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American Morning
Hard Numbers, Harder Times; A Critical Day for the GOP; Monday's Rally on Wall Street Having Ripple Effect Around World
Aired January 29, 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: Hard numbers, harder times. Nearly a half million Americans hit by the housing crisis. The brand new foreclosure stats.
Fighting for Florida. A critical day for the GOP. One candidate putting everything on the line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We see this as a very important primary. We expect to win it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The "Most Politics in the Morning."
Instead of encore, encore, how about Jerry, Jerry!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to the show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Sneak peek at Springer's "The Opera," on this AMERICAN MORNING.
No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, John. And I did have to say, Jerry, Jerry, at the beginning of the show, but apparently, it's catching on. So we'll get our, Lola, to take a look at that for us. It's Tuesday, January 29th. A special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm John Roberts in Winter Park, Florida. Question about this. Is that the same one that played in London, a couple of years ago, because I saw that production in London?
CHETRY: And? What did you think?
ROBERTS: And it was unusual. Let's put it that way. You know, people looked like they were having fun, but it was a little unusual. We'll see how it plays at Carnegie Hall.
Hey, I'm at Bakely's Restaurant this morning here in Winter Park. The polls in Florida open now for about an hour for today's primary. So a lot of people who had been coming in here to Bakely's this morning for a bite of breakfast have either voted or on their way to vote.
Predominantly here, they are Democrat and most of them have made up their minds. Not a lot of undecided voters here. But here's a live picture in Hollywood, Florida, from our friends at WPLG of a polling place. People lined up outside. We caught that actually opening about an hour ago. And they are expecting record turnout here in Florida for all of this.
Of course, a lot on the line for Republican Rudy Giuliani, who has made this, really, his firewall here. He has spent most of his time in Florida. He is basically lived here for the last few weeks. We spoke with him in our last hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
I asked him about his statement who says that the winner of Florida will be the nominee. I asked him, what happens if he doesn't win here then? What's next for his campaign?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIULIANI: I would never put it that way, but I would say it's real important and we want the people of Florida to know how important it is. We had early voting here. We think we did very well in the early voting. But our real objective now is to get out the vote today. We think the vote is there. I believe I've had the campaign that's the most relevant to Florida.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The question I asked him actually that prompted that, I would never put it that way was, is this for all the marbles for him. Giuliani thinks that he can win Florida and says whoever does will probably be the Republican nominee.
Final day of campaigning in Florida saw a major escalation in the attacks between Mitt Romney and John McCain. Last night, Anderson Cooper asked them what they think of each other.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, really -- one thing I think we should really give Governor Romney credit for, he is consistent. He is consistently taken both sides of any major issue. He is consistently flip-flopped on every issue.
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I'm afraid that if he became president, some of his conservative ideas would be, you know, just rejected out of hand by Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, Florida governor Charlie Crist has decided to throw his weight behind John McCain. He endorsed him on Saturday. We're going to ask Governor Crist, why he wanted to weigh in. He joins us coming up at 8:15 Eastern. Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, we'll look forward to that. Meanwhile, Senator Hillary Clinton will be meeting with her supporters in Florida tonight. Not until the polls are closed, though, per the rules. Her staff says she is not campaigning there. The candidates did promise the Democratic Party they'd stay away after Florida was punished for moving up its primary. Clinton says the results there still matter and she wants to thank her supporters.
Well, Clinton's top opponent Barack Obama heads in to Super Tuesday with the backing of the Kennedy's, one of America's most powerful political families. And in the last hour, I spoke with Congressman Patrick Kennedy about why he and his father Ted Kennedy, as well as his cousin Caroline chose Obama and not Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK KENNEDY, BARACK OBAMA SUPPORTER: Well, it's not about dissing Hillary or Bill. It's about joining in the hope and inspiration that Barack Obama offers this country. This isn't about a personal issue of friendship. It's about really the direction of the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Other members of the Kennedy Family including Robert Kennedy Jr. and former Maryland lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend are actually backing Hillary Clinton.
Well, The Best Political Team on TV is going to be bringing you the first results in the Florida primaries. The polls closing and then it all begins at CNN's Election Center, 8:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.
John?
ROBERTS: President Bush says he's on a timeline trying to turn the economy around in his last year in office. In his last State of the Union address last night, he urged Congress to approve his $150 billion economic stimulus plan. Without the Senate adding on to whole bunch of extras.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: The temptation will be to load up the bill. That would delay it or derail it, and neither option is acceptable. Unless Congress acts, most of the tax relief we have delivered over the past seven years will be taken away. Some in Washington argue that letting tax relief expire is not a tax increase. I try to explain that to 160 million American taxpayers, who see their taxes rise by an average of $1,800.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The president also talked about Iraq. He said that although the situation there is improving, any troop withdrawal needs to happen slowly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: American troops are shifting from leading operations to partnering with Iraqi forces, and eventually to a protective over watched mission. As part of this transition, one Army Brigade Combat Team and one Marine Expeditionary unit have already come home and will not be replaced.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The rivalry is hot, but last night, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama gave each other the cold shoulder. You can see here just how close the presidential hopefuls were at the State of the Union address.
