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American Morning
Obama's Clean Sweep; Clinton Campaign Shakeup; Writers Strike Likely Over; Youth Voters and the Internet
Aired February 11, 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: And good Monday morning to you. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks for being with us. I'm John Roberts on this February 10th.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Alina Cho. Kiran Chetry has the morning off. Boy, it was a busy weekend in politics or we got a busy week ahead.
ROBERTS: Oh, yes. There's so much going on. Barack Obama heads into the next round of primaries with the wind in his back, and Hillary Clinton begins the week with a new campaign manager. Obama won the main caucuses to sweep all five Democratic contests over the weekend. Now, the Clinton campaign is talking about change too from within.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (voice-over): A clean sweep this weekend for Barack Obama.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to thank the people of Maine. We have now won on the Atlantic Coast. We won in the Gulf Coast. We won on the Pacific Coast, and we won in between those coasts.
ROBERTS: The senator from Illinois topped Hillary Clinton by double digits in Sunday's Democratic caucus in Maine. He won by a similar margin Saturday in Louisiana's primary and beat her two-to-one in caucuses in Washington State and Nebraska.
Meanwhile, a shakeup at Camp Clinton. The senator from New York has a new campaign manager, Maggie Williams, Clinton's one-time chief of staff when she was first lady, is now running the show. The move comes as Clinton tries to catch Obama in momentum and fundraising. Clinton isn't talking about the shakeup. Instead, she's still firing away at the Republicans.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I'm your nominee, you'll never have to worry that I'll be knocked out of the ring, because I do have the strength and experience to lead this country and I am ready to go toe-to-toe with Senator McCain whenever and wherever he desires.
ROBERTS: Tomorrow, voters in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia vote. Obama could do well in all three contests. Thanks in part to the large number of African-Americans expected to participate. The Clinton campaign is looking ahead to next month, expecting to fare much better in two delegate-rich states, Texas and Ohio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Well, the candidates will battle for 168 delegates tomorrow. Both Obama and Clinton are reaching out to a former rival for his support. John Edwards expected to meet with Obama today. He already sat down with Hillary Clinton on Thursday in North Carolina. No one is sure when or if an endorsement is imminent -- Alina.
CHO: We'll be watching for that. Meanwhile, as it stands right now, Hillary Clinton has a slight edge over Barack Obama in the delegate count. She has 1,148 delegates. Obama has 1,121. Two thousand twenty-five delegates are needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. Many analysts are predicting the 796 superdelegates will ultimately decide the election. They include members of congress, governors, former presidents and unelected officials. We're going to talk with two undecided superdelegates in our next hour.
Over on the Republican side, John McCain is leading in the delegate race with 723 to Mike Huckabee's 217. One thousand one hundred ninety-one delegates are needed to secure the GOP nomination. Only 819 delegates are still up for grabs, and the Republicans, by the way, do not have superdelegates.
Huckabee picked up wins in Kansas and Louisiana over the weekend, but he's contesting John McCain's win in Washington State. Here's why. Huckabee says McCain was declared the winner by just 240 votes when some 1,500 other votes were still uncounted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED ROLLINS, HUCKABEE'S CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: There are still more than 1,500 votes that have not been counted. In my 40 years in politics, you don't get to announce the votes until they're all counted. And obviously, by his attempts to project without any statistical data or even if he had statistical data, it's irrelevant. We're entitled to a fair, full count.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Lawyers for the Huckabee campaign say they plan to investigate why the vote counting was stopped.
President Bush is talking more about the race to replace him. He calls John McCain a true conservative, but says McCain may have to work harder to convince other conservatives he's one of them if he gets the nomination. President Bush still not offering a formal endorsement, saying we still have another conservative candidate in Mike Huckabee.
And stick around because we're going to talk with Governor Huckabee live right here in our next half-hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
And Michelle Obama is Larry King's guest tonight. You can catch Larry every weeknight on "LARRY KING LIVE." That's at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time -- John.
ROBERTS: Four minutes after the hour now. Alina, extreme weather in the news right now. A state of emergency in effect in Virginia. Sixty mile-an-hour winds ignited wild fires last night, forcing hundreds of people from their homes and knocking out power to at least 60,000 customers from the northern part of the state all the way down to the south.
In northeastern Pennsylvania, a blinding snowstorm led to a 68- car pileup on Interstate 81 near Hazelton. One person was killed. At least 35 others were injured. The winds also blowing in bitter cold across the Midwest and the northeast.
Our Rob Marciano is tracking it from the weather update desk. Rob, as I left my home in Virginia yesterday, the wind was beginning to howl. What's it going to be doing there today?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's calmed down a little bit down to the south, but the northeast is still blowing pretty good. The storm system that's creating some of these winds is beginning to slowly move offshore. Let's take a look at some of the current winds over the last hour and how they've been fluctuating.
This spot across northeast of Virginia Beach that's just offshore, but you noticed that everything else is pretty much anywhere from 10 to 20 miles an hour. But that's doesn't help folks who live in upstate New York. We've got a fair amount of lake-effect snow that's coming off Ontario in through the Tug Hill Plateau and through Oswego County. Folks that are used to it, but one to two feet of snow at one to two inches per hour this morning? That's enough to do some damage on the roadways, so be careful out there.
