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American Morning
Earthquake in Greece; Crunch Time: Campaign on the Attack; Roger Clemens Testifies in Court; Privacy Concerns: Facebook Changes Policy
Aired February 14, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for being with us. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
We start this morning with breaking news. A strong earthquake hit southern Greece. It was less than an hour ago. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake measured 6.7, struck 12 miles off shore. It hit about nine minutes past noon local time. Local media is reporting that the quake was felt in the capital city of Athens. People were seen running from buildings in cities in the southern part of the country. The epicenter said to be deep beneath the seabed southwest of the city of Kalamata. No word of damage there yet. We're going to keep an eye on this. We'll bring you the latest as we get it here this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
Now to the race for president. The Obama and McCain camps are starting to turn the focus on each other while the Clinton camp turns up the heat in what could be a last ditch effort to save her nomination. Hillary Clinton's campaign has already lost two top staffers. Now, her husband's 1992 campaign manager is endorsing Barack Obama. David Wilhelm is a former Democratic National Committee chairman and a superdelegate in the battleground state of Ohio. We will ask him why he made the switch to Obama. That will be coming up at our 8:00 hour.
The next big contest less than three weeks away. Democrats in Texas and Ohio voting on March the 4th. Hillary Clinton herself is calling that date "a turning point."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is a very important choice and a big difference between the candidates in this race. I am in the solutions business. My opponent is in the promises business. I think we need answers, not questions about what we're going to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The next primary, though, is in Wisconsin. That will be on Tuesday. The Clinton camp also rolled out a new television ad there aimed right at Barack Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CLINTON CAMPAIGN AD)
ANNOUNCER: Both Democratic candidates were invited to a televised debate here in Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton said yes. Barack Obama hasn't. Maybe he prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions, like why Hillary Clinton has the only health care plan that covers every American and the only economic plan that freezes foreclosures. Wisconsin deserves to hear both candidates debate the issues that matter, and that's not debatable.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Hillary Clinton and I approve this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So the Clinton campaign apparently going negative in the state of Wisconsin. Last night on "LARRY KING LIVE," another Clinton guy, James Carville, said if Clinton does not win Texas, it's over -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, Barack Obama for his part seems to be focusing less on the Democratic race with Hillary Clinton in the primary and more on a November battle with a likely Republican nominee, John McCain. Obama blasted McCain while campaigning in Wisconsin, calling him a George Bush Republican on the war and the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: George Bush may not on the ballot this fall, but his tax cut and his economic policies are. And if John McCain wants to debate the specifics of how well the economy has worked for ordinary families over the last seven years, that is a debate that I am happy to have because the American people know that Bush's policies have not worked for ordinary Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: John McCain fired back slamming Barack Obama, calling his campaign for change more style than substance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There will come a time where we have to get into specifics. And I've not observed every speech that he's given obviously, but they are singularly lacking in specifics and that's when as the campaign moves forward, we will be portraying very stark differences. It's not an accident that he has, I think, according to "National Journal" the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate. I have won in most conservative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: McCain's comments are the most pointed attack against Obama to date. Meanwhile, McCain's son Jim is back from Iraq. He served seven months there arriving home Monday along with 300 other marines. ROBERTS: Coming up at four minutes after the hour, let's bring in Jeff Zeleny from "The New York Times". He is covering the upcoming Wisconsin primaries, live just outside Milwaukee in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. Jeff, so Barack Obama leading in the polls there now, expected to do well in Hawaii in the caucuses there that also happen next Tuesday. If Hillary Clinton goes 0 for 10 heading into Texas and Ohio, is that bound to have some kind of an effect on her?
JEFF ZELENY, NEW YORK TIMES: I think it is, and I think we have already seen the effect it's having, sort of this has been a slow, gradual effect ever since the Super Tuesday. The first, it was three losses here, then one more, then three more the other day. So the Clinton campaign is actually bracing for this, you know, for one more loss, which is why Senator Clinton is not in Wisconsin. She has been in Texas for the last couple of days. She is actually, though, coming to Wisconsin over the weekend.
ROBERTS: Yes.
ZELENY: And the voters here I'm talking to actually want to hear from her. A lot of them have not made up their mind. They were really hoping that they would have a full-on campaign here between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton. So she will come here at the end -- at the final stretch of this, but not spending a lot of time here.
ROBERTS: Right. Is it seen as kind of a half-hearted effort there? John King last night was saying something to the effect that they are doing some campaigning in Wisconsin but not with the level of intensity that would lead you to believe that they have a chance of winning that state.
ZELENY: I think that's right. I mean, they're certainly spending a lot of money on television. We've heard the ad that Senator Clinton is saying that Senator Obama will not debate. But she's actually not here so the argument is a little bit harder to make. If she was here making the argument, I mean, to voters in person day by day, that may be more of a salient point. But former President Bill Clinton, he's here, and he'll be all around Wisconsin for the next several days.