Before the speech, Hillary Clinton reached over to shake hands with Senator Ted Kennedy. As the shot pulls back there you can almost see it. Obama was standing between them when she reached over to shake hands with Senator Kennedy who just endorsed Obama. The Senator Obama -- that is turned around and gave Senator Clinton his back.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Started talking to Senator Claire McCaskill instead of acknowledging Hillary there.
Well, "Financial Security Watch" now and Monday's rally on Wall Street having a ripple effect around the world. Japan's Nikkei Index closing up nearly 3 percent. Hong Kong closing up almost one percent. Both of Asia's biggest indexes have tumbled Monday of a rising recession fears here in the U.S.
And looking ahead to today, the Federal Reserve will meet and could cut rates again by tomorrow. That has stock markets looking up this morning.
Ali Velshi is live at the Chicago Board of Trade with that. Business is due to get under way in about an hour and a half and futures are up.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kiran. Futures are looking a little brighter this morning. Anticipation of what is going to come out of this Federal Reserve meeting. We had a pretty strong day actually on markets yesterday.
Look at the Dow. Up and tripled digits although, frankly, I haven't seen -- I don't remember the last time I saw the Dow that wasn't up in triple digits one way or down in triple digits the other way.
What we're expecting on this two-day Fed meetings is at about 2:15 Eastern tomorrow is when the Fed typically announces its interest rate decision. The interest rate situation right now is Fed rate is 3.5 percent. That makes the prime rate 6.5 percent. Prime rate is always 3 percent higher. 3 percentage points higher than the Fed rate. And of course, that's the rate to which so many adjustable rates are tied.
If the Fed does cut rates again sometime between now and 2:15 p.m. Eastern tomorrow, you'll also see trading around here get very active. The bonds that set your interest rate on your fixed rate mortgage trade here. You'll see the prices of those bonds go up, which means the interest rate or what they call "the yield" on those bonds go down. And that means that fixed mortgage rates may become a little cheaper.
We're already looking at fixed rates that are about 5.4 percent for a 30-year fixed mortgage. So that's what we're following around here right now. We're also working on confirming a piece of news that is flashing on the board. We've got our team working on it. Wal-Mart set to reduce prices on thousands of items this week by between 10 percent and 30 percent. Wal-Mart sees 100 million customers or more per week. Whatever Wal-Mart does is felt across the economy.
We'll keep you posted on that and I'll see you back in a little while, Kiran.
CHETRY: Ali, thank you.
John?
ROBERTS: This just in to CNN, Kiran. The army says it is investigating charges that soldiers killed Iraqi detainees. They were captured by the 1st Infantry Division in the field last year. Army officials tell CNN that a soldier recently came forward with information about the accusations. As many as six Iraqis may have died.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks, John. Well, there's important news this morning about breast cancer, especially if you are in your 40s. There's new research saying that digital mammograms may be better than the traditional film-based mammograms at detecting cancer especially in younger women. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has new information from our medical update desk.
First of all, the actual procedure, the mammogram itself, is going to remain the same?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's pretty much the same as far as from the woman's perspective. It's a lot of the technology around the mammogram that you're talking about is different. Digital mammography. It's like digital camera. Actually, storing the images in a different way and being able to look at those images later on.
Here's sort of the interesting point here. I think it's important for all women to pay attention to because it can get a little bit confusing. Mammography still remains a gold standard in terms of screening for breast cancer. The problem seems to be, Kiran, as you alluded to, in that women who are younger, under the age 50 and women who have particularly dense breasts, it can be sometimes challenging and sometimes miss certain cancers that might be lurking.
What they find is that digital mammography can be better in that population of people because you take the image, then it can sort of blow up certain parts of the image. Look at it more carefully and that can be a very good thing in terms of catching all cancers. But again, as you point out, mammography overall is still the gold standard here.
Kiran?
CHETRY: What will be looking at a shift then down the road that most of these places will begin to shift to digital as opposed to film for all women?
GUPTA: There are people who say that. That it should be done already. You know, oncologists and radiologists who say we should be using digital mammography for all women, because of the reasons I just cited. Here's a problem though.
First of all, not all the centers in the country have the technology to do digital mammography. Also, it's expensive. It can be up to 1.5 -- four times more expensive to do digital mammography versus the other kind, just standard mammography. And also, you know, if you look at sort of the demographics who is developing breast cancer, typically women in their 30s, who have the dense breast, account for 5 percent of all breast cancers.
