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Street Racing Deaths; President Bush Visits Africa; NIU Shootings
Aired February 16, 2008 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: You won't believe what's blowing in all the way from China.
Also, live from the Oscars. Our Lola Ogunnaike will be on the red carpet and she's picked up a theme in the nominees. See if you can guess what it is. Hope to see you Monday for "AMERICAN MORNING," it all begins at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. Betty and T.J., have a great weekend. Back to you.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. The news is unfolding live on this Saturday, the 16th of February. Hello everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, a horrible scene to tell you about in Maryland after a deadly night of street racing.
NGUYEN: And then, the victims of the Northern Illinois University shooting. One dreamed of becoming a teacher. Another was described as a gentle giant. Remembering how they lived. That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.
First up, a veteran cop calls it one of the worst accident scenes he has ever witnessed. A car plowed into a crowd watching an illegal street race. Seven people are dead. Kate Bolduan joins us from Prince George's County, Maryland. Explain to us, if you can, exactly how this happened.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Betty, the police say they're still trying to figure that out, of course their investigation they say they have a lot of details to figure out here in order to really find out what happened, but we do know that the police say they got a call about 3:00 this morning. We're about 20 miles from D.C., and what police say is this is a very straight road and that there was drag racing going on. They were heading north on this road. And we are told that the car lost control, plowed into a crowd of people that had gathered here to watch the drag racing.
It's still unclear if the car hit them while they were in the middle of racing or if it was after the fact, but either way, we do now know, police say there are seven people confirmed dead. One of them was actually hit by an 18-wheeler. So it's a very tragic addition to the story. That actually came upon the scene, just driving on the road as this whole accident was unfolding. And now the Prince George's County police spokesperson described the scene to me as he came upon it this morning. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CPL. CLINTON COPELAND, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY POLICE DEPT.: This one was probably one of the worst that I've seen. With the amount of victims that were on the scene, it was a pretty, pretty, pretty bad scene.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Now, the driver of the car -- the car is actually still here on the scene, a little too far for us to actually show you. The driver of the car is one of four people that were injured and transported to the hospital. A passenger of that car that plowed into the crowd that was gathered was killed and is now trying to be identified by the medical examiner's office. Now, families gathered here all morning, Betty. We've spoken to many of them. They have since left. One woman I spoke with said she knew her cousin had come here to watch this drag race, but no one's heard from him since and they were wanting to come here to find out any information that they could get. They don't know if he's injured in the hospital or one of these who died at the scene, so there's still a lot of questions that people are looking into right now. Betty?
NGUYEN: No doubt. And I believe that's a helicopter that we're hearing going over. I want to ask you this though Kate, because we spoke with a local reporter earlier and she said families had come out to see this. A mother brought her kids out there. I mean is drag racing, it's not really drag racing, it's more like street racing -- does that happen a lot in this area?
BOLDUAN: I spoke with a police officer and -- pardon me if you can't hear me over the helicopter -- but the police spokesperson says this type of road, the street lights are very far apart, it's a very long, straight road. This is a typical place that they see motorcycles drag racing during the summers, but they are very concerned that this was possibly an organized thing because families had gathered here. Police say they sure hope not, but it just proves how dangerous this type of activity can be. And of course, we know, drag racing is illegal here.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, and now you've got seven people dead. All right. Kate joining us live, thank you.
