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Cyclone Ravishes Myanmar; Dems Do Final Campaigning Before Primaries in Indiana and North Carolina; Suspected Pipe Bomb Explodes in San Diego

Aired May 05, 2008 - 10:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning, everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, they are hard sell to voters a day before Indiana and North Carolina this hour.

NGUYEN: Pumped up gas prices, a driving issue for many voters. What are the candidates gas plans? We're going to take a look.

HARRIS: And disaster in southeast Asia. A fierce cyclone leaves Myanmar littered in devastation. Thousands are believed dead today.

Monday, May 5. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: Hillary Clinton calls it the final push. Barack Obama issues a humbled plea, but together they look ahead to key votes tomorrow. Indiana, North Carolina. Holding primaries and the stakes, they are huge. One hundred eighty seven pledged delegates up for grabs in such a tight battle for the Democratic nomination. Both candidates see the outcome as crucial.

CNN's Jessica Yellin is with the Election Express in Indianapolis. We heard from both of the candidates today there.

And Jessica, a lot of talk about gas prices.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A ton of talk about gas prices, Betty, that's right. Because for voters, that is a top concern. The economy overall is the voters' No. 1 concern right now. We've spoken with voters here in Indiana who tell us that they have to make choices now between gas and insurance, between food and gas on some days. So the candidates are hitting hard on these issues.

Hillary Clinton in her closing argument is really going back to what we've heard from her in the beginning, saying that she is the candidate ready for day one to take charge of this economy, and make the lives for average Americans better. Let's listen to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The problems that the next president's going to have to solve are some of the most serious that any president has had to deal with for decades. I had a historian tell me that probably not since Harry Truman has there been so many consequential serious problems awaiting for the next president. That's why this is not an ordinary election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: And Barack Obama, in addition -- well, as you point out, Hillary Clinton, as you point out, is going to be crisscrossing between Indiana and North Carolina, the two states holding their primaries on Tuesday. Barack Obama will be doing the same. In his closing push, he's really hitting hard on some more of the specifics. Betty, you know he's been criticized for not getting into the policy nitty-gritties as much as Senator Clinton has. Well, now we're hearing a lot more of it from him.

Let's hear Barack Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to provide a middle class tax cut of up to $1,000 per family per year, much bigger amount of relief that can cover not only rising gas prices, but also rising food prices, and at the same time I want to invest in alternative energy, and raising fuel efficiency standards on cars, something that I've been calling for for years. And that Senator Clinton has opposed in the past.

We can't keep on putting off the day of reckoning five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now. There's nobody who thinks that a gas tax holiday is going to lower gas prices over the long term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: And so that is one of the tight policy debates we are hearing these closing days of this particular primary race of this particular primary race about that gas tax holiday. The latest CNN poll of polls shows Senator Clinton is pulling ahead of Barack Obama here in the state of Indiana, just slightly. Is had been a dead heat, but things could change. A large percentage still unsure. Barack Obama retains the lead at North Carolina. But, of course, we're going to have to wait and see how things play out in the next day and a half -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Absolutely. It's going to be tight for the two of them.

Thank you. Jessica Yellin joining us live.

HARRIS: Tomorrow's primaries, big day, big stakes for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Let's crunch the numbers for you. Indiana, 72 delegates up for grabs. It is the second largest delegate prize left in the presidential race. The biggest? North Carolina, Clinton and Obama competing for 115 delegates there.

NGUYEN: Our latest CNN Poll of Polls, an average of three recent surveys shows Obama ahead of Clinton in North Carolina by eight points. Obama favored by 50 percent of likely Democratic voters. Clinton by 42 percent.

Let's look at Indiana. Clinton has pulled ahead there, she's at 48 percent. Obama at 44 percent. And our national poll of polls this morning, Obama now leading Clinton by four points, 47 to 43 percent. That is up two points from last week.

We want to remind you that CNN is your home for politics, and the place for extensive coverage of tomorrow's contest. Throughout the day, we will show you the candidates and let them talk to you, live, and unfiltered. So if you miss their events, we will replay large portions of their comments.

CNN is the place for the best political coverage on television.

