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American Morning
Pennsylvania Polls Open; Oil and Gas Prices Climb Again; How to Save on Prescription Drug Costs
Aired April 22, 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 look at the latest CNN delegate estimate shows Barack Obama currently up by 140. Many analysts say anything but a double-digit win today for Senator Clinton may not be enough. Senator Clinton is out with a new last-minute campaign ad, this one invoking Osama bin Laden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: You need to be ready for anything, especially now with two wars, oil prices skyrocketing, and an economy in crisis. Harry Truman said it best. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: This is the first time, by the way, that a Democratic candidate invoked the terror mastermind in a television ad. Barack Obama wasted no time turning the heat back on Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Who do you want answering that 3:00 a.m. phone call? The person who got Iraq wrong or the person who got Iraq right? The person who paid attention to the intelligence or the person who didn't? The person who understood the consequences or the people who did not?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Obama's spokesman Bill Burton said the ad "plays the politics of fear and that Clinton is to blame for allowing bin Laden to escape by supporting the war in Iraq and diverting the U.S. military."
Jim Acosta joins us now live from a polling station in downtown Philadelphia which should have opened about nine seconds -- actually a minute and 10 seconds ago. Jim, how does it look there today?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, they're not using your clock here in Philadelphia. They haven't opened the polls just yet. We're standing by now. We're in the Department of Public Health Building here in downtown Philadelphia, and you can -- well, you could have just a few moments ago seen some election officials just tweaking these voting machines here getting them ready to go. There's a line going out the door and down the block outside of this polling station which is just about to open any second now, and they are opening across the state at 7:00 this morning, ending at 8:00 tonight.
And as a matter of fact, as I'm speaking to you right now, the revolving door just started spinning and voters are now walking in behind me. You can see them walking in behind me.
Hillary Clinton, she will be campaigning at a -- she won't be campaigning at a polling station but she'll be visiting a polling station in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, staying that minimum distance from the polls as she tries to convince last-minute voters to support her in this all-important Pennsylvania primary.
Barack Obama also has campaign events across the Keystone State today, and it's interesting how they're ending up their day today. Hillary Clinton ending her day where Barack Obama has been especially strong, right here in Philadelphia where she'll be joined by the governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell, and the mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter. Barack Obama, by the way, he will be wrapping up his campaign day after these six long weeks in Pennsylvania in Evansville, Indiana, an indication that many political analysts are reading into as perhaps a concession from the Obama campaign that they're looking forward to the next primary on May the 6th in the Hoosier State as opposed to looking back to what happens in Pennsylvania today -- John.
ROBERTS: Jim Acosta for us this morning at a polling place there in Philadelphia. Lines down the block. Great sense of anticipation this morning, Kyra. They're finally getting out there and this thing is finally under way.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Historic election. We've never seen anything like it, especially the younger generation. And I even tried to go vote the last time around and I had to get to work. So it's interesting dealing just with the pressures of the time and I wish you could vote on weekends. That would make a big difference.
ROBERTS: You can if you advance vote.
PHILLIPS: All right, thanks, John. You tell me now.
ROBERTS: Big sense of excitement around us today.
PHILLIPS: Well, filmmaker Michael Moore is throwing his support behind Barack Obama. In a posting on his Web site, Moore tells voters in Pennsylvania to cast their ballots for Obama praising his "basic decency and ability to inspire." Moore blasted Hillary Clinton for her negative campaigning saying her words and actions have gone from disappointing to "downright disgusting."
Meantime, Hillary Clinton says if she's elected, Republican rival John McCain will have a voice in her administration. Clinton told CNN's Larry King she would utilize McCain's experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I'm president I'm going to ask him to come over to the White House quite often and take trips with me because he has a perspective. I don't agree with it, and I think that he's the wrong person to be president at this time, but we're friends and we'll remain friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: For his part, John McCain will campaign in working class Youngstown, Ohio, today part of the tour that takes him off the beaten path for most Republican candidates actually. McCain met with a group of gospel singers in Selma, Alabama, yesterday and visited landmarks of the civil rights struggle. This is the part right here, I like to watch, John. OK, he's trying. He's trying to get the moves there.
McCain says he knows it will be hard to win over black voters who have long supported Democrats but that he's pledged to be president of all the people.
And later in the hour, we're going to be talking with former Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. That's at 7:54 Eastern. The next hour, Democratic Governors Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Bill Richardson of New Mexico will join us at 8:24 Eastern time.
ROBERTS: Big morning, big day in fact of politics right here on CNN. New concerns this morning about the strain on the U.S. military from fighting two wars. The Army and Marines say they have doubled the number of convicted felons that they allowed to enlist last year.
According to new figures, most of the convictions were for burglaries, thefts, and drug offenses. Both branches of the military say they have been under pressure to recruit more soldiers.
A top military officer says the army's so called stop-loss program will remain in place until the fall of 2009, when wartime demand for troops is expected to drop. The program forces troops to serve past their tour's end date. Critics have called it a backdoor draft. Right now, 12,000 troops are serving past their retirement date.
