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American Morning
Obama Sweeps Potomac Primaries; Clinton Challenge: How to Stop Obama; Chavez Strikes Back: Venezuela Cuts Ties to Exxon; Desk Job and Prostate Cancer
Aired February 13, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Slippery mess. Ice and slush tie up travel from coast to coast on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this Wednesday, February the 13th. Guys, one more day until Valentine's Day. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Who reminded you about that?
ROBERTS: It was the red dress.
CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. Thanks for being with us this morning. Look, it was treacherous on the roadways, but the kids are still having fun making snow angels.
ROBERTS: Yes. A bunch of schools probably closed today. Some with two hour delays, so make sure you check before you get up and head to the bus.
CHETRY: Also, if you're flying today, some big delays at the airports as well.
Meanwhile, the top story today, big wins in the race for the White House. Senators Barack Obama and John McCain going three for three in three primaries last night. Obama winning decisive margins in Maryland, Virginia and D.C., gaining an estimated 70 delegates last night. That gives him the overall delegate lead over Senator Hillary Clinton, 1,215 to 1,190.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't keep spending money that we don't have in a war that shouldn't have been fought. We can't keep mortgaging our children's future on a mountain of debt. We can't keep driving a wider and wider gap between the few who are rich and the rest who are struggling to keep pace. It is time to turn the page and write a new chapter in American history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Senator Hillary Clinton already campaigning in Texas. She says she is ready for the White House despite eight straight losses now to Barack Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to sweep across Texas in the next three weeks bringing our message about what we need in America, the kind of president that will be required on day one to be commander in chief to turn the economy around. I'm tested. I'm ready. Let's make it happen!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And more change is coming to the Clinton campaign. Her deputy campaign manager Mike Henry is now out. He was hired by Clinton's former campaign manager who also stepped down over the weekend.
After his own big win, John McCain took a swipe at Barack Obama. McCain picking up 89 delegates, 60 in Virginia, 13 in Maryland, 16 in D.C. He now has 812; 1,191 needed to clinch the nomination. Mike Huckabee stays at 217 and Ron Paul has 16. Also, Mitt Romney's suspended campaign is still holding on to 286 delegates. McCain focused part of his victory speech on the new Democratic front-runner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't seek the presidency on the presumption that I am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need. I seek the presidency with the humility of a man who cannot forget that my country saved me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Barack Obama making inroads last night among older voters and women, the core of Hillary Clinton's support up until now. So what does this mean for primaries in Texas and Ohio? Our Bill Schneider joins us now with a look at the exit polling from last night. Let's look, first of all, at Latino voters, how they did.
BILL SCHNEIDER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Latino voters are critical in that Texas primary which she is counting on to revive her campaign, but that's three weeks away. Can she count on them? Take a look at how Latino voters voted on Super Tuesday, which was one week ago. Sixty-three percent for Clinton. But look, in Virginia, they voted for Barack Obama by a narrow margin but still tilting to Obama. And in Maryland, they still voted for Clinton by a less significant margin than they did on Super Tuesday. So if she's relying on them, they don't look terribly reliable.
ROBERTS: And she has also been strong among voters who have not gone to college. How did that shake out?
SCHNEIDER: They're called the Dunkin' Donuts voters as opposed to the Starbucks voters, and she's counting on those to help deliver Ohio. But the same thing happened there. On Super Tuesday, they voted for Clinton over Obama but, look, in Virginia and Maryland, over 60 percent or more voted for Obama. This is important in Ohio because it's an economically distressed state. She's relying on those blue collar workers, those Dunkin' Donut voters to come out and vote for her on her economic message. But again, you got to be careful about that. You know, the danger is she could be following the Rudy Giuliani strategy.
ROBERTS: Yes. You have the firewall that suddenly wasn't there anymore.
SCHNEIDER: Right.
ROBERTS: What about women voters?
SCHNEIDER: Women voters, very important for Hillary Clinton. But the same thing happened with women. She counted on women on Super Tuesday, and they were there for her, 53 to 43. But they weren't there for her in Virginia. 60 percent for Obama. And they weren't there for her in Maryland -- 55 percent for Barack Obama. So it looks like momentum is overtaking the patterns of support that we've seen in the earlier states.
ROBERTS: You were mentioning with Roland Martin her particular support among women has been with white women because Barack Obama wins overwhelmingly among black women. He narrowed the gap a little bit last night, at least in Virginia.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, he did. In Virginia, it became much closer. White women still voted for Hillary Clinton, and they are going to be important in other states but what we are seeing is signs of momentum. There's a dynamic to this campaign which means that even groups that have lined up behind Obama or Clinton are shifting, and there's a reason for that. Most Democrats like both of them and they could vote for either one. So if he starts winning and winning and winning, they start shifting.
ROBERTS: Yes. We should also point out, too, that John McCain and Mike Huckabee split conservatives. Huckabee won them in Virginia, and McCain won them in Maryland.
