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Continuing Coverage of the Presidential Campaigns; Atlanta Tornado Damage

Aired March 15, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN HOST: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL this hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. This is in Indiana where Barack Obama is addressing an audience taking questions from the audience. This is a chance for you to hear him live, unfiltered. All of the candidates joining me at this hour. Also our own Jim Acosta. He's in Scranton, Pennsylvania, with the Clinton campaign. But first, we want to go to Fredricka Whitfield who is in Atlanta. She is covering the severe weather, the severe storms, and the tornadoes that have hit that area. Fred, what can you tell us?
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CENTER: That is right Suzanne; it is now believed an f-2 tornado hit the downtown Atlanta area. That means wind speeds of up to 130 miles an hour. Just take a look right here at the damage scattered around the downtown Atlanta area. You see that brick building. That's an apartment complex that was severely damaged. Then to the right of the screen you are seeing the kind of debris on the ground, crushing some vehicles and some parts and we also know that a lot of trees were downed as well as power lines.

Then we understand there's one reported death now in the Live Oak area of Polk County. A home was destroyed there. Well, it seems like the severe weather, you would hope is now behind us. But there is another system in the south. Jacqui Jeras in the Whether Center is keeping a close watch on. How does it look?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEROLOGIST: Not good right now Fredricka. We have three cells right now, all of which are capable of producing a tornado. Two of which have a history of having a tornado on the ground with that parent cell. We're very concerned about this one right now over here in Alabama. This is Cleburne County. It's moving off to the east. There you can see the town of Buchan as this one, if it stays on this exact track moving eastward, could be impacting downtown Atlanta, or at least inside of the perimeter area. We put a distancer on this. It shows you it's about 57 miles out. Its moving east at 35 miles per hour. So do the math. We're talking about over an hour, hour and a half maybe before it would arrive in the Atlanta metro area.

And this could be very devastating because the area is already very compromised. We have a lot of trees down. We have a lot of buildings that have become weakened. We have a lot of windows that have been blown out in the downtown area. And it wouldn't take that strong of a wind to cause extreme damage through this area. So we need to keep a real close track on this latest cell.

There you can see we have another one developing here. There you can see Willeska. That storm looks like it could be strengthening and maybe another super cell storm. Now let's move on to the next warning, we'll query these counties for you. There you can see 985 that is Buford. This is Gainesville. The area of rotation looks to the east of interstate right now. That includes Banks, Forsythe, Gwinnett and Hall Counties. This storm has a history of producing monster hail. We're talking about the size of baseballs as it moves through the town of Canton which is just to the west there.

We'll give you a cool 3d perspective now to give you a better idea of where that hail threat is. And meteorologist Chad Myers helping me out behind the scenes zooming in. Look at the depth of that storm and the vertical extent of it. There has to be a lot of lift in the atmosphere to get it high enough to get in that cold air and start those little water droplets freezing on top of each other and developing a hail core. There you can see where it's coming down. The bright purple. This is Gainesville to the south of Jefferson. There you can see the Cumming area. It's right in between where that large hail is coming down to the ground. What incredible structure to the storm system. There you can see how high up into the atmosphere it goes.

There's one other tornado we want to tell you about. We'll move on and show you that one because it is heading toward the South Carolina area right now. This storm has a history of producing some damage with it. There you can see we've got Banks, Albert Franklin, Hart, Madison and Stevens County under a tornado warning right now. It's this part of the storm that we're watching. All of these storms, by the way, are moving off to the east. So if you live in Anderson, for example, down near Lounsville. You may not be a warning right now but be prepared those sirens may be going off later on today.

Here's where we have the entire area of concern. It's the watch box as we call it. A tornado watch. The difference here is a watch means conditions are favorable for tornados to develop. So it means it could happen. You need to be prepared; you need to have a plan of what you're going to do. A warning means that we've got one reported on the ground or Doppler radar is indicating extremely strong rotation and it could touch down at any given time. So that is the threat ongoing. That includes eastern parts of Alabama, all of central into northern Georgia and extends into South Carolina, including the capital city here in Columbia.

So we'll watch more storms as they develop off to the west. We'll see what kind of threat that may be posing to downtown Atlanta. Maybe an hour from now. If we get additional reports of damage or a tornado on the ground confirmed, we'll break in and bring that along to you. A real rough afternoon. The next several hours between now and maybe 7:00 or so are going to be very critical.

