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Clinton, Obama War of Ads; Amount of Money Raised for Ads; Jock Brandis Is CNN Hero; Texas Oil Town Feels Recession; Chelsea Clinton Stumps for her Mother.

Aired March 01, 2008 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Dana Bash. Here on BALLOT BOWL we've been bringing you candidates on the campaign trail as they've been speaking live. We also have been bringing you some portions of their taped speeches from the past. But regardless, we are bringing you the candidates as they try to get your vote and as they try to get their party's nomination in large unfiltered sections of their stump speech.
Now, Tuesday is a very crucial day for the Republican and Democratic race for president. There are four contests going on. And those contests which are in Texas, in Ohio, in Rhode Island and Vermont, all of them combined could really change the landscape, again, on both sides of the aisle, for the Republicans and Democrats who have been running for months, actually maybe even more than a year now to become the next president of the United States. And as we bring you these events live throughout the afternoon, I want to bring in my colleagues who have been bringing you the speeches and also some analysis of what it all means. Suzanne Malveaux is in Dallas, Texas and Jessica Yellin is in Houston, Texas.

And I want to now turn it over to my colleague, Jessica. Hi, Jess.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Dana. You're in the State of Arizona where John McCain is able to take a little time in his home state. But the Democrats have not been able to do that. They are fighting to the end. Ohio and Texas, two states that even Senator Clinton's husband and own top advisers, even she is saying they are must-win states for her. So she and Barack Obama in a Battle Royale in these two states and also taking time to visit Rhode Island and Vermont, of course, also votes on Tuesday. I want to talk to Suzanne for a moment, because Suzanne, you've been with Senator Clinton as she's been here in Texas. One thing we've all noticed is she is no longer stepping away from direct attacks on Barack Obama. She is in a much more combative tone, a combative mood these days. Is that so?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, you may recall those debates where she was asked, do you think that Barack Obama is qualified to be president? She says, well, I'll leave that up to the voters to decide. Now she is clearly stating she is the better qualified candidate here, she brings forward a very simple straightforward argument on the stump saying, essentially compare our resumes, that she has more life experience, more work experience, and she is the stronger candidate when it comes to national security. We'll see if the voters actually -- if that will resonate with them in the days ahead. But that is the argument that she is making. We heard it here in Dallas right, just behind me. She's still shaking hands. But she essentially drew some distinctions with Senator Barack Obama. She also mentioned Senator John McCain. Simply outlining this kind of crisis scenario, if you will, this ad she put out there that she's now backing up saying if there is a situation at 3:00 in the morning, she believes she's got more of the kind of life experience, she says, that is necessary to make the kind of wise decisions when it comes to protecting the American people. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) NY (shouting): We're going to start solving problems like global warming and global epidemics and take on global terrorism the smart way.

Now, my opponent, he basically says there are two reasons why he is qualified to be commander in chief. He gave a speech against the Iraq War in 2002. And I give him credit for that. He gave a speech at an anti-war rally. Well, then within two years he decided that maybe he wasn't sure which way he would have actually voted if he had been in the Senate. And that maybe George Bush wasn't doing such a bad job in Iraq after all. And by the time he got to the Senate, he and I voted exactly the same way. So when you could actually make a comparison, those are the facts. And then he often cites on his resume the fact that he is the chairman of the subcommittee on European affairs which has jurisdiction over NATO which, as you know, is our ally in Afghanistan.

But he didn't tell you until the debate the other night that he never even held a single substantive hearing to figure out what we could do better.

When it counted, he was missing in action. Well, at 3:00 a.m. you've got to be there and you've got to do it without on-the-job training and a bunch of advisers around.

So I welcome this debate, because I know how important the job is of protecting and defending our country. And I know that Senator McCain who is a friend of mine will stand on the stage as the Republican nominee, and he will make this election about national security.

