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American Morning
Vice President Cheney Going to Middle East; Drugs in Tap Water; Iraq Oil Profits; Mississippi Primary; What $100 Can Get You in Europe
Aired March 10, 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: Gas prices smashed records across the U.S. and could look like bargains within weeks.
Bayou battle. Democrats move to Mississippi. Who has the momentum now? It's the "Most Politics in the Morning."
Great white mess.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm ready for spring. I've had enough snow.
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ROBERTS: Digging out. Skidding out. A blast of winter before we slide into spring on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Terrible driving. Can you imagine being on that bridge and all of a sudden you lose control and you're going 60 miles an hour sideways?
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I know. It struck me as maybe that car was going a little bit faster, the conditions as well. I mean, that car was just zooming along.
ROBERTS: Got center punched too by another car that came along. The video is pretty incredible.
Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks for being with us on this Monday.
CHETRY: We have some news just in coming in from the office of the vice president, right now, to let you know that Vice president Dick Cheney will be heading abroad next week. He's making a trip to the Middle East. In fact, we got word that he's going to traveling to Oman as well as Saudi Arabia, Israel and the West Bank and Turkey as well. He's expected to meet with leaders of the various countries, he says, to discuss issues of mutual interest. So again, the announcement just coming from the White House this morning. The vice president heading to the Middle East next week for some meetings.
Also, two senior members of the Senate Armed Service Committee are now calling for an investigation into Iraq's oil revenues. They're concerned that Iraqis are not spending nearly enough of their own money to try to fix Iraq's infrastructure. The U.S. has put billions into rebuilding effort.
CNN's Brianna Keilar is live on Capitol Hill this morning. What are they hoping to find out from this investigation, Brianna?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, they want to know how much oil revenue Iraq has, and they want to know why the Iraqi government hasn't spent more on reconstruction especially when so many Iraqis are without basic services like clean water and electricity. So these are two senior members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. They sent this letter to the Government Accountability Office which is the U.S. office that overseas the finances of the Iraqi government.
We're talking about Chairman Carl Levin who is a Democrat and senior member John Warner who is a Republican. And they also want the GAO to tell them where this money is. In fact, in this letter to the head of the GAO, they say, "We believe that it has been overwhelmingly U.S. taxpayer money that has funded Iraq reconstruction over the last five years despite Iraq earning billions of dollars in oil revenue over that time period that have ended up in non-Iraqi banks." So the Iraqi government at this point has not immediately responded to these allegations, Kiran.
CHETRY: How much has the U.S. government spent on Iraqi reconstruction?
KEILAR: Well, here are the numbers as we know them. The U.S. government has spent about $47 billion on reconstruction. That is since the war began five years ago. It's sort of unclear how much the Iraqi government has spent in oil revenue on reconstruction but most estimates put it at just a fraction of what the U.S. has spent. And so, Senators Warner and Levin really wanting to know why is that the case, and why must that continue especially their estimating in this letter that Iraq's oil revenue between 2007 and this year, 2008, is going to be about $100 billion. They want to know why this would have to continue, Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. We've also been doing a lot of reporting on the mismanagement and the corruption allegations that have come up within the Iraqi government as well, as they try to march forward with their effort to rebuild. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this. Brianna Keilar, good to see you this morning. Thanks.
KEILAR: Good to see you.
ROBERTS: We ended last week without a record price for oil which is a good thing. This week though, a new problem. Record highs for gasoline. And keeping an eye on your wallet today, senior business correspondent Ali Velshi joins us now with more. I got gas on sale yesterday and paid $3.43 a gallon.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Great. Now, if you got anywhere in the twos that would have been a deal.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: What's that? A radio promotional of --
VELSHI: I was out. Today, you got a deal somewhere?
ROBERTS: No. It was 6 cents off Sunday.
VELSHI: Oh, well that's -- you take what you can get these days. I mean, look at the deal on oil. We didn't get a record on Friday. I think oil settled at $105 and change. That's not a record. Oil was above $106 earlier in the week.
All right. So the point is we know that that works its way into gasoline prices, and we've seen that happen. Now, last May, gasoline hit the highest price we've ever paid for gas. $3.227. Today, according to AAA, it's at $3.222. There's another survey that comes out that's a big broader. It's a little bit lower than that, but we're in that neighborhood. The bottom line is average prices don't mean to you because you pay what you pay in your area. You paid $3.40 something. But the bottom line is the trend is moving up.
Now, if we are at the record prices and it is March, that's a problem because we know that gasoline consumption goes up at the end of the spring towards summer. We know that the mix and gas changes, so that makes it more expensive. So we know that those prices are likely to go up. We also know that with $106 in the price of oil at the end of last week just before it settled a little bit lower, we still got probably a week or 10 days of increases coming. So you can be pretty sure you're going to be paying record high prices for gasoline sometime this week.
