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American Morning
Double-Digit Win for Clinton in Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania Exit Polls: Who Voted and Why; Heparin Risk: FDA Inspects Tainted Drugs; Interview with Hillary Clinton
Aired April 23, 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: And fresh off her win last night, Hillary Clinton is going to be joining us live at 7:20 Eastern. That's in about 20 minutes' time here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Here's how the day shapes up for the candidates. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are expected back on Capitol Hill to vote on pay discrimination legislation. Senator Obama also expected to campaign in Indiana today. Senator John McCain is scheduled to make stops in Kentucky and then on to New Orleans.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is covering the Obama campaign. She joins us this morning from Evansville, Indiana. Are they licking their wounds there this morning, Suzanne?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They're trying to definitely move on, John. I mean, we saw last night Obama congratulating Clinton but then quickly pivoting to launching this attack against her tactic. The controversies calling them attacks and distractions.
He also wanted to send a clear signal that he is still confident he's going to be the nominee. He went after the Republican presumptive nominee John McCain on issues like the economy and the war. And then he made this case, that he still believes they've got this kind of broad coalition, this movement that ultimately they believe will be victorious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can build on the movement we started in this campaign, a movement that has united Democrats, independents, Republicans, young, old, rich, poor, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight because one thing I know from traveling 46 states, this campaign season, is that we are not as divided as our politics suggest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: John, the Obama campaign has some $42 million in cash to move forward and to campaign, but the real -- the challenge here, the question is whether or not they're going to be able to be more effective in getting that message across, connecting with those working class voters. I spoke with David Axelrod, his chief strategist, last night and he said ultimately they don't believe that Pennsylvania was a game changer when it came to the delegate count and that's what it's all about, these pledged delegates.
So they are really trying to look at that. But they're going to have a real challenge here in Indiana, a real fight over trying to connect with those blue-collar workers, those voters that seem to be moving definitely in the direction of Hillary Clinton -- John.
ROBERTS: Suzanne, I got this memo from the Barack Obama campaign this morning. It says we hold "a commanding position." Are they on solid ground when they made that claim?
MALVEAUX: Well, when they say commanding position they're talking about we won twice as many states, we have a greater popular vote, we have a significant lead when it comes to the pledged delegates. Essentially that is the position they're in. They're doing the math here.
I spoke with one in the Clinton campaign, and they said essentially we are staying as long as something can happen. What is that something? They don't know.
It could be three things. A flip-flop of the superdelegates. It could be Florida and Michigan in play, or it could be a major gaffe for Barack Obama. They don't know which one it is, but they're going to stay as long as they can because they say something could happen -- John.
ROBERTS: Or it could be a brokered convention in August, too. We'll see. Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning in Evansville.
Yes. Thanks very much, Suzanne.
With Pennsylvania behind us now, what did we learn that might predict what could happen in the key primaries that are coming up? Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider joins us now. Those blue- collar workers were big in Ohio, also big in Pennsylvania. What did the exit polling tell us last night about that group?
BILL SCHNEIDER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: They tell us -- the exit poll said they voted for Hillary Clinton that Barack Obama really couldn't crack that vote. In Pennsylvania, they voted 58 to 42 for Clinton over Obama. Obama got 40 percent in Ohio, 42 percent in Pennsylvania. A little progress, but still can't overcome Clinton's lead among those blue-collar voters.
What does that tell us about the future? Well, I talk about the Ohio neighborhood. Pennsylvania neighbors Ohio. They both voted for Clinton by 10 percent. Well, there are three more states yet to vote, all of them neighbor Ohio. Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia.
Kentucky and West Virginia are poorer than Ohio, so Clinton probably will do better there. Indiana is a real battleground state for one important reason. About 20 percent of Indiana voters live in the Chicago media market where Barack Obama is a well-known name.
ROBERTS: Right. So it crosses over quite easily for him.
SCHNEIDER: It does.
ROBERTS: But why can't he crack into that blue-collar vote in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio?
SCHNEIDER: I think they see Hillary Clinton as someone who delivers. She delivers, he inspires. And right now, these people are hurting and they want someone who will put food on the table and protect their jobs, and they trust her to deliver.
ROBERTS: Because the economy is a huge issue for voters.
SCHNEIDER: It certainly is. Now, take a look. The most important issue among the people who voted in Pennsylvania, the economy. Majority said that over Iraq and health care twice as many named the economy as Iraq. It was the dominant issue.
And here is what was important. Among those voters who said the economy was the most important issue, those 55 percent, how did they vote? They voted for Hillary Clinton by a good margin, 16 points over Barack Obama. The Iraq voters voted for Obama. But the dominant issue, the economy, that delivered for Clinton.
ROBERTS: So he's having some problems there.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
ROBERTS: And do they -- do those problems translate to states like North Carolina and Indiana and the other contests that we're going to see in the next six weeks?
SCHNEIDER: They translate into just about every state because the whole country is hurting, but North Carolina has demographics that are more favorable to Obama, particularly the heavy African-American vote, and the concentration of affluent voters in the Research Triangle area.