And I relish the opportunity to stand on the same stage and go toe to toe with John McCain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: And Jessica, you know how this works. The Obama campaign sending the e-mails on the Blackberry essentially fighting every single point that she has made here earlier today essentially saying, take a look at her record. Is there any example? They ask her that she was woken at 3:00 in the morning, anything that could point to her record of experience that could make her any more qualified to deal with the crisis scenario. She makes the point about life experience but they make the case they believe it's exaggerated when she's talking about her foreign policy experience.

They say when you take a look at the peace talks regarding Northern Ireland, she didn't play a significant role as she makes it out to be. They say the speech in Beijing, China for women's rights was essentially that, a speech. So they are clearly hitting back on all these points. This is something the clinton campaign really believes is going to resonate with the voters. We'll have to see how that all plays out leading into the key contests in Texas, Ohio and elsewhere.

Jessica?

YELLIN: What's fascinating is we really hear them talking this national security stuff in Texas especially. But in Ohio they really are focusing much more, both campaigns on economic issues.

Maybe we can talk about that a little later on in BALLOT BOWL. Right now I want to go to Barack Obama. He was speaking as we told you in Rhode Island quite a large crowd turned out for him. It was on a college campus (SIC). He tends to do best on colleges where there's enormous youth enthusiasm for him.

But one of the points he was making today was teasing Senator Clinton for remarks she had made when she appeared in the same environment. She was there last week and she sort of mocked Barack Obama saying -- and the enthusiasm around his campaign and his promise to change politics by saying what's going to happen, are the skies going to open? Sunshine will come, a chorus of voices will sing kumbaya, and everything will go away? She's saying she's more of a realist. He's a dreamer. He took on the challenge and made a little bit of fun of her today. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm reminded every day of my life, if not by events then by my wife, that I'm not a perfect man. And I will not be a perfect president. But here is one thing you can count on from me. I will always tell you what I think. And I will always tell you where I stand. I will be honest with you about the challenges we face as a fashion. I will listen to you even when we disagree. And we'll disagree sometimes.

And most importantly I will spend every day of my presidency thinking about you. And how to make your lives a little bit better.

That is what brings me here today. That's what brings you here today, that sense that we can make America better, a sense of hope. You know, I've been teased in this campaign a little bit. Senator Clinton says, oh, he talks about hope all the time. In fact, I think she was here, right in this building. She was saying, oh, he thinks that the clouds will part and he's so naive.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. He thinks he can wave a magic wand, suddenly everything will be great.

It is true that I talk about hope a lot. Out of necessity. The odds of me standing here are very slim.

I was born to a single mom. I was born to a teenaged mom. My dad left when I was two. So I was born and raised by a single mom and my grandparents. They didn't have money, they didn't have fame or fortune. They gave me love, they gave me education and they gave me hope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Barack Obama talking again about hope. He's appearing at a college campus (SIC). We should emphasize that while he has a very large crowd, a lot of these kids don't necessarily vote where they go to school. They vote in their home state, it's sort of hard to measure Rhode Island and what the turnout there means for Barack Obama, Rhode Island, a state that has been very strong support for senator clinton, that would be very quite significant.

But I want to turn now to CNN's Dana Bash in Arizona. Dana, you've been following the republicans, you're there in John McCain's home state. What's going on there this weekend?

BASH: Not a whole lot. John McCain is actually not in the public view at all. He's actually right now, I think pretty much as we speak, he's hosting some of his supporters, people who have helped him along the way, some of his good friends, some of his colleagues from the Senate, some governors who backed him and endorsed him and helped him get to the point where he is right now.

And that point is, he is hoping at least ahead of Tuesday that on Tuesday during those four primaries that he will get mathematically the number of delegates finally from his perspective to clinch the Republican nomination. It's unclear if he's going to get that. But they certainly are hoping that is the case. Meanwhile, as he has been campaigning and not quite yet there as the Republican nominee, he certainly has turned his sites on the Democrats in a big, big way.

