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Hillary Clinton's Double-Digit Win in Pennsylvania; Kids on the Go; Hyped-Up Hearts
Aired April 23, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Here's what's on the rundown.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton's double-digit win in Pennsylvania. Live this hour, a pair of political insiders who look behind the victory numbers and what's ahead.
HARRIS: And kids on the go. Texas begins moving the children of polygamists from a sports arena to foster homes.
WHITFIELD: And experts want cardiac tests for kids before they begin ADHD drugs. Hyped-up hearts in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And first up, Hillary Clinton's campaign stays alive. And the Democrats' long battle for the White House heads on down the road. Has the race changed overnight?
CNN's Jessica Yellin is the with the Election Express in Philadelphia. And Ali Velshi looks at how the economy is shaping the vote.
Let's begin with Jessica. Jessica, good morning to you. The day after, the morning after, more clarity this morning or more uncertainty?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ever more uncertainty, Tony. And wouldn't you know it that is just the way this race is going. The CNN Election Express is headed on to the next primary state, and so have the candidates, because what we know after last night is that this thing is not over by a long shot.
Senator Clinton, all experts say, had to win by 10 points or more to keep her fight strong, and she did it. Let's listen to what both candidates had to say last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe with all of my heart that together we will turn promises into action, words will become solutions, hope will become reality, so my answer to any who doubt, is, yes, we will. Thank you and God bless you.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Still, change has never been easy, and it won't be easy this time either. The status quo in Washington will fight. They will fight harder than ever to divide us and to distract us with ads and attacks from now until November, but don't ever forget that you had the power to change this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: And Senator Obama and his campaign have been reminding most voters, and especially reporters behind the scenes, that Obama retains the delegate lead, he retains the lead in popular votes, and he is really headed to be the one groomed for the nomination when we head into the convention because he has the advantage on both those fronts. Really trying to remind pundits and reporters that this is his race -- that it is his race to lose, basically and that the superdelegates have to be behind him.
Now for Senator Clinton it's a very different game. Right now she is telling superdelegates that she won the major states. She has won these very large states where Barack Obama, she insists, has huge problems with white voters, with older male voters, and that she's the candidate more likely to beat John McCain.
So what we're really seeing, Tony, in sum, is a psychological fight for the hearts and minds of the remaining superdelegates. And a lot of what will play out has to -- will be determined by what happens in Indiana, one of the next states to vote -- Tony.
HARRIS: And I'm curious, Jessica, do you believe that Hillary Clinton will be able to turn the Pennsylvania victory into a big fundraising push?
YELLIN: Absolutely. She is already -- they sent out an e-mail after -- she gave her speech last night that I think it was within an hour of the speech, she had raised $2.5 million already. And you hit it on the nose. Senator Clinton is in dire straits for cash and she really needs those dollars to pour in. And so far, she is getting it. So this is going to remain a competitive race right through those June 3rd primary.
HARRIS: There she is, Jessica Yellin with the CNN Election Express in Philadelphia.
Jessica, good to see you.
Let's take a look now at where are the race stands at this moment right now. Up for grabs in Pennsylvania, 158 delegates, and Hillary Clinton has won a majority of them. Her net gain not yet final. We do know she is narrowing Barack Obama's lead.
CNN's latest tally shows Clinton with a total of 1584 delegates. Obama, according to our count, has 1714. Clinton says her strong finish in Pennsylvania shows the tide is turning.
The next stop for Democrats the May 6th presidential primaries in North Carolina. Obama is favored. In Indiana, it is too close to call.
WHITFIELD: So no doubt about it, the economy is "Issue #1" for Pennsylvania voters. A closer look now with CNN's senior business correspondent Ali Velshi. It's number one with folks in Pennsylvania and really across the board, across country.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
WHITFIELD: So they're in sync.
VELSHI: Across the country and the question is, of course, how bad is it, how bad does it get. And one of the things we use to characterize a bad slowdown in the economy is the term recession. Now, as you and I have discussed for years, Fred, it's a technicality. We don't really know, you know, when we're in one. We usually only know in the rear view mirror. But President Bush seems very clear that we're not in a recession.
Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are not in a recession. We are in a slowdown. We grew in the fourth quarter last year. We haven't had first quarter growth statistics yet, but there's no question we are in a slowdown.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: OK. So he's right. We don't have statistics from the first quarter, which is March -- January through March of this year. And as of the end of last year, while economic growth is very slow in America, that's the measure of, you know, everything we produce and sell, it wasn't a recession.
