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American Morning
Crucial Tuesday: What's at Stake in Texas; Polls in Rhode Island Already Open; Extreme Weather May Affect Voter Turnout
Aired March 04, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Extreme weather wild card. The wintry mix that could put voters on ice. Plus, crisis management. The Secretary of State arrives in the Mideast overnight. Can she rescue the peace talks on this AMERICAN MORNING?
And good morning to you. Thanks very much for being with us on this Tuesday, March the 4th. I'm John Roberts.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho. Kiran Chetry has the morning off. And we should mention that at this hour, polls are opening in Rhode Island today. A big day in politics.
ROBERTS: Opening in Vermont as well, but not across the state. Vermont is very complicated. It's a complicated place. You got a lot of polls opening this hour. Some are open until 8:00. Some are open until 9:00, and some wait until 10:00 to go in Vermont. But everybody will get their chance today.
It is a day that could decide whether Hillary Clinton should and could stay in the race. Both sides know it. Four states are up for grabs. Two of them critical. Texas and Ohio. The first polls are open in Ohio along with Vermont and Rhode Island now. Texas follows less than an hour from now.
A record number of voters have already filed early ballots there. As many as 60 percent of eligible voters already cast their ballots in the early voting; 370 delegates up for grabs for the Democrats. The big prizes are Ohio and Texas. Both states are being called must-wins for Hillary Clinton. Texas Democrats award their delegates based on a combination of primary voting and then a caucus that takes place later on today after the primary is closed. For the Republicans, there are 256 delegates at stake. John McCain needs 144 to clinch the nomination.
We have got the best political team on television at the ready across the country in Texas. Jessica Yellin is in San Antonio. Ed Lavandera at a polling site in Dallas. Ali Velshi with the Election Express in Bandera, Texas. Today, our Jim Acosta is live in Cleveland. And Deb Feyerick in Providence, Rhode Island, where polls just opened there.
Let's start in Texas. It's a toss up right now for the Democrats. Barack Obama got in one last town hall meeting in Carrollton, Texas, last night. And tonight, he's going to watch the returns in San Antonio. Hillary Clinton made her final pitch to Texas voters with support from "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria in Austin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For me, this election comes down to everybody deciding who they'd hire to do this job. Because that's really what it comes down to. Who you want in the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: CNN's Jessica Yellin is live in San Antonio, the home of the Alamo for us this morning. And, Jessica, Hillary Clinton very defiant in her campaign appearances. But is there any question that this is, and not to try to pull an Alamo metaphor here, but a last stand for her?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, John, this really is make or break for Senator Clinton. Her advisers are telling reporters, look, they expect her to win both Ohio and Texas, these two huge states. And that, they say, would level this playing field, bring her closer in the convention delegates count, and let this race go on neck and neck to the finish. But, when you ask, if she loses Ohio and/or Texas, what then? They say, well, then, we're going to have to rethink things out Wednesday morning.
So it is clear on all sides, no matter what Senator Clinton is saying publicly, that they all know that if she does not win these two big states, she is going to have to think hard and long about whether it's not time for her to get out of the race.
ROBERTS: The Clinton campaign, the senator herself has been hitting Barack Obama very hard in the last couple of days in this idea one of his advisers having a wink and a nod meeting over NAFTA with Canadian officials in Chicago. Also, more stories about his relationship with Tony Rezko. And has he fully explained what went on there? What kind of effect is that having on Barack Obama there in Texas?
YELLIN: Well, it's having the effect of taking him off message. Barack Obama has had this wonderful experience for him of going into all these past primaries, being able to define his own message on Election Day. So his campaign is all about change and hope as his key themes. But instead, in these days leading up to this crucial test for him, he's had to respond to these negative stories. And it's taken him out of the comfort zone that he on his campaign, no doubt, would like to be in. It's unclear how much these stories, though, resonate with voters.
ROBERTS: Yes. But certainly there's a lot of muck being thrown about from both the Clinton campaign and the Obama campaign, at the same time that John McCain is out there in press conferences talking about substantive issues like Israel, Russia, other stories like that, to Venezuela and what's going on in the border with Colombia. Are we seeing the Democrats kind of taken the whole party off message here with these attacks back and forth while John McCain is setting the stage for a national campaign? YELLIN: Well, there is talk among senior Democrats that they could be concerned about in-fighting in the party down if this continues for much longer. But look, even Rush Limbaugh said recently yesterday that he would like the Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton to keep this fight going because they want to see Barack Obama bloodied going into a nomination if he is to be the nominee. So clearly, Rush Limbaugh thinks this is bad for the Democratic Party. No suggestion yet that Democrats are ready to step in and tell anybody to step out of this race.
ROBERTS: It's funny because at the same time he thinks John McCain is bad for the Republican Party.
YELLIN: It doesn't make him happy.