And a dire warning from Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He says Iran is "hell bent on getting nuclear weapons," but he said the consequences of going to war over that issue would be disastrous saying another war in the Middle East is the last thing the United States needs.
PHILLIPS: The Bush administration is laying out a proposal requiring the travel industry to fingerprint every foreign traveler leaving the United States. The Department of Homeland Security says the program would help agents find potential terrorists and people who overstay their visas. The rule would also apply to those living or leaving rather on cruise lines. The airline industry is criticizing the program saying the federal government, not the airlines, should be responsible for the $3.2 billion price tag.
And new guidelines for children taking medication for ADHD. The American Heart Association is now recommending that children have a heart exam including an EKG before they're prescribed drugs like Ritalin. Doctors say the drugs could make kids with heart conditions more vulnerable to heart attacks and other problems. The government estimates about 2.5 million American children take medication for ADHD.
And Toys "R" us said that it will stop selling plastic baby bottles made with bisphenol. The chemical is used to make plastic hard and shatterproof. Well, last week government scientists announced that there was some concern about it after lab experiments in rats linked the chemical to changes in the brain and early puberty. The American Chemistry Council says that the product ban is not supported by science.
ROBERTS: It is hard to imagine something more boring than being stuck in an elevator for 41 hours. The video of Nicholas White's ordeal is a hit on YouTube. The time lapse surveillance video condenses the 41 hours into three minutes. The video has been viewed more than a half a million times since it was posted last week.
White was trapped in the elevator of the McGraw Hill Building in New York City back in 1999. He sued the building manager and the elevator maintenance company and settled for an undisclosed amount. What would you do for 41 hours in an elevator?
PHILLIPS: I would figure a way out. Absolutely. I've been looking at every -- but there are ways to get through -- he tried to get through the top, right? I saw him --
ROBERTS: I don't know if he tried to get through the top, but he obviously tried to get through the door.
PHILLIPS: Didn't work. I don't know. Do a lot of meditation and thinking about your life, maybe write Haiku.
ROBERTS: A lot of bouncing off the walls.
PHILLIPS: That's right. Insane.
Well, prescription drugs cost going up. Americans shell out more than $200 billion a year. We're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta for ideas to keep your prescription drug costs down. We're just talking about that, John.
And breaking news from the business world, oil hits another record high overnight. How will it play out with voters in Pennsylvania? Our Ali Velshi live at the Election Express next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Price of oil hit a record high this morning. Ali Velshi joins us outside the CNN Election Express in Philadelphia on the morning of the Pennsylvania primary. You don't have to worry about gassing up. CNN Express always with a full tank.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And that's why it's parked right now, because of the high price of gasoline. $3.51 a gallon is the national average for self-serve gasoline this morning. It seems to be going up about a penny a day in the last week. And, of course, Kyra, that's, you know, a penny is no big deal except a penny is day there's 365 days in a year. We need that trend to stop.
The trend is partially largely because of the price of oil which topped $118 overnight, $118.05. It's in the $117 right now. But again, that seems to be getting almost a $1 a day. So these are problems obviously for people across the country.
Here in Pennsylvania, I want to give you some sort of a picture of what working life in Pennsylvania is. First of all, some of the biggest names in the country are headquartered here in Pennsylvania. Right here in Philadelphia is headquarters for Comcast, the cable organization. Also in Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, PNC Financial, which is headquartered in Pittsburgh, the big banking organization. U.S. Steel, flash back of flash dance in Pittsburgh, the Heinz company is in Pittsburgh as well, and Cigna, the big insurer, is here in Philadelphia.
About 12.5 million working people here in Pennsylvania, so 12.5 million people in general. The working population is about six million people. About half of the people who live in this state work. The workforce, the per capita income if you work in Pennsylvania, is about $38,788. That's almost $8,000 less than the national per capita income of $46,000.
So the economic numbers in Pennsylvania are a little lower than the national average. Foreclosure rates as we discussed earlier are lower. Home prices are lower as well. The one thing that Pennsylvania can brag about is that the unemployment rate is lower than the national average. It's about 4.9 percent in Pennsylvania versus 5.1 percent national average -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Rob Marciano is tracking extreme weather on this Earth Day. He's down there in Atlanta. Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John. Good morning, Kyra. We've got some rough weather that's moving across parts of the midsection of the country. Doppler is lighting up and severe thunderstorms are dropping some hail and some bad winds. Iowa and Missouri. We'll come right back with weather.
AMERICAN MORNING will return in a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rob Marciano. It is Earth Day. It's also primary day in Pennsylvania, so we'll get you going with the weather there. It shouldn't be that much of an issue.
Temps in the 40s and lower 50s right now and will crank up into the 60s, might even touch lower 70s in some spots. There is a little bit of moisture that's going to try to sneak into the southern corridor of the state, maybe Harrisburg getting clipped with a shower or two, but it shouldn't be a deterrent for folks getting off of the polls.
