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Battle for Ohio: Democrats Fight for 141 Delegates; Touring Texas: The NAFTA Issue; President Bush: 'We Stand by Colombia'
Aired March 04, 2008 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Four candidates, four states, one race that will likely be over this time tomorrow, but another that could be virtually over or neck and neck for many more weeks.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It is all up to voters in Texas, Ohio, Vermont, Rhode Island on this super suspenseful Tuesday.
NGUYEN: What a day.
LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters here in Atlanta.
NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen, in today for Kyra Phillips.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Ohio is a big battleground for the Democrats today. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have poured their hearts and souls, not to mention their time and money, into campaigning there.
Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, has the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whenever you have a news conference that ends like that, the heat is on. From his relationship with a land developer on trial for corruption to free trade, Barack Obama is taking incoming and doing his best to redirect it.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What's not disputed is that Senator Clinton and her husband championed NAFTA.
CROWLEY: A memo has surfaced indicating a top Obama aide told Canadian officials that Obama's position on trade is more about politics than policy. There were denials all around, including one from the Canadian Embassy about the intent and substance of the conversation. But on the eve of primaries that could determine her candidacy, in a state like Ohio, where NAFTA is a four-letter word, Hillary Clinton stokes the fire.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The old wink-wink, don't pay any attention, this is just political rhetoric, I think that raises serious questions. And I would ask you to look at this story, substitute my name for Senator Obama's name, and see what you would do with this story.
CROWLEY: And in the category of timing is all, a trial opened in Chicago featuring a longtime supporter of Obama's being tried on corruption charges, renewing old questions never completely answered.
OBAMA: There's no dispute that he raised money for us. And there's no dispute that we've tried to get rid of that money. And so...
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
OBAMA: Exactly. And so that's all we want to just confirm.
CROWLEY: It's the front-runner treatment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Candy Crowley joins us now by telephone from Ohio.
Any -- any way we can tell if this weekend and even this early week, these last two days of pounding, has it had any effect at all, Candy?
CROWLEY: Well, when you look at Ohio, for instance, which is where the whole NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, issue is huge, this is a very anti-NAFTA state. They feel that they have lost thousands of jobs because of that free trade plan between Canada and the U.S. and Mexico.
So, you know, it is hard to tell because there are -- I think the last time I saw maybe about 9 percent of voters who are not decided yet. Certainly those would be the votes you would expect would be the most swayed by this. I'm not even sure we'll know after the exit polls and after we see what was on people's minds whether or not it's had an effect.
What I can tell you is that if you spend your final weekend and your final day before a primary, as Barack Obama did, answering questions that are about negative stories, that totally takes you off your message.
LEMON: Yes, and I wanted to you about that. We saw in your story there this whole Tony Rezko -- and you can only call it a debacle. Even Barack Obama has admitted that it was a colossal mistake on his part to do business with him.
Are people talking about that in Ohio? It's big news in the Chicago area, and it's always big news on all of the news networks last night and yesterday. Is it playing in Ohio, Candy?
CROWLEY: I haven't heard a voter that says, "Well, what about that Rezko thing?"
I think what happens with voters is they have sort of an impressionistic view of things that have been -- things that have been happening in the news. And so, insofar as they pick up, oh, he had a friend or a fundraiser that goes on trial today, what's all that about? It kind of -- you know, the negativity sort of seeps in.
I'm not sure that out here and I don't think out here the specifics of what's going on with Rezko sinks in. It's just kind of an impression as it filters through in the local news media.
LEMON: Candy Crowley, thank you. Look forward to your reports tonight as well.
CROWLEY: Thanks, Don.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LEMON: The North American Free Trade Agreement is the focus of a big battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in Ohio. But what about Texas?
Our senior business correspondent, Ali Velshi, is touring Texas on the CNN Election Express.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, NAFTA is not playing out the same way across Texas as it is in Ohio. It's a much bigger deal in Ohio, which is an industrial manufacturing state that feels that it's lost a lot of jobs because of NAFTA, because that work has gone to other countries, particularly Mexico and Canada, where in some cases the labor is cheaper.
Now, in some cases that's true. In others it's not, because Ohio and the manufacturing industry in the United States has been in decline independent of NAFTA.
Here in Texas there are industries that have felt that effect. When it comes to jobs, the discussion revolves more around immigration. But there are places in Texas that are affected by NAFTA.
Overall, though, Texans seem to think that it's been a net benefit, as opposed to a loss. This has created a problem for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
CLINTON: I'm well aware that, you know, many parts of our country have different views about trade.