HARRIS: The numbers are staggering. Almost 4,000 people killed, 3,000 people missing. This morning, Myanmar's state-run radio upped the numbers from that monster cyclone on Saturday. A short time ago our correspondent gave us the latest deals about the situation there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is very difficult for us on the ground here to confirm those numbers. Communications are exceptionally difficult here. The phone lines are down. There's no electricity through most of the city. There's very scarce fuel and very scare water. It's incredibly difficult to get any official word.

Most of the ministries are about a 12-hour drive north of where we are in a new city called Naypyidaw, Yangon is no longer capital city of Myanmar, formerly Burma. But Yangon is the city that bore the brunt of this cyclone. And driving around the city, it is really shredded by these winds. There is barely a tree standing in some parts. And extensive damage to buildings. We've seen people searching for fuel and water. So they're pretty desperate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Looking at that damage, you have to wonder how much did the folks there have. We're talking nearly 4,000 deaths.

If there were shelters, Rob, I mean, were they able to withstand such a strong storm?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You're talking about country that probably doesn't have the structure set up for these types of emergencies as well as, say, the U.S.

HARRIS: Rob, let me apologize, to you for a second. We have our correspondent who is on the ground in the Myanmar available to us right now. And Rob, we'd just like to get to him as soon as we have him because we know we won't have him for long.

Let me ask you first of all, if you would, just give us the latest, describe the scene as it is unfolding before your eyes there in Myanmar. VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, it is sadly a devastating scene here. And night has fallen. And much of the city is completely dark. There is very little power throughout the city of Yangon, because so many trees have come down and they've taken with them many, many power lines.

So many people this evening are spending a third night in the dark. And after this cyclone has tore into the city. And it's difficult to find words to describe some of the devastation.

But huge tropical trees have just been ripped up and thrown down. Quite incredible amount of force that was clearly present in this cyclone. In addition to that, we've seen boats sunk in the river. We've seen buildings damaged, we've seen roofs torn off, we've seen cars damaged. And as you say, the death toll is climbing ever higher. And at the moment we still haven't really have a full picture in the further outlying areas outside of Yangon. The roads are still blocked.

HARRIS: That was part of my next question. Again, on the line with us is our CNN correspondent in Myanmar.

In Yangon. If I could, let me follow up and ask you to give me an assessment of how the rescue effort is going so far? How would you describe it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, from what we've seen today, we've spent probably four hours driving around extensively through the city. There isn't much of a rescue effort, if the truth be known. There were some soldiers on the streets clearing trees. We saw one Red Cross distributing water. But really, a major aid operation is yet to get into place.

HARRIS: My understanding is that there are several areas of the city that are still in inaccessible to rescue efforts, is that true?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a lot of roads that you simply can't get down. There are power cables strung across them. There are trees down. They are trying their best, and the local people we've seen today, you know, they're out with machetes and axes to clear the areas themselves.

I think the big story in all this is further south and west from where the city of Yangon is, where the Irrawady River turns into the sprawling network of rivers, sort of a river delta. And there, we just haven't heard from a lot of places. There are towns down there that we simply don't know what the situation is, and it is looking very grim down there.

HARRIS: And we understand this very secretive government is taking an unusual step, the unusual step of actually asking for outside assistance. Can you give me a sense of how that effort is taking shape? I understand that it's slow going right now. But do you get a sense that there is an effort, an international effort to assist the people there that is organizing? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, without a doubt. All of the main international aid agencies will be scrambling right now to get resources and people and assets in place. The problem is, that this regime has an incredibly fractious relationship with the international community. There are sanctions in place both by the U.S. and the European Union. This is a very hard line of military government that has been in power for more than 40 years in one way or another.

And that's the main stumbling block, I would think, that many of the aid agencies are finding is getting through the red tape, getting the permission and getting all of the visas in place to get them started and get resource the in quickly. And in the timely manner to the people who most need it.

HARRIS: Our CNN correspondent on the ground in Myanmar in Yangon. Thank you for your time and thank you for that assessment.

NGUYEN: We want to get back to CNN's Rob Marciano in the Severe Weather Center.

We talk about the situation there, Rob. You know, there's a lot of question as to, one, how big this storm was, and two, as they clean up, are they out of the woods when it comes to severe weather?

MARCIANO: Yes, well, the severe weather part of it is not much of a problem now. But the question is how big it was, how strong it was. You talk about this part of the world. They don't fly airplanes into the storms like we do. By the way, this cyclone is the equivalent of our hurricanes. And their season runs a little bit longer, from the spring right through the fall.

