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American Morning
McCain Momentum: Breaking Down His Florida Win; Democrats Move Ahead for Super Tuesday; Florida Exit Polls: Key to McCain's Victory
Aired January 30, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin bombing in five minutes. I'm here in what is a half-sized replica of the Oval Office. It's in the hangar building of the Reagan Presidential Library. There is a full- sized replica of this Oval Office upstairs, Kiran, but they didn't want us in here with our cameras and our cords and our lights and our dirty boots and everything. So they put us downstairs in what is a much more interactive miniature Oval Office. Bit it's look pretty good, doesn't it?
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: You look like you could be giving the State of the Union at any moment or some sort of presidential address. It looks great.
ROBERTS: Yes, it is -- sorry, go ahead.
CHETRY: A little bit of a delay, of course, that we are going to be dealing with this morning because you are all the way out there in California. But last night, there were many people that went to bed not exactly quite sure who won. So it really did come down to the wire yesterday.
ROBERTS: Oh, it was a very close race. Not much of a percentage point that was separating the two frontrunners, John McCain and Mitt Romney. But it was McCain that finally pulled it off. At any rate, we're going to be here this morning for the next three hours at the presidential library in Simi Valley, California, where tonight the Republicans square off in front of President Reagan's Air Force One, which will take you on a tour a little bit later on.
It's being called the Super Bowl of presidential debates tonight. The Republicans here at the library tomorrow. The Democrats in Hollywood at the Kodak Theater in a last push before Super Duper Tuesday on February 5th. John McCain comes to California as the clear GOP frontrunner. Now, fresh off his big primary victory in Florida, and he'll likely get another boost today because Rudy Giuliani is expected to bow out and endorse McCain today.
Hillary Clinton hosted what looked like a victory party in Florida. She won the most votes but will get no delegates because Florida was penalized for going early.
McCain won without much support from self-described conservatives, but moderate Republicans, Hispanics and senior citizens helped him nail 36 percent of the vote. Mitt Romney finished second with 31 percent. Rudy Giuliani had 15, 14 for Mike Huckabee. Ron Paul came in with three percent. CNN's Congressional correspondent Dana Bash has more on McCain's win last night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John McCain's hard fought Florida win brings something new to the GOP race -- a frontrunner.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our victory might not have reached landslide proportions, but it is sweet nonetheless.
BASH: But Florida was a crushing blow to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani who GOP sources say now plans to end his candidacy and endorse McCain, after a disappointing third place finish in a state he staked it all, in an election night speech talking about his campaign in the past tense.
RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The responsibility of leadership doesn't end with a single campaign.
BASH: Second place went to Mitt Romney, who waged a bitter Florida battle with John McCain and signaled with his not-so-subtle jab, he's not done.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You see Washington is fundamentally broken, and we're not going to change Washington by sending the same people back just to sit in different chairs.
BASH: Vowing to press on, Romney's campaign now calls this a two-person race heading into next week's 21-state Super Tuesday primary, even though Mike Huckabee's fourth place finish leaves him down but not out.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're playing all nine innings of this ball game.
BASH: McCain's Florida victory came largely from older voters, Hispanics and GOP moderates. But with all the more significant because of who was not allowed to vote -- independents who propelled his earlier wins.
MCCAIN: And as I have been repeatedly reminded lately, an all Republican primary.
BASH: Still, McCain knows full well many core conservatives have long distrusted that he's one of them, so he added a line to his speech, an olive branch.
MCCAIN: The judges we appoint to federal benches must understand that that is their only responsibility and leave to elected officials their responsibility to make the laws they enforce.
BASH (on camera): For McCain, that talk about judges or that he's a proud Reagan conservative, those are all buzz words aimed at what he knows he needs to do next. That is reach out and in some cases, mend fences with key conservatives in his own party as he gets closer to being its presidential nominee. Dana Bash, CNN, Miami, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Well, Florida is a winner-take-all state so instead of splitting up the delegates headed into the National Convention, McCain wins all 57, the largest delegate win for him so far, for anybody as a matter of fact -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, so what does that all mean? We're breaking that down for you this morning and going forward to Super Tuesday and beyond. Our Chief national correspondent John King is here, at least in body you're here. I know you had a late night last night.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: Exactly. But first of all, let's talk about McCain's win. How significant?
KING: It's usually significant. He won South Carolina. He wins Florida. He's the first Republican to put together two wins in a row. He was already leading in most of the big Super Tuesday states like New York, like California, so he has momentum now. Money will come in quickly.
He still has a problem. He did OK with conservatives in Florida, not great. Rudy Giuliani will endorse today which helps, and Romney will make the case to conservatives. If you want to stop John McCain, you better rally around me now. But John McCain now can see a path to clinch the nomination. No other Republican can say that.
CHETRY: In a way, is this a good wakeup call for Romney supporters or people that were on the fence, people, conservatives who are not sure if they're sold on McCain to help boost Romney?