ROBERTS: All right. Jessica Yellin for us this morning. Jessica in San Antonio, thanks -- Alina.
CHO: As we mentioned at the top of the hour, polls have just opened in Rhode Island. The excitement is so high there that election officials have printed twice as many primary ballots. They've even set up extra voting booths. The polls will stay open until 9:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. Twenty-one delegates are at stake for the Democrats, 17 for the Republicans.
CNN's Deb Feyerick live for us in Rhode Island this morning. Deb, not a lot of delegates at stake there. But at least on the Democratic side, every single delegate counts. So what can we expect in Rhode Island today?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What we can tell you is there is a lot of excitement. Already about two dozen voters have shown up at this particular polling place in Providence, Rhode Island. And Rhode Island is just not used to getting all this attention. Usually, it's over by this time. But we can see that the delegates, especially the Democratic candidates, are fighting for each and every single vote.
This morning in under an hour, I saw three ads for Barack Obama on one news station, three for Hillary Clinton. And that shows just how important these particular votes, these particular delegates will be in the ultimate race.
Now, this is considered Hillary Clinton country. It's a heavy Catholic population. About 60 percent of everyone here are Catholic. Also, you've got a lot of blue-collar and union workers. Still, she has had to fight for this particular state. And the overriding issue here, it's not abortion. It's not stem cell research. It is ending the war in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK COULOMBE, CLINTON SUPPORTER: I think she has the experience. I think her being in the office eight years with her husband is going to be a key thing for her. GARY MARTINELLI, OBAMA SUPPORTER: I want to see things happen more for the working people. Health care, education, some of the major things that I think in our society are really a problem right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: And, Alina, you can see this is one of the sample ballots here. And the thing about Rhode Island is they have a lot of unaffiliated voters. And so, those unaffiliated voters can vote either Democrat or Republican. And that is likely to factor in in today's outcome -- Alina.
CHO: It wasn't complicated enough. All right. Deb Feyerick live for us in Rhode Island this morning. Deb, thanks.
And stay with CNN for the best coverage of the critical primaries. We're going to have up to the minute results from Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont on CNN's "ELECTION CENTER." That's starting at 7:00 Eastern tonight. And set the alarm for a special early edition of AMERICAN MORNING beginning at 5:00 a.m. Eastern, with the final numbers and analysis from the best political team on television.
We're going to go live now to some pictures out of Vermont at a polling station there in Williston where people are starting to trickle in. Guess what? The polls are open.
ROBERTS: Finally. We got it right. They're open.
CHO: Yes. They officially opened at 6:00 a.m., but none of the polling stations in Vermont decided to open. I guess they know that people aren't going to wake up that early. But they are starting to open now. They can open as late as 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. And as you can see, already at this early hour, people are heading to the polls.
ROBERTS: Now, if you want to know just how confusing this whole thing is, right? We're talking about when the polls open and we got it wrong. We thought they were opening at 6:00, but they weren't. Look at this. This is in the "Rutland Herald," six pages to tell you when and where the polls are open here in Vermont, six pages. Because some open -- they all have the option of opening at 6:00. Some open at 7:00. Some open at 8:00. Some at 9:00. Some at 10:00.
CHO: So go on that Web site or just head to the polling station and wait until it opens. 10:00 a.m.
ROBERTS: Six pages in the "Rutland Herald" today.
And the big Texas primary today. Our Ali Velshi is winding down his tour of Texas. He has been traveling around the state on the CNN Election Express, talking to voters about the economy, about the possibility that we're in a recession as well.
Today, Ali is in Bandera, Texas. The hat is back. Ali is outside. Good to see you, bud.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, too, John. The hat is back because it's cold. We're in Bandera. This is the last stop on our Election Express. We've been riding the roads of Texas for about 10 days now, talking to people about the things you'd think that they'd be talking about -- recession, inflation, price of gas.
We spoke to one woman yesterday who owns a fast food restaurant in Junction, just as you get into west Texas. She was saying the combination of high gas prices, and the fact that corn has gone up, is causing her soft drinks to get more expensive. Listen to what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CATHERINE DOLFUSS, TEXAS RESTAURANT OWNER: It's affecting us tremendously in all aspects, not only in the food but in sodas. All the soda companies are raising our soda prices and your to-go boxes, the Styrofoam and the cups and the straws and the napkins. All of that is also getting raised because that also has to be delivered out here by trucks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now, we spoke to a lot of people concerned about inflation, concerned about the economy, mortgages, home crisis. But we had one gentleman tell us that while some of that may be true, he feels that those of us in the media are exacerbating it. They were making it worse. Listen to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK CLAUSEN, TEXAS ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR: A lot of it, I think, is somewhat media-driven. Every media outlet -- now, I'm not picking on you all. But every media outlet overemphasizes some things. You know, the headlines are 200-plus percent increase in mortgage foreclosures, and the real headline should be the mortgage foreclosure rate went from a quarter percent to half a percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The one thing we've seen across this trip, John, is the fact that Texans are very engaged in this election. They've got strong opinions on it. You mentioned that there's been heavy advanced voter turnout. That's the same thing here in Bandera County. We're going to following that very closely through the course of it, talking to people, getting a sense of what helped them make their decision about who they're voting for. And we'll be here all the way through the results coming in -- John.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it. Could be a long day there in Texas. Ali Velshi for us this morning. Ali, thanks.