HOLMES: Really a sad weekend at Northern Illinois University. Hundreds turned out last night for a vigil memorializing the five people killed by former NIU student Steven Kazmierczak, who also took his own life. Investigators are still trying to figure out why he did it. Police say he took a shotgun and three handguns into an NIU lecture hall and opened fire. Nobody who knew him seemed to have any indication that he was capable of something like this, but there were reports of recent erratic behavior after Kazmierczak reportedly stopped taking some kind of medication. And Don Lemon has been following this story, this scene, from the very beginning. He joins us again now live from DeKalb, Illinois. Good morning to you again, Don. DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. No matter how much we talk about it, we still can't believe it. And we have some new information, new information never told about that shooter that we want to get to, but first I want to talk real quickly about the victims. This is what they're handing out here at the school and putting it around really DeKalb. It's from the chamber of commerce. It has the NIU Huskies on it and it says "our thoughts and prayers are with you," and you can see someone here actually wearing the Chicago jacket. But this is what we've been seeing all morning, people coming by, they're coming by to pray, coming by to take pictures, and coming by just to talk about these victims. Now I want to get to this new information about this 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak. We have new video of him in a classroom at NIU in the spring of 2004, when he introduces himself. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
I am Steve Kazmierczak --
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Again, that was him in a classroom in 2004. Now, here's the information. According to sources, according to the "Associated Press" and also to our affiliates, WLS Chicago, he was in a Chicago psychiatric treatment center. Now, this was some nine years ago, right after he was in high school. It is reported that his parents put him there because he was unruly and he had refused to take his medication even then. Also, he did a short stint, we are told, as a prison guard, but that ended abruptly after he didn't show up for work. And we are also being told that he did a short stint in the army from 2001 to 2002. It was only six months and that he got a psychological discharge. At least that's what he has told one girlfriend. Again, according to the "Associated Press" and to our affiliate WLS in Chicago, they spoke with a manager at one of the group homes that he had allegedly gone to and spent about a year at right after high school, and she talked about his medication, him refusing it, and also about his mental health.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you first met him, was he diagnosed as mentally ill?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he was. He was already on medication at that time, and the problem was he wasn't taking it at home and would not follow instructions.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And again, according to those sources, according to the affiliate and to the "Associated Press," he had a history of cutting himself and he would act erratically and unruly, so his parents put him in that group home some nine years ago, right after high school. This is also some new information that we have just learned here at CNN. A local hotel here called the Travel Lodge, where many journalists are staying here, well, we have learned that police and the bomb squad have gone there, searched a room, and swept the room there. This happened yesterday. According to the manager, they were searching for a laptop computer, a Toshiba laptop computer. A man apparently checked in earlier in the week. His name was "Steve" and then the last name was illegible, and when shown a picture of the man, the manager said he couldn't identify him because he only spent like two minutes with him and that he was wearing sunglasses.
Well, later on, the police called and inquired about a Toshiba laptop. He -- the hotel manager -- sent his wife in to check, called police and said yes, the laptop is in fact in that room. No one has been in that room in a couple of days. So police came out, took the laptop, and did a sweep inside of the room. The bomb squad -- now, here's what they found. Obviously, they took the laptop away. They are checking that.
Also they found a pile of men's clothing, an open can of red bull, a black wallet, a small, black suitcase, small bottles of gorilla glue, gold bond lotion and a burned candle tin. Now, we're not exactly sure if this is in fact the shooter, but this has been confirmed by police that they actually did go out and check that room and then had the bomb squad sweep it and they took away a Toshiba computer that they are checking now. That's the very latest about the shooter and the investigation from the campus here in Illinois. Back to you, T.J.
HOLMES: Yeah, Don, a lot of new information coming in, and it will continue to trickle in, and hopefully, we can piece this thing together. Don Lemon's been on the story again from the very beginning. Don, we appreciate you again.
LEMON: All right, thank you.
NGUYEN: All five of the dead in Thursday's NIU attack were students. Four of them were under the age of 21. The oldest was 32- year-old Julianna Gehant, an army veteran studying to be an elementary school teacher. 20-year-old Cataline Garcia also wanted to be a teacher. Her family was from Mexico. 20-year old Danny Parmenter sold ads for the campus newspaper. 20-year-old Gail Dubaski sang in her high school choir and the youngest was just 19, Ryanne Mace. Her mother says Ryanne got her unusual name because they were expecting a boy. She was an only child who was studying psychology.
HOLMES: A controversial surveillance law is set to expire at midnight. Republicans and democrats have been battling over efforts to extend the measure, which lets the government monitor phone calls and e-mails between foreigners and Americans without court permission. President Bush says the law must be extended to protect Americans from terrorists. Critics say the government should get court permission before it eavesdrops on Americans.