Spring and fall are the busiest times, summer is a little bit more of a lull with the monsoon. Bay of Bengal, this is all part of the Indian Ocean basin north of the equator. Things get here in this area, in this area get a little bit shallow, when you've got kind of an elbow, a pocket there, kind of like the Gulf of Mexico. You know, towards Pensacola is kind of what this map looks like to me. You have problems.

You also have a delta of rivers here that kind of feed into the sea. And obviously very, very low sea level, or not very elevated ground there.

So certainly subjected to any sort of storm surge that this storm may have brought in. Estimates are now about 130-mile-an-hour winds. That would be a very strong category three, or minimal category four. Certainly from the damage that we've seen there it may well have been a four. And bad, bad situation there. They get about a half a dozen of these storms in the Indian ocean every season. So it's not unheard of. But it's certainly rare to get hit in Myanmar for sure.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: To say the least. OK. Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: Thanks, guys. NGUYEN: Tomorrow's Democratic primaries, what do Indiana voters want? What's pushing North Carolina voters as well to the polls? We're going to take an in-depth look at the contests state by state. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Welcome back, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hillary Clinton on her threat to obliterate Iran if it used nuclear weapons against Israel. A CNN one-on-one interview in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAKa)

HARRIS: Relief from high gas prices, and tough comments on Iran.

Senator Hillary Clinton speaking one-on-one with our John Roberts before tomorrow's critical primaries.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": I want to talk to you about the gas tax. Coming at it from the perspective, it's one thing to propose these things as a candidate when you really don't have to follow through on them. I want to ask you this question this morning. If you become president, and if gasoline prices are still high this time next year, do you promise now that you will give us a gas tax holiday next year?

CLINTON: I'm sure going to try, John. Because the way that I have proposed it is different from either of my opponents. Senator Obama doesn't want to give consumers a break. I do. I want the oil companies to pay the gas tax this summer out of their record profits. Senator McCain wants to lift the gas tax but doesn't want to pay for it. So I think I have the responsible position to give people immediate relief right now. And here's why, John.

We need to do two things simultaneously. We need to help people who live today, trying to pay these incredibly high gas prices. There's been no preparation, there's been no real help for them to try to make a transition. I think we can do both a short-term relief program and begin to implement my longer-term program, which would give people tax credits to buy more gas efficient cars. It would move us toward these higher gas mileage cars, and would help to pay for it by taking the subsidies away from the oil companies. So there's really a comprehensive approach that I have proposed.

ROBERTS: Now, you're certainly getting lots of opposition to this, particularly from the Obama campaign. Senator Obama earlier this morning was critical of it. Let's listen to what former labor secretary under the Clinton administration, Robert Reich, had to say about this.

ROBERT REICH, FORMER CLINTON SECRETARY OF LABOR: It's stupid and it's dumb. I don't know why Hillary Clinton kind of proposed it. ROBERTS: Harsh words for you there, stupid and dumb and doesn't know why you proposed it. What do you say about that? He was an official in your husband's administration.

CLINTON: Well, maybe I can educate him a little bit. We want the oil companies to pay the gas tax out of their record profits. I think it's important that people in public life, elected positions like mine, begin to stand up for the hard-working American consumer, and the middle class. That's what I believe.

I think that if you look at all of the issues that I've taken on, that is what I'm running for. You know, I'm for helping people stay in their homes. Not being foreclosed on. I've been advocating this for months.

My opponent opposes my moratorium on home foreclosures. I'm for getting health care for everyone at reasonable costs. My opponent wants to leave 15 million people out. I'm for trying to get the gas tax holiday for this summer, because at least where I travel, and maybe I talk to different people, I talk to people who are telling me they're literally sick at their stomach when they pull into the gas station trying to pay these gas bills ...

ROBERTS: Yes, it sure hurts ...

CLINTON: ... trying to go and then go to the grocery store where the price of fuel goes right into the cost of groceries. I guess I'm just feeling more of the concerns that people have. And they want relief. And they wanted us to quit taking care of Wall Street like we did when we bailed out Bear Stearns and start taking care of Main Street.