Check out some of these numbers for record lows yesterday morning. Great Falls, Montana, minus eight. That blows the old record out of the water by almost 20 degrees. This is just incredibly cold stuff. We saw snow in Seattle, snow on the beaches in Oregon. Here are some of the current numbers.
Teens and 20s across parts of Montana, 30s and 40s across the northwest. Snow at the high elevations and rain in the valleys of the Atlanta Valley there. More significantly bad weather I suppose you'd say or immediate concern. We've got severe thunderstorms that are rolling across the state of Iowa. This batch here is severe and it's moving northeasterly. It hit about 50 miles an hour.
Down to the south of Missouri, look at this. See that purple? That is a hail core right there. That's likely dropping some hail anywhere from one to two inches in diameter. This is moving southeasterly at 34 miles an hour, and that could have winds in excess of 60 miles an hour.
We saw flooding across parts of southern Virginia and North Carolina yesterday from this stubborn system. It will roll in some more showers and thunderstorms more so to the coastline of North Carolina today. Kyra, back up to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, Rob. I'll tell you what. I'm loving springtime in New York.
ROBERTS: I got the report from the home front though in North Virginia, and all the little streams are flooded out. A lot of water fell there in the last couple of days.
MARCIANO: Hey, you know, in some cases they can use the rain. So, unfortunately, they get it all at once. It's feast or famine it seems to be nowadays.
ROBERTS: A little bit at a time. All things in moderation, Rob.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." The cost of prescription drugs going through the roof. What is a patient to do? We're paging our Dr. Gupta ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The economy is issue number one for Americans, with health care costs one of the biggest worries. Patients shell out more than $200 billion for prescription drugs each and every year. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now. What's driving up the cost of prescription drugs, Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I mean, it's amazing. First of all, the numbers you cited, over 200 billion, that's gone up about 56 percent over the last several years. I mean, just take a look at that. So this is happening right now. When a lot of these insurance plans were started, including Medicare, John, the cost of drugs was a relatively small percentage of the overall cost of health care. Everything has gone up, whether it be governmental health care plan or whether it be private health care plans over the last several years. They're just a larger percentage of the overall cost.
Part of the pinch, if you will, for the individual consumer comes in the form of these copays that we talk so much about. A lot of copays in the past have been sort of standard, $10, $15, $20, whatever it is. A lot of them now come in percentages. So whatever the cost of the drug, you end up paying a percentage of that, and people end up paying thousands of dollars per month.
We've been following this as you know quite a bit, John. The thing that I think is so interesting it's starting to trickle down in a very bad way. One study out of Minnesota, for example, show that 40 percent of patients at this one particular practice were foregoing some of their medication because they just couldn't -- they didn't want to pay for them, pay those high costs.
ROBERTS: You know, we've seen people take these bus trips to Canada, people order drugs over the Internet from Thailand to try to save some money. I mean, what can people do to really save money and also preserve their safety when it comes to prescription medications?
GUPTA: Sometimes it is hard to know. There's no question. It is difficult to say, you know, Canada, where is the black hat, those drugs aren't safe. Sometimes they can be just fine, but I think there are some more specific things that people can do.
First of all, you and I have talked a lot about brand name drugs versus generic drugs. And generic drugs are obviously not the exact same thing, but a lot of times you can talk about it with you doctor. You can find generic drugs that can fit the bill and be a lot cheaper. Sometimes a third of the cost of what the brand name drug cost.
Also, each insurance plan has their own formulary. John, they're negotiating with big drug makers to get lower prices, so they'll buy lots of a particular type of drug. If you get that drug, it's going to be a little cheaper for you as well.
Mail order plans -- look, this is not easy for people who have busy lives, but if you know ahead of time, if you're going to be on the medication for quite some time, order in the mail. That saves you a lot of money as well.
And again, going back to this percentage versus static copays. You know, there's a lot to read when you're signing up for your insurance plan. Pay attention to that one. Get a static copay if you can get that as opposed to these percentages. They'll kill you especially if you're going to be on the medication for a few months, John.
ROBERTS: Good advice, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Thanks.
GUPTA: Thanks, sir. Bye-bye.
PHILLIPS: As we have been telling you all morning, it's primary day and decision day in Pennsylvania. It could also be Hillary Clinton's last chance to stay in the race. Millions of people expected to turn out to the polls today, and there have been calls for Clinton to step aside if she doesn't win big in Pennsylvania.
And that brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Do you think today will be a turning point in the Democratic race for president? Right now, 69 percent of you say yes, 31 percent say no. You can cast your vote at CNN.com/am, and we'll tally your votes throughout the morning.
We also want your e-mails. Head to our Web site, CNN.com/am. Follow the links that say "contact us," and we'll read some of your e- mails in the next hour.
ROBERTS: You are watching the "Most News in the Morning," and you will not believe what this Colorado lawmaker said to get himself kicked off the floor. We'll play it for you coming up.
