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CNN Newsroom
Grammy Winner Fights For Life; Barack Obama Back on the Campaign Trail
Aired March 26, 2008 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of NEWSROOM starts right now.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: No loose ends, no loose wires. That's the goal of snap inspections at the nation's largest airline. If you got canceled or bumped today, that's certainly may be why.
A new surge in Iraq, of violence. Government troops take on Shiite militants and vice versa. Could a seven-month-old cease-fire be the next casualty?
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. My partner, Kyra Phillips, is on assignment in Baghdad.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The U.S. military blames rogue Shiite elements supported by Iran for more than a dozen mortar explosions and rocket attacks on the so- called International Zone of Baghdad, also known as the Green Zone. Some Americans are hurt, and we are told these attacks are related to street-fighting in Basra hundreds of miles away.
Let's get right to it now in Baghdad. Kyra Phillips joins with the very latest -- Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And we're not just talking about Basra, but other Shia areas throughout Iraq right now.
At least 100 people have been reported dead in what has become a serious threat to the stability of Iraq right now. The battle is among Iraqi forces, hard-line Shiite Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army militia, rogue forces supported by Iran, and criminal gangs.
Now, my military sources tell me that these mortar and rocket attacks that you just talked about struck the International Zone, already killing one person, well, that they are directly related to the fighting in Basra. The attacks they say a message to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to pull his Iraqi forces out of Basra.
Why is this battle in Basra? Well, it is an oil-rich city that everyone wants a piece of. Oil means money for a war-torn country and they will do whatever it takes to get that money. Major General Kevin Bergner wanted to drive home that this is not a U.S. military campaign, strictly Iraqi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJOR GENERAL KEVIN J. BERGNER, SPOKESMAN, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE- IRAQ: Prime Minister Maliki specifically said that he took these actions, because -- quote -- "The lawlessness is going on under religious or political cover, along with smuggling of oil, weapons and drugs."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And, Don, al-Maliki has now given militants a 72-hour deadline to surrender their weapons or face prosecution.
LEMON: And, Kyra, I heard you talk about it a little bit earlier. You got an exclusive tour of Saddam Hussein's jail cell. Tell us about that.
PHILLIPS: That is right, something you will only see on CNN.
The last time the world saw Saddam Hussein alive was in court when he learned that he would be hanged for his crimes against humanity. Now for the first time, you will see how this fallen dictator lived out his final days. It was in a building that he built, but with a far different decor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAJOR GENERAL DOUG STONE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: So, he would be sitting here talking, I mean writing, and then on a very brief occasion talk to the two guards who were sitting out there.
PHILLIPS: What did the guard write about his final minutes before he went to the gallows?
STONE: In the last ten minutes while he was waiting he asked the guard, he said, I want to give you all my belongings. Please give those to the lawyer, and please tell my daughter that he is going to meet God with a clear conscience and that he's going as a soldier, sacrificing himself for Iraq and for his people.
PHILLIPS: So even minutes before he was about to die, he still totally believed in what he did his entire life?
STONE: There was never, as best we can tell, any inconsistency in his writings or his words that he was a soldier, that he was serving Iraq, that he was serving the people.
PHILLIPS: So this was the last photo that was taken of him.
STONE: This is the -- this is the last picture ever taken of Saddam Hussein alive that we're aware of.
PHILLIPS: Why is he so irritated? He looks angry.
STONE: He is angry. That's very perceptive. He actually is a guy that wouldn't normally look like that, but our guards noticed it. What had happened was the Iraqi guards had written his name on the back of this white board as if to take his picture in front of the words Saddam Hussein, and they had misspelled his name.
So, he turned to them and said, I am Saddam Hussein.
And our guards, understanding what just transpired, went up, erased the board, said look, We're going to give you the photo op, a photo, last photo. But we're just going to take that off the back. And then he stood at our request and had the picture taken.
This is the last thing that he ever read and was put up there actually for him. It's still up there. But it says, And for you, punishment in life, oh man of understanding, if you believe.
PHILLIPS: That's the last verse of the Koran he saw before he died.
STONE: That's right. That's exactly right. That's the last thing he saw. And then -- then he was swept away, and it's all history from there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And attached to that cell, a garden, where Saddam Hussein planted flowers and wrote in his journal.
