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Ballot Bowl 2008

Continued Coverage of Campaign Speeches and Happenings

Aired April 12, 2008 - 16:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Suzanne Malveaux, here in Philadelphia. This is really your chance to get to see the candidates up close and personal. Sometimes, it's live. Sometimes, it's on tape. But it's always unfiltered. The speech is reaching out to the voters. The question and answer sessions, all of them are really unfolding. Now, I'm here in Pennsylvania, critical contests coming up in the weeks ahead. My colleague, Jim Acosta, is in Indiana, following the Clinton campaign. That also a very important race. Jim, what do you see?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, we're less than an hour away from the scheduled departure time for Hillary Clinton here in front of these voters in Valparaiso, Indiana. She was in Indianapolis and other parts of the state today looking for voters in anticipation of the big primary coming up on May the 6th, which is just two weeks after the Pennsylvania primary, another critical contest for Hillary Clinton. Let's go over the game plan because we've just gotten past halftime here on the four hours of coverage on BALLOT BOWL. And there's still plenty in store for you, the viewers.

Barack Obama was in Indiana as well. He was serving up burgers, we want to note, serving up burgers, yes, outside of Ball State University, trying to make that appeal to middle-class voters out there. He's not only serving up burgers but an explanation for the comments he made referring to blue collar workers in Pennsylvania as bitter. So Barack Obama doing a bit of damage control today. As for Hillary Clinton, since we're in an agricultural state, we can note that the senator from New York is doing some harvesting as in fresh material for her stump speech. She's plowing through those comments from Barack Obama coming up with phrases, new catch phrases for a campaign stump speech. We will have more on that in just a moment.

As for John McCain, he is enjoying a down day from the campaign trails, but his campaign too has also weighed in on the controversy swirling around Barack Obama. And with that, I'll hand it back to my colleagues, Suzanne Malveaux who is in Philadelphia. Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Jim, very interesting what the voters will do to get those votes. As you say, serving up hamburgers and serving up explanations as well. Obviously, it's a controversial situation. It is a debate that is taking place on the blogs on the internet. And it really has a lot of questions to do, not only about what Pennsylvania voters may think about those comment but also in perhaps the general election, whether or not the republicans will hone in on those comments and use it against Barack Obama if he becomes the democratic nominee. Now, just to backtrack a little bit, to explain to you what this is all about. It was last week, it was a fund-raiser in San Francisco, it was a closed event in which a woman by the name of Mayhill Fouler, she calls herself a citizen journalist, she audiotapes comments from Barack Obama, explaining some things about Pennsylvania voters, characterizing some of them as being bitter and also perhaps some of the reasons why they are bitter and how they express that. I want you to take a listen to the audio tape that she put on "Huffington Post," which really kind of erupted into this controversy. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You go into these towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 yeas and nothing's replaced them... and they fell through the Clinton Administration, the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not.

And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti- immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: And we have some news coming out of this story. Just breaking news right now that we are getting from our embedded producer, Chris Welsh, who is traveling with the Obama campaign. They have put out a statement, Barack Obama, I just want to read it from my Blackberry because we're just getting it right now, Chris Welsh traveling with the Obama campaign, saying that Obama in an interview with the "Winston-Salem Journal" said, and the quote is "if I worded things in a way that made people offended I deeply regret that."

Again, in quotes from Barack Obama to the "Winston-Salem Journal," "if I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that." He goes on to say, here another comment in quotes, "well, look, if there are obviously, if I worded things in a way that made people offended I deeply regret that. The underlying truth of what I said remains, which is simply, that people who have seen their way of life offended because of economic distress are frustrated and rightfully so. And I hear it all the time when I visit these communities. People say they feel like no one is paying attention or listening to them. And that is something that is one of the reasons I am running for president. I saw this when I first started off as a community organizer. And the steel plants had closed. I was working with churches and communities that have fallen on hard times. They felt angry and frustrated."

So once again, we are getting a statement from Barack Obama to this newspaper saying that he regrets if he offended people by his comments. Obviously, it's a part of an ongoing debate. A controversy over just what he meant by those statements he made at this closed fund-raising event and the question remains whether or not this is really going to resonate with some Pennsylvania voters. Whether or not those key working class voters who they are fiercely fighting over Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton really are going to hold this against him or judge him in a different way.