This past week we were traveling with him and covering him as he was campaign in the seat of Texas. On Thursday he was speaking at the Baker Institute of Public Policy. That's at Rice University. He was speaking alongside of James Baker, somebody who is a veteran Republican, particularly in Texas, he has worked in five Republican presidential campaigns. Most recently is known for his work on the Iraq Study Group.

And national security and Iraq John McCain knows is going to be the issue that defines his candidacy and determines whether or not he will be the next president of the United States. So that's why that's the issue he talked about on Thursday. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's long and it's hard and it's tough. There's no Thomas Jeffersons in Iraq. Any time there was anybody who showed any independence for many, many years -- Saddam Hussein chopped their head off. So it's hard. And I think there is a couple of tests coming up. One is Kirkuk. As you know, Saddam Hussein moved a whole bunch of people, Arabs into the area, moved the Kurds out, now the Kurds are back in. They've kind of made a little progress on that that surprises everybody. Mosul, we're seeing a test of the Iraqi military. Because it's going to be the Iraqi military that goes in there with support from the United States as they try to clean out that last bastions or one of the last bastions of al Qaeda's control over an area.

I think it's hard. I think it's a hard slog. But no one, even the most optimistic of us predicted the progress that has been made over the last year by the surge, when you look at the progress that they have made.

So all I can say is that the whole scheme of things is the classic counterinsurgency. It's not a new theory. It's an old one that we've used successfully and unsuccessfully. That's the Iraqi military and police take over more and more of the responsibilities.

The sectarian violence is well down. The attacks on pilgrims at Karbala have still been going on but they're dramatically reduced.

So I think that if we continue this progress, and I think we are, then you will see Americans withdraw to enclaves and then gradually withdraw. Then we decide -- after the war, then we decide the issue of American presence. After the First Gulf War, thanks to Secretary Baker and others, we negotiated a military base agreement with Kuwait. We have one there. We have a base in Turkey. We have troops in South Korea. So military presence may remain for years. It may not. It may be like the Saudis and the Saudis decide they don't want any American military presence there. That is after we succeed in the war. And I think the Americans will show more patience if we can show them success.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: John McCain talking about the issue that he admitted in quite a candid way, although he retracted it, he said that will affect his candidacy. He said if he can't convince Americans that things are going well in Iraq, he will lose. He said, I will lose. He took back that stark prediction. Nevertheless, he did say he understands his political fortunes are totally riding on what happens in Iraq. That's why he is trying to lay the groundwork and trying to convince voters now, very well ahead of the November election that things are doing better in Iraq, particularly with the surge, the surge that he has supported and that has his name attached to and supported and pushed even at the risk of his own political career. On this issue of Iraq and a whole host of issues, I want to bring in my colleague Mary snow who, like I, have been covering the Republicans along this presidential primary season.

And Mary, you have been covering John McCain and you're also covering today Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee who we have to remind people still is in this race. And unlike John McCain this weekend, he's actually campaigning pretty hard in Texas today, isn't he. SNOW: He really is, Dana. And as you said, a lot of people really not paying so much attention to him because, as we've all pointed out and he has pointed out, mathematically it would be impossible for him to catch up to Senator McCain, but he is using this campaign to make statements about certain issues.

And as Senator McCain has made national security his big issue, Mike Huckabee has been talking about getting an amendment to ban abortion. That is one of his big issues. Here in Texas earlier today, he was in College Station. One of the things he's been talking about, also, is the Second Amendment, when other Republicans had been in this race, Mike Huckabee liked to tout the fact that he was hunter and he was a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. He talked about that this morning when he met with the Outdoor Writers Association, saying that the Second Amendment isn't so much about hunting, but about freedom. He said he got very frustrated with people who don't see it that way. But he also talked about kids, when it comes to firearms and safety. Here is a little bit of what Mike Huckabee had to say earlier today in College Station.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We sometimes take for granted that true sports men learn of a code of honor and a ethical behavior that permeates what we do. You know, the idea of mishandling a firearm never occurred to me as a kid growing up because we grew up with firearms in my home. I understood what a firearm would do. I never played with a gun. I was led and brought up to believe that every gun needed to be treated as if it were loaded. We understood you don't point guns, you don't play with guns. You respect them.