ROBERTS: It looks like it's at the price too, where it is started to affect behavior as well.
VELSHI: Sure. Yes. We know that about $3 it already starts to influence people's behavior but at these prices, people are making other decisions. It's still not mathematically the decision people make to change their car into a hybrid, but we are pulling back. Demand for gasoline is actually lower than it was a year ago in the United States.
CHETRY: John reportedly asked that question every time he drives in to the pump. Why didn't I buy a hybrid?
VELSHI: Why didn't I buy a hybrid? It's starting to make a lot more sense for more people.
ROBERTS: Exactly. All right. Ali, thanks.
VELSHI: OK.
CHETRY: There's a scary report out this morning, by the way, revealing possible hidden dangers in your tap water. "The Associated Press" conducted a five-month long investigation into trace amounts of prescription medicines in the water supply used by 41 million Americans or more from Southern California to New York City, Detroit, to Louisville, Kentucky. The list includes over-the-counter pain medicine, mood stabilizers and hormones. Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from the medical update desk in Atlanta with more on how concerned we should be. They are talking about trace amounts. It certainly doesn't sound good, though, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No. It's not good to have pharmaceuticals in your water unless, of course, your doctor prescribed them to you, in which case you should be taking real medicine. But seriously, this is a very, very surprising report. People really haven't been talking about this before in general that there, as you said, are trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in the water.
Let's take a list of what "The Associated Press" found when they looked at records from various water systems. In Atlanta, they found that there were antibiotics and a blood pressure drug in the water. In Cincinnati, a cholesterol drug and estrogen which is used pharmaceutically. In New York City, a seizure drug and an anti- anxiety drug.
Now for the big picture, let's take a look at how many drugs were found in various systems. For example, in Philadelphia, they found 56 different drugs, traces of 56 different drugs. In New York City, 16 drugs, and in northern New Jersey, 13 drugs. Now, again, these are trace amounts, tiny amounts, and it's really not known. What does it mean if day after day you're getting trace amounts of somebody else's blood pressure medicine or an anti-seizure medicine?
Now, we asked the EPA about this. We said, hey, what's going on? Are you folks working on this or concerned about this? And this is the response that they gave. They said yes, "We're taking it very seriously. We recognize there's a growing concern about the presence of pharmaceuticals in our water. We're evaluating the potential health affects of contaminants at low levels, when they occur and how best to remove them." That's from an EPA spokesman.
Now, of course, I'm sure the question on your mind at this point is how in the world do drugs get into drinking water? And the answer is that we all take drugs. Our body does not completely absorb them. Some of the drugs will pass through our body and end up in the sewage system. That water is then treated and it can end up back in the tap water -- Kiran.
CHETRY: A little bit more than you wanted to know about it...
COHEN: Yes.
CHETRY: ... and where we get our drinking water at times. If they know it's a problem though, can they do anything to remove that or to make sure it doesn't get into processing in the first place?
COHEN: The problem is that there aren't a lot of techniques to get rid of pharmaceuticals and the ones that exist are problematic. For example, they make create gallons and gallons of toxic water for every gallon that they actually purify, and some of these methods also just don't work. So there's no good way of getting rid of these just now. CHETRY: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.
COHEN: Thanks.
CHETRY: For a complete list of the states affected and the drugs found in the water, you can go to our show page CNN.com/am -- John.
ROBERTS: Pretty troubling report there.
Extreme weather. Deadly storms panned Ohio with a record 20 inches of snow. It's the most in nearly a century. Close to 2,000 crashes were reported on local highways and hundreds of travelers were stranded at airports. At least five deaths being blamed on the storm.
In West Virginia, and take a look at this, freezing rain turned Charleston's Fort Hill Bridge into a skating rink. As you can see here, at least nine crashes were reported there.
Take a look at this guy. Ooh! He thought that he got out of the slide and suddenly he gets center punched by another car. Wild winds -- look at this one more time here. It spins around here, says thankfully I got out of it. And, oh, well, this guy just got barely got missed there. Gusts, by the way, reached 68 miles an hour in parts of New Jersey. Dozens of trees were knocked down right on some homes. Thousands of people without power.
Where can we expect the storms this morning? Rob Marciano is at the weather update desk. He's tracking extreme weather for us. Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John. That storm that brought the blizzard conditions across parts of Ohio, all that ice and the gusty winds across Jersey, now beginning to head out to see just a little bit.
Here's though what's going on across parts of the West Coast. You mentioned a big storm that's going to head slam into parts of the pacific northwest and really drive northward into British Columbia. Here is where you see that swirl there. Very impressive storm. This is what brought the big-time waves into the Oregon coastline which brought the problems there with the surfers and swimmers across the central coast.