And also the question is, whether or not if you jump ahead, if Obama becomes the nominee, whether or not this is something that the republicans are going to use against him. That is an argument that Senator Clinton's campaign is making to the superdelegates, saying, watch out, look out, this is something that they say, in their own words that the right wing camp would use to exploit, would be great fodder in advertisements, in debate against Barack Obama. They make the case therefore to Hillary Clinton. So it has created quite a controversy, quite a debate that is taking place. But it is clear that Barack Obama, and his campaign, seeing it necessary not only to explain the comments and the remarks but also to apologize for them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lately, there's been a little typical sort of political flare-up. Because I said something that everybody knows is true, which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois who are bitter. They are angry. They feel like they've been left behind. They feel like nobody's paying attention to what they're going through. So I said, well, you know, when you're bitter, you turn to what you can count on. So people, you know, they vote about guns or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country. Or they get frustrated about, you know, how things are changing.

That's a natural response. And, I didn't say it as well as I should have because, you know, the truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, those are important. That's what sustains us. But what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they're being listened to. You know, and so they pray and they count on each other, and they count on their families. You know this in your own lives. And what we need is a government that is actually paying attention. A government that is fighting for working people, day in and day out. Making sure that we are trying to allow them to live out the American dream. And that's what this campaign is about.

We've got to get past the divisions. We've got to get past the distractions of our politics and fight for each other. And that's why I'm running for president of the United States. And I think we've got an opportunity to bring about that change right here and right now. But I'm going to need your help, Indiana. I'm going to need your help. And if we decide that we're working together, if we're not divided and if we're not distracted, then we can stop -- we can change Washington. Look, we can tell the lobbyists their days of sending the agenda are over. They have not funded my campaign, they won't run our White House. They will not drown out the voice of the American people when I'm president of the United States of America.

We can stop talking about the outrage of 47 million people without health insurance and start doing something about it. I've put forward a plan that says if you've got health insurance, we're going to lower your premiums by $2,500 per family per year. If you don't have health insurance, you'll be able to buy health insurance. Just get a plan that is at least as good as the health care that I have as a member of Congress. You won't be excluded for pre-existing conditions. If you can't afford it, we will subsidize you. We will emphasize prevention and regular checkups to save money. And we won't wait 20 years from now to do it or 10 years from now to do it, we'll do it by the end of my first term as president of the United States of America.

If you're ready for change, we can start creating an economy that is fair. You know, I believe in the free market, I believe in entrepreneurship and capitalism. I think America is all about rewarding people who are successful. That's great. And I think we're all -- we all believe in self-reliance, you've got to work hard in order to get ahead. Live out your American dream.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Listening to Barack Obama address the crowd, talking about the things that obviously he would like to talk about with voters, health care, energy, the war, these type of issues, but also clearly being tested right now in the campaign with just ten days away from the Pennsylvania primary. Really, this dust-up this controversy over comments that he made, and how he characterized some Pennsylvania voters. I want to bring in our own Jim Acosta, you're in Indiana. You've been following the Clinton campaign, what has been fascinating to see Senator Clinton and how she has really kind of moved about in the state is that she has portrayed herself as a native here.

That she talks about her roots in Scranton. That her grandfather worked on the mill. She's got an ad here that says she grew up on pinochle and the American dream. She is clearly putting out this message to working class voters in this state that is she is one of them, she is of them, and she's got the best way, the best solutions to deal with their kinds of problems.

Jim, I wonder from where you are, you know, and what she's been saying in Indiana, if that's resonating with the people there? And if it's beyond Pennsylvania, if this is the kind of test and debate that people are paying attention to there as well? Some of the working class voters, blue collar folks, ears perked up saying, hey, wait a minute, perhaps we'll take a second look at Barack Obama. Perhaps we'll take another look at Hillary Clinton.

ACOSTA: Well, Suzanne, I think you're right. The Hillary Clinton campaign seized the blue collar vote as their bread and butter. And they are taking this controversy and running with it. Because they know that this is going to go and remind those blue collar, working, middle-class voters out there that in their mind, she is the fighter. She is the one who is standing by them. She is the one, as you mentioned, who has that sort of up from her bootstraps child rearing there in northeastern Pennsylvania, in the Scranton area. And she's not shy about reminding voters of that biography. But here in Indiana, just as is in the case in Pennsylvania, there are plenty of blue collar workers, lots of laid-off manufacturing workers, a lot of workers who are still in the industry who are still very concerned about what is happening to manufacturing jobs in this country. And so when Barack Obama describes blue collar workers as being bitter, I don't know about you, Suzanne, but my Blackberry runneth over. The Blackberry has been filling up with all sorts of e-mails coming from the Clinton campaign, one coming from Phil Singer, a spokesperson for the Hillary Clinton campaign.