CHO: Ten minutes after the hour. Veronica de la Cruz here with other stories making news this morning. Hey, Veronica, good morning. VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you, Alina and John. And good morning to all of you out there.
We begin this morning with the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East briefing the Senate today. Admiral William Fallon expected to tell the Armed Services Committee that security in Iraq has improved significantly, but those gains are not irreversible and violent extremism remains a threat to Iraq's government.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice back in the Middle East trying to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. She's meeting with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank this morning, and later with Israel's foreign minister in Jerusalem. Speaking in Cairo earlier, Rice blamed Hamas militants for provoking an Israeli military offensive in Gaza that killed more than a hundred Palestinians.
Well, faster airport screenings could soon be a reality. Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff has ordered a review of the whole security screening system at airports. Chertoff told "USA Today," the plan is to make "significant changes to remove some of the burden over the next 30 to 45 days." He also wants crews and passengers of private jets to provide their names, birth dates and other information before take off, so they can be checked against terrorist watch lists.
Well, if you have some gift cards laying around, you may want to use them before it's too late. Sharper Image, which recently filed for bankruptcy, becoming the latest company to no longer honor those cards. It's typical for businesses reorganizing under chapter 11. Analysts warn as more businesses file for bankruptcy, shoppers with unused gift cards stand to lose $75 million.
And check this out. All caught on tape. A police officer mowed down by a drunk driver. Take a look. It happened outside Cleveland. Another driver sideswipes his cruiser then hits him during a traffic stop.
Luckily, the officer escaped with just a few cuts and bruises. He was able to get up. He chased down the driver on foot. Police say the 21-year-old suspect had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit.
And finally, one of the most popular stories on CNN.com right now, a NASA spacecraft catches a first-ever snapshot of an avalanche on Mars. You can see ice and dust falling, and a giant dust cloud settling at the base of the 2,300-foot rock wall. I mean, take a look at this. Just one of the 2,400 high-resolution shots that NASA is releasing today. The Mars orbiter was taking pictures of seasonal changes on Mars when it happened to snap this avalanche in action.
Again, you can get the complete details online at CNN.com. I'm going to send it back to John and Alina. An incredible picture.
ROBERTS: Fascinating stuff.
CHO: Yes.
DE LA CRUZ: Of course, you can find it online at CNN.com on the most popular stories right now.
CHO: All right, Veronica, thanks.
Coming up, weather may affect voter turnout in three states today. We're tracking all the extreme weather and what you need to know before you head to the polls.
And a German pilot making national headlines after avoiding a near disaster during a weekend storm. Your I-Reports of the amazing landing. That's coming up.
And as we head to break, a live look at voters casting ballots in Cleveland, Ohio, today. The weather could be a factor today. It is Super Tuesday, part two. Coverage of the best political team on TV. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Pictures this morning inside a polling place in Williston, Vermont, where voting started about 17 minutes ago. Staggered poll openings there in Vermont today depending on where you live. Check your local newspaper because some of them are open already. Some actually don't open until 10:00 this morning.
Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." Nasty winter weather may affect voter turnout in Vermont, Texas and Ohio. We've got a shot from Cleveland there, and you could see the streets are wet. It looks like rain just at the moment, but there's potentially either some freezing rain, sleet or snow packed into those clouds as they're breezing through there.
And in Texas, the area around Dallas is under a highly unusual snow alert. CNN's Reynolds Wolf is live in Cleveland for us this morning, and AMERICAN MORNING's Rob Marciano in Atlanta tracking extreme weather in other parts of the country.
Let's start with Rob. He is at the weather update desk, and he's tracking extreme weather down in the south that looked like it spawned a couple of tornadoes, and also the bad weather heading all the way up through the Ohio Valley. Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's a huge storm, John. Good morning to you. We'll start with you off with what's happening across parts of Ohio. Again, you mention, we'll probably going to see some ice across the northern, really quarter of the state, I would say; 31, 32 degrees right now in Cleveland. It's 34 degrees in Dayton. And you go south in there, and you're into the warm air.
So not only is there a wintry mix with this, but also tremendous amount of precip in the form of some flooding. New England, including Vermont, will get the wintry precip, also. But south of where the frozen stuff is, it will be very, very wet. Anywhere from one to three inches will fall out of those clouds. And so, flash flood watches and warnings have been posted.