NGUYEN: President Bush hopscotching across Africa. He landed in Tanzania just a few minutes ago and CNN's Ed Henry is there, he joins us live. Ed, what's on the agenda today? ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, you can imagine the anticipation here in Tanzania to be welcoming the U.S. president. As you mentioned, President Bush and first lady just arriving here moments ago at the airport. They were greeted by dancers. Some of the women, in fact, were wearing dresses with the president's likeness on it, a picture of him and a "welcome to the USA" a lot of anticipation here. It's a very hot day here in Dar Es Salaam, but there are a lot of people along the road waiting for the president's ride from the airport to his hotel. There are billboards as well, thanking him for his anti-AIDS efforts here in Africa. A lot of anticipation. And that popularity here in sub-Saharan Africa, a real contrast to the president's unpopularity in other parts of the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): Arriving for a six-day tour of Africa, the president and first lady got a warm welcome in Benin. Mr. Bush received the grand cross of the order of Benin and was eager to tout the success of his $15 billion plan to battle AIDS, which has already helped 1.3 million people here receive treatment.
BUSH: We care when we see suffering. [ speaking foreign language ] We believe we're all children of God.
HENRY: But appearing with Benin's president, Mr. Bush was confronted with questions about two nations not on his itinerary, Kenya and Sudan, where people are also suffering. The president stressed the U.S. is serious about trying to quell the post-election strife in Kenya, noting he's sending secretary of state Condoleezza Rice there Monday.
BUSH: The key is, is that the leaders hear from her firsthand. The U.S. desires to see that there be no violence and that there be a power-sharing agreement that will help this nation resolve its difficulties.
HENRY: As for Darfur, the president noted he's one of the only world leaders to call it genocide and said he wrestled with whether to send U.S. troops earlier in his presidency but ultimately decided not to.
BUSH: Once you make that decision, then there's not many other avenues except for the United Nations and the peacekeeping forces.
HENRY: After the quick stop in Benin, the president was greeted here in Tanzania with billboards thanking him for his efforts to fight AIDS and malaria. Mr. Bush is now pushing to double funding to $30 billion for his anti-AIDS initiative, and he says promoting that kind of progress can inspire people in Kenya, Sudan, and other hotspots about the future.
BUSH: When you herald success, it helps others realize what is possible. This is a large place with a lot of nations, and no question, not everything is perfect. On the other hand, there's a lot of great success stories, and the United States is pleased to be involved with those success stories. (END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: So this is a victory lap of sorts for the president, a chance for him to make the case that his foreign policy legacy should not be judged on the Iraq war alone. Betty?
NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Ed Henry joining us live. Thank you, Ed.
HOLMES: The world is about to get a new nation. The Serbian province of Kosovo is expected to declare independence tomorrow. That's the word from the prime minister there. Hoping to ease that transition, the European Union today gave the final go-ahead for a 1,800-member security and administrative task force. Kosovo is currently under U.N. control. The majority ethnic Albanian population wants independence. The minority Serbs do not. Serbian leaders are asking for calm, but they also say they will organize protests.
NGUYEN: It is a scene that is just hard to believe. Find out what's next for this wheelchair-dumping deputy.
HOLMES: Also, they're battling for the swing states. We'll tell you why a few states could mean all the difference come November.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Outrage and look at why. Yes, surveillance video showing an actual sheriff's deputy dumping a paralyzed man out of his wheelchair and then frisk the man. This tape was shot at a Tampa, Florida, jail last month. The disabled man had been brought in for a traffic violation. Earlier this morning, that deputy turned herself in and was later released on $3,500 bond. She could face five years in prison for felony abuse.
NGUYEN: That video is always just so hard to watch every time.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Want to move now to politics. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton still in a very close contest. Both candidates are trading new barbs and accusations. Obama is accusing Clinton of being indebted to lobbyists while Clinton says Obama has no concrete plans, just promises.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a big difference between speeches and solutions, between talk and action. I have the highest regard for my opponent. I just believe that if you are hiring a president, I would be the one you would hire for this job.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Her argument I think yesterday was, well, Obama's a talker and I'm a doer. You know. He makes speeches, I offer solutions. Now, I understand, you know, as we get further and further along in this process that some of the arguments get sillier and sillier.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Oh, my, ok. Well, up next for the Democrats is the Wisconsin primary and the Hawaii caucuses. They both take place on Tuesday.
