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American Morning
Deadly Tornadoes in the South; GOP Race: Commanding Lead for McCain; Clinton and Obama: Race Still Up for Grabs; Stocks Tank: Worst Day in Three Months
Aired February 06, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: No end in sight --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our movement is real, and change is coming to America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Clinton and Obama can both claim victory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you all. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And fight for every last delegate.
And a surge on the Republican side --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today has been a day when the people have spoken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Mike Huckabee live on his comeback night.
Plus, tornado outbreaks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just took the house and everything and my horses and my dogs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Deadly storms tear up hard lives, homes, and schools. The search for survivors on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome back, it is Wednesday, February 6th. Thanks for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm John Roberts. KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We need to get you caught up right now on breaking news and reports of more people killed in that devastating rash of severe weather that hit many states in the south. According to our report now, 32 people killed in four states. There's also a report right now of a tornado touching down. This happened just moments ago in Tennessee. A warning in effect in Chattanooga, close to the border between Georgia and Alabama and Tennessee where they all meet. CNN confirming that four more people have died in Kentucky as well.
We're hearing that the number of dead jumped at this hour because rescue crews and the search crews are going out there to some of these neighborhoods that were just devastated, assessing the damage, and finding, unfortunately, bodies this morning. Within the last few minutes, CNN has also learned another person killed. This is in Alabama. More than 100 people hurt. We're going to be talking with a student at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee coming up.
There was a severe weather that ripped right through there, including tornadoes, devastating some dorms. Thirteen students were trapped there. All of them were able to get out OK, and a couple of the eyewitnesses are going be bringing their stories this morning.
Rob Marciano tracking all of the extreme weather from the update desk this morning. Hey, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kiran. Over 60 reports of tornadoes over the last 12 hours and they're still touching down this morning. It's certainly an extraordinary storm. Let's get you right through the radar because we have reports of a tornado on the ground across northeastern Alabama now potentially moving in to extreme northwest Georgia and southern Tennessee. Now includes the city of Chattanooga, a tornado warning in effect until 7:15 Eastern Time. You can see these storms rolling that way.
They are moving quickly northeasterly at 55 miles an hour. These are not the kind of storms you want to go peek out the window. You want to get in the center of your home. You want to take cover until this gets through your area. Here is Chattanooga. There are lots of mountains around here. We're not that terribly close to a radar site so the signature not showing up entirely too well right now. But this cell has had a report of a tornado on the ground here earlier, about a half an hour ago. So certainly with that sort of history, National Weather Service not taking any chances in this -- if anything, has strong winds and certainly some heavy rain.
And again, a tornado warning indicated by Doppler Radar for Hamilton County until 7:15. Another Doppler-indicated tornado warning, this one looks even stronger on the radar scope just to the north and west of highway 65 of Montgomery there. These includes the city of Jemison and Clayton in the Chilton County, and also in Tulsa County. So this, also moving quickly northeasterly at 55 miles an hour.
A dangerous situation there in central Alabama. We have a tornado watch out for the panhandle of Florida and much of eastern Alabama until 10:00 Eastern or local time for those areas. And you can see these storms, they continue to fire up even at this hour of the morning. Dangerous situation in the Chattanooga area. We'll continue to update you as that storm passes through the city of Chattanooga and also central Alabama, those storms that we showed you there, a dangerous situation there. Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: Wow. From Louisiana all the way up to Ohio, it looks like no state is immune. We'll be watching you and check in with you throughout the morning, Rob. Thank you.
MARCIANO: You got it.
CHETRY: Now, there would be other huge story of the morning and that's the race for the White House. On the Democratic side, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are still battling for every last delegate from the Super Tuesday state. Let's take a look at how it broke down last night.
Clinton winning eight Super Tuesday states -- Arkansas, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and Tennessee. And she told supporters where she sees the race heading next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Together, we're going to take back America because I see an America where our economy works for everyone, not just those at the top, where prosperity is shared and we create good jobs that stay right here in America. I see an America where we stand up to the oil companies and the oil-producing countries, where we launch a clean energy revolution and finally confront the climate crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Right now, Clinton projected to have 825 delegates, 2,025 delegates are needed to win the party nomination. And just bear with us, these numbers have been changing minute-by-minute as California comes in, as well as New Mexico this morning. Barack Obama winning 13 states in all. Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Utah. So more states, less delegates in some of those states, though, but he rallied his supporters in his hometown of Chicago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The polls are just closing in California, and the votes are still being counted in cities and towns across America. But there is one thing -- you know I love you back -- but there is one thing on this February night that we do not need the final results to know. Our time has come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There you go. Excited supporters of Barack Obama cheering him on. Exit polls showing he lost on the issues of economy and health care. Won with voters on the issue of Iraq. So how does a delegate count break down for Barack Obama? Well, he has a total of 732 delegates, about 91 behind Hillary Clinton's 823.
ROBERTS: On the Republican side, Senator John McCain's lead is growing. McCain won nine states including his home state of Arizona, as well as the big prize of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, New Jersey and New York, which are both winner-take-all states. Massive delegate count there, and also, Oklahoma.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I promise you, if I am so fortunate to win your nomination, I will work hard to ensure that the conservative philosophy and principles of our great party, principles that have done so well by the country that we love, will, again, win the votes of a majority of the American people. And defeat any candidate our friends in the other side nominate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: McCain is projected to have 619 delegates to date. Republicans need 1,191 to win.