All right. Let's talk about the severe weather that rolled through just to the south of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, right there. We had a possible tornado that touched down last night around 11:00. Fourteen reports of injuries, mostly minor down that way. Now, all of this is moving off towards the east at about -- well, crawling actually right now. But we have tornado watches that are posted for parts of Georgia, Alabama and the Florida panhandle.
The actual low pressure is right through here. Look at all the snow falling across Arkansas. That will be moving up into St. Louis as well. This is what dropped an inch of snow in Dallas, Texas, yesterday. So that's certainly unusual. A matter of fact, that broke a record set almost a hundred years ago. St. Louis, Missouri, will see upwards of four to eight inches of snowfall today.
Again, Camp Shelby, John, in Forest County, Mississippi, just about 80 miles northwest of Mobile, Alabama, is where those barracks were torn up by a potential tornado last night, and reports of 14 being moved to area hospitals for minor injuries there. Back up to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Rob Marciano for us this morning. And, Rob, of course, will keep tracking the weather all morning because it's a very important story in this big Super Tuesday junior.
And let's turn now to Reynolds Wolf. He's live in Cleveland. What's it looking like on the ground there at this point, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, at this point, John, we're just getting a lot of wind, occasional raindrop and occasional snowflake. Just kind of a nasty morning here in Cleveland. Let me give you just a quick showings around.
We're right now in Public Square in downtown Cleveland. Over here, your see the Old Stone Church. And as you come back through the park and on this side of me, you can see that here is the old terminal building over here on this side. Skies have been gray all morning. They're expecting more of the same, and the wind has just been sweeping right and off the lake.
What's interesting is Cleveland, even though it was founded on a warm summer day in July 22nd of 1796, this city has been associated with a lot of rough winter weather. And today, we have a winter weather advisory that will remain in effect through the evening. And what we do anticipate is again, the combination of the rain, sleet, snow. Pardon me, there will be a little break in the hour in the action by midday.
And then into the afternoon, we do see a little bit more moisture coming back in. Some of that in the form of some snow. Some of it freezing rain. We could see about an inch or so of total accumulation. And there is that possibility we could get some glazing of ice on the roadways, especially places like bridges, overpasses, could be especially susceptible. But for the time being, people are still moving around. No major issues here in the city. We've spoken to a few people. And to them, this is nothing more than just a hiccup. I mean, this is Cleveland, part of the snowbelt. This is the kind of weather that they have and used to this time of year. Back to you.
ROBERTS: Still may be an idea to get out and vote early if you're going to go out today.
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Reynolds Wolf for us -- Reynolds Wolf for us this morning out there in Cleveland. Reynolds, thanks -- Alina.
CHO: Well, the video is absolutely amazing. A German pilot maneuvering out of a dangerous crosswind while landing. We're going to hear from a passenger aboard that flight. That's coming up.
And a lot at stake in Texas today. Voters there know it. More than half the ballots amazingly have already been cast in early voting. We're going to check in with radio host Tom Joyner to see what he's hearing from his listeners ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Well, we first showed you the incredible video yesterday. Take a look at this. Gusty winds overtook a plane attempting to land in Hamburg, Germany. The pilot of Lufthansa Flight 44 did an amazing job of stabilizing the aircraft and saving the more than 130 passengers on board. I-Reporter David Gering from Wisconsin was on that plane. David sent in a photo of the left wing after it grazed the runway. Look at that. And he describes what it was like to witness the incident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF: DAVID GERING, LUFTHANSA FLIGHT 44 PASSENGER: 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.
When that pilot turned that plane from angled 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 engine.
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 the second time heading into the wind, everyone cheered and applauded.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: That's what we like to call a harrowing ordeal. David, by the way, was traveling on business. He made it to Munich. And stay with us because at 8:45 Eastern time and a little more than an hour, we're going to talk to David live. That's at 8:45 Eastern. By the way, the airline says the pilot performed an "absolutely professional maneuver" -- John.
ROBERTS: It's amazing. That's a tough crosswind landing.
CHO: Oh, those pictures are incredible.
ROBERTS: There was a lot of wind blowing.
CHO: Oh, yes.
ROBERTS: My goodness.
You're watching the "Most Politics in the Morning." How will an 11th hour memo about the North American Free Trade Agreement affect the race today?
And a record turnout in Texas, even before the polls open today. What early voters are saying and what radio host Tom Joyner is hearing from his listeners. We'll have that for you when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Pictures this morning of downtown Cleveland on the lake there where it's 31 degrees. Some light snow is falling. The windchill makes you feel like it's 19 degrees right now, and the weather expected to go downhill from there. You can see that there's still a little bit of clear sky there along with those clouds. Well, it's supposed to be pure clouds a little bit later on. So it might be a good idea to get out there and vote early in the state of Ohio.