HOLMES: Well, the Republicans also looking ahead to Wisconsin in very different ways. John McCain spoke last night at a Reagan Day dinner in Milwaukee, while challenger Mike Huckabee -- you know, if you've got a primary coming up in Wisconsin, where would you be?
NGUYEN: How about the Cayman Islands? Sounds like a good place.
HOLMES: That's where he is, the Cayman Islands. He's actually giving a speech there to a youth group --
NGUYEN: For the kids.
HOLMES: -- that's happening tonight. Yes, of course. I'll go to the Cayman for the kids. He says he's still got to make a living, of course. There is no guarantee he's going to be president. Planned the speech a long time ago. He's expected back in Wisconsin tomorrow.
NGUYEN: Well, you know, it is easy to get caught up in the popularity contest of a presidential election, and right now polls are asking whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama would do better against John McCain in November. So guess what? It might not even matter because the popular vote is not the final word. Yeah, you heard it. Josh Levs is here to keep them honest. You know a lot of people very upset by this, because they're going to the polls, they think that their voice matters.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I know, and in the end we have the electoral system in November. And the thing is, there are all these polls right now, right? National vote, who could beat McCain better, but that doesn't tell you -- even if it were today it still doesn't tell you who would win because we don't have that straight vote system. We have the whole electoral system, remember? Which means in the end this will all come down to the swing states.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS (voice-over): It's now the most frequently uttered name on the democratic campaign trail.
John McCain --
Senator McCain.
John McCain.
John McCain.
LEVS: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama each aiming to convince fellow democrats that she or he is the one who can beat the presumptive Republican nominee in November. There have been polls showing how they might match up in a national vote, but there is a problem with that. We don't go by a popular vote. We pick the president through that whole, complicated electoral system, leaving us with red states and blue states. This is how they went in the last presidential election. Some were swing states, where one party had a narrow advantage over the other. This year, Clinton and Obama have each won in some of these states, but that doesn't tell you much, either. The real question is how each would fair against McCain. A new poll looks at that in three critical swing states. In Pennsylvania, good news for Clinton, she's ahead of McCain by six points. Obama came out just one point ahead of McCain. In Ohio, McCain beats Clinton by one point and Obama by two. And in Florida, McCain beats both democrats by two points. Statistically, all virtual dead heats, except for Clinton's lead in Pennsylvania. Clinton says she can win swing states the way she won over some republicans and independents in her New York Senate run. Obama says he wants a new kind of politics where there aren't blue states and red states, just the United States. But in the end, if this election is close, it will come down to a handful of showdown states.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Now, there haven't been those kinds of polls in all the swing states, and there are still months ahead for voters to change their minds, but those three states -- Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, have played major roles in the last elections and guys they could easily do so again in November.
NGUYEN: Yeah absolutely. And of course we're going to have much more on this in the "Ballot Bowl" at 2:00 p.m. eastern, so you want to stay tuned for that.
Coming up, though will a new ederal program save those about to lose their homes to foreclosure?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Let's take a look at news across America now. A ninth grader killed in what Nevada police are calling a drive-by shooting. It happened less than a block away from his high school. They say people inside a silver, four-door sedan opened fire yesterday as the boy was walking with three friends. Police are looking for four suspects, three boys and a girl.
And 8 and 9-year-old Florida boys -- at least two of them -- they have dug up a dangerous little toy here. A Valentine's Day surprise. Guess what it is? A live World War II grenade, of all things, found in their backyard. Folks at Elgin Air Force base took the grenade off the family's hands, but they let one of the boys keep the top, which won't explode.
HOLMES: What?
NGUYEN: That's always good.
And on the strip now the Monte Carlo is back. It reopened its doors to the public yesterday, three weeks after a fire tore through its roof. So let the games begin!
