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American Morning
Mortgage Rescue: New Plan for Homeowners; Potomac Primary: Dems Battle in Three States; GM Buyout: Posted Largest Loss; Living to 100: Possible Even With Chronic Disease
Aired February 12, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And it brought us to our "Quick Vote" question of the morning. Would you want to live past 100? Right now, 61 percent of you say yes. Thirty-nine percent of you, including John Roberts, say no way, because you're afraid you're going to run out of money.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Exactly.
CHETRY: Cast your vote, CNN.com/am. We'll tally your votes throughout the morning. But, you're right. You plan for retirement, and now you got to keep throwing some more money because people are living longer across the board.
ROBERTS: Yes. Typically, people plan for about 15 to 20 years of retirement, not 35 to 40, though.
CHETRY: Exactly.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
Showdown in the shadow of the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to keep working as hard as I can.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I may be skinny but I'm tough, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The Potomac Primaries are on, whether it's do or die for the Clinton camp.
House call, a new plan to get struggling homeowners on their feet.
Plus, the marijuana machine. Should scoring pot be as easy as getting a snack? On this AMERICAN MORNING.
How about it?
ROBERTS: That's pretty interesting stuff.
CHETRY: The medical marijuana machine -- they are rating some of them. We're going to talk about that this morning.
Meanwhile, it's Tuesday, February 12th. Thanks for joining us. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. "Financial Security Watch," a new plan to ease the foreclosure crisis is coming out today from the White House and mortgage lenders. Our Ali Velshi joining us now to break it all down for us. Operation Project Lifeline?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Project Lifeline, they're calling this, and we're expecting it to be announced formally about 11:00 Eastern this morning by the treasury secretary and the Housing secretary. It's a plan to give homeowners who are in trouble paying their mortgage some time to work out a repayment plan with their bank. Now, here's what the details are.
If you are 90 days overdue or more, and we don't know what other criteria you'd have to meet, this plan will suspend any foreclosure activity on your home for 30 days, thereby giving you time to talk to your bank and work out a plan. The banks involved in this plan right now were the same ones who were involved four months ago in the plan that was announced by the White House. Bank of America, Citigroup, Countrywide, JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo.
Now, this is an opportunity for people but there seems to be some hesitancy on the part of people who are in trouble to say, let me go to the bank. Let me work something out. The banks are getting into trouble by foreclosing on homes, particularly in areas where there are heavy foreclosures, because you end up with a bunch of homes in a neighborhood where there have been foreclosures. We know the property values on those properties are not where they were. So the banks don't want to end up holding these homes, but there's been some real concern about -- you know, Kiran, asked earlier, is this a bail-out?
There's some sense that well, why bother paying your mortgage or why bother making good choices if these bail-outs keep on getting more and more robust? So this will face some criticism but this is an effort to try and shore up some people who are overdue on their loans. It is not limited to subprime lenders. This is people who are overdue in their loans and can't manage their payments.
ROBERTS: When are we going to get further details on this?
VELSHI: The official announcement is expected sometime at 11:00 or 11:30 Eastern Time. We might get some more details before that, but that's when we'll know the whole story.
ROBERTS: Keep working the phones.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks very much. Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, it could be a defining day for both parties in the presidential race as voters head to the polls. Right now, they just opened, in fact, in Maryland and D.C. It opened in Virginia for an hour now. The Democrats will be splitting 168 delegates in the three states, and Barack Obama coming off of victories in four states this weekend, leaving some concerns within the Hillary Clinton campaign. Also, the Republicans will be divvying up 113 total delegates between the three. Republican John McCain under pressure from a surge by Mike Huckabee.
And again, as we said, the polls have just opened in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Most of the attention this primary day is going to the tight race between the two Democrats. Barack Obama could be on the verge of a Potomac hat trick today, taking Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. on the heels of his weekend's sweep. Hillary Clinton has her sights set on Texas, something of a firewall to stop Obama and to revive her campaign.
Suzanne Malveaux is following the Clinton campaign. She joins us live in El Paso, Texas, where Hillary Clinton will campaign there later today. Good morning, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. Obviously, no mistake that she's already headed to Texas, looking for beyond today's primaries. What is really important here, this is not only a contest or race for the most delegates, but it's also about perception as well. She has to convince the nearly 800 superdelegates as well as the possible officials that will be supporting her or endorsing her, that she is the winning candidate. That despite a string of losses, a possible string of losses from today, that she is the one that is most electable. So what is she going to do?
Well, here is her strategy. Here's how she explains it to our affiliate WJLA and "Politico" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're winning the states that we have to win, the big states that are really going to determine where the Democrats win. I have something in common with my husband. He never carried caucuses either. He lost all the ones that I've lost.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Kiran, you can already tell that she is downplaying the significance of caucuses. That is where Obama is very strong when it comes to grassroots, his organization. But it doesn't really carry all that much weight when you think about today. Today, there are three primaries -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. And going through -- and at least all the polling showing Barack Obama heavily favored to win those and you talk about the Ohio and Texas being these so-called firewalls for the Clinton campaign. What are the chances of Barack Obama giving her a very strong run in those two states as well?
