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CNN & ATL Dig Out from Tornado Damage; Obama's Church Defends Its Pastor; Bill Clinton in New Orleans

Aired March 16, 2008 - 18:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: As we begin this newscast tonight, we're broadcasting from inside the CNN Center here in Atlanta. And the key word here is "inside."

You see that hole in the ceiling? That's where the rain is coming in from. It's proof that this building has been compromised and that's why the public is being told to stay away.

There's something else I want to show you as we get going here. Take a look at this. These are roof tiles that have been falling off of the CNN Center. They've been falling 14 floors and they are heavy.

I want to take you outside the CNN building now to downtown Atlanta. In fact, what I'm going to show you is another Atlanta landmark. This is the famed Centennial Park just outside the CNN Center in downtown Atlanta. Those Olympic torches you see right there, withstood a terrorist bombing in 1996. Last night they could not withstand an F2 tornado.

Let me show you what else we're finding right outside our door, building after building with immense structural damage. We'll tally it up for you. Let's go back inside.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And as we begin, the first thing I want to do is show some you more of the visuals of this damage. It's now estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars left by one powerful tornado that struck uniquely right in the heart of downtown Atlanta.

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue spent the day surveying the damage that looks like this in some places. The EF2 twister cut a six-mile path -- it has now been determined, a six-mile path of destruction through downtown and several historic Atlanta neighborhoods.

The governor and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin are declaring the area now a state of emergency. CNN's Cal Perry is in downtown Atlanta.

Cal, isn't this really about getting in there now and trying to figure out what's safe, what's not safe before people get back to work tomorrow?

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. You're exactly right, Rick. That's exactly right. It's about allowing the streets to be cleared so that people can come in and they can go to their places of work. And for a lot of people it's about coming in and finding out what kind of damage they're going to see when they get here.

And a lot of these high-rise buildings, we're seeing a lot of wind damage. In the skyline of Atlanta, you're seeing holes in the buildings where windows used to be. Now police are trying to get the streets clear so that tomorrow morning when it hits rush hour, people can get into work, they can go where they work. They can see the damage, they can then assess it and carry on from there.

It's very different downtown here where I am now than where I was yesterday, Rick, when were talking. I was in the neighborhood of Cabbagetown, which is just to the east. And what they're dealing with there is a lot of residential damage, because of course down there you've got a lot of trees that were planted about 100 years ago.

You don't have that in the downtown area, so it's really about getting these streets cleared. Now getting those streets cleared, the police have said they really don't want people to come to the downtown area.

If you don't have to come downtown, they're saying, don't come downtown, let us get on top of this situation, let us clear these streets so we can get down and dirty, we can get the streets cleared, we can get the glass off the streets, that way the cars can move freely, tomorrow morning people can get to work.

But I have to tell you, Rick, I have been standing out here all day. People have been talking pictures. People want to see this damage for themselves.

SANCHEZ: I was amazed yesterday. I've covered Andrew, I've covered Katrina, I've covered a lot of different hurricanes. In some places this looks, perhaps not as widespread, but in very many ways, a lot like hurricane damage. And I'm guessing that this thing is going to be in the millions of dollars when they're all said and done.

What are they looking at now for estimates on costs to put it all back together again, Cal?

PERRY: One of the problems that I think local officials are having here is there's a lot of unknowns. How much money did they lose on SEC Basketball Tournament being moved? How much money have they lost on these hotels? I'm staying at the Omni Hotel, as you know, and I was moved.

Towers, I think a lot of guests are being moved around town into different hotels. They're talking in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But it's a really hard thing to get their thumb. And I think it's going to be a few weeks before we're going to get a final number.

Now I can tell you, and, Rick, you know Atlanta as well as I do that people here, they know how to get by. We met a man who owns a T- shirt store and he's selling T-shirts that say "Survived the Tornado." That said, they're calling the "Wind Tournament." And he has made all of these T-shirts. He's making a killing on these T-shirts.

Here's what he had to say to me when I visited his store.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE COHEN, MANAGER, COLLINS DIGITAL IMAGING: Well, we survived. And when you survive and everybody is well, sell them a shirt to let them know that you survived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: So there you go, Rick. They survived to live another day and he's making some money off of it, he's trying to cut even, but he thinks he's probably going to make some money off of these T-shirts -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: As always, two ways to look at things. Cal, thanks so much. We'll be getting back to you.

The real stress test though for these buildings that Cal and I were just talking about is not so much done by man but by Mother Nature. Think about it. When will the next batch of storms that create rain and wind to test these buildings' structures? To see just how compromised they are, let's go to Jacqui Jeras to get information on that.