But look, I think there are still a lot of Democratic voters who say, hey, we want to make up our minds for ourselves. And the Obama campaign certainly learned a lesson in New Hampshire of overconfidence.
ROBERTS: Right.
ZELENY: That's one thing that they're trying to not do right now.
ROBERTS: So looking ahead to the Texas primary which is coming up again less than three weeks on March the 4th, she has got a chance to try to blunt his momentum at that debate that we're holding next Thursday at the LBJ Auditorium at University of Texas in Austin. She's going negative there in Wisconsin. Does she need to be on the attack in that debate, or can they have that sort of, you know, group hug that they in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago and will that help her out there?
ZELENY: Well, the time may be running out for a group hug. We certainly saw that in Los Angeles because they thought in the sort of the shrill sounds from both Senator Obama and McCain -- or Senator Obama and Senator Clinton was not working so well. You know, but this really is the final stretch here. So we'll see what the results are in Wisconsin. But if he still has a big lead going into that, if he has the momentum, she is running out of time to stop him, if you will. So I would not be at all surprised if the next phase, the Texas phase, is a pretty bloody match between the two of them.
ROBERTS: Oh, it's getting interesting and interesting and interesting. Jeff Zeleny for us this morning from Brown Deer, Wisconsin. Jeff, thanks. We'll check back in with you a little bit later on -- Kiran.
ZELENY: John, thank you.
CHETRY: Well, there's some new information out this morning, likely to reverberate on the campaign trail today. Hillary Clinton is one of the Senate's top ten recipients of earmarks. That's federal money put into bills to spend on home state projects. The nonpartisan group Taxpayers for Common Sense releasing this report. They say she brought home $340 million in earmarks last year whereas Barack Obama brought home $91 million for his state. That puts him in the bottom quarter of senators who seek earmarks.
And Republican John McCain who has talked about earmarks many times on the campaign trail took no earmarked money. He is only one of five senators who rejected the earmarks entirely as needless pork barrel spending.
Well, turning now to your "Financial Security Watch," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as well as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will testify today in front of lawmakers on the state of the U.S. economy. Right now, overseas markets are up. Stocks in Asia sharply higher. Tokyo's Nikkei closed up over four percent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up over 3.5 percent. European markets now mostly trading up.
And Wall Street is watching. That meeting comes one day after President Bush finalized the stimulus package, and the market got a bump from retail sales numbers as well. Ali Velshi joins us now with a preview of what we may expect to hear today. Hi, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. You're right. Asian markets were up, but a lot of that had to do with a GDP report in Tokyo. So it was specific to Asia. They were helped a little bit by the good retail sales report that you talked about we got yesterday morning. So right now, markets are flat, looking for a little bit of an open, because all eyes are going to be at 10:00 Eastern on Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke. There are going to be a lot of questions they're going get from senators. They're going to be asked obviously about where we are in this recession, what can be done about it. And, you know, you can't -- I think most betting is that neither Ben Bernanke nor Henry Paulson are going to say we're in a recession. They'll talk about a slowing economy. They'll discuss what can be done, but those are going to be the questions. Is the stimulus package enough? Are the rate cuts that the Fed has made enough? That's what the markets will be looking for. Are there hints of another rate cut? The Fed isn't having another official meeting on rate cuts until March, so those are the indications we're going to be looking at.
What does Ben Bernanke say about their information about the economy? And that's what we'll all be watching very closely. But as things stand, we're looking for a modestly positive open on U.S. markets. That will all change as the morning goes on.
CHETRY: Ali, thanks. We'll check in with you throughout the morning. Keep us abreast of the situation.
ROBERTS: Alina Cho joins us now with other stories developing overnight. Good morning to you, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John. Kiran, good morning. Good morning, everybody.
Security forces in the Philippines are on high alert right now. It follows an alleged al-Qaeda plot to kill President Gloria Arroyo in a series of bombings. U.S. diplomats and foreign embassies were also intended targets apparently. The news comes just a day after a planned protest by Arroyo's political opponents. Her family has been linked to a corruption scandal.
Incredible pictures coming in from Lebanon this morning. Huge gatherings in the streets of Beirut right now. Some are remembering the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri three years ago today. Others are mourning the death of a Hezbollah leader killed by a car bomb in Syria earlier this week. We told you about this yesterday.
Imad Mughniyeh was one of the world's most wanted terrorists, nicknamed the FOX, because he was a bit able to avoid capture for so long. Mughniyeh was linked to the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983 as well as the hijacking of a TWA flight back in 1985. He is the bearded man seen holding a gun to the pilot's head, an infamous picture. Hezbollah blames Israel for his assassination. Israel denies any involvement.
Here at home, news breaking from the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC will recommend today that evacuees from Hurricane Katrina move out of FEMA trailers believed to be contaminated with formaldehyde. Now, the CDC says 38,000 trailers have high levels of it, and it could be making residents sick. They've been told to move out by the summer because that's when it gets warmer and gas levels get higher. FEMA and the CDC will talk about options today in New Orleans.