MALVEAUX: It's a pretty good chance that he will, obviously, be very competitive in those states. But she does go into these states having a certain advantage and she really needs to capitalize off of it. It's going to be very important for her to make sure that she does not lose some Latino support, the Hispanic support in Texas. It is nearly half of the Democratic voters that will be going to that contest, and that is going to be important, that that number does not change.
We have seen, over time, Barack Obama, seems to be increasing support in that community. So she needs to make sure that it doesn't really change her numbers all that much. Ohio, very strong when it comes to the demographics there. You're talking an older group of voters. You're talking blue collar, older women. These are voters that tend to vote very heavily, very strongly for Senator Clinton. She needs to make sure that she maintains that support as well.
And also, just in the next couple of weeks, Kiran, it's going to be very important for her to keep focus with her own message to change the topic off of today's election, if there were losses here, and say looking ahead, moving forward, these are the places where I can really collect the most delegates because it's going to be important influencing those superdelegates, as well as those people who possibly will endorse her in the weeks to come -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux for us in El Paso, Texas, a big state campaigning going on there already. Of course, Suzanne, thank you.
Well, Senators Obama and Clinton will also be facing off in a debate next week. It's hosted by CNN, Univision and the Texas Democratic Party. It is Thursday, February 21st. It's going to be at the LBJ auditorium at the University of Texas in Austin, and you can watch it live. It all gets under way 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: Well, Senator John McCain is trying to prove that he can rally support from conservatives. His campaign announcing endorsements from former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and evangelical leader Gary Bauer. Bauer praised McCain for his anti-abortion stance. Meantime, McCain has turned down nearly $6 million in federal funds for his primary campaign. The Federal Election Commission says McCain requested the money last summer to keep his campaign alive but now that he's the front-runner, McCain has decided against the federal funds, allowing him to spend more if he makes it to the general election.
But he's not going anywhere. Mike Huckabee says he's staying in the Republican race until he is mathematically eliminated. He told supporters that he won't leave, despite calls for him to drop out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: An interesting thing has been happening since last week. The National Media tried to say, well, the election is over, and the nomination is all secured. Someone forgot to tell me that, because I decided that until somebody gets 1,191 delegates, by the rules that have been designed by the very party bosses who now want to shut it down, they said that's what it took to win. Ladies and gentlemen, until somebody gets that, we are in this race for you and for every other conservative American who wants a choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Now, despite some analyses that show that it's already mathematically impossible for him to win, Huckabee says he may stay in until McCain gets the needed delegates and that may not happen until the Pennsylvania primary on April the 22nd.
We have full coverage of the Potomac Primary from the best political team on television. It's 7:30 Eastern. Analyst John Dickerson explains what's at stake today. It's 7:45, Clinton campaign spokesman Doug Hadaway. And at the top of the next hour, Mary Snow live on the GOP race.
CNN is your home for politics live from the CNN Election Center. The best political team on television covers every race all day and night. Our nonstop political coverage carries on with today's edition of "Ballot Bowl." That's ahead at noon here on CNN -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, our weather another big story today. Snow and ice could stall another day across a major portion of the country and could make for an even dangerous ride to the polls in the mid- Atlantic region. In fact, they are digging out already from two feet of snow in upstate New York. Police outside of Rochester say that there was a car stuck on the side of the road every 30 feet.
It's also freezing rain and sleet that left an inch-thick coat of ice all across Springfield, Missouri, one of the heaviest ice storms ever. There is a look at some of the roads. Police also say that it was a very slippery conditions for drivers out there. In fact, one fatality on the roadways because of that. Schools shut down. Government offices also shut down. They want to try to keep as many people as possible off of those slick roads.
And exactly one week ago, people across the south were waking up to see destruction. Well, today, the first lady, Laura Bush, will get an aerial tour of tornado damage over Arkansas. Mrs. Bush is also going to be visiting a high school in Kentucky that was damaged in those severe storms that went through.
Rob Marciano is at the weather update desk. He's tracking extreme weather for us today as well. And it looks like as we said, we can still expect some snow, some wintry weather in many parts of the country for yet another day.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Ice on top of even some severe thunderstorms rolling through Texas right now. I want to show you the radar out of Dallas or just in the south of Dallas where this line of heavy thunderstorms just rolled through. Whenever you see it kind of bend like that, you know there are some pretty decent winds that are coming down from the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere. These severe thunderstorms had a history of producing 50 to 60 mile-an-hour winds and they're humming eastward at 50 miles an hour. So beware of that, maybe let's say in Tyler, Texas.
Little Rock, Arkansas, you have a heavy line of thunderstorms rolled through the leading edge of which is about to head across the Mississippi River. Memphis, you'll get some heavy showers and thunderstorms also. And then, all of this heavy precipitation is heading into some very cold air right along the Ohio River, and that's where we're seeing the icing on top of the heavy snow that say Louisville got. They got four inches of snow, and now they're getting freezing rain and it's just piling up and coating the roadways. Winter storm warnings posted from say Paducah, Kentucky, up through Columbus, Ohio, for the threat of snow, freezing rain and sleet and miserable conditions, generally speaking.