I guess the question is, when will another severe system come through to test these buildings that were so damaged this weekend, Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, possibly as early as Tuesday night and into Wednesday. We've got another storm system right now that's developing in the Four Corners region and will gradually be moving on off to the east and could be affecting north Georgia, places like the Carolinas then Tuesday night and into Wednesday. And yes, there's the threat of damaging winds and potentially tornadoes. We've got a good two full days to work on that clean up.

Now let's talk about that storm system. This is what we're expecting by Wednesday and where we expect it to be, Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte, up here towards the Virginia Beach area. And it will hit the lower Mississippi River Valley on Tuesday and then we'll be looking at the Plains states, Texas, Oklahoma, on up towards Kansas City, and that is going to be an event for you by tomorrow.

Now, one of the big threats that we're dealing with at this hour with the storm is the threat of high winds across parts of New Mexico into West Texas where we have a high threat of fire danger. As the storm moves north and eastward for tonight, we'll be watching the snow moving in across parts of Colorado. That could be very heavy, especially for you folks in the Denver area, 5 to 10 inches expected by this time tomorrow afternoon evening.

So a big storm for the Plains states, could see some flooding there, and a big severe event again, Rick, very likely over the next two to three days.

SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks for checking on that for us, Jacqui.

The rare Atlanta tornado was not the only disaster this weekend. We have full coverage of a massive crane collapse in New York City that had both the mayor and the new governor there -- well, new tomorrow, anyway, had them both scurrying. Four construction workers are dead, other people still missing, it is, in a word, a mess and we're going to take you there live in just a little bit.

Developing story that we're following for you now. We have new information coming now from Trinity United Church of Christ. That is the church of Reverend Jeremiah Wright who has been said to have made some controversial comments that may be costing Barack Obama on the campaign trail. New information on this story. Let's go to Suzanne Malveaux. She's putting it all together for us.

What are we getting, Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, you're definitely getting some pushback here from the church. They're calling this really a character assassination of Reverend Jeremiah Wright. There are a number of other black ministers too who have expressed a great deal of concern and anger towards Barack Obama for denouncing his former pastor's words.

This is a statement that has been released from the United Church of Christ. "It's time for us to say no to these attacks and declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends."

They also go on to say as well: "It's an indictment on Dr. Wright's ministerial legacy to present his global ministry within a 15- or 30-second sound bite."

Now as you know, Rick, the controversy over some statements that were made by Reverend Wright that criticized the U.S. government that Barack Obama has repudiated over the last couple of days, he has done so on the campaign trail as well as in interviews, saying this is a man who he has had a relationship for some nearly 20 years.

He officiated his wedding, he baptized his two daughters, but he says that he does not agree with some of the statements from his former pastor. Let's take a listen to how he has responded to this controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I strongly condemn the statements that have been shown on the tape. I have to confess that those are not statements that I ever heard when I was sitting in the pews at this church.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Barack Obama, really, his aides say, is trying to put this behind him and move forward to stay on message, that this really is quite a challenge and a frustration for the campaign at this moment. Barack Obama saying that he would like voters to look at him and to listen to his words and to judge him for what he says and what he does, not what his pastor is saying or doing.

Now, the church is coming back, saying that his pastor has done an incredible amount of work and service, that he is very well- respected. Barack Obama really doing a delicate balancing act, if you will, Rick, because he has also said that this is -- his former pastor is a biblical scholar, that he's well respected, but he also makes -- wants to make it clear that he's repudiating some of those more controversial comments.

And, Rick, I have to tell you, the political fallout, what is the question here? You know, is it going to continue? We really don't know, but I have spoken with some black ministers who are very angry with Barack Obama and want to make it very clear that they are denouncing -- they are denouncing his stand, they are denouncing him. They feel that he has thrown his former pastor under the bus. They are not too happy, not too pleased with him.

So we'll see if there's any kind of political fallout when it comes to the African-American community, which Barack Obama obviously has enjoyed quite a deal -- quite a bit of support up until this point -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Is this not a real tightrope act for Barack Obama? We understand what the church is saying. In fact, I'm reading from their release. They say, look, this guy has preached 2,792 minutes on Sunday -- 207,000, I should say, I read that wrong, and we're just picking out certain comments that he made that sound incendiary.

At the same time, I think the question here, is it not, Suzanne, is some people would look at these chosen comments as heated social commentary and nothing more. Others will look at it as hate speech and that's the fine line that Barack Obama has to walk.