WHITFIELD: So comprehensive. Thank you so much Jacqui.

Meantime, in the downtown Atlanta area, one of the hardest hit communities is a neighborhood that was kind of up and coming called Cabbage town. Well our Cal Perry is there. You've seen firsthand the damage. And we see the huge oak tree behind you. Just falling down on houses left and right there.

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. You were talking about an f-2 tornado and winds up to 130 miles an hour. This is the result. Now Cabbagetown, this neighborhood, was built about 100 years ago. It is really when it was founded. These trees have been here since then. Up and down this street how huge these trees are and what exactly they did to these houses. They've pummeled these houses, split some in half. Others have simply been crushed. I can tell you as far as the eye goes down this street that is the case with all of these houses.

Now you can see, obviously, they are starting to remove some trees. This will be a process that will last weeks if not months. A couple of other points should be made. Viewers outside the Atlanta area, it's hard to understand but in Atlanta here it's so unusual that tornadoes would do any kind of damage or that there would be tornadoes in such an urban area. It's got people really spooked. Especially in this neighborhood.

Just a couple of hours ago, there was, by word of mouth, indications there was another storm front coming. People here have no power and people really got nervous and fled for shelter which was really quite interesting to see that happen with people who have no power, no water. Everything is off.

The other thing going on down is it has drawn crowds, quite a bit of attention. People are coming here. They are taking pictures and it's caused a bit of a problem here in the neighborhood. The local residents here, they want to know and they've asked me why the police haven't come down here and shut down this street so that they can really get rebuilding. So it's become a bit of a problem. It's something they are concerned about and something we'll have to keep our eye on.

WHITFIELD: All right. Cal Perry thanks so much, in downtown Atlanta. Much more of the weather situation sweeping the southeast. Suzanne Malveaux is here again with the BALLOT BOWL in its continuum.

Hi, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Hey, Fred. Barack Obama taking questions from the audience talking about everything from energy, education, health care. He is now addressing a woman. She says she's pregnant with twin boys, about to deliver soon. Let's take a listen to Barack Obama's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We don't take back money and federal lobbyist money; you guys have funded our campaign, $25, $50. That's how we've been able to move this agenda forward. So we want to maintain that sense that people have to stay involved. But that means that you've got to have a president who is encouraging people to be involved. Here's how I can encourage people to be involved.

Number one, it means transparency in our government. So one of the things that I want to do -- one of the things that I want to do is make sure that we are posting on the Internet all the laws that we intend to pass, that we -- any cabinet meetings with lobbyists, that those are done publicly so people know what's going on. So that our federal budget is easily accessible, so you know how your money is being spent. That's point number one.

It also means that I'm going to have the toughest ethics rules in the White House. We're not going to have a revolving door where -- we're not going to have a revolving door where somebody comes to work in the White House and is regulating an industry and then they leave and start lobbying for that industry. That's what the Bush administration you've seen all the time. Government should not be a way to get rich. If you want to get rich, go into business.

And then make your money and then go into government. So -- and I want to make myself more accessible. I want to continue to have town hall meetings through my presidency. Now I'm not going to be able to do it as often, obviously, because I actually have to do some work once in a while in the White House. But I do want to continue to have these kinds of forums where people can talk to me directly, ask me questions.

And, last point I want to make -- last point I want to make is, I want to make sure that young people continue to stay involved. So that's one of the reasons why I want to expand national service because I want people to feel like -- I want young people to understand that when you go into a neighborhood and you go into a community and you are organizing people and getting them involved for the first time, that lasts beyond just that specific issue that you are working on.

It gives people a sense that their voices count, that they are being heard, that they are being listened to. That's what's missing right now from so much of our government. It feels distant. It feels far away. People don't feel like they have any access to government. And that's what we have to restore. And that's, I think, been one of the central themes of this campaign. Great question. Gentleman right here.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): (Inaudible)

OBAMA: No, no, that wasn't fair. I said boy, girl, boy, girl. The boy raised his hand. Now I got to admit. Are you her husband?

(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Yes, we have a longer reach.

OBAMA: OK. I'll give you credit for being good to your wife.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Thank you.

(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): The question that I have is this. When you take office in January as the next president of this country --

OBAMA: Yep.