An update on a story we first told you about yesterday on AMERICAN MORNING. Remember this one? The Sheriff in Hillsborough County, Florida, has now apologized to a disabled man after an officer was caught on tape that you see there, dumping him out of a wheelchair inside a jail. It happened two weeks ago, but we just got hold of the tape yesterday. The sheriff says he was so embarrassed and shocked after he saw the video for the first time yesterday. The deputy has been suspended without pay.
And Senator Arlen Specter demanding answers about the so-called spy gate investigation. He met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Capitol Hill yesterday and questioned the quality of the NFL's investigation into the New England Patriots accused of taping their opponents' signals on the sidelines. Specter wants to know why the tapes and notes from the investigation were destroyed. The league fined New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick $500,000 in September. That's the biggest fine ever for an NFL coach. Specter accused Belichick of illegally taping opponents since the 2000 season.
Of course, we're talking about the New York Jets. These were defensive signals. And apparently, the league got a hold of some notes...
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHO: ... and some tapes, and they were since destroyed from the 2000 season.
ROBERTS: Shouldn't the league be the one in charge of that, not the Senate?
CHO: Well, yes, but if the evidence was destroyed, Congress wants to get involved and get some answers apparently.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: There on a sports tick lately.
ROBERTS: So it would seem. Yes.
CHO: Baseball, football, you name it.
CHETRY: Exactly.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Alina, thanks.
ROBERTS: Alina, thanks.
CHO: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, speaking of that, Roger Clemens and his former trainer, Brian McNamee, feeling the heat from lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Both of them testified side by side at a hearing yesterday. At times, it was very riveting. It was about steroids in baseball. Each telling a House committee a completely different story about whether or not Clemens used illegal performance enhancing drugs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER CLEMENS, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER: I'm not saying Senator Mitchell's report is entirely wrong. I am saying Brian McNamee's statements about me are wrong. Let me be clear. I have never taken steroids or HGH.
BRIAN MCNAMEE, FMR. CLEMENS TRAINER: When I told Senator Mitchell I injected Roger Clemens with performance-enhancing drugs, I told the truth. I told the truth about steroids and human growth hormone. I injected those drugs into the body of Roger Clemens at his direction.
REP. HENRY WAXMAN (D), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: It's impossible to believe that this is a simple misunderstanding. Someone isn't telling the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: But which one? Is it just a he said/he said? And how do you really get to the bottom of it? AMERICAN MORNING legal analyst Sunny Hostin joins me now. Two things that may be interesting, Sunny, that the justice department could be looking into this, reviewing the use of possibly needles and bloody gauze pads that the trainer says he saved...
SUNNY HOSTIN, AMERICAN MORNING LEGAL ANALYST: That he kept.
CHETRY: ... all these years that perhaps contain either steroids and/or DNA of Roger Clemens.
HOSTIN: Exactly. I mean -- and that may be relevant if the justice department decides to open up an investigation into possible perjury. And I know prosecutors give this speech all the time. I've given it. Someone comes into your office and you say to them, listen, I just want to find out the truth. You're not a target at this point or you may be a target, but if you lie to me, I'm going after you for perjury.
Obviously, I'm sure that the trainer got that speech and I'm sure that Roger Clemens knows that. And so, you know, I think what we need to figure out is whether or not the justice department is going to look into this and whether or not he's facing perjury charges. I have to tell you, it may not be the overall view, but many, many people after seeing it, felt that he did not come across as credible. And I think that is --
CHETRY: Which one, Clemens? Or --
HOSTIN: Clemens. And that is probably not a great place to be for him.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we'll see what happens and we'll see if the justice department indeed does take this up. Thanks a lot, Sunny.
HOSTIN: Thank you. ROBERTS: Calls this morning for every school to be shut down in Memphis after two incidents of gun violence this week. The mayor is making a promise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR WILLIE HERENTON, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE: We have a responsibility to protect children and the teachers in the schools. That's a responsibility the government has.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Hear his plan to protect students coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. Plus, extreme weather, flooding in Rhode Island, snow and heavy rain across several states. Is it over? Our Rob Marciano tells us ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, we have some extreme weather to tell you about. We just got some pictures to go along with it. Thousands without power still across the northeast after yesterday's strong winter storm. Also some major flooding in Rhode Island right now, as well with other parts of New England. Heavy snow putting dozens of roofs in danger of collapsing as well. Ice and flooding also a concern in Manchester, New Hampshire. The storm being blamed for at least 15 deaths in the region since Monday. A tough spate of extreme cold and wintry mix causing a lot of problems up and down the East Coast.
