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American Morning
Tornado Roars Through Arkansas; Church Leaders Call for Conversation on Race; Big Tech Companies Lay off; Foreclosures Hitting McCain's Home State of Arizona
Aired April 04, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: A twister lights up a town overnight. Extreme weather on the march.
Hitting home, the mortgage meltdown slams John McCain's home state. What's his plan to solve the national nightmare?
And plain truth. The FAA accused of getting too familiar with the airlines, putting them over your safety. The agency's top guy answers live on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back. Thanks for joining us on this Friday the 4th of April. Kiran is off today. I'm John Roberts along with my pals Alina Cho and Ali Velshi. What do you got on your plate this hour?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we got a couple of things. One is commodity prices are up again, and that's going to affect the amount that all of you pay for the food that you buy. And secondly, in about an hour and a half, we're going to get the big jobs report for March. We're expecting that we're going to have lost more jobs in the United States. And for those of you who are sitting on the fence about whether we're getting into a recession or not, this might make your decision for you.
ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward to your views on that. What's new on your plate?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A surprising new study about online scams and who is scammed more, men or women? You take a guess. We'll tell you in a couple of minutes.
And the other story that's really interesting this morning, a Lincoln manuscript sells for a record price at auction. We're going to tell you more about that.
ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward to that.
Breaking news overnight to tell you about. As severe storms leave behind a trail of fire in central Arkansas, witnesses say a tornado touchdown near the capital of Little Rock. Take a look.
The cloud caught on dashcam sending sparks flying. It sparked an inferno in a mobile home community. The sparks that you see there are probably, according to a Saline County spokesperson, electrical transformers going up there as the lines touched and a short circuit occurred. A lot of homes were damaged there. Many people went running for shelter as winds tore roofs off of homes and trees out of the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've seen this man's house, the roof is totally gone off his house. It's flattened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Even National Weather Service forecasters got into a bunker as the storm roared by. Our Rob Marciano is standing by with extreme weather on the move right now. Because this storm system didn't just dissipate as it went through Little Rock, it's on to more places.
Rob, where is it headed?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we've got a number of severe thunderstorm watches that are in effect this morning stretching from Texas all the way into parts of Tennessee. Let's take you to four of them to be exact with all of them going into effect until 10:00, 11:00 Local time this morning.
We zoom into one particular shot that has me a little bit worried just north of Austin. This is a severe thunderstorm with a severe thunderstorm warning attached to it. It is heading to the east at 45 miles an hour, and folks in central Williamson County, Texas, are under the gun with this particular cell just north of Austin on Highway 35.
Everything is staying for the most part south of Dallas. But if you do live south of Dallas you're getting hit with some heavy thunderstorms. And also, south of Little Rock that's good news, but we do have flooding concerns for most of the state of Arkansas at the moment.
Nashville just got hammered with some storms. This line looking pretty rough heading toward Murphysboro (ph) and down the I-40 corridor, heading eastward at a pretty rapid pace. As mentioned, we've got a wide swath of action here, all of which is heading over an area that has seen a tremendous amount of rainfall over the last three weeks. So flash flood watches and warnings are posted as far east as western Tennessee and as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.
A widely encompassing storm, and it does stretch all the way to the northeast, and you folks will be seeing some rainfall there today as well. John, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Rob, how far does the potential for tornadoes extend this morning?
MARCIANO: Well, right now, there are no tornado watches out. That doesn't mean that a tornado can't drop out of one of these severe thunderstorms. That's why we're watching that particular storm just north of Austin. But at the moment, we don't expect as much severe weather today as what we saw last night. We certainly hope that holds true.
ROBERTS: That's a good thing, but still plenty of airport disruptions, I'm sure, because there are thunderstorms moving into a lot of heavily populated areas.
Rob Marciano for us this morning. Rob, thanks. We'll check back with you soon.
For the most politics in the morning now, and the race to raise cash. The Democratic campaigns released fund-raising numbers for the month of March. Barack Obama raised more than $40 million last month, twice what Hillary Clinton took in during the same period. So far this year, Obama has raised a total of $131 million compared to Hillary Clinton's nearly $70 million.
And a sign that Hillary Clinton's superdelegate support could slip if she doesn't start putting up the numbers. Two of Clinton's supporters, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and Congressman Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania, are both saying that she has to beat Barack Obama in the popular vote to have any chance at winning the party's nomination. And Murtha comes from that all-important prize on April 22nd, as we said, Pennsylvania.
A call for a nationwide discussion on race this morning from the parent denomination of Barack Obama's church in Chicago. Leaders with the United Church of Christ are asking their 10,000 pastors to conduct what's being called a sacred conversation next month. It follows the outrage generated by comments from Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor of Trinity Church.