Big story, of course, is the cold air moving across much of the Great Lakes and the northeast. Eleven currently in New York. It is minus three in Chicago. You couple in those biting winds, and it feels like minus five in New York. Minus 18 is the wind chill in Buffalo, minus seven degrees in Albany.
And if that's not enough, with all this cold air in place, we have winter storm warnings that are posted for western parts of Ohio, sliding down through southern parts of Missouri, anywhere from two to eight inches, depending on where you live of snow, but they will mix with some ice. In some spots, we'll have enough ice that coats the branches and power lines to maybe take some of those down. So power outage is possible in the highlighted areas you see there in red. So that's what's going on here in the weather department. Winter is here. And as we continue, we haven't really gotten much of a break, have we, John? In the past of couple of weeks, it's been kind of nasty.
ROBERTS: No. Certainly in places like Virginia where the temperature has gone down so much, and the power is out is going to cause some problems for people because the heat doesn't work either.
MARCIANO: Never good.
ROBERTS: All right. Rob, thanks very much. We'll check back in with you a little bit later on.
MARCIANO: OK.
ROBERTS: Alina?
CHO: You're one of those people who lost power yesterday. All right.
Striking writers picking up their pens again. They'll vote this week on whether to end the three-month-old strike. Then, they'll vote on a new deal to give them a cut of revenue from digital media, including videos streamed over the Web. Union leaders are claiming victory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRIC VERRONE, WGA WEST PRESIDENT: It's arguably the most successful strike, American Labor Movement in a decade, certainly the most important of this young century. It is not all that we hoped for, and it is not all we deserve. But as I told our members, this strike was about the future and this deal assures for us and for future generations of writers, a share in the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Our Lola Ogunnaike has the details on the deal. So, Lola, what's the bottom line here, and when can we see writers back to work?
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, writers can be back to work as early as Wednesday, Alina. If they vote tomorrow to decide to go back to work while the contract is being ratified, then they can be back to work as early as Wednesday. They could vote to sit it out until the contract is ratified.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: Is that likely?
OGUNNAIKE: But that's not likely at all.
CHO: Yes.
OGUNNAIKE: Everyone wants to get back to work. I mean, this thing has been going on for three months. It's already caused the industry well over $1 billion, and people just really want to get back to work. I mean, I speak with a number of writers over the course of a few months, and they're eager to get back to work.
CHO: Yes. Seth Meyers, the chief writer at "Saturday Night Live," shaved his beard. He'd been growing it throughout the strike and when somebody asked him why, he said, "Confidence. I'm confident that it's going to be over." So, there you have it. But this is obviously very, very good news for the industry and for viewers. I mean, so when could we see our favorite shows back on the air? And let's not forget the Oscars.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes.
CHO: Huge deal for the Oscars, too.
OGUNNAIKE: It's a huge deal for the Oscars. You're going to have your writers participate in the show. Jon Stewart is not going to have to come up with all of his own material?
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: Not that he'd have a problem.
OGUNNAIKE: Not that he'd have a problem. But it's been a little tough on his show.
CHO: Yes.
OGUNNAIKE: And so -- it's going to be the big old traditional party.
CHO: The stars will be out. The red carpet will be there. The whole deal.
OGUNNAIKE: If you're sitting at home and you're eager to see your "30 Rocks" again and your, you know, your "Ugly Betty" and your "Desperate Housewives," you should expect the sitcoms back in about four weeks, and you can expect the dramas back in about six to eight weeks.
CHO: Yes, it takes a little longer on the drama side.
OGUNNAIKE: It takes a little longer on the dramas, so set your DVRs, your "Grey's Anatomy," your "Desperate Housewives, they're coming back soon enough.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: Well, we have to set them because we got a better (INAUDIBLE).
OGUNNAIKE: We sure do.
CHO: Lola Ogunnaike, very good news on this front. Lola, thanks.
OGUNNAIKE: Thanks.
CHO: John?
ROBERTS: So people associated with "24," Kiefer Sutherland's program, say it's probably not going to come back until next year.
OGUNNAIKE: Because you know, that runs -- it's a weekly cycle.
ROBERTS: I know.
OGUNNAIKE: So they need the 24 weeks to make that actually happen. So there's no sense in starting that now and then having to cut it short until next season.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: All right.
OGUNNAIKE: Better to just sit this all out and come back really hard and ready to go next year.
ROBERTS: Better for who? Not the fans, certainly?
OGUNNAIKE: Yes, but you want Jack Bauer in his full glory.
CHO: That is true.
OGUNNAIKE: You don't want Jack Bauer interrupted.
ROBERTS: Yes, well, at least "Lost" is back on the air.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes.
ROBERTS: Thank, Lola.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is in Iraq today focusing on U.S. troop levels. He's calling for a brief evaluation period before approving further troop withdrawals. Gates made the comments overnight in Baghdad after meeting with General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. He says that after the current wave of troop reductions is over in July, it only makes sense to stop and evaluate the situation. Twenty-two thousand troops should be home by July. He says Iraqi leaders have been showing a lot of promise lately in securing the country.