KING: Well, this is going to answer the question -- does the loud volume of the conservative activists in Washington, D.C., who do not like John McCain, who have never liked John McCain, does it resonate with grassroots conservatives in places like Alabama, like Georgia, like Oklahoma, even in California, which is a moderate Republican state but does have a conservative Republican base to the party. Will they now rally or will they say, you know what, we might disagree with John McCain on this or that? But he is winning.
He's our guy, he's acceptable. Some Republicans even who don't like John McCain on some issues agreed that he would be the strongest general election candidate. So Romney believes it is a two-man race, but he still has Mike Huckabee in his way. Mike Huckabee has support among evangelicals. It makes it hard for Romney to get a one-on-one shot at McCain.
CHETRY: All right. So, looking to Giuliani where we are going to be expecting some sort of announcement today in this endorsement of John McCain as you said.
KING: Right. CHETRY: As you look at Mike Huckabee, he still is splitting some of those social conservatives with Mitt Romney. So what's Romney's strategy to try to make it a two-man race moving into Super Tuesday?
KING: Romney has to try to make the case that a vote for Mike Huckabee is a vote for John McCain. That if you still support Mike Huckabee, you are essentially helping John McCain win and clinch the nomination. And there are a number of states up in Super Tuesday -- Missouri, Minnesota, Arkansas, down in the south in Alabama and Georgia, where Mike Huckabee is poised to do quite well.
John McCain has no huge issue with that. Most of the Republican states are winner take all. If Mike Huckabee is getting a significant slice of the conservative vote, that does in fact help John McCain. And notice the tone. Mike Huckabee will be critical of John McCain on an issue here. And personally, he says, he admires him. He says he's running a good candidate. So Huckabee and McCain actually have this odd alliance, if you will, throughout the campaign. Neither one of them thinks all that much of Mitt Romney to be honest.
CHETRY: All right. It will be interesting to see. It's also interesting as we talk more about when you bring you back in a couple of minutes, what issues drove the California voters, I mean, the Florida voters in what direction? And what issues will be driving the California voters as well. So we're going to be talking about that. Thanks a lot, John -- John.
ROBERTS: Senator Hillary Clinton celebrated her win in Davie, Florida. They had all of the trappings of a victory party. Crowds, cheers, Dolly Parton music. But the impact of the Florida Democratic vote is up in the air because no delegates were awarded. The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida of its delegates after it moved up the primary date to earlier than February 5th, which was the cutoff date. Still, Hillary Clinton promised to keep up the fight to make those delegates count.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am thrilled to have had this vote of confidence that you have given me today. And I promise you I will do everything I can to make sure not only are Florida's Democratic delegates seated, but Florida is in the winning column for the Democrats in 2008.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: If Florida's 210 delegates do get seated, Clinton may not get as many as she won in last night's vote because Florida may need to hold another primary or caucus to decide how many delegates go to each candidate. Not quite clear there what's going on.
For its part, the Obama camp is playing down the Florida results. CNN's Jessica Yellin joins me. What are the Obama people saying about what obviously seem to be a victory dance from Hillary Clinton last night? JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. The Obama people say this was not a real election. It was not a real race. Neither of them advertised, and therefore, we shouldn't consider it as a big win for Senator Clinton. Not surprisingly, folks are saying the exact opposite.
ROBERTS: Right. So she's saying that she wants to have these delegates seated, and she has vowed that she is going to work as hard as possible. Obviously, that plays very well because I talked to a lot of people in Florida who are Democrats who are very upset about the fact that they got stripped off their delegates. But they were the ones who broke the rules. But could she get them reinstated? Or as we said at the beginning of this, may there be another process to get there that could divvy them up differently?
YELLIN: There could still be a process, a sort of caucus or another vote that would decide how the delegates get divvied up. But I point out that even without the delegates, there is an advantage for Hillary Clinton here because she can make the case as her campaign has already started doing, that Florida is more representative of America than any of the other states that have voted so far -- more Latinos, a more diverse population. And so, her win there, even if it's a beauty contest, would be a reflection of how well she'd do in the general election, not their case.
ROBERTS: Even if it is a beauty contest, does it help her going forward into February 5th?
YELLIN: Absolutely. It gives her momentum, and it also makes the case that look, this is a woman who can win Florida. You can't base it -- you cannot win the general election without winning California or Florida. So she can already show she can win Florida. Can she win California? It looks good for her for February 5th.
ROBERTS: Yes.
YELLIN: A strong case going forward for her electability.
ROBERTS: So, we heard John King talking about how it looks for Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney going forward because of the support among conservatives in some of those states in the Midwest and the south. How does it look for Hillary Clinton going forward when you look at big states like California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey?