CHO: That's right.
ROBERTS: Tuesday, the 4th of March, junior super Tuesday. Welcome back, I'm John Roberts.
CHO: Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho. Kiran has the morning off. And the polls are open in Vermont, Ohio, Rhode Island, everywhere but Texas.
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, less than 30 minutes from now they will be open in the critical state of Texas where there are an awful lot of delegates at stake there. 370 delegates at stake in total for the Democrats today with Ohio and Texas being the biggest prizes. In Texas, voters can cast ballots in the primary. And then if they haven't had enough politics, they can go attend a caucus after the polls close. Democrats award their pledged presidential delegates based on a combination of the two in what's known as the Texas two- step. Two-thirds are allocated in the primary, and another third in the caucus. And then it's proportional allocation as well. So it's going to be a very close race there, according to the latest polls.
For the Republicans, a total of 256 delegates are at stake today. John McCain needs just 144 more to clinch the nomination. The latest dust up between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is over NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Voters in Ohio say it's costing them good jobs. Senator Clinton is raising questions about Obama's position on NAFTA based on an Associated Press report saying he's telling voters what they want to hear and not what he believes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It raises questions about Senator Obama coming to Ohio and giving speeches against NAFTA and having his chief economic adviser tell the Canadian government that it was just political rhetoric. You know, I don't think people should come to Ohio and tell the people of Ohio one thing and then have your campaign tell a foreign government something else behind closed doors.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have said repeatedly that I believe that NAFTA needs to be modified. This is not a new position of mine. It is a position that dates back many years. During my U.S. senate campaign, I was criticized for taking this position by the "Chicago Tribune." It's been well recorded. It hasn't altered. That stands in contrast to Senator Clinton's position on this issue which has altered substantially.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The Associated Press obtained the memo from a Canadian diplomat in Chicago saying Obama's opposition to NAFTA was more about politics than policy. The Obama campaign says the memo is inaccurate. That brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. We're asking what should be done about NAFTA? 30 percent of you think it should be renegotiated. 60 percent want to get rid of it all together. And 9 percent say leave it alone. Again, not a scientific poll, just our "Quick Vote" question. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll continue to tally the votes throughout the morning. Alina.
CHO: Interesting results. Well, Texas primary voters are turning out in record numbers even though the polls don't open there for another half hour. An amazing 60 percent of registered voters, that's two million people, have already cast early ballots. CNN's Ed Lavandera live in Dallas with more on the early voter turnout. Hey, Ed. Good morning.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alina. We're here at the Mark Twain Elementary School. The poll workers have shown up, they're starting to do the initial preparations to start welcoming people here to vote this morning. As you mentioned, in about half an hour, and you most of the time, Texas voters are used to seeing the candidates already picked by the time it reaches the Texas primary. So people here are getting used to all of this attention, and many people are trying to figure out just who are these voters that have voted early?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OBAMA: How's it going Texas?
LAVANDERA (voice-over): It's been more than 30 years since Texans have received this much love from presidential candidates.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: God bless you, lub bach (ph).
CLINTON: I'm proud to be part of the El Paso, Texas family.
LAVANDERA: That same love is showing up at the polls. Early voting turn out in the Texas primary is five times greater this year than in 2004 with Democrats out voting Republicans three to one.
JULIA OLIVER, TEXAS EARLY VOTER: I'm a first time voter. So, I really wanted to make sure I was on top of everything. That's why I voted so early.
PHIL WILSON, TEXAS SECRETARY OF STATE: Beat the crowds definitely. There was a still a long line when I voted.
LAVANDERA: State officials say there's a simple reason for the high turnout.
People believe this time when they vote in their primary, they're having a chance to actually pick the next president of the United States. They're more motivated.
LAVANDERA: Democratic pollster Leland Beatty is crunching the early numbers. He says about 60 percent of the early voters have never turned out in a Democratic primary.
LELAND BEATTY, Democratic POLLSTER: That will take your breath away if you're campaign trying to make sure you're reaching or covering all the people who are voting.
LAVANDERA: Beatty adds that Republicans switching sides make up about 8 percent of the Democratic vote. Some say that's a good sign for Obama. But Beatty also says women, especially those over the age of 40 are turning out in strong numbers, too. And some suggests that's good news for Clinton. But what isn't debatable is that the candidates are pouring big money to win these votes. In Texas, Obama and Clinton have spent $12 million on television ads alone.
BEATTY: On the Democratic side, with this much money, we're seeing kind of a Coke and Pepsi battle. When you have this much money, you can really drive a market.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: And, Alina, you know, one of the, as we looked at the numbers of the early voting numbers coming out, which ended last Friday and you really break down and look at some of the counties. The five biggest suburban counties, which in the state of Texas, you're really talking about, these are your hard core Republican counties, and Democrats are out voting Republicans in those counties by large margins in at least four out of five of them. Alina.