ROBERTS: You also say if you were president you would launch an immediate investigation into the Justice Department and the FTC on price manipulation by the oil companies. Almost every time the price of gas goes up, Democrats come out and say, we've got to investigate this. There's collusion, there is price manipulation. The investigation takes place and nothing has ever been found.

Why would you expect to find something this time around?

CLINTON: Well, but John, what I have said is that it's the energy traders are who are manipulating the markets. The people who are not in the oil business as a full-time job but sit behind a computer somewhere and buy and sell and horde supplies of oil -- in fact an official of ExxonMobil testified under oath in April before a House committee that it is not market fundamentals that is driving the price up, that in fact if it were just supply and demand the oil would be $50, $55 a barrel instead of $100.

ROBERTS: It's a commodity that's worth whatever people want to pay for ...

CLINTON: No. Let me just finish.

Because this is important. No, this is important for people to understand. The energy traders brought us higher electricity prices during the Enron scandal. So that people along the West Coast were paying not what the market required, but what they were manipulated into having to pay.

At the end of 2000, a huge bill was passed, with thousands of pages in it, and buried it in the dead of night is what was the Enron loophole lifting regulation off of energy traders. I want to regulate energy traders. The best way to do that is to launch this investigation to demonstrate what people even in the oil company are saying, that the price is being manipulated. People are paying more than they should have to.

ROBERTS: I want to move ton to Iran if I could. And Senator Obama earlier this morning was highly critical of your statement that we would be able to obliterate Iran if it attacked Israel.

Did you go too far when you said that?

CLINTON: No, I didn't. Because I think it's very important that, number one, we try to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. I've been saying that for some time.

Number two, that we have a diplomat process with Iran, something that I think I was the first person certainly in any of the campaigns to come out for several years ago.

But number three, we need to make it very clearly, like we did during the Cold War, where thousands of missiles were pointed at us and we pointed it at the Soviet Union, that there is a price to be paid. And when we look at Iran, we don't really know who's making a lot of these decisions.

There's a parallel government, as you know. The elected leadership of Ahmadinejad and the clerical leadership up to the supreme leader. So when the question was asked, what would the United States do were Iran to launch a nuclear attack on Israel, I said very clearly there would be massive retaliation.

ROBERTS: So just to be clear here ...

CLINTON: I am communicating with the leaders of Iran and the people of Iran.

ROBERTS: So just to be clear here, if Iran were to use nuclear weapons against Israel in a Clinton presidency, that attack would be met with a nuclear response against Iran?

CLINTON: It would be massive retaliation, John. Massive retaliation.

ROBERTS: Does that mean nuclear response?

CLINTON: Well, I think it speaks for itself. There's great deal of concern that the Iranian government might be taken over if it were to have nuclear weapons by people who had no institutional sense of what would happen to their country. And I worry about the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and frankly, them falling into the hands of those who might prefer to be martyrs instead of be responsible leaders. I think we have to start clearly and unequivocally saying to the Iranian people, there would be a very, very high price to pay.

ROBERTS: Another issue regarding Iran. The United States claims that Iran is supplying weapons and training fighters for Shiite militias to be using against American forces in Iraq. In fact, they're now saying that the Iraqi fighters are coming over, they're being trained by Hezbollah, at a camp outside of Tehran, and being shipped back. If indeed it is true that Iran is facilitating the killing of U.S. forces, as president, what would you do about it?

CLINTON: Well, this has been going on for some time. They've been training forces for militias, they've been providing the means to make these horrible explosive devices that have killed and maimed so many of our soldiers.

ROBERTS: Would you attack Iran? Is that a reason to go to war against Iran, or at least some sort of attack against them, the killing of U.S. forces?

CLINTON: Well, I think you have to do everything possible within Iraq to try to prevent that from occurring. Nobody wants to go to war with Iran. That is not something that anybody in their right minds is advocating. I've been on record for some time saying that this government, namely our president and vice president, need to be reined in, and I've introduced legislation saying there is no basis for such an action. But we also have to protect not only our own forces, but our Iraqi allies. And we've got to get tougher on what they do inside of Iraq.

ROBERTS: One more question, if I could. Tomorrow the primaries, Indiana and North Carolina. How critical are they for you, and should you win both contests, would you make a case to say, now it's time to declare me the nominee?