The president of the United Church of Christ, Reverend John Thomas, spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. JOHN THOMAS, PRESIDENT, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: I think we saw a caricature and a stereotype not only of Reverend Wright but the black church. And as a result, the conversation on race has not been sacred but profoundly ugly and unhelpful. And that's why on this anniversary of Dr. King's famous speech before his assassination, we're calling for a sacred conversation on race that we think can achieve and move us toward his challenge to make America a better place.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: How do you see that conversation unfolding? I mean, you're calling for a conversation in churches on a given day. What do you want people to talk about? What is the conversation?
THOMAS: Part of the reason that this conversation is so difficult is that we often are unwilling to be deeply honest with one another, that we view one another simply through a lens of caricature or stereotype. So we're calling for a conversation where people in a context of trust and respect begin to be more honest with one another, to share their fears, their hopes, their anxieties, their anger. This is not going to be an easy conversation. Sacred conversations can be profoundly difficult, and sometimes they can be loud, but they're important for us, and we know that it's only a beginning on May 18th. That's the opening part of the conversation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Obama's church has received threats since Wright's comments came to light. It is the country's largest United Church of Christ congregation.
Hillary Clinton and John McCain will both be in Memphis today for ceremonies honoring the 40th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But last night, Hillary Clinton showed off her lighter side during an appearance on "The Tonight Show."
Clinton walked out with Leno's band playing the theme song from "Rocky" jumping off of her comments earlier in the week where she compared herself to the fictional fighter. Clinton, then, went on to make fun of her recent comments about her 1996 trip to Bosnia as First Lady.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is so great to be here. You know, I was worried I wasn't going to make it.
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Oh.
CLINTON: Yes, I was pinned down by sniper fire.
LENO: Really?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Clinton and Leno also had some fun with her "It's 3:00 a.m." campaign commercials. Leno said it's got to be tough handling all those middle of the night emergencies.
Seven minutes after the hour. Alina Cho here now with other stories new this morning. She can make fun of that.
CHO: Yes, she can. The lighting is great on Jay Leno, by the way. It set the mood very well. All right.
New this morning. Good morning, everybody.
A Virginia Tech-style plot police say they discovered online, and they say it led them to a 20-year-old with a stash of automatic rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Police in Homestead, Florida, say Calin Chi Wong was threatening to stage an attack similar to the one at Virginia Tech nearly a year ago that killed 32 students.
Police say Wong had more weapons than most local SWAT teams, including four AK-47s and body piercing ammunition. Wong has been charged with making written threats to kill. He was released on bond. Well, runways are back open at Kennedy International Airport in New York this morning. The landing gear of a small plane collapsed last night, and that plane skidded off the runway and into the grass. The airport closed down all but one runway last night leading to some delays, of course. One person was slightly hurt.
Explosive testimony about safety in the skies and about the agency that's supposed to ensure it. The founder of Southwest Airlines testified before a Congressional committee that Southwest made a mistake when it allowed planes to fly that should have been grounded. Lawmakers also heard from two FAA safety inspectors. One of them says he tried to raise a flag about missed safety checks, but managers at the FAA blocked him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBY BOUTRIS, FAA INSPECTOR: My experience, I believe, the priority of the regional office is damage control, and I see no interest in accountability or doing the right thing. At the end of the investigation, no matter what evidence shows, it's disregarded by the division management team who cherry picked the information from the investigation reports. And while looking at the big picture, they apply band aids instead of fixing the root of the problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Lawmakers now plan to call the FAA in on a regular basis to see what kind of progress it's making to improve its inspection program. And stay tuned because coming up at 7:30, in less than a half hour, we're going to talk to the acting FAA administrator about just how safe the skies are.
We have a consumer alert to tell you about. A government report says Americans are being ripped off in record numbers by online scams. Records from the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center show that Internet crimes topped $240 million last year. That's actually up $40 million from two years ago.
The Feds say many of the crime cases involve pet scams, online dating fraud, and scammers trying to profit from natural disasters like that I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis last year. The report also found that men were more likely to be scammed than women.
Forty years ago today, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. You're looking live there at the King Center in Atlanta and the reflecting pool, as we widen out that shot. Several events are planned today including visits by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
King was shot on a Memphis balcony back in 1968. His death tore a hole in the hearts of several civil rights leaders and Americans really. Four decades later, King's work continues. Yesterday, lawmakers honored his legacy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Dr. King possessed a voice of hope so powerful that it shook and shattered walls of oppression and lifted the spirits of the downtrodden and the denied.
SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: Our responsibility is to continue his dream with courage, with hard work, so that we can, as he said, make our old world a new world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: And a programming note, join CNN this afternoon for all the King commemorations live from Memphis. We're also tuning in with radio show hosts around the country for what we're calling "Conversations With Black America." Catch it live on CNN at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time or logon to CNN.com/live.
And finally, a letter written by Abraham Lincoln has set a record at auction. It happened at Sotheby's. President Lincoln wrote it in response to the "Little People's Petition" in 1864. School kids were asking the then-president to free slave children, and Lincoln actually wrote back.
