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Clinton Superdelegate Switches to Support Obama; McCain's Health Plan; Flood Waters Going Down in Maine; Blaze Near Grand Canyon; Immigration Debate Fuels Protests
Aired May 01, 2008 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Superdelegate switch within the past hour, another Clinton supporter announcing he is backing Barack Obama. Both candidates campaigning in Indiana. That primary now five days away.
Dan Lothian with the CNN Election Express in Indianapolis.
Dan, good morning to you.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. Yes, the superdelegate is Joe Andrew. He is the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, he was appointed by then President Clinton, served from 1999 until 2001. He was a superdelegate for Senator Clinton. But decided to make the switch to Senator Barack Obama because he said not out of disrespect for Senator Clinton, who he respects very much still, but felt Senator Barack Obama was the candidate who could best carry out real change in America.
JOE ANDREW, DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUPERDELEGATE: I'm proud of this position. It's a personal one at the end of the day. I'm proud to try to divorce myself from that old political theater and try to do what at the end of the day I know is right in my heart a man that will be a great president of the United States and help redefine who we are about as Americans, who we are about as people care about the future of our country, and who we are about as people who want to welcome everyone into our party.
LOTHIAN: The Clinton campaign responding to the Andrew endorsement, switch in endorse many, not specifically mention his name but Phil Singer, the spokesman for Hillary Clinton, says chose to focus on the voters here in Indiana that will be heading to the polls next week and said quote, we support the Democratic process and think that every American should be able to weigh in and support the candidate of his or her own choosing.
Now both of the Democratic candidates are campaigning here in Indiana today and the focus again, as it has been all week really has been on some of the core issues that impact working class voters and one in particular, high gas prices. Senator Barack Obama was just talking about that a few minutes ago. Senator Clinton as well as Senator John McCain have been talking so much about the gas tax holiday. That's something that Senator Barack Obama opposes because he says it really just sort of political posturing and in the end, won't amount to very much. SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So now it is the Clinton/McCain -- Clinton/McCain proposal to suspend the gas tax for three months. Here's the problem. Not only is it worth 30 cents a day to you, but it takes money out of the federal highway funds that goes to rebuilding roads and bridges.
LOTHIAN: Now Senator Clinton points out that the reason that he is opposed to this, the fact Senator Obama is opposed to the gas tax holiday just shows he's out of touch with working class voters. She has been trying to stress the voters here this she -- best label to represent the working class voters and pointing out she is the one with experience and the one with the proven track record and she is the one in her words can get the job done on day one.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This election, in my view, is not about me. It is not about my opponent. It is about what you want in the next president. What you believe our country must do to regain our initiative in the world, to begin to solve our problems and meet our challenges.
LOTHIAN: And Tony, what's interesting is both of the candidates campaigning here today and they are still doing some of the larger venues, doing town hall meetings, other big appearances. They are noticing spend are more one-on-one time with voters, meeting in their homes and commuting with them to work, really trying to get the personal touch specifically with the working class voters.
HARRIS: Dan Lothian for us with the CNN Election Express in Indianapolis. Good to see you.
Moving past the controversy over their former pastor, Michelle Obama says it is time to turn the page from Jeremiah Wright.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Republican John McCain pushing his prescription for health care reform in Ohio, town hall meeting on the campus of the Cleveland Clinic this morning, right there. Earlier on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" McCain says tax credits to help pay for health insurance will give consumers more options.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to have the people have a choice as to whether they want to keep their employer plan, funded plan, or go out with their $5,000 tax credit and go across state lines and around the country and get the insurance policy their choice, whichever they want. It is based on choice. I'm looking for a substantial reduction in price with the other reforms that we are going to have to put into place like outcome based treatment, cash in counseling, like increasing community health centers, walk-in clinics, a whole bunch of measures. But, of course, when you have choice in competition, which we do not today, in many respects and transparency, then, obviously, you are going to reduce costs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Later today McCain attends a health care forum in Des Moines, Iowa.
To find more, on the candidates at CNNpolitics.com. CNNpolitics.com is your source for everything political.