Older women and mammography is perfectly fine for them, account for the vast majority of cancer. So it's a little bit about public health meets individual concern issue here. But I think if more people use the digital mammography down the road, the cost may come down and that just may be the trend in the future.
CHETRY: Probably expensive to get that up and running with all the new equipment. What about the sonogram? Where does that factor in?
GUPTA: Well, for women who have -- also dense breasts, if there's a suspicious lesion, for example, on mammogram, you can use an ultrasound, the sonogram -- as you point out -- to give you a better detail if you will about that particular area.
Even better than that, Kiran, is an MRI -- Magnetic Resonance Image, which is going to be a very clear image. But as you know, very, very expensive. Probably not practical at this point to use it as a screening tool.
CHETRY: I got you. All right, Sanjay Gupta, thank you.
GUPTA: Thanks, Kiran.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: Kiran, new signs of trouble for American homeowners. A huge spike in home foreclosures. And Florida has one of the highest rates in the country. Our Greg Hunter will have a closer look at what is driving the crisis in this state.
And Florida Governor Charlie Crist is backing Senator John McCain for president. Can McCain pull out a win in Florida today? We'll talk with the governor live ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Just days before today's Republican contest in Florida, the state's Governor Charlie Crist delivered a key endorsement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE CRIST, (R) FLORIDA: After thinking about it as much as I have, I don't think anybody would do better than the man who stands next to me, Senator John McCain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, why McCain and will the endorsement influence the race? Governor Charlie Crist joins me now from Tampa, Florida.
Governor, good to see you. Back in November, it looked like you were destined to endorse Rudy Giuliani, even though McCain had been your original choice. Why did you come back to McCain?
CRIST: Well, I just think the world of John McCain. I know, he's a true patriot. He's a great leader. He's a man of tremendous integrity and most importantly, he's somebody you can trust. I know, the American people can trust him. Floridians trust him. He's the right man at the right time for this job and I'm proud to endorse him.
ROBERTS: Why did you decide to endorse any candidate? There are some Republicans who are suggesting that you should have stayed neutral here and wondering if you might alienate some elements of the party for casting your lot with McCain, who isn't extremely popular with conservatives.
CRIST: Well, I think he's extremely popular and we'll find out today. I think that he's the right guy. And, you know, at the end of the day, you have to go through this process of deciding who you personally are going to vote for. I've gone through that during the past week. And when I reached a conclusion earlier last week, I felt that I would share that with the people of Florida. It's up to them to do what they will, but I strongly recommend John McCain.
I think he is the right man. I think he will do a great job. He's a man of great strength. You know, these times of safety and security is openly important. Economic concerns that the people of Florida have. John McCain has the experience. He's a proven leader. And I know he'll be a great president.
ROBERTS: Now, John McCain certainly does have national security credentials, but even he had said that the economy is not his strongest suit. When you look at this new report that there were 165,000 foreclosure filings in the state of Florida during 2007, do you not need somebody whose forte really is the economy? CRIST: Well, I think we do in John McCain. I really do. I mean, somebody who chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, has a breadth of experience as it relates to economic issues, wants to extend the tax cuts that the president talked about last night. These are the right things. Cutting taxes, reducing the financial burden on the backs of our Floridians. Things like we're doing right here in the Sunshine State. Yes, on one, to reduce property taxes. These things are important. Senator McCain understands them. He's ready to lead.
ROBERTS: Certainly, Senator McCain and Former Governor Mitt Romney have been going at each other here in the Sunshine State. Let's take a quick listen to what Governor Romney said about Senator McCain yesterday and I'll ask you about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: I don't think McCain is a Democrat, but, you know, I do -- but I do recall him -- I do recall a story that he was thinking about being John Kerry's running mate. He gave that some thought. That is -- had someone asked me that question, there would not have been a nanosecond of thought about it. It would have been an immediate laugh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So Governor Romney there, Governor Crist, saying that John McCain might be a closet liberal. How does that play here in the state of Florida?
CRIST: Well, I think at the end of any campaign, things get a little tight. And that's almost to be expected. I've been involved in a lot of campaigns myself. And when it comes down to the fourth quarter, you know, sometimes the rhetoric gets ahead of you a little bit.
But I think clearly John McCain is the right guy. He will lead well. How you can say that anybody who served, you know, five years in a prison camp in North Vietnam is anything but conservative, sort of defies logic to me. This guy is a patriot. He's a true American hero and he's got the credentials to serve as a great president of the United States.
