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Hillary Clinton's High Hopes; Iranian President Visits Iraq; Deadly Florida Restaurant Shooting

Aired March 03, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Betty, four states, four contests, one possibly decisive day for the presidential races in both parties, primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont, and Rhode Island.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it could be a make-or-break Tuesday, and the best political team on television is all over it.

Hello, everybody. From the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Kyra Phillips.

I like that. You came up with that, make-or-break Tuesday. Instead of Super Tuesday, we will call it make-or-break --

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: Some are calling it the Super Tuesday II.

LEMON: Yes, or T-O-O-S-D-A-Y.

(LAUGHTER)

NGUYEN: Right.

LEMON: Hello, everybody. I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we have correspondents in all four states, especially Texas and Ohio, the two biggest prizes. Plus, we're crunching the numbers and watching the big picture in our Atlanta, New York, and Washington newsrooms. The races, the rallies, the results, CNN is your home for politics.

And topping our political ticker, Hillary Clinton's high hopes for big wins in tomorrow's four state primaries. Both Clinton and Barack Obama are focusing today on Texas, the biggest delegate jackpot up for grabs. And Clinton's also looking for a solid win in Ohio to cut into Obama's lead in delegates. The latest polls show close races in both states.

Here's the latest Texas poll of polls. Averaging five statewide surveys, Obama and Clinton in a virtual dead heat among likely Democratic primary voters. Obama has 47 percent, Clinton 45 percent. The Democratic race is also tight in Ohio, with the latest poll of polls there showing Clinton at 48 percent, Obama 43 percent.

A Florida do-over -- Governor Charlie Crist says he would support a repeat of the state's Democratic presidential primary. Wow. So, those delegates could be counted at the National Convention. Democratic national party chairman Howard Dean tells CNN he might go along, but the cost would be a big issue.

A spokeswoman for Crist later told "The Orlando Sentinel" the Republican governor wasn't committing to paying for another primary. Florida was stripped of its Democratic delegates for moving up its contest to January.

After a weekend barbecue at home in Arizona, John McCain is back on the campaign trail today. He holds a town hall meeting tonight in Waco, Texas, hoping Texans will give him a big batch of delegates tomorrow. The Republican front-runner can seal the nomination if he wins Texas and at least one other state. But that isn't stopping Mike Huckabee from campaigning hard in Texas.

He's contributed to Barack Obama and a number of other Democratic politicians. Now jury selection is under way in the federal corruption trial of Chicago real estate developer Tony Rezko. Obama has not been accused of any wrongdoing through his past ties to Rea. And he's sent around $85,000 in Rezko-related contributions to charity. Rezko has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, influence peddling and other charges.

NGUYEN: Well, Texas is the biggest prize of the states holding primaries tomorrow, and the economy seems to be the biggest issue.

Our senior business correspondent, Ali Velshi, is riding the CNN Election Express all across the state. And he joins us now from the town of Bandera.

You look like a regular there, a resident of Bandera. But I got to ask you, what are the main issues when it comes to the economy that the folks there in Bandera are concerned about?

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's the economy in general, and it's gas prices in particular. We have just actually rolled into here. We were in another place. We in a place called Junction, Texas, earlier today. We are -- you know, we're talking to people all over the state. And while -- while they talk about the economy, some of the particular topics are specific to an area.

It does have to do mainly with inflation and gas prices. But it is wider than that. When we were in Junction a little earlier -- Junction's sort of on the eastern edge of west Texas, where the economic issues are a little bit different -- we spoke to a woman at a cafe this morning where we were stationed. And here's what she told us. It was interesting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM PAXON, GRAPHIC DESIGNER: We painted ourselves in a corner with stagflation. We have borrowed so heavily. We have shipped out our jobs, our good jobs, not only blue-collar, but also our I.T. jobs. And so we're hollowing out our dollar. We're hollowing out our economy. And then we're -- you know, so we have a whole series of economic policies that are just backfiring. And where it hits home is in these people's lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Now, Betty, you know, a lot about Texas. I don't know if you have ever been to Bandera. They call it the cowboy capital of the world. We have actually -- this is a pretty Republican town. There's been a lot of early voting. And tomorrow, of course, they will be doing the Texas two-step.