He said, "While I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has." The letter, by the way, sold for $3.4 million at Sotheby's to a private American collector who was bidding by phone. So interesting.
ROBERTS: Let me just come back to this guy in Homestead, this guy, Wong, who had been making threats to stage another Virginia Tech- style massacre. Had an arsenal that you described as being more than SWAT teams.
CHO: More than the local SWAT teams.
ROBERTS: And armor-piercing rounds, which are illegal in the state of Florida, and he bonded out for $7,500?
CHO: It's a big question why. It's a big question why. Of course, with Virginia Tech, there were some mental problems that were revealed. Not sure what's coming out yet about that, but we're still watching the details. It is very interesting that he was released on bond.
ROBERTS: I think this is a story we need to dig a little deeper on. Alina Cho for us this morning. Alina, thanks.
CHO: You bet.
ROBERTS: Twelve minutes after the hour. One of the hottest states in the mortgage meltdown is Arizona. It's the home base of John McCain where even million dollars homes are going under. We've got a closer look at the candidate's plans to fix the housing crisis coming up.
How to help your doctor help you. Advice to get the most out of your next trip to the doctor's office. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Fifteen minutes after the hour. More signs of a troubled economy to tell you about. This time the tech industry is in the spotlight, and our Veronica De La Cruz joins us now. What companies are we talking about?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Oh, wow. You know, some big name companies, John. Dell, Microsoft, Google all looking to cut costs by downsizing. Again, Dell CEO, they're saying the company will cut more than 8,800 jobs previously announced to stay more competitive.
Moving on to Motorola, 2,600 employees around the globe. The company has been having a rough time with their cell phone entity especially with Apple's iPhone taking such a huge chunk of the high- end market. And then, getting you to Google, 300 employees there from newly acquired DoubleClick, Inc. -- 300 employees. It may not sound like a lot, but it's actually about a quarter of that company. Google bought DoubleClick in March for $3 billion plus.
You know, also in the headlines this morning, we touched a little on it already. But scammers have been using e-mail to con trusting Americans. Victims have been falling for it time and time again. This new government report out shows money lost from Internet crime hit a new high last year, nearly $240 million. The report shows scams involving pets, check cashing schemes, and online dating all are on the rise.
The report also shows that more than 75 percent of the perpetrators were male. Men were scammed out of more money than women were, on average about $200 more. And almost half of the victims were between the ages of 30 and 49 years old.
So, John, the first time this report was released was 2001. $18 million lost that year. $240 million, 2007.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Any idea why men are more vulnerable to being scammed than women?
DE LA CRUZ: You know, honestly, I would say that men ...
ROBERTS: Other than the history of life between men and women causes women to be more suspicious.
DE LA CRUZ: I would say that men probably use the Internet more to shop and are probably, you know, doing more when it comes to online banking. You know, I talked to a lot of my female friends who are still scared to give out their personal information online.
ROBERTS: Yes. Guys, got to get sharp. Veronica, thanks very much.
So you've been to the doctor's office and you know that there's ... whoops. Where are we here? Where do we go?
You've been to the doctor's office. You know that there's precious little time for doctor-patient interaction. So what can you do to maximize the time that you spend with your doctor and actually help your doctor take care of you?
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen at the medical update desk for us now. Elizabeth, why should a patient help the doctor take care of the patient? I thought the doctor was supposed to do all of that?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, John, it does seem a little bit backwards. But the way that it works these days is your doctor is so rushed sometimes, it really behooves you to help your doctor because you're going to be the one who benefits in the end. Help your doctor make the most out of the time that you do have together. So we have a list on CNN.com/health. Let's take a look at two of the things that you can do to help your doctor help you.
First of all, arrive at your appointment with a list of medications, so you're not sitting there thinking, saying to the doctor, I think I take a pink pill maybe once a day, maybe twice. Can't remember the name. Don't do that. Just hand him a list of medications. It's much easier.
Also, bring in your list of your top three concerns. Now, you might be thinking well, I know why I'm there. I mean, I made the appointment. You know what, when you're in that exam room in that funny little gown that opens in all sorts of weird places, you forget things.
You get sort of flustered and you're not always going to remember every point you wanted to bring up with the doctor. Have it in writing. It's a whole lot easier.
Now, if you want to see some more of our tips about how to help your doctor help you, go to CNN.com/health. You can click on it. It's the main story on our page there, and it will give you five ways to help your doctor help you -- John.
ROBERTS: Elizabeth, you know, many times people not only have one doctor, but say that they got some condition that they're seeing multiple specialists for. What do they do to get that whole team working together?
COHEN: John, what they have to do is you have to figure early on that you are the captain of the team. You are the glue that holds that team together. Unfortunately, doctors are notorious for not talking to one another.