And this does extend into some cold air that's in place across the northeast. However, on the I-95 corridor, you'll start as snow and then likely turn over to freezing rain and then rainfall later on tonight. It's hard to think, John and Kiran, when you got a temperature right now of 17 degrees and you've got moisture heading your way, how could it possibly not be all snow for the next day? But it will start as snow, get a couple of inches and then by this time tomorrow, it will have turned over to rain. Back to you guys.
CHETRY: Rob, all right. Thanks so much. We're getting some breaking news right now, some new news not good news from the auto industry.
ROBERTS: Oh, terrible news for General Motors. Ali Velshi here with that. What's going on?
VELSHI: Well, we've got -- first of all, we've got General Motors posting the largest annual loss ever for an automobile company. Let me give you this so you can hear it from me. The largest loss ever for an automobile company in the United States, some $38.7 billion, but that's not all from operating. A lot of that is a tax credit that they couldn't use because they've had losses for that long. In fact, the fourth quarter results from GM are a little better than analysts had expected. So that's the mixed news on that front.
The interesting part here is that General Motors is offering buyouts now to 74,000 UAW workers. This is a trend that we've seen. General Motors did this last year with some of its workers. Ford did it this year. Chrysler did it this year. The idea is to offer to buy out every last UAW, every last unionized worker at General Motors, on the assumption that some of them will say, this buyout package and a little bit of retraining and some ongoing benefits is a better deal than sticking around and risking being laid off by the company again.
So, a certain percentage of these people are taking it. It allows General Motors and Ford and Chrysler to get some of these highly paid workers off their books without laying them off. In other words, it's putting some of the choice in the hands of the workers. They're expected that a number of them will take that. The terms of those will be available. Typically, what happens is there's a short window in which you can decide you are taking that buyout and you leave the company. The company gets its obligations to you off the books. Seventy-four thousand GM workers are eligible for this.
ROBERTS: How many do they expect will take it? VELSHI: Well, I think we've seen better than 40 percent in the past. In the last year or so, that's been the average. But as we get closer to sort of the winding down of the big former, you know, the big three automakers in Detroit, as we know what the future is going to hold, I think more people will take it and say, let's move on and do something else. But I'll get those numbers for you precisely, but that's what we're looking at.
CHETRY: One of the things you also talked about is why it's so hard for the big three to stay competitive is because Toyota, Honda -- they don't have those "legacy" costs.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: They don't have --
This is what this is.
CHETRY: Now, if they do the buyout, does that mean they don't have to pay retirement and health care for the rest of their lives?
VELSHI: There are plans. You can take a buyout and you can still get some benefits for it, but it's a fixed number. So General Motors will always know what your liability is as a worker and it doesn't have the sort of mystery, this building mystery that these legacy costs have. How long will people live? What will their health care costs be? So, it definitely allows the U.S. automakers, the Detroit-based automakers to have a cost structure that's more in line with Toyota and Honda and the other automakers who operate in the United States.
ROBERTS: So much for what Mitt Romney was saying about jobs in the auto industry coming back.
VELSHI: So, in other words, we're still shedding jobs. We're just not laying them off. We're letting them choose.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks. More on that coming up, I'm sure.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROBERTS: A dramatic rescue down under. Why a yacht ran aground, and what happened next?
And living to 100 years old may be easier than you think. You don't even need to be perfectly healthy. We're paging Dr. Gupta ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." A water rescue off the coast of northeastern Australia. It happened when a yacht ended up wedged on some jagged rocks overnight after a ride on rough waters. It took rescue crews about seven hours to airlift all 32 passengers and five crew members to safety. They were able to do that. Emergency workers say that no one was injured. There were some terrifying moments at a high school in Memphis, Tennessee. Police say that two students chased each other into the gym. One shot the other twice then handed the gun to the gym teacher and said, "It's over now." It happened in front of 75 students at Mitchell High School. A 19-year-old senior is in critical condition. The 17-year-old suspected shooter is charged with attempted first- degree murder.
And it's one of the largest wholesale markets in the country. Now, it's up in flames. More than 100 New York firefighters coming to the Hunts Point Market. This is in the Bronx. It took a few hours to get that fire under control. Hazmat teams also on hand in case the markets huge refrigerators might have caught fire. There were concerned about that. Fortunately, though, they did not need the Hazmat crews -- John.
ROBERTS: Eighteen minutes after the hour now, Kiran. The secret to living to being 100 years old and beyond. A new study shows that many of the people who live that long do have some kind of disease like high blood pressure or diabetes. So how do they do it? How do they achieve such extraordinary longevity?
CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the medical update desk and joins us this morning. So what is the secret to long life Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. You know, even people, I will say with heart disease or diabetes have a decent shot at hitting that century mark, as you said. It does not appear to be just good luck. It does not appear to be genetics, but rather lifestyle changes that you can even implement later in life, and that's sort of the key here.
Take a look at the various risk factors here. As it stands now, 55,000 people have hit that century mark in this country, and the fastest growing population is 85 and older. But there are various risk factors that could sort of bring down your likelihood, if you will, of hitting that century mark. Overall, if you're healthy, if you've had clean living, if you exercise, you got about a 54 percent chance of hitting that century mark.
If you start to add risk factors like you have a sedentary lifestyle, it goes down to about 44 percent. High blood pressure drops it to 36 percent. Obesity, smoking, you can see the list there. Add all the risk factors together, and your chance of hitting the century mark only about four percent, John. But again, it used to be this sort of this belief that if you had some sort of problem like high blood pressure or heart disease or diabetes, at some point in your life you were really not going to have a chance at all hitting that century mark. That just doesn't appear to be so anymore, John.
ROBERTS: Sanjay, you've done a lot of reporting on this. You even talked about it in your book, "Chasing Life," and you came up with an age calculator. What is your age expectancy?
GUPTA: Well, mine is actually 81, and this is based on a calculator that's actually on livingto100.com. It's a Web site you can go to. It takes about 10 minutes. You figure all these questions, answer all of them, and you know, 81, I was reasonably happy with that. I think some people would not be as happy. That's me, John. They actually sort of age progressed me from about now to about 100. Pretty attractive, huh?
But that's what they think I'll look like at 100. They left me with all my teeth. I'm very grateful for that. But, look, you know -- again, it does not appear to be as much genetics as people thought it was. It does appear to be lifestyle and more specifically, aggressively treating things like high blood pressure and diabetes, if you do develop them as opposed to sort of thinking well, the person is older, they may not benefit as much, what they call them, ageist-sort of approach or even discrimination against older people. Actually, treating these diseases in older people seemed to make a big difference.
ROBERTS: You are a darned handsome-looking centenarian, Dr. Gupta. Let me tell you that.
GUPTA: Notice I kept talking after the pictures so you wouldn't have any chance to comment on that?
ROBERTS: You didn't think that was going to work, did you? Sanjay, thanks. We'll get you back here soon to talk about some other stuff this morning.
GUPTA: OK.
ROBERTS: And we've been asking you to weigh in. Would you want to live to be past 100? Right now, 54 percent of you say yes. That's fewer than half an hour ago. Forty-six percent say no way. Cast your vote at CNN.com/am. We'll tally your votes throughout the morning.
CHETRY: Maybe when they see how good Sanjay looks, they'll change their mind.
ROBERTS: Absolutely.
CHETRY: Not only did he keep his teeth, he kept all his hair, too.
ROBERTS: And literally, within seconds of him giving us that Web site, livingto100.com, we pulled it up. We're going to take the test this morning.
CHETRY: And we pulled it up. And actually, I think a lot of viewers did, too, because I can't even get to the calculator yet. But we'll try it out and you guys try it with us, and we'll see how long we'll live.
ROBERTS: If you have a question for Dr. Gupta, by the way, e- mail it to us. Go to CNN.com/am. Sanjay answers your questions every Thursday here on AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: Well, reports of fires in a parked SUV has the safety investigators on the case. We're going to tell you which truck model they may be worried about.
There are also some new changes in government requirements for getting a green card, and it's been stirring up some controversy. We're going to get a live report on that ahead when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating a possible fire risk in General Motors' new full-sized SUV. The agency is responding to two reports of fires in 2007, Chevy Tahoe SUVs. In each instance, the engine was reportedly turned off and the vehicle was parked in a garage when the fire broke out. Investigation involves the Tahoe's sister SUV, the 2007 GMC Yukon.
And another shot being fired in the HD/DVD wars. If you bought a Toshiba HD/DVD player, you're not going to be able to rent movies from Netflix anymore. The world's largest online movie rental company says it is only stocking high def DVDs exclusively in Sony's Blu-ray format. Blu-ray has also become the choice of five major movie studios, and Netflix says it makes sense for the company to carry just one format.
CHETRY: Well, it is time to stock up on the Forever stamp. The U.S Postal Service is going to be raising the price of a first class stamp from 41 cents to 42 cents in May. The cost of sending a postcard will also cost you a penny more going up to 27 cents. So if you buy the Forever stamp now, you can use it forever. Save a penny. Lots of penny, actually.
Well, take a look at this. Fifty chickens that were somehow turned loose in a Philadelphia school, the kids were sent home yesterday while maintenance workers rounded up the chickens and cleaned up the mess. School officials say that a prankster was responsible and will face a serious fine. That is quite an elaborate prank, I would say.
ROBERTS: You got to wonder what they were thinking.