He is forwarding comments from a former democratic party chairman down in North Carolina. They also have a vote coming up on May the 6th, calling Barack Obama comments elitist. And another e-mail comment coming from the Clinton campaign, talking about Evan Bayh, the Indiana senator who is supporting Hillary Clinton and how he feels that these comments by Barack Obama should give pause to superdelegates.

But earlier today, down in Indianapolis, Hillary Clinton referred to these comments as demeaning. And she took aim at Barack Obama. Here's Hillary Clinton in Indianapolis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was taken aback by the demeaning remarks Senator Obama made about people in small town America. Senator Obama's remarks are elitist and they're out of touch. They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans. Certainly, not the Americans that I know, not the Americans I grew up with, to the Americans I lived with in Arkansas or represent in New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And so there is Hillary Clinton in Indianapolis earlier today talking about the comments from Barack Obama. We should note that those comments from Hillary Clinton in Indianapolis, they came before Barack Obama issued that apology. So Hillary Clinton there referring to those comments from Barack Obama as elitist and demeaning. It will be interesting to find out, now that Barack Obama has issued a statement saying he deeply regrets those comments. It will be interesting to see whether or not the Clinton campaign dials back some of the rhetoric. And we should find out that here in about 30 minutes from now, as Hillary Clinton is due to address some supporters here in Valparaiso, Indiana. Valpo, as they call it here in this part of northwest Indiana.

But we should also note that the McCain campaign has also released a statement, piling on here, if you will, also calling Barack Obama out on his comments. The McCain campaign essentially calling Barack Obama out of touch with middle-class Americans. There's a lot more coming up here on BALLOT BOWL. Stick with us. We're coming up after a break. This is BALLOT BOWL on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Suzanne Malveaux in Philadelphia. We're following a developing story in the campaign. The latest controversy, Senator Barack Obama, some comments he made in a San Francisco fund-raiser last week, in which he characterized some of Pennsylvania's voters as being bitter. And perhaps the circumstances why their bitterness has spilled out into other areas in their lives, religion, guns, things like this. that he has explained. Immediately, Senators Clinton, as well as John McCain seizing on those comments, controversial comments, saying they are offensive. Senator Clinton saying elitist. We have since heard Barack Obama come back and explain those comments further, give them more context and also just moments ago, we have learned that he has since had deeply regret it if he offended anybody in making those comments, essentially apologizing for that.

Now, we're going to have our own CNN producer, an embed who is with the Obama campaign, Chris Welsh. He is going to be joining us soon to talk about the very latest. I want to bring in our own Jim Acosta out of Indiana. Obviously, this is something that the campaigns are all talking about. They're all trying to gain some sort of advantage if they can against Barack Obama over this. We still don't know what the fallout is going to be. And this is really another test for Barack Obama and the campaign to see if he can get over this hurdle, Jim.

ACOSTA: It really is, Suzanne. And it seemed that Barack Obama was trying at least in the first several hours after this controversy erupted, it seemed as if that he was trying to explain away these comments and almost justify the comments. And sounding very much like Senator Bullworth, not Senator Obama out there on the campaign trail, just sort of telling it like it is at that democratic fund raiser he might see it out in Pennsylvania. But it is clear at that the Obama campaign has seen the damage done from this. And our Chris Welsh traveling with the Obama campaign picked up that apology from Barack Obama earlier this afternoon.

And the Clinton campaign is obviously trying to capitalize this. Earlier today, as we mentioned earlier on "Ballot Bowl," Hillary Clinton laid into Barack Obama, calling those comments demeaning and accusing the senator from Illinois of being elitist. It's unclear as to whether or not she is going to tailor her message here in Valparaiso in just a few moments, perhaps she might dial back some of that rhetoric taking into account that this apology has gone out and perhaps not. She knows that this is where her bread is buttered, not only in Indiana, but in Pennsylvania.