(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): You are inheriting a mess. I mean, everything from economics to our infrastructure to our -- the way that the world views us, you are inheriting a big, big challenge. And what can you say. And I have the patience. I have three teenagers, so I'm patient. But what can you say to the American people to make sure that we have the patience to give you a chance to do the job that you have to do?

OBAMA: That's a great point. Well, look. I've got tons of ideas about what I intend to do. But we're not going to be able to do them all at once. I mean, most presidents, if they get one or two big things done a year, they are doing a good job because this is a big, complicated country. But let me tell you what I can do immediately.

I mentioned the whole issue of reviewing executive orders, around civil liberties. That's something I can do immediately. But what I can also do is have all of our agencies, my cabinet members, reviewing a lot of the changes that have been done by this administration that have been harmful were done by executive order. So we can -- you have got a bunch of labor laws. We've got some unions in the house. There are so many laws by the Department of Labor that have made it harder to organize, harder to collectively bargain. Those don't require new laws. It just requires that the Department of Labor actually believes in labor. And that's some of the things we can do right away.

In the Environmental Protection Agency, many of the interpretations of regulations and laws have been tilted to advantage polluters. We can reverse those immediately without passing new laws. So there are a number of things we can do right away that will make a difference in people's lives even though it's not a big new government program.

What I will focus on, though. People always ask me, what are the first three things you are going to focus on. I want to be clear about this. Number one, I will call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff and tell them they have a new mission and that is to bring an end to this war in Iraq in a responsible way. In a responsible way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Senator Barack Obama talking about his priorities, his agenda. Bringing the troops home. Also talking about reversing some of those executive orders.

Coming up after the break from BALLOT BOWL, what you're going to hear now is also those critical contests taking place in Michigan and Florida. The possibility, the possibility of do-overs in those states. To have those delegates' votes actually count. That after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL 08. I'm Jim Acosta in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This state is holding a very important primary coming up on April 22nd, 158 pledge delegates up for grabs. But it is not the only big delegate prize out there. Should the states -- we should say should the states of Florida and Michigan decide to go ahead and hold their redos, their revotes if you will, because of the fact that Michigan and Florida had their delegates disqualified by the Democratic Party for moving their primaries up against the wishes of the party?

Now those states are becoming very important because both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may not be able to get to that 2,025 delegate threshold. Both the Democratic Parties in both Michigan and Florida are talking about the prospect of revotes. While there's been much talk about Florida and the possibility of a mail-in vote there, Michigan at the end of this week started making progress towards its own revote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN, DEMOCRATIC NATL. COMMITTEE CHMN: The best option is whatever we can get the candidates to agree with, which puts a vote back in the hands of the people of Florida and Michigan. That's going to be not so easy to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But Michigan may make Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean's job a bit easier. Some top Michigan Democrats, including Congressman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick say they are working on plans for a June 3rd primary do-over. Kilpatrick tells CNN, we are trying to get there. It's not a done deal yet.

Michigan and Florida broke national Democratic Party rules by moving up their primaries to January. The contest took place, but none of the parties' major candidates campaigned in the states and Michigan and Florida's delegates were banned from summer's Democratic convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The results of those primaries were fair and should be honored.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Clinton won both primaries but the idea of rewarding delegates based on those results doesn't fly with Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we don't think makes sense is for example the Michigan delegation to be seated when my name wasn't on the ballot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: With the battle between Clinton and Obama for the nomination so close and with November victories in both states crucial for the Democrats to take back the White House, both candidates agree action is needed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Nearly 2.5 million Americans in those two states who participated in the primary elections are in danger of being excluded from our Democratic process. And I think that's wrong.

OBAMA: What we want is an opportunity for the Florida and Michigan delegates to participate in the convention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining me now to talk about the potential up side and down side of a revote in the states of Michigan and Florida is our CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. And, Bill, I just wanted to talk to you about this prospect that is now looming out there. Let me ask you, Bill. Should Michigan and Florida go ahead and have these revotes? Does that potentially put Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a position where they could potentially get the 2025 delegates need to secure the nomination?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's unlikely because both states are likely to be fairly close. Given the way the Democrats assign delegates, which is proportional to the vote, it's going to be difficult for either one of them to win that majority without any decision from the super delegates. But they could -- it's possible that one of the candidates could sweep both of those big states and, yes it is possible. I wouldn't say it's likely, but it's possible they could get the nomination by carrying a heavy majority in Michigan and Florida, if they do go ahead with these revotes.