SCHNEIDER: That's a breakthrough for McCain to win conservatives in Maryland. It looks like northern conservatives are now beginning to line up behind McCain. Southern conservatives for Huckabee. Huckabee is not just a conservative candidate but also a southern regional candidate.
ROBERTS: Oh, we'll see how that plays out in Texas and Ohio. Bill Schneider, as always, thanks very much.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
ROBERTS: And here's what's coming up next. Take a look at the primary calendar. Next Tuesday, Democrats fight for 94 delegates in Hawaii and Wisconsin. Forty delegates for the Republicans in Wisconsin. The Republican primary in Hawaii isn't until May. And then the big one, Super Tuesday II, March 4th. Democrats vie for 370 delegates, mostly in Texas and Ohio; 275 delegates at stake for the GOP. Then on April 22nd, it's Pennsylvania with 158 Democratic delegates; 74 delegates for the Republicans. And what does yesterday's voting tell us about what might happen in those upcoming primaries? We'll check in with our John King coming right up -- Kiran.
CHETRY: John, we're watching extreme weather right now. And boy, it was a huge mess yesterday up and down the East Coast with snow, sleet and freezing rain especially hitting the New York City area as well as the D.C. Metropolitan area, causing a lot of problems on the roads. Drivers experiencing a messy commute this morning as well. And there are some problems in the skies as well, with several flight delays to New York City airports among others.
In fact, our Jacqui Jeras in today for Rob Marciano tracking all of this for us, including what we can expect weatherwise later on today and how the situation is shaping up at the nation's airports. Hey, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Kiran. Well, the good news out of all of this is that a lot of the freezing rain that's coming down now is going to change over to rain throughout the morning. So we do expect to see improving conditions at least in terms of the ice. But as long as you've got the rain and the low clouds, you are still going to have problems particularly at the airports. Most of the snow is going to stay up there. And in northern parts of New England, our biggest concern at this hour, of course, is all that pink that you are seeing.
From Springfield, Massachusetts, over to Albany, extending down into the Virginias, this warm air is pushing in from the north and it's overriding the colder air and that's why we see that wintry mix. Our low pressure storm system redeveloping here off the coast of the Carolinas, and that's going to move northward throughout the day today. So a lot of this rain coming in on top of where you already saw snow, so we're concerned about flood problems and a lot of those drainage areas, and a lot of the street drains are clogged up with debris. So don't drive over any roads that do have water over them. Use a lot of caution today.
All right. Here's the ugliness that we have for today. Providence and Windsor Locks, even though it says closed there, they just opened back up. Cleveland has a ground stop as well as Newark. New York City about two hours and Philadelphia has delays of about an hour. Tornado watch drops now across south Florida but that threat may be renewed later on today -- John.
ROBERTS: Jacqui, thanks very much. We'll see you soon with more on that. Our Alina Cho now, here with other stories new this morning. Good morning, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John and Kiran. Good morning, again. Good morning, everybody.
Earlier this morning, we got word that one of America's most wanted terrorists has been killed in an explosion. His name is Imad Mughniyeh. He's a top military commander of Hezbollah. He was killed in Syria. The FBI says he was wanted for the hijacking of a TWA flight back in June of 1985, where a Navy diver was shot and killed. He was also suspected in the 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut.
We're hearing what former Yankee pitcher Andy Pettitte told Congress about his friend Roger Clemens and human growth hormones. Clemens and his former trainer, Brian McNamee, will be the star witnesses today at a Congressional hearing on drug use in baseball. This has been widely anticipated. McNamee says he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone numerous times. Clemens has repeatedly denied it.
Meanwhile, "The Associated Press" is reporting that Andy Pettitte's affidavit of sworn testimony says Clemens told him nearly 10 years ago that he used HGH back when it was not banned in baseball. Obviously, a lot of people interested in this story, interested in this hearing. If you are, too, you can watch Clemens' testimony live at CNN.com/live. It all starts at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
Turning now to our "Financial Security Watch." President Bush will sign the $170 billion economic stimulus package later today. People could start getting their rebate checks as early as May. Now, most single taxpayers will get $600 checks. Qualifying married couples get $1,200 plus $300 per child.
A history making beagle is numero uno this morning. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are absolutely superb. Beautiful lineup. Thank you very much. May I have the beagle?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The beagle!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: The cutest 15 inches, 3 years old.
Uno won Best in Show at the Westminster Dog Show last night. The first beagle ever to take the top prize. Snoopy's happy. Uno was a huge crowd favorite. Got a standing ovation inside Madison Square Garden. He beat out thousands of others dogs. I think 2,600 to be exact, including Loka who is here with us on Monday. Loka is a Tibetan mastiff. Look how big and wonderful this dog is. Great disposition.
CHETRY: Calm, cool and collected.
CHO: Calm, cool and collected.
One of four new breeds competing at Westminster this year. Now, Loka won't go home empty-handed. She won an Award of Merit for exceptional dog in her class.