Plus, if you live in a mansion, can you really be green? We'll look at whether so-called Mcmansions betray their energy efficient promises. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour, and there's a live picture this morning from downtown Philadelphia. The polls are open and this morning voters in Pennsylvania are finally getting their say. It has been seven long weeks since the last primary in Mississippi.
Hillary Clinton has been fighting for a victory while Barack Obama battles to keep it close today. So can we expect any new dramatic turns throughout the day as the votes are cast?
Mark Halperin is the senior political analyst at "Time" magazine. He is also author of the not to be missed blog, "The Page," on Time.com and he joins me now. So Hillary Clinton came up with a new ad yesterday, and this is one that takes the Democratic fight a little further than it's ever been before. Let's take a quick look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: You need to be ready for anything, especially now with two wars, oil prices skyrocketing, and an economy in crisis. Harry Truman said it best. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So Democrats said if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, but we see images there of Osama bin Laden, Pearl Harbor. Some people say this looks like the Bush campaign in 2004.
MARK HALPERIN, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Look more to me like Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" video.
ROBERTS: Look, it was pretty close.
HALPERIN: That is a positive ad in the sense that she's making the argument for herself as being more experienced. A lot of voters around the country have seen her that way.
It does not mention Barack Obama. I find it interesting that people look at it as a challenge to him. Of course, he is not running on experience. He's running on change. I think clearly though, those who say she's playing the fear card trying to invoke terrorism, they're right.
She's trying to get voters in Pennsylvania emotional and revved up about the notion of voting for her. I think it's a perfectly legitimate ad, but for those who say it's a tough ad, I just don't see that.
ROBERTS: It also looks a little bit like Matchbox Twenty's, look, "How Far We've Come" video.
HALPERIN: Exactly, and my thought as well.
ROBERTS: But is this playing to the politics of fear as the Obama campaign has claimed?
HALPERIN: I think that's a perfectly reasonable argument but as we saw in 2004, there's a lot of fear in this country. There's a lot of anxiety. I think she's going for those voters who look at national security and experience as big issues.
So, I can argue it either way as a legitimate ad or illegitimate ad. But again, it's certainly not a negative ad. And to the extent it's playing on people's fears, I think people do have some fears about some of the images you see there.
ROBERTS: Now, Barack Obama is taking a look at this and saying, hey, this is just more of the same old politics of Washington. Let's listen to how he spun his argument yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We really feel like we've got a chance to break the mold and get out of the typical pattern of our politics over the last 20 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Is that an argument that Pennsylvania voters will buy?
HALPERIN: It's the argument of his campaign. He'll make it in the general election if he's the nominee. Now, we should say he's also running a negative campaign. He's very skillfully given voters the impression that she has been more negative. At times she has, but he's got an interesting choice to face. If he loses this primary going forward, Pennsylvania really saw a breakout of these kind of tough, negative ads or ads playing on emotion. We'll see if the contest goes forward that way and whether he uses his extensive resources to try to define her more quickly. In Pennsylvania, it happened at the end. We could be in for two weeks in Indiana and North Carolina of this kind of engagement.
ROBERTS: The conventional wisdom among some of the pundits is because she had a large double-digit lead heading close to 20 percent and a lot of the polls in recent months that has now been whittled down to about five, six percent, depending on which poll you take a look at. That if she doesn't win and win big, that it could be all over for her. Where do you come down on that?
HALPERIN: I think focusing on the margin is not as important as focusing on what the margin and the exit poll will have -- what kind of impact that will have on those superdelegates, particularly her own supporters. If people close to her look at the results, the margin and the exit poll, and which groups supported which candidate and they say, you know what, you just can't win, and they say that to her, I think that could affect her decision about whether to stay in. But she's inclined to stay in. No question.
ROBERTS: So, what group should we watch for in that exit polling then to get an idea?
HALPERIN: Working class voters, particularly white working class voters. As we've talked about so many times, these two candidates have really in most states divided. Obama is winning younger voters, African-American voters, wealthier, better educated voters. Clinton, the mirror image. If that pattern holds up and she wins on the strength of support from white working class voters, there are some Democrats who will say this gives us some concern. Let's see how it happens in Indiana.
ROBERTS: We should get some of that first exiting polling in about probably 4:30, 5:00 in "THE SITUATION ROOM" today.
HALPERIN: My alarm clock is set.
ROBERTS: We'll take a look at that.
HALPERIN: Blitzer is in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
ROBERTS: He is.
HALPERIN: OK.
ROBERTS: And he'll be right here.
HALPERIN: All right. I'll see him there.
ROBERTS: "THE SITUATION ROOM" actually is here in New York.
HALPERIN: Like Air Force One, wherever Wolf is is "THE SITUATION ROOM." ROBERTS: Exactly. Mark, thanks very much.
HALPERIN: Thanks, John.