This is the last stop on the CNN Express tour of Texas. There's been a lot of early voting. There seems to be a lot of animosity toward Hillary Clinton around here. We have found a few Barack Obama supporters. But largely this looks like a Republican town. They're going to be doing what they call the Texas two-step here.

Some of the delegates will be determined by primary voting. Some Democratic delegates in particular will be determined by caucusing. And we're going to be here now until the end of the primary voting in Bandera, Texas -- Betty.

NGUYEN: So', it's truly a place where you can vote early and often?

VELSHI: That's right, exactly.

(LAUGHTER)

NGUYEN: All right, and the only place where it's legal, by the way. OK. Thank you, Ali.

Well, the latest, now, on the all the important delegate counts. John McCain is just 158 delegates short of clinching the GOP nomination. He's got 1,033 to Mike Huckabee's 247 -- 1,191 delegates are needed to win the nomination.

Well, in the Democratic battle, Barack Obama has 1,369 delegates. Hillary Clinton has 1,267 -- 2,025 delegates are needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

NGUYEN: Well, the Latino vote is a key factor this year, especially in Texas. And that's where CNN en Espanol's Juan Carlos Lopez is right now.

And, Juan, do you have a better idea as we go into Tuesday at where the Latino vote stands?

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's -- the people we have been speaking with, they have been telling us they are going Democrat. And they're -- until a couple weeks ago, it was very clear Hillary Clinton territory. But as the weeks have progressed and the Obama campaign has invested lots of money in this state, we have met with a lot of people who are either undecided or have decided to go with Senator Obama.

NGUYEN: Well, what are the issues affecting Latinos?

LOPEZ: It's interesting because Latino voters aren't much different from other voters.

They are interested -- they are concerned about health, education, the war in Iraq, the economy most importantly. But immigration is an issue that is getting them to go out and vote, to participate, to get involved in the process. And I say it's interesting because U.S. citizens do not need immigration reform.

But Hispanics feel that the issue of reform is an issue that touches all Hispanics. They have either relatives or friends who might need this reform, so they consider it an issue for the community. And that's why they feel that they tell us they are coming out to vote, they are getting involved, because they want immigration reform. And they don't like the tone of the debate on immigration.

NGUYEN: Do you think that has anything to do with a lot of folks leaning toward the Democratic side, because if you look at history, a lot of the Latino vote does sway toward the Republican side?

LOPEZ: Well, if -- there are two candidates who have attracted the Latino vote, two Republicans. Those are Ronald Reagan, who obtained over 38 percent of the Hispanic vote, and President Bush. He obtained between 42 percent and 44 percent of the vote in 2004. But this year around, what the polls show and what studies show is that people are leaning back toward the Democrats.

An interesting characteristic of Hispanic voters is that even though they are identified as more in line with Democrats, they really don't follow party lines. They vote for the candidate. So, if they find a candidate they like, they are going to go with that candidate regardless of if he is a Republican or a Democrat.

NGUYEN: All right, CNN en Espanol's Juan Carlos Lopez joining us live from Texas -- thank you, Juan.

All the latest campaign news is available at your finger tips. All you have to do is go to CNN.com, plus analysis from the best political team on television -- that and so much more, again, CNNPolitics.com.

LEMON: A red flag from the Pentagon today about the growing power of China. In a blunt assessment, the Defense Department says Beijing is expanding its military and refusing to tell the world why.

With the story from us -- live from the Pentagon is our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, every spring, the Pentagon in required by Congress to deliver a report on China's military power. And every time, they deliver a report that says China is increasing its military strength and improving its high- tech capabilities.

Let's look first at what the Pentagon says China is spending, their official budget $45 billion. That's up 17.8 percent, almost 18 percent, from last year. But, the big problem, the Pentagon says, is, China doesn't tell everything it's spending. If you add up the secret military budget, it's about three times that amount, $139 billion.