Let's see what Pennsylvania voters said. Democratic voters asked in exit polls coming out of the polls, 88 percent of them said the national economy is in a recession. Only 11 percent said no. And then we asked what the most important issues are, Fred. Fifty-five percent said the economy, 27 percent said Iraq, 14 percent said health care.
And the interesting thing is, when we polled -- our own poll, CNN Opinion Research about the economy, health care is considered part of the economy. So when you add health care to the 55, you get 69 percent, which is exactly what we think. More than two-thirds of our -- of the population thinks the economy is the biggest issue.
WHITFIELD: And Ali, you really have kind been the man of all knowing, all across the board, you crossed the country, you talked to voters, you also talked to a lot of economists. On both sides, do they all say that the candidates, no matter whether you're for a Republican or a Democrat, are they speaking to this issue that matters most?
VELSHI: You know, I think this has really evolved through the course of the campaign, Fred. I think at the beginning there wasn't a sense that that was the case, but all the information shows that that's what Americans want to hear. And I think there's really been a shift, particularly, the sort of last one to come around was John McCain a few weeks ago, but they all now have fairly detailed economic policies.
Whether they convey that message accurately is an issue. But they all do seem to be responding to what Americans do want to hear about.
WHITFIELD: Ali Velshi, thanks so much for breaking it down.
VELSHI: OK, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Tony?
HARRIS: Boy, do you want to talk about it some more here? No, but let's. Gas prices top our news above the economy this morning. It is going to cost you more to fill up your gas tank today than it did yesterday. AAA says the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded hit $3.53 a gallon today. Can you imagine that? $3.53 a gallon.
Yet, another record high. A year ago, the average price was about $2.86 a gallon.
Diesel fuel price is hit $4.21 a gallon today. That's also a new record. Diesel is used to transport, as you probably know, most food and commercial goods. The price is almost $1.30 higher than a year ago.
We will be watching the markets when trading begins on Wall Street at the bottom of the hour.
$4 a gallon gas. Already a reality for some drivers in the United States. Find out how they are coping.
WHITFIELD: And culture shock. More than 100 children on the move. They've been taken from that Texas polygamist compound. And they're waking up this morning in some cases in group homes.
CNN's Susan Roesgen is in San Angelo, Texas. And how do they make the determination about which kids should be moved now or later?
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, from what we understand, Fredricka, this was done after the DNA tests were done on those children. And we understand that Child Protective Services, the agency here that has temporary custody of all the children, all 437 of them now, made the decision about where they are going to go.
And as each group of children is DNA tested, and they're going to be moving more out. Perhaps even more out today, Fredricka. They took this first group of about 100 children and they moved them to 16 different group homes all the way from Amarillo to Abilene to Austin, even, Fredricka, 500 miles away to Houston. So they've taken them to these group homes, no individual family homes, it was all these different group homes.
And in the meantime, the parents, some of the parents from that Elderado ranch are getting DNA tested themselves. Not in the numbers that we see here at the coliseum, but we understand that perhaps a dozen, perhaps two dozen of the 175 adults on that ranch went to Elderado yesterday to get their DNA test.
We met one of them, David Williams. He actually does not live on the ranch. He lives in Nevada. He hasn't even seen his wife and children for three years. They were on the ranch during the raid. But David Williams says if his wife loses custody of her children in this, he wants the custody.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID WILLIAMS, FATHER: I became aware of the injustice of tearing my children from their mother along with my friends, and come down to do all in my power to seek justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: Now, a lot of the mothers and the attorneys for the children, Fredricka, are furious. They got no warning that the children were going to be moved. They suspected it was going to happen, but they had been fighting it. They especially wanted to keep the very young children with the mothers, but that did not happen. They are being split up and taken to group homes.
WHITFIELD: And Susan, is there an explanation? Why so abruptly were they moved?
ROESGEN: Well, they say they had the power to do that all along and they have, according to what they told our producers, they simply have no rule requiring them to make any announcement of what they are going to do. So they did it.
WHITFIELD: OK.
HARRIS: Wow.
WHITFIELD: Simple as that.
HARRIS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Susan Roesgen, thanks so much, in San Angelo, Texas.
HARRIS: Let's see, 10 minutes after the hour now. Good morning, everyone. Good morning to Rob Marciano, there he is in the CNN weather center. And normally when we see Rob without the jacket, it means there are some tough conditions. I think, in this case, he just didn't have a moment to grab it.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: All right. That's uplifting.