It was a disappointing night for mitt Romney. He lost the big prizes and now plans to meet with advisers to figure out the future of his campaign. His wins -- Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Utah. Despite the letdown, Romney told his supporters, it's not over yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think there's some people who thought it was all going to be done tonight, but it's not all done tonight. We're going to keep on battling. We're going to go all the way to the convention. We're going to win this thing, and we're going to get to the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Romney had been touting himself as the conservative alternative to John McCain, but he has major ground to make up now. Take a look at the delegate count. He's got 269 to McCain's 619.
He finished strong, pulled off upsets across the south and probably shocked some of the loudest and most influential voices in the Republican Party. And we'll talk with Mike Huckabee live later on this hour on AMERICAN MORNING -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, both Senators Clinton and Obama have reason to celebrate this morning, but there still has no clear knockout punch. CNN's Jessica Yellin keeping track of the Democratic hopefuls this morning, joining us live from Los Angeles with a look at what's next for the candidates. Hey, Jessica.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning, Kiran. It really is a split decision for the Democrats. Already, both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama's aides talking about the next contest, where they will have an opportunity to try to eke out a lead. The next few primaries in the next week or so seem to have Obama advantages. Both campaigns acknowledge that primaries in Louisiana, Nebraska, and around Washington, D.C., are all areas in which Barack Obama is the favored candidate.
But looking further ahead, there are big prize states, Ohio, Texas, and even further down the line in April, Pennsylvania, where Senator Clinton's camp believes she has the upper hand and she can really pull it out there. But again, it remains a close race, and all of this was not supposed to play out this way. The whole reason the Democratic Party rearranged their primary process and frontloaded the system was so they could pick a nominee early and let that one candidate focus in on the Republican to get a strong message going to beat the Republican, keep the party unified for the general election. But that is not to be. So, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton continue to battle it out. Senator Clinton now saying she would like one debate a week through the primary season. Barack Obama has yet to accept that offer -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Jessica Yellin for us in Los Angeles this morning. Thank you -- John.
ROBERTS: Kiran, taking a look at the Republican race, it looks like John McCain has got a commanding lead but Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are not giving up. Do they still have a shot at the nomination? Joining me now to break this all down is chief national correspondent John King. And I'm honored to be at the magic wall this morning. So what do you got for us in terms of where this race goes based on last night's results on the Republican side?
JOHN KING, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting to look at. You want to look at the Republican side, I want to pull out to the state of Missouri, number one. Here's the Democratic race, number one, just to show you, this is striking. Quick on the Democrats. You look at this, you would think Senator Clinton won the state of Missouri, right? She's winning almost everywhere. But Barack Obama wins where the people are, out here in Kansas City and over here in St. Louis. And so Barack Obama was trailing all night in Missouri, came back and won because of that.
But watch this when we switch over to the Republican side. This is one of the states Mitt Romney had hoped to win. Look at Mike Huckabee. This is the bible belt, John, down here. Southern Missouri, all across the bible belt. Arkansas, right here, they know Mike Huckabee very well. Huckabee does very well in the rural areas. But it is McCain who ekes out a narrow victory in Missouri. That is huge because this is a winner-take-all state, so he gets all the delegates even though it's a very narrow victory.
Now, at the beginning of the night, this was Mitt Romney's dream. If he was going to have a comeback, he was going to win West Virginia. Huckabee takes West Virginia. Another key state for Romney was Georgia. That's the Democrats. Let's switch to Republicans. We see Huckabee's strength again in the rural areas. Huckabee, a very narrow victory over McCain there. Romney coming in third place. His best hope down in Georgia, picked up a few delegates in the congressional districts right around Atlanta because Georgia is a proportional state.
Again, Romney wanted to do well in Missouri. As we just said, that one ends up going McCain narrowly. And this is the toughest and most bitter pill for Mitt Romney. Let's come out to California. Let's go over to the Republican side. Remember, he has said, John, in a one-on-one race with John McCain, I can get him. Well, he essentially had a one-on-one race here. Mike Huckabee did not compete very well in California.
John McCain is winning along the border in San Diego County. John McCain is winning in Orange County, the conservative bastion of southern California beating Mitt Romney only by three percentage points, but beating him. You look up and down the sweep of the state of California, Mitt Romney is winning only two congressional districts right here. There are 53 congressional districts here. That's how you get your delegates. John McCain right now is winning 51 of those. One or two more could swing. But John McCain is going to win 40 something or 50 something of the 53 congressional districts out there.
ROBERTS: And this is winner-take-all by congressional district in California?
KING: By congressional district.
ROBERTS: So he's going to get a huge whack of delegates coming as well.
KING: A huge whack. And let me show really quickly, John. If you do this, this is how that translates. At the beginning of the night last night -- come out on the telestrator and show you this very quickly. We're going to start the night last night.
Here's where the Republicans were. This is the finish line to be the nominee. This is roughly where they were. This is based on some projections. But you see Romney, McCain, pretty much a dead heat. Huckabee, a way back. Now, let's watch this.
Projections, do we still need to sort through this congressional districts? So this is not exactly right, but it's going to look something like that. Now you have even at the beginning of the night, now you have John McCain somewhere way out here, and Mitt Romney somewhere way back here. And not all that far ahead of Mike Huckabee, actually. So if John McCain is looking at this map tonight, it will change some but he is somewhere way out here ahead.