So when you finish with one appointment with Dr. Smith, say, Dr. Smith, can you please send me a list of your notes from this appointment so when I go to see Dr. Jones next month, I can just hand them to him. You have the paper in hand because otherwise that paper may never reach your second doctor.
ROBERTS: Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning on the medical update desk in Atlanta. Elizabeth, thanks.
COHEN: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Some good tips for us this morning.
Alina's got the results of an interesting poll about the way Americans are viewing the country and the direction.
CHO: Yes.
ROBERTS: What do you got?
CHO: Yes, thanks, John. And Americans should listen up because this is important. Eight out of every 10 Americans now think the country is headed in the wrong direction. That's according to the latest "New York Times"/CBS poll that's asking that question. Eighty- one percent of people say we're on the wrong track. That's the most since they started taking that poll in the early 1990s.
And that brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. What do you think is the primary reason you think the country is on the wrong track like so many people say?
Right now, 51 percent say Iraq. A slight majority. Twenty-two percent say the economy. Twenty-one percent say political gridlock. Two percent say the state of health care. Five percent say the state of education.
Cast your vote at CNN.com/am. Of course, we'll continue to tally your votes throughout the morning.
We're also looking for your thoughts online. Didn't see a choice on that "Quick Vote" that you like? Think something else is driving the country off track? Well, e-mail us at CNN.com/email. We're going to read some of your e-mails, and we'll have the first tally of the votes later this hour -- John.
ROBERTS: I would imagine we'll probably going to get some pretty interesting commentary on that particular question.
Well, what goes up must come down. Phoenix was once one of the hottest housing markets in the country. Now, it's a hotbed for foreclosures. How John McCain is handling the housing mess in his home state. That's coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-three minutes after the hour. The economy is issue number one with American voters, and the housing crisis is hitting home on the campaign trail. One of the nation's hottest spots in the mortgage meltdown is Phoenix, Arizona, the home base for Senator John McCain. Phoenix had the 14th highest foreclosure rate in the nation in February. During that month, 2,500 homes were foreclosed.
McCain told us here in AMERICAN MORNING that he supports the Senate bill designed to offer relief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The first priority is to help those people, those four to six million people, who are badly in danger of losing their homes who did nothing wrong. And this package in the Senate, I think, would have a significant beneficial effect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Ed Lavandera is in McCain's home state of Arizona. He joins us this morning with a little bit more on what McCain might do as well, Ed, to try to fix the housing crisis. Good morning to you.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. We know several years ago investors started moving into Arizona, buying up property all over the place. And as you mentioned today, the state has the fourth highest foreclosure rate in the country. The real estate bubble here has burst, so it's a good place to study how presidential candidate John McCain has handled the crisis in his home state.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): It seems like the entire state of Arizona is for sale. There are more than 57,000 homes on the market in the Phoenix area. One local realtor estimates only 4,000 have sold in the last month.
Foreclosure listings are growing. Home prices are dropping. Housing experts say it will take at least a year for the market to settle.
JAY BUTLER, ARIZONA REALTY EXPERT: The issue is who do you turn to? And in some instances, you want to turn to government, but it doesn't necessarily have the solutions.
LAVANDERA (on camera): In Arizona, you take the mortgage crisis and you mix it in with a weakening economy and you find homes like this one. Two years ago, public records show this house sold for $3.7 million. Today, it's listed as a foreclosure selling for $1.2 million.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): While the mortgage meltdown pummels Arizona, you won't find this state's senior senator advocating for sweeping help from the federal government.
MCCAIN: And it's not the duty of government to bailout and reward those who act irresponsibly.
LAVANDERA: McCain's aides say the presidential candidate prefers a judicious and targeted response. In the last year, he supported stricter guidelines for loaning money and the Mortgage Forgiveness Act, which keeps homeowners facing foreclosure from paying some taxes if they can refinance their home. One Arizona political columnist says McCain has not talked much about the mortgage crisis and that's surprising.
ROBERT ROBB, COLUMNIST, "ARIZONA REPUBLIC": He seems to be setting up the general election very much as a contest between those who think government ought to do a lot more, and those who think that maybe government ought to step back a minute and be pretty selective and not rush to judgment.
LAVANDERA: In the meantime, another for sale sign is planted in the desert.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: And, of course, the Democratic presidential candidates have been taking a lot of criticism of McCain over the last week or so, after McCain explained kind of his philosophy on how to handle this crisis. If you take a closer look at the foreclosure rates in Arizona, we get one in every 264 households that have been foreclosed on right now. That's according to Realty Track. That's up 210 percent from this time last year.
Then you look at the home states of Obama and Clinton. In Illinois, one in every 587 households. That's up 32 percent from last year. And in New York, one in almost 15 households has been foreclosed on, and that's up about 15 percent from this time last year -- John.
ROBERTS: And growing pressure on lawmakers and the presidential candidates who are all facing election this November to do something about it. Ed Lavandera for us this morning, Paradise Valley, Arizona, the place to be. Ed, thanks.