In my full report tomorrow, you will hear some of those writings and poems for the very first time -- Don.
LEMON: It's interesting, Kyra, to see that last picture. And we all remember the last video of him was actually his hanging, which was on cell phone video, so an unusual end there, don't you think?
All right. We look forward to seeing your report tomorrow.
Kyra, thank you very much.
Elation in the shadow of the Taj Mahal. Just about an hour ago, a 2-year-old girl was rescued after more than a day at the bottom of a narrow well outside New Delhi, India. Actually, it was about two hours ago. The big moment aired live on our sister network CNN-IBN. The child, named Vandana, seems relatively unhurt.
And rescue workers had lowered water and food to her while they dug a well parallel to the well and tunneled across to reach her. The girl's parents are with her at the hospital now, where she is being checked out. We will have a live report in just a few minutes right here on CNN.
Those images remind many of us of baby Jessica's rescue back in 1987. Jessica McClure was the 18-month-old toddler who fell down a well in Midland, Texas. And for the next 58 hours, her rescue transfixed the nation. Jessica survived, but lost a toe and had to undergo more than a dozen operation afterwards.
She is now 22-years-old and says she can't remember anything about the ordeal. Two hundred flights canceled, that's the word today from American Airlines. The nation's largest carrier is reinspecting wiring on is MD-80 aircraft.
Reporter Brad Hawkins from our affiliate WFAA is covering developments for us at the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRAD HAWKINS, WFAA REPORTER (voice-over): This move is not as surprising as it might have been a few weeks ago, when you consider the increased scrutiny that the airlines and the FAA inspectors have been jointly enduring since the Southwest Airlines fine, the record fine, the maintenance violations.
Well, today, American Airlines did this unprecedented move. It voluntarily pulled all of these MD-80, so-called super 80 aircraft, out of the air to do some inspections. What they are most concerned about on this twin-engine aircraft is a bundle of wires and how it is fastened in the wheel well.
Apparently, the government regulations say that the wires need to be stapled or fastened every inch and interval. Well, those staples, according to American Airlines, on some of its aircraft could have approached an inch-and-a-quarter or an inch-and-a-half. And so that little bit of space has caused all of this trouble today, 26,000 passengers inconvenienced by what is now approaching about 200 canceled flights systemwide for American Airlines.
American has set up a re-accommodation policy. It's trying to get people on airplanes. And, fortunately, this being the middle of the work week, planes are not as full as they might be at the end of spring break or in summertime.
Reporting from DFW International Airport, Brad Hawkins, for CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Brad, thanks very much for that.
American Airlines is based in Ft. Worth. Reports say 50 of the 200 or so flights that were canceled today were originating at DFW Airport.
Endeavour is nearing the end of an exhausting mission. In less than four hours, the space shuttle and its crew are expected back at Kennedy Space Center.
And our John Zarrella beat them there.
Is everything a go, John? That is what I want to know.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Don, it really looks good here.
And you're right. Endeavour expected to land here about 7:06 p.m. Eastern time, just under four hours from now. If for the whatever reason they wave off on that first attempt, there is another landing opportunity here at 8:30, a little after 8:30 p.m. And if they don't go then, they will wait until tomorrow if they can't come home tonight.
But it all does look good, final preparations under way right now. In just a few minutes, they will be closing the payload bay doors on the shuttle, one of the first things they do as they make those final preparations to come on home. And the weather does look great here at the Space Center right now.
There are some clouds over the shuttle landing facility, but NASA's meteorology team expects that they will either burn off by the end of the day or move on out. Shuttle training aircraft has been circling overhead and checking out the cloud cover, but again, it looks really good here.
And you are absolutely right. This has been an exhausting 16-day mission, 12 days spent at the International Space Station where the astronauts performed many, many tasks, not the least of which were five space walks, tying a record for the most space walks.
During those five space walks, they installed the first component of the Japanese science module, and then the -- after that, they also worked on a robot called Dextre, a Canadian-built robot that is going to allow them to do all kinds of things outside the space station without actually putting humans out there, so that is another big milestone.