HARRIS: Thank you, Rob. See you later.
MARCIANO: Right. HARRIS: Hillary Clinton keeps hope alive. Our political pundits discuss her Pennsylvania primary win and what's next in the battle with Barack Obama. Those insights are next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Pay cash. Save eight cents a gallon on gas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that's good at these prices. That's very good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight cents less a gallon on something like my truck that takes like 24 gallons just to fill up, it actually makes a little bit of a difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: That's right. Any break you can get. The pennies add up when you bag the plastic in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live breaking news, unfolding developments, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: The race that won't end. The candidate that won't quit. Who are we talking about here? Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton?
Hillary Clinton keeps her presidential hopes alive with a double- digit win over Barack Obama in Pennsylvania. With us from Washington to talk about the race, Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for "USA Today."
Susan, great to see you.
SUSAN PAGE, USA TODAY WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Hey, Tony, nice to be with you.
HARRIS: And CNN special correspondent and former Washington bureau chief, Frank Sesno.
Frank, great to see you.
FRANK SESNO, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Nice to be back, Tony.
HARRIS: Let's do this. Let's listen to a little bit of an interview from this morning on "AMERICAN MORNING." Hillary Clinton talking to John Roberts about the state of the race after her big win in Pennsylvania last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLINTON: I have won the states that we have to win. Ohio, now Pennsylvania, it's very hard to imagine a Democrat getting to the White House without winning those states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: So record turnout in Pennsylvania, a double-digit win for Hillary Clinton. She overcomes being outspent, she says, 3-1 in Pennsylvania. It was a six-week race, she says. One-on-one, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the folks in Pennsylvania chose me. Hillary wins. What's the state of the race right now?
Susan, you start. Fred, you jump in. And you two talk for a while and I'm going to pipe down.
PAGE: You know, Barack Obama still has a big advantage in this race. He's ahead in pledged delegates. He got another unpledged -- another superdelegate this morning, the governor of Oklahoma. He's brought in a lot of new people to the party. He got six out ten of those new voters that came and swelled the ranks of Democrats in Pennsylvania yesterday.
On the other hand, it's not a totally clear path for him now to the nomination. I think Hillary Clinton has succeeded in raising some questions about whether he can close the deal with white working-class voters that Democrats need to have enthused about their nominee if they are going to win.
You know, Democrats thought this was a slam dunk election for them in the presidential race this year. It still looks like their advantage, but it no longer looks like quite the sure thing that we thought it might be maybe six months ago.
HARRIS: Frank, jump in.
SESNO: There's no slam dunk here. I mean, that's the big problem, too, because, you know, the Democrats should be celebrating history in politics here, the cycles suggest that with the economy this bad , with the war going on in Iraq, with an incumbent president at 28 percent approval, this should be the Democrats to walk way away with it, and that's not happening.
And the big problem the Democrats have -- and I think Pennsylvania was more about bad news for Obama than good news for Clinton, by the way. She has successfully raised a lot of questions about him, and they are questions that echo through the media coverage and through the campaign. Is he ready for the job in? Can he knit together the constituencies, the various constituencies of the Democratic Party that they need to win?
Is he electable? And increasingly, you know, has he got the substance? This is sort of the 2008 version of where's the beef? She keeps saying he gives a good speech, but he can't do anything. And that's something that really starting to hang on, I think.
PAGE: And Frank, I would just say one more thing. Here's what really worries Democrats. History says that when a race goes all the way to the convention, as it did in 1980 for Democrats or 1976 for Republicans, the party loses in November. It does leave scars. And I think there is now no possibility that either of these candidates gets out of the race before the June 3rd primaries which close things down. And I think it's not clear to me whether in that June, July, August period we ever run a resolution...
SESNO: Yes. Yes.
PAGE: ...before the convention in Denver.
SESNO: Here we are in the middle of April having this conversation. Here we are in the middle of April, "The New York Times," not exactly a bastion of McCain Republicanism, writing today that this primary was, and I'm quoting here, "meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pandering contests that preceded it."
So the Democrats have no free pass, no get-out-of-jail-free card here.
HARRIS: Can I tee up the next one and then let you guys just sort of do the same thing? That was terrific.