Rob Marciano has been tracking extreme weather for us this morning. Also, we got this in a few moments ago, Rob, as well. An earthquake hitting Greece. What do you know about that?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it hit just off shore, Kiran, 6.7 magnitude quake, 30 kilometers deep. So, not exceptionally deep, but fairly shallow quake that should have been felt somewhere in the country of Greece, especially along the shoreline. There are no tsunami buoys in the Mediterranean, so we don't get officially any warnings whether or not there was a tsunami trigger.
But typically anything less than seven does not trigger a tsunami, at least a big widespread one. And we certainly hope that is the case going forward. But historically, this shouldn't have done too much as part of the tsunami. We'll have to wait and see about damage on land.
All right. Let's talk weather. We've got flood warnings that are posted for a good chunk of the northeast. That heavy rain moved through the I-95 corridor. A lot of snow north in through northern New England where the snow pack is melting just a little bit. And also some snow across the mouth of the Potomac. Snow advisories there, maybe an inch or two but that's moving off shore as is the bulk of most of the rain. Boston, eastern Massachusetts will get some rain.
Flood warnings out for small streams. Some of the usual rivers say in Jersey to Passaic River, you're seeing some minor flooding that will crest in the next few hours and then fall below flood stage later on this afternoon. Our next batch of winter weather heading into Wisconsin. We have heavy snow warnings posted for a good chunk of Wisconsin including Green Bay and Milwaukee which could see five to eight inches of snowfall as this Alberta clipper comes in. And this will usher in our next batch of bitterly cold air.
Boston, we think you'll probably see some airport delays there. At Logan, 30-minute delays. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, same thing. We got some fog especially in south Florida. And Las Vegas, you'll see some 60 minutes delays there. We are at Ormond Beach, which is just a stone's throw from Daytona Beach.
This is -- well, they think this is the birth place of speed. They have been starting racing cars here back in 1903, and this coming weekend is the 50th running of the great American race, The Daytona 500. And we will take a little ride around the track. At least, we did yesterday. And coming up in just a few minutes, about 20 minutes from now, we'll show you that footage. It was a lot of fun. Kiran, back over to you.
CHETRY: Sounds good. All right. Rob Marciano for us this morning. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Twenty minutes now after the hour. After two school shootings in Memphis in recent days, there are now calls to shut down every school in the city. A school board member wants them closed until safety can be ensured. A student is in critical condition after being shot three times on Monday in the school's gym. Last week, another student was shot in a classroom argument. Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton announced a sweeping half million dollar plan to immediately buy full-size and handheld metal detectors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR WILLIE HERENTON, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE: We are going to ensure that metal detectors are provided in every middle and high school in the metro city schools. So that debate is over. We're going to make that happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The mayor of Memphis is also reassigning 67 police officers to all city school campuses.
Protecting your personal information online jut got a little bit easier. Our Veronica de la Cruz will explain how one popular Web site is making changes. Veronica's got that story. Here she comes next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour now. An AMERICAN MORNING update. The social networking site facebook.com is changing its privacy policy. It's now a whole lot easier for members to protect their personal information. Our Veronica de la Cruz joins us now with more on this. There was outrage about this on Tuesday. What did they change?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is a lot of anger and outrage as you know. This is popping all over the Internet. There are people blogging about it. This is Steven Mansour's (ph) blog. John, he blogged that it took him more than 2,500 steps to close his Facebook account. I think he's probably overexaggerating. Nevertheless, Facebook has addressed the issue. They have made some changes. We want to take a look at the Web site right now.
Once you log on to Facebook, if you go to the help section and you click on privacy and security, you're going to get this box right here. Because you want to delete your account. So, reading this text box basically says if you like your account deleted, please contact us using the form at the bottom of the page, and confirm your request in the text box. Now why this is significant is because it wasn't easy before, it didn't even exist.
So once you get there -- this is the text box. According to a group on Facebook, a group called How to Delete your Facebook account, which, by the way, has 6,000 members two days ago and now has 9,000, they say that if you simply put delete my account in both the subject and the message box, that should do it, though I would follow up at this point.
ROBERTS: It's like trying to get rid of some programs on your computer that they don't really want you to get rid of.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes.
ROBERTS: But they also give you an option to deactivate your account.
DE LA CRUZ: You can.
ROBERTS: What's the difference between deletion and deactivation?
DE LA CRUZ: Well, you can deactivate your account. But I do want to say, you know, the reason why people were outraged about this was because they were scared that all of their personal information would be saved on Facebook servers forever. That is why people were adamant about wanting their account deleted, not deactivated.
ROBERTS: Yes.
DE LA CRUZ: Apparently, if you deactivate your account, you can later on reactivate it. And that's why Facebook was saying they were keeping your information on their servers.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: So it just sort of sits there dormant.
DE LA CRUZ: So you want to delete your account.
ROBERTS: So it just sits there dormant, but it is still there? DE LA CRUZ: Yes. And you have to remember there was a lot of information. People would have their credit card information on there, their photos, personal messages from their friends, and they want that stuff gone entirely. I mean, think about when you're going for a job interview and stuff, you don't want this stuff on the Internet. You want to get rid of it completely. You know what I'm saying.