Back to the northeast, we go with winds today dying down. We saw winds gust well over 60 miles an hour. That's enough to do some damage, so more calm weather expected across the northeast. That's certainly welcome. And across the Texas coastline, this is a storm that's not really going anywhere. It's going to have to wind itself out before it goes away, and that means some rain. Heavy at times across the Lone Star State and some hail possible, too, within some of these thunderstorms.
John, that's the latest from the weather update desk. Back up to you.
ROBERTS: Thanks very much. We'll get back to you soon with more on that.
Moving on to Mississippi. The Democrats take their fight for delegates south of the border. We will speak with Barack Obama's campaign communications director. That's coming up.
And an American in Paris or Rome or Berlin for that matter. A quaint notion but an expensive proposition as the weak dollar is making everything cost more.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard whenever you go to a store and you know things are going to cost twice as much as what they look.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to spend anything.
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ROBERTS: Our Richard Quest in his journey in Berlin with $100 in his pocket. How far did it go? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: We don't think knockdown drag-out fights are ever good between Democrats. We'd much prefer to have this all settled before -- well before we get to the convention.
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ROBERTS: That was Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He says a mail in ballot could be one way to deal with the delegate dilemma. Florida and Michigan stripped all of their delegates for holding their primaries too early.
And after Senator Barack Obama's expected but welcome victory for him at least in the Wyoming caucuses on Saturday, Obama added seven delegates to his total. He leads with 1,527 now. Senator Hillary Clinton secured five of Wyoming's delegates that were up for grabs. Her total now stands 99 back at 1,428.
Senator Barack Obama's campaign agrees that a ticket with Senator Clinton could work, but only with her as the number two. Obama insists that you will not see him as the vice president on the Democrats so-called dream ticket.
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SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's premature. You won't see me as a vice presidential candidate. You know, I'm running for president.
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ROBERTS: Now, the Democrats battle moves to Mississippi. The state holds its primary tomorrow. Robert Gibbs is the communications director of the Obama campaign, and he joins me now from Chicago. Robert, good to see you.
ROBERT GIBBS, COMM. DIRECTOR, OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN: Good morning. How are you?
ROBERTS: Very good, thanks.
The Wyoming win side, most of the news in the past week has been about everything that Hillary Clinton is doing right, and everything that the Obama campaign is doing wrong. How do you turn that around and try to regain the momentum that you had coming out of Super Tuesday and that 11-0 streak that you had going?
GIBBS: Well, I certainly think Wyoming was a good start, John. It was the 30th contest in which Barack Obama has won more delegates than anybody else on the ballot. Next, we head obviously to Mississippi in our hopes -- in hopes that we'll pad that delegate lead a little bit more.
ROBERTS: Now, you had some bad news last week in the form of what aides were saying to people outside of the campaign. You had the thing with Austan Goolsbee and NAFTA. Of course, denials by your campaign and denials by the Canadian government that he ever said you're saying one thing on the campaign trail, and in reality it would be another. But then you had that episode with Samantha Power right on the heels of that. If you had one of those, it would be probably fairly easy to deal with. But two back to back, what kind of a challenge was that for you?
GIBBS: Well, I don't think it was something that a lot of voters paid attention to. John, I think, what voters are worried is something you talk about earlier. They're worried about rising gas prices. They're worried about the direction of this economy. They're worried about how they're going to get affordable health care.
And I think what Barack Obama does is he has a message that says we need to bring people together. It's time to tell the special interest they don't control the agenda in Washington anymore, and it's time to be honest about the problems that we face. That's the message as we go into Mississippi, and I think it's the message beyond Mississippi as well.
ROBERTS: That NAFTA controversy which was the one surrounding Austan Goolsbee, your economic adviser, it looks like it hurt you in Ohio. Do you think that that could linger on into Pennsylvania six weeks from now?
GIBBS: No, I don't believe so. I think there's only one person in this race who's had a consistent stance on NAFTA. It's not a stance that -- Barack Obama didn't come up with a stance on NAFTA when he started running for president. He's always said that NAFTA should be amended to include core labor and environmental standards. We see it every day when we go into factories that our workers are hurting, and I think that will help us in Pennsylvania. ROBERTS: We talked just a minute ago before we introduced you about this idea that Barack Obama has come out and said he would not be a vice presidential candidate. When Hillary Clinton talks about, hey, we might have this dream team, some analysts have said, well, that's saying to people who might be sitting on the fence, vote for Hillary Clinton and you get both of them. Is Barack Obama trying to negate that by saying vote, hey, vote for her, you're not going to get me?
GIBBS: Well, obviously, Barack Obama is running for president. He's ready to bring change to this country and ready to lead this country in a different direction. You know, John, as a pretty curious argument, the one qualification to being vice president of the United States is to be ready to be president of the United States. I don't understand how Hillary Clinton can make an argument one day that Barack Obama is not ready, but yet she and her husband at least three times in the last week have suggested he's ready to be vice president.