HARRIS: Floodwaters falling right now in Maine. This is a better picture. The St. John River appears to be going down. It crested a record 30 feet overnight in Fort Kent. That's about five feet above flood stage. Flooding still widespread on both sides of the Canadian border. More than 100 homes flooded. Hundreds of people had to flee. But the river never spilled over a major levee sparing the downtown areas. Good news here. And the international bridge held up despite fears raging waters might drag it down. Looking good.
That's one official's assessment of the 2,000 acre wildfire burning on the edge of the Grand Canyon National Park. The blaze is more than 60% contained now. Calmer winds have certainly helped firefighters. Crews hope to spend the day putting out hotspots. Officials say the fire is caused by people. Folk started this.
Wildfires are also burning in California, Nevada, and New Mexico. Nevada. Nevada.
WHITFIELD: I think it depends --
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Immigration, an issue packed with emotion and changing the face of America. Today the high stakes in immigration policy fueled rallies and marches and this year's presidential politics. Thousands of our neighbors, Third Annual Immigration Day from New York to Los Angeles. From the national mall to your neighborhood. Protesters will demand changes of immigration laws. Some are calling for more open policies. Others want to crack down on those here illegally.
WHITFIELD: Let's take a closer look now at one of the rallies about to get under way. Jim Acosta is in New York, Union Square.
What's the turnout look like so far?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, right now the turnout is really not much to write home about. That's because we are about five hours away from when the rally will begin in Manhattan. So these are not protesters behind me. These are pedestrians and fire trucks.
Protesters calling for an end of immigration raids and deportations will rally in Manhattan in five hours from now. Organizers launched the immigration day rallies back in 2006 as a way to call on the government to respect the rights of both the undocumented and of legal immigrants. And last year a rally in Los Angeles that was held for immigration and the immigration issue that turned violent as protesters clashed with police.
Immigration activists say the undocumented survey purpose in the economy and many of the jobs that Americans are unwilling to do while critics of illegal immigration say the undocumented overwhelm hospitals and schools and create a burden on local governments against the backdrop of that immigration debate.
The Bush administration passed up its raids that hire illegals and protesters are going to be saying today those raids and those deportations need to cease because they do punish families because oftentimes it is the breadwinners of the house olds, undocumented households that are deport leaving many relatives behind.
Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right. Jim Acosta, thanks so much for giving us a preview of a rally to begin later in the afternoon. Thank you.
HARRIS: These immigration rallies come on mayday. Holiday honoring workers worldwide. Here in the United States, organized labor is looking to the presidential race. Senior correspondent Allan Chernoff for us in New York.
Allan, good morning.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you Tony and on this mayday, organized labor is deeply divided between the Democratic candidates. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have aggressively courted labor, speaking to the issues that matter most to unions; wages, protection of the rights to organize workers into a union and engage in collective bargaining, health insurance, cutting taxes for the middle class and also reworking trade agreements that labor says suck jobs out of the country.
CLINTON: I believe we can help more workers join unions to improve wages and conditions in our workplaces for jobs that cannot be shipped overseas.
OBAMA: We are ready to play offense for organized labor. It is time we had a president who didn't choke saying the word union. It is time we had a Democratic nominee who does not just talk about unions during the primaries. We need a president who knows it is the department of labor and not the department of management. A president who strengthens our unions by letting them do what they do best. Organize our workers.
CHERNOFF: Clinton has the support of many public sector unions, including the State, County, Municipal Employees' Union, the American Federal of Teachers and farm workers among others. Obama has the support of the Service Employees Union, Teamsters and the Apparel, Hotel and Restaurant Workers represented Unite Here whose leader says he does not trust Hillary Clinton when she says that she will rework NAFTA to benefit organized labor.
BRUCE RAYNOR, GENERAL PRESIDENT, UNITE HERE: We have a big problem in believing the Clintons are committed to fair trade policies that would protect American jobs. Their willingness to fight against the interests of workers and trade unions scares us. Senator Obama, on the other hand, has been with us from day one.
CHERNOFF: Senator McCain has argued that his commitment to lower taxes should been if I all workers. Organized labor says it does not believe that for a minute. The AFL-CIO, the rally group for major unions, has not yet committed to either Clinton or Obama. But it is aggressively attacking McCain on its Web site featuring a briefing book called McCain Revealed. AFL-CIO chief John Sweeney says McCain just doesn't get it.
The Democratic race is a tough balance for union votes between Clinton and Obama but once the Democratic nominee emerges you can be sure he or she will get strong union backing.