Charges could be announced as early as today for six suspects linked to the 9/11 attacks including whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty. Today's "Wall Street Journal" and "New York Times" report that military prosecutors plan to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five others for war crimes. They're currently being held in the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay. Lawyers say even if the detainees are convicted on capital charges, any execution would be many months away.
More drama expected on the Hill this week when Roger Clemens and his former trainer, Brian McNamee, meet with congressional leaders. Both men submitting sworn deposition, and one of them could go to jail. McNamee claims that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone more than a dozen times between 1988 and 2001. Clemens has repeatedly denied the accusations. McNamee's legal team says it believes the Justice Department could open a criminal investigation after this week's testimony.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will conduct a space walk today but with a slightly different crew. German astronaut Hans Schlegel was benched after becoming ill. NASA won't say what the sickness was, but Schlegel sounded upbeat and looked well yesterday. The managers hope that he'll be fit enough for another walk on Wednesday. The crew is installing the new lab module called "The Columbus."
CHO: Well, you drink and thinking you're watching your weight? Now, there's news that your sugar substitute could be adding to your waistline. Oh, find out how just ahead.
And this could be the first election where the youth vote actually makes a difference. We talk about this a lot. Veronica De La Cruz takes a look at how the Internet is changing the face of politics ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up now to 14 minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning" here on CNN. Gas prices down about three cents over the past two weeks. According to the Lundberg Survey, the average price for a gallon of gasoline nationwide, now $2.94. Drivers in St. Louis paid the least, just $2.76. And, of course, drivers in Honolulu always pay the most, $3.35.
You may not know how to define recession, but you know it when you see it. According to an AP poll, 61 percent of Americans say they think the country is in a recession right now. Analysts say once consumers start worrying about a recession, they spend less and that hurts the economy even more -- Alina.
CHO: All right, John. What can $44.6 billion buy you these days? Well, apparently, it's not enough for Microsoft to buy Yahoo. Ali Velshi in the studio "Minding Your Business." Good to see you. So how high can it go?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Yahoo says that they want another $12 a share. So Microsoft bid $31 for Yahoo. They want another $12, so that takes the $44.6 billion up to about $57 -- $58 billion.
CHO: Ow.
VELSHI: Now, Yahoo is in a good position because it is the most visited site on the Internet or a group of sites on the Internet. Google, of course, is trying to get in on this and say that would be way much too control between these two companies, Microsoft and Yahoo. But, yes, Google controls almost two-thirds of all the search that goes on in the Internet.
CHO: Yes.
VELSHI: Now, Yahoo is saying they're not interested in this bid. It undervalues the company, which is interesting because before this bid, Yahoo shares have been languishing much lower, and Yahoo is reportedly in -- these are all reports. We're hoping that we get some confirmation on this today. But Yahoo is reportedly in conversations with AOL, which is a unit of Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, also about maybe coming up with a bid that unites.
CHO: From a consumer's standpoint, what do we have to gain from a Microsoft-Yahoo partnership? VELSHI: This is mainly a deal for advertisers. It's mainly a deal for people who advertise on the Web. For consumers, Yahoo and Microsoft are both very good site sites if they merge. You'll get a little bit more, but it won't be immediately.
CHO: Easier to navigate, maybe?
VELSHI: In a year or two.
CHO: Yes.
VELSHI: No major changes right now. Yahoo! has more to offer the consumer than Microsoft does. But really, it's about mail. It's about search. It's about photos and video and things like that. They're both headed in that direction. Yahoo! is doing a better job than Microsoft. Microsoft is still mainly a software company. Yahoo! is still mainly an Internet company.
So analysts say it's fine. For the average user, one to two years, you'll see a Microsoft-Yahoo! site. If this deal goes through, it will be some kind of super site. Same deal if they merge with Yahoo!. It will be some kind of a super fantastic site that you go to.
CHO: All right. Ali Velshi, "Minding Your Business."
VELSHI: Which is close enough.
CHO: I know you will.
VELSHI: OK.
CHO: All right. Ali, thanks -- John.
ROBERTS: We have heard about it for years, but is the youth vote really making a difference in this election? Our Veronica De La Cruz has been tracking the candidates online. So what's the verdict?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I mean, there ____6.34 10 really a surprise here? Obama really pulling in that youth vote. He's what? He's the youngest candidate, 46 years old. So, I mean, that's kind of what we're looking at. And, you know, it really started from the get-go in Iowa. Obama turned out 57 percent of their votes there. Clinton taking only 11 percent, and we've kind of seen this trend continue.
And according to Politico.com, 14 percent of voters in the Democratic primaries this year have been under the age of 30, which, John, this early seem like a lot but it is from years past. 2004, nine percent, and then eight percent back in 2000. In fact, the youth turnout growth in every Super Tuesday state where data was available except in New York, where it stayed the same. People saying that Barack Obama, his popularity online has been playing a big part.
I'm going to show you what's on the Web. Techpresident.com has a bunch of different graphics, MySpace, for instance. If you break it down, John, you see that Obama has what? 270,000 MySpace fronts and that's in comparison to Clinton who has about 179,000. Now, that's on the Democratic side.