I think what you see is a little bit of political gamesmanship, sort of typical Washington tactics. I think they understand that Barack Obama is ready to lead this country. He's the one that has an agenda for change, and that's what we're going to see in the fall.
ROBERTS: So what about Florida and Michigan? What do you do there? Is a mail-in primary good as far as your campaigning goes, and who pays for this?
GIBBS: Well, that's a -- all these questions have to be decided by the Democratic National Committee. We've said since the beginning that we, unlike others, would play by the rules that have been established. That we'd wait and see what is fair and what is reasonable and go from there. And I think the states of Florida and Michigan are going try to figure that out sometime this week with the DNC.
ROBERTS: Would your campaign be willing to chip in some money?
GIBBS: Oh, I don't know that we're that far down the road yet. Obviously, I think the state parties might be asked to pay for this. I don't know yet. We've got to figure out sort of how the DNC would do this before we figure out any sort of price tag.
ROBERTS: But you agree that should somehow be worked out and delegates from Florida and Michigan should be seated?
GIBBS: We would like that. We think the DNC should come up with something again that's fair and reasonable and then we move forward on that. We've always wanted to see Florida and Michigan take part in this process, and I think they seem to be on the path of trying to figure something out with the DNC.
ROBERTS: Robert Gibbs, good to talk to you as always.
GIBBS: Good to see you.
ROBERTS: Good luck tomorrow. Good luck tomorrow in Mississippi. GIBBS: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, Senator McCain is hoping to pull off a campaign payoff. He's kicking off a cross-country push for donations today. John McCain will spend the afternoon in Phoenix and St. Louis. And then tomorrow, it's on to New York and then Boston and Wednesday. McCain's campaign says the intense focus on raising money means at least 20 to 30 events a month.
And his campaign for the nomination maybe winding down but the revolution lives on. We're going to be speaking to Ron Paul at 7:40 Eastern, about his decision and what happens to the millions he raised as an Internet phenomenon.
Next, we're going on a quest in Europe.
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RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One ticket, please.
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CHETRY: Richard Quest finds out what he can buy with the troubled dollar.
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RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How much will that be?
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CHETRY: His European vacation ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Twenty-three minutes after the hour. A virtual medicine cabinet in your tap. An "Associated Press" investigation being released later on today found several drugs in the drinking water supply of at least 41 million Americans from New Jersey to Georgia to California. Antibiotics, anti-depressants, estrogen, painkillers, anti-convulsants. So far, no reports of people getting sick because of their water, at least not that we know of. Utility companies insist that the water is safe, but scientists have no idea what the long-term effects might be.
And that brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Will you change your drinking water habits because of this study? Right now, 59 percent of you say yes, you will; 12 percent say no, I'm' not that concerned. And 30 percent say no, because there doesn't seem to be anything that we can do about it. Cast your vote at CNN.com/am -- Kiran.
CHETRY: We know we're talking about this with Ali this morning. It's an expensive time to take a vacation overseas if you're an American. The weak dollar is making it tough to buy anything or to get the best for your money. Well, we wanted to see just what you could get for your money, so we sent Richard Quest. We sent him actually $100 and then set him loose on the streets of Berlin. Take a look.
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RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dear, Kiran and John, thank you for the $100 for my European trip. I heard Europe was expensive, but everywhere I go there's a reminder the dollar is falling fast.
A $100 into euros, please.
Fifty-five euros was what I got in return. I must be able to do something in Berlin with this much money.
QUEST (voice-over): It's a short taxi ride from the train station to the first landmark for some sightseeing.
QUEST (on camera): How much will be that? $10 down and museum tickets to buy.
Checkpoint Charlie. This is the Cold War crossing, where East met West.
One ticket, please. How much? The museum cost about $19. My money is going fast.
QUEST (voice-over): Souvenir T-shirts can cost $20, but I can't go home empty handed.
QUEST (on camera): I think I can afford a little mortal triband (ph). This is only about $15.
QUEST (voice-over): A casualty of currency. No Starbucks for me. Here, it's twice as expensive when converted to the dollar. A trip to Berlin's Brandenburg's Gate shows I'm not the only one feeling the pinch.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard whenever you go to a store and you know things are going to cost twice as much as what they look.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to spend anything.
QUEST (on camera): Buy a little bit of this and a little bit of that. A bite of lunch, and I'm just about broke. The cheesecake here is very good but expensive. But now, I've run out of cash. Please send more. Richard Quest, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Did you remember to go to the bank this morning?
CHETRY: No. To send Richard some more cash?
ROBERTS: Yes. Yes, he obviously needs it. CHETRY: He needs to either, A, you know, Peridon tastes a little better, or, B, come over to here. It will go much further.
ROBERTS: I'll tell you, so much for the European vacation, huh?
CHETRY: Yes. Actually, the latest --
ROBERTS: Not this year --
CHETRY: Yes, because the latest exchange rate has one euro worth about $1.54.