But we want to switch gears just a little bit here because John McCain who was out on the campaign trail earlier this week, he was also, before all of this erupted, taking aim at Barack Obama, talking about the issue of public financing. John McCain and Barack Obama have both indicated that they would be willing to accept certain campaign limits, limits on their campaign and expenditures in exchange for public financing, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. The McCain campaign has accused Barack Obama of waffling a little bit on that issue. So, here's John McCain on the issue of public financing. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... to fix our economy, there's a number of things we need to do and one of them, obviously is energy. I don't have to tell anybody in this room because you all drove here today what it's like to go to fill up your gas tank today. And my friends, we are now sending 400, $400 billion a year, and paying for imported oil tour countries that don't like us very much. And some of that money ends up in the hands of terrorist organizations. My friends we've got to go to wind, we've got to go to solar. We have a PhD program right here at Texas Tech for wind power. And thank you Ken for that program.

Wind, as they are proving right here at Texas Tech, wind energy production is a viable option. And we have to go solar, and we have to go tide and we have to do all of those things but I also have to tell you one more thing we've got to do and people better understand it. We got to go to nuclear power as well. We have sailed navy ships around the world for 60 years with nuclear power plants on. And it's clean. And my friends, we cannot -- it's half of our trade deficit. This $400 billion a year. And I'm sorry to tell you that the price of oil, as far as I can tell, is not going to go down anytime soon, until we eliminate our dependency on it.

We can do that as a nation. We can turn out the lights five minutes earlier. We don't have to drive the extra block -- by the way, I forgot to mention to you, the French, you know we love to intimidate the French, 80% of their electricity is generated by nuclear power. And they now have a pro-American president of France which shows you if you live long, anything can happen in the world, as you know. So there's -- there are those who say if you go to these green technologies which we do screen greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time eliminate our dependency on foreign oil, it's going to cost us a lot.

My trends, look at the programs we have at Texas Tech. Look at the entrepreneurship, the innovation and the strength of America. We can eliminate out dependency on foreign oil and make it profitable for every American. And I'm convinced of it, when Americans, every time we've been challenged, we have met that challenge, and that's why we're the greatest nation in the world today.

And so -- so I want to discuss to you just a moment about the world we live in. It's a dangerous world. As you know, as we speak, brave young Americans are in two wars, one in Iraq, one in Afghanistan. And it's been long and hard and tough. And I know everybody that's here today knows someone who's served in the Texas Guard or Reserve. We know the incredible performance. And it's been too hard and it's been too tough on them and their families. For too long, this war was mismanaged. And we didn't expand the army and the marine corps and the regular forces and the Air Force and the Navy enough. And we placed a grade burden on our guard and reserve.

I also want to tell you you can be proud to know that the Texas Guard and Reserve has performed in the most outstanding, and brave and courageous fashion and better than any time in history. And I know you're proud of them. And be sure to say thanks. And every time you see one of these young men and women in uniform, just go over and say, thanks for serving. That's all they're asking of us. And their families, when you meet them, tell them, thanks for serving. So as I said to you, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has been long, and hard and tough. And as you probably know, there was a time when I supported this new strategy a long time ago. Everybody said that McCain's political ambitions are at an end. I said it that time and I mean it today that I would much rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. And I knew the strategy that had to be employed. That strategy is succeeding. And we have been blessed with one of the greatest generals in American history, in General David Petraeus.

And I would remind you that last year, before he came to testify before Congress, this moveon.org, they ran an ad in "The New York Times" that showed General Petraeus picture, that said "General Petraeus or General Betray us." Can you imagine? Can you imagine, disgraceful conduct. My friends, this is a transcendent evil that we're facing. This evil of radical Islamic extremism is long and hard and tough and it is sometimes beyond our comprehension.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And that was John McCain at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. He did not talk about public financing in that flap between he and Obama over that issue. We hope to have that in our following hour on BALLOT BOWL here on CNN. McCain obviously talking about energy issues and the Iraq war. Senator McCain likes to point out to voters that he was for the surge before George Bush was for the surge. Stick with us, coming up after the break on "Ballot Bowl," on CNN, more on the controversy over those remarks from Barack Obama on blue collar workers in Pennsylvania. Stick with us. This is BALLOT BOWL on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Suzanne Malveaux in Philadelphia. We are following a developing story, really, a controversy of Barack Obama comments last week out of a San Francisco fund-raiser in which he characterized some of Pennsylvania's voters as being bitter.