And last night, as the astronauts were circling overhead, I had an opportunity to spend some time chatting with them in space, and they talked to us about the mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will never forget the -- the time I spent outside, especially that last one for me, where (INAUDIBLE) put me around the arm for the whole day and the incredible views I got being out on this long I guess like on the end of a flyswatter, almost, out in space, looking down on everything and then moving pieces of the station around. It was pretty, pretty surreal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: Now, when they come home today, they are going to be flying in over central Cuba, then up the east coast of Florida for that landing again, Don, about 7:06 p.m. Eastern time here at the Kennedy Space Center -- Don.
LEMON: All right, we wish everything well with them.
John Zarrella, thank you very much, sir.
Falling home prices, how communities are left struggling with the ripple effect -- in the NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is going to be every officer.
Watch out!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And another crook proves that the line -- that the line between brazen and stupid is very, very thin, all while the cameras roll.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: After three days of R&R in the Caribbean, Barack Obama is back campaigning. The Democratic front-runner spoke a short time ago at a town hall meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina. He focused on the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: According to John McCain, he said that the best way for us to address the fact that millions of Americans are losing their homes is to just sit back and watch it happen.
In his entire speech yesterday, he offered not one policy, not one idea, not one bit of relief to the nearly 35,000 North Carolinians who are forced to foreclose on their dream over the last few months. Not one. Not a single idea. Not a single policy prescription. Now we have been down this road before. It's the road that George Bush has taken for the last eight years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: North Carolina's Democratic primary is May 6.
Presidential campaigns don't leave much family time for candidates, but, this evening, Hillary Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, will appear together in the nation's capital. The Clinton campaign calls it a march to victory rally.
Bill Clinton says his wife won't back down from a fight with Barack Obama, no matter how heated their battle for the Democratic nomination gets. The former president is on the trail today in West Virginia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have already had four people come up to me and say, tell her not to quit. And I want to tell you something. My family is not big on quitting. You have probably noticed that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The former president says that his wife is gaining on Obama and he is rejecting calls from some Democrats who say Hillary Clinton should bow out of the race to unify the party.
Settle or sue? Families of victims of the Virginia Tech shooting may have to make a decision soon. We have got the details for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS REPORT)
LEMON: Let's talk about now being driven to sell. Ford is selling its British-based Jaguar and Land Rover divisions to an Indian company. Cash-strapped and struggling, Ford is trying to rebuild on the strength of its main brands.
The deal nets Ford $1.7 billion, about a third of what it paid for Jaguar and Land Rover. The Indian company Tata indicates no major job cuts are in the works for Jaguar and Land Rover's 16,000 workers.
A Grammy-winning singer fights for his life in a Houston hospital. What doctors are saying about Emilio Navaira's recovery and the unusual technique they are using to try and save him. You don't want to miss that.
And, also, mission accomplished. Rescuers free a 2-year-old girl trapped in a well for more than a day. We will tell you how she is doing.
Well, its creator says the online game is just good fun. Critics say it sends the wrong message to young girls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The message is clear and simple. A girl's value is in her looks. And, if you are not happy with it, then fix the way you look. And that is the only way you will be happy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All about "Miss Bimbo" -- in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And we start with this: caught on camera, a look now at some of the video coming into the CNN NEWSROOM.
The first one is from Phoenix, a Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, Arizona. It is a doozy. A TV reporter interviews a police officer at the police department. Apparently, a thief thought that was the right time and place to steal a car. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SIRENS BLARING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. Well, the police caught the thief. He is facing a litany of charges.
Police in Massachusetts are on the lookout for a man caught by a surveillance camera swiping a donation box meant for a child in need of brain tumor surgery. Nice guy, huh?
The video shows the thief waiting for the most opportune moment -- we will get that video for you in a just a little bit, promise you that -- to steal $100 worth of charity. They have a good shot of him and his vehicle.
And then there is this one from California, where a 41-year-old woman -- that is the video we were showing you earlier -- faces charges of theft and contributing to the delinquency of minors after she is caught on camera taking herself and her three kids on an alleged shoplifting spree at a Sears store.
We will try to get that other video we promised you just a little bit later on here in the NEWSROOM.
Meantime, we move half a world away. There is elation in the shadow of the Taj Mahal today. Just about -- about two hours ago, a 2-year-old girl was rescued after more than a day at the bottom of a narrow well outside of New Delhi, India.
The big moment aired live on our sister network CNN-IBN. The child, named Vandana, seems relatively unhurt. Rescue workers had lowered water and food to her while they dug a hole parallel to the well and they tunneled across to reach her. The girl's parents are with her at the hospital where she's being checked out right now. And we wish her the very best.