Tony?
HARRIS: Allan Chernoff in New York for us. Good to see you.
If you plan to watch any of the immigration rallies across the country today, just go to CNN.com/live. We will be streaming those rallies all day live for you. Help us out on the storytelling, send us your photos, video, stories. Ireport.com. You can also share your thoughts on the hot button issues. Again, that's Ireport.com.
WHITFIELD: We can to stream the various candidates crisscrossing the country. In this case the Democrats are really crisscrossing Indiana. Hillary Clinton is in Brownsburg, Indiana at a meeting, meeting with families. She and her daughter are campaigning there.
CLINTON: Fear of losing their jobs with and the problem is it only apply was businesses with more than 15 employees. It is totally unpaid. I would like to expand it so it goes down to businesses with 25 or more employees. All of the concerns about what it would do to our businesses have been unfounded. Thankfully there is no evidence whatsoever that providing this unpaid leave so people can take care of their personal matters has in any way interfered with productivity or profit ability of our businesses.
I also would like to see us begin to experiment with paid leave, in a partnership with the federal government and states, looking to see whether it is affordable, what the impact is.
I'm particularly concerned about young mothers, both in the workplace and out of the workplace. I did a lot of study when I was in college and law school and I have continued that in the years since, about how you get your baby off to a good start, how you bond with your baby and how you establish that relationship. And for many young parents, particularly young moms, there's just not enough time. They bring home that baby by birth or adoption and they have to go back to work within a week or two. Sometimes they don't even get that much time off. And that is not the best way to get our children off to a strong beginning.
So I would like to see us do more to help young families be able to afford to stay home. Because right now that's just out of reach. They can't do it. They have to have the paycheck.
Then, of course, we have to go back to doing more to create quality child care. So that when someone goes to work, they can leave their child in a safe place that will encourage the development and the nurturing of that child. We don't have enough quality child care. And I think we should do more to train our child care workers and understand that this is a huge concern of working parents.
Luckily, a lot of people are fortunate enough to have a parent or another relative come and help. But that's not the case for too many. And I worry about what's happening to our kids if they are not in proper setting.
I also think we have to continue to press for equal pay for equal orchestra for women. We passed the equal pay act 40 years ago. And we made progress because when it was passed women are earning slightly over half of what men earned. Nationwide we are up to 77 cents for every dollar. In Indiana it is 73 cents. We have to get going to get that up. But the fact is this is not just a woman's issue. It is an issue of fundamental fairness and equity but it's also a family income issue.
The inequality in equal pay costs the average family $4,000 a year in lost income. When you go to the supermarket, they don't say OK, you are a woman, you only make 77 cents. So we are going to charge you about 25 percent less. That's not way it works. So if you are in a two-parent family where both are working, you are being deprived of income that should rightfully be yours. If you are a single parent, you are really disadvantaged. It is so distressing to me because I, frankly, don't know how single parents do it. Hats off to single parents, particularly single moms, balancing family and work. They should not be deprived of the value of their work. Let's do everything we can.
There was a Supreme Court decision last year that really distressed me. It was brought as a case by a woman named Lily Ledbetter. She is a grandma in her 70s. For many years she worked at a factory in Alabama. It was hard work. It was a Goodyear factory, very hard work. She started at the bottom. She worked her way up and became a manager. She was the only woman manager. She learned 15 years --
WHITFIELD: Brownsburg, Indiana there, Hillary Clinton strongly appealing to the female voter talking about her concerns for young working mothers, working in and outside the home, creating better child care and pushing for equal pay, equal work for women. Hillary Clinton, there you can watch her remarks there in Brownsburg, Indiana on CNN.com/live.
HARRIS: Immigration and the long arm of the law. Is it reaching into your company's cash register? One employer shares his concerns here in the NEWSROOM next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Missile strike in the horn of Africa, Somalia. The U.S. takes aim at Islamist militia leader Adan Hashi Ayrow. American officials say he has close ties to al Qaeda. His group is considered a terrorist organization by the Bush administration. U.S. officials are still assessing whether Ayrow was killed in the strike. A spokesman for the group says Ayrow was among the killed. Local sources tell CNN at least 30 people died. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates expected to make an announcement on mental health and U.S. troops. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with more that.
Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well Fredricka, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is at n Texas today dealing with one of the toughest issues of the aftermath war for U.S. troops. Thousands of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been reporting combat stress and anxiety, depression. Very tough, very sad business.
And now the military under Mr. Gates is really trying to press these soldiers to ask for help. Gates was touring the mental health facility today and making a critical announce many. That from now on when troops are filling up those applications for security clear answers which many of them have to, they will no longer be asked directly if they have sought mental health treatment as a result of combat stress.
What the troops have been saying is this they are not reporting their problems because they are afraid they are going to risk their jobs. Gates and top military commanders are saying no, it is enough. That's not acceptable, that they be so fearful of ever seeking mental help.
The actual questionnaire for getting security clearances as of today is changing. They will not have to say if they have gotten treatment for mental health issues related to their combat. They don't have to worry anymore, according to the defense secretary that they are going to lose their jobs and not bible to get security clearances because they are reporting tough times after coming home from the war. Really significant step forward and the Pentagon really hopes now that troops will not have those anxieties and get help when they need it.
Fred?
WHITFIELD: All right. Barbara Starr, thank so much for that from the Pentagon.
Tony?
HARRIS: Enforcing immigration rules. Some businesses say it comes at the cost of another law, supply and demand. Greg Pheneger is a supervisor in Florida. He says the federal restrictions on immigrant labor left him short staffed and scrambling to fill holes. I get it, fill holes, golf courses.
All right. Greg, great to see you. Thanks for your time this morning.
GREG PHENEGER, GOLF COURSE SUPERVISOR, JOHN'S ISLAND CLUB: Thanks for having me.
HARRIS: Why don't you just -- why is it a difficult task for you to find seasonal workers to fill out your staffing needs?
PHENEGER: Well basically, some of your golf courses are in very small communities. And a lot of them are also in vacation communities. We cannot fill the needs through the people who are just coming in to vacation. They want to vacation. They don't want to work.
HARRIS: Got you. My understanding is that under the H2-B visa program, you were able to bring back seasonal workers who were willing to come back year to year and work for you. And why is that not in place anymore?
PHENEGER: Well, it expired on September 30, 2007. Now all small businesses have to fight over the 66,000 returning employees. And golf courses alone accounted for 27,000 applications for the H2-B visa which is no longer in place. Now we are all going to be fighting for 66,000 employees.
HARRIS: Sounds like couple of issues there, the cap and then maybe the lobbying efforts. You said the exemption expired. Was there an effort from golf courses around the country and the other businesses to keep the exemption in place and it goes away and stays away to at least raise the cap?
PHENEGER: Yes. We went to Washington the past three years and spoke to the senators and the representatives about the issue of the H2-B visa and how very important it is to our industry. We are a very big industry, $76 billion to the economy. And every year. And we pay the people. It is not a cheap source of labor. It costs us $2,800 per worker every time we go out and try to find any.
HARRIS: You actually recruit your workers. Most come from South America and Canada?
PHENEGER: We get them from Romania, Canada, Brazil, Philippines, we get them from all over the world, trying to find good labor.
HARRIS: I guess -- yeah. I guess I'm wondering what happened. What was the response of the senators in Washington, lawmakers in Washington when you said hey, look, I understand what you are doing here, but you are hurting our businesses?
PHENEGER: We didn't get much of a response. It was always pushed to the Democrats or one of the offices or pushed to the republicans if we are in one of the Democrats' offices.
HARRIS: This was treated like a political football.
PHENEGER: Very much so.
HARRIS: What are you going to do now? Moving forward. Have you a golf course to run. What do you do?
PHENEGER: We are in scramble mode. We don't know exactly how we will handle it this coming season. Our season does not start until October. We have a little bit of time to get a strategy. At this point we don't have a real good strategy.
HARRIS: So Congressman Tom Tancredo will be joining us. As you know, he is strong on the issue of illegal immigration. I'm wondering what would you say to the congressman about the cap on seasonal workers and how it is impacting your business.
PHENEGER: It's impacting it in many ways. We cannot service our customers. There's country clubs in Little Rock, waiting on ten employees. They are opening for business now. They are short ten employees on the golf maintenance staff. The country club of the Rockies is down 20 employees. You cannot do your business if you don't have a number of employees that you need to do it properly.