Here is Hillary Clinton again from this morning in "AMERICAN MORNING" with John Roberts talking about, you know, where the race goes from here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I've said from the beginning, I'm going to stay in until a nominee is selected. And I don't see how we select a nominee until we resolve Florida and Michigan. Again, this is about the general election for me. How do you, as a Democrat, expect to win in the fall if we disenfranchise 2.3 million voters who turned out to vote in Florida and Michigan? That makes no sense to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Let me -- Frank, let me start with you on this one. Her fighting warrior spirit, the willingness to take this to the end, her willingness to take this to the mat, you know she'll do the same thing if she's the nominee in the general against John McCain, is that possibly winning her supporters?
SESNO: Winning her supporters?
HARRIS: Yes.
SESNO: Look, she's a fighter. Everybody knows she's a fighter. But you know, she raises the question about disenfranchising voters in Florida and Michigan. The same could be said about the lead that Obama has gotten and what she's implying with her pitch to the superdelegates beyond that, because she's saying, well, I can win the big states and he can't. And that -- well, what about -- now 500,000, half million or so, popular vote advantage that Obama's got. Is she ignoring that?
What about the 130 edge delegate advantage that Obama still has? Is she ignoring that because she's trying to say, we'll only look at the states that are influential and that are going to deliver it? So she can be a fighter, but the numbers are still Obama's for the moment. The numbers are still with Obama.
PAGE: You know, I think there's only one way Hillary Clinton succeeds in getting this nomination. And that is that she can -- she clearly can't pass him in pledged delegates, but it is conceivable -- as hard cast be conceivable that she could pass him in the overall popular vote. Now she says she's already done that by including Michigan and Florida. You know, in Michigan she didn't have an opponent, so it seems like it's hard to count those votes. But if she could somehow...
SESNO: He wasn't even on that ballot.
PAGE: If she could somehow get -- including Michigan and Florida, get a lead in the overall popular vote, that, I think, is the one opening for her to actually to put this thing away.
SESNO: And if she were to -- if this were enough momentum and it's a big question if it were, and that, you know, two weeks from now she wins big in Indiana, she wins or narrows the gap substantially in North Carolina and can show that in state after state after state she's winning, he's unable to break out of sort of the confines...
HARRIS: Yes.
SESNO: ...of winning certain areas of the party, then maybe she's got the case. But you know, Howard Dean says to the superdelegates, make up your mind. We can't go on like this for month after month. And what are the superdelegates saying? We got to wait and let this play out.
HARRIS: That's terrific. That's -- boy, that was easy, Fred. Was that -- that's the way you do it.
WHITFIELD: You've done (INAUDIBLE)
HARRIS: Susan, great to see you. Frank, great to see you. I was able to take about five minutes. Thank you both. See you next time.
PAGE: Thank you, Tony.
SESNO: Thank you, Tony.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, here's a question for you. Does your child have ADHD? Well, parents, there's new information that you need to know. Dr. Gupta is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: More than two million children take ADHD medications. Now the American Heart Association says every child needs a heart exam before starting the drugs.
Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here.
Why?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I mean, this is interesting.
WHITFIELD: This seems so strange for a little kid.
GUPTA: It does seem strange.
WHITFIELD: Between 5 and 6, right?
GUPTA: Right. But you think about these medications as well, and they would be considered stimulant medications. So they increase your heart rate, they increase the blood pressure. The question is, could that be doing something to the heart? That's sort of the concern here.
Now admittedly for most children, the vast majority of children, this is not going to be a problem, but it could be a problem for a very small percentage. And this is sort of the population of the American Heart Association has their sights set on, 1 to 2 for 100,000. Small number, Fred, unless it's your child.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
GUPTA: In which case it's a huge number.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
GUPTA: So the American Heart Association says, look, what we need to do is screen. And that screening could really come in the form of some questions. So if your child is going to start these medications for one reason or another, then doctor or the parent should be asking these questions. Has the child ever fainted during exercise, for example?
WHITFIELD: Oh wow.
GUPTA: Has the child ever had chest pain? Do they complain of chest pain, which happens sometimes? Is there a family history of heart problems? That's all pretty easy, because those are just questions. Where it gets a little controversial is this idea that these children should also get EKG tests, that to check the electrical stimulation of the heart before they start the medication.
The American Heart Association says that should be part of the screening. Many pediatrics groups say, wait a second. That is just taking it a little too far. One of the guys specifically says, look, that could cause a lot of unnecessary anxiety, it could lead to a lot of false positive findings which causes people to be concerned, maybe unnecessarily.
The other question, I think, which is interesting is, what do an EKG really tell you anything? I mean again, as you, I think, you're alluding to, these are small children. The heart could look absolutely fine. Are you going -- is it going to be an effective screening test essentially?