You're watching the most news in the morning. Caught on tape, a cloud of fire. A tornado sends sparks flying igniting parts of central Arkansas. We'll have a live update on the rescue and cleanup effort.
And we're also tracking more extreme weather that you're going to want to know about coming up.
The cash keeps on flowing into Barack Obama's campaign coffers as he takes aim at Hillary Clinton's lead in Pennsylvania. Our John Dickerson with some campaign analysis when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's Friday the 4th of April. Thanks very much for being with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. John Roberts along with Ali Velshi and Alina Cho. Kiran is off today.
We got some breaking news to tell you about this morning as people in Arkansas wake up to see the destruction that a tornado left behind. At least one tornado ripped through central Arkansas near the capital of Little Rock. It sparked a fire that spread to several trailer homes and police say that it injured four people and sent residents running.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything was tore up. Doors were torn off the buildings, people's house, their roofs were taken off. I felt the wind literally almost take me off my feet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Powerful stuff this morning. Rob Marciano standing by with more on this extreme weather which is on the move right now. Rob, this is a pretty substantial storm system.
MARCIANO: Yes, really stretching its legs here, John. And we got a number of watch boxes out. The system is felt really, there's a number of pieces of energy flowing in the upper levels of the atmosphere that is just stretching this thing out and making it a several-day and several-state long event, all the way from New England and back to central Texas.
And we have a number of watch boxes out. These yellow watch boxes are severe thunderstorm watch boxes issued by the storms predictions center, meaning that severe thunderstorms are likely within these areas. And right now, we've got four of them. Most of them in effect until 10:00 and 11:00 local time.
All right. Let's do a couple of these and talk about what kind of action we're seeing right now. We do have a severe thunderstorm watch out or warning out for eastern parts of Williams County, Texas. This is just north of Boston. This cell has been holding together for the past couple of hours and has some heavy rains and gusty winds and significant hail and it's moving quickly to the east at 30 to 40 miles an hour.
North into Dallas, we're seeing most of the action south of Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area, but no doubt DFW will have some delays today. Heavier rains stretching into Arkansas. This is where we saw the tornado last night. Right now, we're just heavy rain, but that's not good news either because for the past 2 1/2, 3 weeks heavy rain has plagued that part of the state there. They're in a flash flood warning right now in effect for the next couple of hours.
Heavy thunderstorms rolling through Nashville and then moving quickly off to the east, and off towards the northeast we're seeing some rain from New York up through Bridgeport, Connecticut, and through Boston as well as the storm continues to stretch out and affect a whole swath of the eastern part of the country.
John, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Rob Marciano keeping a close eye for us this morning. Rob, appreciate it. Thanks.
MARCIANO: You got it.
ROBERTS: Now to politics and another campaign windfall for Barack Obama. The candidate raised $40 million in March, double what Hillary Clinton took in. And Obama is spending it in Pennsylvania where he is closing the gap on Clinton with the primary just two weeks and four days from now.
Our John Dickerson, CNN political analyst and chief political correspondent for slate.com joins us from Cleveland this morning. John, what do you attribute this disparity in fund-raising on the part of Barack Obama to?
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he's been able to grab a whole bunch of people. He's just got more actual donors, and he's been tapping them time and time again. They haven't given him the big donations. That's more typical of the Clinton donor, but Obama has people who give in small increments, so he can keep going back to them each time.
ROBERTS: So he keeps going back to them again and again and again. He's got a pad of $20 million over Hillary Clinton for the month of March. Can he effectively spend that in Pennsylvania and narrow the gap. He's made some inroads there, he's not as far behind as he was but in most polls he's still behind by double digits.
DICKERSON: That's right. He's made a little bit of inroads in Pennsylvania. He spent a lot of time registering new voters, trying to get new folks to the polls. He wants to drive up his numbers in those areas where he's strong. Money will help with some of that.
He might also be using that money in the later contest, North Carolina is a place everybody is now focusing on. So in Pennsylvania all of that money may not help from today forward, but it certainly has helped when he's raised it in getting him to where he is now.
ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton, a couple of days ago the story came out that in trying to convince Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico to support her, she allegedly said to him, Obama can't win. She was asked about that comment yesterday.
Let's listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I don't talk about private conversations. I can win. I know I can win. That's why I do this every day. And that's what my campaign is about. I'm in it to win it, and I intend to do just that. It's a no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So she says that's a no, which people originally took to mean that's a no, I didn't say that, but her campaign came out and clarified to say, no, the no was in relation to not talking about private conversations. But even if she did say it to Bill Richardson, Obama can't win, that guy can't win, you got to vote for that, is that unusual?
DICKERSON: Well, it is a little unusual. The reason she was doing all of that fast dancing in that clip and the reason may sound a little confusing is what she doesn't want to say in public on camera is Obama can't win because if Obama does win and she is either on the ticket or campaigning for him, that's an ad that John McCain can run against Obama.