ROBERTS: And there's just a little more than 1,000 delegates left, so it's not mathematically impossible yet but getting close to that calculation for the other guys.
KING: But, John, given the proportions of the three-man race, absolutely.
ROBERTS: Fascinating stuff, John. Thanks very much. Our nonstop political coverage carries on with the post Super Tuesday edition of "Ballot Bowl." That's ahead at noon here on CNN -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks a lot, John.
Well, a former presidential candidate gets pulled into the fight in 2008. Why Mitt Romney is taking heat for something he said about Bob Dole.
Also, it could be the closest Democratic race in history. What does the party chair think about it? We're going to be talking to Howard Dean coming up next as well.
Also, a little bit of confusion. Why some people showed up to vote, but wasn't quite the right day. Had to be sent back home. We'll explain coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We have an extreme weather update that we want to bring you in on right now. Reports of more people killed in this devastating rash of severe weather that's hit many states in the south. In fact, this is a live radar picture as that line of storm continues to move through cutting a swathe all the way down to Louisiana and on up through even Ohio. According to our reporting, 32 people are now dead, and there is a report of another tornado touching down just moments ago in Tennessee.
Our Rob Marciano has been following the latest right now and monitoring the reports of these tornadoes touching down. Rob, what's the latest?
MARCIANO: Well, I'm just getting a report now that the one that we were showing you in central Alabama, reports of it on the ground. So I want to show you that cell right now and it's right along the I- 65 corridor. So certainly important information I want to pass along. Law enforcement reporting that in Tulsa and eastern Chilton County here, this cell has dropped a tornado on the ground just a few moments ago. It is moving quickly off towards the north and east at 55 miles an hour. And just recent scans of the radar here as it gets a little bit more clear, this is just reflectivity. So it's not always the best indicator, but this may very well be a hook developing there. We explained that to you earlier in the program. So, certainly action happening in Alabama.
We showed you just to the north and northeastern Alabama, now this one just north of Clayton. All right. Just to update you on what's going on north of there in through Chattanooga area. We still have a tornado warning that is in effect for Hamilton. That is set to expire, and that cell has moved through Chattanooga. So the weather in Chattanooga should begin to calm down, and hopefully we won't get confirmed reports of a tornado touching down in that area. Right now, the worst is over in Chattanooga, at least in the western part of that town. But, central parts of Alabama in through -- and near the Clayton area, just north of Clayton, on Highway 65, that is an area that we're still very, very concerned with. Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: Rob, thanks a lot. Let's take a shot right now. This is a live picture in Lawrence County, Alabama, right now. Again, CNN reporting one death and they are continuing to sift through the rubble, even there you can see searchers are combing through some of the damaged homes. According to Lawrence County Emergency Management, they say that there could be more dead as they continue to comb through the destruction. They say that one person died and numerous homes were destroyed.
This is a tornado that cut a 10-mile-long path of destruction through this county. It's in northern Alabama, Lawrence County. According to emergency officials there, they are still trying to assess the damage and search to make sure there aren't people that either, a, still need to be rescued or are injured or worst case scenario, that there are more people who lost their lives because of this devastating weather.
ROBERTS: Terrible night. Another day of this freakish winter weather there.
Those of us watching the presidential race may be suffering from one big political hangover today. Delegate counting went well into the night on Super Tuesday. For the Democrats, it's not over yet. They are still counting the delegates in California, and still no clear front-runner. Howard Dean is the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He joins us now live from Washington, D.C.
Governor Dean, good to be with you. Good to see you this morning.
HOWARD DEAN, CHAIRMAN, DNC: Nice to be with you. I had a short sleep. You and me.
ROBERTS: I guess so. Yes, I slept about three hours yesterday and was up all night. I'm sure that you're keeping pretty much the same schedule.
DEAN: But not quite as bad as that.
ROBERTS: Last time you and I talked was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, back in the 21st.
DEAN: Yes.
ROBERTS: You said you were happy so far with the interest in the Democratic race. I wondering if you're happy this morning as to how long it's going on?
DEAN: I'm really happy. I think it's fine if it goes on a little bit longer. I think it's going to go on well into March, maybe even into April. But, look, this is exposure for our candidates. The one thing last night that happened, which has happened in every single primary race, is we absolutely clobbered the Republicans in terms of turn out. If you want change in this country, you vote for the Democratic primary. That's clearly been the message for all Americans.
We outpolled the Republicans in Alabama, a state that has not voted for a Democratic candidate for president in a long time by 100,000 votes. That is unbelievable. So I think the message is pretty clear. If you want the same, you vote for the Republicans. If you want something different, you're going to vote for the Democrats.
ROBERTS: No question. There's a lot of excitement in this primary season, but it looks like, perhaps, with a couple or three more contests, John McCain could be the de facto nominee while the Democratic contest continues.
DEAN: Yes.
ROBERTS: Does that potentially hurt you going forward?
DEAN: John McCain has got a lot of explaining to do. He has a reputation as a maverick, but he's supported these enormous deficits that the president's created with his tax cuts for the people who didn't need them.
ROBERTS: Yes.
DEAN: He supported the president's veto on health care for middle class children. He has supported being in Iraq for "100 years." He wants to fix the economy by giving more tax cuts to corporations instead of helping middle class people. This is another -- a third Bush term, if John McCain or Mitt Romney wins. And I think they're going to have a lot of explaining to do. The public is in no mood for another term for George W. Bush.