HOLMES: Well, Detroit, Las Vegas, Sacramento. Pick one. You'll find cities awash in bank foreclosures. In 1 out of every 97 American households, people are being told to get out of the place they call home. There's little help for anyone caught in this so-called credit crunch. CNN's Allan Chernoff now found a homeowner who's holding out a little hope, at least in a new federal program.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Daisy Respas is struggling to hold onto her home outside Baltimore, as her high- interest subprime mortgage has pushed her to the brink of foreclosure.
DAISY RESPAS, HOMEOWNER: That I may lose my home from the bank is really devastating.
CHERNOFF: Respas left a secure state job when she had to care for her ill mother. Bills piled up and she decided to refinance her mortgage.
Amen.
CHERNOFF: Now, saddled with an interest rate above 9 percent, she's been unable to find a new job.
RESPAS: It is very frightening. It's indescribable.
CHERNOFF: The Bush administration is offering some help, convincing major banks to hold off on foreclosures for 30 days and renegotiate loan terms with homeowners in trouble.
HENRY PAULSON, TREASURY SECRETARY: Project lifeline has the potential to offer new solutions to responsible, able homeowners who want to keep their homes.
CHERNOFF: Marilyn needs a lifeline. Foreclosures in the state have jumped approximately 13-fold in the past year. The non-profit Southeast Community development corporation says it counseled as many people facing foreclosure in January as it did all of last year.
CHRIS RYER, SOUTHEAST COMMUNITY: We've seen a number of people come into the office from all over the Baltimore metropolitan area that are in danger of losing their homes.
CHERNOFF: Respas' lender, IndyMac, is on board with the administration's project lifeline. The savings and loan told CNN, "We're actively reaching out to our customers to ensure that as many as possible who have the desire and ability to stay in their homes may do so." IndyMac would not address Respas' personal situation. Daisy Respas is hoping her lender will agree to easier terms in addition to the 30-day reprieve, and she's turning to her state government, applying for an interest-free loan.
(On camera): Miss Respas hopes all those steps will allow her to get out of her debt squeeze and hold on to the home she loves. Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, it is 30 past the hour here. Happening now across the world, a car crashed into a crowd watching an illegal street race in Maryland, and seven people are now dead. That accident occurred on a four-lane rural highway about 15 miles outside of Washington, D.C.
And more pre-election violence in Pakistan to tell you about. Check this out. A suicide car bomb exploded outside of an office of the opposition Pakistan People's Party. 37 people were killed and at least 93 were injured.
Those who knew campus shooter Steven Kazmierczak talk about dealing with what he's done.
HOLMES: Also, a pretty busy day in the severe weather center. Our Reynolds Wolf, there he is, working hard, got some severe weather to talk about in parts of the country. He'll be telling us about it. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Students at Northern Illinois University are in mourning this weekend. There was a memorial vigil last night for the five people killed by former NIU student Steven Kazmierczak. He opened fire inside an NIU lecture hall on Thursday. Meanwhile, investigators, they are still trying to figure out why he did it.
HOLMES: And Steven Kazmierczak graduated from Northern Illinois University in 2006. Before he killed himself Thursday, he was a graduate student at the University of Illinois. Now, people there are shocked as well. CNN's Dan Lothian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak, seen in this four-year-old video, lived in this apartment building with his girlfriend, not far from the University of Illinois campus in Champaign. As a graduate student there, he once sat in Professor Jan Carter-Black's human behavior class.
PROF. JAN CARTER-BLACK, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: He was very personable. He was very likeable. I enjoyed working with Steven.
LOTHIAN: She was also Kazmierczak's adviser, helping him to navigate course work in the school of social work, never seeing anything, she says, that raised red flags.
CARTER-BLACK: This isn't one of those experiences that it's very difficult to express how it impacts you, how it impacts you. So we'll do what we need to do to be ok, but it's very overwhelming.
LOTHIAN: Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney says his department has been helping the FBI and other local police paint a clearer picture of the 27-year-old, someone who appeared to stay out of trouble until now.