HARRIS: OK. Greg, appreciate your time. And we will pose that to the congressman coming up. Thanks.
Border politics, where things stand in the immigration reform debate. Tom Tancredo joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: News as it develops as only CNN can bring it to you. See for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
This new information from Capitol Hill we want to bring on to you, a very powerful senator, Senator John Warner, now making a proposal to cut off U.S. funding for Iraqi reconstruction projects that amount to $2 million or more.
Senator Warner now with an explanation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Combined operations, the United States government shall initiate negotiations for the government of Iraq on an agreement under which the government of Iraq shall share with the United States government the cost of combined operations of the government of Iraq and the Multinational Forces of Iraq undertaking as part of Iraqi freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And Senator Warner's position in response now to earlier reports, also including reports from our own Brian Todd, that Iraqi oil revenues have been in the area of $70 billion a year. And so, thus here, Senator Warner saying Iraq can help take care of its own reconstruction after a certain amount of money.
HARRIS: Powerful voice, indeed.
We are following a breaking story out of northern Kentucky for you this morning. One person is dead in a school bus accident. The bus collided with a dump truck around 7:00 Eastern. Local reports say 10 students and the drivers of the bus and the truck were taken to a local hospital. The hospital spokesperson says all of the injuries appear to be minor.
We will continue to follow the story and bring you an update as soon as we can.
WHITFIELD: All right. Shrinking household budgets here and in Mexico actually playing into the immigration debate.
CNN's Harris Whitbeck explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Times are tough in Tejaro, Mexico. Camilo Izquierdo is 77 years old and diabetic. His livestock is his lifeline.
CAMILO IZQUIERDO, TEJARO RESIDENT (Through translator): I'm sick and I have been sick for quite some time. The medicine keeps getting more expensive and I just don't know what to do anymore.
WHITBECK: He and his wife have 13 children. Seven moved to the United States, including the eldest, Eduardo, now a legal U.S. resident living in Los Angeles.
Every month he mails $200 back home to pay for his father's medicine. But several months ago the money stopped.
IZQUIERDO (Through translator): He says things are getting too expensive over there. He even says things are worse there in California than over here.
WHITBECK (on camera): As the money from his son started to dwindle, Camilo started selling off some of his goats so he could buy medicine. He used to have about 130 goats. He's now down to about 40. But to make matters even worse, a drought in the area pushed up the price of the feed for his remaining livestock.
Camilo is now really hoping the U.S. economy will rebound so at least some money will start flowing in.
(Voice over): Eduardo works as a window installer, his hours have reasonably been slashed.
EDUARDO GUTIERREZ, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: I see the recession in the 'points but this is worse as far as I can tell. This is really bad.
WHITBECK: Not being able to help his parents hurts.
GUTIERREZ: It is tough. In a way I kind of feel bad I can't help my parents.
WHITBECK: Lots of other families in Tejaro rely on help from relatives working in the United States. Eduardo says he's not thinking of leaving the U.S. yet but knows Mexicans who are.
GUTIERREZ: They're doing bad right now. A lot of people doing bad.
WHITBECK: Hard times on both sides of the border.
Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Tejaro, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, this just in. Reverend Jeremiah Wright, while the Obama camp would like to distance itself from the former pastor, Reverend Wright still has scheduled public speaking engagements. And this one, more recently, his scheduled engagement, is to be at Northwestern University coming this June and as the commencement speaker also, he was scheduled to receive an honorary degree at Northwestern's commencement.
Well, now Northwestern is saying it is withdrawing that invitation that has him scheduled to speak. Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright, formerly of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, presumably from the fallout from his recent three days and counting of public speaking and engagements just through this past weekend.
So now Northwestern University now withdrawing its invitation to have Reverend Wright speak at its commencement address.
HARRIS: Immigration day. Building border fences and deporting illegal immigrants or providing guest worker programs on a path to citizenship. Issues and the heat of debate over immigration reform.
Joining us from Capitol Hill, good to have him with us, Republican congressman and former presidential candidate Tom Tancredo.
Congressman, thanks for your time this morning.
REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), COLORADO: Pleasure.
HARRIS: Let's sort of -- let's sort some of these issues out here. First of all, I'm just sort of curious. Another legislation has been crafted. I know it's kind of stuck in various committees. I don't know exactly where it is. But I'm wondering why there hasn't been a move to restore the h2b exemption for seasonal workers. I wonder what your position on that is.