Since then, Senator Clinton, as well as John McCain, have seized on those comments. Senator Clinton saying that they are elitist. Senator McCain's group also weighing in, saying that he's out of touch with voters.

There has been a back and forth here. Since then, earlier today, Barack Obama issued a statement saying that he deeply regretted if he offended anyone by his remarks. He went on to further explain his remarks. We're going to have more of that from our embedded producer Chris Welch, who is with the Obama campaign.

Also want to bring up the fact that we just got a response from the McCain campaign through e-mail responding to Barack Obama's regretful statements, the apology. They say: "Voters will reject his so-called truths, that he still stands by his remarks were false. The importance of our Second Amendment and our country's longstanding history with faith and spirituality are born in history, not bitterness and frustration. His view is absolutely restricted by elitism." That from Tucker Bounds from the McCain campaign.

So obviously this is a controversy that will continue to brew throughout the day at -- as well as perhaps the weeks ahead leading up to the Pennsylvania Primary. A big test for Barack Obama whether or not he can get over this political hurdle, this latest controversy.

Also if you check out at 10:00 tonight on CNN, we have a special election coverage. It's called "ROUTE 2008." Our own John King, he has been traveling across the state of Pennsylvania, talking to voters, talking to the political operatives, talking to the candidates about really what is important to them.

He's going to bring us all of that at 10:00 tonight. And then tomorrow, you're not going to want to miss this, it is "THE COMPASSION FORUM." It is at 8:00 tomorrow night out of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is hosted by our own Campbell Brown. She's going to be taking a look, talking to candidates Barack Obama and Senator Clinton about the issue of faith and how it plays into their politics, to their campaigns, and what they bring to the table when it comes to their religion.

All of that, two CNN specials that are coming up, you don't want to miss those, as well as BALLOT BOWL continuing after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. We'll get you back to the BALLOT BOWL right after a check of the day's headlines.

A deadly bomb blast in southern Iran. State-run television now is reporting eight people were killed and 66 wounded. A bomb rocked a mosque in the city of Shiraz, just after evening prayers. The city is about 400 miles south of Tehran.

Iraqi troops have recovered more bodies believed to be connected to sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis. Tips from captured Shiite fighters led to several mass graves in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, 45 bodies have now been recovered there this week.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk sports and Georgia, a tradition. Third-round play resuming at The Masters -- The Masters being the tradition after a strong storm forced officials to suspend play for a bit. Let's check in with CNN's Larry Smith live in Augusta.

That, too, seems to be tradition because weather often interferes with The Masters.

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're right, weather is always an issue this time of year and this part of the country, as you guys just were talking about, and certainly it has been an issue today. Some earlier storms have kind of cooled things off just a bit, though, right now, it is dry. But the course is wet. And so the players now are trying to take advantage of the softer greens. That's the advantage when you get a real good rain shower like that.

There was a weather delay of about 45 minutes so we're kind of behind schedule today in the third round. The big story other than that is the 20-somethings who are playing in the final twosome: Trevor Immelman, at 28 years old, a South African, is one shot off his pace at eight under par that he came into the day, currently at seven under; one shot behind his playing partner, Brandt Snedeker, the 27- year-old Vanderbilt grad, birdied an early hole and holding on to a one-shot lead now at eight under par.

Phil Mickelson is trying to get his third green jacket. He looks great. He has worked out, he has slimmed down. He hired Tigers Woods' old swing coach, Butch Harmon, to work on his swing, and he just went 29 holes without a bogey before just carting a bogey on hole number five. So he's right back now to even on the day, five under par for the tournament, three shots behind the leader, Brandt Snedeker, as we continue here in the third round -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: What about Tiger Woods, isn't he going for green jacket number five?

SMITH: He is trying to right now, he has had a couple of putts for birdies that just missed. So he's having his best round of the week, although that's not saying much. He's two under par for today, three under par for the tournament, currently five shots back. He still is not out of it, if he can get a couple of birdies here and there, maybe get it to five under par going into tomorrow, he certainly would have a shot at getting another Masters win here at Augusta.

WHITFIELD: All right. Larry Smith, thanks so much, in Augusta.

SMITH: OK. All right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Next up, today's "Health for Her" segment. How you can make sure your doctor is really listening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, sometimes, it can be a challenge getting your doctor to really listen. It could mean the difference, however, between the right or wrong diagnosis. Judy Fortin has more in today's "Health for Her" segment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDY FORTIN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "What seems to be the problem?" is usually the first thing a doctor asks his patient. But one physician says getting them to really listen to what we're saying might actually be the bigger problem.