YELLIN: The money is on her to win those major states, and that Obama is more likely to pick up say, Illinois, which is his home state right now, but also some of the southern states and maybe midwestern states that he can make up some of the smaller February 5th states. But she's likely to grab the big ones. Don't count her out.
ROBERTS: Yes. Because a lot of this we said would have been the case in Florida, because the delegate allocation is proportional in the Democratic Party, it takes a lot longer to get to the top than it does in the Republican side.
YELLIN: Absolutely. ROBERTS: Jessica, thanks very much. Good to see you. Let's kick it back to Kiran in New York.
CHETRY: Well, Barack Obama is weighing in about the so-called snub. He says that's not the case. That's not what happened before the State of the Union address. So you may remember seeing this picture yesterday. One of the photos showing him turned away from Hillary Clinton while she was shaking hands with Senator Ted Kennedy who is seated next to Barack Obama. Well, he told reporters he was simply turning around to answer a question from Senator Claire McCaskill just as Clinton was coming by. And McCaskill backed him up saying it was just bad timing.
Well, all eyes are on the Federal Reserve today. There's another rate cut expected. The question, though, is how big? The Fed will wrap up a two-day meeting with an announcement later this afternoon. Economists figured that the Fed will slash rates, although probably not by the three-quarters of a point we saw last week. It's all being done to ward off a possible recession.
And it comes after the House overwhelmingly passes an economic stimulus package yesterday. The $146 billion plan promises business tax breaks as well as income tax rebates. The measure is not facing the same future in the Senate. Democrats and some Republicans had backed a larger package there that adds billions of dollars for senior citizens and the unemployed, and shrinks the rebates to $500 for individuals and $1,000 for couples.
New legislation in New York State will require convicted sex offenders to register their online screen names. This would allow social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to monitor their activities online. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo called it the most comprehensive, smartest and toughest law in the nation to keep minors safe online. MySpace and Facebook have been criticized for not doing enough to stop predators from joining their sites.
And the U.S. military is preparing for the possibility that a falling satellite could hit North America. We talked about this a couple of days ago with Miles O'Brien, our space correspondent. You may remember that back in 2001, the Mir Space Station came back to earth. In that case, though, it was controlled. They were able to steer the Mir's spare parts and debris to a safe location.
This new satellite, though, is heading toward earth and it lost power almost as soon as it went into orbit back in December of '06, so it cannot be controlled when it comes back to earth and some parts could hit land in late February or early March. As Miles told us, this is extremely, extremely unlikely partially because the earth is so much water but also because there are not as many populated areas as you think. So he says you're in the clear.
High oil prices may hurt America, but they are welcome news in Iraq where they can use the extra cash. We're going to explain that story up ahead.
And also, deadly (INAUDIBLE) in the Rockies and across the Midwest extreme weather, and our Rob Marciano is here in New York. He's tracking all of it for us after the break.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Dangerous cold. You better believe it. A couple of storms moving across the country. We've got wacky weather going on around the world. We've got you coast-to-coast covered. Our weather is coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Sixteen minutes after the hour. We're back live from the Oval Office here at the Reagan Presidential Library. And business headlines for you now.
Oil prices climbing over $92 a barrel in overseas trading this morning. American officials trying to put the best face on rising prices saying, well, it could be a wind fall for Iraq. The U.S. says it could add $15 billion to the country's reconstruction budget this year.
How would you like to be in a board meeting with the bank executive who just got ripped off to the tune of $7 billion? That's what happening today in France. Societe Generale is trying to find out if bosses were in on a trading scam allegedly carried out by a single rogue trader, Jerome Kerviel, who is now out on bail. He told prosecutors that his bosses must have been aware that he was placing tens of billions of euros in risky trades.
And "Forbes" magazine out with its first ever cash queens of music list. Madonna scored the top spot making $72 million between June of 2006 and 2007 from record sales and her fashion line of H&M. Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion rounding out the top three. Who says there's no money to be made in the music business, Kiran?
CHETRY: Oh, for her? For sure. How about it?
Well, turning now to some extreme weather to tell you about. Well, firefighters in Texas this morning are hoping to get a break. They've had some high winds that have been spreading wild fires. This wind gusts of more than 50 miles an hour have been fanning the flames and that's been to blame for some of these fires, 2,000 acres in north, central, and west Texas. They had evacuations and more than a dozen buildings destroyed.
Meanwhile, it's a different story as we head further east. In Minnesota, whiteout conditions as the winter storm pounds the Midwest. The blowing snow reducing visibility to zero. That led to a 20-car pileup. This is on Interstate 90, near Rochester, Minnesota. Temperatures swung from 36 degrees to one below zero in a matter of 12 hours. And it was also high winds that ripped through a mobile home parked near Indianapolis, where trees and power lines were blown down. Power outages also forcing schools there to cancel classes today. So a big mess in Indianapolis.