Those images are eerily, eerily similar to -- remember this -- Baby Jessica's rescue back in 1987? Jessica McClure was the 18-month- old toddler who fell down a well in Midland, Texas, Jessica McClure and for the next 58 hours, her rescue transfixed a nation. Jessica survived, but lost a toe and had to undergo more than a dozen operations afterwards. She is now 22-years-old and says she can't remember anything about that ordeal.
When Baby Jessica fell into that abandoned well in Midland, Texas, for days she was everybody's baby.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The year was 1987. Eighteen-month old Jessica McClure fell into an open pipe just eight inches wide in her aunt's yard -- slipping far out of reach, more than 20 feet underground. Hundreds of volunteers struggled to free her. Crews dug a parallel shaft near the pipe, then a horizontal tunnel through the Texas bedrock, using heavy drilling equipment.
After two-and-a-half days they brought her up to the surface. She suffered cuts and scratches and doctors were forced to amputate a toe that was injured when her right foot was jammed against the pipe at an awkward angle. Well wishers celebrated, sending their support and their cash -- establishing a $1 million trust fund she's to receive on her 25th birthday.
Now married and a mom herself, Jessica has no memory of the frightening hours she spent underground.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LEMON: Wow! Twenty years ago. It hardly seems like that long.
OK, doctors in Houston ever so slowly raised the body temperature of Emilio Navaira overnight after dramatically lowering it. The Grammy winning Tejano singer has been under since Sunday, when he suffered a severe head injury in a bus crash.
CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, himself a neurosurgeon, looks at efforts to Navairo's life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it may seem counterintuitive to actually lower someone's body temperature -- make them hypothermic -- to try to treat this sort of injury, this sort of brain injury. That's what they're trying to do to here -- in fact, lower the body temperature to about 91.5 degrees. So it's pretty cool there -- at least seven degrees cooler than normal.
Now there's a lot of risks to hypothermia, which is the big concern. It can cause blood clotting problems. It can cause cardiac arrhythmias. These are difficult things to treat in anybody, but especially in a patient who has just endured this sort of trauma.
But the hope is here that they actually take this vest and they put it on the patient to cool the skin down and it goes over the chest, it goes over the thighs and lowers the body temperature down pretty significantly.
The hope is that ultimately it sort of puts the brain to sleep, makes the brain demand less from the rest of the body in terms of blood flow. And that can do a few things -- first of all, reduce swelling, for example, which is very critically important; also, prevent cells from dying in the crucial time period. You've got to do this within the first couple of hours after the injury to the prevent those cells from dying. And also restoring communication between the active areas of the brain.
Now, we have heard about hypothermia pretty recently, as you may remember, with Kevin Everett, the football player. He had a spinal cord injury of his cervical spin in the neck area and he had hypothermic therapy. He is walking today. It is unclear how much hypothermia actually led to his ability to walk, but this is something that researchers are starting to study more and more.
With regard to this particular patient, it's unclear how he's going to do. Doctors have put a number on it. They say a 65 to 75 percent chance of survival. But the biggest predictor, really, here is to making sure those pressures inside the head -- what are called the intracranial pressures inside the head -- remain low, remain normal. That's what's going to give him his best chance of survival.
We'll keep tabs on it and bring it to you as the details come forward -- back to you for now.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LEMON: All right, Sanjay. Thank you for that.
Doctors say if Emilio Navairo survives this initial treatment, he still faces some long odds.
Well, mark your calendars. A week from today is World Autism Awareness Day. CNN will bring you a special report on autism at 12:00 Eastern on April 2nd. And this weekend, CNN's "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta is also exploring the issue. He goes one-on-one with the CDC and asks whether childhood vaccines are safe. That is Saturday and Sunday, 8:30 a.m. Eastern, only here on CNN.
In his very first movie, he pushed an old lady in a wheelchair down a flight of stairs. Actor Richard Widmark is dead at the age of 93 after a long illness. He was nominated for an Oscar for his first movie performance as a giggling psychotic killer in the 1947 film noir classic, "Kiss of Death." Over the next half century, Widmark's movies included "Judgment At Nuremberg," "How the West Was Won" and "The Alamo." He also starred in the 1972-73 detective series, "Madigan." Richard Widmark died at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. He will be missed.