So, what are they buying for all that money? Well, they are buying more ballistic and cruise missile systems, more submarines, to have the ability to operate underwater -- this is a big one -- anti- satellite weapons. You remember the Pentagon complained bitterly last year when China shot down one of its aging weather satellites. Now they are saying that China is spending a lot of money on anti- satellite weapon and cyber-warfare.

And, again, remember, the Pentagon has complained that they have had cyber-attacks from Chinese hackers in the past. Cyber-warfare is a big part of China's budget. What does it all add up to?

China is developing a more high-tech military that is able to fight short wars of intense duration. But they are not forgetting about Taiwan. The report also notes that the number of missiles stationed across the Taiwan Strait from Taiwan gone up from about 900 last year to somewhere close to 1,000, maybe 1,100, this year.

So, again, an increase in those missiles because China wants to continue to make sure that Taiwan doesn't get any ideas that it can declare complete independence. That's the picture from the Pentagon of Chinese military power, once again, growing and China spending beyond its gross national product on defense -- Don.

LEMON: All right, Jamie, thank you.

NGUYEN: Well, he shunned security. Then he slammed the U.S. Iran's president is back home after a landmark trip to Iraq. And we're going to tell you what he said before he left.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: It is 16 past the hour. Here are three of the stories that we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The U.S. on the attack in Eastern Africa. A Pentagon spokesman tells CNN the military struck what it calls an al Qaeda target in a town in Somalia earlier today. Now, no other details from the Pentagon. A local Somali official, though, says the strike killed women and children.

The FBI is now investigating a string of fires that gutted several multimillion-dollar model homes north of Seattle. Just look at this video. A fire chief says a sign with the letters ELF was found at the scene. Now, there's no confirmation on whether that's a calling card of the radical Earth Liberation Front, considered an ecoterrorist group by the feds.

And about a dozen children are injured after their school bus overturned north of Atlanta today. Here's video of that. The sheriff department spokesperson tells the Associated Press early reports indicate driver error may be to blame. LEMON: It's down to the wire for the presidential candidates, as four more states get ready to weigh in. We will talk about the latest developments with our political roundtable.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

NGUYEN: Well, there is news breaking. And let's get you to it. To the newsroom first with CNN's T.J. Holmes.

You are working on a developing story. What do you have, T.J.?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, take a look at this picture here, Betty. We have got a pretty good-sized fire happening in Baltimore County right now, live picture here coming to us from our affiliate WBAL. But that is an apartment, fully involved apartment building. You can see all those flames shooting up out of the roof and sending up, of course, all that smoke into the air.

What we understand here is that at least one firefighter has been injured here. They are describing this as a three-alarm fire, one firefighter injured. Don't know the extent of his injuries. But this fire right now is so intense that fire officials have pulled all of their firefighters out of this building and out of this fire, getting it apparently dangerous enough that they thought it was too dangerous for these firefighters to try to get involved in this any more than they already were. So they have been ordered out of that building.

We have seen other pictures here where firefighters are still able to, from a distance at least, put some water on this fire. But that's it. We're following the story. Also don't know -- and it's something we're checking on, Betty -- whether or not any people were possibly still in this apartment building. But we're keeping an eye on it here.

NGUYEN: Man, what a fire it is. And it of course affects so many different apartment buildings as well.

All right, thank you, T.J.

HOLMES: All right.

LEMON: It's down to the wire for the presidential candidates, as four more states get ready to weigh in. We will talk about the latest developments with our political roundtable.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, take a look at this. We are following two developing stories this afternoon.

CNN's T.J. Holmes has been watching the developments. And he joins us now with the latest.

Hey, T.J. HOLMES: Hey there, Betty.

Let's see. Let's start here on the left there, what we're seeing. This is out of Baltimore County, Maryland. This is an apartment that is, as you can see, fully engulfed in flames. You see a water stream being put there at the top. Firefighters are now fighting this from the outside, putting water on it.