ROBERTS: Some of the pictures we have seen people put up at least.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes.
ROBERTS: Veronica, thanks.
DE LA CRUZ: You know, I wanted to say Happy Valentine's Day.
ROBERTS: Well, you're saying it in a big way. Could we get a shot at the back?
DE LA CRUZ: And John Roberts, I'm not wearing my heart on my sleeve for you but maybe on my back.
ROBERTS: On your back. Look at that. Very nice. And you got little ones around your cuff as well.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes. So Happy Valentine's Day to you and everybody there.
ROBERTS: Go ahead. Let's go there.
DE LA CRUZ: Everybody out there.
ROBERTS: All you men out there -- remember. Kiran?
CHETRY: If Veronica's significant other forgets, he's in big trouble because she has posted several reminders on her person. All right. Thanks, guys.
Well, it's time for the "Hot Shot" right now. Zookeepers at the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago are using a stuffed animal to fill in for the real parent. Apparently, it works. We all know that's a stuffed penguin, but the little guy, the little chick, a rare Humboldt penguin chick doesn't know it. Humboldt penguins have to ask their parents to be fed. Zookeepers say the 2-week chick was too small and weak to cry for food, so it's being hand fed and they're using the stuffed surrogate parent to help prevent the new bird from bonding with the human keepers. Hopefully it will work.
Cute little guy. It just needs a little help, get a start in life. Well, if you have a "Hot Shot," send it to us. Head to our Web site, CNN.com/am and follow the "Hot Shot" link.
Still ahead, Hillary Clinton going negative. What do her ads, her attack ads on Barack Obama say about the state of her campaign? We're going to talk about it coming up. Also, our Rob Marciano has the need for speed. There he goes. He is satisfying it with a ride in the Daytona 500 pace car.
Going so fast you can't even hear it. More of Rob's incredible thrill ride in today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Sun coming up over New York City. It is cold out there right now. Wind chills got it down into the teens today, at least for the morning. Going to be a lot better than it was yesterday, though. It was pouring most of yesterday. If you're just getting up, your commute will probably be a little better than it was.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Thursday, the 14th of February. And you know what that means.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: It means a lot of ladies around here are wearing red.
ROBERTS: It does. It means a lot of guys are in trouble if they forgot. Let's hope they didn't.
CHETRY: Well, we're following some breaking news this morning out of southern Greece. A 6.7 magnitude quake hit. It happened just about a half hour ago. Nine minutes past noon local time, said to be centered 12 miles off shore, about 145 miles southwest of Athens. That quake though was felt very far south as well. In fact, it sent people rushing out of buildings. No immediate reports right now of any damage or injuries at this point. They say it was felt in the capital of Athens. They could also feel it, according to local media, in parts as far possibly as 100 miles south of the capital. Still no reports, as we said, on any damage or injuries. We'll keep you up to date, though.
Also new this morning, we're learning new details about the assassination of Pakistan's former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto. A Pakistani police official says that an Islamic militant who helped carry out that attack in December wanted revenge for a friend's death. He was killed in an attack last year on militants hiding in Islamabad's red mosque.
The pressure is on the House of Representatives now to pass a bill that would allow warrantless wiretapping. The senate already passed that bill with protection for phone companies that helped the government listen in on terrorist conversations. Critics want that protection out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D), WISCONSIN: Under intense administration pressure, marked by inaccurate and misleading scare tactics, the senate has buckled. And we're left with a very dangerous piece of legislation.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: President Bush says without protection from lawsuits, phone companies will no longer provide crucial help. We're going to be talking with the director of national intelligence about this coming up in our next hour.
The FDA also planning to inspect a Chinese factory that may be linked to problems with the blood thinner heparin. It has been linked to hundreds of allergic reactions and four deaths. Baxter International says it buys the active ingredient used in heparin from a company with factories in China as well as the U.S. The FDA has told doctors to stop using Baxter's version. And Baxter says it will stop making the drug for now even though its own investigation of the factory did not find any problems.
Congress will get an update today on the state of the American economy. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke will testify in just a few hours at a senate banking committee hearing. Investors will be listening closely as well to what Bernanke has to say, looking for clues as to whether interest rates will be slashed again at the fed's meeting coming up next month.
ROBERTS: 33 minutes after the hour. To the battle for the white house now. Hillary Clinton is running her first ad attacking Barack Obama who now leads her in the delegate count.
"New York Times" reporter Jeff Zeleny is back with us now. Jeff, let's take a quick listen to the new attack ad from Hillary Clinton out there in the state of Wisconsin.
Or maybe not. Let's not listen to it. What the heck. We don't need to listen to it. What she says is that Barack Obama would rather give speeches than to debate her. The last time Hillary Clinton went negative, it didn't work out too well for her. How is that expected to go over there in Wisconsin?