ROBERTS: So we've been talking all morning, governor, that the fact that Florida moved its primary up, both the Democratic and the Republican National Committee, said have penalized the state. The Democrats by stripping all the delegates. The Republicans by stripping half of them. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have vowed that they're going to try to get their delegates reseated, come the convention in August.
Are you seeking similar assurances from these Republican candidates?
CRIST: Well, certainly, we hope for that. You know, it's important I think that all votes are represented, that these delegates are counted. Our own Senator Nelson, on the Democratic side, took the issue to court. I applaud him for that. I think it's important that every vote count. They sure will today here in the Sunshine State. I guarantee you that. And you're reporting about it.
Obviously, we'll have a significant impact as we go into Super Tuesday next week across the country. So the people's vote is what's most important. That will count today. It will be heard around the country tonight. And I think it's so important to every Floridian get out, take advantage of this precious, cherished right that we have as Americans to vote and select our leaders.
ROBERTS: All right. Governor Charlie Crist joining us this morning from Tampa. We should mention that the signs behind your people in support of expanding the homestead exception here in Florida, which is another important vote that they will be casting today.
Governor, thanks very much.
Now to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. We are asking, should all of the delegates in Florida count? Right now, an overwhelming majority, 74 percent of you say yes, they should. 26 percent say no. There is plenty of time left to get your opinion heard. Head to cnn.com/am. We'll take a final check of the votes, coming up at the end of the hour.
Kiran?
ROBERTS: Well, apparently, we got a little bit of a technical problem there with Kiran. What she was trying to say was living without health insurance, but living with cancer. What one man decided to do just so that he could get coverage?
And a new crisis in the housing market. Home foreclosures going through the roof as we mentioned there. Florida has the country's second highest rate of foreclosure filings. Here's a live picture from Tampa. Our Greg Hunter takes a look at the trouble there ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: On the housing front, it's not good news for American homeowners. A new report just out this morning says home foreclosures nationwide jumped 75 percent last year. More than 400,000 families losing their homes. The news follows the biggest ever drop in home sales, more than 26 percent in 2007.
And if the national numbers look bad, the housing crisis in Florida is much worse. Our Greg Hunter live in Tampa with what's driving them trouble in paradise.
Hey, Greg.
GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran. You know, this is why people live in Tampa. I mean, just let me count the reasons. You'll see the beautiful sky, the wonderful water. We're on Bayshore Boulevard. This is the longest, continuous sidewalk. People ride and bike on it. The palm trees, the pink houses, million-dollar property over there and the temperature. Today's high temperature, 72 degrees. This is heaven.
But the housing market is anything but sales have fallen off a cliff. According to realtors, the sales of housing have dropped 29 percent. Prices have also gone down, not nearly 29 percent, but 7 percent in many areas. Some higher, some lower. Also, the foreclosure rate here in Florida. You said, the national average is 75 percent, up 75 percent. Here in Tampa, Florida, 97 percent higher than last year. The state, it's better than the state, 124 percent over last year, increased in foreclosure ratings.
Now, I talked to a real estate friend of mine who has worked out here for ten years and she told me that, hey another thing that's happening -- quietly happening, more and more often the short sale. And what that means is that a buyer will get a distressed seller who is almost getting ready to get foreclosed on.
They'll go to the bank and tell the bank, listen, I'll buy the house but you have to sell it to me for less than what's owed on the mortgage, thus a short sale and banks are doing that. They are entertaining that. Not easy to do. It takes a few months to do it but the short sale is happening more and more here in the Tampa area. Right here in Florida. This is weighing on people's minds down here on primary day. The declining real estate market.
Also, sky rocketing insurance costs. You know, insurance cost used to be $500, $600, $700 a year for wind insurance. Now it's $3,000, $4,000. And on top of that, you have to add flood insurance to many areas here in Florida. So, decline in real estate prices and rising insurance costs here in Florida. That's all in the minds of people today, on primary day here in Florida.
CHETRY: Sure to be a big issue at the polls as well. Greg Hunter live for us in Florida with more on that. Thank you.
John?
ROBERTS: So Greg's got the world's longest little boardwalk there. Well, guess what I've got? The world's biggest pencil. It's the "Hotshot" of the morning.
Ashrita Furman built this 76 foot long pencil as a birthday gift for his meditation teacher saying, meditation has given him the inner strength to do these improbable things.
I'm sure the teacher right now is meditating over what the heck he is going to do with a pencil that weighs 22,000 pounds. For the moment, it's been sent to the city museum in St. Louis. And get this, the 250-pound eraser on the end of it, real rubber. The lead that's inside the pencil, 4,000 pounds.
If you've got a hot shot, send it to us. Head to our website at cnn.com/am. And follow the "Hotshot" link. Be sure to include your name, where you're from, a little about the picture and video. And on more thing, make sure the image is yours and not someone else's.