CLINTON: Well, this is going to be exciting tomorrow, because I started very far behind. The Obama campaign has predicted consistently that he would win both Indiana and North Carolina by significant margins. I think we've closed the gap. But we're working hard. We want to get everybody we can to come out and vote tomorrow. Obviously I hope to do as well as possible. More people have voted for me in all of these contests, of course ...

ROBERTS: If you include Michigan and Florida, right?

CLINTON: That's right. Those were real votes, certified ...

ROBERTS: But not decided yet.

CLINTON: Well, the delegates haven't been decided. The people voted. That's a fact. And more people have voted for me. We just have to figure out how those votes translate into delegates.

ROBERTS: But just one more time if I could. If you won both contests tomorrow, would you make the case to superdelegates, it's time to put your cards down on the table now, I'm the nominee?

CLINTON: Well, I've been making the case that I would be the better president and the stronger nominee against John McCain. I happen to believe both of those are true. But this is a process, we have to follow the rules, we're going to go until it's clear who the nominee will be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And we will have much more from the campaign trail throughout the day.

But in the meantime, coming up, click the mouse, save some bucks. How to save money by going online, and Gerri Willis has tips.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, good morning, everybody, on this Monday Cinco de Mayo.

HARRIS: It is?

NGUYEN: Yes. Let the celebrations begin. I'm Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: And good morning everyone. I'm Tony Harris. What do you say we go to the New York Stock Exchange and get to the numbers on the board, about an hour or two of trading today.

The Dow as you can see down 69. Now down 72 points. Again, inside the first hour. A long way to go on the day. The NASDAQ basically flat. We are following the markets for you throughout the morning right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A pause at the pump. Gas prices down about a penny since Friday. AAA says you'll pay an average $3.61 for a gallon of regular this morning. Almost $4.24, just off the charts for diesel. But the Lundberg survey looks at the bigger picture; you are paying 55 cents more for that gallon of regular than you were at the beginning of the year, 15 cents more than just two weeks ago, Betty. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg predicts more big increases when the summer driving season puts pressure on supplies.

NGUYEN: Well you know it is a familiar tune -- prices, they are going up. And the latest: stamps. Yes, up a penny to 42 cents in a couple of weeks. CNN personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, is here to tell us how to save some money by using a mouth.

I love it, because I do pay a lot of my bills online, Gerri.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: You're doing the right thing. It's a great time to set up online bill pay through your bank. Find out if your bank has the service, and all the big ones do. They'll send your money directly from your account to creditors. It's done electronically. It's safe.

Now, you can also set up recurring payments so you don't even have to check in every month. There are lots of ways to do this. Make sure, though, that you have enough funds to cover your bills as always.

NGUYEN: All right. So those are the bills that you need to pay.

What about food? The price of food is going up and all of that. So how do we combat that?

WILLIS: Well, if you want to bypass clipping coupons out of the paper, check out coolsavings.com. On this site you can click on specific grocery items and print the coupons from your printer.

Here's another Web site you should check out -- thegrocerygame.com. On this site you'll get weekly lists of the lowest priced products at your supermarkets, along with manufacturer coupons, and weekly specials that may not be advertised. You definitely want that. It'll cost you a buck to get a free trial for a month, after that you pay $10. And of course, if you just went to order your grocery from the Internet so you don't get tempted by other things when you're walking the aisles, go to freshdirect.com and peapod.com.

NGUYEN: But paying that 10 bucks, it's all going to pay off in the end?

WILLIS: Well, if you buy enough, obviously.

The other option of course is simply to buy your groceries online. That's an easier way too just to avoid all the temptations --

NGUYEN: Saves you gas by going to the grocery store, too.

WILLIS: Yes, you know how it is. You end up buying all the wrong things.

NGUYEN: When it comes to clothing, is there any way that you can save besides the paper, and watching the ads?

WILLIS: Well, sometimes you don't have to chase the sales. The sales can come to you. Check out shopittome.com. This Web site notifies you when a particular piece of clothing you've chosen by brand and site, that's how specific they are, goes on sale at major retailers.

And if it's designer clothing you're looking for, check out hautelook.com. If you sign up you get access to discounts of up to 75 percent, that's according to the company. Before though, you get an e-mail that announces the brand and sales start date.