Tracking all of this for us right now is Rob Marciano with a look at weather across the country. Hey. Rob. MARCIANO: Hey, Kiran. Yes, we have two fatalities as you mentioned, and a number of not only tornado reports but mostly wind reports, almost 200 of them. Here's a Google earth map showing you exactly where these reports have been filing in overnight from the storm's prediction center, and it pretty much peppered the entire map.
Obviously, a huge array of storm reports here. There was a strong line of thunderstorms that develop just in eastern parts of Illinois that moved eastward across Indiana and in through parts of Kentucky. Let's move along the map and show you the satellite picture.
Two big storms that are rolling across the country right now. The first of which is centered right here, and that is heading northward. As it does so, big time winds coming in behind this system. So because of that, we've got windchill advisories and high- wind warnings out for parts of -- this part of the country and blizzard-like conditions could be expected.
Look at Chicago, minus one. That does not include the windchill. Look at St. Louis, 12. Yesterday's high temperature --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: These are temperatures. These are --
MARCIANO: These are actual temperatures. Yesterday's high temperature was 71 in St. Louis. Now, it's 12. Just to give you an idea, the drastic drop in temperatures. Here's where the front is pretty much -- doesn't look like the extreme cold is going to get to New York and the I-95 corridor, so we'll be spared the brunt of this action. But, there you go. There's Chicago.
CHETRY: I have a feeling we're going to be dealing with a lot of problems at O'Hare Airport today as well.
MARCIANO: Yes. Because you're going to have -- you obviously have some wind there as well, and high-wind warnings are posted for just east of the Great Lakes up to 60 miles an hour winds, which will also instigate some lake-effect snows. And this doesn't include all the craziness that's going on in China. We've got rare snows in Jerusalem as well. So if that becomes active --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Parts of the world that have not seen snow in decades. So --
MARCIANO: Makes life interesting.
CHETRY: Keep us posted all morning. Rob Marciano, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: You bet.
CHETRY: John? ROBERTS: Why did Florida voters go strong for John McCain here? And the exit polls reveal some surprises. John King takes us behind the numbers coming up in just a couple of minutes.
And who is to blame for the subprime mortgage crisis that's rocking the economy? The Feds are on the case. That story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, we're breaking down the vote in Florida a day after voters decided. It was, at least on the GOP side, it was a clear victory for John McCain. Why did they choose John McCain over Mitt Romney? The key issue for 45 percent of voters -- the economy. That was supposed to be Mitt Romney's strong suit. More went for McCain despite Romney's emphasis on his business experience.
Joining us to break down the numbers, Chief national correspondent John King, with a closer look at the issues behind the big win. Thanks for being with us again, John.
KING: Thank you.
CHETRY: We'll start with the first one. It said voters who say that economy was their most important issue, 40 percent went to McCain, 32 percent went to Mitt Romney. Why did Mitt Romney's message from the Olympics (ph) -- I come from the business sector, I've run a state, not resonate?
KING: They also said John McCain was not a conservative on taxes. And so, during the Romney campaign, you're looking at that number and you're saying, oh, that's a problem going forward. How did John McCain do it? He clearly convinced enough Florida Republicans that he opposed the Bush tax cuts because he wanted spending restraints, and that spending restraints matter, and that going forward he would support tax cuts. Also, this is one of the places where the endorsement of the Florida governor helped John McCain. Florida's governor, Charlie Crist, is very popular. While the economy everywhere is struggling in Florida, they're doing OK in most parts. So if McCain can hold that number going forward, then Mitt Romney is in trouble.
CHETRY: Among Republicans who identify themselves as conservative, most of them did go for Romney. So is McCain -- and let's take a look at the breakdown of the numbers. Thirty-seven percent conservative vote going to Romney, 29 percent for McCain and 17 for Mike Huckabee. What does that mean for McCain courting the base going forward?
KING: It shows you the power of Mike Huckabee going forward because 50 percent of conservatives did not vote. People identify themselves as conservative did not vote for John McCain, but Mike Huckabee gets about 13. So if Huckabee stays in the race, he hurts Romney and actually could help McCain to a degree. But there is no question. That is John McCain's glaring weakness. Those who say they are conservative on social issues. Even on the fiscal tax issues, many are skeptical of John McCain.
And you heard him talk about judges last night in his speech in Florida. That's one way to reach out to social conservatives. He needs to do a better job. He needs to do more averaging. He gets a little briskly about this, a little prickly about this because he believes his record deserves the support of conservatives. He's going to have to be big, if you will, and put aside his stubbornness and try to do more outreach to close that gap.
CHETRY: This is also interesting now when you break it down. Latino voters, 54 percent went for McCain, followed by Rudy Giuliani with 24 percent, Mitt Romney at 14 percent. Why does McCain do so well among Latino voters, and why is Mitt Romney's message not resonating if it's going to be a two-man race going forward?