And if you've ever used one and been trained in it, you know what it will do. You have a much healthier respect than the people whose only knowledge of a firearm is what they see on television. Those are the kids that scare me to death, the ones who don't know the real thing and who only know the movie or television version.

It also I think is important to remember that, if you are a person who is brought up in the world of hunting and fishing, you learn that, as I say, a code of honor. You learn that there are laws that govern how many fish you can take and how long they can be and how long they have to be in order for you to keep them.

You learn something about what shooting hours mean and you respect those. And you learn to have utter contempt for those who do not respect those laws because you realize that the cheaters are not just cheating on you, they're cheating on everybody else who otherwise would enjoy this magnificent sport. And what makes it a sport is that you play within the boundaries of rules that have been carefully established and which are mutually agreed to by all the participants.

And anyone who goes outside those rules actually will be robbing all of us of the ability to enjoy. Ethical behavior is more cot than taught.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SNOW: That was Mike Huckabee earlier today in the College Station when he talked to the Outdoors Writers Association. There he was talking about Second Amendment rights. He's been touting his ability to hunt and has made that part of his campaign as he's gone along the way. But you know, Dana, just as Senator McCain is looking for a win in Texas to clench the republican nomination, Mike Huckabee is hoping that an upset against all odds will keep him in this race. He keeps saying he will stay in it until someone gets the 1191 delegates needed to get the Republican nomination. And clearly he's not making any promises about what happens after Tuesday. But he's clearly hoping, holding out all hope by saying that he could make a difference here in Texas.

And if he does, he would reconsider what the future would hold, would he stay in this race. But again, it is such a long shot, but he is using this few days up to the Texas contests to really campaign hard and make his point. Dana?

YELLIN: It's actually Jessica, I'm taking it back -- we're going to go to a quick break while the candidates are out on the stump. They're also campaigning hard on the Internet. We're going to talk to CNN's Josh Levs after the break after all the work going on on the Internet. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Dana Bash in Sedona, Arizona. We have been bringing you the campaigns live and also sometimes taped. But we've been bringing you their stump speeches unfiltered as they've been trying to get your vote and as they've been trying to get their party's nomination ahead of Tuesday's crucial four contests in Texas, in Ohio and Vermont and also in Rhode Island. And before we get back to the campaign trail and those candidate speeches, I wanted to bring in my colleague Suzanne Malveaux who is in Dallas, Texas. Hey, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Hey, Dana. We've been watching all the candidates live and unfiltered. I want to bring in Josh Levs who is out of the CNN Atlanta Center.

Obviously, Josh, you've been following the Democrats as well as the Republicans. They've got a very robust online campaigns, they are talking about a lot of the issues. They're also looking at those controversial ads, the back and forth that we've seen between Senator Clinton and Barack Obama. What seems to be popping today?

LEVS: You know what's popping? Money. That's what they're going for in a lot of ways. As soon as you get to the Web sites. I'm going to show you all right now. There's a financial context for basically anything that you hear the candidates say this weekend. I got a camera facing the computer behind me. So I'm going to turn around. Let's go to this camera and let's take a look here. We'll start off with Hillary Clinton. This is her Web site right now. I want you to take a look at the numbers. She's saying she wants this many people to donate. As of this morning she was asking 30,000 people to donate this weekend. They were about 12 or 13,000. Now they've already passed 30. Now they're going for 50,000 over the next 72 hours.

Not to be outdone, check out Barack Obama. He has been wanting one million people. You can see right there on the screen, he's passed the one million mark, now he's at 1,029,000 continuing to donate.