MALVEAUX: Well, I think you're right. Because on the one hand, there are some people who are looking at this, at this association between Barack Obama and his pastor and believe that it is politically damaging. There are others who are looking at this in a very different way, a totally different way, saying, look, how is it that you take sermons and speeches from a pastor, black liberation theology and somehow demonize this? That this is something that it should be able to be expressed very openly, very freely within the churches and that this is something that's not necessarily a bad thing, that this is really an opening for discussion when it comes to race relations.

I did hear yesterday, and Barack Obama in his speech in Indiana, that he was trying to turn the corner here and what he was saying is that, well, let's take this occasion, let's take this controversy and let's use it as a way to discussing race relations, as a way of how the pastor sees it, of how he sees it, and perhaps once again a call for unity. If he can do that successfully here, then I think his campaign moves on.

If that is something that voters do not accept, then he may still have a problem here, because he may still end up answering a lot of these questions and not being able to get on to the message of the economy in Iraq and other types of things.

SANCHEZ: But here's the thing. How much criticism do we expect that he'll get from those inside the African-American church community and won't reasonable minds prevail and say he has got to play this politically? He has to be careful what he says, right?

MALVEAUX: Well, Rick, we really don't know yet. I mean, that really is the question. How is this going to unfold? Is it going to catch fire here? I mean, you have some very prominent black ministers who are coming out, are speaking publicly, and are certainly quietly behind the scenes talking about this.

So there's an awful lot of buzz. There's an awful lot of frustration. And I think that is the question. And we really don't know the answers to that question yet, is whether or not that really is going to make a larger impact on the African-American vote in the community to say, look, here's somebody who perhaps we don't trust or we don't know, so we're going to pull our support, or is it -- are they going to make the political calculus that maybe these are things that he needs to say or that he is saying because he does have to satisfy many, many different groups, many different types of voters?

So we'll have to see how it plays out -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: You know what's interesting about this, at the same time, and it's ironic, as it always is in situations like this, by them putting out this statement that you just reported to us, they're, I suppose, somewhat adding fuel to this fire. They're giving the story legs, as we say in this business.

While at the same time this week, there was another controversy involving Geraldine Ferraro, inferring, some thought, that perhaps Barack Obama is doing as well as he's doing because he is black. That story seems to be somewhat muffled by this one, ironically enough.

MALVEAUX: Well, and what we're finding now is that Senator Clinton enjoys a brief respite, if you will, because she was embroiled in a conflict over Geraldine Ferraro's comments, as we know. She now is moving on. She's talking about the Iraq War, she's talking about the economy.

What the Obama campaign would like to do is to do the same and to move on beyond this controversy, to get on to the business of talking about the issues. We'll see how long this lasts, if this is something that is going to get bigger and is going to play out.

I think one of the other things that they're going to be looking at and perhaps are concerned about is whether or not there will be more tapes they realize that could surface from Reverend Wright that may again create this kind of back and forth, these questions over his own ideas about faith or his own ideas about patriotism, his own ideas about the country.

And they're going to have to continue to reassert these are his views, these are the pastor's views. I think what you're hearing from the church, the United Church of Christ, is that they're quite concerned that they're being unfairly caricatured in this whole scenario.

So it is -- it's a very sensitive issue, it's a very delicate issue, and obviously there's potential for a great political fallout. We'll see how much this develops over the next couple of days and whether or not they can move beyond it. Because it may come back again as more tapes surface.

SANCHEZ: Or come back to bite him, as they say. Suzanne, good reporting. You know what we should do for our viewers, and this is for your benefit at home, Suzanne and I have been having this conversation about Reverend Wright's comments, but it just dawned on me that you at home haven't heard many of them.

If we get a chance before the end of this newscast, and certainly tonight at 10:00 p.m., we're going to get those comments, string them together so you could hear what Reverend Wright's comments actually are, and you can decide for yourself. Is it rhetoric, is it social commentary, or is it hate-filled as some are charging?

We'll do that for you as we stay with this story throughout the night here on CNN. Our thanks once again to our political team and certainly to Suzanne Malveaux for her insight. In just a little bit, I'm going to be talking with a woman who was born and bred in politics. She is walking in her famous mom's shoes, Cokie Roberts' footsteps. The voice of XM Radio's "POTUS '08" -- POTUS stands for President of the United States, by the way, Rebecca Roberts is going to join me in the NEWSROOM. We'll hear her thoughts on the future of the Democratic Party. That's coming up at the half hour point.

Well, Senator John McCain is way off the campaign trail this weekend. He's visiting Baghdad today. It's Senator McCain's first visit to Iraq since he became the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. He and two other congressional leaders are meeting with top Iraqi government officials and the U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus.

