvall is a U.S. citizen. She is living there. She says her husband is stuck at the office and no way to get home. He can't get home. She said she and the kids have been making the best of it, playing in the snow and building igloos. Imagine it's so cold you can build an igloo. If you want to share all of your photos and your videos, just go to CNN.com/ireport.

PHILLIPS: Millions of Americans are living without health insurance. Some are taking desperate measures to get it and save their lives. CNN chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, has been looking at the healthcare crisis for his upcoming "Broken Government" special. And he has an extreme example to share with us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK WINDSOR, CANCER PATIENT: You can just shoot all day. You know? Taking pictures makes me a happy man.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A happy, uninsured man. When Mark Windsor was just 27-years-old, doctors removed a large cancerous tumor from his neck. Windsor thought he was cured, and left a job with company-paid health insurance to become a photographer.

WINDSOR: I've gone a few years without recurring and I just felt confident that, you know, I just couldn't let that dictate my life.

GUPTA: But the cancer returned. In the beginning, Windsor was lucky. He found a hospital and surgeons who agreed to remove the tumors at no charge. But there were limits.

WINDSOR: You knew that you weren't going to get anything extra. You're just going to get this tumor out of your body.

GUPTA: Nearly 50 million Americans have no health insurance. The American Cancer Society says patients without private insurance are 60 percent more likely to die within five years of their diagnosis. Tumors were growing again in Mark Windsor's neck. The surgeon who had donated his services was gone. He couldn't afford radiation treatment. So, he made a desperate decision. He married a good friend and she put him on her health insurance.

(on-camera): People get married, obviously, because they fall in love.

WINDSOR: I don't think I want to answer that.

GUPTA: Can I ask you, did you get married because of healthcare insurance?

WINDSOR: Well, some, yes.

GUPTA: Is that what we've arrived at?

WINDSOR: That's where we've arrived.

GUPTA: You had to get married to get healthcare insurance?

WINDSOR: Well, I didn't have to. I could have just -- the tumor was getting so bad, I would have been dead by now.

GUPTA (voice-over): Windsor now has insurance and care. But, unfortunately, a wedding, a wife, and a new chance at life didn't stop the cancer from spreading. Now it may be too late.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And you can join Sanjay for "Broken Government: Healthcare, Critical Condition" Thursday night, 11:00 Eastern, right after the CNN presidential debate.

LEMON: No matter how many troops the U.S. keeps in Iraq, for no matter how long, one thing is certainly for sure, the ground rules will change. We'll look at how and when and who will decide that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Here's a question that no one can seem to answer lately, how long will the U.S. be in Iraq? If anyone can answer that, I'm sure that was -- would be the million dollar question. Assuming it is quite a while longer, what will the mission be? Who will call the shots? Talk about loaded questions there.

Right now, U.S. forces operate under a U.N. mandate, but Washington and Baghdad are about to open talks in a long-term military relationship which may, or may not, amount to a treaty. The details are controversial and complicated and the terminology, of course, it certainly matters. CNN's Arwa Damon joins us now from Iraq, from the capital there. She's been covering this story since the very beginning. And she's going to walk us through this.

What do you know, Arwa?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, let's go back a bit. As you just mentioned there, the U.N. treaty under which U.S. forces operate here that pretty much gives them carte blanche to do whatever they want, does expire in December of 2008. Well before that takes place, by the end of July, both U.S. and Iraqi officials are hoping to have a bilateral agreement in place that will define America's role in Iraq moving forward.

Now there have been allegations from individuals who oppose President Bush's current plan here in Iraq, that this will only further bog down U.S. troops, that it will lead, perhaps, to some permanent basis. But Iraqi officials here are assuring us that it will, in fact, be quite the opposite.

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ALI AL-DABBAGH, IRAQI GOVT. SPOKESMAN: There will be a major drop in the number of the presence of the Americans troops here. It will reach to the actual number which is need for training and equipping and supporting also -- supporting for Iraqi national security forces.

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DAMON: Quite simply, the Iraqi security forces, at this point in time, are not capable of securing Iraq on their own. They lack the military power, they lack the air power to try to continue to be able to maintain on their own the security gains that the U.S. military has made thus far. Also falling into this bilateral agreement will be some economic efforts. But again, the terminology of it is still just in the beginning stages of being debated -- Don.

LEMON: All right. So Arwa, talk to us about some of the central issues that both sides in this will be focusing on.

DAMON: Well, Don, it is going to be issues such as the authority, the freedom with which the U.S. military has to conduct combat operations. Do they need to consult the Iraqi government every single time they're sending a patrol out? It will be issues such as detainees. Will U.S. forces continue to have the right to detain individuals based on intelligence?

Some of it will just be legal language. It will also deal with hot-button issues like contractor immunity. And, as we were talking about, it will also deal with some economic issues. There will be economic incentives. What we are hearing from both sides is that there really is this push to have this agreement set into place. There are concerns on the U.S. military side that, because of the political campaigning, the political speak we are hearing back in the United States, there might be a push for a premature U.S. withdrawal.