CHIEF R.T. FINNEY, CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS: Looking at our contacts, we have not had any contacts with him. There's no known criminal activity that we have here.
LOTHIAN: He just focused on his classes. In the fall of 2007, Professor Carter-Black says Kazmierczak dropped her class because, he said, it conflicted with a new job. When the rampage began, she was shocked to learn that a University of Illinois student was the shooter, but the real blow came when she found out it was one of her students.
CARTER-BLACK: I struggled with it. I did.
LOTHIAN (on camera): Kazmierczak has a sister who lives here in the area. She did not want to talk about her brother. A family spokesperson says it's just too difficult for her. But then the family released a statement expressing their shock and sadness over the loss of innocent lives, saying in part, "Our heartfelt prayers and deepest sympathies are extended to the families, victims, and all other persons involved in the NIU tragedy." Dan Lothian, CNN, Champaign, Illinois.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, in other news, Afghanistan is enduring the coldest and harshest winter it has ever had on record. It is so bad there, close to 1,000 people have already died. Thousands of others have been forced out of their homes, which were destroyed by heavy snow. Many of them are living in flimsy tents while temperatures outside dropped to lows of 22 below zero. Hundreds of thousands of animals have died as well, which means food is also in short supply. Better weather has also allowed aid groups to get to those remote areas, but high winds and snows this weekend may make it hard for them to reach some villages.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: There is a buzz on the campaign trail this weekend. Word has it that John McCain is about to get a really big endorsement. CNN's Candy Crowley has the inside scoop.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the latest sign the Republican establishment wants to wrap it up, party officials say former President George H.W. Bush will endorse John McCain in Houston Monday.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hope so, because former President Bush is one of the more respected -- most respected people in our party.
CROWLEY: The nod is also designed to bolster McCain in Texas, where a strong bloc of politically active social conservatives could embarrass him in the state's March 4th primary. It is also designed to send yet another signal to Mike Huckabee to get with the program. The former Arkansas governor was busy with Wisconsin voters when news of the Bush endorsement surfaced, but it's not likely it will move him to abandon his mission impossible. As of yesterday, Huckabee was having none of it.
MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it would be a great disservice to the country and to my own party to just give up and quit because it looks like, you know, the numbers are trending toward John McCain at this particular stage.
CROWLEY: Nor is the former president's endorsement likely to impress the Republican conservatives fueling Huckabee, the so-called values voters, always suspected Mr. Bush the elder was not wholly committed to the anti-abortion cause, and the former president's tenure in office gave rise to phrases that have become part of conservative vocabulary. No more suitors refers to a Bush Supreme Court pick, a relative unknown who has proven to be a high court liberal. And there was this at the 1988 Republican National Convention.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH: Read my lips -- no new taxes.
CROWLEY: As President George Bush did raise taxes in a compromise with democrats on a debt-reducing package.
Let's go quail hunting today!
CROWLEY: Four years later, conservative Pat Buchanan took a run at Bush in the Republican primary season and beat the president over the head with the no new taxes promise.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And that's our Candy Crowley reporting for us there. Next hour the campaign trail leads us to Hawaii. The birth place of Barack Obama and where Chelsea Clinton is getting a nice little trip out of it, she's looking for support for her mother this weekend.
NGUYEN: Also coming up, accusations of witchcraft. Find out why a U.S. ally is under pressure to reverse a ruling that is causing international outrage.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A woman in Saudi Arabia could be beheaded because religious police believe she's a witch.
NGUYEN: Yes. This story is causing an international uproar and raising new questions about women's rights there. Now, a human rights group is making a last-ditch appeal to Saudi Arabia's king to save her. CNN's Zain Verjee reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Saudi woman faces death by decapitation, accused of being a witch. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The evidence is absurd.
VERJEE: U.S.-based human rights watch says she was arrested in 2005 by the religious police who raided her home near the Jordanian border and say they have hard evidence to prove witchcraft.
CHRISTOPH WILCKE, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: Well, the evidence are a foul-smelling substance, a white robe with money inside tied knots, a robe on a tree near a house, witnesses who say that they became impotent after being bewitched by her.