ROBERTS: Long way to go from here. A lot of analysis to do.
SCHNEIDER: Right.
ROBERTS: Bill Schneider for us this morning. Bill, thanks -- Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain praising his Democratic counterparts this morning for running successful campaigns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have seen Senator Clinton having been certainly, if not written off, certainly an underdog, but I also respect the incredible campaign that Senator Obama has run. He's galvanized thousands of people. He's run a very excellent campaign as well. Both of them -- I give credit to both of them for running excellent campaigns, and they had a large number of competitors, just like I did in the Republican primary. (END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And McCain heads out on a cross country tour today including a stop in Inez, Kentucky, where former President Lyndon Johnson launched his war on poverty campaign more than 40 years ago. McCain also spoke out about the North American Free Trade Agreement on the campaign trail telling voters in Youngstown, Ohio, NAFTA is good for the economy.
And breaking news overseas, results of a disputed election in Zimbabwe. The election commission there reports that President Robert Mugabe's party won in a recount of 23 constituencies. Zimbabwe's election was more than three weeks ago but has been at the center of controversy after claims of vote tampering.
And there's concern this morning about Russia's space program after a harrowing return to earth for a space station crew last weekend. Russian officials say that a module failed to break away cleanly from the Soyuz capsule throwing the crew's section into a steeper than normal dive. The three-member crew which included an American and a South Korean space tourist endured violent shaking eight times the force of gravity.
The crew landed 300 miles off course in Kazakhstan. NASA is confident that Russia will fix that problem when the shuttle program ends in 2010. Soyuz capsules will be the only way to travel to and from the space stations.
ROBERTS: Gasoline prices are forcing Americans to take some extreme steps to save money.
PHILLIPS: And we're going to tell you what one trucking company is doing just to stay in business. That's straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to go outside our country. We have to go to Mexico to get fuel just to survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The owner of an Arizona trucking company taking some drastic steps to beat the pinch at the pump, sending a 500-gallon mobile fuel tank to Mexico to buy diesel gas for $2 a gallon, less than half of what it costs in the state of Arizona. She said that her drivers also had to take pay cuts just so her company can survive. Shows you how people are feeling the pinch here with high fuel prices.
PHILLIPS: And spinning out of control. No, I'm not talking about Ali Velshi. I'm talking about gas prices.
ROBERTS: You will be spinning out of control if prices are going to be higher. ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I am. I remember growing up in Canada that was a popular thing to do, to cross over to the U.S. if you were close enough to buy gasoline. But now, this is becoming a big problem.
PHILLIPS: Now, it's prescription drugs.
VELSHI: Then, now, it's prescription drugs and it's the other way across. But look at the -- I mean, for diesel and the average in the United States, $4.21. For those truckers that's a big, big deal. That could be $1,000 or more to fill up one of those rigs.
Gasoline prices also hitting another record. By the way, those are records in both cases, the diesel and gasoline. $3.53 for a gallon of self-serve unleaded. That's a national average and that is an increase of about 27 cents, I think, from a month ago. Up from $2.86.
We've got oil that is up almost -- almost 100 percent since the beginning of 2007, and about 72 percent of the price of a gallon of gas. By the way, this changes every day, but about 72 percent of the price of a gallon of gas is determined by the price of a barrel of oil which is why we talk so much about oil prices and why you're so concerned about it.
The other thing we know is that in terms of the economy being issue number one, it is about gas prices, but it's also about inflation. And a lot of this food inflation we're talking about is kicked up by a number of things, including the corn ethanol policy and increased demand around the world. But just the cost -- the expense of processing and shipping that fuel around the world.
We've got a bit of a break on oil prices today. $117, $118. Can you believe that? We're talking about a break.
ROBERTS: A veritable bargain.
VELSHI: A bargain. I mean, how many months have we been talking about seeing oil first moving into records then moving into triple digits? Unbelievable. It makes -- it makes -- I'm sure this is what everybody is talking about.
ROBERTS: This is all just crazy.
VELSHI: Yes. You know, because you and I talked about the fact that speculation is a big part of the price of oil and commodities. And that's because you make more money -- if you're an investor and you're buying oil or commodities you're making much more money than you would if you invest in the U.S. dollar or stock markets or properties. So a lot of people are not buying these things because they're using them.
ROBERTS: So what about the talk from the candidates? We'll do an investigation to see if there's oil price gouging here. The oil companies --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Yes -- dependent on oil. In other countries, that's the problem.
VELSHI: Right. We've got to diversify in, you know, what we use in terms of energy because we can't --
ROBERTS: But are the oil companies even responsible here?
VELSHI: No, no, this is speculation. These are traders, and that's part of the problem. Oil companies are responsible for some of it but fully 60, 70 bucks in this price of oil now is speculation.
ROBERTS: Wow, unbelievable. Thanks, Ali.