JEFF ZELENY, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, the Clinton campaign certainly does not have a lot of options left at least here. One of the reasons that the ad may not be as effective as they were hoping ,in fact it came in this morning's "Milwaukee Newspaper," it says if Senator Clinton was here making the argument, it may be a stronger case to make. She's actually in Texas campaigning.
A lot of people in Wisconsin feel slightly short changed if you will. They're hoping both candidates would be here for the entire week. But look, I think a lot of Democrats have seen a lot of the debates. But Senator Clinton certainly has an advantage in these debates and she wants to press Senator Obama on these. But so far they have not yet responded on television ads but they certainly are preparing their own ads for other negative ads to come on both sides.
ROBERTS: Barack Obama for his part, he's beginning to frame himself as the presumptive nominee here. I think we have a piece of sound from Obama talking about John McCain. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm looking forward to debating John McCain in the fall about the economy. McCain is somebody who said he doesn't understand the economy very well and as somebody who supports the Bush tax cuts and the Bush economic agenda, it shows.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is going to come a time where we have to get into specifics. And I have not observed every speech he's given obviously but they're singularly lacking in specifics. And that's when as the campaign moves forward, we will be portraying very stark differences. It is not an accident that he has, I think, according to the national journal, most liberal voting record in the United States senate. I have one of the most conservative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So are they effectively turning this into a two-person race, Jeff? And is there a danger of Barack Obama getting too much out in front of him, too far out in front of himself here, because Hillary Clinton could always win Texas and Ohio?
ZELENY: No question about it. And I think the Obama campaign, more than anything, has one lesson in their mind and that's the lesson in New Hampshire. If you talk to the advisers and strategists, they will acknowledge they were not campaigning in New Hampshire only a month ago. They were riding the wave from Iowa. That's one thing they're working to prevent.
Yesterday was one of those examples. Senator Obama was actually taking questions from voters, which seems look a novel concept. In the last month, the campaign has been so fast and furious, it has been mainly big rallies and things. He was taking questions at three of his events yesterday. And he is saying, look, I need your help, look this is not over.
But he's trying to talk about Senator McCain as is Senator Clinton. She's spending quite a bit of time talking about Senator McCain as well it creates an air of inevitability, about what it to come. But for a while yesterday, it sounded more like Senator Obama was more like Mitt Romney as he was discussing John McCain's record. So it's a preview of what we might see coming out.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, less than three weeks to the primaries in Texas and Ohio and a lot of road to go yet and a lot of things to be said back and forth. Jeff Zeleny of the "New York Times," from Brown Deer, Wisconsin, this morning. Thank you.
That brings us to this morning's Quick Vote question. When will the Democratic nominee be decided? What do you think? Will it be March 4th when the Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont primaries are held or will it be all the way through to august to the convention in Denver which would involve superdelegates and perhaps a brokered convention? Cast your vote at CNN.com/am and we'll have the first tally of your votes later on this hour. Kiran? CHETRY: The northeast is drying out and digging out this morning after a powerful winter storm. Right now thousands remain without power in New Jersey, New York's Hudson Valley, Connecticut, West Virginia, Maine and Maryland. Hundreds of schools closed as well. Some areas seeing more than 6 inches of snow.
Rob Marciano was tracking extreme weather for us although he's not in it. He's live in Orman Beach, Florida. You're getting ready for the Daytona 500. You picked a good spot this time. First, tell us about what is going on with the extreme weather a little bit further north.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Kiran, I'll tell you what. You know here in Daytona, it is 39 degrees. That's extreme cold for north Florida, for sure.
We had flooding on top of the snow across the northeast. We have flood issues across the I-95 corridor. And in some cases we had 2, 3 and 4 inches of rainfall in these storms in some of the bigger cities and towns just outside of New York City. So we have some flood warnings are in effect in the next few hours but typical rivers that go over their banks with this sort of rainfall will be cresting over the next couple of hours.
All right. Now back to Daytona. The 50th running of the Daytona 500 takes place this Sunday. We thought we would investigate how much weather plays a role in racing. And it's a lot more than you think, much more than just rain or shine. Yesterday, got to take a buzz around the track with the pace car. Here is a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: All right. We are in the pace car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once we cross this line here, go between those cones, we got to stay below this yellow line until we get to turn one and then we can cross over here.
MARCIANO: Holy smokes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep the left front tires on the yellow line so we ...
MARCIANO: Holy smokes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't blend in. Now we're going 100. So here we go. We're down the back straightaway at Daytona. We want to get up right close to the wall.
MARCIANO: Look at how close we are to the wall. Holy smokes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's 130. One of the tricky parts of this racetrack is the exit to turn 4.
MARCIANO: Will you put both hands on the wheel please?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I'll keep both hands on the wheel. What do you think?
MARCIANO: That's crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ready for 500 miles?
MARCIANO: I'm ready to get out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: All right. That was a lot of fun. Quite a rush. A little scary, actually when you think those guys are going 180 with all their protective gear granted. But they're going that close to each other.