Unprotected flights -- CNN Special Investigations Unit looks at the federal air marshal program. You may be surprised by what we found.
And Hillary Clinton is getting a little help in her campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LA PEQUENA: Yo soy la pequena Hillary Clinton.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Translation...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm the small Hillary Clinton.
MOOS: Having a big impact on the Web.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. Our Jeanne Moos checks out the campaign music video hits.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Guarding the skies is partly the job of federal air marshals, but are they really on board? Ninety-nine percent of the time, the answer is no.
We get an exclusive report from CNN's Special Investigations Unit correspondent Drew Griffin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If there is one place Americans should feel safe after 9/11, it should be here, at Washington's Ronald Reagan Airport. Certainly, any attempt to take over the plane would be thwarted by federal air marshals. But that is only if federal air marshals are on board.
CNN is being told by air marshals themselves that on 99 flights out of 100, they're not.
(on camera): If I would say 1 percent, less than 1 percent, would I be far from the mark?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so. I don't think you'd be far from the mark.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): These two federal air marshals told us on camera what at least a dozen of their colleagues and pilots have told CNN off camera. Afraid to be identified for fear of retribution, they say the Department of Homeland Security hides behind national security laws because making the facts public would be a P.R. Disaster.
(on camera): Are the numbers classified because the numbers are embarrassing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would be very embarrassed by them if they were to get out.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Keeping them honest, we spoke directly with numerous air marshals. They all tell us about 1 percent of the 28,000 flights that take off or land in the U.S. each day are protected. One pilot who crisscrosses the U.S. and flies internationally says he hasn't seen an air marshal on board in six months.
A federal law enforcement officer who travels to Washington every week says he can go months without seeing a marshal. And another pilot, who wanted to protect his identity because he carries a weapon on flights, flies in and out of New York's airports and says the marshals are almost nonexistent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Having to guess, without a doubt, it's fewer than 1 percent of all my flights.
GRIFFIN: The Transportation Security Administration, the TSA, runs the air marshal service, which has refused an on-camera interview.
Assistant Special Agent Greg Alter wrote to us that the figures we've been given are incorrect. Alter won't divulge his figures but says, "While the exactly number of flights that air marshals protect is classified because we don't want terrorists to play a mathematical guessing game based on percentages, the actual number of flights that air marshals cover is thousands per day. This represents exponentially more than 1 percent and is well into double digits." And adds, "The federal Air Marshal Service employs an intelligence-driven and risk- based approach to covering flights."
Covering flights is a deliberate choice of words, we're told. Air marshals tell us the administration internally says at least 5 percent of flights are covered.
(on camera): A spokesman for the Air Marshals Service says when the service says a flight is covered, it means a federal air marshal is on the plane. But the federal air marshals themselves and armed pilots say that's not exactly the whole story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've specifically told us that we're a covered flight, when we're -- when we're -- when there's an armed -- a trained armed person on the plane, then that's a covered flight.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Even if that person is not an actual air marshal, but some other kind of law enforcement officer, who could even be on vacation.
As for any claim 5 percent of flights are covered, Dave Mackett with the Airline Pilots Security Alliance just doesn't believe it.
CAPTAIN DAVE MACKETT, AIRLINE PILOTS SECURITY ALLIANCE: We are not seeing anywhere near the coverage that they are asserting they have. It's -- I think they are whistling past the graveyard, hoping against hope that this house of cards that they call airline security doesn't come crashing down around them.
GRIFFIN (on camera): What's happening here?
We're told federal air marshals are leaving in droves, some for better jobs -- and they're not being replaced. The TSA says the number leaving has remained a constant 6.5 percent a year since 2001. Numerous sources are telling CNN so many federal air marshals have transferred to other jobs or left the service that staffing at field offices has nearly been cut in half.
(voice-over) For instance, Las Vegas, which had as many as 245 federal air marshals, checked in last month with only 47. This year, the TSA is advertising to hire 50 new federal air marshals.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: "SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT" correspondent Drew Griffin.
For more on this story, go to CNN.com, where you will see TSA's response -- their to the findings of Drew's report.
Hillary Clinton is getting a little help in her campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LA PEQUENA: Yo soy la pequena Hillary Clinton.