McCain's critics wonder if he's exploiting the trip for political gain. But McCain says, no, he is there for legitimate reasons as a member of Armed Services Committee. The delegation's other stops include Jordan, Israel, Great Britain, and France.

Pushing to rebuild. Bill Clinton in the Big Easy. And he's trying to create a more green future for the crippled city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We welcome you back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez. Crews are still searching for people apparently missing in the rubble of that townhouse in New York City. A giant construction crane suddenly toppled on to the Upper East Side brownstone yesterday, killing four construction workers.

It was a horrible scene. Two dozen other people were apparently injured. Joining me now live from the accident site is New York 1 reporter Lindley Pless.

Lindley, what's the latest on this investigation? What are we hearing?

LINDLEY PLESS, NY1 REPORTER: Well, Rick, as you can see, it has been more than 24 hours and there is still quite a scene behind me. This crane collapse is considered to be one of the worst construction accidents ever here in New York City. I want you to get a look at what it's really looking like right now.

The crane is still pressed up against a building there. The city has shut down a four-block radius around the site of the collapse as rescue crews still work furiously trying to dig out two construction workers and one female tenant who are trapped under the debris.

Many fear the death toll from this accident could rise to seven if those three people aren't found soon. When the giant crane fell, damaging three high rise buildings and totally demolishing a brownstone, four construction workers were killed. This afternoon those workers were identified as Wayne Bleidner, Brad Cohen, and two men from New York City named Anthony Mazza and Aaron Stephens. Seventeen others, including many firefighters, were injured as well.

Right now this is considered to be an active investigation as the city tries to figure out what caused this crane to come down, whether it was human error or mechanical failure. This afternoon New York City Michael Bloomberg came forward to say this crane passed inspections just a day before it came crashing down.

Despite that, he says that really the way that they handle these building inspections is not going to be changed in the near future. Clearly, a lot of confusion still here in New York City -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Apparently they did have those 13 citations, which makes one wonder. But I'm struck by something you said about the three people that they're searching for. Are they possibly still alive? And perhaps to be a little more direct, have they heard any signs of life from them at this point?

PLESS: Well, at this point, no signs of life, I mean, the rescue crews -- they are still saying this is still a rescue mission and they're hoping to bring those people out alive. The real issue is, yesterday, there were so many helicopters and so much big machinery here digging and trying to get a sense of what was going on. And at one point the rescue crews asked the helicopters -- in particular, the news helicopters to back off so they could listen to signs of life.

So far, it's not really clear if they've heard anyone, but they will continue to search this evening and straight through the night if they have to.

SANCHEZ: Well, our thoughts and prayers are with the family members of those. It must be a terrible ordeal for them. Lindley, thanks so much for bringing us up to date on that. If you have got any new information, let our producers know and we'll get you right back on the air.

Former President Clinton, Brad Pitt, hundreds of volunteers spent the weekend working in New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward. We know that place well. They are building affordable houses for people who lost their homes after Katrina, thanks to a foundation that's headed by Brad Pitt. Our Sean Callebs is working this turf, as he has in the past, and he's good enough to join us now to fill us in on what the former president is doing.

Sean, pick it up for us, if you would.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rick, how is that for some drawing power? You have Brad Pitt, international movie star, Bill Clinton, of course, known the world around, both of them bringing their focus on charitable efforts to New Orleans this weekend.

We're standing in basically the heart of the Lower Ninth Ward. If you look behind me, it looks almost like just a big green field. This is my third spring here in this city. I can tell you, the first one, very little vegetation came back on the trees. Well, you can see, it is coming back.

Well, Brad Pitt's foundation is called Make It Right. His goal is to build 150 eco-friendly affordable homes for people in this area. Today a very ceremonial groundbreaking with President Clinton on hand. The president bringing his Global Initiative to New Orleans for the weekend. And his focus, on the nation's young, getting 600 college students from across the country here to get them motivated to give back to their communities.

Well, of course, you have the former president, his wife in the throes of a presidential campaign, you have to talk politics. We asked former President Bill Clinton if his role has changed in his wife's campaign since the South Carolina Primary. I had a chance to sit down with him one-on-one. Here's what Bill Clinton had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, no. First of all, what happened there is a total myth and a mugging. And I think it has been pretty well established. Charlie Rangel, the most important African-American official today, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in unequivocal terms in South Carolina that no one in our campaign played any race card. That we had some played against us, but we didn't play any.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: He says he'll be on the campaign trail. Rick, he says, basically the focus is his wife is going to go into the big cities, the heart of areas and she'll do the heavy lifting, the serious campaigning, and he'll be working kind of the outskirts, trying to always drum up support. But what a great weekend for this city, this beleaguered city having so much positive attention and they hope, Rick, to have the first of the 150 homes built by the end of the summer. So we'll keep watch on that.