ROBERTS: You know, most summers I vacation in the United States just to keep the money here at home and also because it's so darn expensive to go somewhere else, too.
CHETRY: That's right. Plus, you love the shores here.
ROBERTS: Yes, absolutely.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." A soccer match descends into chaos. Players and fans trading blows. Folks in the sidelines stabbed. We'll show you what sparked the violence.
And what does Ron Paul really want? He knows that he can't win the Republican nomination, but he's still going after convention delegates. He's going to be here live ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: The sun's coming this morning over New York City, an hour later, of course, because we sprang ahead. So it's 7:29. We're seeing the sun peek up over the horizon there; 28 degrees right now, shaping up to be a high of 45 and sunny today.
ROBERTS: Really weird thing happened today with three of us who had Blackberries and used it as alarm. They went off an hour early and then went off again at the right time.
CHETRY: That's very strange because we have the same service, and my Blackberry did the right thing. It switched over when it was supposed to.
ROBERTS: Mine did the wrong thing. Can't figure that one out.
CHETRY: Woke you up twice like you needed that.
ROBERTS: Anybody else out there that happened to? It happens to a lot of people.
We're just getting word this morning, Vice president Dick Cheney is going to be heading abroad next week. At the president's request, he has set to visit Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Turkey. The White House says that Cheney will meet with the leaders of the various countries to discuss issues of mutual interest. I imagine that oil prices may be on the agenda when he meets with the Saudis.
Also new this morning, turmoil in Pakistan's leadership. An adviser to President Pervez Musharraf says he will not quit even though his political opponents have formed a new alliance against him. They promised to restore the judges that Musharraf fired which could force him out. Musharraf is the Bush administration's ally against Al Qaeda.
And a back and forth between coaches over a penalty, giving soccer fans in Columbia a reason to riot. That guy takes one on the chin and then rushes into it. More than 80 people were hurt when the match descended into chaos, punches were thrown, fire crackers set off, at least 18 people were stabbed. Police eventually were able to fight back the crowd but it took tear gas to do it.
And gun battles and gun wars are keeping coeds on this side of the border. Many spring breakers in Texas, South Padre Island are not taking traditional trips into Mexico. Border town, Madamoras (ph), have on-going problems between soldiers and drug cartels. Tourism officials there confirmed a drop in American visitors.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: There's a new study this morning. It's raising some serious concerns and questions about what is in our drinking water and what impact that could have on our health. There's an investigation by the Associated Press five months in the making. The findings released this morning that found trace amounts of prescription drugs in water that affects at least 41 million people if not more. Antibiotics, anti-depressants, estrogen all found. Researchers say it's too early to know exactly what the risks are and the utility companies that the public drinking water is safe.
Mae Wu is an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council and she joins us this morning from Washington. Thanks for being with us.
MAE WU, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: Thank you.
CHETRY: A lot of people, first of all, are wondering what are they talking about? And how does this getting into the water supply in the first place and it's because, you know, the drugs are getting into the system from waste water that's been treated and then put back into public drinking water systems and so that's really what happens here. But why can't they catch it? I mean, when they talk about purifying water wouldn't that include being able to get out even trace amounts of pharmaceuticals?
WU: Well, the thing is there are a lot of different techniques for treating water and the water utilities aren't required to use every single technique that's out there. And so, there's no one process that can get rid of all of these chemicals.
CHETRY: You had a chance to read this report coming from this Associated Press. How concerned do you think we should be?
WU: Well, I think that what this report really highlights is these drugs are getting into our tap water and that this is a real issue that government needs to step up and not ignore and really start looking into what are the health effects of having these drugs in our drinking water.
CHETRY: Yes. You said that there are several processes through which drinking water is purified. Is there a way to get these out if they wanted to or if the different municipalities decided that's what they were going to do?
WU: Well, there are studies that are being conducted right now to find out what are the different ways of getting the chemicals out. Like I said, there are so many different ways of getting different drugs out but there's no one way to do all of it. And so that's another thing. It requires a lot more research that needs to be done.
CHETRY: The EPA says this, the EPA is concerned about the detection of a growing number of pharmaceuticals and other personal care products in water. "These contaminants occur at very low levels in water, and we continue to evaluate their effects on public health and aquatic life." If that is sort of not enough for people and they want to make sure they're not ingesting this as the research continue, is there a way to ensure that you're drinking clean water that doesn't have pharmaceutical trace amounts in it?
WU: Well, unfortunately, there's no easy answer to that question right now. But we really want to make sure that this isn't a reason for people to turn off their tap water. Until there are good studies out there showing that there are health impacts from finding these drugs in the water, I think people need to understand that it's not something that they should be really concerned about right now. But government really needs to look into it more to make sure that this is the case.
CHETRY: All right. And right now there is no federal law even to monitor, you know, these local municipalities aren't even required to monitor whether some of these are in the water. Does there a need to be some sort of regulation as it pertains to these pharmaceuticals?