If we move down the page and we take a look at the Republicans -- Ron Paul -- Ron Paul still bringing in 120,000 MySpace friends when it comes to support. And then McCain, he's kind of down the list, 44,000 is what he sees. So that's MySpace. And then, if we take a look at Facebook, you got to see the same thing -- 480,000 people when you see Obama, Clinton about 100,000. And then, again, Ron Paul, 83,000, which is really interesting because if you think about it, he still has yet to win a primary or a caucus.
McCain, still down the list 56 percent, and then Huckabee has about 50,000. So it's interesting to see whether or not this is all translating. Again we're looking at Techpresident.com. But, I mean, I think the bottom line here is that technology is definitely playing a key in this election. You know, whether it is the youth or not, people are definitely hitting the Web.
ROBERTS: Oh, yes. We've definitely seen that. Ron Paul leading the way with his money bombs, raising as much money as he did.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: And now, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are using the Internet to raise money.
DE LA CRUZ: Why do you think -- when do you think this is going to drop off, by the way?
ROBERTS: Not until --
DE LA CRUZ: Eighty-three thousand for Ron Paul.
ROBERTS: Not until he gets out of the race. What they can do is -- no indication that he's going to get out of the race any time soon because he doesn't really have to win these primaries to make his point, you know?
DE LA CRUZ: Right. Yes.
ROBERTS: He wants to create a movement and whether or not he wins any of these states, I think, really is kind of irrelevant to him at this point. So, we'll see how it all works out.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes.
ROBERTS: Veronica, thanks.
DE LA CRUZ: Of course.
ROBERTS: Alina?
CHO: All right. John, thanks. Put down your diet soda. Why it may be doing your body more harm than good. Details ahead.
Plus, the big winners and losers at last night's Grammy Awards. Any surprises? Amy Winehouse performed via satellite. Lola Ogunnaike with the score card ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-two minutes after the hour, and time for your "Hot Shot" of the morning. Take a look at this. A fireball flying down the racetrack in Pomona, California.
Two-time defending funny car champ, Tony Pedregon, suffered second-degree burns yesterday after his engine exploded during his first round race. The car hit a retaining wall close to 300 miles an hour after the blast, but the driver managed to get out of the car in his own power. He says the fire burned through six layers of his fire suit on his legs and also singed his eyebrows. Lucky to be alive, though.
If you got a "Hot Shot," send it to us. Head to our Web site, CNN.com/am and follow the "Hot Shots" link. Be sure to include your name, where you're from, a little bit about the picture or video. And one more thing, please make sure that the image is yours and not someone else's.
New research suggests artificial sweeteners could be responsible for weight gain. A new study says rats on diets containing saccharin gained more weight than rats that were eating sugary foods. A possible reason? Saccharin breaks the connection between sweet taste and calories, making the rats overeat. One expert says it explains why people who drink diet soda have a higher risk of obesity.
We'll be looking at this more this morning because it's a better important study. Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us to talk more about the news at the top of the hour. Right now, let's hand it over to Alina.
CHO: All right, John, thanks.
Music's biggest stars celebrating big Grammy wins this this morning. The 50th Annual Grammy Awards handed out last night, and troubled singer Amy Winehouse scored big but didn't quite sweep. Lola Ogunnaike here with a look at the winners and the losers. So Winehouse won five out of the six that she was nominated for, except for best album. That went to Herbie Hancock?
OGUNNAIKE: Which was the biggest surprise of the evening, Alina.
CHO: I didn't know he was still around.
OGUNNAIKE: Well, everyone just assumed that Amy, after she would five out of six, would win the sixth because she won for Best New Artist. She won for Best Pop Album. She won for Best Song, Best Record. We all just thought she would get it for Best Album. Herbie Hancock came out of nowhere. Even Kanye West thought that Amy Winehouse was going to win, even though he made it very clear that he deserved to win.
CHO: Of course, he did.
OGUNNAIKE: But Herbie Hancock out of there, he was so surprised he dropped his speech. It took him awhile to get together but when he finally did, you know, he was very composed and he thanked all the people who helped him get to where he was, including Miles Davis.
CHO: Looks so surprised. He looks great.
OGUNNAIKE: He is a true veteran.
CHO: I'm sure.
OGUNNAIKE: I mean, this is his tenth Grammy. Oh, actually, it's his eleventh Grammy.
CHO: Wow.
OGUNNAIKE: He's already got ten.
CHO: Wow.
OGUNNAIKE: So he's a veteran.
CHO: I want to get to Amy Winehouse in just a minute. But very quickly, you interviewed Chaka Kahn last week. She was up for two Grammys. She won?
OGUNNAIKE: She won both.
CHO: Both of them?
OGUNNAIKE: She won both of the Grammys. She won for Best R&B Album for her album, "Funk This." And also, she won another award for her collaboration with Mary J. Blige, so Chaka was two for two last night.
CHO: Good for her.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes.
CHO: Good for her. Well, that's nice to hear.
Let's talk about Amy Winehouse. She could not obtain a visa to perform live in person at the Grammys, but they managed to do it via satellite. How'd she do?