Remember yesterday's "Hot Shot"? The fireball that came flying down the racetrack in Pomona, California? Wow, look at that. Two- time defending Funny Car champion, Tony Pedregon, was inside it and suffered second-degree burns on his hand. It turns out that his pregnant wife was watching that crash as it happened. We'll talk with both of them and show off Tony's singed racing suit. That's coming up at our next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
And no love for Valentine's. We'll tell you where they're banning everything that's red for Valentine's Day. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
Plus, the marijuana machine. You put in your money and out comes your pot. We'll tell you who's using it and who is trying to stop it, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Sunrise here at Birmingham, Alabama. It looks like a little bit of mixture of clouds floating around there. Fifty-five degrees right now, going up to a high of 70 with thunderstorms. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, Tuesday, the 12th of February. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. You know, right now, in just 30 minutes, you know the polls that opened in Maryland and the District of Columbia, it opened up about an hour ago, an hour and a half ago in Virginia. It's the Potomac Primary as it's called. The Democrats will be splitting 168 total delegates in the three different races, and the Republicans will be divvying up 113 total delegates. So the polls are open now. In fact, a live picture right now from Alexandria, Virginia. I believe we have that.
Well, anyway, what would a clean sweep today mean for Barack Obama? Where would it leave the Clinton campaign? And can John McCain show strength against a surging Mike Huckabee? These are all questions for political analyst John Dickerson who joins us now from our Washington bureau today. It's known as the Potomac primary. A lot of the polling has Obama pretty far ahead of Hillary Clinton right now. What happens if this is another clean sweep today?
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well it's more good news for Barack Obama. His momentum continues, and the challenge for Hillary Clinton will be to change the conversation quickly to get folks focusing on Texas and Ohio, and talking about perhaps some of her strengths that might be picked out of some of those results today, if they aren't completely disastrous for her.
CHETRY: Of course, boy, all of the buzz is, is it over? Her campaign, is it unraveling? In fact, the "New York Times" is reporting that some of the Clinton supporters are even whispering behind closed doors some pessimistic talk about her chances. In fact, one superdelegate told "The Times" on a condition of anonymity she has to win both Ohio and Texas comfortably or she's out. The campaign is starting to come to terms with that. What are your thoughts on that, John?
DICKERSON: Well, in this campaign it's almost good news when people declare you in real big trouble. Because things have changed around so much that it means perhaps they might change in your favor. It's not been a great last week for Hillary Clinton, and she's going to have to weather another three kind of tough weeks. Ohio and Texas played her strength and she's won some states and has a kind of floor support among women, older voters, downscale voters, Latinos. So, she's got real strength. She just has to be able to hold on for three more weeks.
CHETRY: Is it safe to say in this election with how much we've seen change so far that the political -- that conventional wisdom about politics has really turned on its head?
DICKERSON: Well, conventional wisdom has taken a lot of knocks. There have been times when Hillary was seen as dead, Obama was seen as dead, McCain was seen as dead. You're nobody in this race if you haven't been declared dead at least once. So, that's all maybe good news for Hillary Clinton. On the other hand, Barack Obama has done extremely well with fund-raising and he run a pretty error-free race. So it's been a pretty good campaign for him, and momentum which some people say doesn't exist anymore and certainly has been helping him.
CHETRY: So, when he's been declared dead many, many times in this campaign including if you add up some of the numbers in terms of delegates on the republican side is Mike Huckabee. He says hey, I didn't major in math, I majored in miracles. What does he need to do to keep alive right now?
DICKERSON: Well, he needs to part the waters or walk on them or something, because he's behind in a lot of delegates and there are lots of states coming forward where he is not going to be able to beat John McCain. So, if he's looking for a miracle, it needs to appear and perhaps it will, but the odds are against him.
CHETRY: Does it hurt McCain, though, that he is sticking with it for now?
DICKERSON: It hurts him a little bit because it keeps the conversation going about how McCain hasn't unified the party. And McCain wants to unify the party so that he can get to the business of attacking the democrats.
CHETRY: All right. And he saw Mike Huckabee is also questioning the loss, the very narrow loss in Washington state, saying he wants them to look into that, maybe recount?
DICKERSON: Well, perhaps. Huckabee at some point has to judge whether his future in the republican party and his future relationship with John McCain can withstand a recount, that gets into a little slightly tricky territory. Huckabee has been able to continue going forward here with this kind of happy-go-lucky campaign. When you get into recounts and pressing the case you can start to bruise feelings, and maybe he's fine with that, but he also has to think about his future in republican politics and so he'll have to weigh that as well.
CHETRY: John Dickerson, CNN political analyst and "Slate" magazine. Thanks so much for being with us.
DICKERSON: Thank you.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton is campaigning in Texas this evening. Clinton advisers see Texas and Ohio as their firewall if Obama continues his winning streak. Senator Clinton is shrugging off talk of panic in her campaign. She spoke to WJLA television and the "politico" in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're winning the states that we have to win. The big states that are really going to determine where the democrats win. I have something in common with my husband, he never carried caucuses either, he lost all of the ones that I've lost.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Obama has won 19 states so far to Clinton's 13. They're almost tied in delegates, including those so-called superdelegates.