KING: So Romney did run some Spanish language radio ads in Florida. So again, that's the place where the Romney campaign has to look at that and say, what did we do wrong? But this is probably one state, Florida, the first state so far where John McCain's support for allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the country, to get their legal status may have helped them, at least among Latino voters.
He also picked up late the endorsement of Cuban-American Senator Mel Martinez. He had the support of Cuban-American congressman down in the Miami area. So, the Latino vote is huge for McCain, and it is a way for McCain to say the skeptics in the Republican Party, look, I'm proving I can win key constituencies in a general election. Put aside your doubts about me. I'm the stronger candidate in November.
CHETRY: It will be interesting to see if he can bring that message. And it brings us to our "Quick Vote" question of the day which is, can John McCain unite the GOP? Cast your vote, CNN.com/am. We're going to get the first tally of the votes later this hour. John King, great to see you as always.
KING: Thank you.
CHETRY: Thanks for being here.
KING: My pleasure.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: Kiran, he came in second last night in Florida, but he is back to work this morning. We're going to be talking with Mitt Romney about last night's primary results and what he's predicting for Super Duper Tuesday next week, and what he is going to do in the debate tonight. He joins us live in just a few minutes.
CHETRY: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, the fight for your money.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: $550 for a TV? Big flat screen like this? That's incredible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's incredible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Deep discounts on everything from flat screens to fast food. How American's biggest brand names are trying to get you spending again ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It is 6:30 here on the east coast, and 3:30 in Simi Valley, California, this morning. That's a look at the Air Force One pavilion at the Reagan Library. It serves as a backdrop for CNN's Republican debate tonight. Anderson Cooper moderating at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
And there you see this Boeing 707 was the one actually used by seven presidents. It was first used by Richard Nixon back in 1973. There's some jelly beans, of course, and now to Ronald Reagan. It flew for 28 years. Covered more than 1 million miles before it was retired there in Simi Valley back in 2001.
And welcome, it's Wednesday, January 30th. I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.
Hi, John.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning to you. I'm John Roberts in Simi Valley, California. We'll take you for a quick tour aboard that 707 in our next hour here of AMERICAN MORNING.
Kiran, I've flown around the world on the 747. I'd never set foot on the 707 until this morning. So it's interesting to do a little comparison and we'll do that for you.
Hey, what does John McCain's -- sorry, you go ahead.
CHETRY: I just want to say you look quite presidential as well. John King was wondering in the Roberts administration, can we be looking forward to tax cuts in the future?
ROBERTS: Well, you know, I haven't fully developed my white paper positions on those. We'll let you know before the end of the show, OK?
Hey, what does John McCain's victory in Florida mean for the Republican presidential candidates as they head into Super Tuesday? Before they get here, the candidates are making a stop tonight here at the Reagan Library in California for a live debate right here on CNN. So what can we expect in the debate. The chief political correspondent for politico.com, Mike Allen, joins me now.
Welcome to the oval office, Mike.
MIKE ALLEN, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO.COM: Well good morning. ROBERTS: It's really interesting here isn't it? This is a half- scale replica and go to full scale replica upstairs. But on television, it looks like the real thing.
ALLEN: Even the jelly beans.
ROBERTS: It's pretty incredible and a facsimile the resolute desk as well that he used.
McCain lost among conservatives last night, 37-29 but in his victory speech afterwards, he obviously seemed to be reaching out to conservatives. Let's take a quick listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our party has always been successful when we have like Ronald Reagan stood fast by our convictions. I intend to make my stand on those principles and I am confident we will succeed in this contest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So, he seems to be reaching out to a group of people, many of whom have shunned him thus far. With these wins, racking up these wins now, will he bring conservatives to his side? Conservatives who realize that maybe he is the best guy to become the nominee. Maybe he is the inevitable candidate.
ALLEN: Yes. John, that's right. And I love the word shunned in all its implications because conservatives have this amazing visceral distaste for John McCain which has never really been fully understandable.
As you know, he's pro-life. He's strong on the war on terror. So what the McCain campaign hopes is either A, conservatives will forget why they used to dislike him, and realize he's not so bad and he might stack up well against the Democrats, or, and it's just fine with him too, the straight talk express is leaving the station. We better get on.
As you know, there was a big fundraiser for lobbyists Monday night in Washington and that was the symbol. Here's the time to join up.
ROBERTS: Well, you know, they hate him for being against the Bush tax cuts. They hit him on the immigration issue. They hate him for McCain-Feingold. The immigration issue, he seems to have a little bit of a convergence side, I realize now. You got to secure the border before you do anything else. But Giuliani is expected to endorse him today. Giuliani also not a favorite among conservatives. What impact does that expected to have.
ALLEN: Well, as you know, Mayor Giuliani is the opera fan and "The New York Post" this morning says the fat lady is singing. And the other New York paper is a little meaner, they say, Rudy is ruined. But this is going to have a huge help for John McCain and this is Mitt Romney's problem.