So, shopping around, it's all about shopping around.

NGUYEN: I like it because it comes straight to you, you're not hunting for it. Once you sign up, it just comes right into your inbox.

We are headed into the summer season, a lot of people looking for a vacation spot. Are there any travel deals out there? WILLIS: Oh, yes, traveling, as you know, it's more expensive this season. It's more important than ever to check out these travel sites that will help you save money. For airline tickets, go to travelzoo.com. Put in your destination information and you'll get a list of recommended search sites that have the best fares, including online travel sites like Orbitz or specific airlines.

When I use kayak.com -- a good place to compare air fares. And if it's cruising you want to do this summer, go to cruisedeals.com. And a note to all of you looking for a Mother's Day gift, you might want to check out this shopping spot (ph), pricegrabber.com, or shopping.com. They compare deals for specific items.

And of course, if you have any questions, send them to us at toptips@CNN.com. We answer those e-mails right here, every Friday.

NGUYEN: Thank you for reminding us about Mother's Day, because that is coming up.

WILLIS: It's an important one.

NGUYEN: That is something you do not want to forget, or you are in big trouble.

WILLIS: You got that right, Betty.

NGUYEN: Speaking of important information, what's coming up on "ISSUE #1"?

HARRIS: "ISSUE #1."

WILLIS: We're going to be talking about these primaries coming up, Indiana and North Carolina. We're focusing on the candidates and their plans for the economy. You won't want to miss it. Noon today, right here on CNN.

NGUYEN: All right. Gerri Willis, as always, we appreciate it. Thank you.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

HARRIS: On tomorrow's Democratic primaries, what do Indiana voters want? What's pushing North Carolina voters to the polls? A look at the contest state by state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Tomorrow's primaries -- polls show Hillary Clinton ahead in Indiana; Barack Obama leads in North Carolina. Let's break it down state by state. Jim Morrill is a political reporter for the "Charlotte Observer."

Good to see you, Jim.

And Matthew Tully is a political columnist for "The Indianapolis Star." And Matthew, great to see you.

MATTHEW TULLY, "INDIANAPOLIS STAR": Good to see you.

HARRIS: Let's start -- Jim, Matthew, same question for both of you. But Jim, let's get started with you. Which story line going into tomorrow's vote is likely to continue to define the candidates after the vote in your state, North Carolina?

JIM MORRILL, "CHARLOTTE OBSERVER": I think Senator Obama is still going to have problems with some of the rural white voters. Senator Clinton has been all over the state working in rural counties and small towns around North Carolina.

Having said that, I think Senator Obama still has a lot of support among -- not only among African-American voters in North Carolina, but among a lot of professional white voters here, too. Especially -- he's especially strong in the triangle area and Charlotte, I think.

HARRIS: And Matthew, what's your thought on that question?

TULLY: I think the important story line here is going to be that this was a fair fight. Both came in pretty much tied at the beginning, and it was anyone's game. At one point Obama was up in the polls. Right now it looks like Clinton is up in the polls.

But really, if you look at it, both had a chance to win here in Indiana. No one had the distinct advantage. So I think if Clinton wins, she's going to have a pretty good case that she came in here, they had a fair fight and she was able to win the rural voters, the manufacturing towns.

On the other hand, if he wins he's going to point to the young voters, the voters here in Indianapolis, and in northwest Indiana, places such as Gary, and those very strong Democratic areas.

HARRIS: And Matthew, if he doesn't close the deal in Indiana, if he doesn't win there, and the polls indicate that Hillary Clinton is leading right now, will that be the second headline with your paper on Wednesday; that once again, Obama with an opportunity to close the deal, so to speak, doesn't get it done?

TULLY: Absolutely. I think it will expose some problems that he has that really are going to play out in November: those rural voters, those smaller town voters, those manufacturing city voters that are struggling with the economy and the jobs market, the folks that are really going to probably determine how this election goes in November. Everyone knows this is an election year about jobs.

HARRIS: Hey, Jim, Hillary Clinton was endorsed last week by Governor Mike Easley. How much of a help has that been, will it ultimately be, in the vote tomorrow?

MORRILL: Well, I think it's a help in that Easley is a good campaigner and he's been with her the last couple of days. He was with her this morning in Greenville.