PHILLIPS: Well, the candidates are focusing on the issues in these final hours of campaigning. Hillary Clinton making soaring gas prices a key focus. She talks about the pain at the pump on last night's "LARRY KING LIVE." Senator Clinton told Larry that as president, well, she'd launch an investigation into those rising prices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would investigate these prices. I'm not satisfied at all that there isn't any manipulation going on or price gouging, and my suggestion would be a windfall profits tax on the oil companies. They have been making record profits in the last years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Clinton also says that she would consider a gas tax holiday and work toward energy independence for the U.S.
Now, Barack Obama talking about Iraq during his final day of campaigning in Pennsylvania. He explained how he thinks the timetable for troop withdrawal would speed things up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is my strategic judgment that setting a timetable is actually going to accelerate the kind of diplomacy both inside of Iraq and in the region that's required to create long-term political stability. And over time that will save us some money. It won't happen immediately because there's a lot of cleaning up we have to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Obama has said that if he is elected, he would immediately begin to remove troops from Iraq and have all combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months.
Now, Secret Service agents are joining John McCain on the campaign trail. McCain says that it was pretty inevitable because he's getting more and more visibility. Up until now, he used private security guards. McCain says that there will be no difference in the tone or style of his campaign. He will still interact with voters and hold rolling on the road sessions with reporters.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush wraps up a two-day North American summit in New Orleans today. He is meeting with Mexican president Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. They're defending the North American Free Trade Agreement and President Bush blasted Democrats for opposing a free trade deal with Colombia. This morning Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says former president Jimmy Carter is wrong. And that he was warned by the State Department not to meet with the militant group, Hamas. Rice says there were concerns that his visit would confuse the position that the U.S. will never deal with Hamas. Carter insisted that he was never given a clear signal about his trip. Meantime, Israel says Carter failed to broker a ceasefire for the militant group Hamas. Mr. Carter had asked the Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal for an unconditional one- month halt on rocket attacks. Despite the plea, Israel was hit with seven rockets launched from Hamas-ruled Gaza. Mr. Carter did say that Hamas is willing to accept Israel as a neighbor.
A Colorado state lawmaker makes a controversial remark about Mexican workers and gets kicked off the podium. Representative Douglas Bruce was speaking about a bill which would help illegal aliens get temporary visas to ease the state's farm workers shortage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DOUGLAS BRUCE: I would like to have the opportunity to state at the microphone why I don't think we need 5,000 more illiterate peasants in Colorado --
REP. KATHLEEN CURRY, COLORADO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Representative Bruce, you are no longer recognized in the well. The next hand I saw was Representative Giagos. How dare you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Bruce is known for his controversial comments. Later defended his remarks saying that he thinks his assessment was accurate.
Today is earth day, a time to focus on saving energy and saving the earth's resources. It's possible to live in a huge house and still save energy. CNN chief technology and environment correspondent Miles O'Brien takes us on a tour now of homes built to do just that. He joins us live from Stanford, Connecticut. Miles, good morning.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra. I'm at a development, a big, beautiful home. That one over there, 8,000 conditioned square feet. More than cozy you might say. It has a lot of green features in it, but a lot of people wonder if it's the real estate equivalent of a hybrid Hummer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): It's not easy being green, especially when you're a giant.
MARK HALLET ROBBINS, WINDERMERE ON THE LAKE: It's particularly hard to deliver a very sustainable environmentally conscious and economical to operate home at this scale. O'BRIEN: But the developers of Windermere in Stanford, Connecticut, say it can be done. There's geothermal heating and cooling, ever so efficient insulation, sustainably harvested lumber, lots of L.E.D. and natural light and the homes are built in clusters to preserve the woods.
ROBBINS: I think we pushed the envelope of green pretty far.
O'BRIEN: But can a jumbo-size envelope like this really lay claim to being green.
People who live in and own green mansions, are they hypocrites?
SOPHIE PIESSE, ARCHITECT: A little, yes.
O'BRIEN: Architect Sophie Piesse designed this 2,000 square foot home near Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
PIESSE: People spend a lot of money on square footage and don't spend anything on the quality of the space.
O'BRIEN: The owners, Jan and David Markiewicz moved from a McMansion twice as big.
JAN MARKIEWICZ, HOME OWNER: There were rooms we never even walked into.
DAVID MARKIEWICZ, HOME OWNER: It never really felt comfortable in terms of the way in which we really like to live.
O'BRIEN: Their new house fits them like a well-tailored suit, the cozy living room next to a kitchen with a banquette instead of a formal dining room.
SARAH SUSANKA, ARCHITECT: You can look at any part of our society and you can see excess.
O'BRIEN: Architect Sarah Susanka is the author of the "Not so big house" series.
SUSANKA: We're trying to balance our footprints on the planet. We each can make incredible shifts in how we're living to affect that shift and gradually, I hope personally that we gravitate to the smaller houses because I don't believe we all need that much square footage.