ACOSTA: And I guess the reason why Hillary Clinton would like to see both of these events happen is because she feels as if she won those two primaries. But technically, Bill, when she talks about that that is not really a clear-cut win. That's not a clear-cut win in her column, those two states, is it not?

SCHNEIDER: It is not because there was no campaign. The candidates all agreed among themselves not to campaign in Florida and Michigan. She won in large part because of her strong name recognition as a former first lady. And the other candidates, especially Obama felt he didn't have a chance really to make his case to the voters there because of the agreement there would be no campaign. He took his name off of the ballot in Michigan. She left hers on. Most of the other candidates, all but Dennis Kucinich, took their names off the Michigan ballot. There was no fair campaign. Here's one piece of evidence.

So far, I think, there have been 30 primaries and caucuses. In the 30 primaries that have been held that I know of, in 25 of them, more Democrats voted than Republicans. There were only five states where more Republicans voted. Arizona, where they came out to vote for their home state candidate John McCain. Utah, where a lot of Mormon Republicans came out to vote for Mitt Romney. Alabama, a lot of southern Baptist Republicans came out to vote for Mike Huckabee and Florida and Michigan.

A lot of Democrats apparently stayed home in Florida and Michigan because they were told that the votes didn't count. They weren't selecting any delegates. So you can't really describe that as a fair contest.

ACOSTA: In both of these states, potentially we could be looking at a big mess. Let's say Florida decides to do it one way and Michigan decides to do it another way. Perhaps Florida has the mail-November revote, although a lot of Democratic Party leaders down there don't like that idea.

In Michigan, they decide to go ahead and have a full blown primary and then one of these candidates doesn't like the result and either one, Wolf Blitzer was talking to Senator Bill Nelson about this the other day. You can see those officials in Florida holding up those mail-in ballots looking for the signatures to match their registration forms. And so, yeah, it could be a big mess if these two contests aren't held in a consistent fashion.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. Looks like they are unlikely to be held in a consistent fashion. There's a question of who is going to pay for it. Who is going to authorize the supervision to validate the voter registration and signatures? Will it be the state? Will it come out of taxpayer's money? Will it be privately funded and turned over to private companies to count the ballots? Florida has no experience with mail-in voting. And the people of Mt. Washington and Oregon, which do have that experience, say it's very, very complicated. You have to verify every voter's signature and count the ballots. So there could be great controversies over the outcome.

There have even been suggestions that one way of settling this would be -- and, by the way, they have to be confirmed by the legislature and the governor in both of those states, that the states will participate in some way. One proposal has been to either divide the votes evenly between Obama and Clinton in those two states so they don't make any difference and Bill Nelson, the senator from Florida, the Democrat who is a Clinton supporter said maybe those delegates already selected in Florida should have half of a vote so that their votes are not determinative.

The inclination right now as I see it is to make sure Florida and Michigan participate in the convention so they are included and they aren't offended but their vote should not be determinant of who wins the actual nomination because there could be so many controversies and disputes over whether the process was fair.

ACOSTA: It's going to be interesting to watch. CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider. Bill thanks very much.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

ACOSTA: Coming up after the break here on BALLOT BOWL on CNN, we're going to get you back to Atlanta to have you updated on the latest on the unfolding weather situation down there. So stick with us this is BALLOT BOWL on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. Our breaking news story. Deadly weather in the southeast, tornado sirens are blaring this hour in parts of northern Georgia and Alabama. At least one death is confirmed in Polk County, Georgia. This new wave of storms follows last night's tornado that struck here in downtown Atlanta. Let's get quickly to the Weather Center and CNN's Jacqui Jeras -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Fredricka. Yeah, we've got several storms that we're watching at this hour, many of which are capable of producing tornadoes and we're also very concerned about a storm that's moving along the I-20 corridor right now, which will be moving into the downtown Atlanta area in approximately 30 minutes. Now, this is the one that I'm talking about, right here. It developed out of Alabama in Claiborne County and the National Weather Service there did issue a tornado warning on it once it crossed the state line and moved over to Georgia's responsibility. They decided they weren't quite as impressed with the structure of this storm and think it will be more of a hailmaker and potentially damaging winds.

So, severe thunderstorm warnings are in effect on that cell right now moving through Bremen and also through Villa Rica, it's heading towards Mableton, right along on I-20. And there you can see the downtown Atlanta area, so Fulton County is under a severe thunderstorm warning.