TANCREDO: Well, I'll tell you. There is no particular reason to, in fact, restore the higher number of -- I mean of h2a visas that we actually provide every year. And that the reason is because there is no real demand other than for much cheaper labor.
There is labor available in this country for those jobs. We know it because the number of unemployed people with less than a high school degree has gone up. The number of unemployed students has gone up dramatically. Teenagers who -- there are these bases of -- and pools as you will of -- employees that are already. So -- and also, another reason why we know that there's no great demand is because wage rates have gone down. So when you put it all together, the only demand you have is from people who want to see -- who want cheaper labor in this country.
HARRIS: So you think that 66,000 is a good number? We just add a...
TANCREDO: No.
HARRIS: You think so?
TANCREDO: I don't. I don't think so. I frankly don't believe there should be any h2a visas. I am really pushing for some sort of resolution to this crisis -- this issue. It's a developed crisis, it's a created crisis because I don't believe, in fact, that there is -- a job that no American will take. There is job that no American will take perhaps for the money some employer is willing to pay an illegal alien.
HARRIS: Yes.
TANCREDO: That's a different story.
HARRIS: OK.
TANCREDO: But there are plenty of Americans who need and want the jobs, we need to let wage rates increase to meet that demand.
HARRIS: Let me move on to your party's presumptive nominee for president, John McCain. And you -- you probably have an idea of where I'm going here. There was a recent "Vanity Fair" article in which John McCain said and in discussing the immigration debate in the short term it probably galvanizes our base and in a long term if you alienate Hispanics you pay a heavy price.
By the way, I think the fence is least effective. A couple of issues there. I'll let you sort of take it apart as you will. I guess I'm asking you, in view of those kinds of comments from John McCain, are you in some way disappointed that he is your party's presumptive nominee?
TANCREDO: Well, as everybody, I think, is well aware that has paid much attention at least to my statements about this issue, he -- John McCain was not my first choice. Not my second or third choice. So -- and the reason is because of his very weak position vis-a-vis immigration reform.
When he talks about or -- and anybody talked about alienating Hispanics I wish that they would simply look at what has happened. In Arizona there was an initiative on the ballot, put on the ballot by the people of Arizona. It's the toughest anti-illegal immigration legislation in the country.
It passed overwhelmingly, it passed with 47 percent of Hispanic votes. It was signed into law by a Democrat governor in a state with a huge Hispanic population. If you...
HARRIS: But Congressman, also, isn't it true that the Arizona legislature is -- wants to create a state guest worker program because of the loss of migrant workers?
TANCREDO: There is a -- of course there's an outcry from a lot of employers because their illegal immigrant labor has gone home. But you know what? That's to be expected. There is no real crisis other than the one I've just described. One that is created by people who want cheaper labor. There are people here who will do the job and Hispanics in this country who are loyal Americans who have -- who have been here for generations or who are here legally.
They want the same thing for this country that I want. Those secure borders, they want an end to the illegal immigration. It is not true that all Hispanics are offended by our attempts to secure our own border.
HARRIS: Congressman Tancredo, it's great to see you. Thanks for your time this morning.
TANCREDO: Thank you.
HARRIS: And if you'd like to watch any of the immigration rallies or speeches across the country today, just go to CNN.com/live. We will be streaming those events live all day.
WHITFIELD: Smear it on or not. That shiny gloss will give you the look. But are you inviting skin cancer? Lips to die for? In the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Imagine this. You are at the beach. Your sexy lips.
HARRIS: Wow. All right.
WHITFIELD: Shining with lip gloss.
HARRIS: I'm going to go with you on this one.
WHITFIELD: Kissed by the sun. Oh it's so funny.
Well, it's not really funny because dermatologists say you're also possibly inviting skin cancer.
CNN's medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Lip gloss may be pretty, but it may not be so good for you.
Some dermatologists theorize that all that shine brings in UV light that can penetrate your lips and lip cancer is the most common form of skin cancer and it is also the most aggressive. And there are 3,500 new cases every year.
Now what exactly is going on here? Well, the dermatologists we talked to said it's kind of like having baby oil on your skin. It increases the amount of light that can get through and increases the chance that you're going to have a burn.