And finally, the secret is finally out of the bag. For the first time former "Different Strokes" star Gary Coleman is talking about his wedding. The 40-year-old actor secretly married 22-year-old Shannon Price last August. We got a hold of the wedding photo that was just released this morning in the "New York Post." You can see it right there. There they are -- the happy couple. Coleman says he has found true love despite the couple's height and age difference. Price, by the way, 5'7". Coleman 4'8". They are 18 years apart. When she was asked about the height difference, she said he's so sweet he's 10 feet tall than me. So --
CHETRY: Oh, well, congratulations to him. I know he's had a rough go at it.
CHO: He has. He's had some legal troubles. He's had -- that's right. And he's been out of the spotlight for a while and wanted to keep it quiet for six months or so.
CHETRY: Now he's found love. How about it?
All right, Alina, thank you.
CHO: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, if you're getting ready for work and work means sitting behind a desk, well, then Dr. Sanjay Gupta has some news for your health this morning. He's going to tell us about that coming up.
And also, Hillary Clinton remaining upbeat but not mentioning the states that she lost in the primaries last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every single one of us knows that tomorrow can be better than today, but it doesn't happen just by wishing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So what's her plan to stop Barack Obama's roll? We're going to ask a former Clinton insider coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We won the state of Maryland. We won the Commonwealth of Virginia. And though we won in Washington, D.C., this movement won't stop until there's change in Washington, D.C., and tonight we're on our way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Barack Obama, in his victory speech last night, already in Wisconsin for the next primary in the race. That's coming up on Tuesday. Hillary Clinton, meantime, was already in Texas keeping the focus on President Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a great saying in Texas. You've all heard it. All hat and no cattle. Well, after seven years of George Bush, we need a lot less hat and a lot more cattle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: While there has been another shake-up in her campaign staff, she also has to set her sights on stopping Obama. Lisa Caputo is a former aide to Hillary Clinton. She joins me now. Good morning, Lisa. Thanks for being with us.
So after eight straight losses when you read some of the press about what's going on with the Hillary Clinton campaign, the word foundering is seen a lot. Is it in rough shape at this point?
LISA CAPUTO, FORMER CLINTON AIDE: Well, I think that the campaign set expectations coming out of Super Tuesday that they were going to go in to a period where Barack Obama would have, you know, quite a sweep with the south, with what is known as the red states and with the caucus states. So, I think what you're seeing is not unexpected in the Clinton campaign's eyes, but she has brought in new leadership into the campaign.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CAPUTO: Maggie Williams is just an absolutely stellar political operative and stellar strategist and an alter ego to the candidate. And I think what you are going to start to see is a real focus to the campaign, a real intense focus on Ohio and Texas and Pennsylvania.
ROBERTS: Mike Henry stepped down last night, step aside as deputy campaign manager. How extensive is this rebuild going to be, and can you rebuild while you're in the thick of the fight?
CAPUTO: It's not a rebuilding, John, I wouldn't say at all. I think that what they're doing is focusing their strategy, and that's what Maggie will be doing. Harold Ickes is obviously involved. These are people who are seasoned veterans, and they've been involved but now they're empowered to kind of run things. And, you know, it's the kind of thing where all hands are on deck with a great focus into those key big states.
ROBERTS: We talk a lot about whether or not there is momentum in this primary because, you know, one person can win one and then lose the next one. But Obama has run the table in the last eight, prompting Adam Nagourney of "The New York Times" to write this morning, "It gives him an opening to make the case that Democratic voters have broken in his favor and that the party should coalesce around his candidacy." Is that true?
CAPUTO: I feel like we're right back where we are coming out of Iowa. You know, the media had Hillary Clinton all but dead, and reporters were attending the wake and then she turned around and won New Hampshire. So I think let the process play out. Remember, this is a process of electing a nominee based on delegates. And right now, they're basically even on delegates. The superdelegates are key to this equation, and I think that the process will definitely play out.
And I think another thing to look at is when you take a step back and look at some of the exit polling, you know, late deciders were going for Hillary Clinton which I thought was an interesting dynamic. Don't underestimate Hispanics in Texas. She scored major among Latinos coming out of Super Tuesday as well. She's got some key endorsements. Stan Holman (ph) Texas, John Glenn in Ohio, Ted Strickland in Ohio and then Ed Rendell in Pennsylvania.
ROBERTS: Which we saw in Massachusetts. Endorsements don't necessarily win you the state. But, let me just come to this. You said superdelegates are going to be the key. There's also an idea that Florida and Michigan could be key as well. Their delegates were stripped because they went early. She has vowed to fight to restore the delegates at least in Florida.
CAPUTO: She has.
ROBERTS: How is that going to take place?
CAPUTO: Well, I think that's up to Howard Dean. I mean, I think this falls into the hands of --
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: But he says it's not up to him.
CAPUTO: Well, I think it does fall to the hands of the Democratic National Committee. I mean, look, she won in Florida. Everybody was on the ballot. Michigan was another scenario where she did win the state, and people could have voted uncommitted and they did. So, you know, again, that will have to play out within the party rules.
ROBERTS: All right. The voting for uncommitted isn't necessarily like voting for a candidate.
CAPUTO: I know. I don't disagree with that.
ROBERTS: All right.