WHITFIELD: And our people -- is it controversial, too, because there some other added risks that may potentially come with an EKG test, or is it just an anxiety issue?
GUPTA: I think it's mainly an anxiety issue. I mean this is not an evasive test. They are just putting probes on the chest wall.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
GUPTA: But you know, then you find something, and is that a big deal or not a big deal? What do I do about it now?
WHITFIELD: Yes.
GUPTA: Are you going to subject the child to other sorts of procedures?
WHITFIELD: And usually on medication, we get, you know, some information, we pick up a prescription that will tell you the potential risks, et cetera. Does that apply to the ADHD drug?
GUPTA: It does.
WHITFIELD: ADHD. Right. Yes.
GUPTA: ADHD drug. It's interesting because between 1999 and 2003 there were 19 sudden cardiac deaths in children who were also taking these medications. The question was, are they related? And I don't think that question was ever really fully answered, but it was enough of a concern where there is a warning now on the medications.
So the question, though, as a parent is, OK, so now I know that there's a warning, what do I do with that information? My child needs the medication. Do I not give it?
WHITFIELD: Right.
GUPTA: Do I just worry?
WHITFIELD: In some cases they worry that they don't use the medication so what do I do?
GUPTA: Right. So I think the American Heart Association says to at least ask these questions, maybe get the EKG as well. Not everyone agrees with that, but that's sort of where things stand now. They are getting a little bit of sausage making of medicine here. This is how, you know, people reached consensus.
HARRIS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Yes, really fascinating.
HARRIS: Yes.
GUPTA: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.
GUPTA: Thank you.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN, the most trusted name in news. Now back to the CNN NEWSROOM.
WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back to NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
WHITFIELD: The day after.
HARRIS: The day after, huh?
WHITFIELD: It was a big night.
HARRIS: How about it? Our top story this morning, the day after. Hillary Clinton's big win in Pennsylvania. Well, has she rested? Momentum from rival Barack Obama. I supposed that's one of the big question this morning. Hillary Clinton knew a loss in Pennsylvania could have doomed her White House bid. She says her campaign's 10-point victory shows, quote, "the tide is turning."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but if you're ready, I'm ready. Now, I might stumble and I might get knocked down, but as long as you'll stand with me, I will always get right back up.
OBAMA: We can seek to regain, not just an office, but the trust of the American people that their leaders in Washington will tell them the truth. That's the choice in this election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Obama remains ahead in the all-important delegate count. The nominating contest now moves to North Carolina where Obama is favored and Indiana where the race is actually too close to call.
WHITFIELD: All right. We're watching your money on Wall Street. The opening bell just now beginning. There you go. What a great timing, hey? Well, we'll see if any way the numbers have any impact from perhaps the primary or perhaps the fact that we're already paying more today versus yesterday in gasoline. It seems to keep going up and up and up, crude oil getting higher. The average regular unleaded gasoline per gallon, pretty remarkable.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Are we at $3.53 a gallon?
WHITFIELD: Yes, we are. We are at that. I thought you were going to say $3.50. We are over that already. And the concern is whether we're going to be inching closer to $4 by this summer. It seems pretty realistic to expect that, but it means that all of us are having to modify, you know, our plans, our daily commutes, et cetera. We'll keep a close watch on the numbers throughout day for you.
HARRIS: Students from Scranton talk politics with our Rick Sanchez. First-time voters on the issues and the candidates still ahead on the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Health care, the war in Iraq. Our Rick Sanchez has been talking with members of the League of First-Time Voters about their concerns. He is with us from Philadelphia this morning.
And Rick, I was about to ask you if the economy is issue no. 1 was on the minds of the first-time voters that you talked to, but I think about health care and that certainly is an economic issue.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And it's kind of a gender issue or a gender breakdown, Tony. You find that when you talk to women, they tend to be more interested -- even younger women are very interested in health care, not so much when you talk to men.
There's also a real gender break down, in terms of women votes. Some are leaning towards Obama, and some are leaning towards Hillary. And usually, the more mature, the more seasoned they are, they tend to lean towards Hillary. The younger they are, the gender doesn't matter as much to them. As our polls have shown, same thing that I have seen when I talk to women around the country.
Young women in this case from Scranton, PA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You guys are the first ones to talk to me about health care and say, this is a priority. This is important for this country. Why is that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've grown-up -- majority of my life without health insurance. So I know how costly it is to go to the doctor, to go to a hospital and not have any backup. You never want to see somebody rejected or think that they shouldn't go to the hospital because they can't afford it. I think that's inhumane.