The economy, number one issue for voters. Join Ali, Gerri Willis and the CNN money team for "ISSUE #1" today, noon Eastern here on CNN and also online at CNNmoney.com.
It is prescribed to millions of Americans, from babies to older people. Now, heparin is being linked to contaminated ingredients from China, blamed for the deaths of dozens of people. What's being done and there are other drugs -- are there other drugs that we need to worry about? We're paging our Dr. Gupta just ahead.
PHILLIPS: Plus, a tornado threat in the heartland and wildfires in the south. Rob Marciano tracking extreme weather for us. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kyra. Yes, coast to coast we've got a little bit of action today. Last night, tennis ball-sized hail reported in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and fires are burning across the state of Florida. Complete weather is coming up when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rob Marciano. Where is the threat for severe weather today? Across the plains. Check it out.
We've got the potential for seeing tornadoes pop up across parts of northern Texas and in through western Oklahoma. Tornado Alley and certainly the time of year for that. We've got some dry air. We've got some energy.
We've got some cold air coming in out of the mountains, and that will lead to the possibility of damaging winds, large hail or isolated tornadoes, and it really depends a lot on whether or not we can get these clouds out of here and get into some of these clear skies. If that happens then the risk will -- might even increase.
So we'll watch that throughout the next few hours to see if that's going to be a possibility. Got some showers across parts of North Carolina. Tremendous amount of rain from there and through parts of Virginia the past couple of days all due to this low that's been sitting and spinning here. But it's also been bringing a tremendous amount of dry air down the backside. The result -- some fires across central Florida. Check out some of these video.
Dry conditions in central Florida. Two brush fires in Brevard County, along Interstate-95, southwest of Titusville. Another fire there with heavy smoke billowing in through what should be blue sky in through central Florida. So problems not only in New Mexico and Colorado, the past couple days, but also in the state of Florida where conditions continue to be dry there. John and Kyra, back up to you.
ROBERTS: All right, Rob, thanks very much.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." Senator Hillary Clinton's double-digit win giving her campaign the momentum to carry on the contest. But can the cash-trapped campaign afford to keep going? We'll ask her when she joins us live just ahead.
PHILLIPS: And millions of Americans take it from the very young to older folks. How concerned should you be about potentially tainted heparin? We're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Hey, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, and the beat goes on. It's not just China either. Where do so many of these active ingredients that we take when we take a prescription med actually come from? How safe are they? How are we making sure they're safe?
We've been investigating. Really fascinating stuff coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Nineteen minutes after the hour. Hillary Clinton's victory over Barack Obama came after a bruising seven-week-long buildup. Clinton called last night's victory a deeply personal win. It will allow her to pick up a majority of the state's 158 delegates and make a small dent in Obama's overall lead.
And that brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Is Hillary Clinton's win in Pennsylvania enough to make her the comeback kid? Right now, 47 percent of you say yes. Fifty-three percent say no. Cast your vote at CNN.com/am.
We want your e-mails on this as well. Give us your thoughts. What do you think will happen with Clinton's campaign? Go to our Web site, CNN.com/am and follow the link that says "contact us." We'll be reading your e-mails throughout the morning.
PHILLIPS: Millions of Americans are prescribed the blood thinner heparin. A tainted batch is now believed to be responsible for the deaths of dozens of people. The Food and Drug Administration says that new evidence directly links severe reactions and deaths to heparin shipments from China. China denies any connection, but lawmakers are now holding the FDA accountable.
CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Atlanta this morning. Sanjay, a lot of ingredients in our drugs come from China so should we worry? Should we worry now about heparin but (ph) others?
GUPTA: Well, you know, I think people would be surprised if not -- if their mind wouldn't be boggled by how many of these ingredients actually come from foreign countries, China and India in particular. But other countries and other medications are involved as well.
As things stand now, this was interesting. About eight percent of the shipments that contain those active ingredients are actually inspected. And herein lies part of the problem, herein lies part of the controversy as well. Now, the FDA says, look, we recognize that this is a problem. We're going to start putting more inspectors on the ground in these places.
For example, in three Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Beijing, the FDA says it will now put inspectors to try to address some of these problems. There is a -- this has become an issue on Capitol Hill. A lot of people arguing about the best way to inspect these ingredients as they come in. When should they be inspected? How much of it should be inspected to make sure that it is safe?
Now, keep in mind that heparin, the drug that you're talking about specifically, is a blood thinner. It's used for lots of patients. It's a necessary medication for lots of patients, and that issue here specifically is the number of deaths that you're talking about, 81 deaths, and overall people who had some of the symptoms of nausea, vomiting, their blood pressure dropped, and the worst symptoms seemed to be linked to the highest doses.
They want new testing, Kyra. They want that testing on the ground, and they want it done earlier. That's what's -- you know, people are hoping takes place now.
PHILLIPS: Well, is it safe to take heparin now and also is there any other drug specifically that we should be paying attention to that we had no idea have ingredients come from China?