You know they started this race, well, more than 50 years ago. Really they have been racing up and down this stretch of beach for almost since the beginning of the century. And for a while there, it just got so big that they finally said, you know what, I'm going to build a track and we're going to do 200 laps around the track and call it the Daytona 500. Now it is called the Great American Race and they're running it this weekend.
We spent the day yesterday and we'll do it again today with the number 5 car, Casey Mears and his crew chief. And I'll tell you what, I learned a lot about just how much they factor in weather, wind, temperature, rain, all that stuff. It really has a lot to do with whether you win or lose in this business. We'll talk about that in the next couple of hours but tomorrow as well.
Kiran and John, back to you.
CHETRY: It is also fascinating just to see all the advances they've made in the car and equipment and the safety equipment. But back in the day, they look like little tin cans.
MARCIANO: For sure. A lot more dangerous then but it certainly is quite the spectacle now.
CHETRY: All right. Rob Marciano, Orman Beach, Florida. I still don't by that 39 degrees is extreme weather.
ROBERTS: He looks like he could be a NASCAR driver. He's wearing that jacket all done up, good looking guy. He's a little too tall for a NASCAR driver though.
He's like the reverse Santa Claus; a guy who goes into a home and stuffs all kinds of kid stuff into his sack and caught on tape in broad daylight, cameras rolling. How a neighbor may lead to his arrest. That's coming up.
A high speed police chase leads to a deadly crash. Not the first time that's happened. Now the officer has been indicted. What this case could mean for police and drivers everywhere ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Welcome back most news in the morning.
Police in Miami Dade County, Florida, looking for a burglar that was caught in broad daylight on a neighbor's security camera. He hops the wall. And he's carrying a sack of stuff that certainly is not his. The victim says he took off with her daughter's Xbox, a Playstation, even her lunch snacks and juice boxes for school.
A trailer up in flames and collapsing to the ground in Texas. A huge black cloud of smoke behind it as firefighter try to stop that fire. It was a wildfire in Amarillo, Texas.
And also it is one of dozens of homes and businesses burned in the last few days by wildfires. Spots have been flaring up again after windy and dry conditions.
Meanwhile, here is a look in Panama where they were setting fires, throwing sticks and tossing stones, getting tear gas in return. Construction workers clashing with riot police there. It started as a battle between a union and the government. It got out of control when one worker was shot dead. John?
ROBERTS: Five minutes after the hour now. Ali Velshi here "Minding Your Business." Spring just around the corner and everybody knows what that means in terms of gas prices. Maybe in a couple of years something to take a little bit of the sting out.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. For the second time in six months, we have word of a major refinery expansion in the United States. This one will be Total or Totale, the French company, which is the fourth largest in the world. It is committing to a $2.2 billion expansion of the only refinery it has in the U.S. which is in Port Arthur, Texas, about 90 miles east of Texas. That's the whole area, Texas, Louisiana area where there are so many refineries. It will be ready by about 2011. They're expecting to hire 2500 construction workers just to build that refinery. It will take about three years.
Last September, we got word from Royal Dutch Shell that it is doubling the capacity of its most Motiva plant, Motiva refinery, also around Port Arthur. It -- once that expansion is done, Motiva will put out 610,000 barrels a day. That will make it bigger than the biggest refinery in the United States now which is Exxon Mobil's Bay town refinery at about 570,000.
While we have not had a new refinery built in the United States in more than 30 years, what we do have is expansion of capacity at those refineries. It's not going help us now but it is like you said, a few years down and it may help.
ROBERTS: I remember a while ago President Bush made the offer to oil companies in allowing them to use federal land to build ...
VELSHI: Right. The problem is still getting environmental permits and people don't really want refineries around them because they're ugly and dirty. ROBERTS: But they're necessary.
VELSHI: But they're necessary.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali, thanks.
CHETRY: Ali, you want to stick around for this one because you may have to change your Times Square plans now. The famous naked cowboy who is seen oftentimes playing the guitar in his underwear in Times Square, Robert Burck, he's suing the makers of M&Ms for up to $100 million. He accuses the candy-maker of creating two M&M characters dressed in his trademark outfit which is a white cowboy hat, white boots, white underwear and a white acoustic guitar. There you see it. M&M's parent company, Mars, says it doesn't comment on litigation. But then I guess they couldn't resist because they said as a good corporate citizen, Mars will hand this will matter accordingly.
I thought they were going to say he was suing them because they didn't want him outside the M&M store in Times Square.
VELSHI: He's a weird fellow. He's there rain and shine. And --
CHETRY: The tourists love him, though. He'll take a picture with anyone.
VELSHI: Always got people around taking pictures.
ROBERTS: In New York, weird comes in different forms.
VELSHI: That's true.
ROBERTS: Maybe he's normal and the rest of us are weird.
CHETRY: It is a high bar.