O'BRIEN: But at Windermere they say the owners of these huge ecomansions will not owe us or the planet any apologies. But wouldn't smaller be greener?
ROBBINS: No, it's actually not. It's how you build it, it's where the houses are sited and how they operate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (on-camera): Back now in Windermere in the lake in Stanford, Kyra and the U.S. Green Building Council has certified that home back there with its highest rating for the environment. Little things like this, take this, I love this stuff, they caulked every last seam on the studs here. But look at this space. This is the kitchen-family room area. You know, in the past generation or so, the size of the average American home has more than doubled. You know, when I was a kid, we all shared one bedroom, we had about, you know, 1,500 square feet. These days the average American, Kyra, has 2,300 square feet.
Kyra: Well, how much are these homes and I'm curious the difference in the utility bills. Can you give me an example?
O'BRIEN: Well, that home down there that we began the live shot with, that's $3.8 million. It's under contract. It's too late. But this one, Kyra, you can pick this one up if you like. The utility bill down there on that one over there with the geothermal power has run about $500 a month. Now, admittedly there's nobody living there yet, but that's a low number for 8,000 square feet. They tell me here the construction trailer for this development has a higher utility bill than that big house.
Kyra: What our viewers don't know is you are a.k.a. Bob Villa. So I can see you going home now and reworking your home.
O'BRIEN: I should have brought my tool belt. I could have helped out.
Kyra: Miles O'Brien, great to see you.
ROBERTS: Ali Velshi is tracking soaring oil and gas prices today. They're up again. They could impact today's Pennsylvania primary. How so? He's live in Philadelphia for us today. Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Another day, another penny for gas prices. They are up again and another dollar for oil prices. I'm going to tell you how that affects you and how that affects the outcome of the Pennsylvania primary when we come back. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
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VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Ali Velshi with the "Election Express" in Pennsylvania. Right in Philadelphia because of the Pennsylvania primaries today. I don't know if this is really a wise recommendation, but maybe you should all buy big storage tanks of gasoline and save up on gasoline to protect yourself from these increases. Because we've seen a 25 percent increase in 30 days in the price of gasoline. $3.51, according to AAA, is now the average price of a gallon of self-serve unleaded.
Why? Well, a large part of the price of gas comes from the price of oil which surged to $118.05 overnight. Pulled back a little bit but it's very close to $118 right now. I'm in Pennsylvania where the economic situation is a little different from that of the country. Let's take the period from December to February because that is what we have numbers for and measure the economic growth. That is the change in all of the goods and services that were produced during that period compared to the period a year earlier.
For the United States, the increase in the economy was 0.3 percent. That was pretty minute and it's probably smaller now than it was then. But look at Pennsylvania, it was negative 0.4 percent. So, while the U.S. economy was growing very, very slowly in these most recent three-month period, the Pennsylvania economy was actually shrinking, which is why issue number one is the economy for most Americans, but it's really the issue for most Pennsylvanians, and that's why the presidential campaigns are hitting so hard on the topic of gas prices, inflation, housing, mortgages, the credit crisis, jobs and all of that. It matters a lot to Pennsylvanians. John and Kyra, back to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali Velshi for us this morning. Ali, thanks very much.
Beauty turned ambassador. Shakira comes to Washington. Her mission, to make sure that no child is left behind around the world.
PHILLIPS: Plus Rob Marciano tracking extreme weather, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Our Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center tracking extreme weather also sharing some easy tips to help you go green on this Earth Day, if you're feeling it.
ROBERTS: That's right. Always important. Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. And if you're buying a $3.2 million ecofriendly mansion, you certainly have to, you know, supply it with appliances and the best thing to do when you're buying appliances, look for that energy star rating. You see it on almost all the stuff, but you want to make sure your TV or microwave or refrigerator has that thing because it can reduce your electricity output or use and water use by 10 percent to 50 percent. So that's certainly a good thing to see and that's a familiar label to you.
All right. How about driving? Let's talk about driving your car. You can -- if you don't have a hybrid, you can actually reduce the amount of gasoline you use by as much as 30 percent by just driving less like a nut. Drive less aggressively. You know, car pool or take mass transit, properly inflate tires, that's OK but things like roll the windows up and put your air conditioning on, that's fine. Do things like that, cruise control and just drive a little bit less aggressively and not quite so fast and you'll be better for it. And if you can't get a smaller car, at least live closer to work. That certainly would help.
All right, guys. Happy Earth Day, everybody. We have some rough weather moving across Iowa and parts of Missouri. This has produced in most cases overnight some big-time hail, and that's our main concern with also some gusty winds that could get in an excess of 60 miles an hour. Just south of Cedar Rapids, this cluster has been deemed severe by the National Weather Service. It's been moving rapidly to the east and then down across parts of Missouri, This -- look at that purple right there. That's definitely a hail core moving into Lebanon. That's rolling southeasterly at about 45 miles an hour.