You know, Hillary Clinton said he can't win, but the fact is as you point out, the Clinton campaign has been arguing for months that Obama is essentially fundamentally flawed. He can't win among certain constituencies and he can't win in these big states. Now, they don't want to say it out loud, of course, but it is the message of the campaign.
ROBERTS: All right. John Dickerson for us this morning in Cleveland. John, thanks very much.
Thirty-five minutes after the hour. Ali Velshi here now minding your business. And we did something on this last year and you had a great breakdown on it. The price of corn going up again, and just how much of everything that we consume or use involves corn?
VELSHI: Well, you know, we talk about issue number one, and we often think it has got to do with those credit crunch and housing crisis. But fundamentally as we broke it down, Americans have told us in our polling that, in fact, it is inflation that is the number one concern. And often we associate that with gasoline, but corn plays very heavily into this whole thing.
First of all, several years ago we made some decisions about how corn is going to be used to make ethanol, which is added to our gasoline. Now, a number of people think while that was meant to reduce our dependency on crude oil, what it does is it take what is fundamentally a food source and makes it into a gasoline source. That's caused corn to go up. And yesterday, we had a record on corn hitting $6 a bushel. That was a fairly big increase in the price of corn.
Now, the other thing is because we're using all of this land to buy corn, it's causing wheat, sorghum, soybeans, all those other things to become more expensive. It's also causing animal feed to become more expensive which is increasing the price of dairy and chicken and beef and things like that. And when you put all that together, there's an index that tracks commodities. Now, this includes oil but this is the Dow Jones Commodity Index over the last year.
Take a look at the leap in prices on that. That's a combination of your oil, your corn, your wheat, all of those expenses, and that means inflation to the average American which goes full circle to the fact that issue number one to most people is, in fact, the fact that they are getting less for the same dollar that they were spending last year. And this is about the kitchen table.
So you're paying to get the corn or whatever food is being farmed, the diesel used on those farms, the diesel that used to truck it there, and the energy used to store it, and then frankly you're just paying for the basic commodity.
CHO: Well, let's not forget that high fructose corn syrup used in diet soda.
VELSHI: That's right. Everything that is sweetened these days. That was in the day when corn was cheap and plentiful.
CHO: Right.
VELSHI: So, we changed that. Now, corn is not cheap nor plentiful, and that's -- this is a major issue that the administration is going to have to deal with. We have put a lot of pressure on corn. It's a food.
ROBERTS: The only bright spot in all of this is that all of these farmers, not talking about ...
VELSHI: Corn farmers.
ROBERTS: We're not talking about farming companies but we're talking about all these farmers who were growing corn and losing money.
VELSHI: Now they're making money.
ROBERTS: Finally, making some money.
VELSHI: The problem is you're making farmers who weren't making money and other things who are growing corn and that's why we're not making the same amount of wheat and soybeans and things like that.
CHO: So, it's a wash.
VELSHI: We do need to balance it out somehow. It's an issue.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali Velshi for us this morning. Ali, thanks.
New questions about how safe we all are when we fly this morning. This after two FAA inspectors say they were pressured to keep quiet about safety problems, threatened even. Coming up, we are going to talk with the acting FAA administrator and what is being done to keep you and your family safe. And how we got into this situation in the first place?
And 40 years later, the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. lives on. A look at how life has changed in Memphis, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Is the cozy relationship between the airlines and the FAA putting you at risk? That's what two whistle blowers told a congressional committee. During their testimony yesterday the two said they were pressured to ignore problems at Southwest Airlines.
One of the safety inspectors getting emotional as he described the threats made against him and his family if he revealed what he knew.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGLAS PETERS, FAA INSPECTOR: He then pointed to a picture of my family and said, again, this is what's important. I'd hate to see you jeopardize yours and her career trying to take down a couple of losers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, joining me to talk more about this is the acting FAA administrator Robert Sturgell. He is live in Washington this morning. Mr. Sturgell, good to see you. And thanks for being with us today.
The treatment of these whistle blowers, Bobby Boutris and Doug Peters, by their superiors, threatened for pressuring on the issue of safety violations. What is the flying public to think about that?
ROBERT STURGELL, ACTING FAA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, good morning, John.
Listen, I'm not going to make any excuses for what went on in that office in our Southwest region. It's obvious that some legitimate concerns were being raised for a period of time and they weren't being addressed. So, we've taken some actions. The investigation continues, and I suspect we'll take additional actions down there as well.
ROBERTS: These whistle blowers said that the FAA views airlines as customers rather than companies to be regulated. Yesterday, here on AMERICAN MORNING, we took an informal, not a scientific poll, nearly 90 percent of people thought the FAA was looking out for the airlines, not looking out for passengers who fly on the airlines. I mean, you take those things together it's a rather stinging indictment of the FAA.