Having said that, I don't think that he has the kind of organization that you saw with Governor Rendell in Pennsylvania and Governor Hunt (ph) here. And in fact, Governor Easley is in an Obama commercial this morning complaining about Senator Clinton's stance on the gas tax -- the gas tax holiday which Easley supports now, but which he opposed a couple of years ago -- state gas tax holiday. So they're playing that up.

HARRIS: And Matthew, just last week we saw superdelegate Joe Andrew switch his allegiance? Is that a boost for Obama?

TULLY: It's a boost as far as being a superdelegate. As for affecting the popular vote, absolutely not. Joe Andrew is a non- factor here in Indiana. He doesn't live here. He had his time where he was a power player here in Indiana. But that has passed.

That said, it gave Obama a nice story line for a day.

HARRIS: And Jim, any bellwether counties that you're watching tomorrow evening that will give you an indication of what kind of a night Hillary Clinton is having?

MORRILL: Well, a couple things. I think, one, we're going to be looking at the margin that Obama piles up in some of the urban counties. In Wade County, which is Raleigh, and Mecklenberg County in Charlotte and some of the counties along the -- more populated counties along the I-85 corridor.

And by the same token, we'll be looking at her margins, if she has margins, in some of the outlying counties, some of the suburban counties and of course some of the rural counties.

HARRIS: And Matthew, I'm just wondering, is there a particular area, a particular county, in your state where, let's say the Reverend Wright controversy might really hurt Barack Obama.

TULLY: I would watch Lake County and Porter County in northwest Indiana. Those are right outside of Chicago. So in a way, that's Obama turf, because those folks watch Chicago TV, get Chicago radio. So they kind of came in with the knowledge of who he was going back more than -- even before this campaign.

There's a lot of African-American voters up there, but there's also a lot of older white folks who used to work in the mills. And I think that's the really key place to watch. It's a huge Democratic stronghold. So, he's expected to win there, but how many votes you can pull out of there is going to be crucial.

HARRIS: And Jim, how excited are North Carolina voters this time around to have their vote really count in the process?

MORRILL: Well, it's the first time in a very long time, Tony, as you know. And I think they're very excited. We've seen record turnouts in early voting, I think half a million people have voted already. The other day there was a principal at a Charlotte high school who took 150 students, presumably of voting age, over to the polls across the street, to the early voting site, so they could vote. So there's a lot of excitement. You see it at rallies all the time.

HARRIS: All right. Matthew, same question for you.

TULLY: We've gone a long time, about 40 years, since a primary mattered here in Indiana. We don't get these kinds of visits from presidential candidates ever, because we typically go for Republicans in the fall, so there's really not a whole lot of reason for them to come.

So Indiana voters have really enjoyed this. They're really participating. They're expected to smash turnout records tomorrow. So there's been quite a focus -- and you go into coffee shops or restaurants and you hear people talking about gas prices, and debates about presidential politics.

HARRIS: That's terrific.

Matthew Tully is a political columnist with the "Indianapolis Star" and Jim Morrill is a political reporter for the "Charlotte Observer."

Good to see you both. Thanks for your time this morning.

TULLY: Thank you.

MORRILL: Thanks, Tony.

NGUYEN: Well, don't go anywhere because we are bringing you the candidates unfiltered all day long right here on CNN. Next up, Barack Obama on the trail in Lafayette, Indiana, over the weekend.

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NGUYEN: Tomorrow's primary is a big day. Big stakes for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. So, let's crunch the numbers for you.

Indiana, 72 delegates up for grabs. It is the second largest delegate prize left in the presidential race.

The biggest? North Carolina.

Clinton and Obama competing for 115 delegates there.

Speaking of Barack Obama, take a look at the video there we're getting in. He is appearing, or at least did, over the weekend with his daughters at a roller skating rink. I'm surprised he didn't have some skates on himself.

Bowling, basketball, what, no skating Obama? Well, apparently not.

But he did speak to supporters while at the rink. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I'm not going to give a long speech. I just -- for those of you who have been volunteering for us, I'm thankful to you, Great Skates for the great work that you guys are doing, and for all of you who are contributing to the Boys and Girls Club, give yourselves a big round of applause.

