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Myanmar Government: More Than 10,000 Dead From Cyclone; Indiana and North Carolina Showdown; Securing the Borders: McCain Talks Immigration

Aired May 05, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: "Ballot Bowl," I like that.

KEILAR: I love the "Ballot Bowl."

LEMON: It is kind of like covering a sporting event.

KEILAR: It is.

LEMON: We've got everything for you.

We've got everything for you.

I'm Don Lemon, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

OK. But first this hour, we want to begin with an inside look at Myanmar, where the government says more than 10,000 people are dead in the wake of that weekend cyclone.

CNN correspondent -- one of our correspondents is on the ground there, and he's going to join us with the latest. It is Dan Rivers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The road into Yangon is a tangle of splintered wood and fallen trees. What used to be a shady avenue is being shredded into shards of timber. Trunks the size of yacht masts snapped like matchsticks.

People are doing their best to clear a path through this mayhem, but progress is slow. The lucky ones have power tools, but the electricity supply has been off for two days, and fuel is in short supply.

This is the line for gas. It stretches around the block. Already, the price has quadrupled to $10 a gallon. Those who can afford it are buying fuel on the black market at the side of the road. But how long before these supplies dry up?

Water is also becoming a precious and expensive commodity. The main water supply has been cut in many areas.

Those who live here are shocked by the devastation. CARINE BLACHE, FRENCH EXPATRIATE: The day before it was a (INAUDIBLE), and the day after it's another -- it's like another planet.

STEPHANE LANDOWSKI, FRENCH EXPATRIATE: No food, no water. So we have to find everything.

RIVERS: In a few places the army has been deployed. In many parts of the city troops are noticeable by their absence. A far cry from the thousands of troops sent to violently crush last year's pro- democracy uprising.

Not even the golden spires of the Shwedagon Pagoda were spared by Cyclone Nargis. This Buddhist temple was a rallying point for the protests, now it's closed.

These people fear they will be left to cope alone. Myanmar's ruling military junta has issued a rare appeal for international emergency assistance. Aid groups say they're working to help those in need.

BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: The United Nations will to do whatever, all to provide urgent humanitarian assistance. Because of the lack of communications and information, we're not quite sure would be the total extent of damages and the casualties, and -- but I am very much alarmed by the incoming news that the casualties have risen more than 10,000 people already.

RIVERS: Despite the devastation, at last report the government planned to proceed with a referendum on the country's constitution on May the 10th. The opposition fears the result will be fixed by the army to ensure it retains power.

Cyclone Nargis has pushed this country further towards the brink just days before the most crucial political event in years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. That was CNN's Dan Rivers.

Now, at 3:00 Eastern Time this afternoon, we're expecting First Lady Laura Bush to talk about the catastrophe in Myanmar and what kind of assistance the United States is preparing to send. You can catch her comments right here on CNN.

KEILAR: One day, just one day and counting, the spotlight is on Indiana and North Carolina primaries there tomorrow. Neither candidate is backing down from the issues or from each other.

CNN's Election Express is in Indianapolis right now, and so is our Jessica Yellin.

Hi, Jessica.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna. The candidates are campaigning nonstop, hopscotching between North Carolina and Indiana today. And they are focusing, above all, on the economy. They want to reach those voters who are feeling that pinch in the pocketbook.

Both of these candidates, as you know, have been discussing new ways to solve the problem of high gas prices, but also other ways to bring down the overall economic burden that so many Americans are feeling. They describe themselves both as fighters for the average American.

Let's hear what Clinton and Obama had to say today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've offered specific solutions about all the issues we are facing, because I want you to join with me in helping to solve America's problems. It's time to quit wringing our hands and start rolling up our sleeves.

And we can do that once we have a leader back in the White House who says, you know what, America? There's nothing we can't do. There is no problem we can't solve if we start acting like Americans again.