VERJEE: The rights group says she was beaten, forced to confess, and had no lawyer. She later recanted her confession.
WILCKE: This was a miscarriage of justice, a travesty of justice from start to finish.
VERJEE: The verdict says she confessed to having sex with evil spirits. The death sentence was overturned by an appeals court but later reinstated to protect the creed, souls, and property of this country. This is the latest in a string of controversies. The religious police in Saudi Arabia have great influence and operate as an enforcer of public morality. They recently threw a married American businesswoman in jail for sitting with a man at a Starbucks in the capital Riyadh. And banned anything red, even roses, for Valentine's Day. Most shocking, in 2002, they stopped school girls from escaping a burning building in Mecca because they weren't wearing proper Islamic dress and would not let firefighters rescue them. 15 died.
(On camera): Thousands' fate is now in the hands of Saudi King Abdullah. He's either going to sign her death warrant or halt her execution. CNN was able to get in touch with one Saudi official who so far did not offer any comment on this case. Zain Verjee, CNN, Washington.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Coming up here we're going to be hitting the slopes.
NGUYEN: Find out why this ski trip is something of a miracle.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Story of courage and hope.
HOLMES: Blind Iraq war veterans hit the slopes of an Idaho ski resort. CNN's Rusty Dornin has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Stand up.
Ok.
Hands up in front of you. Ok.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His first time on skis, Ivan Castro had ambitious goals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step down on the right one a little bit.
IVAN CASTRO, BLIND IRAQ VETERAN: I'm making it all the way to the bottom without falling.
DORNIN: No big deal, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay on it.
DORNIN: This photo was taken in Iraq just minutes before a mortar exploded five feet from the former army ranger, crushing his jaw, collapsing a lung, and blinding him. It killed two fellow soldiers. That was a year and a half ago. Castro and nine other Iraqi vets blinded in the war are in Idaho for the sun valley adapt a sports program. It's offered to anyone with disabilities, but there is a special program for veterans wounded in Iraq. Many lost limbs or suffered head injury. Now for the first time, a group of blinded vets is hitting the slopes.
TOM ISELIN, SUN VALLEY ADAPTIVE SPORTS: We want them to try things that they have never tried before or try things again that they used to do. It's not only about really their physical skills, but also to give them courage and hope so they can take that back, those skills, back to their home community to improve their relationships.
DORNIN: This is a group of guys used to getting pushed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. Now the left one again.
DORNIN (on camera): While the program teaches sports to other vets who have been injured in war-related injuries, there is a very unique aspect to teaching blind people how to ski or to ice skate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to remember, you're on a tiny, tiny blade, though. So you're doing pretty good.
DORNIN: It's a leap of faith, says John Crabtree.
JOHN CRABTREE, BLIND IRAQ VETERAN: The trust that you put into those that are helping instruct you, that's already taken care of. So the challenge is to concentrate more on what they're telling me. Man, I just don't know about this.
DORNIN: Crabtree, a naval petty officer, was blinded by shrapnel from an IED. A fellow sailor was killed.
CRABTREE: Now at this point we want to be independent again, and on top of that, I think I can speak for everyone else, we're glad to be alive. I have one of these to do --
DORNIN: Learning to cope with a newly blinded spouse can be tough, so the wives are part of the program.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just really exciting watching them.
DORNIN: Back on the slopes, Ivan Castro works on his technique.
Whoa, woo!
DORNIN: Not without its pitfalls. Did you think you'd ever be out here doing this kind of stuff again?
CASTRO: After the accident, no, of course not. I never thought about it. You know, when you're blind, you don't know what life is. You don't know what's out there.
DORNIN: Blinded by war, being guided to a new life.
CASTRO: I'm feeling good! I'm feeling blessed.
DORNIN: Rusty Dornin, CNN, Sun Valley, Idaho.
There you go.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: That is really neat. I like that.
HOLMES: Good seeing Rusty there on the skis.