So some rough weather there, and these may begin to percolate and reenergize themselves as the day goes along and we get some sun work in the ground here. Boy, North Carolina and through parts of southern Virginia, anywhere from 1 to 3 inches of rainfall in the last day and a half. So, some flooding with this system that just does not want to shake loose and move out to sea. Virginia Beach, 2.96. Norfolk, Virginia 2.86. Might see a little bit of rain get into extreme southern Pennsylvania. Other than that, weather should be good for the primary in P.A.. John and Kyra, back up to you.
ROBERTS: It's always important, good weather to get to the polls. Rob Marciano for us this morning. Rob, thanks.
MARCIANO: All right.
ROBERTS: Shakira's summit with leaders around the world. She talks to CNN about her mission to help 70 million kids get an education.
And while Democrats focus on Pennsylvania, where is the presumptive Republican nominee Senator John McCain during all of this? He's apparently headed off the beaten campaign trail? Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani joins us in a few minutes to explain.
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ROBERTS: Coming up to 12 minutes before the top of the hour. She has sold 50 million records worldwide. Now Shakira is giving back, trying to help some of the poorest children in the world to get a good education.
PHILLIPS: And Shakira sat down with our own rock star, Zain Verjee, State Department correspondent. Zain joins us now from Washington. Now, also, John, Zain can dance, OK ? She is from the one --
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: -- one of the most musically inclined continents and I have seen her moves via Kenya, all over yes.
ROBERTS: There are things that we did not know.
VERJEE: You're in trouble.
ROBERTS: Do tell, Zain. Do tell.
PHILLIPS: She showed Shakira a few moves.
VERJEE: Well, Shakira showed me a few moves. You know, she's got plenty of fans who love her music and her dancing but she's the honorary chair for the this year's global campaign for education. So, guys, she was in Washington to show us a different kind of performance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE (voice-over): Shakira is famous for "Hips don't Lie," but the sexy pop star is here to shake up official Washington. Her mission, to get the world's poorest children an education.
AMBASSADOR SHAKIRA, RECORDING ARTIST: 72 million kids are out of the school system.
VERJEE: Instead of working her fans, she's working world leaders like the British Prime Minister and the head of the World Bank. She's also meeting members of Congress. She's a Grammy-winning megastar, a sex symbol, so why should we pay attention to her on global education?
SHAKIRA: Every time you give a child an opportunity, you are transforming his life or her life and giving this child the opportunity to become a productive member of society.
VERJEE: Shakira travels to disaster zones as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and founded her own charity more than ten years ago to help educate Colombian kids missing out on school. But do we have celebrity overload? Clooney has Darfur, Angelina has refugees. Bono has Africa. How does Shakira compete for attention?
SHAKIRA: In my case, I like to think that I'm using the spotlight that shines on me or my career and moving it, and shifting it to more important issues.
VERJEE: Shakira donates millions of her own money for her cause.
How much money are you looking for from U.S. taxpayers?
SHAKIRA: This will increase the funds from $465 million that the U.S. is funding in universal education to $3 billion by year 2012.
VERJEE: Since she's in Washington, we asked her which U.S. presidential candidate is best for her cause?
SHAKIRA: I am confident that each one of these candidates would recognize the importance of universal education.
VERJEE: Do you think one of them is stronger on education than the others?
SHAKIRA: You're evil.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE (on-camera): And Shakira's meeting today with students from all over the U.S. to raise awareness about having education for all. John, and if you want to see anyone move on the dance floor, you should turn up the music in that studio and see what Kyra does. ROBERTS: This is too much information this morning.
PHILLIPS: I just try to keep up with Zain, let me tell you.
ROBERTS: Far too much information.
PHILLIPS: We'll see some of her ethnic dancing again, I can promise you that.
ROBERTS: And Zain, you may be evil, but you're evil in a good way. Thanks.
VERJEE: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: As we've been -- good to see you, Zain. We've been telling you all morning it's primary day and decision day, of course, in Pennsylvania. It could also be Hillary Clinton's last chance to say in the race. Millions of people expected to turn out to the polls today, and there have been calls for Clinton to step aside if she doesn't win big in Pennsylvania. That brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question.
Do you think today will be a turning point in the Democratic race for president? Right now, 66 percent say yes, 34 percent say no. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll tally your votes throughout the morning. We've also been asking you for your e-mail as well. Marie from Newnan, Georgia says, "no, today's vote will not change the race. Hillary will not win by the 20 points that she had last month."
ROBERTS: Also got an e-mail this morning from Pat from Goldsboro, North Carolina, who writes "hopefully it means that Hillary will lose big and drop out. And that will be a turning point with the nomination decided."
PHILLIPS: And Paula from Raleigh, North Carolina, says "let the Democratic process play out. Senator Obama is leading by a nose. He is expected to win the race. The continuance will strengthen the Democratic ticket for the fall election. I say let the race go to the finish line." Thanks for all your e-mails.
ROBERTS: We're going to read some in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (voice-over): From Pittsburgh to Philly to Punxsutawney.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Will there be six more weeks of campaigning after the Pennsylvania primary?