ROBERTS: But as you know, Governor, the idea of certainty on one side of the other fence certainly helps you out when you're trying to plan for a general election. You told me again in South Carolina that you didn't want this Democratic nominating contest to go all the way to the convention.
DEAN: Well, I know that's true.
ROBERTS: But if they keep splitting delegates the way they are, they're still so very close to where they were in terms of percentage and differentials as they were heading in to Super Tuesday. Is there a possibility this could go all the way to the convention?
DEAN: Well, there's always a possibility. It has not happened for over 50 years. You know, this -- I think it's good that we go deep in the nominating process. All the pundits were talking about how this was going to be over on February 5th. I want our candidates to be exposed in all these states in places like Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., in Virginia, in Maryland, Wisconsin. That's good for the Democratic Party. It's good for the country to see our candidates up close. So far, I don't have any problems at all with how this is going. And I think the candidates are conducting themselves very well.
We had a little spat about three weeks ago, but I didn't -- their both performances in the last couple of debates has been great. And so far, I'm very happy. But I'm mostly happy about the enormous younger -- number of young people that are coming to the polls and voting Democratic, which is a trend we've seen for the last three or four years, and I'm happy about the enormous turnouts on the Democratic side as opposed to the Republican side.
ROBERTS: Governor, Governor, one quick question for you here. I was wondering after that spat in Myrtle Beach, you told me that day -- the day of the debate that you had been on the phone to the campaigns to say, hey, cool it a bit. I'm wondering, did you make another phone call after that debate because they came out and was a group hug there in California?
DEAN: Well, you know, the second half of that debate in Myrtle Beach was one of the best things I've ever seen any presidential candidates do. There were three of them at the time, and all three of them got out and sat down in their chairs and really put a little of themselves out for the American public to see. I thought that was a huge turnaround.
Look, these are smart people. They don't need me to tell them that the American people want a positive campaign and they've been running one. I think it's great. This is the most extraordinary year for Democrats I've seen in a long time.
ROBERTS: But did you call them?
DEAN: I would never tell if I called them or didn't.
ROBERTS: Should we take that as a yes?
DEAN: You shouldn't take that as a yes or a no.
ROBERTS: All right.
DEAN: What is it they say at the CIA? We do not confirm or deny.
ROBERTS: They say that in a lot of places.
Governor Dean --
DEAN: I think they've done great. I really do.
ROBERTS: All right. Governor Dean, good to talk to you. Thanks.
DEAN: Thanks for having me on.
ROBERTS: Well, Mitt Romney is backing off of a comment that he made about former Senator Bob Dole. He said it after Dole wrote to talk show host Rush Limbaugh asking him to ease his criticism of Senator John McCain. Romney commented that Dole was "probably the last person I would have wanted to have write a letter for me." McCain called that an attack and said Romney should apologize to the former presidential candidate. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bob Dole is a genuine American war hero as we know. I think Governor Romney should apologize to Bob Dole for a statement such as that and again, share the appreciation that all Americans have for Bob Dole who served his country with great bravery and courage both in war and in peace. This is no way to end up this campaign by attacking a genuine American war hero.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Sometime after McCain made that statement, Romney said that he would love to have Bob Dole's support. He says he tried calling the former Kansas senator yesterday but couldn't reach him -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, the Dow is headed for a higher opening this morning, that after stocks yesterday saw their biggest one-day drop this year. Why worries over the economy here in the U.S. keeps swinging markets around the globe, and how it affects your pocket.
Also, he said he wants to put the going out of business sign on the IRS. Will Mike Huckabee get his shot? A candidate on his comeback in the Super Tuesday performances in some of the key states in the south. He's going to be joining us coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Over the past few days, a lot of people have been trying to say that this is a two-man race. Well, you know what? It is, and we're in it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Twenty-six minutes past the hour now. Stephanie Elam in for Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business." Hopefully today will be a better today because what a mess on the Dow yesterday.
STEPHANIE ELAM, BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yesterday was a bad day. In fact, if you were looking at the markets yesterday, you probably saw that the Dow had its biggest drop of the year. I know it's early February, but still a big drop there. Dropping 370 points on the Dow, down nearly three percent. Nasdaq losing more than three percent. Same thing for the S&P 500. Really bad day there.
And this all comes out of some economic data we got about the service sector yesterday. It came in much weaker than was expected. That really freaked out the markets. And as one analyst put it, that this was screaming and yelling recession here. Coupled with the employment report that we got last Friday, it shows that things are actually starting to contract with the economy. Many analysts are now saying the economy is in a recession. So, that freaked out the markets and then it's spread over to Asia. We saw the Asian markets also take a hit overnight. As you can see there, Hong Kong losing more that five percent. Japan up close to five percent. Australia as well, off three percent. However, in Europe, things are looking higher. And here in the U.S., we're looking for a higher opening as well. So we'll keep our eyes on it and see if things can come back a little bit today, look a little bit more green -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Stephanie Elam, thank you.
ROBERTS: Well, he's no spoiler. Mike Huckabee joins us live after mounting a Super Tuesday comeback. We'll here what he's got to say about it.