CHO: Wow. An exciting time to be where you are. Ed Lavandera live for us in Dallas this morning. Ed, thanks.
ROBERTS: It's coming up on 36 minutes after the hour. Ali Velshi, "Minding your Business" this morning from Bandera, Texas, where he's been traveling the state on the CNN "Election Express" talking to Texas voters about the economy. And Ali, a word coming back this year that we haven't heard for an awfully long time, stagflation. People are talking about it.
ALI VELSHI, CNN, SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, some of it has been around because there have been economists, there have been people who suggested it. It's been in the news, I think it's trickling its way down to people in the streets. And that's who we've been talking to. Let me tell you a little bit about the situation when it comes to stagflation.
Stagflation describes an economic situation where your growth is low, measured by GDP. But your interest rates are very high, your inflation is very high. Now, what we had in 1979 and 1980 is very different from what we have today. So, I wanted to compare them. Let's take a look at inflation. Back in 1980 we were running at about 13.5 percent. In 2007, for the fully year, we were running under 3 percent. There are a lot of people who think that, that 3 percent is not an accurate reflection of where inflation is but that's what the government says it is.
So, we're a lot lower on that front. Then, look at unemployment. Back in 1980 we were looking at just over 7 percent unemployment. In 2007, it was 4.6 percent for the whole year. Unemployment has been going up in the United States. We'll find out those numbers on Friday. But it's at 4.9 percent now in 2008. So, you can see that the unemployment numbers a little closer, but still a lot bigger in 1980. Then look at GDP growth, that's the growth of the economy on an annual basis. In 1980, it was 0.1 percent. That's almost flat. That's almost no growth at all. In 2007 it was above 2 percent, although toward the end of it we screeched to 0.6 percent.
So, we don't know where that's going to go. When you have negative growth, that's when you start talking about a recession. So, I just want to draw that picture for you and for our audience, John, that we're in a very different, in a very different place than we were in 1980. That's the concern that people have that if inflation goes up and growth slows down, that could get into stagflation. We're nowhere near that just yet, John.
ROBERTS: And hopefully we'll stay far away from it. Ali, thanks very much. Stay with CNN for the best coverage of the crucial primaries. We're going to have up-to-the-minute results from Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont starting at 7:00 Eastern tonight. And join us tomorrow morning for a special early edition of AMERICAN MORNING. We're going to be here bright and early, 5:00 a.m. Eastern with all the final numbers for you, analysis and the best political team on television. Join us then. Alina. CHO: Well, we're not just watching politics, but we're watching the extreme weather as well. And it could be affecting voters this morning. Here is a look at Dallas, Texas, where snow and ice could make things difficult for people trying to get to their polling stations to vote. And in Mississippi, a strong storm blew through yesterday. At least one tornado reportedly touched down there. High winds caused some damage. And our Rob Marciano at the CNN weather center tracking all of the extreme weather for us this morning.
Hey, Rob. Good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Alina.
Watch this line of storms roll across the south. Reports of injuries as we mentioned earlier across just south of Hattiesburg with the camp barracks being blown away. Minor injuries at this point. All right. It also looks to be a little more minor of a squall line that's moving off to the east. Two tornado watches that are still in effect for the next several hours. But the intensity of these storms certainly has been limited. And you kind of see they kind of just -- more solid line as opposed to the individual storms popping up to develop super cells that would more likely drop tornadoes. Nevertheless, we'll watch it for you. The Carolinas, by the way, not out of the woods.
Up to the north and east, this is mostly a mixture of rain, sleet and freezing rain across well, Vermont. So, you know, hearty New England, certainly used to it but as you head off the polls, take it easy. Cleveland to Toledo is where we expect to see the wintry mix today. The south there is warming up to where it would be all rain but it could be heavy rains at times to the point where you'll see some flooding from Columbus, southward, Dayton and Cincinnati. Saw that snow in Texas that is now moved into Arkansas. You kind of see the swirl here in the atmosphere. That's the center that will be rolling into the Ohio River Valley. Could see anywhere from 4 to 8 inches from Little Rock up to St. Louis. You ran the gamut, Alina. Just about every sort of weather you want, you'll get today.
CHO: You're missing everything except Portland, Oregon. You got everything but that. All right. Rob Marciano, thanks. We'll check back with you later.
MARCIANO: OK. Alina.
CHO: John.