SANCHEZ: She calls it universal health care. Republicans say it's socialized medicine. Is that a fair criticism?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the government needs to step in and put in some program that are going to help overall. You need some kind of overall --
SANCHEZ: Do you think the government should be relied on to do some of these things?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Just to do it better? Agreed?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think it goes beyond the government. I mean, if we are a community, if this country is everything that we say it is, I think it is our responsibility, our civic duty to take care of one another.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I live like 20 minutes out of Scranton. And it's just so poor. And there are so many people who are not covered and who can't go to the hospital and stuff, and saying like they can't live up to like their potential because like they don't have insurance, or because like the school systems are so poor around here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think there's a difference between taking a socialist idea and working with it, as opposed to taking socialism and putting it into the country. And I think that's the core difference between Hillary is doing and what Barack is planning on doing and what people are saying that they are doing.
SANCHEZ: We are looking like we are going to be spending something like $1 trillion in Iraq. Money well spent? Raise your hand if you think we ought not have gone in to Iraq? That it was a mistake?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we were to pull all of our -- cliche, pull all of our troops out and take them home, I feel that that could be more disastrous.
SANCHEZ: Do you guys believe this country needs change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We shouldn't be at war, and John McCain is going to keep our troops at war.
SANCHEZ: What makes you think that Hillary or Barack Obama will be any better?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He doesn't talk about his policies; he just talks about everything needs to be change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The young American public is getting really caught up in his campaign, because all he speaks of is change. They hear him speak, and they're like yes, change, change. But they don't really know, like, what he wants to change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. He's a good speaker. Words come out of his mouth, people likes him. They don't think about what the implications of these words mean, though.
SANCHEZ: You believe the next president of the United States will be a Democrat? Raise your hand? All but one? Thanks, ladies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: It' amazing as I go around the country talking to these organizations, especially the young people. The first time voters or the newly energized. Just really how engaged they are. I mean, in the issues. If you listen to them, and sometimes they do seem to know as much about the issues as many of the people that we talk who are experts.
That's why we are committed to this LOFTV this. This League of First-Time Voters. We've got a Web site that we put together. We want you to go to. Check it out. That way you can communicate with us, communicate with me. Sell me on the idea of why they should come and visit you, for example.
It's all right there. You can click on the top. You can send us an I-report. We want this to be real interactive. I mean, a real meeting place for all of us. Those of us who communicate the message and those of you who give the message to us so that we can disseminate it. We'll be really more than happy to do it. Again, it's cnn.com/league.
Tony?
HARRIS: I don't think there needs to be much of a hard sell with you, Rick. I think you're really enjoying the opportunity to talk to this first time voters. It's great to see you. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Rick Sanchez for us in Philadelphia.
SANCHEZ: Thank you, Tony. They have something to say.
WHITFIELD: All right. Something that everyone really can identify with, $3 a gallon of gas. Well, that's pretty frustrating. So now $3.50 a gallon? Pretty frightening. Well, now the Bay Area in California has reached the $4 milestone for a gallon of gas.
Chris Lawrence live from San Francisco. Boy, it hurts at the pump, doesn't it?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it sure does, Fredricka. You know, I mean, tangible difference is not much between $3.79, $3.89, but something about breaking that $4 barrier has really push a lot of people past just being angry and saying this is really something we're going to have to live with.
And you know, if you think it absolutely can't get any worse, hey, just take a look across the street at that station and see where we all could be headed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): San Francisco drivers are getting past the shock. Now they're changing their lives to live with $4 gas.
DEBBIE JASMIN, CANCELED VACATION: We don't take our expedition out usually.
LAWRENCE: People have permanently parked their SUVs. Traffic is down on Bay Area Bridges, and the trains have 7 percent more riders than this time last year.
MARLOWE DOUGLAS, SWITCHED TO RIDING TRAIN: That's why I'm riding BART today because of the price of gas right now.
LAWRENCE: It's also changing when people drive and what. Overall, car and truck sales are down, but hybrids are up almost 40 percent.
SCOTT DOUGLAS, PRIUS DRIVER: I used to have the luxury of not really even worrying about the price partly because I got the Prius, but now $43.
LAWRENCE: Think that's bad?
S. DOUGLAS: Oh, my God. Wow.
LAWRENCE: Scott Roberts (ph) just saw what the guy before him paid to fill up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When was the last time you saw $115 spent on gas? (INAUDIBLE), it's unreal.
LAWRENCE: Especially for taxi drivers who buy their own gas.