VELSHI: That's an understatement. Here in Texas, NAFTA literally changed the landscape.
For instance, the border town of Laredo has tripled in size since the treaty was enacted in 1994. Thousands of big rigs cross the border daily, and thousands of Mexicans come to Laredo to shop.
Ohio is a different story. It's lost nearly 200,000 jobs just since 2000. Unlike Texas, Ohio has suffered. And that's why voters in these two states seem to hold diametrically opposed views on free trade, especially NAFTA. It means both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have to do a little tap dancing on the issue. They stayed relatively silent on the deal while in Texas, but they both attack NAFTA outright when they're in front of Ohio audiences.
CLINTON: I do have a plan, not just to criticize NAFTA, but to change NAFTA, to improve NAFTA so it works for Ohio and America.
OBAMA: I believe all countries can prosper from globalization, but not if our trade agreements don't have strong labor standards, strong environmental standards so that U.S. workers aren't being undermined. NAFTA didn't have those things. And that's why I opposed NAFTA.
VELSHI: The Texas/Ohio split on free trade bears out nationally. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll taken last fall, Americans are almost evenly split on the benefits of foreign trade to the overall economy. And that's why both Clinton and Obama continue to advocate keeping the trade benefits of NAFTA while renegotiating things like labor laws and environmental standards to make it better.
Now, if you're a Republican, this doesn't play out the same way, particularly because the front-runner, John McCain, is very supportive of NAFTA. He says that the results have been measurable and they've been very good. So, if you're a Republican who doesn't like the idea of NAFTA, you're not faced with as many options.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: And Ali also found the economy, especially high gas prices, to be the major issue among the voters he has met there in Texas.
Well, the stakes couldn't be higher on the Democratic side in today's primaries. You can track the results as they come in, minute by minute, state by state, at CNNPolitics.com. Plus, analysis from the best political team -- the best political team.
All that and much, much more at CNNPolitics.com.
Now to some breaking news coming out of Las Vegas, and this is according to our affiliate KLAS in Las Vegas.
They're reporting at the Excalibur hotel a suspicious substance found. And there are hazmat units -- a hazmat team on the scene at the Excalibur hotel.
Again, this is being reported by our affiliate KLAS in Las Vegas. This is interesting because it is, but also because of the ricin that was found in a hotel room there last week. And the investigation going on with that, and also a man who is in a coma because of it.
Not exactly sure what that substance is, but KLAS, our affiliate there, reporting a suspicious substance found in the Excalibur hotel. A hazmat team on the scene.
We'll continue to check it out for you.
NGUYEN: In the meantime, Colombia is caught between a rock and a hard place. Rebels on one end, a menacing Venezuelan army on the other. But Colombia's president now has a public promise of support from President Bush.
Let's take you now to CNN's Kathleen Koch in Washington.
And I understand the president spoke with the Colombian president just a little while ago.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That he did. He spoke with President Alvaro Uribe this morning, and both -- and then, and then this afternoon, about an hour ago, President Bush offering a very important vote of support for Colombia. And the president in his remarks this afternoon praising Colombia for its fight against what he called narcoterrorists.
Now, the incident that you're referring to, Colombia has been facing much international criticism since it launched Saturday a cross-border raid against a guerrilla base in Ecuador, where it took out a top leader of FARC, the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia.
As a result, both Venezuela and Ecuador are promising to mobilize troops along the border, so President Bush this afternoon said that now would be a very important time to demonstrate support for the country of Colombia by passing a free trade agreement that has languished in Congress since 2006.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our country's message to President Uribe and the people of Colombia is that we stand with our Democratic ally. My message to the United States Congress is that this trade agreement is more than a matter of smart economics, it is a matter of national security.
If we fail to approve this agreement, we will let down our close ally, we will damage our credibility in the region, and we will embolden the demagogues in our hemisphere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Now, that is a clear reference to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Colombian President Uribe today has said that he is going to go before the International Criminal Court to seek the denunciation of Chavez for financing a terrorist group.
Uribe says that during that cross border raid on Saturday, that Colombia the military, they came across computers there at the rebel camp, that they found correspondence on them that indicated that Chavez had apparently given some $300 million to FARC. And, of course, as we all well know, both the United States and the European Union consider FARC to be a terrorist organization -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. But President Bush is also talking about the Middle East today. I know there was a visit between him and Jordan's King Abdullah.