ROBERTS: Millions bought it hoping it would ward off the common cold. Now there's a problem with Airborne's promise. That could mean money coming your way. And excitement is building in Texas now with polls about to open. Syndicated radio host, Tom Joyner has got the pulse of the voters. We're going to talk with him. There he is next on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 43 minutes after the hour. A picture of people lining up to vote there in Providence, Rhode Island. The polls have been open there for about 43 minutes. They will be opening in Texas very soon, less than 20 minutes from now on this crucial Tuesday. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are going down to the wire in Texas. And with 193 delegates at stake, today's vote figures heavily in the nomination. Joining us now live from Dallas to discuss what his listeners are saying about this historic race is Tom Joyner. He is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show, the "Tom Joyner Show." Tom, good to see you. Good morning to you. Thanks for being with us.
TOM JOYNER, "THE TOM JOYNER MORNING SHOW": Hey, how are you doing, man?
ROBERTS: Excellent today. What do you see happening down there in Texas today? Hillary Clinton has the long history there. Can she hang on today?
JOYNER: Well, that's not what we're watching. We're watching here at the "Tom Joyner Morning Show" and with the NAACP Voter Fund, we're watching the turnout and the whole process of voting. And what we've got so far this morning is we've gotten about 500 calls in the last two hours, most of them coming from Ohio because the polls have just beginning to open in Texas. And the voting problems that we're having right now with the long lines in parts of Ohio because of the voter I.D. requirement.
ROBERTS: Right.
JOYNER: And the process of going through the voter I.D. machine and they have some that have doing -- dealing with printouts. That whole process is slowing the whole thing down and people are standing in line now for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half to vote in parts of Ohio.
ROBERTS: Is it the process that's slowing them down or is it the fact that so many people coming out to vote has exacerbated the problem?
JOYNER: It's the process not being ready for so many people to come out and vote. That's the problem. Not enough poll workers. Not enough machines.
ROBERTS: Yes. We also understand, too, there are going to be a lot of ballots counted by hand today. Let me talk about you for a second, Tom Joyner, you've had Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Michelle Obama, John Edwards, all of these candidates on your show. You decided to throw your support behind Barack Obama. Why?
JOYNER: Well, our show, first of all, we serve about eight million African-American listeners. And 80 percent of the voters -- 80 percent of the African-American voters have gone overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. We're a voice for African-Americans for this country. So, quite naturally we're going to be for Barack Obama here at the "Tom Joyner Morning Show."
ROBERTS: And as you know, too, members of the congressional black caucus have been putting a lot of pressure on their fellow members, particularly people like Sheila Jackson Lee there in Texas who are supporting Hillary Clinton who says, hey, your district is likely to go for Barack Obama, you should throw your support behind Barack Obama. These superdelegates, should they be going the way that the voters are going or should they be voting their own conscience?
JOYNER: I think they will. I think they'll go the way the voters are going, especially when they go behind the voting curtain when it comes time to vote. I understand politics, and our people understand that our leaders have to play the political game and favors, you know, in politics come all the time. A lot of these people are going for Senator Clinton when their constituents are going for Barack Obama because of political favors. That's part of the game. We understand the game. We're new to the game, but we still understand it.
ROBERTS: Tom, one of the big questions there in Texas is how is the Hispanic population going to vote. Is there this black-brown divide that people sometimes talk about?
JOYNER: You know, I don't see that as much as you guys talk about it. I really don't. Take, for instance, Texas. Ron Kirk, former mayor of Dallas, ran state-wide for the Senate. And he ran against a Hispanic. He ran state-wide. And although he lost the election, he got most of the Hispanic vote. So I don't believe - and you know, no disrespect, but you guys have been so wrong on polls. You guys have been so, so wrong, consistently wrong on polls. I think the reason you guys have been wrong is because you've been polling people who normally vote. Well, this whole Obama thing is a lot of people who haven't voted before, who haven't participated in the primary process. You know, you've got a movement going on right here. And I don't think pollsters have taken that into account.
ROBERTS: Although, I'm sure, Tom, you're hoping today that the polling is correct in Texas because it shows Barack Obama ahead.
JOYNER: Yes. Well, maybe you got it right.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, we'll see. Tom Joyner joining us this morning. Tom, it's always good to see you. Thanks very much.
JOYNER: All right.
ROBERTS: All right. Take care. Stay with CNN for the best coverage of the crucial primaries. We're going to have up-to-the- minute results from Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont, starting at 7:00 Eastern tonight right here on CNN.
CHO: You got to love that. We have word just in about yet another beef recall. This time it's the meat in a sauce. CNN just getting word of this. We're going to have details after the break. Also coming up, if you bought a popular product hoping it would prevent the common cold, you could be getting a refund. Find out how. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Coming up at eight minutes now to the top of the hour, if you're just joining us here is what's making the headlines this morning. Iran is defying the United Nations saying new sanctions won't make it suspend its nuclear program. The U.N. Security Council ordered a third set of sanctions against Iran yesterday, expanding the list of people and companies subject to travel bans and having their financial assets frozen. The resolution was watered down from initial drafts to win the broadest possible national support. Iran insists its actions are peaceful.