NGUYEN: She wasn't bad. I wonder how many outtakes it took to get the perfect little stand-up there.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I like that. A comparison to the time when she was with the circus, remember learning the trapeze thing.
NGUYEN: Oh, the trapeze.
WHITFIELD: That was very courageous. We love our Rusty.
NGUYEN: Yes, we do.
HOLMES: We love our Fredricka around here.
WHITFIELD: Oh, thanks! Love you back. How are you guys doing?
HOLMES: Good morning.
WHITFIELD: Good. We've got a lot straight ahead in the noon hour. We try to pack it all in, beginning with -- let's talk about Iraq for a minute. We know that there are lots of needs -- water, electricity. How about wheelchairs as well? And so now an American man has kind of orchestrated this incredible wheelchair drive and delivery right there in Iraq. Arwa Damon will bring you the story.
And in our legal segment, our Richard and Avery will be joining us. I bet you didn't know, for those of you who happen to have a restraining order against you --
NGUYEN: What?
WHITFIELD: Well, you know, if you try to harass someone or get in touch with them via Myspace, guess what, it's tantamount to breaking that restraining order. At least that was the case in Staten Island, New York. We'll explore that issue.
NGUYEN: Didn't know the details of my restraining order, the fine print on it.
WHITFIELD: Don't reach me via internet.
HOLMES: We will tune in to that, Fredricka.
NGUYEN: Learn something new every day right here, don't you?
HOLMES: Thank you so much.
WHITFIELD: Just here to bring a little jolt to your day.
HOLMES: We appreciate it.
WHITFIELD: Ok.
HOLMES: All right, thank you so much.
And of course, this beagle, everybody's a big fan of this prize- winning little guy here.
NGUYEN: Yeah, but did you know he has something in common with a certain presidential contender? Ah, we've got the connection.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: It was really a stunning triumph by an underdog, a beagle, to be exact.
HOLMES: Yeah. Everybody's crazy about this little guy. CNN's Jeanne Moos is finding parallels between the pooch and the presidential race, and it's most unusual.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's an outsider. His victory was an historic first.
Well, what a dramatic win last night.
MOOS: He's known for his oratory. [ barking ] Not Obama, but Uno. He may not be the first African-American or first woman to run for president, but he is the first beagle to win at Westminster ever!
May I have the beagle?
The beagle! [ cheers and applause ] MOOS: And Uno's story has some uncanny similarities to this year's presidential race. The traditional front-runners --
The beautiful Vickie --
MOOS: Upset by an underdog.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're a first, young man. [ barking ]
MOOS: An underdog that had Madison Square Garden under his spell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have never had a reaction like this in the Garden. Standing ovation for the beagle. Best in show.
MOOS: Showing off with a silver-tongued victory speech. Sure, Barack Obama gets louder chants, but Uno had fans shouting out his name.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One last chance to rock them.
MOOS: Even the commentators sounded like they were analyzing the presidential race.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why was it the beagle's year?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he's got this presence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a rock star.
MOOS: And like a presidential contender, Uno's got a handler. Which candidate is Uno most like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Um -- wow.
MOOS: Uno's handler wasn't making any suggestions. But one of his co-owners was.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he looks like Fred Thompson.
MOOS: Um, not exactly a dead ringer. But this lowly beagle has something that's the envy of politicians.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's just a happy dog, I mean he's the people's dog.
MOOS: Like a presidential candidate, Uno is drawn to the lens of the TV cameras. Uno did interview after interview. 12 satellite interviews, uh? And other human candidates are dog tired from running, at least they don't need steak treats and a yellow ducky to keep them focused during interviews.
EDDIE OZIUK, CO-OWNER, BEST IN SHOW: He's falling asleep up here on the table, so we're just trying to do anything to try and keep him settled, yet keep his eyes open. MOOS: Barack may have romped, but the beagle has landed, making the rounds on the morning shows. No presidential candidate gets this treatment. Down on your knees for the beagle who's numero uno. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Hey, that is a good looking dog. I like that beagle.
HOLMES: It's a dog people.
NGUYEN: Yeah.
HOLMES: Nonetheless, it's a dog.
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