Now, normally we'd say just stay inside, wait until the storm passes. But, we're very concerns that you may need to be seeking shelter with this storm because of the damage that's already existing in the Atlanta metro area from the tornado last night. We've got something to look at on this storm. We're going to take you into a 3D structural view to talk about some of this hail, right now. And we're going to take that over to meteorologist Chad Myers with our 3D view -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Jacqui, it is quite impressive, now. Three-inch hail reported in the storm and not only at the surface, but way aloft. And we can get a 3D perspective on this. One of our machines can actually show where the hail core is. And the hail core right up by Buchanan. And this is where I'm going to zoom into it, right here. An amazing system, here. Here's Buchanan, here's Carrolton, Douglasville and Dallas and then I can actually zoom in and move around and show you the structure of the cell itself.

So, there's Douglasville. This is moving to the east at about 45 miles per hour. See this red line right there? That is I-20 and this is moving directly along the I-20 corridor, will be moving right into Douglasville.

Now, I'm going to flatten it out. See those lines in the background? This storm is 36,000 feet tall with this hail, Jacqui. Now, that means this hail, two inches, three inches big, going up six miles and it's going to be falling back to the earth. An amazing storm, here, and it's headed to a very -- well, I'll just call it structurally compromised area of Atlanta, Georgia -- Jacqui.

JERAS: And a lot of hail can cause a lot of damage. You certainly don't want to be outdoors when this storm moves on through. Now, if we can go back to my radar. The on other thing I want to point out, in addition to the storm that we've got the warning for, look at these two other storms which are developing back behind it. Those have the potential to strengthen and also become severe. So, we'll be watching those storms once the first one moves through. Your warning may expire, but you need to stay on high alert because of that.

Now, let's go ahead and move on into some of the other counties which are north of the Atlanta metro area and move into this purple area. We've been watching these storms. This is where we have a possible tornado. Let's go ahead and query them and tell you the counties that are being impacted. And we did have reports with this storm, by the way, with some damage near Gainesville and also some very large hail when it moved through canton, and that was the size of baseballs. So, a big hailmaker here and also potentially a tornado.

We've got a warning for Barrow, Clarke, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson and Madison counties. And then we'll also push it a little farther to the east once again because now South Carolina is getting in on the action. And there you can see the state line, here. That's South Carolina. We'll query that one. Abbyville, Anderson, Greenville and Greenwood counties under a tornado warning. Doppler raid is indicating some strong rotation with this storm here, and they are all moving off to the east.

So, tornado watches in effect for the entire area. We're going to zoom out a little bit and show you the extent of that watch. A watch means conditions are favorable for tornados to develop, warnings mean a tornado is happening now or radar is indicating some very strong rotation. There you can see one line up to the north and then a repeating line coming in back from here from the west heading towards downtown Atlanta. We think, again, Atlanta could be impacted by this storm by 4:00 Eastern Time. And everybody needs to be taking cover when that warning goes off. And be prepared when this storm moves on through.

We've got a lot of damage, some people without power today, Fredricka. You know, your best friend in this situation is your NOAA Weather Radio because that's got your backup battery power and that thing is going to go off when your warning does occur.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, it really is a life saver. All right, Jacqui, thank you so much. Of course, we're going to continue to watch this storm system throughout the early evening, here on CNN.

Meantime, more of the BALLOT BOWL, the candidates unfiltered, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Senator Barack Obama in Plainfield, Indiana, addressing a number of issues talking about the Iraq war, healthcare, the economy, domestic violence, shaking hands now as he wraps up his event here and also addressing the controversy around the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, his pastor of nearly 20 years.

Some comments that he made that made it to the Internet, as well as on television, which has created a lot of questions regarding his values and faith. But, I first want to go to our own Chad Myers who does have an update on the weather situation out of Atlanta -- Chad.

MYERS: Suzanne, we were just talking about this storm. This is the Villa Rica storm, golf ball-sized hail here now. But enough rotation on the storm that they did now issue a tornado warning for Fulton County. That is the county that Atlanta is situated in, right in the middle of it. Now, we have a northern Fulton County, Alpharetta, you are not involved in this, even maybe your sirens are going off, there is a storm to your west around Kennesaw. We look for this purple, or this pink box, right around Douglasville is where the tornado is possibly spinning, right now. No reports of it on the ground, but the radar is so spinning that they have to issue a warning on this now because it could drop out of the sky at any time.