Well, what are the signs that you might have lip cancer? Here they are. For example, white or orange spots on the lips. They're definitely something to be concerned about and to go see your doctor. A sore lasting more than two weeks is also a sign. And peeling and flaking and chapping are also signs that perhaps you should go see your doctor.
Now this lip gloss cancer link is far from solid. Some of the dermatologists we talked to said, well, theoretically that's true but show me the evidence. And so far there aren't any studies on this.
So what do you do if you still want to wear your lip gloss but you also want to protect yourself against skin cancer?
Here's what you can do. Underneath your gloss or lipstick, you can use a lip balm with SPF 30 -- that's something people ought to be doing anyways -- wear matte lipstick that's not shiny instead of gloss, use products that contain titanium dioxide, or mix your lipstick or your gloss with a little bit of zinc oxide, which can help protect against the sun.
So those are some simple steps to help protect your lips against the damaging effects of the sun.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And of course, important to get your daily dose. You can get it online. Log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news and health library, information on diet and fitness. The address is CNN.com/health.
HARRIS: Royal boots on the ground, Britain's Prince William makes a stop at a war zone.
CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The second in line to the throne can now take the butts he has touched down in a war zone.
British officials confirmed that Prince William, who's trained as a Royal Air Force pilot, went on a secret mission to Afghanistan over the weekend. The military released these images Wednesday.
According to a royal spokesman, Prince William flew a plane for part of the assignment that started at Royal Air Force Base at Brize Norton, flying to Officer Wales and his crew landed at Kandahar base in Afghanistan, where he spent about three hours on the ground, a royal spokesman says, and chatted with British service members about fighting the Taliban.
Prince William's mission continued on to Al Uded Base in Qatar before returning home late Monday.
In all, Prince William's Afghan adventure lasted 30 hours.
Prince William's trip follows that of his little brother. Prince Harry's ten-week stint with royal army troops in Afghanistan's Helmann Province. The media leak flew up on what was supposed to be Harry's secret frontline mission. Prince William was there when Harry returned home and was hailed as a hero, leading some British media to speculate if Prince William's Afghan adventure was perhaps sibling rivalry or an effort to get some good press.
(On camera): This isn't the first time that Prince William has piloted a military aircraft. Earlier this month it was revealed that he landed a military Chinook helicopter in his girlfriend's backyard. Now mind you it was a field at her parents' estate but it was a public relations debacle. The military tried to spin it by saying that the 25-year-old prince had permission to land the helicopter saying it was a vital part of his training for operations.
So now you know he wasn't trying to impress his girlfriend.
Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, in London.
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WHITFIELD: Record fuel prices is now the tractor parks, but the farmer, no, he's not.
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UNIDENTIFIED FARMER: I'm (INAUDIBLE) days time. Work for meals.
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WHITFIELD: Inventive. More MPGs. Mules per gallon, that is. In the NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: New numbers out this morning show consumer spending picked up a bit in March, but if you dig a little deeper, well, it's not actually good news.
Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange to explain.
OK, Susan, put these numbers into context for us, if you will.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Simple explanation, Tony. That's because we all had to dig a little deeper ourselves to pay for things. Prices for going up. So really consumer spending was virtually flat, delivering another blow to the U.S. economy, growth of which is driven by our spending.
It also comes with (INAUDIBLE) big report on GDP which shows spending in the first quarter was the slowest since the 2001 recession. And since we're spending so much many people aren't able to save. But same report shows that for every $1,000 Americans bring home we're only saving $2.
Well, this come as income growth slows -- Tony.
HARRIS: Boy, it's savings pieces. It's hard to balance it all out. You know, Susan, inflation is a topic under a lot of discussion as it should be, I think, on Capitol Hill today.
LISOVICZ: That's right. A join committee of Congress scrutinizing the impact of rising food prices today. That hearing got under way over an hour ago. New York senator Chuck Schumer says the anxiety felt over high food prices are going to surpass the frustration even felt over gas.
And gas hit another record today. But food prices are surging as well. The government says that in March, egg crisis jumped nearly 13 percent compared to the year before. Milk and flower prices rose 13 percent. Rice rose 10 percent. And of course, this isn't just the U.S. problem. High prices are blamed for food riots in Egypt, Haiti, Yemen, and other countries.