STURGELL: Well, make no mistake our number one customers are the flying public and the taxpayers. We don't lose sight of that. When we find things, you know, regardless of what you label it, when we find things, we fix them.
I think what people need to understand is that the system consists of a variety of oversight mechanism, not just inspections, a regulatory role, an enforcement role, but also partnership programs and voluntary disclosure programs with the carriers that are very important part of this system. They allow people to bring safety data to us and allow us to take measures proactively. Without those kinds of systems, we're going to drive safety issues underground, and that's a result the public cannot afford.
ROBERTS: All right. How did this situation get to the point that it did in that office?
STURGELL: Well, again, as I said, I'm not going to make any excuses for that office and for what went on. We are taking action, and there will be additional actions taken.
ROBERTS: Right but do you know how it got there in the first place?
STURGELL: Well, we have the testimony. We have an investigative file, and again the investigation is ongoing.
ROBERTS: Right.
STURGELL: So I suspect there will be additional actions down there.
ROBERTS: Now, Calvin Scoville, who is the inspector general for the Department of Transportation yesterday spoke out on all of this. He agreed with the two whistle blowers that there seemed to be a cozy relationship between the FAA inspectors and supervisors locally and Southwest Airlines.
He went on to suggest yesterday that we need an independent oversight organization for the FAA, which would appear to be to a lot of people to be very troubling because it's the FAA that's supposed to be the oversight organization. So what does it say about the FAA if you need oversight of the overseers?
STURGELL: Well, we've been working very closely with the inspector general throughout this process, and I think the point I would make here is that over the last couple of weeks we've also initiated our own special emphasis audit throughout the country, and that audit has produced a compliance rate that we found of about 99 percent.
So we've got some areas that we need to continue to work on, but I think overall it shows that the system is working and it's working as designed. And, you know, I can only tell people to look at the data. Look at the accident rates. See how safe the system is, and I think that's proof of the system working. Can it be better? Yes, it can be better.
ROBERTS: On that point, let me just play a little bit more of what Bobby Boutris, one of the whistle blower inspector said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOUTRIS: I am very concerned because the safety issues affect the lives of the flying public. And instead of being advocates for safety, some people are still trying to muddy the water by down playing the serious safety issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: It's true, as you say, Mr. Sturgell that there were no fatal accidents in the airline industry last year, but if what Bobby Boutris says is true, is the potential out there going forward in the future for catastrophic accidents?
STURGELL: The system is not perfect, John, but safety is our number one priority, and we've got thousands and thousands of people, not just at the FAA, not just our controllers, our inspectors, our mechanics or engineers, but tens of thousands of people in this industry who are out there every day making this system safe for the flying public. ROBERTS: James Oberstar who chaired the committee yesterday up there on Capitol Hill suggested that the FAA needs a top to bottom house cleaning. Would you agree with that?
STURGELL: Well, I think everybody is passionate about this issue. My job is to stay focused on the mission, and the mission is the safety and efficiency of the system. So that's what I'm going to do.
ROBERTS: Robert Sturgell, the acting administrator of the FAA. Thanks for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.
STURGELL: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Still ahead, the whole reason that Martin Luther King went to Memphis 40 years ago. He was marching with striking sanitation workers. Well, we found one of them, and we'll hear how he thinks America has changed after Dr. King's death, next, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up now on ten minutes to the top of the hour. This morning we are uncovering America. A look at the faces and the stories of our changing nation. Today Dr. King's dream 40 years after his death. He went to Memphis to march with sanitation workers on strike from a job made even more difficult by the racism and prejudice that they faced every day.
CNN's Don Lemon is in Memphis for the 40th anniversary talking with sanitation workers who were on the job back then and now. Don joins us this morning. Good morning, Don.
DON LEMON, CNN, ANCHOR: Yes. Hey, good morning to you. Don't go anywhere, John. I want to ask you this. Do you know this name? Echo Cole? Do you know this one?
ROBERTS: They were ...
LEMON: Robert Walker.
ROBERTS: They were the sanitation workers that sparked the whole thing.
LEMON: Absolutely and how much do you hear about them? You don't hear that much and that's why I really made these because reading up on history and knowing about this story, John, as we all do, you know those names but not many people know the names.
With a driving rainstorm, two African-American sanitation workers, they couldn't fit in the cab of the garbage truck so they had to ride in the back of the truck between the compressor and the outside. The compressor malfunctioned, and that crushed them to death. And that's really -- that was the last straw with the sanitation workers. They went on strike, and that's why Dr. King came to Memphis, Tennessee. We wanted to find out if things have changed 40 years, what these sanitation workers were fighting for? If anything has changed in those years, we spoke to a man who was there 40 years ago and his son who now works for the Sanitation Department.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES MANUEL: That was the worst moment I had on the job.