Firefighters were actually ordered from this apartment building because it just got too dangerous there for those firefighters. We do know one firefighter was injured in this apartment fire. We do not know how bad his injuries are.

We don't know how this thing started, and we also don't know if there were any reports of people still being inside this building. Here we go, pulling out here from our affiliate, the live picture giving a better perspective.

You can see a long -- the pretty long buildings there, the units, a pretty large complex and a pretty good chunk of it there on fire right now. So, we're trying to get word about whether or not there possibly were any people inside there, possibly any people trapped.

It didn't look -- it looked like two, maybe just a couple of stories of this building so maybe people were able to get out, just get downstairs and get out of the building. But we don't know how it started, something here, Betty, we are keeping an eye there in -- in Baltimore County, live pictures coming in to us.

NGUYEN: Also, there's a situation happening down in Florida. I understand five people have been shot?

HOLMES: Yes. This is one, a strange story out of a Wendy's. Yes, we're looking at a Wendy's store there in Palm Beach, actually, where five people, I believe, is the word now, were killed. A gunman just walked in -- five people, rather, shot. Two of them -- two of them dead. I want to make sure I get that right. Two people dead, one believed to be the gunman, who turned the gun on himself.

We're joined now by Teri Barbera, who is with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office.

Thank you for being with us. Thank you for the time. Can you give us the -- I guess, the numbers? Do we have that right, two dead, three critically wounded and one of the dead believed to be the gunman?

TERI BARBERA, PALM BEACH COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Yes, that's correct. (INAUDIBLE), as well. Shortly after 12:15 this afternoon, a black male walked into a local Wendy's here in West Palm Beach. He walked into the bathroom area and walked out for unknown reasons and just started shooting into the crowd, immediately killing one of the customers and then spraying into the crowd.

Together, we have three that are very seriously injured that were taken by trauma choppers to area hospitals and two that were minorly injured taken by ground ambulance to area hospitals. And he did turn the gun on himself, killing himself.

HOLMES: And, ma'am, do you all have -- I know it's still early here -- any reason, any logic, any motive as to why he would walk in and start shooting? And did it appear to just be random? He wasn't targeting anyone.

BARBERA: No, he wasn't targeting anyone. It was random. It was senseless violence. We don't know what triggered this individual to do such a thing. This is a black gentleman and he was dressed in a business suit, walked to the restroom area. He just comes out and starts shooting randomly into the crowd. We have no idea what his motive is.

HOLMES: And do you know if he -- a couple of things here. Did he actually say anything to anyone at all in the restaurant? And do you know what kind of weapon it was? Was it a handgun or --

BARBERA: I'm --

HOLMES: Go ahead.

BARBERA: It was a handgun. Witnesses told us that he walked out of the restroom, walked into the middle of the restaurant. He appeared to be shaking and just started shooting for unknown reasons.

HOLMES: And it was around lunchtime, we said 12:15 so --

BARBERA: Yes.

HOLMES: So how many people do you believe were in the restaurant? I assume it's pretty packed around lunchtime -- a lunchtime crowd.

BARBERA: There was about 10 to 15 individuals actually in the restaurant. To our knowledge, none of the employees were injured at all, just customers.

HOLMES: And, also, one more here, a detail. Do you know why he stopped shooting? I don't know if he was running out of ammunition. Do you know whether or not -- why he decided to turn the gun on himself when he did?

BARBERA: We don't know that. We do have a witness that told us that when he walked out of the restroom and he saw that he was visibly shaking, that he became concerned and he immediately hit the ground when he started firing.

And he said at one point he stopped firing, he looked up and wasn't sure if the individual was actually reloading. He looked again. He saw the individual on the ground. At that point, he walked over to him, saw that he was injured and kicked the weapon away from him.

HOLMES: Oh, wow.

BARBERA: This individual started to begin CPR on the some of the injured involved. HOLMES: Oh, wow.

Terry Barbera with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office. Ma'am, thank you very much for your time and the update.

And, Betty, she said it there best -- senseless violence. It just makes no sense. When we'll get more answers as to who this individual was, but he just walks in and appears to just randomly start shooting.