Whether Hillary Clinton can win and still lose.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A win is a win. ROBERTS: The best political team on television here to break down the tightest primary race ever.
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PHILLIPS: And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Polls in Pennsylvania have been open now for about an hour. Senator Hillary Clinton told CNN's Larry King last night that win or lose in Pennsylvania, she's in for the long haul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going until we get Florida and Michigan resolved. I'm going until everybody has had a chance to vote in this process. I'm going until the automatic delegates have made their judgments based on their independent assessment as to who of us would be better against John McCain in the fall and who would be the best president for our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Clinton also told Larry that if elected, Republican rival John McCain will have a voice in her administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: When I'm president, I'm going to ask him to come over to the White House quite often and take trips with me because he has a perspective. I don't agree with it, and I think that he's the wrong person to be president at this time, but we're friends, and we'll remain friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Rudy Giuliani is a one-time opponent of John McCain. He's now out actively supporting him. Mayor, good to see you this morning.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: Nice to be with you.
PHILLIPS: So why change faces? Is it for the party or for John McCain?
GIULIANI: It's for the country. I announced during one of the debates that if I weren't running for president, I would be supporting John McCain, which was quite true at the time and then of course when my campaign didn't succeed, it was - I had already made the decision that if I didn't succeed, I would support John. I just believe that of all the candidates, Republican and Democrat available, he would far and away be the best president of the United States. The most experience, man of great courage, man of great commitment, tremendous determination, which he proved during the campaign. I mean, it was quintessential John McCain that he would be down and out. Everyone counting him out, and all of a sudden he comes back and he defeated all of us. PHILLIPS: Let's talk about this bickering going on between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Is this going to benefit your candidate? Is this going to benefit the party?
GIULIANI: You know, it all passes away by October, September, October. We'll be on to who is better to deal with terrorism. Who is better to deal with the economy? Who has more experience? Who can handle the most difficult crises we may face, which is the kinds of questions you have to ask nowadays, and I think all of that - I think that's what's going to benefit John McCain. He's so much more experienced even than Hillary Clinton and certainly than Barack Obama that I think that will be the thing that decides this election.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about this time for action tour. We heard from him. Let's take a listen just for a second.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll be traveling to places in America that aren't enjoying the prosperity many other parts of America enjoy, but where people are walking a long, hard road to make sure that their children will know the opportunities that other American children possess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, he's been going to all these places trying to --
GIULIANI: Youngstown, Ohio today.
PHILLIPS: Right. But you know, Selma, Alabama.
GIULIANI: Selma, right.
PHILLIPS: Is this about going after the Democratic vote or is this about diversity? I mean, it's pretty obvious he wants the black vote.
GIULIANI: I think it's about reaching out for all votes and obviously this is a good time to do it. He's got -- he's putting his campaign together, so as you're putting your campaign together, you want to show we're reaching out for every vote. I mean, these heavy number of independent and Democratic voters in those areas, but also Republican voters. I think the reason they were selected are these are parts of the country that are suffering more than some others. Suffering from transitions, maybe from steel or maybe from mining, other situations. He wants to show people there I care about you, you're going to be part of my planning, you're very much a part of the America John McCain wants to lead.
PHILLIPS: Well, he has also pledged to extend President Bush's tax cuts. Let's take a look at what the "Wall Street Journal," conservative paper of course, had to say about his tax plan. "McCain is proposing tax cuts that would either cause the federal deficit to explode or would require unprecedented spending cuts equal to one- third of federal spending on domestic programs." How do you respond to that?
GIULIANI: Well, those tax cuts are all tax cuts that I agree with. A large number of those I proposed myself as John has. I think those are the tax cuts that will spur the economy. And you look at what the Democrats want to do, it would be a disaster for the economy. The capital gains rate would go from 15 percent to double or triple. The tax on dividends would go from double to triple. They say that this is a tax only on the poor but what about a police officer or teacher who has pension funds that would be devastated by these kinds of tax increases. I think that the Democratic candidates have a very poor understanding of our economy, at the kind of stage it is at now. It needs this kind of stimulation and it's not just for the rich, it's for all of us. People who are poor, people who are middle class, people who considers themselves rich. It's for everyone.
PHILLIPS: If you were John McCain right now, what would be your next move and are you advising him? Are you telling him?
GIULIANI: I talked to John. And John obviously makes his own decisions. I think he's approach to the economy is critical. I think the Democratic approach to the economy would be a disaster, not to mention the tariffs they want to raise. You look at the things that puts the country into some kind of a long term tailspin. When it's the economy, there are two things to do it. Look at prior periods in our history. High taxes, high tariffs. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton. High tariffs, high taxes.
John McCain, low tariffs, low taxes, stimulate the economy. And then, not to mention the fact that of all the people in Washington, the person who has done the most to restrain spending is John McCain, not Barack Obama and his short time in the Senate.