OGUNNAIKE: I have to say she performed surprisingly well, Alina. Everyone was really worried. They didn't know if she was even going to make it to the venue.
CHO: Why?
OGUNNAIKE: Because as you know, she's had a few issues in recent months.
CHO: Yes, she has.
OGUNNAIKE: But she not only managed to make it there, she really blew it out of the water, actually. Her voice sounded strong. She looked stable.
CHO: She looked a little surprise there.
OGUNNAIKE: Well, when she won for Best Record, she was genuinely shocked. And you actually were rooting for her because it looked like she was on the way to getting herself together. Her dancing was a little questionable and the hair -- ooh, but you know, she looked really happy.
CHO: Well, she's not Britney Spears.
OGUNNAIKE: That's for sure.
CHO: You know what -- let's talk a little bit about some of the other performances -- notable ones. Yes, right. You know, there was a lot of talk before the Grammys that Michael Jackson might be the surprise performer, but that didn't happen, right?
OGUNNAIKE: Yes, people were saying there are rumors that Michael Jackson might show up. This is the 25th anniversary of "The Thriller" album. People thought that might be a huge surprise --
CHO: But Tina Turner?
OGUNNAIKE: Tina Turner showed up in a silver lemay (ph) and body suit.
CHO: Yes, she did.
OGUNNAIKE: A very interesting wardrobe choice, but this woman is pushing 70 and she's still got some moves and she's still got the lungs. And she --
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: Look at her. With Beyonce?
OGUNNAIKE: Yes.
CHO: Wow.
OGUNNAIKE: They dueted. And they did a good job. I mean, look at her. She's still moving. Beyonce can barely keep up right there.
CHO: Look at that.
OGUNNAIKE: That was a really interesting performance. But, again, questionable fashion choice. But --
CHO: Well -- OGUNNAIKE: Strong performance.
And Barack Obama won a Grammy actually for his --
CHO: Beat Bill Clinton.
OGUNNAIKE: He beat Bill Clinton, actually.
CHO: For his "The Audacity of Hope."
OGUNNAIKE: The audio version of "Audacity of Hope."
CHO: All right.
OGUNNAIKE: He beat this Clinton this time.
CHO: Lola Ogunnaike got it all -- the whole Grammy wrap for us. Lola, thanks.
OGUNNAIKE: Thanks.
CHO: John.
ROBERTS: Brazen art robbery in Switzerland to tell you about. Police say armed thieves swiped nearly $100 million worth of paintings by some of history's most famous artists. And it's not the first time that that's happened. That story coming up for you.
And the U.S. may ask for a (INAUDIBLE) against terrorist suspects linked to 9/11. We'll ask our legal analyst, Sunny Hostin, if that makes their case harder to win. Stay with us. We'll be right back on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Now you see how clear it is in New York City this morning. The reason why? It's because it's too cold out there for any clouds to form.
It's 11 degrees.
CHO: What a gorgeous shot.
ROBERTS: Watch the wind. Yes, it's beautiful. But it feels like minus eight out there right now.
CHO: Yikes.
ROBERTS: It is freezing.
CHO: I know you were still in D.C. at this point. You didn't get in until about 10:00 last night. But I tell you, in the afternoon -- 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon, you know, it was snowing. It was like a blizzard for like 15 minutes and then, boom, it was clear.
ROBERTS: Kiran got the snow that she's been looking for. However, none of it stuck to the ground.
CHO: Yes, she had.
ROBERTS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's Monday, the 11th of February. I'm John Roberts.
CHO: Good morning, everybody. Glad you're with us. I'm Alina Cho, in for Kiran Chetry.
And on the heels of a huge weekend, Senator Barack Obama is expected to meet with a former opponent today. He wants John Edwards to back his search for the nomination. Of course, he'll have to fight Hillary Clinton for that key endorsement. She met with Edwards in North Carolina on Thursday.
Obama won all five Democratic contests over the weekend -- in Maine, Nebraska, Washington State, Louisiana, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. And as it stands right now, Hillary Clinton has a slight edge over Obama in the delegate count. She has 1,148 delegates, as you see there. Obama has 1,121. Two thousand twenty-five delegates are needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. Obama says he can beat Clinton and win the big one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of the things you can tell your friends is there is a reason why the last six polls, including this week's "Time" magazine, show that I beat John McCain by six, seven points and she doesn't. That's where it matters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: And a major shakeup for the Clinton campaign. She's replaced her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, with her former chief-of-staff, Maggie Williams.
With plenty of Federal employees watching closely inside the beltway, former President Clinton hit the campaign trail to say experience still matters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: This has been an interesting election. And we don't have to be against anybody. But we do have to pick the person who would be the best president. And I think the way you decide that depends in no small measure on what you believe America needs.
And whether you believe America needs a president that cannot only inspire us, but can handle whatever incoming fire occurs, whatever emergencies come up, and can make positive changes in the lives of all Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: The retooled Clinton campaign now faces an uphill battle in the next primaries tomorrow in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C.
John?
ROBERTS: We'll expect a campaign blitz heading into those high- stakes primaries tomorrow.