GUPTA: Well, look, you know, if you talk about just globally, you have 80 percent of active ingredients coming from overseas and only eight percent are being inspected. Then, yes, that sort of puts at risk lots of different medications. With regards to heparin specifically, they say it is safe because they've addressed the specific problem which was, for people who pay attention to this, something known as chondroitin sulfate. That was the active ingredient that was contaminated.
They say that problem has been addressed. All the contaminated shipments have been taken off the shelf. So heparin seems to be safe now. But, you know, take a look at this map because this gives you a good sense of just how many countries were affected.
The countries in red there received those contaminated shipments. Countries in green did not. But look, that's 11 countries including the United States and including China, by the way. So it becomes very difficult. Let me say as well, you know, we've talked to some of the Chinese authorities about this. They say go and look at the post processing plants in the United States, specifically Baxter. They think that's where the problem lay. China is denying responsibility here saying they did not actually have contaminated heparin.
PHILLIPS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, good to see you, Sanjay.
GUPTA: All right, Kyra, thanks.
ROBERTS: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." Hillary Clinton vows to fight on after her victory in Pennsylvania. From the money to the delegate count, we'll ask her about the challenges ahead when Senator Clinton joins us live. Next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Is the critical win in Pennsylvania enough for Senator Hillary Clinton to close the deal? In silence, calls for her to drop out of the race. New York Senator Hillary Clinton joins us now live from Washington, D.C. Senator, it's good to see you again. Congratulations on your win last night.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks so much, John. It's great to talk to you.
ROBERTS: Your campaign put out a little flyer this morning saying that this was a turning point in the race. How do you see it as a turning point?
CLINTON: Well, I think the tide is turning. Obviously yesterday, we had record turnout in Pennsylvania. I won that double- digit victory that everybody on TV said I had to win, and the voters of Pennsylvania clearly made their views known, that they think I would be the best president and the better candidate to go against Senator McCain.
It was inspiring and so exciting because this has been a six-week campaign one-on-one. Voters got to look at both of us, consider both of us. I was outspent three to one, and the results were just enormously exciting and gratifying to me.
ROBERTS: Yesterday's primary was not just about voters in Pennsylvania, but it's also about these undecided superdelegates. As you said, you got the double-digit win that you were looking for. What's the argument that you make today to those undecided superdelegates?
CLINTON: That I've 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. And if you look at the broad base of support that I have accumulated, it really is the foundation on which we build our victory come the fall.
But more importantly, I've been offering positive solutions, very specific ideas about what I would do as president, plus an experience of record -- and a record of accomplishment that people can evaluate. So on very important matters to the voters, I've been there, and they know that I will be there and that they can count on me. And I think that's exactly what Americans are going to be looking for when they pick their president next November.
ROBERTS: In his concession speech last night, Senator Obama mentioned your name once, though there were some oblique references to you, unnamed references. They weren't exactly oblique. But he did mention Senator John McCain seven times. The suggestion being there to superdelegates, hey, it is time for to you get off the fence, to make a decision here. Let's end this thing.
Is it going on too long? Is John McCain gaining an advantage by the length of time that this Democratic primary season is taking and playing out?
CLINTON: No, not at all. You know, I remind people, my husband did not wrap up the nomination until June of 1992, at which time he was running third behind George Bush and Ross Perot. You know, that's just not how this works. And I understand the argument that my opponent is trying to make, trying to rush people into a decision before everyone has had a chance to vote until we really can take stock of who the stronger candidate is, where each of us have gotten our votes, where each of us have gotten our delegates, what it really looks like going into the fall, but that's just what we're going to see happen.
We're going to keep competing in these upcoming states. I'll be in Indiana today, in North Carolina tomorrow. Since I won last night, we've raised $3 million on the Internet. Thousands of people have flocked to HillaryClinton.com to contribute to my campaign. Clearly the voters in Pennsylvania yesterday and the thousands of people who are contributing know that they want this campaign to go on, and that they hope that I'm the one that will emerge as the nominee because they believe that I'd be the better president and the stronger candidate against Senator McCain.
ROBERTS: Senator, when we look at the tone and the tenor of the last 6 1/2, almost seven weeks, can the Democratic Party stand another six weeks, another six weeks like the six we just had? Today's editorial, lead editorial in "The New York Times" calls it the low road to victory. Cites you -- also says Barack Obama is responsible for some of it as well.
David Axelrod, Senator Obama's campaign communications chief, said yesterday, "If she has a legitimate chance to win the nomination she should stay in. But if her only strategy is to tear down Senator Obama, then it's going to make a lot of Democrats uncomfortable."
CLINTON: Well, maybe I've just been in a lot of elections over the last many years, and this has been by and large one of the more positive, civil elections I've ever seen. But, yes, there are real differences. And, you know, some of the questions that are being raised about both of us are voters interest in us and certainly we know we're going to head into a very tough campaign in the fall. But people turned out to vote in record numbers yesterday because they were positive. They were positive about the role they would play. They were positive about their opportunity to have their voices heard and their votes counted, and they chose me. And I understand why that would be upsetting to my opponent's campaign, but the fact is that we've got to look at where we can get our electoral votes to win in the fall. And there is no doubt in my mind I have won where Democrats have to win.