KOCH: Indeed. And, of course, Jordan is one of the U.S.' staunchest allies in the region, and much of what they talked about certainly was the increased violence in the region that has led to a break in the peace talks.
But the president said that he was still very optimistic that both the Israelis and the Palestinians still had time to hammer out a peace agreement. The president said he acknowledged that, yes, this process is very often two steps forward, one step back. But the president he's got 10 months left in office, and he said that's "plenty of time to get a deal done" -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. Kathleen Koch joining us live from the White House.
Thank you, Kathleen.
KOCH: You bet.
LEMON: Ohio and Texas get most of the attention, but Vermont and Rhode Island are having their say, too, on this crucial Tuesday. The small states, the big stakes coming up.
NGUYEN: Plus, his and hers candidates. The husband for Obama, the wife for Clinton -- how are things in that household?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, along with Texas and Ohio, two New England states are holding primaries today, and CNN's Dan Lothian joins us live from Williston, Vermont, and our Deborah Feyerick is in Providence, Rhode Island.
Let's start with Dan.
Hey there, Dan. How are things shaping up where you are?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, things still going quite well here, according to the secretary of state's office. A lot of enthusiasm, strong voter turnout across the state, partly because of the tight race on the Democratic side, and also because of some of the strong feelings here about the war in Iraq.
As we talked to people out on the streets yesterday, and certainly folks here who are voting today, one of the key issues that's weighing on their minds is the war in Iraq. They are against it, and they're looking to elect a leader who will bring their troops back home, put an end to the war in Iraq -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. Dan Lothian joining us live.
Thank you, Dan.
LEMON: Now a small state with big stakes. Voters in Rhode Island know they really matter this time around.
Let's go straight to Providence and CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
Deborah, they really matter, huh?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed, they do. And as a matter of fact, Rhode Island actually printed up twice as many ballots and sent extra voting booths to different precincts.
When we first got here to this polling place, we weren't in this room. They actually had to move it because they had so many machines and then such an influx of voters that they set up in a much larger room. The machine that registers the number of people that have shown up, 900 at the last count, and that was just a couple of minutes ago.
Hillary Clinton has the backing of the Democratic establishment, Barack Obama has launched a very strong grassroots campaign, flooding the zone. He is tapping into the five colleges in this state and getting a lot of attention there.
We spoke to one man. He said that his son actually changed his mind, getting him to vote for Barack Obama. One woman said she was voting for Barack Obama, and she decided to go with Hillary Clinton because of what she saw as unfair criticism.
Chelsea Clinton in Providence right now. She's meeting with the union. The unions giving their support to Senator Clinton.
But right now, a steady stream of voters. Everybody making their way, seeing how this all plays out as the day wears on. -- Betty, Don.
LEMON: All right. Thank you very much for that, Deborah.
If you're a political junkie, CNNPolitics.com is the place for you. Check out our new interactive delegate counter game, where you can play real-time what-if scenarios with delegates and superdelegates. And you can see how today's primaries affect the race.
That and much, much more, at CNNPolitics.com.
More NEWSROOM in just a moment. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Take a look at this. There is snow in Jordan. Certainly not expected, and very out of the ordinary.
It has been a wild winter all around this grobe. And aside from the snow in the Middle East, there have been freak blizzards in China, record gains in the amount of ice in the Arctic.
So, what does this mean when it comes to global warming? I mean, is it over? Well, not exactly.
Many scientists say there are weather phenomena all over and there are changes to the climate. This season's weather, however, hasn't stopped a group of academics and scientists from getting together and telling anyone who will listen that climate change is the theory that never was.
Miles O'Brien continues our "Planet in Peril" series.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT: The Heartland is no place for a polar bear to take refuge. The Heartland Institute, that is.
DENNIS AVERY, SENIOR FELLOW, THE HUDSON INSTITUTE: Because this cycle is natural, because the wildlife has been through it before, we will not lose species to global warming.
O'BRIEN: The conservative think tank is staging a three-day summit for global warming skeptics in New York. The halls and conference rooms bristling with what amounts to scientific trash talks.
LORD CHRISTOPHER MONCKTON, THE SCIENCE AND PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Here is the graph that started the scare.
FRED SINGER, SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY PROJECT: A warmer climate is better than a colder climate. Something people tend to overlook.
O'BRIEN: That's Fred Singer, a superstar among the climate change skeptics here. The gist of his argument? Sure, the climate is changing and the ice is melting, but it's not our fault. And so we shouldn't do anything about it.