WU: Well, that's right. I think that's the other thing that this report really highlights is that we didn't really know what was going on until now and so EPA in the process of finding out whether there are health impacts here should start requiring the utilities to look more into it and find out just what is in their water as far as pharmaceuticals and prescription drugs.
CHETRY: Right. Mae Wu, attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Thanks so much for joining us this morning. If you would like to find a complete list of the various states, by the way, affected in the drugs found in their water, you can go to our show page, cnn.com/am.
ROBERTS: That's the big problem here isn't? These are just in trace amounts, parts per trillion. Nobody knows what the effects might be over the long-term.
CHETRY: Not only that is there's no requirements as we said so some of these, I mean, you may look up your city or municipality and it may say, only say caffeine but that's all they tested for. So, it's still this study uncovered I think that this is very new and this is just the beginning of the process as we figure out whether or not it really impacts our health.
ROBERTS: We'll keep watching this closely. Because it's a very important story.
This weekend's snow and flood from Ohio to New Jersey. So, where are the storms this morning? Our Rob Marciano in CNN weather center tracking extreme weather. Rob, it left a lot of trouble in places like Ohio, but I don't see anything here in New York. Where has it gone?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: It's pretty much gone. That's the good news. You know, we had two really big storms that rolled through much of the U.S. especially the eastern two-thirds last week and now the one that rolled through Jersey and across parts of New England is heading out to sea. We still have some northwest winds today but it won't be quite as chilly or brisk as it has been. A disturbance rolling across Ohio. You, folks just can't get a break after the record snowfall over the weekend in some cases up and over well two feet or at least 20 inches in places like Columbus, Ohio. That's an all-time record. Dayton, 13 inches. And Aurora, Indiana, a foot of snow there. Typically the Midwest doesn't get that much snow at one time but they got hammered over the weekend.
All right. Texas south of Dallas looking at some showers and storms. Some of these have not only heavy rain but some hail. And across parts of Florida, well, we are looking pretty clear. That's good news because, I tell you what, tonight we got some big doings happening at Cape Canaveral. The Kennedy Space Center will be launching the shuttle that will be a rare night launch and should be good. Partly cloudy skies. Mostly the showers should be offshore. 90 percent chance they're telling us of seeing that launch take place. You know, with that thing, that candle lit up in the night sky, you might be able to see it across parts of the southeast especially if you live near the Atlantic ocean. That would be something to watch for that tonight at 2:28. Back to you guys in New York.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks very much. Appreciate that. We'll talk to you again soon. Kiran.
MARCIANO: Talk you again.
CHETRY: Still ahead, Countrywide in the cross hairs of a criminal investigation. It's the nation's largest mortgage lender. We're going to talk about what could be happening.
Also ahead, Ron Paul isn't going to win the nomination anymore but why is he keeping his hand in the process. We're going to ask him. He's live with us, coming up next. There he is, after the break on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 20 minutes now to the top of the hour. And to politics, Republican Ron Paul is winding down his campaign but on his Web site he says there is still something to fight for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The victory in the conventional political sense is not available in the presidential race. Many victories have been achieved due to your hard work and enthusiasm. We must remember, elections are short-term efforts. Revolutions are long-term projects.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Congressman Ron Paul joins me now from his office in Clute, Texas. Good to see you, Congressman. Let's get to you straighten this out. Let's hear it straight from the horse's mouth because people have been trying to analyze this and look at this from dozens of different locations and are quite sure. Is the campaign over or not?
PAUL: No. It's not over. It is certainly winding down. There are a lot less primaries left. Super Tuesday has passed. And McCain has the nominal number. But you know, if you're in a campaign for only gaining power, that is one thing. If you're in a campaign to influence ideas and the future of the country, you know the campaign is never over. So, this has been a tremendous vehicle for us. And we have gotten 350,000 people together. I tell you what, they don't want to quit. To them, this is just the beginning. And they're very much involved in influencing the party and getting involved and becoming candidates. So the true revolution on the change of the party as well as change of the country is ongoing. So, we feel very good about it which means I'm still in the race but certainly in a manner that is less energetic than, you know, it was six months ago.
ROBERTS: But the bottom line is though, you are going to continue to contest in the upcoming primaries?
PAUL: Sure. I will go. And Pennsylvania is coming up. And North Carolina is coming up. We have a lot of supporters there. And I feel more or less obligated because there may be 30,000 volunteers in Pennsylvania waving signs. And I don't feel good about walking away from them. And some of them actually believed, you know, a lot of good will come from this. And a lot more have come to this campaign than I ever dreamed. I didn't think that it would last that long nor we would energize so many nor raise so much money. So, we're really excited about what's going on.
ROBERTS: So, Congressman, when people say Ron Paul is out of the presidential race, that's true, not true, partly true? How would you describe it?