And I think that going into the fall campaign against Senator McCain, I'm in a much stronger position having demonstrated electoral strength in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, winning border states like Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. We're going into the next nine contests, and we'll see what the voters have to say.
But if you actually count the votes that have been cast, more people have actually voted for me. The question is whether we will get to a point where it is clear who the nominee will be, and I think we will.
ROBERTS: On this issue of positive versus negative, in his concession speech last night, Senator Obama pointed to that advertisement that you ran in the 24 hours leading up to the primary. Let's listen quickly to what he said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can use fear as a tactic, a threat of terrorism to scare up votes, or we can decide that real strength is asking the tough questions before we send our troops into fighting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Senator, critics have said in that advertisement you employed almost identical tactics to those that President George Bush used in 2004 and it's not very Democratic of you to do it.
CLINTON: Well, all I can say is the next president is going to face some really tough decisions and to pretend otherwise or to act as though terrorism or a natural disaster like Katrina is just out of bounds I think doesn't reflect what is actually going to face our nominee in the fall when he or she is up against Senator McCain...
ROBERTS: But it wasn't just...
CLINTON: And the next president of the United States, and that ad didn't mention my opponent's name. It was about my leadership. It was about my experience. It was about what presidents have to contend with. I think I know something about that having been in the White House for eight years, and I believe that voters know something about that, and they're going to look at us and they're going to evaluate who they want making those tough decisions going forward.
ROBERTS: But if it wasn't just Hurricane Katrina, it was Pearl Harbor and it was also the first time a Democratic candidate have used an image of Osama Bin Laden in an advertisement in this primary season.
CLINTON: Well, maybe it's because I'm a senator from New York, but I consider him a person who we must take out. I'm the one who has been advocating that we end the war in Iraq and win the war in Afghanistan. He's at large. He continues to taunt us through his audios and his videos. Is it in the opinion of those who raise questions off limits for a Democrat to take a strong stand against terrorism, to take a strong stand against the man who masterminded the attack against our country causing, you know, such death and destruction?
Well, I think that's not being very far-sighted because clearly we know what the campaign the Republicans will run. I'm ready to go toe to toe with John McCain on national security taking on terrorism and Osama Bin Laden, and I believe that I will be able to make a very convincing case. But if you look at the entire election that we just waged in Pennsylvania, it was about all of the issues that are on the minds of voters and who they believe is better prepared and ready on day one to make the tough decisions. And clearly they thought that I am, and I will be.
ROBERTS: You raised a point yesterday morning about your opponent. You said "why can't he close the deal with his extraordinary financial advantage?" Why can't he?
CLINTON: Well, you'll have to ask him. Clearly he outspent me again in Pennsylvania 3 to 1 and, you know, we roared back with a tremendous grassroots campaign and you know, millions of people turning out to vote and favoring me by a big margin. But then, in the last, you know, 12 hours, we've had lots of people who have signed up, in the thousands, to contribute to my campaign at my Web site hillaryclinton.com and I think we'll have the resources we need to compete. But the fair question is if you can't win the states we have to win in the fall, maybe that says something about your general election appeal.
ROBERTS: Do you think that his comments about people in small towns hurt him?
CLINTON: You'll have to ask him, but everything that voters of Pennsylvania saw and heard over the last six weeks, they obviously took into account. This was a one-on-one contest for six weeks. We crisscrossed the state. We presented ourselves. We answered questions, and at the end of that very grueling process, the voters in Pennsylvania in overwhelming numbers decided I would be the better candidate and the best president for our country.
ROBERTS: Senator, I'm getting wrapped here. Just got one quick question to ask you about. By the time this is all over on June 4th, the calculation seems to be you'll still be behind in the number of pledge delegates in contests won, so without Florida and Michigan being included, would you ever consider dropping out of the race?
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. That is not a winning strategy. So we're going to go through the next nine contests and I hope to do well in many of them and we're going to push the Democratic party to resolve Florida and Michigan, but I'm confident that when delegates, as well as voters like the voters of Pennsylvania just did, ask themselves who is stronger candidate against John McCain, that I will be the nominee of the Democratic party.
ROBERTS: Senator, thanks so much for joining us this morning. Sorry for taking up so much of your time and again --
CLINTON: It's a pleasure talking to you, John.
ROBERTS: Congratulations on the win last night. Looking forward to the next contest two weeks from now.
CLINTON: Thank you very much.
ROBERTS: Take care. Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: So can Hillary Clinton actually pull ahead in votes and delegates. CNN chief national correspondent John King joins us now with the magic board. You've become quite famous for this by the way. Featured in the "New York Times," being called --
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes. let's talk about Clinton and Obama.
PHILLIPS: You want to get right down to it.
KING: Let's talk about Clinton and Obama.