So, here you go. We take this funnel, almost like a little funnel cloud here and move it straight out and say where could it be? It could be to buckhead, it could go all the way down to east point and the airport, but the middle, the most dangerous would be right downtown Atlanta and that could be probably in about 20 minutes. But, the sirens are going off here in Atlanta, right now. We know about these compromised buildings, the glass everywhere, even the roof here at CNN is not going to hold any water whatsoever. It's going to be raining here in a little bit, right through and into the studio. So, we're going to take some cover, here, we are going to watch this storm as it moves in to Atlanta. We're actually going to move downstairs a couple of floors and start broadcasting from there -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Thanks for the latest on that developing story. Breaking story, severe weather in Atlanta and surrounding areas. We'll be keeping up with that, obviously.

Want to also bring you a story that we mentioned before about this controversy between Barack Obama and some comments made by his pastor. Our own Susan Roesgen takes a look at the controversy and what is involved behind these -- the criticism and the comments surrounding these two. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT, TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: ...who cares about what a poor black man has to face every day in a country and `a culture controlled by rich white peoples.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Reverend Jeremiah Wright preaching one of his last sermons at Senator Barack Obama's Chicago church on Christmas Day.

The church records and sells video of its Sunday services, and this one is getting a lot of hits on YouTube.

WRIGHT: It just came to me with -- within the past few weeks, y'all, why so many folk are hating on Barack Obama. He doesn't fit the model. He ain't white. He ain't rich. And he ain't privileged. Hillary fits the mold.

ROESGEN: This is the kind of message the Obama camp does not endorse. Asked for reaction, a campaign spokesperson said, "Senator Obama has said before that he profoundly disagrees with some of the statements and positions of Reverend Wright."

Nevertheless, the sermon is picking up steam. The reverend goes on to compare Senator Obama to Jesus. And, while the message seemed inspirational to his congregation, some will find it inflammatory. WRIGHT: Hillary was not a black boy raised in a single-parent home. Barack was. Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people. Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain't never been called a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Hillary has never had her people defined as a non-persons.

ROESGEN: Senator Obama, who's been a member of this church for 20 years, has said that Reverend Wright is like an old uncle who sometimes will say things he doesn't agree with. And what's more, the campaign also says, "Senator Obama deplores divisive statements, whether they come from his supporters, the supporters of his opponent, talk radio, or anywhere else."

A spokeswoman for Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign said she had not seen this video clip, but that the campaign's first reaction was simply no comment.

(on camera): We tried to reach Reverend Wright to get his reaction now to the fallout from his fire-and-brimstone sermon, but we're told he's on vacation and not available.

Susan Roesgen, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: In speaking with Obama campaign insiders, this is clearly a very challenging and frustrating moment for the senator as they try to stay on message, an optimistic message. This is a pastor who has a 20-year relationship with Obama, he officiated his wedding, he baptized his daughters. But clearly, Barack Obama feels it's important to set the record straight when it comes to those specific comments causing such controversy. He did so in a series of interviews last night. He also did it on this stage just within the last hour or so making sure that members of this audience understood his position when it comes to those remarks. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just want to say to everybody here that as somebody who was born into a diverse family, as somebody who has little pieces of America all in me...

(APPLAUSE)

I will in not allow us to lose this moment where we cannot forget about our past and not ignore the very real forces of racial inequality and gender inequality and the other things that divide us. I don't want us to forget them. We have to acknowledge them and lift them up and when people say things like my former pastor said, you have to speak out forcefully against them, but what you have to also do, though, is remember what Bobby Kennedy said. That it is within our power to join together to truly make a United States of America. And that we have to do not just so that our children live in a more peaceful country and a more peaceful world but that is also the only way that we're going to deliver on the big issues that we're facing in this country.

We can't solve healthcare divided. We cannot create an economy that works for everybody divided. We can't fight terrorism divided. We can't care for our veterans divided. We have to come together. That's what this campaign is about. That's why you are here. That's why we're going to win this election. That's how we're going to change the country.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Barack Obama trying to use this controversy to his advantage to push forward his message of unity. A question is whether or not there will be more fallout from the controversy. There are some black ministers who plan to denounce Barack Obama for denouncing his own pastor. We'll see how that plays out when it comes to his support within the African-American community. And coming up, we will hear from Senator Clinton and what she is talking about on the campaign trail. Stay with us as BALLOT BOWL continues.