The Democratic race is as close as it was. Will Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton battle all the way to the convention? Howard Dean told us that's a possibility. That story and today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING returns. And we'll be talking with a student at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Coming up, how she and her dorm mates survived.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just took the whole house. And I hang on to them and it just went over. We though tit was fire. When we got up, there was no house left but we're OK.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: Well, your hearts have to go out to the many people in several states in the south this morning. The devastation coming to light now, this deadly string of tornadoes that tore through many states. A rare winter outbreak they're calling it in the region, not in the clear yet. There are tornado watches and warnings still in effect. And breaking news right now on this situation. CNN has learned that at least now 45 people have been killed. The number of dead up to 24 in Tennessee, 13 people killed in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky, and at least one in Alabama right now. We're also getting reports from Rob Marciano that there are tornado, confirmations of tornadoes touching down, happening right now in many areas, including some of those border states right along Tennessee. This is a live picture right now coming to us from Jackson.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: Just an incredible -- the power of the storms last night. The extent of the storms. How wide spread they were. Continuing on today, apparently, Chattanooga just about in the clear now. It had been under a tornado warning until a few minutes ago. But as the sun comes up now and rescuers going are out at first light to assess the damage, they're finding obviously more and more people who are inside homes and other structures as those storms came through and didn't make it.
CHETRY: Right now, Rob Marciano is tracking the extreme weather for us from the weather center in Atlanta. Rob, what is the latest?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Watching this -- this cell that's moving through central Alabama that has a decent signature on it as far as the potential of having a tornado with it. And, also, well, we'll start off with a watch box. This was issued until 10:00 Central time. May very well be moved off to the east. That's what we've been seeing throughout the night. And just clusters of thunderstorms within the line. And the more separated these are, typically, the more dangerous they become. So, this part of the country we usually look for a line along the cold front to be pretty solid and move through. And then you get isolated small tornadoes and gust tornadoes within that. But what has been typical with this system is that they have been kid of breaking apart. And that's when you get these what we call super cell development, which can get those larger tornadoes forming within those individual storms. They become individual systems and they can kind of feed on themselves.
I-65, here's Clayton. This is a storm that's producing a tornado. It is now moving through Clay County and this is -- this has a tornado warning in effect for the next half hour to 45 minutes as it moves rapidly up to the north and east, 45 to 55 miles per hour is how fast these storms are moving. So this is not something you want to chase or even check out. Here the warnings where the counties are, you want to take cover.
Chattanooga, we talked about talking about the tornado warning in there. Now, it has moved up I-75, in through Cleveland, we have a tornado warning in effect there until 8:15 Eastern time. Still no reports of any sort of confirmed touchdown in Chattanooga. Hopefully that's still the case. These typically have about a 20 to 30-minute lag time. The worst is over right now for you guys who live in Chattanooga and certainly it was rough just about 20 minutes ago. All right. All these stuff is speeding to the Gulf of Mexico, moisture coming in across Mobile Bay and through Alabama. This is all going to be sliding to Atlanta as well. And we still have those tornado watch in effect for the next several hours. And then the severe risk does extend all the way up to western Pennsylvania. As a matter of fact, the storm's prediction center has about a 10 percent chance of seeing tornadoes touch down in west Virginia later on this afternoon. So, we'll look for this area to expand, although the bull's eye doesn't look to be intense as yesterday. Certainly the threat is still there today. John and Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: Does this strike you as very unusual for this time of the year, and especially when we're hearing the number of dead now up to 45?
MARCIANO: Well, I tell you, if you get this sort of storm system moving through this populated an area, that's sort of death toll, albeit shocking, is not terribly surprising. What is surprising is the location at which this all took place. Right in through the mid south. This is something that you would more see through say fall or early spring. Typically this time of year is a pretty quiet year. The storms that we do get are usually right along the Gulf coast like we saw last year across parts of Florida. So, I think where this happens is more typical of an early spring as opposed to a midwinter storm. And that certainly is alarming, Kiran.
CHETRY: Rob, thanks.
MARCIANO: You got it.
CHETRY: You talk about some of the populated area. Well, how about this? In Union University, this is in Jackson, Tennessee. It was one of the hardest hit areas. More than 3,000 students attend this school, and more than 1,200 live on campus. Candra Pennington, a senior at Union -- she and her friends survived a terrifying night of weather. Candra, thanks for being with us this morning. As we understand it, there were several dorms destroyed and for a time there were some students that were trapped. Luckily they did make it out OK. What was the situation for you guys when you started hearing those warning sirens going off?
CANDRA PENNINGTON, SURVIVED TORNADO: Well, there are about 15 students that sought shelter in our room. When we heard the sirens, we weren't really think it was going to hit. We were kind of light hearted, kind of joking in our room. We went to look at the weather and we realized we can't get the door opened. We knew immediately we need to get in the bathroom. So, we had to get all 15 girls in the bathroom. As we were closing the bathroom door, the debris, the windows were shattering, the ceiling was beginning to fall on us. We were able to get the door shut just in time so like to keep ourselves safe from all of the debris that fell out in to the room. We came out, we were just shocked at what we saw that all of our belongings were gone. If we had not made it to the bathroom, we would not have been OK.
CHETRY: And what was it like leading up to the actual tornado hitting? Were you guys getting warnings? Was the weather turning? Did you know that you had to take shelter?
PENNINGTON: Yes, we had been hearing about the storms all day long. We were kind of prepared for it. And when the sirens went off, we weren't shocked. So we all king of went down to the bottom floor into the rooms that we were supposed to. Like I said, we weren't really expecting it to hit. Because here in West Tennessee, tornado warnings are fairly common. So, we were just kind of joking and taking it a little bit light hearted until we realized that it had really come right upon us.