(on camera): You firmly believe it's natural, don't you?
SINGER: I do. And it's not a matter of belief. It's a matter of evidence. I go by data.
O'BRIEN: Where are you getting your data from?
SINGER: That's a good question. I get my data from the IPCC.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): You know the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.N. organization that distills the work of thousands of climate scientists all over the world and issues all those increasingly dire warnings about global warming and its likely link to our use of fossil fuels.
So how can the people here look at the same data and reach such a different conclusion?
JOSEPH BAST, PRESIDENT, HEARTLAND INST.: I think what we are is the junk science busters.
O'BRIEN: Joe Bast is president of Heartland. He says the public is skeptical about global warming. But a recent poll from Yale found the vast majority of Americans believe global warming is real and a serious threat.
(on camera): I can't help but think you're living on a different planet than I am.
BAST: I probably am. I think your planet is very small and very kind of echo chamber sort of thing.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): But Dan Fagin says this might be the echo chamber.
DAN FAGIN, NYU'S SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT REPORTING PROGRAM: I think at this point they're largely talking to each other.
O'BRIEN: Fagin teaches journalism and writes on the environment. He says skeptics have changed their tune as evidence started stacking up against them. A decade ago they denied global warming even existed.
FAGIN: They're getting closer to the scientific reality, although they're certainly not there yet. The only way that they could be right is if there was some kind of grand conspiracy.
O'BRIEN: But that is what Heartland desperately wants us to believe. Even the Flat Earth Society didn't fold its tents in 1493.
Miles O'Brien, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
LEMON: Let's go straight now to the newsroom. T.J. Holmes working details of a developing story.
Is it the one in Las Vegas, T.J.?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, this is out of Las Vegas, where once again we hear about investigators looking into a suspicious white powder at a hotel. This time we're talking about the Excalibur hotel and casino that's right there, smack dab on the Strip.
They were called in after a man woke up and found some white powder on the sheets in the bed he was sleeping in. Now, investigators were called in. We've got firefighters there, homeland security there checking out this hotel and this hotel room.
The Excalibur is not being evacuated. The man who found this stuff on his sheets, he is not showing any signs of illness at this point.
But certainly this was elevated to a new level maybe this time around because of what we just saw last week when ricin was found at a different hotel there in Las Vegas. And the man who was found with that ricin in the hospital right now, still said to be in a coma, still said to be in pretty bad shape.
That investigation still going on, but now here we have white powder, a suspicious white powder showing at a different hotel there in Las Vegas. So certainly they are taking this seriously.
Now, no reason right now to think this is anything dangerous. Even a theory investigators are putting out there is that this could simply be something, Don, some detergent, a little laundry detergent that's still stuck on the sheets there, and as simple as that, innocent as that.
But still, they want to take it seriously and check it out because of the incident we just had.
LEMON: Yes.
HOLMES: So, we're keeping an eye on it. Hopefully, all this -- we'll get the all-clear. But again, the hotel not being evacuated or anything like that, business as usual, people still throwing the dice and putting down the money and the chips and the cards on the table.
LEMON: Made me laugh. All right, T.J.
HOLMES: All right.
LEMON: Thank you very much for that.
HOLMES: All right.
LEMON: Four presidential hopefuls making a big push in one state, Texas. It's the crown jewel in today's contest. And it's a state where some voters can vote twice. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right, here we go, four states, four candidates, but no foregone conclusion, especially in the Democratic presidential race. Hillary Clinton needs big wins to break Barack Obama's winning streak. John McCain, well, he's looking to cement the Republican nomination though Mike Huckabee's still hanging in there. The big prizes today are Ohio and Texas.
And, you know, as they say, everything is bigger in Texas, including the voting. Yes, it's true. It may sound strange, but some voters will vote twice today.
Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider explains the Texas two-step.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Tex- Mex restaurants have these things called combination plates, where you get a little of this and a little of that. Same way Democrats pick delegates in Texas. PAUL BURKA, TEXAS MONTHLY: We have 126 by election, 67 by caucus, and 35 more are what they call PLEOs, which are party leaders and elected officials.
SCHNEIDER: The 37-page "menu" officially called the "Texas Delegate Selection Plan" explains how it works. First, there's a primary. The results are determined by state Senate districts. Simple? Not so much.
BURKA: The Senatorial districts do not all have the same number of delegates chosen. The ones with big Democratic turnouts get up to eight, and the small ones can be as low as two.