PAUL: Well, I would think in a nominal sense, you know, what are the odds of us overcoming delegates of John McCain or his delegates discerning. So in that way it's over but the campaign to get the maximum number of votes and the maximum number of delegates to participate in writing platforms and talking about the future, I mean, I think we're very much involved and very much alive. ROBERTS: So you're still trying to influence this race, you're still trying to get your issues out there. There are some people who say that the best way you can do that would be to launch a third party candidacy or an independent candidacy. What do you say?
PAUL: Well, I don't think it's a, it's very practical. And I think Republicans deserve to have at least a conservative to vote for. Right now, the conservative base does not the support John McCain because he's identified more with the liberal Democrats. So, therefore, why should they be disenfranchised? Although you know, the odds are slim, they still have a right to vote for someone that stands for traditional Republican conservative principles to lead government. It's personal liberties. I mean, this is something the Republicans used to brag about and preach. So, they deserve a chance to vote for that.
ROBERTS: McCain is out there on the campaign trail now saying that he's trying to unify the party, he's trying to reenergize the party. Are you suggesting he's not the guy to do that?
PAUL: Well, I would suggest that unity might be secondary to principle. I mean, what do we believe in? I mean, if you can unify a party and reject your principles, what is unity worth? Well, I would say it's a healthy thing to have a discussion and debate. That's what the campaign is all about.
ROBERTS: But will you support John McCain?
PAUL: I'm not likely to support John McCain unless he changes his views. I mean, he doesn't represent anything I've talked about for 30 years. Nonintervention, foreign policy, personal liberties, civil liberties, free markets, no McCain-Feingold, no child left behind. I mean, he doesn't stand for any of those things. So, how could I reject everything I've talked about for 30 years and galvanize 350,000 people, say, oh, OK. now it's all over. Unity is the most important thing. Now I endorse John McCain. Nobody would understand that. And I certainly would have a difficult time adapting to that.
ROBERTS: Well, the flip side of that coin, then you are the only Republican calling for a withdrawal from Iraq. Would your supporters then , if you're not going to become president and be in a position to affect that, would they be better off voting for the Democratic candidate?
PAUL: Well, I don't think so because I don't think they're very sincere. I mean, if you look at Obama's voting record, I mean, he's voted not to end the war. He's voted to finance the war. So, his rhetoric is playing to the people that come my way but he is every bit as much of an intervention -- he wants to send more troops in Afghanistan. He wants to broaden the military. So, I think it's a fraud what he's talking about when he wants to really get out of Iraq. But that's, I think that's politics.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, Congressman Ron Paul from Clute, Texas this morning. Still in the race sort of I guess is the way that we could best put that. Thanks for being with us. And we look forward to your continued participation and future appearances on this program.
PAUL: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll talk to you soon. And of course, we're going to have complete coverage of tomorrow's Democratic primary in Mississippi. 33 delegates at stake. Both candidates hoping to pull off a win out there. So, Ron Paul not out.
CHETRY: That's right.
ROBERTS: In a way.
CHETRY: In a way. Sort of.
ROBERTS: Can't be president but...
CHETRY: Well still ahead, it should be a health scare 101. Health care 101 rather. Why are health care workers ignoring safe medical practices across clinics in Nevada and where that thousands of patients could be affected. We're going to talk to a patient of that clinic at the heart of the crisis coming up.
Also, is a weak U.S. dollar really so bad? How the dollars decline may actually benefit some American workers. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Possibly a bright side to a weak U.S. dollar. Somebody is outsourcing to the U.S.. BMW in an effort to cut cost is upping its U.S. workforce. Senior business correspondent Ali Velshi joins us now with more. How many jobs are we talking about here?
ALI VELSHI, CNN, SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we may be talking about 200 jobs. Not a huge number. BMW does employ people in the U.S. in Greer, South Carolina. They have a plant where they make X5's and C4's. They employ about 4,500 permanent staff there, about 900 temporary staff. What's happening is they're taking some jobs - they're shutting some jobs down in Germany where costs are much higher because the euro is so strong against the U.S. dollar.
I guess BMW is betting that their market in the U.S. is going to increase in North America and that the U.S. dollar will probably stay lower for some time. As a result they are bringing some jobs in here to increase production. Last year they produced about 155,000 cars in the United States. They would like that to go up to about 240,000 by 2012. So, the bright side here is that if the U.S. dollar does look like it's going to be low for some time, and we're hitting about 155 almost against the euro right now, there may be companies that think it's more of a deal to do business in the United States than in places like Europe, manufacturing in Europe that's looking particularly expensive when the currency is at these rates.
So, a little bit on the bright spot.
CHETRY: Especially if it turns into a trend. If we see...
VELSHI: Right. We expect that the Fed is going to lower rates more and lowering rates makes the dollar even weaker against other currencies. So, you might see more of this.
CHETRY: Ali, thanks.