SANCHEZ: It's good to see. Always good to see you as well, Sean. Thanks so much.

Taking it to court. Could a lawsuit help decide the Democratic presidential nominee? Courts deciding an election, can you imagine that? No.

Also, this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVORY AUSTIN II, TARIKA WILSON'S HALF BROTHER: ... about it is unjustified. I mean, how do you justify shooting a baby? How can you even...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: A mother and a child shot in an Ohio police raid. Uh- oh, who's at fault?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT, PASTOR (RET.), TRINITY UNITED CHURCH O CHRIST: ... wants us to sing "God Bless America." No, no, no. Not "God Bless America, God damn America! That's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That's one of the moments in the sermons from Jeremiah Wright that's part of the controversy that we have been talking about. Obviously, of all that we have listened to here at CNN, that's the one with the terminology of G.D. America that has probably been most criticized of all the comments that have been made by the reverend.

Barack Obama trying to stay on message after this volatile week. His camp now pressing Hillary Clinton on being secretive, going so far as to call her a veteran of nondisclosure. The Clinton campaign wasted little time firing back by the way. It claims that the Obama camp is increasingly more negative despite its message of hope.

But the party splinters go far beyond that. Case in point, Michigan and Florida. Let's start with Florida and Victor DiMaio, ever heard of him? Probably not. A federal appeals panel is now getting ready to make his acquaintance tomorrow and Democrats all over the country are going to be watching this one very careful. Mr. DiMaio is suing the Democratic National Committee in a move that could help decide who could becomes the party's presidential nominee. The Florida man claims the DNC is trampling on his constitutional rights because it refuses to seat Florida's 210 delegates at this summer's national convention. The DNC's take, they're not budging.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: You cannot violate the rules of the process and then expect to get forgiven for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right. He is why Howard Dean is so ticked off about this. Florida and Michigan were told that they could not move their primaries to a different date. But they did it anyway. Clear and simple, they broke the rules.

But Florida Democrats argue, it's not our fault. They say that their Republican governor and legislature led them in that direction, essentially made that move. So while Florida's sequel is up in the air, Michigan is trying to head towards some kind of resolution.

Democratic Party leaders there are fine-tuning a proposal to hold a second primary June 3rd. But in a race so close, simple agreements can be hard to come by. Hillary Clinton won Florida and Michigan in January. Her campaign says, look, the party should honor both of those results. Barack Obama's camp says, my name wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan, how can you count that?

As for cost, Michigan democrats say that the party would reimburse the state if it does hold a second primary. The state legislature is expected to vote on this proposal possibly sometime this week. And we'll be following it for you here at CNN.

She's from a family that knows the game of politics. Coming up in just two minutes, we're going to talk with Rebecca Roberts about what type of toll all of this infighting might end up taking on the Democratic Party itself if they don't somehow put the house back together again. We'll have her for you, her smiling face, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. A lot of politics on this day. You've all seen those hallmark moments at various debates where Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama speak so highly of one another, when they're in each other's presence. Just like we've seen those other moments as well, the one when they're not in each other's presence that don't seem so cozy.

And in a squeaky close race, infighting within the rank and file, both sides' officials saying somewhat snippety things about each other, and what do you get? The makings for certainly a great discussion on the future of the Democratic Party and whether they'll be able to unite once again. Rebecca Roberts of XM Radio's non-stop election channel joins me now for this one. It's called "POTUS," by the way. Great name. President of the United States.

Rebecca, thanks so much for being with us. Listen, I've got to start you off with this. We're just getting news now that this Trinity United Church of Christ which is where Jeremiah Wright preaches is angry about the way this story is being treated. There's even some word that some African-American church leaders are angry at Barack Obama.

If so, wouldn't this be a real double whammy for Barack Obama? I mean, if he's hit from the African-American side, and also hit from the other side from people who say, what this reverend is saying is hateful, could he be in big trouble?

REBECCA ROBERTS, XM RADIO'S "POTUS '08": Well, he's having to walk an incredibly fine tightrope. I mean, even before this statement from Trinity Church saying that his language was too strong in denouncing the Reverend Wright, if he distances himself totally, if he repudiates the man who he has credited with bringing him to Christianity, this is the man who married Michelle and Barack Obama, baptized his children, Barack Obama can't be the guy who repudiates someone who was that important in his life regardless of what the church says back.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: So he has been already on a tightrope.