DIDDY DENNIS, TAXI DRIVER: When I first started, you know, it was like two something.
LAWRENCE: Now every press on the pedal eats into his wallet.
Why don't you just raise the rates to make up the difference?
DENNIS: Well, that would be a good thing if I could, but unfortunately, I don't have any control over that.
LAWRENCE: Only the city can raise taxi rates to keep customers from getting gouged. But it's killing the cabbies and will probably force Diddy Dennis to quit.
DENNIS: It seem like I'm bringing home almost 60 percent less during what I was when I first started.
LAWRENCE: And a lot of Bay Area family says there's no end in sight.
JASMIN: I don't think we'll be doing any big travels this year or this summer, at least by car.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Now when it is costing $50, $60, $70 a pop to fill up. People have canceled vacations. They have sold some of their big trucks. Some companies here in the Bay Area have even started running shuttles to pick up and take their employees to work.
Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: Wow. Well, Chris, that number six with me with the cabbie you were just talking to. He's taking home 60 percent less. That is an astounding number. And it really, you know, helps it hit home, because if you are counting on these profits on a regular basis, when you are picking up fares, but if you're spending more in which to take them from point A to point B, it's understandable why he may think about a career change.
HARRIS: We lost him.
WHITFIELD: I don't think Chris can hear me.
HARRIS: Yes, we lost him.
WHITFIELD: Well, sorry about that. All right, well, we'll try to recap --
LAWRENCE: I can hear you now.
WHITFIELD: Oh, you can. OK, good. Well, I was just saying I can really empathize with the cab driver who is now thinking about getting out of the cab industry because he's spending so much more money than say a year ago.
LAWRENCE: Yes, you know, you're talking about -- some people at least have an option. Here at the Bay Area. You've got a great public transportation system, but you know, think of all those people out there in the country who -- they can't take the train or anything to work.
They are stuck where they are. You know like Diddy Dennis, I mean, he is in a Catch 22. He can't raise the rate. He still got to buy his gas.
WHITFIELD: Right.
LAWRENCE: He says there's no place else to go but to another job.
WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, that is incredible. All right, Chris Lawrence, thanks so much in the Bay Area.
HARRIS: So what's in your wallet? Put your plastic away. Cash will save you pennies at the pump. That story coming.
What do you say we got another check at the weather, Fred?
WHITFIELD: I think that's a great idea.
HARRIS: There he is, Rob Marciano in the severe -- what do we call it? Severe, extreme weather center today.
WHITFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) on the central part of the country.
HARRIS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: It's nasty back there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Stuck in a desperate struggle to survive. Millions depending on dwindling food handouts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The growing world food crisis, people are at the mercy of struggling aid agencies. David McKenzie has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kennedy Ombuki was a proud farmer. Now he's just a bitter man. After Kenya's disputed election, tribal raiders attacked his farm during the night. They burned his crops and destroyed the family home. In normal times he harvested enough to feed 25 families for a year. But these are not normal times in Kenya.
Kennedy like thousands of other farmers is forced to live in a camp for the displace, unproductive, and depending on handouts.
KENNEDY OMBUKI, DISPLACED FARMER: I have my land. I have, you know, all the basic and necessities and I had come to stay here. In fact, you might say it's like I am a beggar, you know, now. And I used to be able (INAUDIBLE).
MCKENZIE: Displaced farmers unable to grow food and Kenya's reserves of grain are running low. A national crisis in tandem with the global phenomenon of rising food prices. The result, more people in Kenya, depending on food aid.
(on camera): This is ground zero for food aid in Africa. 7 million people depend on food coming from here in Mombasa Port. With food prices rising and people getting pushed off their land, aid agencies are struggling to keep up.
(voice-over): There are more mouths to feed and its costing more to feed them. The World Food Programme has issued an urgent appeal for $500 million so we can buy on world markets. Without the funds, it will have to reduce rations to the hungry. So tens of thousands of people this is going on every month?
PETER SMEROON, WORLD FOOD PROGRAM: Now with rising food prices, it looks like the numbers will just go up and up unless something is done about it to help these people before they fall over the edge.
MCKENZIE: And Kennedy will only climb back if he gets back to his farm. The government wants him to return, but it's just too dangerous.
OMBUKI: If you have seen danger over there, you can't run towards the danger, you will die. Because they usually don't joke, they kill. They kill.
MCKENZIE: Which leaves his family caught in a vicious cycle, unable to feed itself but relying on handouts that may run out.