A consumer alert this morning. Heinz is recalling its Boston market lasagna with meat sauce, about 40,000 cases are being taken off of store shelves. The company said it discovered that beef from Hallmark-Westland made its way into the product. Hallmark-Westland recalled 143 million pounds of beef last month after a videotape surfaced of the company abusing cows while preparing them for slaughter.
And the makers of the herbal formula Airborne, that fizzy orange drink that everybody is buying. Well, they have agreed to refund customers more than $23 million. The settlement comes after a class action suit over false advertising. According to the recent settlement agreement, people with valid receipts will be reimbursed the amount of money they spent on Airborne from May 2001, all the way through November of 2007. Consumers without receipts are eligible to receive money back for as many as six packages. A former second grade school teacher created the product back in 1999 claiming it could fend off the common cold. Let's hope the school teacher saved all the money that they made off this product. She's going to need it.
CHO: She's going to need it now. Well, she needs to win them both and win them both big in order to gain the upper hand against Barack Obama. We're talking about Hillary Clinton of course. Even her husband has said Ohio and Texas are must wins for his wife. But could a victory in Ohio alone keep Clinton in the race? Joining me now from Washington, CNN political analyst and chief political correspondent for slate.com, John Dickerson. Hey, John, good morning again. You know, yesterday Senator Clinton said she's just getting warmed up. What does she have to do to stay in the race after today?
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, she says those kinds of things, of course, before election day, that she's going to continue, she's just getting warmed up. Because you want to go into election day looking like you're raring to go for several more months. But if she only wins one of the states, she and her campaign will argue that, that state is somehow representative of the country, but it will be a big blow to her. Her husband said she has to win both of them. Democrats are getting nervous about a protracted fight and it hurts her story. She needs a good story coming out of today's elections, and that means basically winning Texas and Ohio.
CHO: And you touched on this. Let's talk a little bit more about this. Because the former presidential candidate and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson who both Obama and Clinton are trying to court by the way for an endorsement, said earlier this week that a protracted fight among the Democrats is really going to hurt them in November. So, is this really true? Because, after all, we are talking about them today.
DICKERSON: Well, if you look at the polling, it actually looks like Democrats would be happy with either candidate. And so even though it's been a little bruising at times, Democrats have been able to handle it. They're adults out there and they have seen the back and forth between Obama and Clinton and they haven't really soured on either candidate. But while the Democrats are going at each other, John McCain gets to keep running his campaign as the punitive Republican nominee. And what the recent Richard, Bill Richardson's comments are important is that superdelegates have a big role to play here. Hillary Clinton needs them for her to win the nomination. And as the superdelegates turn against her and essentially say let's wrap this up, it hurts her ability to make the case that she has any chance of winning this nomination.
CHO: Well, John, we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton. The flip side of that is of course what Barack Obama needs to do today. So how big does he need to win in order to have that momentum going forward?
DICKERSON: Well, he just needs to win. And it would be great for him, of course, if he wins all four states. If he wins fewer than that, he still has a pretty good argument. He's won the last 11. He's ahead in the pledge delegate count. He's won more votes. So, he still has a pretty good pitch that he can to those superdelegates if in fact we get down to a situation where it's all around those roughly about 800 superdelegates to determine the nomination. So, he doesn't have to win all four, but he has to do well and he has to not - you know, basically, the Clinton campaign will argue that he can't close the deal. And so he needs to win in a way that allows him to give some kind of push back to that argument.
CHO: All right. Always great to see you, John Dickerson, senior political correspondent for slate.com and our own political analyst here at CNN. John, thanks.
DICKERSON: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton tried to score some more late-night laughs fresh off her "Saturday Night Live" appearance over the weekend. Clinton appeared on the "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" last night. Listen to his first question to her. It's pretty funny.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, "DAILY SHOW WITH JOHN STEWART": 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?
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is pretty pathetic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: One gotcha deserves another. Clinton also went on to say the vigorous campaign was good for the country. And she said she was feeling, "very optimistic and excited about Ohio and Texas."
CHO: You've got to love it. Jon Stewart could really be reading a phone book and he would be funny. Cracks me up every night.
ROBERTS: He actually had a funny part of his show last night where he played Hillary Clinton's 3:00 a.m. ad. And he was just like another very famous presidential candidate and they played the one from years ago. At the end it says who do you want answering the phone? Mondale. Oops.
Crisis control, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making a personal appeal in the Middle East trying to get the Israelis and Palestinians talking peace again. And a German pilot makes national headlines after a last-second, life-saving move to stop a plane crash. We'll talk to one of the passengers on board that aircraft. That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Crucial Tuesday. Will John McCain wrap it up? Can Clinton hold the Alamo?
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