PHILLIPS: How about the latest gadget? You were showing me how diverse the state was --
KING: One of the things that's interesting about Pennsylvania because it is so diverse, you have a media market in Philadelphia, a different media market up here, different media market out to the west, the candidates targeted based on the media markets. Let's look at this, this is Senator Clinton's ad in the Philadelphia area, an ad that played familiar. I'm going to shrink it down, just so we could show you the video. The African-American mayor of Philadelphia supported Senator Clinton. This is the ad most voters in Philadelphia saw, most of them being African-American.
But just come about 90 minutes up the road to Scranton, Pennsylvania.
PHILLIPS: You'll see a different type of market.
KING: That is the white blue collar workers that she was targeting. Remember what Barack Obama said on that fund raiser about people in small towns, they cling to their guns and religion because of their economic frustration. That is the ad Hillary Clinton ran up in the Scranton area, the Allentown area, courting blue collar voters. So, a very different advertising strategy. We'll take these off the screen and we'll show you the results. She courts those white blue collar voters with that ad. Look at the results up in the Scranton area, 75/25. Drop down here to Allentown, 60/40.
So Barack Obama wins in Philadelphia with African-Americans, but across the rest of the state where the white blue collar vote matters, the Allegheny county, the Pittsburgh area, she wins 54-46. In these smaller rural counties, Kyra, she's winning even bigger.
PHILLIPS: As you said Obama has a white problem.
KING: He has a white working class voter problem. Now, they can say it's just Pennsylvania, it's an older state. She did a better job, but the Clinton pitch to superdelegates is these are the so- called Reagan Democrats, if they leave us in November, this state goes back to Republicans for the first time since 1988. She will argue that. He will argue I win big among African-Americans. If you take this from me, they might not come out in November. The Democratic party has a divide between two candidates. And the divide includes race.
PHILLIPS: The pressure is on.
KING: Yes, it is. Absolutely. And now we go, so that we close in on the delegate map. You can look at the delegate map. This is where we are today. The green line is about where we start the day. We sill have a few rough calculations to make but let's just assume just she won 55-45 last night. When he wins, he wins roughly in that area. Let's assume they roughly split the delegates, the rest of the way.
PHILLIPS: It's going to come up.
KING: Let's come back here to where we start the day. Take these people off the map and put them up here. The green line is where we start the day. Let's take these people out of the mix. Come down here. So let's say she wins about half of these people. Right about there. That's a little more than half. He wins the rest.
PHILLIPS: Both of them zero.
KING: Neither one of them finishes. Obama would still be ahead. The question John just put to Senator Clinton, under most scenarios, unless suddenly the dynamic changes completely, he is ahead in pledge delegates. So, these are the people who decide your Democratic nominee, the superdelegates at the end, unless something dramatic happens? So, what happens, Barack Obama, the one thing we do know, he needs a smaller percentage of the superdelegates. You give him just that many, and he's the nominee. So, she needs to convince these people to sit tight. Give me a chance in Indiana, give me a chance in North Carolina, give me a chance as we move on to West Virginia and Kentucky and maybe Puerto Rico at the very end of this.
Hillary Clinton's argument is sit tight, let's see if I can make him stumble again. The math still favors Obama, but the morning after Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton has a decent argument to at least wait.
PHILLIPS: John King, our wizard of the magic board. We'll do some more. Thanks, John.
KING: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: OK.
ROBERTS: 38 minutes after the hour now. Ali Velshi joins us. And even Delta-lina and her new safety video can't seem to turn things around.
ALI VELSHI, CNN, SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable. Delta just came our with its first quarter earnings. Unbelievable. Are you sitting down for this? A loss of $6.4 billion with a "b" in three months, one quarter. Why? It's the same problem you've got, high fuel prices. We'll be back in AMERICAN MORNING in just a minute to talk more about that. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Ali Velshi. We just got news from Delta reporting its first quarter earnings. A loss of $6.4 billion with a "b," that is three months. That is January to March of this year. They are citing high fuel concerns. And by the way, so are you. Most of America is concerned about fuel prices, rising food costs, and many people think we're in a recession. But the President doesn't think so. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; We're not in a recession. We're in a slow down. We grew in the fourth quarter last year. We haven't had first quarter growth statistics yet, but there's no question we're in a slow down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: He's right about that. We haven't got our statistics from this year yet, and as of the end of 2007, we were not in a recession. However, many of you don't think so. We polled Democratic voters coming out of the polls yesterday, and here is what they said. Now, these are Democratic voters. This does often play very differently or somewhat differently with Republican voters. But 88 percent of the Democrats said we think we're in a recession. 11 percent said no. We also asked people what is the most important issue to them? 55 percent said the economy. 27 percent said Iraq. 14 percent said health care. And there's a good discussion about whether the president can or cannot be seen to be talking down the economy or saying we're in a recession before there's sort of an official call that we are. You know, that remains to be seen. That's a discussion I'm sure we'll continue to have.
ROBERTS: A lot of smart people think we are.
VELSHI: That's correct. ROBERTS: Ali, thanks very much.