He has a week to stop this train for Super Tuesday. And the problem is we're going to a lot of big states where McCain is strong anywhere and where Rudy is really going to help in California, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and they're going to do it in this very symbolic setting here in Simi Valley. It was a surprise. There haven't been a lot of surprises in this race. People thought Rudy was going to drop out. We thought the plane to California was ahead fake. It turns out it's a plane here to try to change their result of this side's contest.
ROBERTS: It's really interesting to see how McCain beat Romney on the economy. McCain has said the economy is not his strong point. Romney is saying I'm the guy who can fix the economy. Here in California, it's a big issue. 6.1 percent unemployment as of December 2007, above the national average. Almost a quarter of a million homes went into foreclosure last year. What do you expect will emerge as the number one issue here at the debate tonight?
ALLEN: Well, John, you're right about these numbers on the economy. When the Romney folks saw the exit polls, they didn't believe that, because they believe that that was their issue. So this debate, they're going to try and make that case. I can tell you the debate moderators, including our colleagues, are going to try to really draw out differences between McCain and Romney on the theory that, A, a lot of voters are tuning in who haven't been and, B, this is sort of Romney's last case to make that.
You're right about the economy being important in California. Also, you're going to hear the candidates talk differently about immigration, because the red meat rhetoric really doesn't work here. So the original John McCain position as John King mentioned a moment ago is actually very -- pays us here. So you're going to see Romney pulling back for immigration and talking all about the economy being Mr. Fix It.
ROBERTS: And McCain has got a significant advantage here at least in our latest CNN poll. Mike Allen, good to see you. Thanks very much for coming in this morning.
ALLEN: Thank you, Mr. President.
ROBERTS: Good having you in the oval office today. And more from the oval office here at the Reagan Library coming up. But right now back to New York and here's Kiran.
CHETRY: Don't get too used to it. You got to come back to the set in a couple of days.
Well, Senator Hillary Clinton picked up zero delegates in Florida despite winning the popular vote. The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida of its delegates after the state moved up its primary against election rules.
Well, last night, Clinton told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that she would keep up the fight for Florida's delegates to be counted. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Obviously, the people of Florida thought this counted and I have said that I will do everything I can if I'm the nominee to make sure that the Florida delegates are seated. Because I want people in Florida to feel empowered and part of this process. We're going to need people to be excited about this election. And I'm going to do everything I can to convince my delegates and others to vote to seat the Florida delegates as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Now, according to party rules, Florida may need to hold another primary or caucus to decide how many delegates would go to each candidate.
Also new this morning, we're waiting word on the Federal Reserve about a possible interest rate cut. The Fed will wrap up the two-day meeting with an announcement later this afternoon. A lot of economists think it will slash rates but not as dramatically as the .75 point cut that we saw last week.
And the FBI is now on the case of the subprime mortgage crisis investigating 14 companies for possible fraud and insider trading. We're looking into loans made to borrowers who did not have strong credit records. The FBI did not identify what companies it's looking into.
Well, we're watching extreme weather on the move and strong winds being blamed for the deaths of a mother and daughter in Indiana. Police say high winds blew over their mobile home. Other parts of Indiana pounded by hail. There's some shot of the aftermath as rescuers try to sift through the rubble there. Trees and power lines down as well. And many schools cancelled classes today.
Our Rob Marciano is keeping track of all the extreme weather for us right now. And boy, parts of the Midwest really getting hit hard.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Some of America's biggest brands are trying to get you to spend. Who is trying to draw you in with dollar deals and why not now? We're taking a closer look.
And we'll be talking with Mitt Romney, fresh off of his second place finish in Florida. Will he have any new message for voters in tonight's debate? He joins us live next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Some news this morning of layoffs at Wal-Mart headquarters and Starbucks possibly closing some stores. Reports in today's "New York Times," those big brands are trying to get you, the consumer, spending again. We sent AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho to see if customers are drawn by these pitches to your bottom dollar. And she's just down the street at one of her favorite hangouts, McDonald's.
Hey, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kiran. You're absolutely right. Good morning. You know, the dollar menu has been a main stay here at McDonald's since 2002. In fact, it's been so successful overall that Wendy's and Burger King followed suit.
The difference now is same store sales, at least at McDonald's are flat. Times are tough. So there are more ads about the dollar menu. Retailers across the country want customers to know, if you're coming to our store, you're going to get a deal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): Wal-Mart has its own economic stimulus plan, rolling back prices on everything from food, to clothing, to flat screen TVs.
(on-camera): $550 for a TV? With flat screen like this, that's incredible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's incredible. It's incredible.
CHO (voice-over): Thousands of products up to 30 percent off. Why now? The Super Bowl.
TRACY FERSCHWEILER, WAL-MART STORE MANAGER: Now is when the customers need the savings. This is a huge week for us. The Super Bowl and preparation, it's the eighth biggest sales week of the year.