You know, here in Lafayette, people have just been so welcoming and so wonderful. But I hope everybody remembers what this election is about. We've got a choice of doing the same old things and not solving problems. Not providing health care for people, not dealing in a serious way with our energy policies, not bringing back good jobs that pay good wages here in the United States. Or, we can try to break out of the same old Washington politics and tell the special interests that they're not going to run the show anymore, and have a president who you can trust to tell you the truth about how we're going to solve our problem.

I want to be that president, but I can't do it without you. So I know everybody here is voting, has voted, will vote. But I need all of you to go out there and talk to your friends and your neighbors and tell them that this is an extraordinary time, and this is an extraordinary election. And that the people of Indiana are going to be able to make this decision about the direction of our country.

You can't let that chance pass by. You can't let it pass by, not just for this generation, but for the next generation. All these beautiful children who are here, we don't want 20 years from now -- 20 years from now we don't want to say that we didn't solve the energy problem, or that we kept on making the planet warmer, or that our economy kept on getting worse, or that millions of people still don't have health care, or people can't afford to go to college.

We've got an obligation to them. That's what this election's about. That's why I'm running. I just want to say to all of you, I'm grateful for all your friendship, all your support. Michelle and I have to head down to Indianapolis with the girls now. But I couldn't have a better group to support me. And I hope that everybody feels as excited about the prospects of change as I do.

So, thank you very much, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: And that was Senator Barack Obama speaking in Lafayette, Indiana, over the weekend.

But take a look at this live picture because at 11:00 am Eastern, Senator John McCain will be taking to that microphone. He is speaking today in Phoenix at the Swift Aviation Group, which is a charter flight company that is headquartered near the Phoenix International Airport. So when that takes place, of course, we'll bring it to you live.

And we do want to remind you that CNN is your home for politics, and the place for extensive coverage of tomorrow's contest. Throughout the day, we're going to show you the candidates and we're also going to let them talk to you live and unfiltered.

So if you miss their events, we're going to replay large portions of their comments. CNN, again, is the place for the best political coverage on television.

HARRIS: A suspected pipe bomb explodes at a courthouse in San Diego. Federal investigators searching for answers this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: A suspected pipe bomb rips through the federal courthouse in San Diego. Take a look. This morning, that courthouse is closed for repairs. And federal investigators are searching for a suspect. The blast yesterday sent debris flying across the street. Windows were damaged, but no one was hurt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPEC. AGENT DARRELL FOXWORTH, FBI: At approximately 1:40 a.m., the San Diego Fire Department Metro Arson Strike Team responded to a call at the Edward J. Schwartz federal courthouse located at 940 Front Street, San Diego, California. The task force responded to an explosion at this location.

Shortly thereafter, the FBI's joint terrorism task force was contacted and also responded to the scene. Upon responding to the scene it was determined that the cause of the explosion was a small explosive device which caused damage to the front lobby area of the courthouse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Well, officials are looking into whether this blast is connected to a pipe bomb explosion at a San Diego FedEx store last month.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

NGUYEN: All right. Let's take you out on the campaign trail right now, because at this very moment, Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is speaking in Phoenix.

Let's take a listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... which were unknown a short time ago to the ability now to operate on -- to perform heart surgery in a system that was originally developed by the military, which is remarkable in its technology. All of it aimed to improve quality and to reduce costs of health care in America. I'm confident by employing the plans that we have to provide Americans to make choices, and not have the government make the choices for them, employ two new technologies to have outcome-based treatment, to creation of a guaranteed access pool that we will be able to reduce and eliminate the problem with health care in America, which is the costs, and affordability and availability of health care in America without having a government-mandated system. Such as, if you read the -- carefully both Senator Obama's and Senator Clinton's proposals, are indeed the case.

In the case of our situation in regards to Iraq or anywhere in the Middle East, I remain optimistic about the progress that's being made in Iraq. It was very difficult two or three-week period as we're gone into Sadr City, and the Sadr militias and other jihadists have fought back hard. And it continues to be a turf battle. In Basra, the government has control of Basra. In Mosul, we are succeeding in the couple months-long battle there. The Sunni have announced they're going to come back into the government. And plans for the elections, for provincial elections to take place are under way by this fall. So it's slow, but halting, but measurable progress.

I will be talking in the next couple weeks about energy independence, and a plan of action that includes a broad range of proposals, so that this nation can be independent of foreign oil.