That's who we are. Let's go do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I've said is let's put in place the second part of a tax stimulus package that I proposed a long time ago to get some immediate money into the pockets of people where we know it's going to get to those folks, so we know it's going to get to you. And let's put in place a permanent middle class tax cut for families who really need it, so that families are getting $1,000 per year to offset not just the rising cost of gas, but food and other necessities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Now, Senator Clinton has been hammering hard on this message that she would like a tax holiday on the federal gas tax. Barack Obama's campaign today has been alerting reporters to a number of folks who say they support Senator Clinton, but don't support the gas tax holiday. Even some Clinton backers, some very prominent Clinton backers, saying it's just not a good idea.

So this fierce policy disagreement is really being highlighted in these final hours before folks in Indiana and North Carolina go to the polls -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Very interesting.

Jessica Yellin for us in Indianapolis.

Thanks.

LEMON: All right, the presumptive GOP nominee John McCain talked immigration today in Phoenix, Arizona. It's an issue his home state has grappled with for decades.

Now he's heading to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a town hall meeting, and that's where we find CNN's Dana Bash.

Dana, are they focusing on a few topics, or is it a free-for-all? Anything up for questions there?

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All of the above there, Don. But it is interesting, obviously, that John McCain, the Republican, is coming here to the site of the Democratic contest tomorrow.

Tomorrow he's really going to be focused, ironically, on reaching out to his own conservative base. But what he's doing today is quite interesting.

You know, right now the McCain campaign is focused on trying to use their time wisely. So today, Cinco de Mayo, he launched his new Spanish language Web site, Spanish-language Web site, where they have one of the ads that they've already launched in Spanish on there. And it's part of the attempt that John McCain, just like many Republicans before him, is making to reach out to the Hispanic community, because the Hispanic vote is so crucial to any candidate, but particularly has been to Republicans. George W. Bush, for example, he got 40 percent of the Hispanic vote, and that really was essential to his re-election in 2004.

John McCain boasts about the fact that he has gotten 70 percent of the Hispanic vote back in the state of Arizona. That that's what helped him get re-elected to the Senate last time around. But he has an issue that many Republicans have, which is the very divisive immigration debate that has been going on over the past couple of years.

Obviously John McCain has had his own issues within his own party about that debate. But what he talked about today before leaving Arizona was the fact that that debate could hurt his party, and, of course, that means him in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the tenor of the debate -- yes, since it's Cinco de Mayo, we are opening our Spanish-language Web site today. And I urge everyone to go to it. I think the tenor of the debate has harmed our image amongst Hispanics.

Most Hispanics want our borders secured. Many low-income Hispanics are the first to lose their job. Many low-income Hispanic citizens are the first to lose their job when someone comes here illegally if they are holding a low-income job. So Hispanics want our borders secured also. And there's very little doubt about that. But they also worry about the people who are here illegally, their treatment, their conditions, the exploitation of people who don't have any of the protections of our citizens.

In other words, I believe the majority of Hispanics share our view that the border must be secured, and the border must be secured first. But they also want us to have an attitude, which I think most Americans do, that these are God's children, and they must be taken care of, or the issue must be addressed in a humane and compassionate fashion. And we will -- I will continue to carry that message with the priority that we must secure our borders first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: "Must secure our borders first." That is certainly the language that you heard John McCain use towards the latter half of the Republican primary season after he got -- his candidacy basically almost died completely, primarily because of his support for a path for citizenship for illegal immigrants. That was not popular among many in the conservative community.

But you did hear there, Don, his tone soften a little bit with regard to talking about "God's children." You talk to Democrats, and they say that kind of John McCain, that may be something that he believed a long time ago, it may be something that he believes now, but politically, Democrats say -- and they will push the idea come November -- that when push came to shove with John McCain and his own party, he basically caved on an issue that mattered a lot to the Hispanic community.

Now, John McCain's challenge, you talk to Republican strategists, they say is to try to combat that and to try to put forward the idea that he has a good relationship with the Hispanic community. Because as I said and as the McCain campaign is making clear, they know today it is very crucial to his winning, if he can win in November.

LEMON: All right. Dana Bash, Charlotte, North Carolina.

We appreciate it. Thank you very much.