CHETRY: And when you see the pictures, some of those dorms just reduced to rubbles and some of these cars flipped upside down. It really is nothing short of a miracle that no one was killed on your campus. Even after the storm passed, you guys smelled gas? What happened there?
PENNINGTON: Well, we were in the bathroom for a while. And not sure if it was safe for us to leave. And we started to smell gas, and we weren't sure if it was OK for us to come out. We began to hear someone cry for help. We opened the door to see about that person and when we did, we found a bloody young man who came to our room to find a cell phone. That was the first image of the damage we saw. And that's when we realized we began to smell the gas. Finally after a little bit being stuck in the bathroom, we could hear people yelling for us to evacuate as soon as possible.
CHETRY: We understand your campus is closed now for at least two weeks as they start canceling classes at least for two weeks as they start to try to clean up from that damage. What are they telling you today?
PENNINGTON: Well, what we've heard so far is that classes are at least canceled until February 13, and maybe longer. I know they haven't -- they haven't really settled what's going to happen with the students that live on campus and have housing for those students yet. I know the university will do a wonderful job at taking care of us. I have total faith in that. It's devastating to be able to look out at the daylight now and see the damage and just to see how blessed we are to have made it through. It truly is a miracle that 1,200 students made it through this and there were no fatalities and no critical injuries.
CHETRY: Well, Candra, hang in there. It's going to be rough going as you guys try to get things back to normal, get life back to normal. When you look at the pictures, a lot of cleaning up ahead and rebuilding. Candra Pennington, a senior at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Thanks for being with us this morning.
PENNINGTON: You're welcome.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: 38 minutes after the hour now, Kiran. It was a super Tuesday for John McCain, the republican front-runner stretched out his lead. McCain won nine states including his home state of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, and the two big winner-take-all states, statewide of New Jersey and New York. He also won Oklahoma. McCain is projected to have 619 delegates to date. Republicans need 1,191 to win. So McCain passed the halfway point now.
Millions of votes later, the democratic race for the White House, still up for grabs. Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama battle for every last delegate on super Tuesday, and they're still counting them. Clinton won eight states, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Right now, Clinton projected to have 825 delegates to date. You need to have 2,025 to win the party's nomination. So Super Tuesday took the measure of the democratic race and came up just about even.
Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley joins us now. If you look at where the delegates are right now, and you're still counting California, not a lot of difference in the terms of the percentage of delegates they got as there was going into super Tuesday. So, can anybody claim clear victory here?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Both of them can and both of them have, actually. So, look, is it a state -- it's about the delegates. And the Clinton campaign thought we'd come out this still ahead in delegates overall. It looks as though they will. The Obama campaign came out saying if we can be within 100 points of her on the February 5th states, then we'll be fine. They both did. I talked to some of them last night, he said boy, we should take all of the money back we spent and start again tomorrow. So, that's pretty much where we are.
ROBERTS: You mentioned just a second ago, John McCain projected to be past the halfway point now even after California comes in, it's likely that neither one of the democrats will be. So will there be pressure as we go into the next few contests in Virginia, in Maryland, and Louisiana? For the democrats to settle this so that they can get a clear-cut nominee?
CROWLEY: I think there'll be some, you know, upper echelon party hand wringing, but I just don't think the people in Nebraska or Louisiana or Maryland are thinking, oh we really have to hurry up and get this over with. I think everybody, you know, wants they're shot of it and they'll get it.
ROBERTS: Yes. We talked to Howard Dean just a few minutes ago, and he said, to a point, the longer it goes on, the better known the candidates get. If it goes on too long, it may go all the to the convention. And if they split the delegates almost evenly, so that no one gets the 2,025, it could be up to the so-called super delegates to decide. In this democratic process, where all of these people came out to vote, if it comes down to party elders and members of Congress and state governors and other state politicians, how is that going to play in the democratic processes?
CROWLEY: Well, it looks like one of the smoky backroom conventions. I mean, that's - I mean, it's a problem. But it's the rules. I mean, they set it up. The super delegates have always been kind of a part of it. We always looked at it as kind an honorary position, because they can just go and sit with their delegations and be big wigs. They may count this time. So, you know, it is what it is. And obviously, they know about this, because they have been working the phones, both of these candidates are trying to pick up those super delegates who as you know, kind of usually go in, not pledged to anybody and go with the flow. Now it's different and they are really, really courting them.
ROBERTS: As political junkies, we would love to see it go back to the old days where the conventions actually meant something as opposed to just a celebration. I know Howard Dean doesn't want it to go that far. He wants some certainly before the convention.
CROWLEY: And part of that is money. As you know, I mean, they don't want the candidates -- they don't want the republican candidate to be settled and have them raising all those money while they keep battling it out.
ROBERTS: Exactly. Candy, thanks very much for the analysis. Kiran.
CHETRY: There were a few scattered voting problems reported during yesterday's busy super Tuesday primaries. Voting machines jammed in New York. Workers at one polling place in Chicago simply failed to show up. And the wrong ballots were delivered to a site in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Scattered computer glitches were also reported in Georgia which created some long lines at polling places. There was a lot of confusion at some polling places in Virginia yesterday. The state board of elections said it received about 400 calls from voters who wanted to know why their polling places were closed. Well, the problem is the state presidential primaries are still a week away. Officials say the early arrivals could mean that they'll be in for a heavy turnout for next Tuesday's primary.