I guess it could have been a lot worse. Again, there was 10 to 15 people maybe in that restaurant around lunchtime. But, again, two dead, the gunman among them. Three others in pretty bad shape right now in the hospital.

NGUYEN: All right. T. J., thank you.

HOLMES: All right.

LEMON: Vermont, Rhode Island, Ohio and Texas -- four contests that could give us a much clearer picture of how the general election might shape up. Our latest CNN poll of polls shows Republican John McCain with a big lead over Mike Huckabee in Ohio.

McCain's support there is more than double Huckabee's. It's a similar story in Texas, with McCain almost doubling Huckabee in our poll of polls there. Tomorrow's contest could clinch the nomination for the senator from Arizona.

On the Democratic side, a much different story. Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton in Texas, 47 to 45 percent, eight percent are undecided. In Ohio, Clinton leads Obama, 48 percent to 43 percent, nine percent there are undecided.

Let's bring in our political experts now. In Chicago, CNN contributor Mr. Carl Bernstein.

Welcome and --

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I'm in New York, actually.

LEMON: I'm sorry. Did I say Chicago?

BERNSTEIN: Yes. It's OK.

LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's a nice city.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Sorry. It's a nice city.

SANCHEZ: It's a little windy here today.

LEMON: I came from there, I'm thinking, I guess Obama and all that. I don't know.

Carl Bernstein, thank you. Thanks for correcting me, as well. Political analyst Keli Goff. And in Washington, Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez.

Let's start on the Democratic side. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton really going back and forth. Some are saying she has learned how to -- finally learned how to criticize Barack Obama.

Let's listen to a little bit of back and forth between them and then we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know what all that experience got her, because I have enough experience to know that if you have a National Intelligence Estimate and the chairman of the national -- the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says you should read this, this is why I'm voting against the war, that you should probably read it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Carl, this is the one issue that she has really been hitting him hard on -- lack of experience, lack of experience. And then -- but I've heard some people in and read some editorials in papers where people are saying, you know what, she's finally learned how to criticize him and she's actually being an adult candidate now.

BERNSTEIN: I'm not sure that's any notion of adulthood. I think that she has a history of when her back is to the wall, of going negative. She's done it in other campaigns. It seems to be having some effect. It's toward the end of this tiring exercise for the candidates. And we've seen it before. And, indeed, his credentials are an issue here.

LEMON: Yes.

So, Keli, do you think it's having some effect on this race?

KELI GOFF, POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that, you know, negative campaigning -- you know, look, attack ads usually work. That's why people spend money on them so -- but the response, I would say is that, I think that the person who actually is really benefiting from those attacks -- it wasn't Hillary Clinton and it wasn't Barack Obama, it's John McCain.

I think that if these attacks have started to use the word adult, as you mentioned before, earlier in the campaign, if she had found the tone with which to go after him earlier in the campaign instead of right now, then I think perhaps her candidacy and the party would be in a better position. I think all she's doing now is bloodying up the likely nominee for the GOP. You know, I --

LEMON: Oh, I (INAUDIBLE)...

SANCHEZ: OK. OK. I have to disagree with part -- with, well, a big part of that. Because I do believe the Clintons are responsible, in big part, for redefining the politics of personal destruction. She went negative in New Hampshire, turned off a lot of voters moving forward, especially Independent younger women voters, which she has consistently lost in the next nine -- you know, elections.

But what's interesting about it is -- there's a couple of things. Hillary Clinton continues to do well among people that make their decisions at the last minute, within the last week or the last three days. It's going to be interesting if Texas turns on that --

GOFF: That's not completely true, Leslie. There's been a split on that --

SANCHEZ: Well, then --

GOFF: Barack Obama actually does really well, too, with people who are last minute decision makers.

SANCHEZ: People --

GOFF: So I'm not sure which polls you're referring to.

SANCHEZ: It's almost a split.

GOFF: Right.

SANCHEZ: But the consistent thing is this issue of inexperience is boding very well for her because Barack Obama -- the number one thing people are concerned about is inexperience.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: OK.