SANCHEZ: You know, what is interesting is, he has been saying something that a lot of people would say in a situation. This is like everybody who has an uncle that comes to a party and from time to time will say something that we're a little embarrassed by, but we're not going to disown the man. He's like family.

ROBERTS: Right. And everything that voters love about Barack Obama makes him not the guy who turns his back on family. So even without this statement, he couldn't go all the way in repudiating Reverend Wright. And with this statement, he sure can't go all the way.

On the other hand, this comes on the heels of the Geraldine Ferraro comments where he was very strong in asking Hillary Clinton to denounce her, and so he has to do something by way of denunciation. So it's a very, very fine line to walk.

SANCHEZ: You know, it's interesting that Hillary's surrogates are not necessarily going after Barack Obama as a result of Reverend Wright's comments.

ROBERTS: They don't need to. They don't need to. This can be a distraction for the Obama campaign entirely. Hillary Clinton can go campaign in Pennsylvania and talk about the economy and foreign policy and this can be something that the Obama campaign has to deal with entirely on their own.

It's a waste of time and energy for the Clinton campaign to pile on. SANCHEZ: Let me ask you a question about what happens in the end, because you do have two campaigns that are going after each other and they have to. I mean, they're both trying to get the same thing. There's only one possible outcome in this, and it's either going to be Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, it can't be both. But in the end, will the party be able to put itself back together after all the infighting?

ROBERTS: I think that depends on a lot of factors between now and the general election. Some of it is who ultimately gets the nomination, some of it is how it gets there. There's already a sense among a lot of Barack Obama supporters, particularly African-American voters, that if Hillary Clinton gets this nomination, she will have cheated. She will have cheated by either making it about the superdelegates, or by doing some kind of a revote in Florida and Michigan.

And this is already a community that is very sensitive to being disenfranchised and having their votes swept under the rug to some degree. I think African-American voters being angry at the Democratic Party and feeling like their voices are ignored is a long term, dangerous thing for the party. If this can be resolved without alienating that voting group, then you've got a different situation.

SANCHEZ: We'll be watching it. Rebecca Roberts, does it bother you if I say, following in her mother's footsteps?

ROBERTS: Absolutely not. I'm my mother's biggest fan.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.

ROBERTS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: XM Radio's non-stop election channel, "POTUS." We thank you.

The Democratic Party could make history by delivering its first female or black president, a move that could push diversity to the forefront of many conversations. But how's diversity in the entertainment industry? Still to come, we've had black idols, blonde idols, talking about "American Idols," but is America ready for an openly gay, gay "American Idol"? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez. Here's one you've got to see. From obese to triathlete. One woman's amazing and inspiring story. Here's our Dr. Sanjay Gupta in the latest in his "Fit Nation "series.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Ironman Triathalon, swim 2.4 miles, bike 112, and run a full marathon. It's grueling for anyone. But at 348 pounds, 29-year-old Sherry Coulombe never dreamed she could even come close. SHERRY COULOMBE, TRIATHLETE: My life was miserable. I couldn't walk down the hallway without losing my breath.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, there's a risk of getting...

GUPTA: Her weight also interfered with her ability to get pregnant.

COULOMBE: That was the turning point.

GUPTA: She underwent gastric bypass surgery at DeKalb Medical Center in Atlanta where doctors shortened her digestive tract to limit her calorie intake.

COULOMBE: At the time when I had the surgery, I was 25. And I didn't think I was going to make it to my 30th birthday.

GUPTA: She lost more than 150 pounds in nine months, but it wasn't easy.

COULOMBE: You know, it's hard to go from eating a big plate of food mentally to eating something that fits inside of a Dixie Cup.

GUPTA: And there can be major risks involved with the surgery, such as anemia, vitamin deficiencies, and dumping syndrome where the body passes food too quickly, causing nausea and weakness. Rarely bothered by side effects, Sherry is now almost 170 pounds lighter and an accomplished triathlete, something she never imagined possible.

COULOMBE: I'm still the same person, just a more confident person, a more active person, and a more healthy person.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We could get news of an indictment in the coming days from a grand jury hearing a police shooting in Lima, Ohio. The case was about use of force. It's about an alleged pattern of police abuse, it's about race.

Here's CNN's Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tanea Wilson remembers the last time she saw her sister Tarika at her house in Lima, Ohio, on January 4th.

TANEA WILSON, TARIKA WILSON'S SISTER: Talked to her at 2:30 after the kids got out of school and that was the last time I ever talked to my sister again.