CAPUTO: I don't disagree with that.
ROBERTS: Lisa Caputo, thanks very much for coming in today.
CAPUTO: Nice to see you.
ROBERTS: Good to see you.
And you can see how they do in Texas in the next debate hosted by CNN, Univision and the Texas Democratic Party. It's coming up next Thursday, February 21st, at the University of Texas in Austin. Watch it live here on CNN at 8:00 p.m. Eastern -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks, John. Still ahead, a room with a dangerous view. This California home in danger of coming down after a ground shift literally splits it in half. We're going to have more of the amazing pictures coming up.
Also, working at a desk all day is certainly not the best way to stay fit. But could it actually be dangerous to your health? We're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Hey, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning. We've been looking into this. Why do some people get prostate cancer and others do not? And how much of that might have to do with your job? We're investigating that for you straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We have a look right now at some of the flight delays expected or actually occurring right now for many airports in New York Metro airports, including La Guardia, JFK, as well as Newark. Looking at 60 plus minutes delay right now with rain and low clouds causing a lot of problems. Same for Boston's Logan Airport. D.C. Metro Airports as well running on a 30-minute delay. You should just call ahead if you're traveling because the weather is --
ROBERTS: Did you call your father?
CHETRY: I know. He's trying to make his way from D.C. to New York this morning. But you know, supposedly it says on time so far. You know how it is when you get to the airport.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: It always does. It always does, right up until they cancel the flight.
CHETRY: Exactly.
Well, we also have some incredible pictures to show you this morning. Traffic sliding and backing up for miles. This is I-70. It's near Jefferson, Ohio, northeast of Cleveland. A semi truck teetering over a bridge. It triggered a five-car crash. Police say, though, there were no major injuries. A lot of headaches, though, if you were stuck behind that accident.
In northern Missouri, each blade of grass encased in an inch of ice. There you see it. It also covered roads making for a pretty sight there. Not on the roads, of course. I believe in the back, is that a horse-drawn carriage?
ROBERTS: Yes, it's great.
CHETRY: Gorgeous shot. Police say, though, that two people were killed in weather related accidents there, and thousands are still without power. A tough situation weatherwise for the middle part of the country as well. And here's a look at broken chunks of ice that were jammed in a narrow channel in Indiana Lake causing flooding in the area. Some families forced to ride out the cold spell with five or six inches of water in their homes.
Well, we want to know what it looks like in your neighborhood if you are experiencing some severe weather. Send us an I-Report, CNN.com, click on I-Report and stay safe if you are out there this morning. Veronica de la Cruz is going to be sharing some of them with us a bit later on AMERICAN MORNING as well.
ROBERTS: Wow. A lot of ice. A lot of woe, a lot of delays this morning. My goodness.
Twenty-five minutes after the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" here now. What have you got for us this morning?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We're following the story of what's going on with Venezuela. You recall last week, ExxonMobil got a ruling, a court case in Britain, seizing up to $12 billion worth of Venezuelan assets overseas. Well, in response to that, Hugo Chavez said on Monday that if you mess with us we'll cut off oil supply. Well, the Venezuelan state oil company, which is controlled by Hugo Chavez, has now said that it is cutting off all oil supplies to ExxonMobil.
Now, this is a little tricky because Venezuela is the fifth largest exporter of oil in the world. It's America's fourth largest source of imported oil, and ExxonMobil is the largest oil company in the world. So the oil needs to be refined into gasoline. Venezuelan oil is heavy oil, and it tends to need to be refined in the United States. So we've been speaking to analysts all night since this happened and their general view is that this is going to have to go somewhere. So if Venezuela doesn't sell it to Exxon, someone else will sell to Exxon. Venezuela will sell it to a third party. So at the moment, no major reaction in the oil markets, but the rhetoric is heating up between Venezuela and ExxonMobil.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali, thanks very much.
VELSHI: OK.
ROBERTS: If you are one of the millions of American men working all day at a desk, you may want to get up and take a walk after you watch this segment. Sitting could increase your risk of prostate cancer. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the medical update desk. Sanjay, is it about the active sitting, putting pressure on the prostate all day? Or is something about a more sedentary life?
GUPTA: It does not appear to be the act of simply sitting, John, but more of what you said at the end, just being inactive. This is an interesting headline. Actually, people with desk jobs more at risk of prostate cancer. Sort of an interesting study, John.
They were actually looking at this facility that tests rocket engines. The question they were trying to answer, these researchers were trying to answer, was do some of these chemicals actually increase your risk of prostate cancer? And the answer seemed to come back yes to some degree. There are some chemicals that you care about the name, such as hydrazine, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These are the names of chemicals that were actually used in this plant, and they found that in high concentrations. Those could increase someone's risk of prostate cancer.
But something else emerged, John, that you pointed out. And that is as they sort of divided these groups into people who sat a lot, who are very sedentary, as compared to people who are active at their jobs, the sedentary people -- people who are managers, people who are supervisors, typically had higher risks of prostate cancer. They are more likely to develop it, and the people who are active were more likely not to and even be protective against some of those chemical exposures, John. So it's an interesting finding here.