Mike Huckabee is coming off an encouraging weekend, winning in Kansas and Louisiana. But his campaign is contesting the results in Washington State. Saying the race was called before 1500 votes were counted. It was called in favor of John McCain.
CNN's Dana Bash is live in Annapolis, Maryland for us this morning.
Not a great weekend for John McCain now, Dana. What does his campaign saying about Kansas? How he lost and what they'll do from here?
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The whole point of his campaign right now is they're trying to make him look and sound inevitable in terms of being the Republican nominee. So if somebody who has problems, big problems, still, with the conservative base, to lose and to lose so big.
He really got crushed in Kansas, a state that is really built on conservatives. That really doesn't play into the message that he's trying to give. He also didn't win -- he lost a number of votes in Louisiana.
Now, what his campaign says, John, is that they didn't expect to win there. They didn't really campaign very hard there. As one of his advisers said to me, if we lose some of the next big states like Virginia or Maryland or even D.C., he said talk to me then. Then we'll have a problem.
But, you know, it's interesting, John. John McCain is still trying to, sort of, walk this fine line. He's trying to act like the nominee. And that means he's trying not to campaign too hard in these Potomac primary states. He's got one stop here in Maryland. He's got one stop in Virginia.
But at the same time, he understands, he has to campaign as his campaign says, they have to quote, unquote "respect the process" and they also can't afford to have another embarrassing night on Tuesday night.
ROBERTS: It's certainly difficult to make the case say, you're the front-runner when you're getting throttled in states like that. Mike Huckabee coming under increasing pressure to drop out of the race, because many people believe that he's beginning to hurt McCain in terms of his ability to win over conservatives.
Governor Rick Perry of Texas even called Huckabee the other day to ask him to drop out. Here's what Huckabee says about the whole thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, I'm really not very persuaded by the party officials and the establishment who come out now and they're saying, oh, John McCain has 700 delegates. We ought to just quit. Well, when they wrote the rules, it said you have to have 1,191.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Dana, what's Huckabee up to here? It's almost mathematically impossible for him to beat John McCain. Is he just looking to put in a good showing, get more delegates than Mitt Romney, and therefore, be a force at the convention?
BASH: It could be. You know, maybe the right answer and the best answer and those honest one is one he gave over the weekend. With a smile, John, where he said, "I've nothing else to do. That's why I'm staying in the race."
But the reality is, you know, covering and watching Mike Huckabee, the whole, sort of theme of his campaign is to break the odds and go against the odds. To do things that nobody expects him to do. That's one of the reasons it seems why he's staying in the race.
But you know, as he continues to campaign, he is having -- though he has a great relationship with John McCain, he does seem to tweak him more and more on his weak spots as he's campaigning, which is the fact that he has trouble with conservatives.
So he seems to want to show conservatives that they do have an alternative here. So the question is, whether or not that is ultimately going to keep hurting John McCain in some of these states coming up.
ROBERTS: And we'll see how much longer this relationship between the two of them stays on such good ground.
BASH: Yes.
ROBERTS: All right. Dana Bash for us this morning in Annapolis. Dana, thanks.
Now, here's how the delegate totals stand in the Republican side. John McCain leading with 723 to Mike Huckabee's 217. 1191 delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination.
The GOP does not use super delegates but many analysts are predicting that the 796 super delegates will ultimately decide who the Democratic nominee will be. Those super delegates include members of Congress, governors, former presidents, unelected officials, and they're some of the most popular people in the party right now.
We'll talk with two undecided super delegates in our next hour. A very controversial -- this idea that they may decide who the nominee is. Although, it happened back in 1984. First this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Should super delegates: A) Follow the state results in throwing the support behind the candidate; Follow the national results, or, Do their own thing? Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll have the first tally of votes coming up a little bit later on in this hour.
And we'll ask Mike Huckabee how he likes his chances in tomorrow's Potomac primaries. He's going to be our guest, live here on AMERICAN MORNING in just a few minutes' time.
Alina?
CHO: We'll look forward to that. Thirty-seven minutes after the hour.
A combination of bone-dry terrain and strong winds has created a perfect storm, if you will, for fires to spread across the southeast. A state of emergency in Virginia. National Guard troops are standing by to help fight those fires.
A different story though from the plains states to the northeast, where bitter cold is taking hold. Rob Marciano, tracking all of the extreme weather for us.
So, what do you looking at, Rob?
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: As we have been talking about big wins over the weekend for Mike Huckabee, but he's looking for one more. Why he is contesting he results from one state and how he's preparing for tomorrow's big beltway primaries. We'll speak with him live just ahead.
And charges (INAUDIBLE) suspected of plotting the 9/11 terror attacks. Our legal analyst Sunny Hostin will tell us if prosecutors can get the death penalty. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Forty-two minutes after the hour. Almost $100 million worth of art, gone. Police in Zurich, Switzerland says armed robbers have pulled off a quote, "spectacular art robbery." Masters of understatement there. They took works by famed painters such as Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Degas.
The works were taken from a museum on Sunday. They're not naming which museum it was but it was the second biggest Swiss art heist in days. Last week, police reported the two Picassos were swiped from an exhibition near Zurich.
Alina?