McCain is one of 22 GOP senators looking for action from the EPA. They've sent a letter to the agency asking it to consider waiving mandated U.S. production of ethanol, a corn-based fuel. They worry that using corn for fuel will only add to the misery of soaring food prices.

All of the latest campaign news is available right at your fingertips. Just go to CNNPolitics.com. We also have the best analysis from the best political team on television.

It's all there, CNNPolitics.com.

(NEWSBREAK)

KEILAR: "Do not revive." Those were the orders left behind by D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey in suicide notes that were released today. These notes appear to confirm that Palfrey couldn't bear the thought of spending years in prison.

With more on this story now from Miami, CNN's John Zarrella -- John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, that's right. Now, the D.C. madam, of course, had been convicted back in April of running a high-class prostitution ring out of Washington, D.C., catering to clientele there. And she was due to be sentenced in July.

Well, the medical examiner in Pinellas County today determined that in fact on Thursday, she did commit suicide. She was found hanging in a shed behind her mother's mobile home, and that was in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Again today, the medical examiner's -- the autopsy results coming in, saying that it in fact it was a suicide.

Now, we had been told initially that she had left a couple of letters behind, suicide notes. Those two were released today by the authorities in Tarpon Springs, Florida, in Pinellas County.

She left one of those letters to her mother. And in it she talks about how much she loved her mother, but that there was really nothing else she could do but to take her own life.

In the letter to Blanche, she writes, "However, I cannot live the next six to eight years behind bars for what both you and I have come to regard as this 'modern-day lynching.'" And that's a reference to the fact that she believed that the federal government had gone out of its way to convict her and to get her. She had maintained all along that if any of the women who worked for her were engaged in prostitution, she didn't know about it, and it was not a prostitution operation that she was running.

She also left a letter to her sister, talking about in the letter how she loved her little sister very much. And in quoting in that letter, she says, "You must comprehend, there was no other way out, exit strategy, other than the one I have chosen here."

Again, a reference to the fact that she did not want to go to prison. She had gone to jail back in the 1990s on prostitution charges, and she said at the time that that literally destroyed her, the 18 months she spent in prison in the 1990s. And she would not do it again.

So in fact it did not come as a surprise, Brianna, to a lot of folks that knew her that in fact she did take her own life.

KEILAR: John Zarrella covering this for us from Miami.

Thank you.

LEMON: Talk about your worst-case scenarios. If a major medical emergency hits the U.S., who should live? Who should die? And who makes that decision?

KEILAR: And he is a wealth of knowledge. Accent on "wealth" when it comes to money. Funny guy, too.

What's Warren Buffett saying about issue No. 1?

LEMON: So, if another terrorist attack hit the U.S., would the nation's ERs, emergency rooms, would they be ready?

Medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here with a sobering new government report.

OK, I said sobering. So how bad is it?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's bad.

LEMON: OK.

COHEN: I mean, according to this report, the nation's emergency rooms are just not ready for a terrorist attack.

What they did in this report is they looked at a catastrophe the size of what happened in Madrid four years ago, where more than 4,000 people were injured, where hundreds of people would end up sometimes at one hospital in a matter of hours. And they picked hospitals, level one trauma centers, in seven cities in the U.S., and they said they picked a given day.

And they said, could you handle that amount of traffic? And what they found was, no. More than half of the ERs that day were already above capacity.

In other words, they already had people in the hallways, in the waiting rooms, instead of real hospital rooms. And on average, there were only five beds available in ICU. So even if you could get through that first layer in the emergency room, there were only five places for people in critical condition. And the situation seemed particularly bad, according to this study, in Los Angeles and D.C.

And the conclusion of this report is that none of these hospitals studied were even close to handling the kind of traffic that you might see in a Madrid situation.

LEMON: All right. That's a little frightening.

COHEN: It's a little frightening.

LEMON: OK. But we're looking at it. And I want to talk about Minneapolis and Denver, because the political conventions are coming this year.

How did those two cities fare?

COHEN: Right. If those two cities, God forbid, were to become a target, what would happen there?

Let's take a look at some statistics from Minneapolis and Denver.