Rob Marciano is in the CNN Weather Center this morning tracking extreme weather for us. What's on the radar today, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: We're watching the plains for sure. Last night, parts of the plains into the midsouth got hammered with some heavy weather. Check out this picture. Very cool shot, cloud there. That's for real, that's not photoshopped. You know what kind of cloud that is? We'll talk about it when we come back. AMERICAN MORNING will return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Love this shot. AP shot out of Portsmith, Arkansas, yesterday. You see those bubbling clouds, kind of dripping down from that base of that cloud. It's called the mammatus cloud and it's probably one of the coolest clouds you'll see. That doesn't always come with severe weather, but often it will come with some hail either before, a lot of times before these clouds form and just due to the violent updrafts and downdrafts and hail and other ice particle that travel up and down the vertical structure of these clouds.
Certainly, a cool shot out of Portsmith. And we did have reports in Portsmith and Pascal or around Pascal county of seeing some hail possibly from that particular storm. All right. Cool stuff. We'll probably see more turbulent weather today. We've got some cold air. Even more so I think today than yesterday. Pretty strong dynamics coming out with a jet stream. We've cold air that's bee building up across the Pacific Northwest. We got this dry line, dry area here running into somewhat more moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Some damaging winds, large hail, all possible and tornadoes also possible probably later today through northern parts of Texas and western parts of Oklahoma. In part because of this old air that's just doesn't want to go away across the Pacific northwest. They have had snow down the lower elevations. This will be driving down to the south and on top of that we got critical fire danger across parts of New Mexico where there are a couple fires that continue to burn. John and Kyra, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.
PHILLIPS: I want to ask the name of that cloud one more time.
ROBERTS: What was the name of that cloud?
MARCIANO: Mammatus cloud.
PHILLIPS: Mammatus. Thank you.
MARCIANO: Use that at the next party.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. Great conversation. Cocktail conversation. All right. Concern this morning about medication treatment for kids. Why the health officials now want heart tests for children attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Oh, that's a mouthful. And why do doctors disagree?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Every year 2.5 million children take drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. Now, the American Heart Association says that every kid should get screened for heart problems before they start taking those drugs. It's already causing some controversy with doctors who don't agree with the decision. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Atlanta with more.
Sanjay, why recommend heart screenings for every kid getting ADHD drugs? What's the big concern?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, these drugs that treat ADHD are stimulants and the concern is that they can raise a child's blood pressure. They can raise a child's heart rate and they could possibly cause heart problems. Now, admittedly the numbers we are talking about here are very, very small and for the vast majority of children taking these sorts of drugs, they're going to be just fine. Maybe 1 to 2 per 100,000 every year do have cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death. Small numbers, but a large number if that's your child.
Now, the American Heart Association has made some specific recommendations. You mentioned, screening. First of all, the screening, in the beginning it involves just some questions that they want to ask a child, that they want to ask the parents of a child before they allow certain types of exercise with these ADHD drugs. For example, has the child ever fainted during exercise? Has the child experienced chest pains? Is there a family history of heart problems? That's pretty easy, Kyra.
A doctor can ask the parent or the child themselves these questions. What's more controversial here, to your point, is they also recommend that the child get EKG. That's a heart test. They actually put these probes on the chest wall and measure the heart activity. A lot of pediatrics group saying look that's simply not necessary. It may cause some unnecessary worry. You can take a look at one of the people from the American Academy of Pediatrics who was specifically concerned about false positives. You do all these EKG tests, are you going to create false positives and is and EKG test even the best test to actually screen for any of these problems? That's where the controversy sort of lies. The American Heart Association saying give the EKG at any kid who's going to take the medication. Other people saying wait a second, that may be taking it too far. Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks.
GUPTA: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Hillary Clinton's victory over Barack Obama in Pennsylvania came after a bruising seven-week buildup. Clinton called last night's victory a deeply personal win. It will allow her to pick up a majority of the state's 158 delegates and make a small dent in Obama's overall lead. That brings us this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Is Clinton's win in Pennsylvania enough to make her the comeback kid? Right now 47 percent say yes, 53 percent say no. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We will tally your votes throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: And we have been asking for your e-mails on this as well. John from Fremont, Ohio, writes just this morning to say "Clinton's win in Pennsylvania means that this fight will go on all the way to the Democrat's convention."
PHILLIPS: And Robert from Menlo, California, "Obama needs to drop out. It's clear he cannot win a general election. If Obama cares about the Democratic party he needs to gracefully step aside."
ROBERTS: And MC from Utrecht in the Netherlands, a couple of e- mails we got from the Netherlands this morning. And here's the reason why, because our very first hour between 5:00 and 6:00 was carried on CNN International. He says "Hillary Clinton's victory proves Barack Obama cannot close the deal. She's got the fighter's mentality needed to become president. People seem to easily forget that in total she does have plenty of popular votes, especially if you count Michigan and Florida, too. It's too bad Obama and his followers ignore voters in those states so easily." Thanks very much for the e-mails. Next hour, we're going to be reading some more of them here on AMERICAN MORNING.
So, Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania, but is it enough to challenge Obama's overall lead? Joining us again "New York Daily News" columnist, Errol Louis is here with us in the studio. So, he called it a turning point in the campaign. Is it really a turning point or is that just rhetoric?
ERROL LOUIS, "NEW YORK DAILY NEWS" COLUMNIST: Well, I think it's mostly rhetoric. We've seen some other turning points. New Hampshire was a turning point. The early February super Tuesday was supposed to be a turning point. After that, Texas and Ohio were supposed to be a turning point. This is supposed to be a turning point. The reality is, the hard delegate count, if she does in every remaining state what she just did in Pennsylvania, she still won't catch him in delegates. In fact, if she does what she did in Pennsylvania and you throw in Michigan and you throw in Florida, she still doesn't do enough to be a --
ROBERTS: But as you heard when I asked her the question, she is not prepared even if she finds herself on June 4th, which is the day after the last contest, still behind in total delegates, still behind in the popular vote, still behind in total contests won, that she will wait, insists that Florida and Michigan somehow be counted.
LOUIS: Well, I'll tell you, this is where toughness comes in. The very fact that the rest of the party will be feeling agony, wanting to get started on a general election campaign, wanting to coalesce, wanting to get their act together in all the different states, she can put herself as a road block and that very delay, the threat of going into the convention and grinding down everybody, and bogging down the process becomes a very strong trump card for her. And she won't have to give it up unless she gets something in exchange. And that could be any number of different things.
ROBERTS: The lead editorial in today's "New York Times" talks about the low road to victory putting most of the blame on her for negative campaigning. Barack Obama talked about it last night in his concession speech, particularly that ad that she ran in the last 24 hours of the campaign invoking images of Osama Bin Laden, Pearl Harbor, other thing. Some people said it was the politics of fear. I asked her about that this morning. Let's listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All I can say is that the next president is going to face some really tough decisions and to pretend otherwise or to act as though terrorism or a natural disaster like Katrina is just out of bounds I think doesn't reflect what is actually going to face our nominee in the fall when he or she is up against Senator McCain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Now, she didn't mention the Obama, the Osama - in finally did it. She didn't mentioned the Osama image in that ad. I came back and asked her about it. She said hey it's perfectly legitimate. Is it perfectly legitimate?
LOUIS: Well, that's my senator. That's negative without apologies. That is the Clinton style.
ROBERTS: She says hey I'm a senator from New York. That's part of my constituency, that's part of who I am.
LOUIS: Well, both in my column in the "Daily News" today and the "Times" editorial, you mentioned harsh attacks on that. I mean, she clearly crossed the line that no candidate had crossed in this entire over a year-long campaign that was often bitterly fought on both the Republican and Democratic side. Now she's -- what she's announcing this morning is that nothing is going to be out of bounds. She's going to go as negative as she needs to keep herself in this race.
ROBERTS: So, is either one of them at a point right now, because I know Obama is trying to close this deal out by saying the undecided superdelegates, it's time to make up your minds, we can't let John McCain get away scot-free. We got to focus on this national contest. Has either one of them made a compelling argument or can they make a compelling argument to undecided superdelegates this morning to say I'm the person you need to support.
LOUIS: I don't know about this morning. But I'll tell you something to watch in this next round of elections is not just the demographics of Indiana and North Carolina, but also the rules. In Indiana, independents can vote. In North Carolina, you can just do same day registration and they have early voting.
ROBERTS: They couldn't in Pennsylvania.
LOUIS: Exactly. And those happen to play to Obama's strength. So, you got to look at the kind of organization they're going to put together in states where they didn't expect to have to campaign.
ROBERTS: So, in other words, a while to go yet.
LOUIS: Oh, absolutely. And watch the field operation.
ROBERTS: Errol Louis, as always, thanks very much for being with us this morning.
LOUIS: Thank you.
ROBERTS: And here is how the day shapes up for the candidates. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama expected to be back on Capitol Hill today to vote on the pay discrimination legislation. Senator Obama is also expected to campaign in Indiana today. Senator John McCain, does he have his feet up in Sedona? No. He has scheduled stops in Kentucky and then on to New Orleans.
And as we said, Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign calling the win a turning point in the nominating contest. Earlier, as we showed you, I spoke to the senator about the importance of her 10-point victory in Pennsylvania.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: We've got to look at where we could get our electoral votes to win in the fall. And there is no doubt in my mind, I have won where Democrats have to win and I think that going in to the fall campaign against Senator McCain, I'm in a much stronger position, having demonstrated electoral strengths in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, winning border states like Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. We're going into the next nine contests and we'll see what the voters have to say but if you actually count the vote that had been cast, more people have actually voted for me, the question is whether we will get to a point where it is clear who the nominee will be and I think we will.
ROBERTS: And the way to certainly is firing up supporters after the race was called late last night.