Also, still ahead, was a super surprise, maybe not to Mike Huckabee, the candidate joins us live next on his remarkable wins in many of the key states in the south. He talks to us about that coming up.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today has been a day when the people have spoken. And today people across this country are saying that, yes, we heard what the pundits said. But this is our vote, not theirs. This is our election, not theirs. This is our presidency, not theirs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, he kept saying that he was not the one who should be dropping out. And he might have proved his point last night. Mike Huckabee surprising a lot of people with his performance on super Tuesday. Mike Huckabee joins us now live from Little Rock, Arkansas. Governor, first of all, congratulations on your performance yesterday. That was quite a sight to see.
HUCKABEE: Thank you very much, John. It was a great night for us. And what we did last night was win in states a republican has to win in order to capture the White House. And we did it going against the head winds of talk radio and the pundits saying that I had simply disappeared. I wasn't even relevant, didn't matter. And people had to go out and vote for me and vote really in the wind of all of that kind of noise that they we were hearing.
ROBERTS: There has been an argument between you and Governor Romney over who is the real conservative. But when you look at where you won and how you won yesterday, between you and John McCain who was the real conservative?
HUCKABEE: Well, people look at the figures and they're going to realize that in these states where the republicans are focused on their conservative base, I won. That ought to settle that argument.
ROBERTS: Right, so between you and John McCain, you are the real conservative?
HUCKABEE: Well, I think I'm the real conservative, period. If you look at consistency on second amendment, lower taxes. If you look at consistency on human life amendment, marriage amendment, strong national defense, things that matter to conservatives -- those are not views that I just invented in order to run for president. Those are the views that I've had had and have actually done something about during 10 1/2 years as a governor.
ROBERTS: I just want to ask you again about John McCain. Because I know that he's a good friend of yours. Yesterday, James Dobson from focus on the family gave a statement to Lara Ingraham which she read on her radio show in which she said, "I am convinced that Senator McCain is not a conservative and in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are. I cannot and will not vote for Senator John McCain as a matter of conscience." John McCain just passed the half way point of delegates as we said. What's your response to James Dobson's statement?
HUCKABEE: Well, you know, James Dobson might want to go ahead and endorse me. That would be great. If he can't support McCain, I would love for the conservatives to come home to Mike Huckabee. Like so many people in the base of the conservative movement in the south did yesterday. That's what I think may start happening. You know, last night, I proved that this may be, in fact, a two-man race, and I'll be that other person.
ROBERTS: Right. Could you support John McCain?
HUCKABEE: Well, sure. I mean, I'm going to support the republican nominee. Any of the guys on our side, I still think, are going to be far better for the taxpayer and small business and for the military than either Hillary or Obama. And I respect both of them. But look, we come at this very differently. And the fact is, I'm not going to abandon the basic principles of my party even if there are some disagreements I have with John McCain on immigration, or human life amendment or embryonic stem cell research or the Bush tax cuts. I have respect for him. I would certainly vote for him before I would vote for Hillary or Obama.
ROBERTS: Because there are some conservatives who say they would vote for Hillary before they vote for John McCain.
HUCKABEE: Well, you know what, they're not a conservative. If they say that then it just proved something. They're more about themselves than they are the cause. Because there is no way that a true conservative would vote for Hillary Clinton who would change the health care system, who would raise taxes, who would get us out of Iraq immediately and bring these guys home with dishonor and leave a mess in Iraq. There's no way that they can call themselves conservative and do that. And I think that, you know, some people need to switch to decaf and realize, folks, we may not get all of our battles just like we want, but there's a larger context in which this has to be fought.
ROBERTS: John McCain referred to himself last night for the very first time as, "the front-runner." He's got a little more than three times the number of delegates than you do at this point. I think some of the count is still coming in. You would need to win probably 80 percent to almost 90 percent of the remaining races to become the nominee. Can you do that?
HUCKABEE: I might can. But it may be that none of us have enough to win the whole thing until we get to the convention. The point is that one thing I know -- if I don't stay in the race, I can't win. I've got to keep answering the bell every time it rings. And you know something, I've spent my whole life from the time I was a kid fighting from the bottom. I've never known what it's like starting from the top. And I know that victory is awfully sweet when you go from the depths of the valley to the top of the mountain. And it's worth the trip if you can get there. I'm not giving up.
ROBERTS: Well, you certainly got a long way up the hill yesterday. Governor Huckabee, good to talk to you again. Congratulations, sir.
HUCKABEE: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: All right. Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, we want to bring you up to date now on the other story we've been following all morning. And that is the devastating weather in the south. A radar picture live right now. A line of storms all the way down in Louisiana on up to Ohio and possibly beyond. And we are just starting to see the scope of these devastating storms. 45 people, according to CNN now, confirmed dead in four different states. One of the hardest-hit, Tennessee and here is a picture right now.
This is coming to us from WMC aerial shots of some of the destruction in Tennessee where they have revised the number of dead -- 24 people losing their lives in that state in the wake of these tornadoes. These are pictures coming to us right now live from one of our affiliate there, WMC. And as we -- as we know, Union University also in Jackson, Tennessee, a miracle as it's being described by some of the students there that some of the 3,300 students, not one killed. There were some injuries on campus, but the line of tornadoes went through there, destroying some of the dorms, trapping some of the students inside. In fact, there were 13 trapped in one area that were all brought to safety last night. But, again, emergency crews throughout the counties and many of the states in the south start making their way through, picking through the rubble and the devastation, they are starting to find more people who did not make it because of these severe storms.