SCHNEIDER: Hillary Clinton is expected to do well in low turnout Latino districts. Those districts elect fewer delegates than high turnout African-American districts where Barack Obama is likely to be strong. But the primary is only the first step.
BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Texas is the only place in America where you can vote twice in the same election without going to jail.
SCHNEIDER: On primary night, voters are supposed to go to precinct caucuses where they can vote again to select more delegates.
BURKA: You vote in the primary, but then you have to have the motivation to go back at 7:15 to the site of the primary, where the -- your precinct election was held, and vote for your candidate, and it may be a long evening.
SCHNEIDER: Who runs the caucuses? The guide says if no precinct captain shows up, it's whoever gets there first. Imagine Clinton and Obama voters rushing to grab control. It's enough to give you the same thing you could get from a combination plate: heartburn.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And Bill joins us now live from New York. Bill, you know, I want to touch on something that you just mentioned. How is it that some votes in Texas don't just count once, but they count more than others, in fact?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, well, there are two ways that happens. One is that different districts get different numbers of delegates, as the gentleman I interviewed there explained. If you live in a district that has a lot of Democratic voters, then you will get more delegates. It's as simple as that. So, those votes count more than votes in places that don't have a high Democratic turnout.
The other thing is if you choose to go to a caucus tonight after the primary, you'll get to vote a second time. Two-thirds of the delegates in Texas for the Democratic convention are chosen by primary voters. And another third are chosen by the caucus participants. So, if you go to the caucus, you can vote again.
NGUYEN: Really? OK, you know, we're going to put up this new "Poll of Polls" that's out today, and when you look at the graphics here, Senator Clinton has pulled ahead slightly in both Ohio and Texas. There are the numbers there. How significant is this?
SCHNEIDER: Well, it does appear she has a lead, a small lead, single digits, but seven-point lead in Ohio, where she's been consistently ahead throughout the campaign. It's gotten closer, but she has maintained her lead. Notice that seven percent -- oh here it is in Texas, seven percent unsure and there, it really is neck and neck. Clinton, 47, Obama, 46. You simply can't call a race that is that close with seven percent on primary day still unsure.
NGUYEN: And that's why all eyes are on these primaries today.
All right, Bill Schneider joining us live from New York. Thank you, Bill.
SCHNEIDER: OK.
LEMON: What's that saying that T.O. does, get your popcorn, get your popcorn, everyone, this is going to be crazy.
Now, to a house divided by the Democratic battle for the White House. The well-known Reverend Marcia Dyson supports Hillary Clinton, her husband, Professor Michael Eric Dyson backs Barack Obama. So, how often do the sparks fly? Is it a house divided?
Professor Dyson joins me here in Atlanta. He says he's got the advantage because he's in studio and Reverend Dyson is in Austin, Texas and she joins us now. And you know what, I'm going to give the lady the first -- what's the Dyson -- I want to know, what does has the Dyson household been like for the past couple of months?
REV. MARCIA DYSON, CLINTON SUPPORTER: You said a house divided. All I can say is the roof is on fire.
PROF. MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, OBAMA SUPPORTER: Yes, we don't care, let it burn.
LEMON: Oh.
M. DYSON: He's been very passionate about our selected candidates, and I stand firm with Senator Clinton. I stand firm with her because she is an excellent individual, who has demonstrated herself, not just, say, by the word experience but just by being observant, really of the community whether it was Arkansas or Washington, D.C., and surely as an elected official in the United States Senate.
And I think that she has proven herself. She has millions of people who have benefited from her programs, whether it was the State Health Insurance Program for Children and Head Start program, so they don't really even know that she was the author of those particular programs.
LEMON: OK, OK, Reverend Dyson, and I'm going to let you get it, I'm going to let you get in here. M.E. DYSON: Yes, thank you, I hope so.
LEMON: But hang on ...
M.E. DYSON: Sometime this program.
LEMON: ...I'm going to let you, I want to ask her something, I want to ask her something real quickly.
M. DYSON: Sure.
LEMON: As an African-American woman, going to the polling places, you had to have been -- were you torn, did you feel like, oh, maybe I should go one way, maybe I should go the other way. Were you torn by this?
M. DYSON: Surely I was. I mean, I come from the city of Chicago, as I wrote in Roots.com today, everything they have likened it, I did it. But you know, like a 92-year-old woman who informed a lot of young people today said, I had to put the African-American aside and the woman aside and looked at the woman who has been on the rough side of the mountain, have been tried and proven that she can do some stuff and stand and going today, that's my girl. So, yes.