CHO: Veronica McNeil has two kids. She recently lost her job, her husband is an iron worker, and the family is feeling the pinch.
VERONICA MCNEIL, SHOPPER: If I'm here to buy baby stuff and I'd see a TV at a good sale price, I'll grab at that.
CHO: With rising gas and home heating oil crisis and Americans losing their homes, money is tight and retailers know it.
MITCHELL SPEISER, TELSEY ADVISORY GROUP: The consumer is needless to say very soft and very weak right now. And value does drive transactions.
CHO: In Seattle, even Starbucks is offering coffee for a buck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMMERCIAL: Spicy Chick'n Crisp, just the right amount of kick, just a buck on the BK value menu.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Fast food restaurants are all pushing their dollar items too.
(on-camera): OK, great. Thank you. McDonald's dollar menus might seem like a draw in this economic environment, but the company's stock is actually down 20 percent from last month's all-time high. The company's CEO says its strategy is recession-resistant, but not recession-proof.
(voice-over): Wal-Mart hopes bargain prices on things like flat panel TVs will be too much to resist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gas prices are just in general everything -- everything I buy is a little more expensive today than it was yesterday.
CHO: So why buy a TV?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I'm a Giant fan, and I need the big TV for the Giant game.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: So everybody agrees that we're all feeling the pinch with the Super Bowl gets the pass. Please excuse the pun. To be fair, experts say January and February are typically promotion months, but the discounts do appear to be deeper. Everyone we talked to agrees that that will get people into the stores. The big question is, will they spend more money while they're there? That's really the profit indicator. And it's really too soon to tell.
Kiran, what I can tell you is I've got your order here -- sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit, hash brown, $3.77 on me. I'm going to bring it back to you after the show.
CHETRY: I really did put in that order this morning.
CHO: You really did.
CHETRY: You know, you really know how to make a pregnant lady happy at 6:45 in the morning. Alina, that's what friends are for.
CHO: I do my best.
CHETRY: All right, thanks so much.
John?
ROBERTS: Refusing to make a ruling on waterboarding. The new Attorney General is press in the torture debate. Will he talk about interrogation tactics? We'll tell you, that's coming up.
Plus, we'll be talking with Mitt Romney, fresh off of his second place finish in Florida. Will he have any new message for voters in tonight's debate here at the Reagan Presidential Library? He joins us live and there he is. We'll see him soon next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. 48 minutes past 6:00 here on the East Coast. And if you're just joining us, a look at what's making headlines this morning.
UBS becomes the latest bank to post a huge loss due to the mortgage troubles in the U.S. The Swiss Bank says its fourth quarter loss will include around $12 billion in losses related to the U.S. subprime mortgage market and $2 billion more on other residential loans.
The U.S. State Department says it's thinking about sanctions for the Kenyan government over the extreme violence there. These travel bans may be considered for those instigating the attacks, a month after a disputed presidential election. Nearly 800 people have been killed in fierce fighting in Kenya.
The new Attorney General is standing his ground on waterboarding. Michael Mukasey is refusing to say it's against the law. Mukasey wrote a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and in it, Mukasey said all current CIA methods used to get answers from terrorists are legal. That didn't solve anything since waterboarding or simulated drowning is not being used right now.
John?
ROBERTS: Another huge win, Kiran, for Senator John McCain last night and this time in the Florida primary. But runner-up Mitt Romney who beat McCain among conservative voters is vowing to forge ahead, keeping the heat on McCain after the results came in last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You see Washington is fundamentally broken and we're not going to change Washington by sending the same people back just to sit in different chairs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The former governor will be here at the Reagan Library to take part in tonight's CNN debate. Mitt Romney joins me now live from St. Petersburg, Florida.
I mention, governor, you couldn't get on a plane very soon and get over here. I wanted to talk to you about the loss last night. John McCain beat you on the economy. That was supposed to be your strong suit. What happened?
ROMNEY: Well, it is my strong suit, of course. And that's an area where he said that it is not his strong suit. That he really doesn't understand how the economy works. He said that he would like to have a VP who understands the economy. And so he was able to win nonetheless and I think it was in part because he ran a good spirited campaign.
He made some shots that came my way. I had to refute them and I was spending time explaining those. And he sent out some 10 million Robocalls and so that had an effect as well. But, you know, that's how you run a campaign. I'm not taking anything away from it. I think he fought hard. But, you know, one other thing that came out of the race last night was it's become a two-person race. Mayor Giuliani is getting out. I think finally posting up person-to-person gives me a real good shot of coalescing Republican conservatives around one candidate.
ROBERTS: McCain sounded pretty confident about the road forward last night. Take a quick listen to what he said and then I'll ask you about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: One week we will have as close to a national primary as we've ever had in this country. I intend to win it and be the nominee of our party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: He was expected to get the endorsement of Rudy Giuliani today. How was that going to change the landscape? And can you stop him now that he seems to have pretty good head of steam?