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Jim Acosta in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the St. Patrick's Day Parade is still rolling on in this city and will be for -- it could be a while, actually. We don't know exactly how long, but it could be a while. But, welcome back, thanks for joining us. And we want to turn back to my colleague Josh Levs who is in Atlanta, and he was tracking the campaigns online. And apparently John McCain has something new to show on his Web site.

Is that right -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN.COM DESK: He does. It's really interesting. You know, today marks the 35th anniversary of John McCain being released after having been a POW in the Vietnam War. He has a new video front and center at johnmccain.com, you can't miss it. Let's take a look at a piece of that.

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A call to duty, a call to service, greater than one's self.

This is the story of John McCain the POW.

JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I went through a very rough experience in my life many years ago. My faith has been my anchor and my guide.

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LEVS: It gets a theme that he talks about often, national security in terms of the campaign, but also about who he is, how that experience shaped him.

Then we also looked at the Democrats. And as we know, the big upcoming showdown is Pennsylvania. And I took a big interest in what kinds of videos from Pennsylvania Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are putting out there, right now. What kind of messages are they putting out? It's interesting to think about it from this perspective, broad perspective. A lot of people think of Barack Obama's events as being largely about energy and excitement and Hillary Clinton's events being more about specific issues and that kind of wonkish (ph) talk. Well, take a look at the videos from Pennsylvania that the two campaigns are putting out, right now.

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OBAMA: You know, the best-run companies, I notice, are ones that are not afraid of union drives because they know that if they've got a cooperative workforce that feels it's got a stake in the company's success, then that company will end up over the long-term being more successful and more profitable. And so in terms of your specific question, the Employed Free Choice Act, I'm a huge supporter of and I intend to sign it when I'm president of the United States of America.

CROWD: Hillary! Hillary!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There wasn't a moment of silence. People were excited. And you can feel the excitement finally coming to Pennsylvania.

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HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've seen the home foreclosure crisis, the rising health care costs. We, obviously, are, you know, dealing with these increasing energy costs, which are affecting the price of everything else. So, the bottom line is that since President Bush took office, the costs of energy has gone up. And today in Pennsylvania, the average Pennsylvanian spends $2,000 more on energy than they did when President Bush became president. And like the rest of the country the typical family has $1,000 less in income.

So, with average gas prices going up and with station owners like Jay, between the oil companies and their customers, something has to give. And what gives is, as Janice said, she and her husband just don't drive as much, they are cutting back. That has an impact on the whole economy. So too, you know, too little, too late is not an economic strategy, but that seems to be the best that President Bush can offer.

And right now Dick Cheney is traveling around the Middle East warning his friends in the oil-producing countires and in the oil companies, Be careful if you don't produce more oil, America might become energy independent. Well, that's exactly what we have to become. We have to move toward energy independence in order to have control over our own destiny and to get the prices down. And I think it's time that we recognize that this has got to be one of the highest priorities for our nation. And I believe that I have a better plan and a better record when it comes to whom you can count on to actually tackle these high energy prices.

You know, Senator Obama and Senator McCain talk a lot about taking on the special interests, but Senator Obama voted for Dick Cheney's energy bill in 2005 that had billions of dollars in giveaways to the oil companies and others. And Senator McCain is offering more of the same with $4 billion more in tax breaks to the oil companies. So, when you look past the words and actually examine their deeds, both Senator Obama and Senator McCain have sided with dick Cheney and with big oil.

See, I think there's a better way to go. I voted against that 2005 energy bill because I believed that it would lead to higher prices. And I have been putting forth plans that would require the oil companies to give up their tax subsidies and put that money into a strategic energy fund that would be used to finance alternative clean renewable energy.

And I've also advocated for a windfall profits tax on the oil companies. I think it is time. You cannot convince me that there is not a lot of excess in those profits. When ExxonMobil just, one company, makes $40 billion in profits last year, I think that, you know, deserves to have the government investigating it and looking very closely. That's why I've also advocate forward a number of years that we give more power to government agencies, like the Federal Trade Commission, to examine why the gas prices and the oil prices are so high. Clearly what is going on deserves further scrutiny. A lot of it doesn't make sense to be just blunt about it.

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