Quickly, Mike Huckabee here. These numbers are too small for you to see. But the red mark is how close he is to his goal. He is trying to raise $1.5 million, obviously a lot less than the Democrats have been going for. Right now he's at about 1.1. So he is there. And the only major candidate not announcing a need for a specific amount of money or donors, John McCain who as a lot of people see it has this pretty much clinched.

As Suzanne was just mentioning, we have been showing you a lot of videos through ought the day. Sometimes ads attacking each other. On their Web sites they do careful messaging. We've pulled out clips from some fresh videos they have. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am one of a million.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am one of a million right here in Texas.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not a movement.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need a president willing to roll up her sleeves.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: And deliver solutions.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need solutions that will help me.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: And help my family.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am one of a million.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am one of a million.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who will stand up, be noticed.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: Be vocal.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right here in Texas.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Hillary Clinton.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we have to give the Clintons their dues. The economy was good. But I have to tell you, that was then, this is now. And it's interesting because I think we're seeing a whole sea change in the way we look at our body of politics.

ANNOUNCER: What is it that defines a great leader? Is it his courage? Is it his courage to do the difficult and not just the easy things? Is it the courage to fight, to fight to survive? Faith certainly plays a role. Faith in God, faith in your fathers, faith in your friends and band of brothers.

ANNOUNCER: We have always been the long shot, the dark horse, the David among political giants. But this is our country. This is our party. These, our voices. And we will not concede or raise that white flag because until this race is over, this race isn't over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEVS: Celestial. It's fascinating to see the way that they're doing this, the kind of messaging they're using online opportunities to do it. Right here, BALLOT BOWL, we're getting you the information unfiltered. So I have this chance to show you what is it is they're piping out right now to a lot of potential voters in the states who have not voted yet.

And Dana, I know these same kinds of messages are things that you hear all the time when they're talking on the stump, right?

BASH: Absolutely. But there's a big difference obviously between, especially if you're a Republican talking to a few hundred people in a room and getting your message online like that. You have another video to show us with a guy by the name of Jack. If you're in Hollywood, there's only one guy by the name of Jack, right?

LEVS: I would love to some day to be able to go to award shows wearing sunglasses all the time myself.

Here's the deal. So today Jack Nicholson, there's a Clinton camp released this clip from Jack Nicholson and we have shown so many times a celebrity film video for Barack Obama, have not seen that so much for Hillary Clinton, but the Clinton put out this today where Jack Nicholson has put together different clips from the movies he's been in. We're going to show you a little piece of that right here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK NICHOLSON, ACTOR: There's nothing sexier on this earth here, believe me, gentleman, than a woman that you have to salute in the morning. I'm Jack Nicholson and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Really interesting choice of clips that they put in there. He has himself as the Joker. Some things like that. But the word is out, it's getting online buzz, already hit on YouTube. We expect more people to be looking at that in the next couple days.

And Dana and Suzanne, I don't know if you're going to see him on the campaign trail very much, but at least here online, through the Clinton camp they've now gotten their Jack Nicholson special out to the world. How is that?

MALVEAUX: We'll be looking for that, Josh. Josh Levs out of Atlanta, Dana Bash out of Sedona, Arizona. Of course, taking a look at what makes these campaigns run. And that is all about the bucks, that is all about money and the huge fundraising that takes place for these candidates to be viable, especially when it comes to advertising. BALLOT BOWL continues after this break. We're going to take a close look at the fundraising efforts of the Democrats. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to "BALLOT BOWL." I'm Jessica Yellin in Houston, Texas.

In our last segment we just heard Josh Levs talking to Dana and Suzanne about all the money being raised online for these various campaigns. They're spending much of this for advertising. There is a massive ad war going on between Senators Clinton and Obama in particular, in the states of Texas and Ohio.

Barack Obama has a lot of ground to cover and ground to make up because Senator Clinton is very well known in the both these states. She has a 36-year history in Texas, been to Ohio many times running with her husband for president, et cetera. So for him, name recognition and getting out there was key. He has managed to extravagantly out spend her. In Ohio Clinton has spent about $1.5 million, Obama almost $3 million on ads. In Texas Senator Clinton spent approximately $3.6 million. Barack Obama spent almost $6 million. This is significant.