CARROLL: That night instead of hearing laughter at the Wilson home, it was Tanea's cries of grief. A police SWAT team stormed the home, armed with guns and an arrest warrant for Tarika Wilson's boyfriend, Anthony Terry (ph), suspected of dealing drugs. But during the raid, police shot and killed Wilson, her 14-month-old baby boy, who the family says was in his mother's arms, was shot in the shoulder, his fingers severed.

The suspect, Anthony Terry, was in the house and was arrested unharmed. The raid, now under state and federal investigation.

AUSTIN: Everything about it says it's unjustified. I mean, how do you justify shooting a baby? How can you even question that?

CARROLL: The shooting has raised questions about whether Lima, police used too much force and not enough judgment. Many in the town's African-American community say is the shooting is part of a pattern of police misconduct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody in here raise your hand if you know somebody that has been profiled in this community.

CARROLL: The outrage seen in protest marches and town hall meetings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because if we don't stop them now, they'll be back again. And this time I'm not going to let them kill nobody that I love.

CARROLL: The county sheriff, whose department was not involved in the raid, attended this town hall meeting and criticized Lima Police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is some systemic problems that have to be addressed in the city of Lima. There are a lot of good officers here, but there are a few of them that are ruining it for all of us.

CARROLL: "Keeping Them Honest," we wanted to know how police and the city were responding to the shooting. The city's police chief defended his officers in a news conference.

CHIEF GREG GARLOCK, LIMA, OHIO, POLICE: They were concerned about the fact that there could be children inside and they were taking every precaution when they made entry.

CARROLL: He declined to talk to us, so we turned to Lima's mayor.

(on camera): Does this seem like a justified shooting to you?

MAYOR DAVID BERGER, LIMA, OHIO: It's impossible for anybody, myself included, to know what happened. It's impossible to make the judgment until the facts are known.

CARROLL (voice-over): And what about the sheriff, referring to systemic problems.

(on camera): Do you think the criticism is valid? BERGER: I think the sheriff has his own political agenda that he has at work here. He has made it pretty clear that he intends to run for the mayor's job.

CARROLL (voice-over): The officer who police say fired his weapon, Sergeant Joseph Chebalier (ph), a 31-year veteran, has been placed on paid administrative leave. It turns out he wrote the department's policy on the use of force.

The FBI and Ohio's attorney general are conducting investigations independent of a police internal inquiry.

MARC DANN, OHIO ATTORNEY GENERAL: We're trying to figure out who did what, who was responsible, whether there's criminal responsibility.

CARROLL: Lima's NAACP president isn't confident about the outcome of the investigations.

JASON UPTHEGROVE, PRES., LIMA, OHIO, NAACP: Did the baby look like a .9 millimeter? Did the baby look like a machete? I mean, what are they going to say?

CARROLL: Tanea Wilson waits for answers, every day a struggle.

WILSON: No more phone calls just to say, I love you, or just to say, I was thinking of you, I miss you, come see me and my kids. None of that. We don't have that anymore.

CARROLL: She says charging the officers with a crime is the only way to bring justice to her sister.

Jason Carroll, CNN, Lima, Ohio.

SANCHEZ: What a story, what a controversy. We'll follow it for you, tuning in to diversity in America, we could be ready to make history with the first female or black president, but in the entertainment world, diversity may not be that far advanced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM VERRAROS, FMR. CONTESTANT: When I was on the show back in 2002, I was scared to death about anybody finding out my sexuality because I thought that it would affect votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We've had black idols, big idols, blonde idols, but is America ready for a gay idol, openly gay idol? We talk diversity with columnist "Ask a White Guy."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: This report that draws so much conversation, diversity playing such a big role in the political arena. We realize how diversity impacts other facets of our lives as well and whether we're ready for it in some ways. Even something as simple as a television show.

Here's CNN's Kareen Wynter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We've had African-American idols and we've had Caucasian idols. We've had big ones and blonde ones. But is America ready for a different kind of idol?

VERRAROS: When I was on the show back in 2002, I was scared to death about anybody finding out my sexuality because I thought that it would affect votes.

WYNTER: Jim Verraros was in the top 10 of "Idol's" first season. He says others on the show knew he was gay, but he didn't come out publicly until after being voted off. Danny Noriega was voted off the show two weeks ago, right after a video surfaced on the Internet where he rapped about being gay.

Noriega has never come out and say publicly that he is gay. And this week, David Hernandez got the fewest votes and the boot. The Arizona native made headlines when it came out that he'd once been a stripper in a club that catered to a mostly male clientele.

GEOFF MAYFIELD, BILLBOARD MAGAZINE: Someone could have that occupation and that setting and not necessarily be gay.