So I showed you mine, Kiran. You show me yours.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we certainly haven't broken any records but for some reason, our producers have this sitting around in the AMERICAN MORNING desk area.
The problem is we don't have a sharpener. There is actual real lead in this too, but we don't have a big enough pencil sharpener either for this thing. So the eraser still works. Unfortunately, it doesn't write. And apparently, the same problem for Furman, the guy that built this. He said we were going to build the world's largest pencil sharpener, but we ran out of money.
ROBERTS: Well, you got to get yourself a knife, like a big knife like Crocodile Dundee would have. It sharpened, I think.
Very good. All right, dueling pencils this morning. You are watching the most news in the morning. News about more than pencils.
Democrats are voting in Florida right now, but their party says their votes don't count. That may not be the last word. We'll explain, straight ahead.
Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. A marriage of last resort.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Would you get married because of health care insurance?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: No money, no insurance, and no hope. Dr. Sanjay Gupta on one man's fight to stay alive ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: A shot inside Bakely's Diner Restaurant this morning on this Tuesday, the 29th of January, a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. It's primary day here in Florida. We have gone around and canvassed all the people here having breakfast. Not one of them is an undecided voter, which is remarkable considering that in the days prior to the South Carolina primary for the democrats at least last weekend, 36 percent of people hadn't made up their minds. I talked to one woman this morning who says if you haven't made up your mind by now, you don't know what you are doing. I'm John Roberts. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Hey, Kiran.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: Well, that's one way to look at it or instead, you know, they've been getting good coverage of the issues and they know where the candidates stand. I remember when you and I were in New Hampshire, we were literally having breakfast with people who are going to the polls within an hour, hour and a half and they still had not made up their minds.
ROBERTS: Yes, same thing in South Carolina as well. Met all kinds of those folks. Maybe it's, you know, unique to Winter Park, Florida, where we are today. But all these people made up their minds.
CHETRY: All right. Well, they won't be accused of flip- flopping, even if others are in that state this morning.
There are more signs, by the way, that Florida will see a record voter turnout today. Voting has already started. And while the democrats are voting, they are also being punished for moving their primary up in that state. So the national party is saying that they will not count their delegates in choosing a nominee.
Senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us now. As it stands, it essentially means that all of these voters, their votes aren't going to count at this point.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN, SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Correct. This is a beauty contest. It is like a big poll of no significance. That's what the democratic national committee has said to Florida because they moved up the primary without the DNC's permission. So no delegates are at stake. But that's not necessarily the end of the story.
CHETRY: And what is the end of the story?
There's going to be a fight, clearly, but how is that going to shake down?
TOOBIN: Well, Hillary Clinton is going to go to Florida tonight, presumably claim victory in this race where all the candidates agreed not to campaign. No democrats have campaigned in Florida. So at the moment, there are no delegates to the democratic national convention from Florida. Now most people think that if the nomination is still in dispute when it comes to the convention, a big state like Florida will, of course, have to have delegates at the convention. So the question is how will they be allocated? Will they be allocated on the basis of today's primary or some other way. Clinton, presumably, who will presumably win today, will say, hey, these people voted. Let's allocate the delegates in line with that. The other candidates will say, no, no, that wasn't the deal.
CHETRY: What you are saying is she's going to win because she's polling high and the other candidates like Barack Obama have not been able to go there and sort of plead their case.
TOOBIN: Correct.
CHETRY: And the other question that remains, so OK, so it's almost like you are doing it in reverse. So after the fact, you are counting up the delegates as the two or three campaigns. You're seeing what you need and then saying, wait a minute, Florida should count or Florida should not count. It doesn't seem right.
TOOBIN: Well, the whole thing doesn't seem right. I mean, imagine a big campaign like this in the middle of the campaign season. We don't know how or if they'll be represented at the democratic national convention. And the same situation holds in Michigan which was also punished and also had a primary that was not really contested. There only Hillary Clinton's name was on the ballot, plus uncommitted. So it's really, if this convention comes down to, you know, undecided at the time of the convention, keep an eye on Michigan and Florida because it is totally up in the air at the moment how they'll be represented.
CHETRY: The other interesting dynamic here and, of course, Florida is the scene seen a lot of hanging chads of 2000 and other problems along the way with some voting machines. But almost a million people have cast early votes by mail, which they allow them to do in that state. What impact has this had?
TOOBIN: Well, no one really knows what impact it will have. I think it can only be seen as a very healthy development for democracy, giving people an additional way to vote should increase turnout. But the question is when you have had polls shifting a lot. For example, Rudy Giuliani has been plummeting in the polls. But some of these votes were cast when he was actually doing pretty well in the polls. So, his campaign is saying, hey, we're counting on some good early results. You know, whether that's true or not, no one knows. But the votes will be counted tonight.