It's not just where they're spending or how much they're spending, but where. One data point I got on the last showing of "American Idol", there were I think 38 political ads, 32 of them were Barack Obama's, only six with Senator Clinton. The most watched television show in America. That is prime advertising real estate. Barack Obama is really getting it.

So this is a an uphill fight for Senator Clinton who has sent out just now another e-mail asking her donors to contribute in the next rundown to the Tuesday primary.

I want to bring in Suzanne Malveaux who is on the trail with Senator Clinton.

Suzanne, one of the ads that Senator Clinton is hoping to spend a lot of money on, and I'm sure she wants to get it out there as much as possible, is this new national security ad which has created quite a flap.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, you bring up a great point. It really is those dollars that allow this debate to happen, for one candidate to shape the debate or even dominate the debate.

We talked to Senator Clinton's camp. In February, they raised some $35 million. That compared to January, just $14 million. What this money allows them to do is essentially charge and countercharge.

We know Barack Obama's camp has more money to work with when it comes to advertising, not only tweaking the message, but shaping and perhaps dominating the debate. One of the issues we have seen in the last 24 to 48 hours that seems to be catching fire, that is the issue of national security, who is the stronger, tougher candidate when it comes to that resume in time of crisis.

Senator Clinton, her camp, launching really the first salvo, if you will, on Friday when she outlined and presented this kind of nightmarish scenario. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD NARRATOR: It's 3:00 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone in the White House and its ringing. Something is happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call, whether it's someone who already knows the world's leaders, knows the military, someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world. It's 3:00 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Hillary Clinton and I approve this message.

AD NARRATOR: It's 3:00 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep, but there's a phone ringing in the White House. Something is happening in the world. When that call gets answered, shouldn't the president be the one, the only one who had judgment and courage to oppose the Iraq war in the start, who understood the real threat was al Qaeda in Afghanistan, not Iraq, who led the effort to secure loose nuclear weapons around the world. In a dangerous world, it's judgment that matters.

BARACK OBAMA, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Jessica, as you mentioned, if you are someone in Texas who is watching television and turned on your TV, you're seeing the ads play over and over again. If you're not at one of these rallies, you're certainly watching it play out over the airways, over the issue of national security.

Barack Obama saying it's more fear mongering from the Clinton camp. The Clinton campaign coming back, saying they think this is a legitimate debate over national security. You can't miss it here because it is flooding the airwaves with this kind of back and forth over this scenario dealing with national security -- Jessica?

YELLIN: All right, Suzanne. It's true. You can't turn on the television without seeing one of these ads running at some point here in Texas.

We're going to take a quick break.

On the other side of the break, yes, at "BALLOT BOWL," we know there are stories that don't have to do with politics still going on in the world. We will check in on those, including Prince Harry's return from Afghanistan. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TONY HARRIS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I'm Tony Harris. Back to "BALLOT BOWL" in a minute. Let's get you caught up on other headlines.

Police in Las Vegas say guns have been recovered from the extended-stay hotel room where vials of deadly Ricin were held Thursday, an anarchist textbook was also found in the room. Its most recent occupant is still unconscious. The man was identified as 57- year-old Roger von Bergendorf.

A royal and relieved welcome for Prince Harry as father and brother meeting him today after his tour of Afghanistan was cut short for his safety. News organizations lifted their own ban on reporting that Harry was in combat. Prince Charles says he's thankful his son returned in one piece.

The Bush administration says it has failed to broker a water- sharing agreement between Georgia, Florida and Alabama. And a letter sent to the governors, interior secretary, Dirk Kempthorne, said the feds will step in to apportion the region's water.

Severe storms are in the forecast for a large part of the country next Tuesday.

Let's check in with Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras to see how bad the weather might impact the turnout in those primary states.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Tony.