ROBERTS: So, regardless of whether we work in a rocket engine plant or not, what is it about a sedentary lifestyle that does more damage to the prostate?
GUPTA: You know, it's unclear. That's a $64,000 question. People are trying to figure out. Is it something about being sedentary? Does your body produce certain hormones that somehow fuel prostate cancer? That's one of the theories. It could simply be, John, something that we've talked about before that if you are sedentary, you're more likely to put on weight. And simply being overweight or obese can also be a risk factor for prostate cancer. But it's unclear exactly what it was, but it did seem to be a pretty clear relationship. Again, people with sedentary jobs, sitting in a desk, more likely to have developed prostate cancer.
ROBERTS: Another good reason to get up and take a walk once in a while. Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much for that.
GUPTA: All right, thank you.
CHETRY: With Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton nearly deadlocked in delegates, the upcoming primaries in Texas and Ohio are going to be crucial, a lot of analysts say, especially for Hillary Clinton after a string of losses to Barack Obama, including the three primaries yesterday. What exit polls from those primaries are saying about these upcoming races?
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." Also, a Capitol Hill confrontation. Roger Clemens face to face with the man accusing him of using steroids and performance enhancing drugs. But the man who won't be there could cast a shadow on the entire proceeding. We're going to ask a sports attorney today about the House hearing on doping in baseball.
It brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Who is telling the truth? Is it Roger Clemens who says he never did it or Brian McNamee, the trainer, who claims he did? Cast your vote, CNN.com/am.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: A little bit of a dreary shot this morning in Baltimore coming to us courtesy of WBAL. Raining there right now. 34 degrees. They're expecting it to go up to 46 and heavy rain expected as well as airport delays throughout the D.C. Metro airports, of course, that would include DWI. So, call ahead. Right now, here's a look at a travel alert coming to you from CNN. New York Metro airports looking at about 60-minute arrival delays right now but it could also be departures soon. At Boston, rain and low clouds causing an hour delay on arrivals as we well and as we said about 30 minutes for D.C. Metro airports but it will probably get worse as the morning goes on.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Not a good day to be flying in the northeast. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Taking the lead, Barack Obama now ahead of Hillary Clinton in the delegate count after going 3 for 3 in the Potomac primaries. Obama won by decisive margins in Maryland, Virginia and the nation's capital gaining an estimated 70 delegates last night. That gives him the over-all delegate lead over Senator Hillary Clinton. Don't forget 2,025 needed to clinch, 1,215, currently to Obama, 1,190 to Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't keep spending money that we don't have in a war that shouldn't have been fought. We can't keep mortgaging our children's future on a mountain of debt. We can't keep driving a wider and wider gap between the few who are rich and the rest who are struggling to keep pace. It is time to turn the page and write a new chapter in American history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: If Barack Obama in Wisconsin, Senator Clinton was in already in Texas hoping a win there would end her losing streak and stop a streaking opponent. It was also a hat trick for John McCain as he picked up all three Potomac primary states. The Arizona senator took home 89 delegates, 60 in Virginia, 13 in Maryland and 16 in the District of Columbia. They were all winner take all contests. He now has 812. 1,191 needed to clinch the nomination. Mike Huckabee stayed where he was at 217. Ron Paul still with 16. Mitt Romney suspending the campaign, still holding on to 286 delegates and no word yet on what he's going to do with them.
Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee had a disappointing evening on Tuesday after losing all three primaries to GOP front-runner John McCain. Last night on CNN's "Larry King Live," Huckabee talked about how the delegate count is stacking up against him and how he thinks he can still win the party's nomination.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It would require me virtually winning everything else on the field but here's the thing. We've got to get to 1,191 delegates in order to have a nominee. And it's possible that I may not get to 1,191 before the convention but it is possible that neither would Senator McCain meaning we would all go to the convention and that's where we would decide upon the nominee.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: So, here's what we're looking at coming up next. A look at the primary calendar here. Next Tuesday, democrats fight for 94 delegates in Hawaii, which is a caucus and Wisconsin a primary. 40 delegates for the republicans in Wisconsin. The republican primary in Hawaii not until May. And then the big one. Super Tuesday II, March 4th. Democrats vie for 370 delegates, mostly in Texas, and Ohio 275 at stake for the GOP. Then on April 22nd, the last really big prize, Pennsylvania with 158 democratic delegates. 74 for the republicans. And what do candidates need to do to succeed in those upcoming primaries? We'll talk about that with our John King coming up. Right now let's go over to Kiran.
CHETRY: John, thanks. Baseball pitching great, seven times Cy Young Award Winner Roger Clemens and his former personal trainer Brian McNamee are facing off at a congressional hearing. It will be happening later today. It's about steroids in baseball. McNamee is claiming he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens has repeatedly denied those claims and this morning there were reports that former teammate Andy Pettitte told Congress under oath that Clemens talked about using HGH as far back as 1999. Although at the time, it was not banned by baseball. Ryan Smith is a sports attorney. He joins us this morning to talk more about what we're expected to get out of these hearings today. And I ask you is Roger Clemens a witness because formerly he is or is he the target?