Michelle Obama was on "LARRY KING LIVE" last night talking about her husband and his run for the White House. Larry asked her what she thought about the fierce battle under way with Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, WIFE OF SEN. BARACK OBAMA: I think she and Barack, as he says all the time, were good friends and colleagues before this race and they'll be afterwards. I think, you know, the job that we all have as democrats is to come out of this thing united and ready to work towards a common purpose.
LARRY KING, "LARRY KING LIVE," ANCHOR: There had to be days where you were a little ticked.
OBAMA: Of course, that's my husband. I love him. I don't want anybody to say anything bad about him, but you know, I would also, you know, be foolish to think that you would enter a race where you wouldn't hear somebody being critical of your husband. So I try not to take it personally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Stay with CNN for coverage all day long on this election day. "Ballot Bowl" is ahead at noon, your chance to hear the candidates in their own words, unfiltered and prime time coverage of the Potomac primary picks up with the CNN Election Center begins at 8:00 Eastern.
And there is another democratic debate on tap, a Texas showdown next week between Senators Obama and Clinton hosted by CNN, Univision and the Texas Democratic Party next Thursday, February the 21st at the LBJ Auditorium at the University of Texas in Austin, again 8:00 p.m.
CHETRY: Now to our security watch, the government changing its policy for legal immigrants to get green cards. A backlog now makes it easier for them to achieve permanent resident status. The new plan is coming under fire from critics though. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is live in Washington for us with more on what exactly the change is and what it means. Hi, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. U.S. citizenship and immigration services will now give permanent residency status or green card status as its known to applicants who have passed a fingerprint-based FBI check but who after six months have not undergone a name base check. The exact number of people affected is not known at this point but it certainly is in the tens of thousands. The reason for the change is simple, U.S.C.I.S. has a massive backlog in applications and this is an attempt to get it under control. But it is a major shift in policy, and it is generating some very strong reaction, Kiran.
CHETRY: Some are saying the plan leaves the country vulnerable, making it security risk. How is the agency addressing those concerns?
MESERVE: Well, you're absolutely right. There were those who think that the new policy is a shortcut. It's a cutting of corners that will create a security loophole. U.S.C.I.S counters that the people applying for green cards are already in the country anyway. The agency also says if a green card is given to someone and a problem turns up during the later name base check, the green card can be revoked. Also they say citizenship will not be given until both checks are complete. Kiran.
CHETRY: Jeanne Meserve for us this morning in Washington. Thank you.
Also new this morning, the color of Valentine's day but you won't see it in Saudi Arabia. The country is banning the color red from shops until after February 14th. Officials say it is a sin to celebrate Valentine's Day. Every year thousands of members of the religious police squad raid stores, removing red roses, wrapping paper and teddy bears.
ROBERTS: Well, breaking news this morning, America's biggest automaker sees its biggest losses ever. Our senior business correspondent Ali Velshi joins us now with more on that and the number is just staggering.
ALI VELSHI, CNN, SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. $37.8 billion was the 2007 loss for General Motors which remains America's biggest automaker. Now, a lot of that is a tax benefit that they had to write down. The picture wasn't as grim when you actually look at their operating business; however, for 2007, 60% of the cars that General Motors sold in the world were sold outside of the United States. A lot of their growth is coming from places like China. They are really depending on it.
GM has also come to an agreement with the United Auto Workers to offer buyouts to every last one of its 74,000 U.S. hourly workers. The workers will get between $45,000 and $65,000 as a one-time payment and plus Kiran was asking about this earlier, they will get full pension and health benefits. But they're going to get a one-time payment and that's it. 16,000 of those workers, if the 74,000 or some proportion of them take the buyout, 16,000 of those will be able to hired or not - GM will be able to hire other workers at half the salary, by the way that number I gave you for the annual loss is $38.7 billion. I said $37.8. I'm particularly adept with inverting numbers.
Now, there's another big story we're working on this morning and that is around 11:00 or 11:30 this morning, we're going to hear from the Treasury Secretary and the Housing Secretary about a new program to bail people out of their mortgage problems. It's called Project Lifeline. Here's how it's going to work. It's going to be designed to help people who are seriously delinquent, 90 days plus past due on their mortgages. It's going to suspend foreclosures and foreclosure activity for 30 days, and that's going to allow people who are in trouble to talk to their banks and work out a refinancing plan or some other terms. The banks involved right now and it could expand, are Bank of America, Citigroup, Countrywide, JPMorganChase, Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo. We'll get the details of this as it comes out this morning. Some people say it's a good idea and other people say it's yet another bailout.
ROBERTS: $37.8 billion, $38.7.
VELSHI: Right. It's a rounding error.
ROBERTS: Exactly. All right. Ali, thanks very much.
It's been a busy week for Hillary Clinton. No wins in any state and a shakeup of her staff. Will tonight's Potomac primary change things? We're talking with one of her campaign spokesman live.
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ROBERTS (voice-over): Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, the marijuana machine.