(WEATHER REPORT)

JERAS: Get ready. Tuesday's going to be a big day, not just politically, but in the weather as well.

HARRIS: Boy, it sounds like it. OK, Jacqui, thank you.

Time to meet a CNN hero now, ordinary people making extraordinary impact on the lives of others. Here's an innovator who not only helps individuals, he is helping communities around the world?

Here is Jock Brandis. He's today's CNN hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOCK BRANDIS, CNN HERO: In Africa alone, women spend four billion hours a year shelling peanuts by hand. I saw women whose fingers were literally bleeding from shelling peanuts for just a few hours. The women in the village said can you get a machine that will help us do it faster. I said no problem. I can do that.

I went back to America. It didn't exist.

My name is Jock Brandis. I built a nut sheller that does it 50 files faster than doing it by hand.

When I first realized that I couldn't buy this machine, someone sent me a sketch and I tried to duplicate that and it didn't work. A really good friend of mine said make a mold and pour concrete in there -- when we started making our machine parts out of concrete, all of the sudden, you know, it opened up. And turn the hand briskly and they're all done. Every little welding shop in the world can cut and fabricate these pieces.

People will transform their lives and a whole village with very, very simple parts, $28 worth of material.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The women are doing good. They sell this food, also, and get money for themselves. We are happy and have help for a long time.

BRANDIS: People helped me do it out of the goodness of their hearts. I felt I should pass it on. It's everyone's machine. It's the gift to the world.

I get up in the morning and there's an e-mail from a total stranger in the picture -- it's a happy person standing beside their machine with a big grin. That's the best moment of all. That's the one I live for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And if you know someone you think should be a CNN hero, nominate them. Head over to cnn.com/heros.

I'm Tony harries. "BALLOT BOWL" returns in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DANA BASH, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome back to "BALLOT BOWL '08." I'm Dana Bash in Sedona, Arizona, where John McCain is here in his home state. He's got time off the trail.

I know I have a beautiful backdrop here in Red Rock country, but Ali Velshi has a cool backdrop. He's at an oil field.

That's where you are, right, Ali?

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST: I absolutely am, in the Darst oil field here in central Texas. It's actually between Seguin and Luling. Luling has the central Texas Oil Museum. The other thing Luling is famous for -- by the way, I've got this bumper sticker which says "Thump." It's the water melon thump, a spitting contest held the last Thursday through Sunday in June. If we're doing "BALLOT BOWL" then, I'd like to come back.

This is oil town. We've been going all around Texas hearing what when ear hearing in the rest of America, that inflation is a problem. People know they're paying so much more for the goods that they buy. A lot of that is tied to the cost of fuel. So I've been hearing from people in Texas that fuel costs are too high. We thought we'd come right here to where the oil pumps are. There's 1600 of them in the fields around me and find out what the people who work on the fields think about oil.

I met this fellow, Chad. He isn't all that upset about the price of oil. Here is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAD WALLS, OIL WORKER: Actually I like it. High price of oil gives us good pay, I guess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: It's true. It does get better pay out here. I mean, there's more demand for jobs in the oil field and the oil rigs that are offshore. It means equipment can be replaced, more wells are being dug. Jacks like that that haven't been in service, some of them are coming back into service. There is a good part.

I was talking to Chad little more. Chad, like everybody else in America has to pay for stuff. Here is what he feels about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

WALLS: I would say it is. My work truck here, I don't pay for gas in it. I try it every day. On my own personal cars and trucks and stuff, I spend $100 just to fill one truck up. I've got three of them. It's the talk of the town.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: And it's the talk of every town we've gone through, the high gas prices. That's the conundrum of Texas. This state exports $100 billion worth of goods every year, more than any state in the world. Most of that is oil. This is a state that does very well off the price of oil.

But all these Texans, they drive trucks, go to places, they've got left. Truck drivers come through the state. The high price of oil is affecting everyone around here.