CHETRY: We'll find out for sure tonight what it all means. We still won't know for weeks, even months, right, Jeff?
TOOBIN: Absolutely.
CHETRY: Great to see you.
TOOBIN: All right. Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks for being with us.
It bring us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question as Jeff was explaining these delegates are not going to be counted in Florida, at least for now. Is that right? 74 percent of you saying that you believe all of the delegates in Florida should count. 26 percent of you saying, no, they broke the rules. They should not count. There's still plenty of time left, by the way, for your opinion to count on our show. Head to cnn.com/am. And we're going to take a final check of the votes coming up at the end of the hour.
Also, you want to stay with CNN tonight. The best political team on TV is going to be bringing you the first results from the Florida primaries as the polls close. It all begins with CNN's Election Center 8:00 p.m. Eastern. John.
ROBERTS: News just in. Wal-Mart announces that it's slashing prices in a bid to boost sales in a sagging economy. Our senior business correspondent Ali Velshi in Chicago at the Board of Trade with more on that. Ali, I thought Wal-Mart was already the home of the lowest prices.
ALI VELSHI, CNN, SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And they want to keep that. You know, Wal-Mart has been gaining as a result of people shifting lower in where they buy things. Wal-Mart announcing that this week it will cut thousands of prices by 10 percent to 30 percent to try and get people continuing to come to its stores. It's also extending credit on its credit card. No interest for 18 months on purchases as low as $250. This is designed to keep people shopping right now while things are getting tough.
We also have breaking news from Countrywide. It's quarterly results for the fourth quarter worse than expected. I mean, how much worse can things get for Countrywide, the biggest lender in the country. We've also just had news coming in about Durable good orders. That's the sale of equipment and things that last more than three years. A surprising increase that you'll see futures increasing as a result of this. You're probably looking for a stronger increase on the stock market today. The other thing we've got that's bad news is foreclosures for 2007, up 75 percent.
John, more than 400,000 people in America lost their homes in 2007 because of foreclosure. California was the worst followed by Michigan and Nevada and where you are in Florida, also saw a lot of foreclosures. So that's the mixed basket we're looking at. I'm here at the Board of Trade because sometime in the next 35 hours we are going to see a rate cut by the Federal Reserve. I'll be following that. That's going to give you a discount on your adjustable rate mortgages and it will probably give you some lower prices on your fixed rate mortgages. We're on top of that for you here at the Chicago Board of Trade. John.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to that, Ali. Thanks very much.
And when you look at foreclosure filings for last year as well, there's a lot of pain still ahead.
Desperate for health insurance. His cancer coming back. What one man did to ensure that he would get coverage and care. Does it have to be this way? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta with the ripple effects from a broken health care system.
And is it a sign of the apocalypse? Jerry Springer plays Carnegie Hall. Our Lola Ogunnaike visits "Jerry Springer," the opera that is, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: A blizzard blasts China stranding nearly 500,000 people. Most of them were heading out to see their families for the Chinese New Year which starts February 7th. The holiday is important in China as Christmas would be in the west. At least 25 people were killed and 13 injured when a bus plunged off an icy road in the southern part of China. Officials say the weather caused close to $2.5 billion in damages.
And people weren't the only ones trying to stay warm. Check this picture out. It's really adorable. It's a group of wild monkeys. They're mackaks and they were all huddled together on branches trying to fight the freezing wind together. Very cute. Warmth in numbers. How about that? Well, some people are enjoying the snow in Rob's forecast. Take a look at this. Jayden, he is a retriever mix catching a snowball in midair. The pooch belongs to Will Peters, a senior at Western Michigan University. Will and his best friend were out enjoying the weather yesterday on campus on the intramural fields in Kalamazoo. And it looks like his pup was, too.
41 minutes after the hour. Rob Marciano checking things out for us. See how high that dog can jump? By the way, to catch that snowball.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: They'll do just about anything, won't they? They just want to have fun. I think later on today, Kiran, when temperatures drop, it might not be fit for man nor dog nor even beast. We have some seriously cold air that is dropping in behind this system which is pretty much what plagued the west for the past several days. And now heading into the Midwest.
We got a number of factors for this. Extreme fire danger behind the first front. Out ahead of the front. Damaging winds. Maybe some tornadoes. Possibly some severe weather and then behind the second front, blizzard conditions. Not so much because of heavy snow but because of drastically cold temperatures and blowing snow as this front moves through.
A number of watches and warnings that are posted. Snow and mixed snow with freezing rain and sleet from Chicago to Milwaukee. But Davenport, you're on a blizzard warning. And look at these temperatures. Can you tell where the cold front is. Yes, there it is, between the greens and the light colors. Look at these wind chills, minus 45 in Bismarck. Well, Regina, minus 60. 24 in Kansas City and minus 11 in Omaha. That's where the front is.