RYAN SMITH, SPORTS ATTORNEY: He's a bit of both. And the issue here really is Congress wants to find out how it can implement changes in baseball. They want to push baseball to change the drug policy. In order to do that they have to prove the Mitchell report to be correct. If Clemens contradicts it, it's not correct. So, both parties have a lot to lose.
CHETRY: It's interesting though because, after the Mitchell report, Roger Clemens came out and said this is not true. This wasn't widespread. I didn't use steroids. How are they going to get him to change his story or are they today?
SMITH: Well, that's the main thing. The first thing they have to ask here is did you use steroids and did you use HGH? And one of the biggest pieces of contradictory evidence for what he is going to say is what Andy Pettitte said. Now that we've heard these reports of Andy Pettitte saying hey, me and Roger, we talked about this in 1999 and 2000. And then he said in 2005, he sort of scaled back a bit and said no it was my wife taking it. It's very iffy stuff. But if you find something there that's going to contradict Clemens' story then Clemens is looking at a perjury investigation and it substantiates the Mitchell report.
CHETRY: How does targeting Roger Clemens bring about changes, widespread changes and agreement by the players association and major league baseball in general to crackdown on what seems to be going on for years?
SMITH: Because the key is the Mitchell report says all these things happened. If Clemens comes out and says it didn't happen but he's proven to actually be false in this case, we don't know yet obviously, then the Mitchell report stands as the holy grail for drug policy changes. So, then Congress can look at this and say this is what happened to baseball. This is continuing to happen. You need to change and the public pressure will be enough to make change in baseball.
CHETRY: So what do we expecting to hear from Brian McNamee, the former trainer of Roger Clemens?
SMITH: You are going to hear, it's going to be explosive. You are going to hear him directly contradict everything that Clemens has said. You're going to hear him talk about how he injected him, when he injected him, he's even said now that he even made a mistake and it's actually more injections than he ever believed it to be. So, you're going to hear a lot of stuff coming in against Clemens. Clemens is really on a tough road here. Because he's got to come out and he's got to look humble. He's going to look contrite. He's got to not say I did it or anything like that. He's already said he hasn't but he has to be very humble. He can't be aggressive or defensive.
CHETRY: It would be interesting because he's been talking to some of the people that are going to actually be interviewing. He's been lobbying them almost in Congress the past few days.
SMITH: Right and I wonder how that makes him look to the public. A lot of this is about public perception. If the public sees him kind of doing this insider thing, I have known the congressman, we're being buddy-buddy. It looks a little strange. It's going to make the Congressman really have to press him on the tough issues. But at the same time, Roger is fighting for his legacy. He's fighting for public perception in his legacy. If he looks like someone who is not telling the truth, then it's going to be hard to ever come back from that.
CHETRY: Very interesting. We'll all be watching it live today.
SMITH: Live today. It's going to be exciting.
CHETRY: It's going to be at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Ryan Smith, it's always great to see you. Thanks for being with us.
SMITH: Thanks.
CHETRY: And you can all watch the testimony again it's uninterrupted on cnn.com. That will be streaming live 10:00 a.m. Eastern time and 7:00 a.m. Pacific time today. John.
ROBERTS: Well, maybe it was at the center of a nasty divorce settlement. This hill top home in Encino, California literally split down the middle. It happened on Sunday night. City workers think that the ground was saturated and shifted taking one half of the house one way and the other half the other way. Nobody lives in it but four other homes below that house were evacuated. Traffic now close around the hill to limit vibrations because they think that the ground could shift even further.
And do you know someone like this? A guy addicted to video games. New research says it may not be their fault. We're paging Dr. Gupta. He's got the excuse of a lifetime ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
And we're breaking down all the exit poll numbers from the Potomac primaries, to see what they mean for the upcoming contests in Texas and Ohio, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Well, it's going to be a rough commute this morning for drivers in the northeast and the Midwest. Drivers in New York and Pennsylvania facing layers of ice and sleet on top of the snow that fell overnight. If you are traveling by air, you may also be looking at some long delays as well there. They're expecting significant delays throughout the day at airports across the country. Our Jacqui Jeras is in the CNN weather center. She is tracking all of this for us this morning. Good morning, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kiran. Things are just getting worse at the airports minute by minute. We think that's going to continue throughout the day today. One good note, however, is Providence International Airport is back open but Windsor Locks still closed. And now that's been lengthened to about 9:30. The ground stop at Cleveland and Newark, New York City, La Guardia pushing two hours now. 50 minutes in Philadelphia. We also expect places like Boston, Washington, D.C. to have delays as we progress throughout the morning. Also possible delays in Miami and Tampa because of thunderstorms and 30-minute delays expected in Los Angeles later because of the low clouds and the fog.