You may be able to forget about it for the last Thursday through Sunday in June when you're at the water melon thump. The rest of the year it's costing a lot of money to pay for the increased price of gases and oil. I'm hearing that from a lot of people.

BASH: I'm sure you are. President Bush seemed to be surprised when a reporter told them this week there were expectations that gasoline could reach about $4.00 a gallon this week.

Here is what I want to know from you, Ali. I hear these candidates talk about the economy, what they're going to do. You've had your ear to the ground. You talk to these voters. Are they hearing what they want to hear? They think they're hearing solutions from any of these candidates, Democrats or Republicans? VELSHI: Good question. They're hearing exactly what they want to hear about six months too late. We found out inflation in 2007, at the wholesale level was 7 percent, that was a lot more than anybody was telling us before. Every America who buys things knows inflation was high. When we talk about the possibility of a recession, when we talk about an economic slowdown, everybody around here already knew that was happening.

So the frustration -- by the way, it's costing the Republicans around here. We've had a number of people drive by just today to say they've been lifelong Republicans, but they don't understand why people who are particularly expert in the energy sector are not doing enough to contain these costs.

The answer is what do you do? These are long-term solutions. A lot of people have been saying more needs to be done. We can't be watching the price of oil go up and gasoline go up when wages don't go up and we're in a slowdown possibly heading toward a recession where jobs are lost.

That is a very big concern. They're very frustrated. They'd like to know what's coming, not have the government officials tell them what happened already -- Dana?

BASH: Absolutely. And before I let you go, let me see that bumper sticker again, the water melon contest bumper sticker there?

VELSHI: It says, "Thump.

BASH: OK, It's a water melon seed spitting contest sometime in June." If we can find our way down there, I'll go head to head with you in that contest. How about that?

VELSHI: You've got yourself a deal.

BASH: Good deal, Ali. Thank you very much. We'll be catching you a lot more the rest of the day and the weeks ahead with the "Election Express." You've been giving us very interesting insight into what voters and Americans are thinking about the economy with regard to the political campaign this year. Ali, thank you very much.

When we come back, we'll have a lot more of "BALLOT BOWL '08." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to the final segment of "BALLOT BOWL" for this hour.

We want to give you a little taste of somebody you don't hear a lot from. Chelsea Clinton has been out on the stump fighting for her mom. She was in Akron, Ohio, where we have a little tape of it.

Let's listen to Chelsea Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER OF HILLARY CLINTON: I am so proud of my mom. I really do grow more proud every day. I'm so proud standing on this stage with all these amazing women who told you why they're supporting my mom. You heard Kathleen Townsend say she met my mom 28 years ago.

I met my mom 28 years ago. It was my birthday a couple of days ago. Thank you. My mother has been my role model my whole life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Chelsea Clinton, apparently, a Pisces, and also a secret weapon in her mom's arsenal. She's been quite successful campaigning on the stump, getting a lot of people out to see her. One of the very few times this campaign season that we ever hear Chelsea Clinton speaking out in the public.

I'm going to toss it now over to my colleague, Dana Bash, who is in a gorgeous landscape in Arizona -- Dana?

BASH: It really is fascinating to hear Chelsea Clinton speak like that, because we watched her grow up, obviously. We've seen her very much on the campaign trail. But to actually hear her is really interesting, really noteworthy.

We are about finished with this edition of BALLOT BOWL, but you don't want to turn off your television. We're going to have "BALLOT BOWL Primetime." That's going to start at 8:00 eastern tonight. We'll go all evening, bringing you the candidates as we have all afternoon, live and on tape from the campaign trail. They are unfiltered.

We've been telling you about this big contest that is going to take place on Tuesday, four contests, four primaries in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island. You want to tune in to CNN to get all the results on Tuesday. That is going to start at 7:00 eastern. You want to watch CNN from the CNN Election Center. All the political team will be bringing you those results.

After the break, we'll have "This Week in Politics." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED HOST: It's non-stop action in "This Week in Politics." Is this Hillary Clinton's last chance?

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