David McKenzie, CNN, Mombasa.0
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: A heart-breaking view of what's going on worldwide as it pertains to just simple eating.
All right. Well, straight ahead. A blind man tangles with a burglar. Check out his security alarm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was acting like she was scared. And she's an excellent alarm dog?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, she is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) up and now, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: That's a fierce pooch! The prowler and the growler in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: So dog is man's best friend. That we know. A blind Indiana man says he is indeed living proof.
David Macanally of affiliate WTHR has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MACANALLY, WTHR REPORTER (voice-over): Nine, Monday morning, Allan Kieta had the day of and slept in.
ALLAN KIETA, SAVED BY DOG: Bella (ph) just started barking. She was acting like she was scared.
MACANALLY: And she's an excellent alarm dog?
KIETA: Yes, she is. She's very good.
MACANALLY: She's telling us something now, right? What is she telling you?
KIETA: I don't know.
MACANALLY: Monday morning, Bella (ph), was telling him, stranger in the house and as he walked out his bedroom door -
KIETA: I ran right into him.
MACANALLY: He's in your house?
KIETA: Yes.
MACANALLY: Did he say anything?
KIETA: No, at that point, as soon as I grabbed him and I thought, well, it is not my son. And we just started fighting.
MACANALLY: And while suspected burglar, Alvaro Castro, could see his victim, Alan Kieta, 49 and blind, could see nothing.
KIETA: And we fought for, I don't know, 30, 40 minutes. I don't know. It's a long time.
MACANALLY: Kieta gets the bad guy down on the floor. He grabs hold of his belt; he bangs him against the wall. Wall to wall, trying to keep the guy disoriented, trying to keep the upper hand.
KIETA: If I let him go, he's going to kill me.
MACANALLY: His knuckles bear from paddling Castro. Kieta used all his high school wrestling skills to get him to the kitchen.
KIETA: I was like, oh my gosh, what did my dad teach me?
MACANALLY: He's dad, the marine. Now in the kitchen, he reached for the knife, the only one in the holder.
KIETA: I was asking, why my house. He was like, I was looking for my cat. And I go, your cat? I go, you are in my house.
MACANALLY: He fumbled with the phone trying to call 911 while holding the guy.
KIETA: He was begging. He was like, don't kill me. I'll dial it for you. And I was like you are not touching the phone.
MACANALLY: Police came fast.
KIETA: You know, you have to be vigilant these days. You really should pay attention to what's going on in your environment.
MACANALLY: Even if you don't see the threat.
KIETA: (INAUDIBLE) things a little differently, but, oh my gosh, you are just fighting for your life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Wow. The suspect was hospitalized with injuries from the alleged home invasion. And today, he faces several charges.
HARRIS: What a story.
A must-win primary. Hillary Clinton fights on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The tide is turning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Pennsylvania in her rear-view mirror. Next stop, Indiana.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Saving money on gas. Some independent stations give you discount if you pay with cash instead of credit. Here is Eric Collins. He is with XETV in San Diego.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIC COLLINS, XETV REPORTER (voice-over): Business is booming at this independent gas station in North Park. A station offering an 8- cent per gallon discount if customers use cash instead of credit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that's good. At these prices, that's very good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 8 cents less a gallon on my truck that takes like 24 gallons just to fill up, it actually makes a little bit of a difference. I mean, a lot of times, 2 cents per gallon doesn't make a difference, but 8 cents cheaper, yes.
COLLINS: When gas prices soar, more and more stations preferred bills over plastic. Consumer advocate Charles Langley explains why.
CHARLES LANGLEY, UTILITY CONSUMERS ACTION NETWORK: Right now, the credit card companies are making about three percent on a gallon of gas. They are making more money than the dealer. The dealer makes about a nickel. So by getting rid of the credit card company and charging cash, they are able to offer a significant discount.
COLLINS: Many customers are also ditching their debit cards. Some ATM cards only allow a $50 limit at the pump, but $50 won't fill up the tank, so some customers are having to swipe their card again, and that means another surcharge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm having to pay a double surcharge, it's 45.50 cents. And with that, that's another $1 just for having to fill up a tank of gas when it's already really expensive. I'm not really hitting a deal.
COLLINS: Adding insults to injury, some analysts say there's a gasoline surplus right now because drivers are trying to avoid filling up. If demand declines, so should prices, in theory.
LANGLEY: We're not seeing that right now.
COLLINS: Charles Langley blames oil speculators for creating more pain at the pump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These traders are driving the prices higher.