LEMON: James Manuel has come a long way since the 1960s when he first became a sanitation worker in segregated Memphis, Tennessee.
MANUEL: You work outside in 100 degrees. 90-something degrees.
LEMON: It's hot, smelly, the garbage is leaking on you.
MANUEL: Right. It was tough. That's all I can say.
LEMON: And it was dangerous. Back then Manuel says people didn't put their garbage out on the curb. He and his fellow workers, all black, had to retrieve it from backyards. He said the company didn't provide gloves or uniforms. How much money were you making then?
MANUEL: When I started I think I was making $1.33 an hour.
LEMON: $1.33 an hour?
MANUEL: Right.
LEMON: To pick up garbage and half of it is leaking on you.
MANUEL: Right.
LEMON: The walking buzzards as they were called had to carry the leaking 60-gallon filthy tubs on their shoulders or heads and then they had to ride in the back of the truck with the garbage to the landfill.
MANUEL: You could sit on top of the garbage to the landfill or whatever.
LEMON: Really? People did that?
MANUEL: Yes.
LEMON: Sit on top of the garbage?
MANUEL: Yes.
LEMON: That's how two sanitation workers died in February of 1968. To escape a driving rainstorm, they huddled in the back with the putrefying garbage like the workers in this picture. They were accidentally crushed by a malfunctioning trash compressor.
After that, sanitation workers went on strike and Dr. King came to Memphis. It was here he gave his last speech on the evening before an assassin's bullet took his life on the balcony of the now infamous Lorraine Motel. James Manuel had attended the rally.
MANUEL: I feel bad about that. The whole Memphis feels bad about that.
LEMON: Now 40 years later, Manuel's son, James Jr., also works for the Sanitation Department.
JAMES MANUEL, JR., SANITATION WORKER: I admire and respect him, he's my father. He took care of me when I couldn't take care of myself. He taught me right from wrong. And he does -- the goals I want to follow in his footsteps become a supervisor.
LEMON: Today the working conditions, while not perfect, are better, and this time young and old, black and white, are working together.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: As we come out live now, room 306 of the Lorraine Motel, that's the balcony of course, the infamous balcony, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lost his life. And John, 40 years later, as we said in our story, the conditions aren't perfect, but they are better, but still at least now they have gloves and they have uniforms. And rode with them yesterday and they were out passing them, giving them rain suits to make sure they didn't get wet in the rain.
But also now, John, they don't have to work in the rain if they don't want to. They have that option. But still 40 years later, they don't have a pension, so they're fighting for some of the things they were fighting for even when Dr. King came to town.
ROBERTS: Fascinating story for us this morning, Don. And it's a real reminder of the level of injustice back then in the 1960s. As you said, it has gotten somewhat better in the last 40 years, but still a lot of issue with labor across this country that needs to be addressed. Don Lemon for us this morning. Look forward to your coverage throughout the day, my friend. Thanks.
LEMON: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: All right. See you soon.
And join CNN this afternoon for all of the King commemorations live from Memphis. We are also tuning in with radio show hosts around the country for "Conversations with black America." Catch it live on CNN, 1:00 p.m. Eastern or logon to cnn.com/live.
Spring is usually the best time of year to sell your house, but will the current housing crisis make this spring a cold one on the home front? Our Gerri Willis will tell us what to expect. That's coming up.
Pus, an 18-year-old boy gets bitten by a shark and lives to tell about it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He shook his head, wouldn't let go for a second. I tried to pull my foot out. And finally, he just let go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Wow. We'll tell you how he's doing after that close encounter. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, here is a pretty staggering figure or statistic in an election year. Eight out of every 10 Americans think the country is heading in the wrong direction. That's according to the latest "New York Times"/CBS news poll asking that question. Eighty- one percent of people say the country is on the wrong track. That is the highest percentage since they started taking that poll back in the early 1990s.
And that brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. What do you think is the primary reason the country is on the wrong track? Right now, let's take a look. Fifty-one percent say Iraq, 25 percent say the economy, 17 percent say political gridlock, two percent say the state of health care, and five percent are pointing to the state of education.
Cast your vote for us at cnn.com/am. We'll continue to tally your votes throughout the morning. We've also been asking you for your e- mails as well. Ring in on those. Let's take a look at some of what people have been writing to us this morning.
Susan from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina says "This is the first time in my almost 60 years I have actually considered leaving this country for good. It disgusts me.
Carol from Blackburg, Virginia says "You've got to be kidding. The primary reason that the U.S. is on the wrong track: George W. Bush.
Steve from Seward, Nebraska writes "This is one poll where you should have added "all of the above."
See, we actually thought about that this morning but we did want people to break it down into what they thought was the primary reason. We though that everybody will just vote for "all of the above."
And Michael from Lexington, Kentucky writes "Our great nation is on the wrong track not for one single reason but a combination of several. Luckily, we are at a fork in the road and we have the opportunity to speak again as a nation in November."
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