EULOS GAULDING, MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER: It's the perfect thing for me. It's always open. It's always ready.
ROBERTS: Should buying pot be as easy as getting a snack at work? The vending machine that packs a punch, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING
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CHETRY: Well, it's about as convenient as buying a soda or a candy bar, medical marijuana available in vending machines in California. However it might not last. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence shows us how it works.
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CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: We get everything from cookies to Coke at these vending machines. And now, marijuana?
VINCENT MERDIZADEH, HERBAL NUTRITION CENTER: A transaction took all of about 10 seconds.
LAWRENCE: Vincent Merdizadeh invented an armored box so customers can get their prescribed drug even when stores like this are closed.
MERDIZADEH: It felt like every other system has been automated, why not have medical marijuana be automated, too?
LAWRENCE: Marijuana is illegal under federal law. But with a doctor's prescription, it's legal in California.
ANGEL RAICH, MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER: If I actually didn't have cannabis I would be in a wheelchair.
LAWRENCE: Angel Raich suffers from a brain tumor and nine chronic pain diseases, before a doctor prescribed marijuana she said the pain was unbearable.
RAICH: I was partially paralyzed in the living room floor throwing up in a bucket because I didn't have the strength or the energy to get up and go into the bathroom in my wheelchair.
LAWRENCE: Merdizadeh said the machine offers anonymity and prevents abuse.
MERDIZADEH: If the patient is smoking more than an ounce of week, they might be overmedicating themselves. So, my machine limits an ounce at a week.
LAWRENCE: That ounce isn't available to everyone. Fingerprints have to match the patient's encoded card. It says please touch the fingerprint reader.
I'm not in the database obviously so I'll try it with my index finger. The card's declined and won't work. But it will for patients like this, a man who is going blind and often can't get a ride to the store during the hours it's open.
EULOS GAULDING, MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER: It's the perfect thing for me because it's always there, it's always open. It's always ready.
LAWRENCE: But the prescription vending machine or PVM is being closely watched by the DEA. One agent told us "according to federal drug laws... the possession, sale or distribution of marijuana is illegal, regardless of the methodology." The DEA says it reserves the right to unplug the machine and confiscate the drugs inside, leaving some patients not high and dry. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Los Angeles.
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CHETRY: Medical marijuana, by the way, has been legal in California since voters approved it back in 1996. And it is available to people who suffer serious pain or nausea and cannot get relief from other drugs. So far at least three of those vending machines are up and running.
ROBERTS: Well, we have been talking all morning about the possibility of living to 100 and beyond. A new study from Boston University says it may not just be in your genes. Researchers say it's possible to live to 100 and beyond with chronic diseases, like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, as long as it's aggressively treated. So this morning in our "Quick Vote" we're asking, would you want to live past 100. Right now 52 percent of you say yes, 48 percent say no way. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We will tally your votes throughout the morning. Pretty close call this morning. A scare for a key ally in Afghanistan, why officials have decided to shut down an entire embassy, that's coming up.
And it's election day in the nation's capital. Senator Hillary Clinton is speaking out looking for her first win in a week.
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CLINTON: The most important question for people to answer is who they think would be the best president. And I'm really confident if that is the question what the answer is.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we're saying is you've got to be involved in this process if we're going to make a difference, if we're going to change how business is done in Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: What does Hillary Clinton need to do to get a win in the Potomac primary? We'll ask her campaign spokesman live when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back. Stay with us.
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ROBERTS: Well, what a difference a week makes. Senator Hillary Clinton is looking for her first victory of the week since super Tuesday and since replacing her campaign manager. Doug Hattaway is a spokesman for the Clinton camp. He joins us this morning. Doug, good to see you. So, how is she going to do today there in the Potomac primary?
DOUGH HATTAWAY, SPOKESMAN, CLINTON CAMPAIGN: Well, as you know, it's hard to make predictions in this election cycle. I think most people expect Senator Obama to do very well. And I think we'll continue to pick up delegates. We picked up delegates that last weekend and we're going to pick up some more today. We're going to keep picking up delegates right off through March 4th and beyond. I think that's what you need to do to really make a sober assessment of the race. We had, you talk about last Tuesday as we sit here today, Hillary Clinton has won states across this country, red states, blue states, big states, small states. We're ahead as we see her speaking in the delegate count and the popular vote. Both of these candidates are strong candidates. They're each going to have their ups and downs. They're both going to continue picking up delegates.
ROBERTS: After what happened last weekend, Doug, and what many people believe is going to happen in the Potomac primary today, are Texas and Ohio must wins for her and must win bigs, because the "New York Times" quotes a superdelegate saying "she has to win Ohio and Texas comfortably or she's out..."
HATTAWAY: Well, I think folks should look at what's been going on in this election cycle and not make too many predictions like that. We expect to do very well in those. People are going to vote in Pennsylvania after that as well. I think we're going to continue to pick up delegates as we have, and I think the voters, frankly, are not really concerned about who is up and who is down. The folks in these later primaries, I think, are taking their votes very seriously because they're going to matter like they have it before. They're going to pick a president. And we've got two wars abroad, we've got a recession breathing down our neck here at home. And they're looking for somebody who is ready to step in there, take over as commander in chief on day one, turn this economy around and get it working for middle class families. We think as voters focus on those things, Senator Clinton will continue to do well.