GOFF: If that worked, then she wouldn't have to still be explaining it a year after she started explaining it.

LEMON: All right.

GOFF: She's been using experience for a year.

LEMON: We're going to have to end that part of the discussion there.

Let's talk about Hillary Clinton, though, on "Saturday Night Live" this past weekend. Also, I believe she's going to be on "The Daily Show." and a lot of people said, you know what, she was really real, why didn't she do this in the beginning?

She seemed really personable on "Saturday Night Live". Did you see it, Carl? Do you agree with that?

BERNSTEIN: No. I don't think it takes -- it's not a hardship to go on "Saturday Night Live" and be personable...

(LAUGHTER)

BERNSTEIN: ... or the Jon Stewart Show. I think a lot of us have done it and it's not that difficult. I think what we're talking about here...

LEMON: But even, Carl...

BERNSTEIN: ... that's getting lost --

LEMON: ... even also on the campaign trail, people are saying she's having realer moments. She's -- it doesn't seem like she's so scripted or so robotic as she may have been in the past.

BERNSTEIN: She's having -- she has some -- she's having some so- called real moments. She's also having moments like you just showed us a minute ago in the video. I think what we're trying to get at here is what is the character of Hillary Clinton?

Who is this person? She is talented. She is determined. She also is someone who is very accustomed and comfortable with her back to the wall and fighting with her back to the wall. She's persevered at it before. She gets up and fights back. She fights really hard.

LEMON: Yes.

BERNSTEIN: She fights really nasty sometimes. And that's what we're seeing.

LEMON: All right.

BERNSTEIN: Some of it's substantive, some of it's not.

LEMON: Well, Carl, I talked to you a little bit about this in the break and I didn't get your response. Gloria Steinem coming out saying you know what -- sort of downplaying John McCain's prisoner of war status in Vietnam but also making a very interesting assessment, saying people are paying more attention or they take racism more seriously than they do sexism. And that may be why Barack Obama is doing better in some places than Hillary Clinton.

BERNSTEIN: Well, I read what Gloria -- she's been my friend for 30 some years. And I said what she said very carefully. And I think that there's something to be said that there is as much sexism -- or more -- than there is racism. I don't know how we weigh the two.

At the same time, it seemed to me that her argument is really that we ought to vote for Hillary because she is a woman candidate and wait eight years, as she did -- said -- for Barack Obama. So I'm not sure that her message didn't get a little confused there.

LEMON: OK. And I've got to wrap --

GOFF: I think she --

LEMON: But we have to -- we've got to go. But I want to ask you this -- I'm going to let you get in, because you're raring to get in here.

I want to ask you about Rush Limbaugh telling people on the radio to go out and vote for Hillary Clinton because he wants her to stay in it.

Go. You've got five seconds. It's really all I can spare.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: No wait -- yes.

GOFF: Sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Both of them...

LEMON: Go to it.

SANCHEZ: ... are exciting candidates for us to defeat. And that's what I can say as a Republican.

LEMON: OK. That's going to have to be --

GOFF: Rush (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: That's going to have to be the end of it.

Carl Bernstein and Keli Goff and also, Leslie. Thank you very much, all of you, for joining me today.

GOFF: Thanks a lot.

LEMON: We have some new figures in the all-important Democratic delegate count. On the Democratic battle, Barack Obama has 1,378 delegates. Hillary Clinton has 1,269. Two thousand twenty-five delegates are needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.

On the Republican side, John McCain is now just 144 delegates short of clinching the GOP nomination. He got 1,047 to Mike Huckabee's 247. Eleven hundred and ninety-one delegates are needed to win that nomination.

All the latest campaign news is available at your fingertips. Just go to CNNPolitics.com. Plus, analysis from the best political team on television. That and more, CNNPolitics.com. NGUYEN: Well, he shunned security and then he slammed the U.S. Iran's president is back home after a landmark trip to Iraq. We're going to tell you what he said, though, before he left.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, you know, many workers begin saving for retirement in their 20s, but not everyone is able to do that. And in this week's Right On Your Money, how to save for retirement in your 40s.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not everyone gets a head start on retirement. Some people have to play catch-up.