There you can see all of the rain in place into the coastal areas. You get into the interior where that colder air is still in place. That's where we're seeing the freezing rain . So bridges and overpasses in particularly is going to get hit really hard with that ice and black ice. So, you may not even see it out there. Heavy rain into the Carolinas on up into the Virginias. And this line of thunderstorms here as it moves toward the outer banks could produce some strong possibly severe storms and also the threat of severe storms in South Florida again. Yesterday, numerous tornado reports across the country. In fact, one Cocoa Beach, Florida, caused some damage to two different condo buildings. The roof was collapsed there and also some nickel size hail reported. 13 tornadoes in all from Louisiana to Florida yesterday and we may see that threat again today across central and southern Florida and into the eastern Carolinas. Back to you.
CHETRY: Jacqui, thanks.
ROBERTS: Now to the race for the White House and the dominance in last night's Potomac primaries by Senators John McCain and Barack Obama. How they pulled off their remarkable victories and what it means for the upcoming races. Our chief national correspondent John King joins me now to help break down the races. So, what have we learned from the voting last night and how might it affect the races going forward?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Let's break up Virginia, John. You know, Virginia quite well. What we learned last night is Barack Obama ran up huge wins and he did that by cutting into Senator Clinton's base. Now, we expected Barack Obama to do well in a place down here around the Richmond area, right around Richmond and in Richmond City proper. Look at these margins. That's because of his support among African-Americans. Ran up the numbers huge. That was to be expected perhaps.
But let's look up here in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. Fairfax County. Yes, more of the affluent democrats that you would expect to go to Obama but also quite a bit of professional women that should be Hillary Clinton's base. Well, look at this, almost 60 percent-40 percent in Fairfax county. So, Barack Obama cutting in to her base and move next door. Over here, some of these counties here, Clark County, Loudoun County, immigrants, where Senator Clinton would expect to do well as well as professional women. Again, Obama, 62 percent, Clinton, 38 percent.
So, what he did in Virginia and across the border, in a place like Montgomery County, Maryland, is cut into her traditional base. A lot of senior citizens here. Again, he's winning 55 percent to 43 percent. If he can carry that forward, Barack Obama not only has momentum of winning, now eight in a row. He's cutting into her traditional support, something the Clinton campaign has to worry about as we move on.
ROBERTS: On the GOP side of things. Mike Huckabee took some votes away from John McCain but didn't take away delegates because they were winner take all contest but it showed that he still got weakness in certain areas.
KING: This is the warning to John McCain right here. John McCain ends up pulling up 50 percent in the state. In the earlier results, Huckabee was ahead because the rural votes came in first. But if you're John McCain, this is a wake-up call to you right here that the rural conservative evangelicals in your party are still skeptical. Everybody all week long are saying McCain is the presumptive nominee. He said it's time to unify. Well, this is the Mike Huckabee vote, the peach color right here. A good number of evangelicals still say no, we're not ready to jump on the McCain bandwagon just yet.
ROBERTS: All right now, this is the part of the magic wall that I really love. Mike Huckabee is out there last night saying I can still do it. I can still become the nominee. Mathematically, can he/
KING: The answer is no. Let's show you why. If John McCain were to drop out of the race, the answer might be yes. This is the map of states still to come. We'll put this up here. I'm going to give Mike Huckabee a victory in every state still to come. Let's assume that John McCain is winning at the moment but lets say for the sake of argument and let's show where we start from, John McCain is out here. Governor Huckabee is back here, almost four times his delegate base. Let's take this off.
Now, let's give Mike Huckabee every single state. I'm not going to touch them in the order they vote. But Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas, Hawaii, let's just keep going through these state. The peach color is Mike Huckabee. We're giving him every single state, John, yet to vote. Watch where we're going. As we assign these states, Mike Huckabee winning, Mike Huckabee winning, Mike Huckabee winning and guess what the end result is?
ROBERTS: McCain still wins.
KING: We give him Vermont. We give him Rhode Island and John McCain is your republican nominee even though Mike Huckabee closes the gap. He cannot catch up winning. That's a 55-45, even if we pump the numbers up and made Mike Huckabee 60 percent-40 percent, John McCain still gets to the finish line.
ROBERTS: Fascinating stuff. John, thanks very much. John King for us at the magic wall this morning. CNN is your home for the most political coverage. Join me or join Campbell Brown tonight in prime time for CNN's "Election Center." It starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you tomorrow night on that program. Kiran.
CHETRY: Still ahead, John, a teen skate border runs into the long arm of the law. Why this officer wrestled the teen to the ground and the harsh words he has for the skater coming up.
ROBERTS: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, addicted to action. Doctors look inside the mind to figure out why guys love gaming. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with the excuse every guy has been waiting for ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Well, if you know a guy who's really into video games, there's evidence that could show why. Apparently, it's something about the male brain. We're paging Dr. Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent joins us from Atlanta this morning. What did researchers find out or is this all just an excuse to keep playing, you know, the guitar hero?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Which is a great game, by the way. This was a very interesting study. I loved this study because it looked at this idea as to why men might get more addicted to video games as compared to women. First of all, they do, about three times more so, at least according to this study. The researchers wanted to figure out is something happening in the brain? Something different in men versus women when playing these games.