ROBERTS: How is the shake-up, Doug, of Maggie Williams and Patti Solis Doyle out of the upper echelon of the campaign there, going to affect things going forward. You know, we've seen in the past campaigns get shaken up in terms of the management. John McCain did it. John Kerry did it. Both of them continued, Kerry went on to be the nominee and McCain continues to do well. But they haven't done it in the real thick of battle here, in the middle of primary season, so how is that going to affect the campaign here?
HATTAWAY: Well, Patti did a great job as campaign manager. As you know, she is very close to Maggie and Senator Clinton. Maggie is going to step in and take over the daily management duties. Frankly, I think the voters aren't all that concerned about who is up, who is going down and what is going on at campaign headquarters. They're looking at the candidate and I think as people really focus on the situation we're in, in this country, with the recession looming, with two wars abroad, I think they're seeing Hillary is tested and ready not only to take over as commander in chief, turn this economy around but importantly to win in November. She has done that in New York, where she won over independents and republicans. She is winning the states that we need to win in order to get the White House back in November. So I think that's what folks are going to focus on.
ROBERTS: Doug, on this issue of commander in chief, we heard a little bit more in the last couple of days, a little more detail about her plans for withdrawal from Iraq. Yesterday talking to WJLA TV and the "Politico" there in Washington. Here's what she had to say.
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SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's complicated, Leon. You know, we've got to take care of our civilians. We have more than 100,000 Americans there in all kinds of capacities. I think it would be appropriate that we take care of the Iraqis who translated and drove for and protected our troops. So this is not going to be easy to do but I think you can take out one to two brigades a month.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: In hearing that extra little bit of detail in there, it sounds like it's not going to happen as quickly as some people might believe.
HATTAWAY: Well she has said she's going to get started right when she gets into office. She wants a plan on her desk to begin withdrawing troops within 60 days of taking office. That's a big distinction from John McCain who said that he'll be happy if our troops are there for 100 years. I think people do recognize that withdrawing from Iraq is going to take time. It's going to be a difficult thing. We need to do it responsibly. We need to do it honorably. We need to do it to protect our troops and also the other civilians, and people who are there, who have helped us in this endeavor in Iraq. So I think she understands that you don't just wave a magic wand and fix things. It takes time. You need somebody in there from day one who knows what it's going to take. She's on the Armed Services Committee, very involved in looking at what it will take to get our troops out of Iraq.
ROBERTS: All right, Doug, we'll be watching closely. Good luck today. We'll see what happens tonight at 8:00 when the polls close. Doug Hattaway from the Clinton campaign. Good to see you, Doug.
HATTAWAY: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, it sparked deadly riots around the world. A cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammad. Now there's news of an arrest in a plot to kill the man who drew it.
Also we know heart disease is a killer but did you know what it can actually do to your brain? We're paging our in-house brain surgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta this morning. Hey, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning again. There are connections between the body and the mind, more specifically between the heart and the brain. I'll explain what those connections are and more importantly what they mean for you. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: A couple of minutes now to the top of the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning. A key ally in Afghanistan is closing its embassy. Norway says it received an unspecified threat on its embassy in Kabul. It comes after the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack that killed a Norwegian journalist. Norway has committed $135 million to rebuilding Afghanistan this year.
And Danish police this morning have arrested several suspects in connection with the plot to kill a cartoonist who drew the prophet Mohammad. A Danish newspaper first published the Mohammad drawings in 2005. It sparked outrage in the Muslim world and riots from Libya to Indonesia that killed at least 100 people. Islamic law generally deposes any depiction of the prophet. The cartoonist has been living under police protection. The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
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CHETRY (voice-over): Ice on the price. Voters head to the poles in the Potomac primaries.
OBAMA: this is our moment.
CHETRY: Campaign lives on the line.
CLINTON: One of us will go on to be the nominee.
CHETRY: Buying time, a new expanded plan to save your homes. Are you on the list? Plus fireball, at 300 miles per hour, a drag racer's brush with death. His pregnant wife watching. The worst 4.8 seconds of their lives on this AMERICAN MORNING .
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CHETRY: Yes, it's just amazing when you see how that car just exploded.
ROBERTS: It just came so violently apart. Apparently a cam gear broke and so the valves locked up and so kaboom.
CHETRY: That's right. It was the suit that he was wearing that possibly saved his life. He's going to be joining us in about an hour.
In the meantime, it is Tuesday and welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: And good morning, to you. I'm John Roberts.
We are watching breaking news this morning for workers and homeowners. First out of Detroit, General Motors reporting a loss of close to $39 billion last year.
CHETRY: And at the same time, the company is also offering a buyout plan to some 74,000 hourly workers.
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