LEMON: OK, all right, all right, so now obviously, Barack Obama is your guy.
M.E. DYSON: Right.
LEMON: Right, OK? So, we've let her talk.
M.E. DYSON: Right.
LEMON: Now you -- why?
M.E. DYSON: Well, that's obviously, to coin a phrase ...
LEMON: And is there going to be a marriage after this, that what I want to know?
M.E. DYSON: To coin a phrase, that's rhetoric and that's a bunch of hot air. And it's ...
M. DYSON: You use a lot so float on.
M. E. DYSON: -- Hot air fills balloons and fly planes, but it doesn't get you into the White House.
LEMON: That's your wife, man.
M.E. DYSON: My wife used to tell her son, bring home a wife who looks like your mother. I say to her, bring home a president that looks like your son. Here's the important point, but it's not about race, I'm not talking about looks in terms of pigment, I'm talking about in terms of integrity, intelligence, inspiration and the ability to hope. Barack Obama is about the future. Hillary Clinton is a formidable candidate; highly intelligent, quite capable and able to express herself. But I think that Barack Obama brings a new sense of real connection to the people.
She's running a campaign. He's running for history. He's running for a destiny. You can feel that people are galvanized by his extraordinary outpouring of vision that then translates into political destiny for America.
LEMON: I am hearing the reverend gasp here.
M. E. DYSON: Well wait a minute, she's been gasping -- she had a long time. Let me finish up here.
LEMON: OK. Let me ask you this. All right. There was a study -- recent study saying that Barack Obama got most of the news coverage.
M.E. DYSON: Right.
LEMON: Hillary got a lot of it, but Barack Obama got most of the news coverage and of course there's this sense out there that the media is going light on Barack Obama and not as hard as they should. And Hillary Clinton is getting the tough questions.
M.E. DYSON: I feel a good cry coming on. Look, what's interesting is that Barack Obama -- when you're the person in the lead, of course, all the other dogs are barking at you. So Barack Obama necessarily and automatically because he's the lead dog is being hollered at.
When Hillary Clinton was in the lead, I didn't hear any complaints then when most of the media was slanted to her. She was considered to be inevitable and formidable and now that she's not inevitable --
LEMON: Dr. Dyson -- Dr. Dyson, she's trying to get in.
M. DYSON: Sure. We didn't make the polls up. That's a media phenomena. Let me tell you about the hot air balloon. Hillary Clinton has always been solid. So you're going to see her on the ground with the people. She's not floating by hope, she's staying solid on the ground by doing help.
And as far an the old-school things, let's see, closed-door meetings, conversations with NAFTA. Sounds like an old regime to me and I'm coming -- she's making -- she's making some "herstory." And nothing is wrong with that and it's nothing wrong with that.
M.E. DYSON: OK. But let me respond to that. You know what, hope means this, H-O-P-E means hands-on personal experience. So our hopefulness is not something out in the air, it's down here on the ground as Wes Montgomery (ph) said.
And let me tell you this also, that meeting with NAFTA, as Mr. Obama said, was the same thing he said on the road, we want to reconsider the possibility of trade with Canada and other places. It's not that we're dissing them. We want to renegotiate that. That's what he said. It's been consistent so we're ...
M. DYSON: Let's take, you know ...
LEMON: I have to be the moderator here, and I hate to jump in.
M. DYSON: Thank you.
LEMON: I'm glad ...
M.E. DYSON: Are you available tonight at 6:00?
LEMON: All right.
(LAUGHTER)
M.E. DYSON: Because I need barbecue, brother, and she wants salmon.
LEMON: OK. For a small, nominal fee, I'll come. (INAUDIBLE)
M.E. DYSON: Right, right.
LEMON: We've got to go.
Listen, I got to ask you real quick. He's not experienced enough, how do you answer that? Give me -- if you can give me five seconds.
M.E. DYSON: It's not the kind of -- it's the kind of experience you have. Of course he's experienced enough, he's experienced in the right things. George Bush was experienced but in the wrong things. John Kennedy wasn't experienced but he changed the country, so did Abraham Lincoln. He's got the experience.
LEMON: And Reverend Dyson, she's the same thing, same old politics.
M. DYSON: Absolutely, positively not. She's the woman on the scene which is making the agitation (ph) and exoticism of this whole campaign -- is it about a black man and a woman being on the scene and not three white men.