ROBERTS: Yes, and the line of severe storms continues to just barrel its way across Tennessee and now in to Georgia, leaving a trail of destruction in parts of Alabama, where another tornado was on the ground. Chattanooga was under a tornado warning just a few minutes ago, apparently, they're in the clear now. But this storm system heading further east toward West Virginia. The Carolinas as well. So we're going to keep a real close eye on what's going on. Make sure you stay right here on CNN. We got Rob Marciano all over this morning. He's a -- he's got a close eye on that Doppler radar. And as you can see, the extent of destruction here wrought by the storms, you really have to watch out for these. Make sure that you either have a weather radio, you keep it on, or stay here on CNN and we'll keep you updated in the latest watches and warnings.
CHETRY: Rob Marciano, I'll check in with him now. He's at the extreme weather desk in Atlanta, keeping an eye on this for us. Rob, you can see the same picture that we're getting from WMC, our affiliate there in Tennessee. Boy, that looks like a huge mall. And you can see parts of it just literally ripped to the ground.
MARCIANO: Yes, you know, this part of the country, it just -- when we saw this bull's eye go up yesterday from the storms predictions center there and conferring with the reporters and the managers that we're going to send crews out to the field, we just knew something was going to happen. And when you get this densely populated an area across the mid south, it typically isn't good. So, yes, these -- these kind of images that come now as the sun comes up kind of just carve a pit in your stomach when you think about the lives lost and the lives affected. And you know, that's -- we throw that number out there and you think of the hundreds of thousands, maybe tens of thousands -- certainly tens of thousands of peoples' lives affected by this outbreak of tornadoes ripping through the mid south.
At least 60 reports of tornadoes in the last 12 hours. Some of those are double reports, but nonetheless, you get the idea. Several tornadoes touching down and doing significant damage here from western parts of Tennessee, in to Arkansas, and now that line moving to the east and through eastern parts of Tennessee. And just as recently as the last 45 minutes, the tornado warning out for Chattanooga. So, Tennessee, from the west side of that state to the east side of that state, certainly bearing a fair amount of the brunt of this system as it continues. You know, what's -- there's the flag. You know what, the American flag continues to wave amongst that destruction. I don't know how that affects you guys, but I think we've been through a number of these kind of scenes throughout the country, and that sort of deal kind of gives me a little bit of hope.
ROBERTS: And I can remember, Rob, being in Greensburg, Kansas. You know, we were picking American flags up off of the ground, literally, nothing survive in Greensburg. So it's heartening to see this flag still flying there despite the destruction.
How much longer is all of this going to last? The storms are heading to the Appalachians now. Will that take some of the punch out of them?
MARCIANO: You know, the rougher the terrain, typically, the more turbulence it puts into the atmosphere, so these storms don't have as much of a chance to really develop into the full super cells that did the damages that you're looking at here. But nonetheless, we do have a chance for severe weather today. And we've seen it, even at this hour in the morning, without the addition of daytime heating which is what we needed yesterday to get that cap to break, to get these storms to pop.
If you guys want to fade or do a double box to show the radars and to give the folks a little bit of an indication as to where these storms are now, they're in eastern Alabama. They're moving to north Georgia within a tornado watch box that's in effect to at least 10:00 this morning. Word from the storm's prediction center, their latest discussion is saying, you know what? Now, we're watching Georgia. And we kind of thought that, but they're saying these storms could very well intensify as they move into Georgia because of the boundary that's in place, because of the what the mountains do and the flow off of the Atlantic certainly gets a little more complicated. But the results may very well be similar. And that is, turbulent weather, life-threatening weather. And until this whole system moves off to the east, which will happen tomorrow, we're certainly not out of the woods.
And, it also goes to show you, John, Kiran, that no matter how large the structure, we're looking at a big, big mall. You know, these storms packing winds in excess of 100, 150 miles per hour, in some cases, 200 miles an hour, possibly, there's no structure that's safe.
CHETRY: You know, you still have authorities going door-to-door, rescue workers and police, fire officials, they're trying to figure out what's going on in some of these areas. We saw within the span of our show the number of dead climb by 20. And when we started, it was at 27, and now 45 people reported killed across four different states. And Rob, it just shows you, you know, the scope of the devastation just how -- how big of an area we're talking about. But also just how difficult it is to -- to pick up the pieces. They weren't even able to get into some of the communities that were so devastated by the destruction.
MARCIANO: And the other issue with this time of year is there's two things -- one, these storms are cooking, because you've got the jet stream that's incredibly stronger in the wintertime. Winds at the higher elevations, the higher altitudes moving at 150 miles an hour. So, they push these storms along at 45, 55, even 60 miles an hour. So, you can't run from these, you can't chase them. And the other thing, you know, hey this, is February. This happened at night. So you can't see them coming, and then after they do come through, you -- it's quite a long wait until you get daylight to help the recovery efforts. And I'm sure that's been a frustrating, frustrating aspect for the emergency managers and neighbors trying to help out as these, as they try to pick up the pieces.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll keep it watching it, Rob. Keep us posted on any new developments and we'll get back to you as soon as you shout out to us.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
ROBERTS: We'll take a quick break. We'll be back with more on AMERICAN MORNING right after this. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Breaking news on this Wednesday, the 6th of February. I'm John Roberts. Thanks for being with us.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. More on the super Tuesday results in just a moment.
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