That greatly concerns Iraqi leaders here who are fully aware that should U.S. forces withdraw prematurely, it could lead to al Qaeda being able to regroup, restrike once again. It could re-ignite sectarian violence. And Iraqi security forces, quite frankly, could crumble. So this is a very vital and crucial agreement, one that not only the Iraqi government, but senior U.S. military leadership here is trying to highlight as well.

LEMON: We'll be paying close attention to it. Arwa Damon in Baghdad. Thank you, Arwa.

PHILLIPS: Well we've been talking about the long haul in Iraq and the role of U.S. troops. Bill Delahunt is a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He has some pretty strong reservations about what may come out of talks between Washington and Baghdad.

Congressman, good to see you. All the reading that I've been doing -- I've read about this U.S./Iraq declaration of principles. I've read that they say it is a treaty, a security pact, a status of forces agreement. What is being discussed?

REP. BILL DELAHUNT (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, nothing is being discussed, Kyra, with the United States Congress. And that really contradicts the department of state's own rules and regulations that indicate whenever a significant international agreement is being negotiated, it is incumbent on the administration to consult with the U.S. Congress.

PHILLIPS: But how do you define significant international agreement? That would be a treaty, correct? But if indeed this is just a declaration of principles, then there needs to be no discussion with Congress. Am I right?

DELAHUNT: No, you're wrong. Because, the declaration of principles is simply that, it is a declaration of principles, indicating that there will be, in the future, an agreement reached. And it is the position of many of us in Congress, that that requires inputs from the Congress, both the House and the Senate.

And the point person for the administration in this agreement is a General Lute who has publicly stated, in response to a question at a press conference, that he did not anticipate formal consultations or formal inputs from Congress. Now any --

PHILLIPS: But if -- he calls it a status of forces agreement, correct?

DELAHUNT: A status of forces agreement is something entirely different than what is countenance by the declaration of principles. In the declaration of principles you have a commitment -- a purported commitment by the United States to defend Iraq from foreign aggression, and most significantly, I've never heard of this before, a commitment to defend Iraq from internal aggression.

PHILLIPS: OK.

DELAHUNT: Who defines what internal aggression is?

PHILLIPS: OK. Well -- well then let me stop you for a second. So what I'm --

DELAHUNT: Sure.

PHILLIPS: So -- we know that there was this U.S./Iraq declaration of principles that was discussed between Maliki and the U.S. OK, we've seen that in writing, we know that exists, the Bush administration admits that. OK.

DELAHUNT: Correct.

PHILLIPS: Then there is General Lute saying, well no, this is a status of forces agreement, which, once again, is something totally different. And then I am hearing from other members of Congress, oh no, they're discussing a treaty. So, still I want to ask you again, what the heck is being discussed between the U.S. administration and Iraq about how long U.S. forces are going to be there? Because this is a difference of a couple years versus decades.

DELAHUNT: The short answer is, we do not know. And that is particularly troublesome to both branches of the U.S. Congress. It is inconceivable to me that I extended an invitation to representatives of the administration to come before my committee and explain what was being discussed. We haven't heard a single word.

PHILLIPS: And you --

DELAHUNT: I have discussed it with the speaker, I've discussed it with the legislative leadership. There hasn't been a word as to what is being discussed. This is not the way to go about reaching an agreement that has profound consequences, possibly far into the future, for the American people.

PHILLIPS: And when we talk about profound consequences, obviously, we are talking about long-term stay in Iraq, and number two, just to follow up on the U.S./Iraq declaration of principles, this is exactly what it says, -"Supporting the republic of Iraq in defending its Democratic system against internal and external threats." That basically means, U.S. troops getting involved in civil war situations, correct? Am I reading that correctly?

DELAHUNT: That's my interpretation.

PHILLIPS: OK.

DELAHUNT: Involved in those declaration of principles, there is an implicit potential for the United States military forces, years from now, being involved in a full-blown civil war in Iraq. And I don't believe that's where the American people want us and I don't think that's in the best interest of our national security.

PHILLIPS: Well, Congressman Bill Delahunt, I appreciate your time. I've asked you to stay with us and stay on your IFB. I want you to hear the next part of this discussion -- because we couldn't get the two of you to come on together, obviously for political reasons, but we aren't finished yet. Congressman, thank you.

Right after the break, we're going to talk with one of Delahunt's Republican colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike Pence of Indiana. He has a different take on this.

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LEMON: Here is some breaking news into the CNN NEWSROOM. Of course, this has been the war of endorsements. We are just learning California Congresswoman -- and note this, a key member of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsing Senator Clinton today in her bid for the presidency. CNN has confirmed this, the endorsement is being announced or was announced during a campaign conference call that took part just a short time ago. Some are saying -- some political pundits we are hearing -- and we want to talk a little bit more about this as the day progresses, that this could translate into more actual votes being swayed than Senator Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama yesterday. We're going to clarify that for you, and bring it to you a little bit later on the CNN NEWSROOM. But again, Maxine Waters endorsing senator Clinton in her bid for the presidency.