JACK OTTER, DEPUTY EDITOR, "BEST LIFE": If you're in your 40s, you really need to do two things. Number one is simply to start saving more. The rules for the 401(k) -- allow people to put away up to $15,500 in their 40s. Actually, you absolutely should be maxing that out. With any luck, you're getting a company match. So you might be putting away as much as 20 grand a year.

ROMANS: Also, consider your investments' potential for growth.

OTTER: You really have to invest more aggressively. You're going to need to punch up that growth by putting a larger percentage in stocks than in bonds. So that means you're going to want to invest in stock funds, ideally in index funds.

And you're going to weight that pretty heavily, maybe 80 percent, 90 percent of your portfolio, which means you're going to see some ugly years. There's no question about it.

But over the next, say, 25 years, if you're age 40, you're looking at maybe retiring around 65. Over 25 years, you should get much better growth from stocks and you may very well have to be in a position where you say, you know what, I can't retire at 60 to 65, I'm going to have to put it off until age 67. So be prepared for that.

ROMANS: Another great way to save is a Roth IRA.

OTTER: That's an Individual Retirement Account. And the great thing about it is that you pay no taxes when you withdraw the money.

ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: A gusty wind and a gutsy pilot. Apparently, he did pretty well here, according to passengers on board. We'll take a closer look at the wild ride for the people on this jet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Let's take a look at a military standoff in South America. Ecuador and Venezuela move troops to their borders with Colombia and break all ties with Bogota. This, after Colombia sent troops into Ecuador over the weekend in search of rebel fighters.

Now, a senior rebel leader known as Raul Reyes was killed. Colombia accuses its neighbors of giving refuge to the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia, which has been trying to overthrow the government for 40 years.

LEMON: He shunned security and slammed the U.S. The president of Iran is back home after an unprecedented two day trip to Iraq. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad contrasted his trip with what he called the unannounced stealth visits of other VIPs, namely U.S. officials. He also condemned the continuing U.S. presence, saying Americans aren't winning any friends in the region.

Here's what he told reporters just before leaving Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): Their only achievement is that the regional nations would further dislike them and that it would add to the regional nations' hatred. No one likes them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Ahmadinejad is facing bad news back in Tehran. The U.N. Security Council voted today to hit Iran with a third round of sanctions over its nuclear program. The new sanctions target people and companies linked to Iranian nukes, which Tehran insists are for peaceful purposes. Iran's ambassador to the U.N. calls the resolution politically motivated.

NGUYEN: Well, another mess awaits Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the Middle East. In Gaza, angry Palestinians buried more victims from Israeli air and ground attacks that have killed more than a hundred in less than a week. Gaza militants are still firing rockets at a major Israeli city.

Now, no casualties are being reported, but the strikes have thrown the City of Ashkelon into a constant state of terror. And to make matters worse, anti-Israeli rage has spread to the West Bank, which is ruled by Palestinian moderates. Rice had hoped to press forward with peace talks, but now the moderates won't meet with the Israelis.

LEMON: Lufthansa Flight 44 -- the people on board won't soon forget that number and they won't soon forget that rocky, rocky landing. Joining us on the phone, someone who was on the plane, David Gering.

David, you're in -- where are you? Are you in Hamburg now?

DAVID GERING, CNN I-REPORTER: I'm in Munich, Germany now.

LEMON: You're in Munich, Germany. OK, tell us about this. We're looking at this plane coming in, I mean, and it just looks really incredible, the wind there. Was just the landing this way? Talk to us about the flight.

GERING: No, the flight was delayed while the Munich airport was closed due to a storm named Emma. I actually saw lightning, thunder, rain, hail and snow all within a few minutes in the Munich Airport.

And when we finally took off, after they reopened the airport, the flight was pretty uneventful until we began the descent. And for the entire descent, it was so rocky, up and down and side to side, it felt like a roller coaster. There were moments when I could not feel the seat below me, just like on a roller coaster.