ROMNEY: You know, I think I can stop him. But, you know, no sure thing at this stage. I think Rudy Giuliani's endorsement will help somewhat. Although, I think Rudy's people will not necessarily follow where Rudy is picking him. I think they're going to look for a person who is more Rudy. And I think that Rudy's executive experience and leadership is something they're looking for and that's going to get me some of their votes and some may go to McCain.
So I think it's kind of hard at this stage to say just how it's going to work. But, you know, in a two-person race, with myself and Senator McCain, I like my chances. Because I don't think the Republican Party is going to choose as a standard bearer, someone whose three major pieces of legislation include McCain-Feingold, which is, of course, the campaign finance bill which has been so hard on the first amendment and in our party.
And then McCain-Kennedy, the final version in which was a massive amnesty program for illegals and then McCain-Lieberman which places a huge gasoline burden, 50 cents a gallon on American auto buyers compared to people who use cars around the world. So, I think, he's going to have some difficulty with the Republican base. But, you know, all things in politics can surprise you.
ROBERTS: Let's take a look ahead to tonight, governor. You'll be here at the Reagan Presidential Library to take part in the last Republican debate ahead of Super Tuesday. Here in California, the economy is a big issue. Almost a quarter of a million homes went into foreclosure in 2007. What would you do to help people in California hang on to their homes?
ROMNEY: Well, far more help for the Federal government on keeping people in homes. People who have good credit ratings, who have the capacity to meet the original obligations of their original loan. I don't like to see those people get knocked out of their homes, their homes going into foreclosure. It hurts those families and, of course, it hurts other families as the overall housing prices are brought down by virtue of that kind of trajectory.
So we want to help with the housing market. But there are other places as well. Let me tell you, California is at the cutting edge as you look at competition coming from Asia. And Asia is going to run right past California and run right past the rest of America unless we have a president who understands how the economy works, and how high- tech works. It's something that's in my wheel house. It's how I know how to get this country back on track. It's critical, I think, at this time. And that's why I think I got a good shot of getting real support from Californians.
ROBERTS: Another big issue here in California, of course, is education. And I get lots of e-mails from educators who say they're not hearing enough from the candidates on it. And you know, they posed questions to me and here's one that I thought was kind of interesting. So let me put it to you. If you were president and if you could take half of the money that has been spent on the Iraq war and put it toward education, what would you spend it on?
ROMNEY: Well, I don't think we have to take it from the Iraq war. Where would I spend my money on education? On paying better teachers, better pay. We need to substantially increase the compensation of our best teachers.
Now there are two parts of what I said in there. One is higher incomes. Number two is being able to differentiate between the teachers who are doing best and those who are not. Teachers who are not able to get the job done shouldn't be getting the same pay as those who are. But teachers are a profession -- in a profession, and you want to make sure that as in any profession, the best performers are doing real well.
ROBERTS: And how do you get that past the teachers' union which is consistently resisted the idea of merit pay?
ROMNEY: Yes. I think the teachers' union is consistently in a mode of saying that they're not going to distinguish between people of high quality and capability and people of low quality and capability in their union. That's the union way.
Unfortunately, it's costing our kids a competitive education. And you're going to have to see a change there. Or ultimately, you'll see our kids continue to suffer and suffer. We were able to make some changes in our state which allowed kids to get more school choice -- that means the kid could choose to go to a place where there are better teachers. We also rewarded superior performance and I proposed a bonus of up to $15,000 per teacher paid for by the state for those who are among our best teachers, but teachers' union doesn't like that idea.
ROBERTS: Governor Romney, it's always good to see you. We will see you here a little bit later on tonight. I hope you get a little bit of rest. You sound like your voice is starting to get worn out and we appreciate your time this morning, sir.
ROMNEY: You are right. Thanks, John. Look forward to seeing you.
ROBERTS: All right. Take care.
And be sure to stay with CNN tonight for the Republican debate right here at the Reagan Presidential Library. It's at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And tomorrow night at 8:00, from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, the Democrats get their turn.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Thanks, John. Well, the quick check now of the morning's "Quick Vote" question. And that is, can John McCain, who won the Florida primary last night, unite the GOP?
Right now, 34 percent say yes, 66 percent say no. Cast your vote to cnn.com/am. We'll continue to tally your votes throughout the morning.
And you're watching the most news in the morning. Still ahead, extreme weather. There are blizzard warnings across the Midwest, and a sharp plunge in temperatures. We have Rob Marciano here. He is tracking extreme weather this morning. We're also going to make sure that travel, not affected by that weather this morning.
Also, Florida turns out to be John McCain country. How did he pull off that big primary win? Who voted for him? And what issues drove the race? We have the revealing and surprising exit polls coming up at the top of the hour.
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