LEMON: OK. Hard wrap -- I've got a hard wrap in my ear. Take a breath guys.
M.E. DYSON: Right. Right. Enough of Clintons, let's get a new man.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Hey, thanks -- thanks to both of you. Thanks to you reverend ...
M. DYSON: You're welcome.
LEMON: And thanks to you doctor.
M.E. DYSON: Thank you, sir.
LEMON: All right. It was fantastic. I told you to get your popcorn it was going to be heated here.
Are you voting in one of the four primary states today? After doing your duty, how about this, go to CNN.com and click on i-Report, or type i-Report@CNN.com right into your cell phone and share your primary day photos or your video. Then keep watching, you can see your i-Report right here, in the CNN NEWSROOM.
NGUYEN: Really, catch your breath, because you might need it.
Look at the markets today, we've been watching this and it is another down day. The Dow down 154 points. We're going to have a check of all of this coming up with CNN's Susan Lisovicz, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: OK, so, it's a unique lottery. The winner receives a coveted prize, and that is free health care. That's right, Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange to tell us about this.
But first, of course, you're going to get a check of the markets, and they are not looking so great today, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, that's right, Betty.
I'm wearing pink, the market is wearing red again. Another ugly day for stocks here. Once again, financial stocks in the crosshairs. Shares of Citigroup right not, tumbling five-and-a-half percent, hitting a new 52-week low for the banking giant that has been battered by the mortgage mess.
Merrill Lynch, which knows quite well itself about the credit crunch, slashed its earnings estimates on Citi and a big Middle Eastern investor says Citi will need more cash, even more than the $22 billion in capital it has raised recently to weather the credit crunch.
Here's how it's playing out on Wall Street. With less than an hour and a half to go in the session, the Dow is down 165 points. It was down 226 at the low. The NASDAQ Composite, meanwhile, down 27 points or one-and-a-quarter percent.
Among the wider economic problems in the country, and a big topic on the campaign trail, is the ever-rising cost of health care, putting it out of reach for a lot of people. That's why more than 76,000 people in Oregon have entered into a unique lottery for health insurance run by the state. Only 3,000 people will be selected in Oregon alone. Nearly 600,000 people are without health insurance -- Betty. NGUYEN: Wow.
LISOVICZ: It's one of the reasons why everybody is talking about it.
NGUYEN: Yes, exactly. And just so that we get this straight. Anyone without health insurance can enter this lottery?
LISOVICZ: Not exactly, Betty. It's for people who can't afford insurance on their own, but make enough money that they don't qualify for Medicaid. The "Associated Press" points to someone like Shirley Krueger, a 61-year-old diabetic who signed up on the first day.
She says she hasn't been able to afford insulin for six months. Her part-time job makes her ineligible for her employer's health care insurance. She says this lottery gives her hope, and we certainly wish Shirley well.
Coming up, we'll keep an on eye on what continues to be a volatile stock market. And it's coming back a little bit, though, I mean -- 226, it's down -- almost pared about 100 points there so. I've got to look at in that way. It could be an attempted rally going on, Betty. Back to you.
NGUYEN: I cringe every time I look at the portfolio. Not another down day.
LISOVICZ: You are not retiring for a long time. You've got ...
NGUYEN: I know, but still, you don't want to see your money just going out the window. Thank you, Susan.
LISOVICZ: Your welcome.
LEMON: All right. We want to get back to our breaking news in Las Vegas. T.J. Holmes has some new information for us.
What do you have for us, T.J.?
HOLMES: The search is still going on right now, out at the Excalibur. And again, this is kind of alarming because we've seen this -- the second time in the past couple of days really that we had a white powder scare out in Las Vegas.
But what's happening right now is a white powder was found in the hotel room of the Excalibur, you're see there, right there, on the Las Vegas strip. A man was sleeping in his room, woke up and saw white powder on his sheets.
He, of course, called the authorities and now Homeland Security, firefighters are checking this out. Hazmat crew is on the scene trying to figure out what this powder is. Right now, the man is showing no signs of illness, no signs of being sick, or anything like that. So that's a good sign.
Also, the Excalibur is not being evacuated or anything like that at this point. Of course, Don, this sets off some alarms because just last week we saw ricin was found in another hotel room there in another hotel in Vegas, Don. And that man still in really bad shape, critical condition at the hospital.
So, because of that they are certainly taking all precautions right now. But -- no indication right now that this is anything dangerous, but just taking precautions. So we're waiting on word and hopefully we'll get the all-clear.