MOOS (voice-over): Translation...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm the small Hillary Clinton.
MOOS: Having a big impact on the Web.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. Our Jeanne Moos checks out the campaign music video hits.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. So, what did we do before YouTube? Do you ever wonder how we managed to have a presidential race without YouTube?
Well, our Jeanne Moos takes a look at the very latest -- we'll call them hits.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOOS (voice-over): Every so often...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The beat of my heart...
MOOS: It is simply irresistible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barack Obama disco!
MOOS: We can't help presenting the latest campaign hit parade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The campaign is rising. Obama's getting low.
MOOS: Who could forget...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's raining men...
MOOS: Well, now there's the McCain version.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's raining McCain, hallelujah. It's raining McCain, amen.
MOOS: Whoever imagined splashing a little John McCain...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: John McCain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: John McCain.
MOOS: ...on their face?
(on camera): The funny thing about these political YouTube videos is that sometimes it's hard to tell whether they're actually for a candidate or making fun of a candidate. (voice-over): Unless, of course, it's the latest "Obama girl" video.
AMBER LEE ETTINGER: I know Obama's going to win it, but you're sort of kind to stay in it (ph).
MOOS: OK, so model Amber Lee Ettinger never quite made it to vote for her guy in the primary. But she still manages to lip sync convincingly.
LEE ETTINGER: But he's got the superpowers to change the world and he's ready at 3:00 a.m. Steady.
MOOS: In case Hillary is feeling left out, a band called The Clintons recorded this for Senator Clinton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Hill, if you ever dump Bill, come date me.
MOOS: But the Hillary hit that towers above all others...
LA PEQUENA: To the beat of my heart, thinking about letting it out. I want to give in...
MOOS: She's said to be a performance artist from Chile.
LA PEQUENA: Yo soy la pequena Hillary Clinton.
MOOS: Translation...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm the small Hillary Clinton.
MOOS: Having a big impact on the Web.
LA PEQUENA: Ami mamildo ye lo pardeno (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I finally found...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I already gave my husband.
MOOS: Forgive, but you may never forget this.
LA PEQUENA: You teared us apart, the beat of my heart.
MOOS: La Pequena is already famous in certain circles for her Amy Winehouse performance.
LA PEQUENA: They tried to make me go to rehab. I said no, no, no.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my goodness.
LA PEQUENA: I dream about the time...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She seems like a he. MOOS: Some quibbled about the outfit. La Pequena gets a few points off for not wearing a pants suit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, I'm going to have this in my dreams now.
MOOS (on camera): I know you are.
(voice-over): As one person posted: "Some things once seen cannot be unseen."
LA PEQUENA: (INAUDIBLE).
MOOS: If this is politics, maybe it needs to go to rehab.
LA PEQUENA: No, no, no.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: OK. That that was weird and creepy and funny at the same time.
OK. Its creator says the online game is just good fun. Critics say it sends the wrong message to young girls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA PAPADOPOULOS, PSYCHOLOGIST: The message is clear and simple -- a girl's value is in her looks and if you're not happy with it, then fix the way you look and that's the only the way you'll be happy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All about Miss Bimbo in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The closing bell and a wrap of the action on Wall Street straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It is about that time, to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, standing by to see what's coming up at the top of the hour in "THE SIT ROOM" -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Don.
Who's -- what's the best way to decide the Democratic nominee? Tennessee's governor says he has an idea -- bring all the super- delegates, about 800 of them, together for a mini convention in June. Governor Phil Bredesen live here in "THE SITUATION ROOM". That story coming up. We'll talk about why his suggestion just might fly.
And Hillary Clinton and her husband both coming out very strong today with statements saying she's in this race to win it. You're going to hear why she's not ready to give up by any means.
And could it be proof of the deep division in the Democratic Party -- why a big block of Democrats now say that they may actually vote Republican. What's going on?
All that, Don, and a lot more coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
LEMON: Nobody going down in this race, Wolf, without a fight, that's for sure. All right, thank you very much, sir. We'll be watching at the top of the hour.
Be the best bimbo you can be -- that's the goal of the online game that you wish your teen or 'tween daughter didn't know about -- but she probably does.
CNN's Phil Black reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nicholas Jacquart has created a Web site for young girls that is hugely successful in his native France and is now causing outrage in Britain.