ROBERTS: It may be a good idea first to get back in the manufacturing business.
VELSHI: That might be. We got plants and we got workers.
ROBERTS: There you go. It's the story that we've been talking about all morning long. An Associated Press investigation being released later on today that found several drugs are in the drinking water supply of at least 41 million Americans from coast to coast. They include antibiotics, mood stabilizers, sex hormones, anti- convulsants and plenty of over-the-counter pain medicines. So far, no reports of people getting sick. Utility companies are insisting that the water is safe. The problem also is nobody knows if anybody is getting sick from this or not.
That brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Will you change your drinking water habits because of this study? Right now, 62 percent of you say yes, you will, 12 percent say no, I'm not that concerned. And 26 percent say no, it won't change anything because there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. And that may in fact be the biggest case. The biggest argument to be made here. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll continue to tally your votes throughout the morning.
CHETRY: Well, we have an update this morning on the Nevada Clinic health care. More patients may have been exposed to hepatitis and HIV than first thought including a mother of five who spoke with AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe that me. Me. How could it happen to me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, who is at risk and where? We're going to take a look when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
And also as a community in Kansas mourn a UNC senior, police investigate a new lead that may help them close in on her killer. We have details ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: New information this morning that the Nevada dirty needle health scare could be much bigger than first thought. 40,000 patients have already been told they were exposed to hepatitis or HIV. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence has got the update for us this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: The Nevada health scare that put 40,000 people at risk of hepatitis and HIV may have caused even more infections than first believed. Some people treated at this outpatient surgery center were left off the first alert and health inspectors have now turned up violations at other clinics.
LISA JONES, STATE LICENSING BUREAU: In some places, we saw, we're seeing reuse of medication vials and in some cases, issues with how syringes are used.
LAWRENCE: Investigators promised to inspect all 50 of the state's centers. Five nurses have volunteered to give up their licenses and the doctors could be next.
We're concealing this patient's identity to protect her family's privacy. Pam is a married mother of five who says she went in for hernia treatment and came out infected with hepatitis C.
"PAM," CONTRACTED HEPATITIS C: And I can't believe me. Me. How could it happen to me? Pam recently got one of the 40,000 letters sent to patients at risk.
LAWRENCE: Is there any way you could have had hepatitis C before you went to this clinic?
"PAM": Never. There's no way.
LAWRENCE: Hepatitis C is typically transmitted through blood or semen. It attacks the liver and kills as many as 10,000 Americans every year.
SUSAN GERHARDDT, NEVADA STATE ASSEMBLY: I think that the people who perpetrated this are absolutely monstrous.
LAWRENCE: At least six cases of hepatitis have been traced to this clinic and five of those patients were treated on the same day. The owner has agreed to stop practicing medicine until the investigation is complete but he says the problems have been corrected and the chances of contracting an infection are extremely low. There's no proof "Pam" was infected here but she seems sure of it. What's your biggest worry? Your biggest fear?
"PAM": Leaving my babies alone without a mom and it could have been prevented. It could have been.
LAWRENCE: It's too late for patients like "Pam" but this week the CDC is sending several experts to Nevada and it calls the crisis the tip of the iceberg of a potential national problem. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Las Vegas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: State health officials admit that the clinic at the center of the scare had not been fully inspected since 2001 despite rules stating that inspections are due every three years.
CHETRY: Well, you're watching the most news in the morning. And still ahead, the Mississippi primary is tomorrow but there's a new idea for a redo in Florida and Michigan. We're going to be talking with the Clinton campaign about whether or not they agree with some of the proposals that have been tossed around out there. Also, violence in Iraq is down. Oil revenue is up. But how are U.S. senators hoping to push the Iraqis to spend more of their own money instead of ours to rebuild their country.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right the now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Drugs in your drinking water. The new investigation that found 41 million Americans at risk.
Spin zone. A layer of ice and two feet of snow to start the workweek.
Plus, real life Robocop.
Cleaning up the streets, one squirt at a time on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: That little squirt who performs a big job.
CHETRY: That's right. Absolutely.
And how about those cars with those sheet of ice especially on the bridges overpasses and boy, if you're going a little bit too fast.
ROBERTS: That's what those sign say. Bridge freezes.
CHETRY: Slippery road. Well, good morning and welcome back. Just announced this morning, Vice President Dick Cheney is going to be visiting the Middle East next week, headed to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank as well as Turkey. He is expected to meet with leaders of the various countries to discuss issues of mutual interests. And one of those issues will obviously be Iraq. And this morning there is a call by two senior members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. They want an investigation into Iraq's oil revenues.
Senators are concerned that Iraq is not spending nearly enough of its own money to fix the infrastructure. The U.S. has invested billions in the rebuilding effort. CNN's Brianna Keilar is live on Capitol Hill with more on what they want to find out through this investigation. Good morning, Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
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