CHO: The U.S. is going for the death penalties for six suspects accused in the 9/11 attacks including the alleged mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. That's according to published reports this morning. Charges are expected as early as today against the six Guantanamo detainees.
AMERICAN MORNING's legal analyst Sunny Hostin is here with us now.
So, we really have not seen a lot of military tribunals. They haven't been used very often. And so there's a lot of questions about what happens next. What does happen next?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's hard to tell. And as you mentioned, Military Commissions have historically been used for this sort of enemy combatants. And the last time the U.S. has used this was during World War II. And so we don't have a lot of experience with it.
This in particular was passed in 2001. It was an order under the Bush administration, under President Bush to, sort of, implement this new Military Commission's panel. So what's the next step? It's an untested system. We don't know, but we do know that there's going to be probably charges, death penalty charges.
And I think what's most fascinating about it is we know that the death penalty system here in the United States has been criticized, just widely by other countries. And so, there's no question that it's going be debated fiercely. Fiercely and really, the spotlight is going to be on the United States by other countries.
CHO: So let's talk more specifically about this, because a lot of the detainees charging through their lawyers that they're being held without just cause.
HOSTIN: That's right.
CHO: And then a lot of questions about the coercive techniques by which they've made their emission. So, what about that as evidence? Can that be admitted?
HOSTIN: You know, in the Military Commission trial it is going to be admitted. But what's very fascinating, as you've mentioned, Alina. We've seen that these are problematic proceedings. We've seen that the Supreme Court has struck down some of these proceedings. We've seen that there had been these coercive tactics. And so it's going to be admitted but it's really, really hard to tell what's going to happen.
Is it going to be a closed, secret proceeding? Is it -- all of these evidences, you know, that's been coercive? How is the military tribunal going to weigh it? I have to say I'm going to be watching it. I think people are going to be watching it. But it's going to be a very, very difficult trial and especially with death penalty charges.
CHO: Are you surprised -- I mean, that they went for the death penalty given the controversy over the death penalty in the United States right now that you alluded to earlier?
HOSTIN: I'm not surprised. I mean, if ever there was a case for the death final, this is a case where 3,000 people were murdered. And so I'm not surprised by it. But it's going to make it a much more difficult case. You're going to have to have attorneys that are seasoned in the death penalty. I think it's going to be appealable.
And so, unfortunately, while this is something that we've been waiting for and these men have to be brought to justice, it's going to make this sort of just a legal quagmire right now.
CHO: Well and it will be a long process, I'm sure, with lots of appeals. Legal analyst, Sunny Hostin. Thanks as always.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
CHO: John?
ROBERTS: Think the diet soda is helping you trim your waist line? Well, think again. Why one ingredient in the soda could actually make you pack on the pounds.
And count all the votes. That's what Mike Huckabee is saying about one of this weekend's primary races. We'll talk with the governor about that and his other big wins. And what's ahead for tomorrow's belt weight primary when he joins us live, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Forty-nine minutes after the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business." And that pesky Hugo Chavez...
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's back. He's back. It's really the story. Last week -- last year, Venezuela nationalized a number of oil projects in the country. Projects that were run by other companies. Exxon Mobil was one of those.
So last week, Exxon Mobil started going after assets of the government of Venezuela elsewhere in the world and won a British court order freezing $12 billion worth of assets. They're also going after assets in other companies.
Well, Hugo Chavez from Venezuela has responded. Now to tell you, Venezuela is very important to the U.S. oil supply. The top five countries that export oil to the United States account for the 3/4 of all of the oil. Venezuela is the number four country and we import 12 percent of our oil supply in the United States from Venezuela.
So Hugo Chavez says don't touch Venezuelan assets all over the account. If Exxon Mobil succeeds in getting these court orders, it's going to cost us in terms of the price of oil. He says if the economic war continues against Venezuela, the price of oil is going $200 a barrel and Venezuela will join the economic war.
He goes on to say that there are many other countries -- or as he says, more than one country willing to accept us in that economic war. So that battle continues. The oil companies are saying if Venezuela nationalized our facilities in Venezuela, we'd like those assets elsewhere.
Exxon Mobil had no comment but it was seen as a bit of a victory for those oil companies to be able to get the Venezuelan assets frozen. As you know, Venezuelan assets are all over the world, because it's CITGO, the oil company. They operate, you know, here and everywhere else.
So this is going to continue to be an interesting battle. The price of oil is reacting a little bit above $91 right now. Not the $200 that Hugo Chavez says but it's higher.
CHO: U.S. markets are going to open in about 2 1/2 hours -- 3 1/2 hours.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHO: So what's it looking like?
VELSHI: They've been mix all morning, because there's an Asian holiday. So their markets in Asia, the Chinese markets close for instance so it's not a full sense of what's going on.
The big news driving markets today will probably be Yahoo!'s expected rejection of the merger with Microsoft. And the fact that they're reportedly talking to AOL Time Warner -- Time Warner, the parent company of AOL. So we'll probably see movement in those stocks.
CHO: It could be a $58 billion deal. That's incredible.
VELSHI: That's huge. Yes.
CHO: All right. Ali Velshi, "Minding Your Business." Ali, thanks.
ROBERTS: Thank you, Ali.