PHILLIPS: More now on what the future may hold for U.S. forces in Iraq. We've heard from CNN's Arwa Damon on upcoming talks to map out a long-term military relationship, and we've just heard from a Democratic lawmaker who fears the Bush Administration may try to cut Congress out of the process. We're joined now by a Republican member of the house foreign affairs committee, Mike Pence of Indiana.

Great to have you, Congressman. Let me get your response. You heard the conversation I had with Congressman Delahunt. What is it that is being talked about? Is it a U.S./Iraq Declaration of Principles? Is it a treaty? Is it a status of forces agreement? Because all these have different implications obviously.

REP. MIKE PENCE, (R), FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Kyra, they really do. And I think our information is that because the U.N. Security Council's resolution that defines the relationship between Iraq and the United States of America lapses in 11 months, that this is just a very ordinary process toward normalization of our relationship with Iraq. It is, as you suggested, it is a status of forces agreement.

We have agreements like this that are not treaty with about 80 countries in the world, including many in the region where Iraq is located. So, it is really nothing out of the ordinary here. Frankly, it is a result of the fact that the surge is working, that stability is taking hold in Iraq and this is just the natural next step for us to negotiate the parameters of a long-term mutual security arrangement.

PHILLIPS: So long-term mutual security arrangement. Are we talking having a presence in Iraq for decades, or are we talking about a couple of years here?

PENCE: Well, I think a status of forces agreement is a two-way street, Kyra. Whether it is our relationship with South Korea or Germany or Japan, it is the mutual consent of both countries on an ongoing basis, and I think it would be determined by the needs and capabilities that the Iraqi people would determine over the course of time.

PHILLIPS: So, you are telling me a treaty -- this is not a treaty, a treaty is not being discussed.

PENCE: No. No. My understanding as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee is that this doesn't rise to the level of a treaty. The status of forces agreements that we have in some 80 countries are not treaties. They were not confirmed by the United States Senate. I'll leave out for the moment with respect to my colleague Chairman Delahunt, that if it was a treaty, the Senate would be considering it and providing the oversight and the approval, not -- the House of Representatives, Kyra, actually doesn't have a role in approving or overseeing treaty negotiations.

PHILLIPS: But he's saying that whether it is a treaty or a status of forces agreement, or a U.S./Iraq Declaration of Principles, that Congress should be involved in some type of international security discussion.

PENCE: Look, I'm all for -- I'm a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. I've been to Iraq a half-a-dozen times and planning to go back in the near future. I think we have an oversight role, but a status of forces agreement, the working out of a relationship between our military and the military of an ally, that has traditionally been the purview of the executive branch.

I want to be very deferential to what has been our practice and custom in this area. But I also want to say, Kyra, this is all happening because Iraq is becoming a lightning American success. I can't help but feel that for some in Congress, creating some angst over the status of forces agreement is in an effort to distract attention away from what is a growing success on the ground.

PHILLIPS: All right, I'll let you make that point, although I think there would be a number of people that would disagree that Iraq has been a successful war, although there are success stories. But, if you look at the overall --

PENCE: Kyra, the surge is really working. December was the second lowest month for U.S. casualties since the very beginning of hostilities more than four years ago. We're seeing the De- Baathification Agreement. There's been extraordinary progress on the ground. This status of forces agreement is the natural byproduct of normalization of our relationship with an ally.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask this. You are saying it is a status of forces agreement. OK. So, the U.S./Iraq Declaration of Principles, is that the same thing? that's what was discussed with the administration with Maliki. And, in that it states supporting the Republic of Iraq and defending its Democratic system against internal and external threats, which means U.S. troops would get involved in civil war situations.

PENCE: Well, I want to recognize the fact that because we went to war against the prior government of Iraq, and that we have been in the process, however imperfectly, with plenty of errors along the way, of standing up the internal security apparatus within Iraq, that our relationship there -- may be transitional with regard to not only external threats, but internal threats.

I expect the same was true in Germany, the same was true in Japan, the same true in South Korea. And, but that statement of principles -- PHILLIPS: So, you're comparing those situations to Iraq. When we define long haul, we are talking bases, we are talking decades of existence in the country of Iraq.

PENCE: I hope not. I would hope that our military bases in the region would be located in some adjoining countries. I think the American people would see a -- more comfort, more strategic interest in maybe having a long-term base presence in Kuwait, or expanding our presence at CENTCOM.

But, it all needs to be worked out on a mutual agreement basis between two sovereign countries, and that's the process that you see beginning here with the status of forces agreement.

PHILLIPS: We'll follow it. Congressman Mike Pence, appreciate your time and your response to Congressman Bill Delahunt.

PENCE: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: More from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.

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