(on camera): Nicholas, this is your bimbo.
NICHOLAS JACQUART, "MISS BIMBO" CREATOR: Yes, it's my bimbo.
BLACK (voice-over): It's called Miss Bimbo and in it, players get their own female character to look after.
JACQUART: I can have a t-shirt like this one. (INAUDIBLE).
BLACK: Dressing, feeding, keeping her happy are the innocent basics of the game. To win, you much do so much more. You're encouraged to choose sexy lingerie; keep her waif thin -- with diet pills, if necessary; make her more attractive -- even with cosmetic surgery; and find a rich boyfriend to look after her. You can also play a game called "French Kiss," where your lips must catch as many boys' in a nightclub as possible.
This site has more than a million members in France, 200,000 in Britain. It's just good fun, says its creator.
(on camera): What is the goal of the game?
What are the girls -- what are the bimbos trying to do?
JACQUART: To be the most famous bimbo with the most -- the more bimbo attitude.
BLACK (voice-over): But others describe it as frightening and dangerous.
PAPADOPOULOS: The message is clear and simple -- a girl's value is in her looks. And if you're not happy with it, then fix the way you look and that's the only way you'll be happy.
DR. DEE DAWSON, EATING DISORDER EXPERT: It tells you that a balanced diet is a plate of vegetables, which is clearly nonsense. And it tells you that cereal bars make you fat. They are not messages that we should be giving to young children.
BLACK: And then there's the name.
(on camera): How would you feel if someone called your little sister a bimbo?
JACQUART: I wouldn't like. No, no. I don't like it, of course. No one wants to be a bimbo. But it's not their life. It's a game, so, why not be a bimbo in a game?
BLACK: Despite some similarities in appearance, Jacquart says Miss Bimbo is not modeled on any one celebrity.
TAYLOR RAE, GLAMOUR MODEL: Within December, I had an operation -- a breast enlargement to pursue a career.
BLACK: Glamour model Taylor Rae lives the Miss Bimbo lifestyle. She lives off her looks and she's proud of it. Rae doesn't object to the Web site, but believes young girls are increasingly too worried about their appearance.
RAE: It can be a bad thing because they start to get addicted to it.
BLACK: This Web site has triggered a loud public debate in Britain and the people who run Miss Bimbo admit the numbers using the site here have soared because of that debate.
Phil Black, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Not much needs to be said after that.
The closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street. Susan Lisovicz is standing by with a final...
LISOVICZ: Bimbo-free zone.
LEMON: It's sad, isn't it? A final look at the trading day. Who would aspire to that?
LISOVICZ: Well, I will tell you, there are other forms of entertainment and I'm going to tell you about one upscale, sophisticated form -- for a price. The company called Village Road Show Gold Class Cinema is going to road test two upscale cinemas outside of Chicago and in Redmond, Washington it lather year.
And if you can check out the arrangements, we've got a comfy easy chair. Yes, only about 40 seats allowed. You can press a button, Mr. Lemon, and a waiter will come and serve you fine wine and gourmet food. That is, of course, a la carte. And there should be 40 locations tried out by the next year.
LEMON: OK.
LISOVICZ: Thirty-five dollars per...
LEMON: I was going to say, there you go.
(LAUGHTER)
LISOVICZ: And that does include the amenities.
LEMON: How do you get people to leave after that? I mean you get them all, you know, hopped up on beer...
LISOVICZ: Well, the have a lounge. They actually -- well, they have a cocktail lounge.
LEMON: OK.
LISOVICZ: So you can spend more money for beer and for dessert and appetizers before or after. You know, but I suspect that you have a beautiful media room and don't need any of that.
LEMON: You suspect wrong.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I'm not saying, but that gives new meaning to tonight let is be Lowenbrau.
LISOVICZ: OK. All right. Well, you're always entertaining.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
LISOVICZ: Don, see you tomorrow.
LEMON: And after all that bad news, some folks might need a beer, right, and a movie to help ...
LISOVICZ: That's right.
LEMON: ... them escape.
LISOVICZ: That's right.
LEMON: Susan, thank you, always a pleasure.
LISOVICZ: See you tomorrow.
LEMON: Now, it's time to turn it over to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Mr. Wolf Blitzer. Wolf, take it away.
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