Mike Huckabee is hoping to take momentum into tomorrow's contest in Virginia and Maryland after scoring victories in Kansas and Louisiana over the weekend. But he is fighting the results in Washington State.
Governor Huckabee joins me now this morning from Richmond, Virginia where he's campaigning.
Governor, first of all, congratulations on your showing on Saturday. That was pretty impressive.
MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, thank you. Thank you very much. We had a great day. We're a little concerned about what happened in Washington. They decided to just quit counting votes. That's hardly the American way of conducting an election. So we got lawyers who flew out last night.
We're going to demand a full accounting. We're going to see what happened and why the irregularities. It appears that arbitrarily, the party chairman just decided that he could see how it was going, even though only 200 votes separated John McCain and me. And they just simply quit counting votes with 87 percent of the vote in. That's completely outrageous. So, we're challenging that.
ROBERTS: Your campaign figures that there were 1500 votes that went uncounted. Your campaign chairman, Ed Rollins, tried to get in touch with the State Republican Chairman Luke Esser over the weekend. Was he ever able to connect with them and ask him about it?
HUCKABEE: I don't think Ed talked to him. One of our attorneys apparently did. And his explanation was that it just looked like it was going to go McCain's way and so he decided that he wanted everybody to know what it was going to look like and just made the personal decision.
Again, that is not what we do in American elections. Maybe how they used to conduct it in the old Soviet Union, but you don't just throw people's votes out and say -- well, we're not going to bother counting them, because we kind of think we know where this was going.
ROBERTS: Right.
HUCKABEE: I mean, I was just stunned. And it's the kind of thing that Republicans across America, not just in Washington State, ought to be outraged over. And what really bothers us, we were leading. I mean, we had already won two states, two of the three that were in play. And then, for the chairman to make this decision, arbitrarily, potentially denying us a sweep of three states. We just want to get to the bottom of it.
ROBERTS: Well, we'll definitely keep watching that story. Despite losing, as you said, two out of three states on Saturday, John McCain continues to portray himself as the front-runner. Listen to what he said about taking on the Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to assure you right now, there will be a spirited debate between me and the nominee on the Democratic Party. My friends, we will draw -- we will draw differences, and we will have that debate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So governor, he's already beginning to shift into national campaign mode. Is it too early in your estimation for him to do that?
HUCKABEE: Well, those are his campaign decisions and certainly if -- you know, if I'm John McCain, I'm not. But if I was, I probably would be trying to say it's over. Let's just call this a day.
And obviously, a lot of the establishment of the party, that's what they're doing. But that's disenfranchising many Republican voters in this country who haven't even gone to vote yet. If you live in North Carolina, Texas, or Ohio, what are we supposed to say to you? Don't even bother to go vote. Doesn't matter, we've already made the decision.
ROBERTS: Yes. The other day, Texas Governor Rick Perry called you and said, please get out of the race. What do you say to phone calls like that?
HUCKABEE: Well, since he was a McCain supporter and before that he was a Rudy Giuliani supporter. But I tell him this that I've never seen a football team that looked up in the stands of the other side and answered to the boos and jeers of the opposing cheerleaders.
You know, as long as my guys are still waving their pom poms, I think we're going to stay on the field. I frankly think it's outrageous that supporters of one candidate think they have some influence in trying to tell me that I ought to leave the field.
I mean, again, do you think the Giants fans would listen to the Patriot fans if they had come to them in halftime and say, guys, why don't we just go ahead and call it a day.
ROBERTS: We would have missed that spectacular catch by David Tyree.
HUCKABEE: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Your goal in this, Governor Huckabee. Is it to prevent McCain from getting the requisite 1,191 delegate and prevent him from becoming the nominee or is it just for you, personally, to rack up more than delegates than let say, Mitt Romney, has got and go into that convention being a force to be reckoned with.
HUCKABEE: Well, John, the goal is still to win. And nobody has 1,191 delegates yet. And everybody keeps talking about -- well, the math doesn't work. But we don't know what's going to happen. Here's what I do know. The states that I've won are the states that a Republican has to win if we have any chance of winning a November. And the states -- giving Senator McCain his primary delegate leaders states that aren't going to be factors in the Republican winning in November.
ROBERTS: And just really quickly here, governor. Do you want to see this go all the way to the convention and have the decision made there?
HUCKABEE: Well, if Senator McCain would like to step aside and not let it go that far, I would be happy to go ahead and take the nomination now.
ROBERTS: All right. Governor, thanks very much. Appreciate your time. Good luck tomorrow.
HUCKABEE: Thank you, John. You bet.
CHO: He always injects a little humor into the campaign.
All right. Coming up, you probably heard a lot about those super delegates lately. But do you know exactly who these people are? And how they could decide the Democratic presidential race? What's going through their minds right now? We're going to talk to two super delegates in our next half-hour.
And bitter cold and blind snow leads to a deadly chain reaction collision in Pennsylvania. Rob Marciano tracking all the extreme weather, which includes wild fires in Virginias and the Carolinas. All of that just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Clean sweep.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have now won on the Atlantic Coast, the Gulf Coast, the Pacific Coast, and we won in between those coasts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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