DR. JEROME GROOPMAN, AUTHOR, "HOW DOCTORS THINK": Most physicians within seconds generate an idea about what's wrong with a person. About 80 percent of the time, we're right. But about 20 percent of the time, we're wrong.

FORTIN: Dr. Jerome Groopman, author of thing book "How Doctors Think," says those percentages can be dangerous.

GROOPMAN: In that 20 percent, about half of those misdiagnoses are thought to actually result in harm.

FORTIN: Our fast-paced society might be to blame for some of this lack of doctor listening time. We want quick answers and doctors have huge time constraints. But when it comes to your health, Dr. Groopman encourages patients to take time for full disclosure.

GROOPMAN: The doctor needs to know when the symptom began, whether the problem is new or longstanding, what makes the symptom better or worse, and whether the person has tried anything to ameliorate or lessen the problem and what that effect was.

FORTIN: In order to get the correct diagnosis, this doctor advises patients to be both proactive and probing.

GROOPMAN: A patient can ask very appropriate, constructive questions, the kinds of questions that we should be asking ourselves but may not because of time pressure. Such as, what else could it be? Meaning, we should open our mind up again and not stay stuck to that first impression.

FORTIN: Because you know what they say about first impressions. It would seem, especially where your health is concerned, they really do matter.

Judy Fortin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Political repression in Myanmar has led to the exodus of thousands of refugees. CNN's Dan Rivers reports on a young boy from Myanmar who is growing up in a garbage dump in Thailand. Later we'll tell you how you can help and "Impact Your World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 10:00 in the morning and there are fresh pickings at the Mae Sot garbage dump in Thailand. Khin Zaw Lin is just one of 300 refugees from Myanmar, formerly Burma, who literally live off of other people's rubbish.

A 7-year-old, scavenging in the searing heat and the nauseating smell. He says he collects bottles and plastics for 3 cents a sack. He shows his feet, which are filthy and cut. He doesn't have shoes, and so walks barefoot amid this dangerous fetid landscape.

Khin Zaw Lin lives here, an orphan adopted by a family when he was just a few months old. His adoptive mother explains she brought Khin Zaw Lin here from Myanmar as a baby, seeking a better life. "Incredibly," she says, "this is an improvement."

(on camera): Does she think she will ever get out of this rubbish dump?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never.

RIVERS (voice-over): Most people live on less than a dollar a day at the dump, and eat scavenged food from the garbage. This man is frying chicken bones thrown away by someone else. This isn't a life, it's an existence, one that Khin Zaw Lin endures every single day.

(on camera): The one question that keeps going through my mind here is how on earth it can be allowed that a 7-year-old has spent his entire life living in this, his childhood consumed by poverty and squalor.

(voice-over): There are nine government-run refugee camps in Thailand, for those who flee Myanmar in fear of their lives, which the U.N. supports, but not everyone qualifies for help.

A U.N. spokeswoman explained why.

KITTY MCKINSEY, UNHCR SPOKESWOMAN: In order to be qualified as a refugee, you have to establish that you're fleeing fighting or persecution or a well-found fear of persecution. So not everybody would qualify.

RIVERS: And these people fear if they go to the refugee camps, they'll be cast as economic migrants and deported. So they say they're effectively trapped at the dump with no money to go elsewhere and no prospects back home.

SHARI VILLAROSA, U.S. CHARGE D'AFFAIRES TO MYANMAR: There's no jobs for people. The cost of living is increasing. The salaries -- the average salary is something like 20,000 kyat (ph), less than $20 a month. You can't live on that.

RIVERS: Some people are trying to help those at the dump. Cay Minander (ph) is a Burmese exiled monk who comes here to hand out food, sweets and soap, inspiring others as well.

CARIMA BRANDOW, VOLUNTEER: When I first came here, I didn't believe what I saw, basically. And I could not stop thinking about it.

FRIDA PERJUS, VOLUNTEER: I could never understand how this group grew up in a garbage dump.

RIVERS: But Khin Zaw Lin understands only too well, it's the only life this little boy has ever known.