LEMON: Oh my gosh. And we're looking at some of the pictures that you took. This is the wing -- this is that wing that scraped on the initial approach the first time.

GERING: Yes. When we approached the runway, I could see out my window. The plane was not straight. And I believe that's intentional. I think the pilot has to steer at an angle. And so, of course, you have to be straight when the wheels hit the runway.

And when that pilot turned that plane from angled to straight, all of a sudden the right wing popped up. And when that happened, the left wing hit the ground. The plane bounced. I think I felt the wheels leave the ground, hit the ground again. And then I saw the runway disappear from under us.

The plane had slid all the way to the side. And we heard the roar of the engines and the pilot just put his put his foot on the throttle, in a sense, and (INAUDIBLE)...

LEMON: Just gunning...

GERING: (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: ... just gunning those engines. I mean this had to be incredibly frightening.

GERING: Well, that's when you something is very wrong. Until that point, you knew it was rocky, but we knew that air traffic control or someone we could trust would not use this runway if it were that dangerous, right?

So I think they had our trust until we heard those engines roar. And then everyone was silent -- not a word from anyone. People were gasping for air, you know, just because they were nerves. And shortly thereafter, the pilot came on and said we're going to land at a -- on a different runway that was 90 degrees and goes into the wind instead of with the crosswind and...

LEMON: So you were --

GERING: And that --

LEMON: You're telling me that no one was screaming on this plane? Everyone was quiet? GERING: It was a total silence. Yes. There's -- like I said, I think people were gasping for breath. I know I was. There was just no breath left to say anything with. People were holding the hand of their neighbor very tightly.

I had a stuffed bear for my daughter named Honey I was clinging to. And when we did finally land a second time, heading into the wind, everyone cheered and applauded. It was a triumphant moment.

LEMON: I bet it was. And when you finally got home to give that stuffed bear to your daughter?

GERING: I'm not home yet. I will be home in about a week. I'm in Munich for another week.

LEMON: Yes, but you'll -- I'm sure you'll be glad to make it there to give it to her, right?

GERING: Yes, very glad.

LEMON: Yes. Hey, listen, we're glad you're OK and that everybody aboard that plane is OK. What a -- what a frightening -- you're going to fly again, though, correct?

GERING: I'm going to fly again. But something has to be done because I'm an engineer. I'm not a pilot, but I do know that when the plane turns left, the right wing moves faster -- I mean it moves farther, so the air runs faster and so it would tip it up. So it seems like the air traffic control gave this pilot an impossible task of landing into a crosswind that strong.

BLITZER: All right, David Gering, aboard that plane that landed in Hamburg on Saturday. And you saw the very frightening landing.

Thank you. Glad -- again, glad you're OK.

GERING: Right.

LEMON: Thank you for calling us and, of course, thank you for sending those pictures into I-Report.

NGUYEN: Absolutely.

LEMON: Unbelievable.

NGUYEN: What a story.

LEMON: Yes.

NGUYEN: Man.

It's time now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

LEMON: Wolf Blitzer is standing by in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf, I'm sure you've had some frightening flights, but nothing like that. WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: No, thank god, nothing like that. A good report, though. Thanks guys very much.

Less than one day to go before a major match-up. Four states vote tomorrow. Coming up, the Obama campaign on the defense after two potential embarrassments and the Clinton campaign on the attack right now.

A very warm welcome in Iraq for Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He's strolling the streets of Baghdad in an historic visit. What does it say about the relationship between the two countries? What does it mean for the U.S.?

And the political ads talk about the phone ringing in the White House at 3:00 a.m. But what really happens during those calls? You're going to find out.

All that and a lot more, guys, coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

NGUYEN: All right. We're looking forward to it. Thank you, Wolf.

Well, the closing bell and a wrap of the action on Wall Street -- all of that is straight ahead.

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NGUYEN: Well, the closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.

LEMON: Susan Lisovicz is standing by with a final look at the trading day.

Hey, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don and Betty.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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