WYNTER: FOX says they "do not comment on the personal lives of the contestants." Many "American Idol" fans say Hernandez and Noriega's final performances were not their best. Hernandez tells CNN he thinks he has been judged by his singing. As for his personal life, he says, "you want to keep some stuff to yourself."

Clay Aiken, the runner-up for season two, has dealt with countless questions about his sexual orientation, as he told CNN in 2003.

CLAY AIKEN, "AMERICAN IDOL" RUNNER-UP: Because I'm a mama's boy and because I'm not sleeping with everybody and all in the tabloids because dating X, Y, and Z, you know, they make assumptions.

WYNTER: But in 2008, should a performer's private life be anybody's business but their own?

VERRAROS: Regardless of who we choose to love, if I can sing well and I can sell my talent to America, shouldn't that come first and foremost, is the question that I have.

WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Tricky subject. And obviously, look, there's two schools of thought on this. In fact, we picked this item up yesterday. This week in Oklahoma, a state lawmaker, Republican, made her thoughts known about homosexuality in a very open and direct way. I'm going to read it to you.

This is Representative Sally Kern. She says: "Homosexuality is the biggest threat to our nation, even more so than terrorism or Islam."

You might not agree with her, but she's probably not alone. That sentiment exists. Let's bring in Luke Visconti, he writes a column for DiversityInc Magazine called "Ask the White Guy."

A couple of questions for you, first of all, your reaction to the comment by that lawmaker, which seems in its face to be hateful, but underneath it, there may be a sentiment that's expressed by a lot of people who just won't come out and say it, right?

LUKE VISCONTI, DIVERSITYINC MAGAZINE: Oh, I don't know about that. I think what she said is so over the top that it was ridiculous. How could you possibly justify saying something like that?

SANCHEZ: I guess the way I should phrase the question is this way. There are people in America who are uncomfortable with the idea, for example, of gay marriages, and they feel, to a certain extent like perhaps the media, which has embraced gayness, is trying to give them something they don't want.

VISCONTI: I think gay marriage, you use the word marriage, and there's a problem with that. And that is marriage is a religious term. And I think you have to respect people whose views of religion don't include two men or two women becoming married.

SANCHEZ: That's the point. And I guess it comes down to, she sounds hateful.

VISCONTI: Right.

SANCHEZ: Is -- there's a difference between sounding hateful and saying, I'm uncomfortable with that, because it's something I don't know much about.

VISCONTI: Well, and the answer is -- by the way, is that everybody should be civil-unioned in this country, hetero or homosexual couples should be civil-unioned, then you go to your church or synagogue or temple and get married. That's the answer. The answer is not limiting civil or human rights to one group or another group based on something like orientation.

SANCHEZ: How polarizing -- this is something we don't talk about enough perhaps in this medium. And it's a scary topic. But you know, let's direct -- let's go after this thing directly. How polarizing is the issue of homosexuality still, right now, in this country? Does it split us down the middle?

VISCONTI: Rick, I think that if you look at generational differences and if you look at the millennial generation, they really don't care. And I think the older you get in the population, the more people have an issue with this. And that's directly relative to how gay and lesbian people have come out of the closet in the last 30 years.

SANCHEZ: Well, hold on, hold on. Is it regional? And by regional, I mean, the difference between folks who live in big cities like New York and the rest of the big cities around the country are basically live and let live types, or the people who live in rural parts of America and specifically in the southern part of the United States?

VISCONTI: I think it's absolutely regional. I think we have to respect people in those areas. But the problem is that you can't deny civil and human rights. That's just not part of being an American. I also think that this issue is going to go away. Both presidential -- Democratic presidential candidates have vowed to end "don't ask, don't tell."

So in the future when the veteran comes home having served openly gay, has a Combat Infantry Badge...

SANCHEZ: Good point.

VISCONTI: ... and a Purple Heart and a Silver Star, they're not going to be discriminated against...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: It reminds me of that movie where the secret agent who saves the president's life turns out to be a "gay American," as one of our governors has said in the past. Hey, great discussion, I wish we could continue. We should have more of these. Luke Visconti, who says in his column, just "Ask the White Guy," appreciate it.

VISCONTI: Thanks, Rick.

SANCHEZ: DiversityInc. Well, that's all the time we have for this hour. Coming up next, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT."

And join me and my panel guests tonight when we're going to be exploring several topics, including Barack Obama's fiery pastor leaving his campaign and his church now firing back at the media with his press release, which essentially says you're picking on us and it ain't right. We'll have that for you right here 10:00 p.m. I'm Rick Sanchez. We'll look for you then.

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