Dan Rivers, Mae Sot, Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: And surely, you are moved by that. You can find out how you can help Myanmar refugees in Thailand. Logon to cnn.com/impact. That's going to do it from Atlanta for now. More BALLOT BOWL coverage straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL on CNN. I'm Jim Acosta in Valparaiso, Indiana. You're watching right now Bill Clinton, he's down in Deep Run, North Carolina, stumping for votes for his wife down in that very important state. That primary coming up two weeks after the Pennsylvania Primary on May 6th. Let's listen to the former president now.

BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... on your student loan. Putting a college loan out of the reach of a lot of people.

So you need a president that gets this and turns it around based on the idea of shared opportunities, shared responsibilities for shared prosperity. OK? So...

(APPLAUSE)

B. CLINTON: And you know, even if you've got a job, you know good and well, you've got to raise incomes, and in order to raise incomes, you've got to have more jobs to make the labor markets tighter.

So the next president should have a plan both to help you with the incomes and the cost of living. But let's start with the incomes first. The incomes -- to get incomes up, you've got to get jobs in the economy.

Hillary's plans are simple. She has a plan to create 5 million new jobs in the only way that all rich countries that are creating jobs are doing it, by making America more energy independent through homegrown clean energy and energy efficiency. We can create jobs in every state, in every rural area, small town and city in America.

(APPLAUSE)

ACOSTA: And so there is the former president, Bill Clinton, campaigning in North Carolina for Hillary Clinton, who, by the way, we should mention, is expected to be here any moment in Valparaiso, Indiana. We are watching this event closely. It's just getting under way. The crowd was just getting warmed up a few moments ago.

And the senator from New York should be taking the stage at any moment, and we'll be watching to find out whether or not and how she addresses this controversy swirling around Barack Obama. And with that, I want to hand it back to my colleague, Suzanne Malveaux, in Philadelphia.

And, Suzanne, it will be interesting to see if Hillary Clinton makes reference to this after this apology came down from the Obama campaign, from the senator himself earlier this afternoon.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely, Jim. Because obviously, John McCain, as well as Senator Hillary Clinton, this is not a controversy that they'd like to put to bed, at least not so soon. They want to hold Barack Obama accountable for some of those controversial remarks. Both of them seeing it to their advantage in this campaign.

Barack Obama just last week at a fund-raiser, a closed event in San Francisco, calling some of Pennsylvania's voters bitter, saying they go to religion or guns to deal with that bitterness, hard times, the economy.

We have since heard from senators McCain and Clinton, seizing on this, going after him, calling him an elitist, out of touch with Pennsylvania working-class voters. Barack Obama has come back. He has defended himself. He has put it in fuller context, trying to explain his comments.

He has also today said that he deeply regrets if he has offended by those comments, essentially an apology. So far we've heard from the McCain camp. They don't buy it, they don't accept it. They still believe that he has some explaining to do. We'll see how Hillary Clinton deals with it.

But we are going hear from our own Chris Welch, he's our embedded producer following very closely with Barack Obama. And he will give us the very latest on how they are dealing with this.

Clearly, they want to move on, but this is a big test, another big test for him, as we get much, much closer to Pennsylvania Primary and the contests beyond. All of this and more after the break, as BALLOT BOWL continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Jim Acosta, standing by in Valparaiso, Indiana, where Hillary Clinton is expected to address a big crowd of supporters who have packed inside of this high school gymnasium here in Hoosier country in just a moment. And as soon as the senator takes the stage, we'll be getting that to you live.

But we want to take a minute here to go over some programming notes. Coming up tonight at 6:00, after BALLOT BOWL, it's "ROUTE 2008," hosted by our very own John King. John King taking a political road trip across Pennsylvania. Apparently there's a little bit of a debate whether it's "rout" 2008 or "root" 2008. We'll let you, the viewers at home, decide how you want to pronounce it. But we're going with "root" 2008.

And then tomorrow night, 8:00 Eastern on CNN, "THE COMPASSION FORUM" hosted by Campbell Brown. Both Democratic candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, will be sitting down with Campbell Brown and Jon Meacham from Newsweek magazine, to talk about faith and politics. That's coming up tomorrow night, "THE COMPASSION FORUM," 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN. And stick with us, coming up after the break here on BALLOT BOWL on CNN, our final hour, our fourth quarter, if you will, of our four hours of coverage -- political coverage right here on CNN. Come back, won't you, after the break and stick with us. This is BALLOT BOWL on CNN.

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