LEMON: Better safe than sorry, right?
HOLMES: All right. Always.
LEMON: Thank you, sir.
HOLMES: All right.
NGUYEN: OK, so wind, rain, ice. Will rough weather put voter turnout on the skids?
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brooke Anderson in New York. As the Democratic candidates battle through the primaries, both sides are looking for help from some famous faces. I'm going to tell you which celebrities are trying to have an impact on the primaries, next in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Both Democratic presidential candidates have tried to use some star power to give them an edge in today's primaries. CNN's entertainment correspondent, Brooke Anderson, is here to tell us just how celebrities have figured into these campaigns.
And, Brooke, how are famous faces trying to have an impact on the campaign trail? And there's a lot of them.
ANDERSON: There are a lot of them, Don.
They are out on the campaign trail stumping for their favorite candidate. And as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama slug it out, both are using their entertainment connections to try to gain the advantage, get the advantage here.
I want you to take a look at Clinton. She had a couple of buzz- worthy public appearances in the last few days on late-night comedy shows. On "Saturday Night Live" she showed that she could hit a punch line and then those clips were re-played all over the place.
Now, the same thing is happening her appearance last night on the "Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. She loosened up, she reached a younger audience. And with these shows she doesn't have to face the tough questions. It is a tactic that the Clintons have used to their advantage before.
You might remember Bill Clinton got a huge boost from his appearance on the "Arsenio Hall Show" when he was running for president. Clinton played his saxophone, showed some personality. Don, it was a breakthrough moment for him as a candidate.
LEMON: It was. And I think there was -- MTV there was one he said he kind of regretted. Remember the question he got ...
ANDERSON: Yes.
LEMON: ...Boxers or briefs. And he goes, I wish I'd never answered that question.
ANDERSON: I know. But with the saxophone, he always showed that he did have a little rhythm and voters loved that.
LEMON: That's -- I won't say that.
OK. Of course, in this campaign, there are a lot of celebrities that are speaking out for the candidates that they support, right?
ANDERSON: There certainly are. And now a somewhat reclusive celebrity, Don, has weighed in with his own Hillary Clinton commercial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, TV HOST: Tomorrow is perhaps one of the most important days of your life. And yet you have chosen to spend the night before talking to me.
Senator, as a host, I'm delighted. As a citizen, frightened. Your response?
(SINGING)
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Obama! Obama!
JESSICA ALBA, ACTRESS: I would like to see a cleaner Earth for my child that I'm bringing into the world very soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
RYAN PHILLIPPE, ACTOR: I think it's time for change. I want a better future for ...
REGINA KING, ACTRESS: I would like ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: OK, that video wasn't the one I actually wanted to show you first. But that was from producer Will.I.Am from the Black- Eyed Peas. That is his second celebrity-filled video supporting Barack Obama. It features, as you saw, a roster of celebrities, including Jessica Alba, George Lopez, Ryan Phillippe and Marc Anthony.
And now if we can take a look at that video supporting Hillary Clinton from none other than Jack Nicholson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JACK NICHOLSON, ACTOR: There's nothing on this Earth sexier, believe me, gentlemen, than a woman that you have to salute in the morning.
I'm Jack Nicholson and approve this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: All right, there we had it. Jack Nicholson and his pal Rob Reiner put that video together with film clips from some of Jack's more famous roles, Don. Jack has always been a ladies' man, hasn't he?
LEMON: He certainly has. That's -- it's been a lot of stuff and it was kind of -- it could have been a "Daily Show" comedy of errors trying to get all of your things together here.
ANDERSON: I know. Sorry about that.
LEMON: That's all right. That's all right. So listen, what do you have coming up tonight?
ANDERSON: Coming up tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," Don, we're talking about Hollywood's bad boys and bad girls. You know, why do the girls get so much attention when they do something wrong, but the bad boys, well, they seem to get a pass sometimes. Is there a ridiculous double standard? A special report. TV's most provocative entertainment news show, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.
LEMON: Is there a double standard?
ANDERSON: Of course, there is. Always been a double standard, celebrity world or not.
NGUYEN: Easy for you to say, Don.
LEMON: I'm talking about the celebrity world, I'm not going to the other place.
NGUYEN: There's two of us here can gang up on you.
LEMON: Thank you very much. Thanks Brooke, good to see you.
NGUYEN: We will move on to this, because they are mobilized, they are politically passionate, but will Latino voters end up being a swing vote in today's presidential primaries? We're going to take a closer look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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