ROBERTS: The senate decides how to punish Senator Larry Craig. We'll tell you their official reaction to his arrest at a men's room sex sting.
And the fallout from high speed police chase that led to a deadly car crash. Now the officer leading the pursuit is facing criminal charges. We'll ask what it means for future chases in public safety ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Nine minutes now until the top of the hour. If you're just joining us, here is a look at what's making headlines this morning.
The Centers for Disease Control will announce this morning that hurricane evacuees living in FEMA trailers should move out. The CDC will confirm the trailers have high levels of formaldehyde which could be making residents sick. They're talking options for residents this morning in New Orleans. New numbers out this morning about pet projects in the candidates for president. Senator Hillary Clinton is one of the top ten senate recipients of ear marks, federal money put in bills to put in home state projects. The nonpartisan group Taxpayers for Common Sense says Clinton secured $340 million in earmarks for New York last year. Barack Obama got $91 million for projects in Illinois. John McCain took no earmarked money, one of just five senators who rejected such spending.
President Bush signed a $170 billion economic stimulus bill calling it a booster shot for the economy. It gives rebates of 600 to $1200 to some tax payers. The checks will start going out in May.
Senator Larry Craig is feeling the heat from the Senate Ethics Committee. It criticized him for trying to withdrawal his guilty plea in a men's sex room sting -- or men's room sex sting and for using more than $200,000 in campaign funds to pay for legal fees. The panel issued a letter of admonition but won't punish him any further. Craig says he is disappointed, disagrees with their decision. He'll serve out his term but won't run for re-election in November.
Now let's go over to Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks, John.
High speed police chase leads to a rare indictment of the officer that started that pursuit. It happened around the D.C. Beltway last May. Many described it as one of the most horrific accidents they have seen that area. Maryland police officer Scott Campbell was chasing a motorcyclist and that triggered a deadly seven car pileup. Campbell is charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter facing 20 years in prison.
AMERICAN MORNING legal analyst Sunny Hostin joins us now. Is it very rare that an officer would actually face criminal charges stemming from an accident because of one?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It absolutely is rare, Kiran. Typically we want our officers to follow the law and also enforce the law. And in enforcing the law, sometimes they have to conduct or participate in high speed police chases. But the department policy in Maryland is that you can only participate in high speed pursuits if a suspect threatens or use physical force. Apparently they investigated this case. That was not the case with this motorcyclist. Though he did, you know, flee the scene. They interviewed him. He has not been charged with anything and this officer has been.
CHETRY: Is that fair, though? The person that broke the law in the first place, so you could argue, was the reason this high speed chase ended in the deaths of innocent people first place is off Scott free but the officer is facing 20 years possibly in prison?
HOSTIN: But the bottom line is, he didn't do what sort of starts a high speed police chase and that is at issue. If he was just speeding, that doesn't mean an officer can start traveling 130 miles per hour and cause an accident. And, you know, what happened here is that 15 people were injured, two men died, friends, on their way to a jazz concert. And so it is rare that this would happen, that a police officer is indicted when he, you know, performing his duty. But we have to hold officers to the same standards as we hold everyone else and that's really what this case is about.
CHETRY: When this went to trial, there was evidence as you said brought in apparently he didn't follow proper police procedure about calling in for backup and then also his car was clocked sometimes at speeds of 120, 130.
HOSTIN: 120, 130. The grand jury heard this evidence and decided that the conduct was questionable. And that it was criminal. And that's where we are. It is a case we should be following because, again, it is rare for a police officer to be facing this type of charge. He's looking at 20 years in prison. Ten years for vehicular homicide or manslaughter on each count, for each man.
CHETRY: Do you think he'll serve that much time?
HOSTIN: It is hard to tell. It is hard to tell. You never know. It is something I will watch.
CHETRY: Sunny Hostin, good to see you, thanks.
John?
ROBERTS: A warning about a Valentine's Day sweet for kids, what one woman says she found in a pack of lollipops. That's just ahead.
And the campaigns sharpen up their attacks and step up the pressure. We'll explain at the top of the hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Global rally, overseas markets up, the head of the fed speaking today. What it could mean for your nest egg.
Picking fights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make he prefers to give speeches than to have to answer questions.
CHETRY: Campaigns turn up the heat over your money and each other. The most politics in the morning.
Plus breaking news, rallies collide after a terror mastermind is killed. How safe are we? And what is the best way to keep us safe? Questions for the director of national intelligence on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome. Thanks for being with us on this Thursday. It is it is Valentine's Day, February 14th.
ROBERTS: You certainly look the part today, my goodness.
CHETRY: And we give you a friendly reminder yesterday so you're already --
ROBERTS: Thank you for that. I got everything taken care of yesterday. Hope that you have too.
Taking a look this morning at your financial security watch now as we continue to take care of you on CNN. European markets trading up at this hour. Stocks in Asia closed sharply lower. The Nikkei closed up over 4 percent.
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