And all of this is driving quickly down to the south and east. Most of the moisture is out ahead of this system. So, it will be mostly rain east of the Mississippi, although there will be a mixture of rain, sleet and freezing rain across parts of Pennsylvania and upstate New York. Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: Wow, very cold up there in Canada. Boy.
Glad I'm here. Thanks, John. I mean, thanks, Rob. Now John.
ROBERTS: Minus 60 cold even for Regina.
And millions of Americans are living without health insurance. Some of them taking desperate measures to get it and save their lives. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been looking at the health care crisis for his upcoming special on broken government. He has an extreme example to share with us this morning. Hi, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John. You know, look, if you're hit by a car or have a heart attack or something emergent happens to you, a hospital is obligated to treat you. We know that. We learn that as we are investigating this. It gets a little bit more tricky though if you have chronic disease. What happens to you then? Take a look at one man's struggle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK WINDSOR, CANCER PATIENT: It's so wonderful. You can just shoot all day. Taking pictures makes me a happy man.
GUPTA (voice-over): 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: Perfect.
I had gone a few years without recurrence. I 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 know that you weren't going to get anything extra. You were just going to get the 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 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.
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 health care insurance?
WINDSOR: Well, some, yes.
GUPTA: Is that where we've arrived at.
WINDSOR: That's where we've arrived.
GUPTA: You had to get married to get health care 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: 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.
(END VIDEOTAPE) GUPTA: Mark Windsor just went through another operation two weeks ago. I can tell you that his cancer spread to his lungs now. The point of this and I think what Mark Windsor, his story tells us is that not having insurance made a dramatic difference in his life and he'll probably have an abbreviated life because of that period of time without insurance. This is what being uninsured does to people like Mark Windsor.
ROBERTS: Sanjay, it's hard to believe that a hospital would just leave a cancer patient to die like that. Did he really not have any options? And I got to say it, I'm actually a little surprised, too, that his new insurance didn't claim pre-existing condition.
GUPTA: Yes. It is difficult to get insurance when you have some sort of condition like that. You are absolutely right. He had to fight hard for that. John, you know, look, it's easy to sort of make generalizations about whether or not hospital would care for him or not care for him. He said he tried going to hospitals, county hospitals. He ended up waiting for a long time, oftentimes they started sort of shuffling him around from doctor to doctor. He wasn't getting the care that he needed. So, he was able to get into the hospital but never actually get his cancer addressed.
With his particular type of cancer, John, there was a radiation treatment that probably would have cured it years ago. But he was never eligible for that. And so now you have this guy with metastatic cancer who again is going to have an abbreviated life because of all that's happened to him.
ROBERTS: Wow, it cost him his life. Sanjay, a terribly tragic story. Thanks for bringing that to us.
GUPTA: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: And join Sanjay for his special "Broken Government: Healthcare critical condition" is coming up on Thursday night at 11:00 p.m. Eastern right after the CNN presidential debate. Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks, John. Well, CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away. And Heidi Collins is at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Hi, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN, ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Kiran. And Florida votes on the NEWSROOM rundown this morning. The state could propel John McCain or Mitt Romney to the top of the republican heap. Will it be Rudy Giuliani's first and last stand? We'll have live guests from all three campaigns this morning.
And violence surging in Kenya after an opposition leader is killed. Our Nic Robertson is live from Africa.
She kept her back to the camera. Who can blame her? Meet the woman who told 911 she was driving drunk. NEWSROOM top of the hour, right here on CNN. Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks, Heidi. Well, hit the music. The Grammy Awards are going on. "Quick Hits" now. The Writers' Guild giving the recording academy a waver. The writers will not picket the event and that means the stars can attend without having to cross the picket line. The Grammys are February 10th in L.A.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS (voice-over): Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, "Jerry Springer," the opera. Tawdry TV talk comes to Carnegie Hall. The musical mismatch that has everyone talking, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Nine minutes now to the top of the hour. And "Quick Hits" for you. British researchers found that people who are physically active during their leisure time appear to be biologically younger than those with more sedentary lifestyles. The study says exercise seems to slow the shrinking of genetic material inside cells and may, in fact, hold off the aging process.
And a new study that says that if you are in your 40s, you might not be happy. Researchers study people from 80 countries and say those in their 40s were more likely to be depressed than other age groups. The study's authors don't have a solid reason for the slump, but the good news, the happy feelings return once you get to your 50s. Still waiting for that. Kiran.
CHETRY: Light at the end of the tunnel. All right. John, thanks.