On Wall Street, well, stock prices are rising today. Thanks to a nearly $3 drop in oil prices. Crude dropped two bucks yesterday and $3 the day before. Oil, still high, though, it's now trading just under $111 a barrel.
This is the dollar strengthened against the euro and this after that Fed decision yesterday.. The Dow industrials right now up 65 points or half a percent. The NASDAQ is up one and three quarters percent.
I'd say go fill it up, Tony, but maybe not.
HARRIS: Maybe not. I keep telling anyone who will listen, it's time to get the bike all polished up. Oil up the chain. That's the way I'm going.
LISOVICZ: Let me tell you, I'm with you, Tony.
HARRIS: Good to see you, Susan. Take care.
LISOVICZ: Likewise, Tony.
WHITFIELD: I'm actually starting to (INAUDIBLE) in a row.
HARRIS: You need to believe me on this, friend.
WHITFIELD: OK. That'll be interesting fight.
A ball paper, the real pick me up, literally. She hit it over the fence and needed help scoring the run, and opponents pinch carried.
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WHITFIELD: A farmer in Oklahoma fed up with high fuel costs. Well, he has parked his tractor but still plowing.
Here now is Dave Jordan from affiliate KWTV.
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LONNY SHACKLEY, OKLAHOMA FARMER: Easy. Come here.
DAVE JORDAN, REPORTER, KWTV (voice mail): It looks like a scene out of the old west, you know, a farmer plowing his land with two mules.
SHACKLEY: This sets the depth of it, how deep you want to plow. And this puts them both in gear in the ground.
JORDAN: But Lonny Shackley(ph) is using this tried and true method to save some cash.
SHACKLEY: The government takes about four, five gallons probably with a tractor. But I can cultivate it in a day's time with the mules.
JORDAN: In four or five gallons of diesel fuel at a rate of about $4 a gallon. Not a lot of money initially, but it tends to add up which is why he temporarily gave up the tractor to use Becky and Connie for this six-acre spread. But some of his land isn't being farmed at all.
SHACKLEY: I turned a lot of my farmland into grass. So I don't have to farm it. I just run cattle on. That way I don't want to plow it, sprang to it, and drill it. So what we did is a harder almost land.
JORDAN: Shackley has planted about 60 acres of wheat and while the price on that crop is up, there's little effect on his bottom line.
SHACKLEY: By the time you figure how much your gas, and fuel and parts, and everything went up, you don't offset it that much.
ORDAN: So for now this retro, yet radical way of cultivating will have to do.
SHACKLEY: Good luck, (INAUDIBLE) going on a windy day.
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WHITFIELD: OK. Well, 90 years ago, there were more than 26 million mules and horses on America's farms but by 1950 they practically banished from the farms.
HARRIS: You got a lot of... WHITFIELD: Come back to old schools sometimes and...
HARRIS: Old school.
WHITFIELD: It's so effective.
HARRIS: You love the story, winning isn't everything. Doing the right thing is.
Sara Tucholsy is not a slander so when the Western Oregon University softball player hit a ball over the fence, it was pretty special. But rounding the base as she blew out her knee. So she got some help getting a whole from two opposing players. Now according to the rules. Fred, if a team mate had carried her Tucholsy's run would not have counted.
Not only that I counted, it proved to be the winning run against Central Washington.
And now Tucholsy wants the world to know what her opponents did.
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SARA TUCHOLSY, CARRIED TO SCORE: That game actually meant something. We're both trying to go to regional than for her to, you know, she basically gave me another run - otherwise my homerun went accounted. So in a very close game like that, they did an amazing thing and I'm just glad, you know, to get the story out because it's awful thing that they did for me.
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HARRIS: How about that? Because of the injury, Tucholsy can only watch as her team fights for a confidence title this year.
WHITFIELD: I love that. That is full...
HARRIS: CNN NEWSROOM -- the end of that story? Story of the day?
WHITFIELD: That is (INAUDIBLE) like behavior, yes.
HARRIS: All right. You're back in the NEWSROOM...
WHITFIELD: I like it.
HARRIS: ...one hour from now, I'm Tony Harris.
WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
"ISSUE #1" with the news on the economy begins right after check of the headlines.
Superdelegate defection.