Let me show you the game that they basically designed for the purposes of this study. It was a rather simple game that just sort of account for two things. Basically, it wanted to look at visual processing. Based on these dots come over here. If you let them hit the wall, you're actually going to lose space. Nuke it, if you will, which I'm very good at, before they hit the wall, you're going to gain space. So, it uses visual processing and it uses motor skills. What they did was they studied men and women as they were playing this game and then they put them in a functional MRI scanner to see what was happening to the game.
They found that men were better at the game but even more importantly something was happening in their brains. Take a look at this image here. The three areas of the brain specifically that you may see here are reward centers of the brain. The names aren't that important. Amygdala, nucleus accumbens, orbital frontal cortex. What is important about those areas is that they represent the reward center of the brain and they are much more brightly activated in men as compared to women. So there you have it. There may be more of a sense of reward while men are playing it as compared to women.
CHETRY: Is there an implication - John is over here laughing, beyond the cyberworld?
GUPTA: Well, I mean, the original purpose of this study wasn't actually to get people to play video games but to look at this concept of addiction and figure out does it translate into why men may become more addicted to certain things as compared to women? Are there gender differences with respect to addiction? I don't know if this fully answers the question. It doesn't answer the question as to whether men are better video game players as compared to women. Really, they don't seem to be. Women seem to have motor processing and visual processing skills that were equal. You know what the difference was, Kiran? Men just seem to care more about it and the brain may explain why.
CHETRY: So, they go around bragging about their score in Sonic the Hedgehog much longer than we would or Frogger or that very rudimentary game you were playing earlier. It's terribly complicated.
GUPTA: It's harder than it looks. You seem to have a pretty good knowledge of the video games as well, Kiran. I'll add.
CHETRY: That's right. That hindered my perfect GPA in college. Sanjay, thank you.
GUPTA: Thank you.
ROBERTS: A senator demanding answers in the case of the destroyed tapes. We're not talking about the CIA. Why the NFL commissioner will be on the hill?
And she has bounced back before. How can Hillary Clinton come back against Barack Obama this time? Her strategy for the homestretch ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: The NFL commissioner is expected on Capitol Hill today. The league officials say Roger Goodell will meet with Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter over spy games. Specter reportedly wants to know why tapes were destroyed after the NFL finished investigating what the New England Patriots were taping on week one against the New York Jets. Boy, I thought we were talking about CIA tapes there.
ALI VELSHI, CNN, SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Now, that's pretty serious.
ROBERTS: Ali Velshi here, "minding your business." Foreclosure numbers in for 2007.
VELSHI: Yes. And we've been reporting this every month. So, the numbers are in line with what we thought they would be. But for the total of 2007, 404,849 homes were lost in the United States to foreclosure. That's on nearly 2.2 million foreclosure filings. Of the 100 biggest cities in the United States, 86 percent of them reported an increase in foreclosure filings. Take a look at the numbers. Across the United States, the average number of homes in foreclosure in 2007 was 1 in 97. Detroit had 1 in 20. Stockton, California also 1 in 20. Las Vegas 1 in 24. Riverside, San Bernardino 1 in 26 and Sacramento 1 in 31.
We've been talking a lot about mortgage rates over the last couple of days. New mortgage rates are in from the Mortgage Bankers' Association. And they are up a little bit. Take a look at this. A 30-year fixed now up to 5.72 percent. 15-year fixed 5.18 percent. And a one-year arm going for 5.72 percent. So, for those of you looking for a mortgage if you got good credit, there's really no apparent reason why you would be in a one-year arm right now unless you happen to think mortgage rates will go lower a lot lower than they are right now. Five and three quarter, you can probably do better than that if you have good credit. We've been hearing people being able to get better rates than that right now. So, hopefully 2008 will be a little better than 2007 in terms of rates and foreclosures.
ROBERTS: Keep our fingers crossed.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Ali, thanks.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right the now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Capital gains.
OBAMA: It is time to turn a page and write a new chapter in American history.
ROBERTS: Obama and McCain goes 3 for 3.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Now, the race rests on Texas. Extreme winter, tiles of snow, sheets of ice, chaos for commuters. And roughed up on YouTube. A cop sends a teen to the pavement and loses his badge. Who was out of line? On this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Welcome, it is Wednesday. It is AMERICAN MORNING, the day after the big Potomac primaries, as they're called.
ROBERTS: Less than one day ahead of Valentine's Day, you are suddenly reminding men across the country this morning to ... CHETRY: Tomorrow, we're all wearing all heart, pink and red. Happy red.
ROBERTS: Yes. The red dress looks good on you this morning
CHETRY: He wouldn't have known it's Valentine's Day tomorrow if he didn't get that friendly 6:00 a.m. reminder.
ROBERTS: That's true.
Kiran Chetry along with John Roberts, good morning to you. Senators Barack Obama and John McCain going 3 for 3 in the Potomac primaries last night. Obama won by decisive margins in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., picking up an estimated 70 delegates.
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