Well, "Jerry Springer" plays Carnegie Hall. "Jerry Springer" the opera was once a hit in London. And now it will take to the famous stage. Not without some controversy though. It's here in New York for the next two nights. And our Lola Ogunnaike got a sneak peek.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Like the long-running daytime talk show --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who the hell do you think you are?
OGUNNAIKE: "Jerry Springer the opera" is an equal opportunity offender. In the over the top parody -- gays, blacks, Christians and the obese are just a few who are tweaked for laughs. And as far as the opera's lyrics are concerned -- well, it's not "Madam Butterfly."
As tenor Luke Grooms makes painfully clear.
And the New York performances, "Jerry Springer" is played by Harvey Keitel. He doesn't sing but as the ringmaster of this three ring circus, he moderates the action. Richard Thomas, the show's author and composer has been turning the tawdry talk show into a stage production was a no-brainer.
RICHARD THOMAS, AUTHOR, COMPOSER, "JERRY SPRINGER, THE OPERA": I just ran the scene where there are eight people screaming at each other. You couldn't understand a word they were saying. And there was an audience screaming at them. And I thought, my god, this is like opera.
OGUNNAIKE: The opera hasn't even open here yet and already has its critics. They point to scenes in which Jesus sports a diaper and Mary is inappropriately touched by an angel. The Catholic League had led the protest calling the show "patently o obscene and viciously anti-Christian." Despite the potential backlash, cast members are predicting success with New York audiences.
DAVID BEDELLA, WARM UP MAN SATAN, "JERRY SPRINGER THE OPERA": I think people are ready to take a look at the sensationalism of this kind of reality TV and talk show TV and say, what are we doing? Look at what we're putting up on TV.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: All right. Not quite sure what to say. What does Jerry Springer have to say about it?
OGUNNAIKE: He's not officially tied to the production at, but obviously--
CHETRY: He's loving every minute of it.
OGUNNAIKE: He's loving it. I mean, who knew? This show started in the early '90s. No one knew it that it would become an American icon. Love it or hate it, it really is a part of American culture. And it's been around forever. And it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere at all unfortunately.
CHETRY: Is this a short run or could this be a longer run on Broadway?
OGUNNAIKE: It's a short run. It's only going to be here for two days but they are trying to bring it to Broadway. So, the director behind this production is also the director behind "Avenue Q," Jason Moore, which was huge.
CHETRY: Puppets.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes. It was a huge parody of "Sesame Street." So he already go this irreverent spirit. Both shows have an irreverent spirit. "Avenue Q" did really well on Broadway. And so, if they can work out the financials and deal with the controversy, they may bring to Broadway. Can you imagine Jerry Springer on Broadway?
CHETRY: Now, would you go back for repeat performances?
OGUNNAIKE: I have to say Kiran at first I was really skeptical, but it got rave reviews in London. And when I sat it in on the rehearsals, the music is actually pretty good. I mean, it is over the top. It is trashy. It is an over the top parody of the "Jerry Springer Show," but the music is actually strong. The melodies are pretty good. Singing along to crack and dope, not something that I would do ordinarily but the music, it's really infectious.
CHETRY: You found yourself sucked in.
OGUNNAIKE: I found myself sucked in. Crack and dope, I mean, what. You know, I am shocked. And people are really paying money for this. I mean, the tickets are $59 to $175.
CHETRY: Wow. All right. Cash in. Thanks a lot, Lola. John.
ROBERTS: In fact, here's a guy who paid to see it in London a number of years back. Unusual to say the least.
A quick look now at what CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.
COLLINS: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Primary day in Florida for republican presidential candidates. The House votes today on tax rebates to boost the economy. Foreclosures spiked 75 percent in 2007. A brutal winter storm impacts nearly 100 million travelers in China. New violence surges in Kenya. And a store clerk walks out on a robber. NEWSROOM, top of the hour on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And before we say good-bye, a final check of our "Quick Vote" question. Now, we asked should all of the delegates in Florida count? Now because the state broke the rules, went against the DNC, moved up the election. Right now they are not counting. What do you say about it? Well, 70 percent of you say yes those delegates should count. 30 percent say no. To all of those who voted, thank you. And as we know, these piece could have some big implications. Florida, as we start looking ahead to super Tuesday, John. And every delegate could count.
ROBERTS: It's going to be a very, very interesting race this year. Stay with us tonight because the best political team on television will bring you the results of the Florida primaries as the polls close. It all begins with CNN's Election Center at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
Kiran, I'm just going through the Bakely's menu here. I think I found something for you. The Floridian breakfast -- two eggs with grits, hash browns, two buttered milk biscuits topped with peppered sausage gravy, sampling of smoked ham, sausage and bacon. You could probably have a short stack and some steak with that too.
CHETRY: I love it. That sounds absolutely perfect.
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