First of all, in Denver, one in three ERs are already above capacity, and that's without a terrorist attack. In Minneapolis, the level one trauma center they have there is already at 91 percent capacity. So you can only imagine what might happen if another couple hundred people just show up.

LEMON: All right. Let's talk solutions here.

So, is there a solution?

COHEN: Well, they held a hearing on Capitol Hill, and they talked about the problem and they talked about the solution. And the solution, as you might guess, has to do with money.

And various people in emergency medicine said, please don't cut Medicare and Medicaid, because that's what helps keep hospitals afloat. And they said the money isn't just for ERs, it's for the hospital.

If hospital beds are filling up as they are at hospitals around the country, maybe the ER can see people, but they can't send people then into the hospital. So you get this backlog situation.

Now, folks from homeland security and the Department of Health and Human Services will be testifying later this week, and hopefully they'll have some thoughts about solutions.

LEMON: So thoughts about solutions.

COHEN: Right.

LEMON: So we'll see. OK. At least they're thinking about it.

Thank you very much, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The world's richest man says he's not an economist, but he knows a recession when he sees one. And when Warren Buffett talks, people do tend to listen, even if he's not an economist.

Well, Susan Lisovicz spoke this weekend with the uber-rich investor.

What did he say, Susan?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, you know, shareholder meetings are not typically very exciting. That is an understatement. But that is not true for Berkshire Hathaway's, which has been come to known -- to be known as the Woodstock for capitalists.

Thirty-one thousand people packed a basketball arena over the weekend, not only to celebrate Buffett's extraordinary investing record, but also to hear the oracle of Omaha talk, mostly about issue No. 1.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISOVICZ (voice-over): Warren Buffett was downright sunny, even though he was quick to use the "R" word.

WARREN BUFFETT, CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: We had a housing bubble. And that's not the usual cause for a recession, but that's going to be the -- that's the primary cause for this recession.

LISOVICZ: The legendary investor served up his usual dose of comic relief at the annual Berkshire Hathaway meeting, but it's his plain and simple financial commentary that drew a record throng to Omaha.

BUFFETT: If you want to buy a house tomorrow, you'll get a lone. You know. But if you want to buy a house on the same terms that you bought it a couple of years ago, you won't get a loan.

LISOVICZ: Long-time Berkshire Hathaway shareholders say they don't needs a financial SOS. They were buying big time at Borsheim's jewelry store, one of Berkshire's many companies. But it wasn't quite that indulgent. Each purchase came with a hefty discount -- a key component of the Buffett philosophy.

DAN ENGLER, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY SHAREHOLDER: I'm a conservative individual, and when times get tough, I don't need to step backwards.

LISOVICZ (on-camera): Do you feel as good about the economy as Berkshire?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's much safer where we are.

LISOVICZ (voice-over): Buffett buys things he knows, like paint and ice cream.

(on-camera): Buffett says he's bullish about great companies with solid management at a good price. That formula has resulted in average annual returns of 21.5 percent over the last 43 years.

(voice-over): Which is why investors are in such a good mood. Berkshire Hathaway A class stock is worth about $133,000 -- a share.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have three wines and we have a bunch of books -- Berkshire Hathaway stock. And all of that is good.

LISOVICZ (on-camera): Which is making you feel better?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Berkshire Hathaway stock.

LISOVICZ (voice-over): At 77, Warren Buffett is road-tested, but not battle-scarred.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LISOVICZ: I also asked Warren Buffett about oil prices. He thinks those high prices are a fact of life for the considerable future. And while ethanol has been a boon to his home state of Nebraska -- it is, after all, the Cornhusker State -- Buffett says he thinks it's not a good alternative. He agrees with critics who say it's driving up the price of food -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. That looks like quite a party there, Susan, I have to say.

But -- so Warren Buffett speaks, obviously people listen, whether it's ethanol or what have you. But he also issued a reality check, right, about how much your money can grow these days?

LISOVICZ: That's right. And, I mean, he said that -- actually, today he was saying that when you get your stimulus check, you should pay down your debts. I mean, he's -- one of the things about Warren Buffett is he lives a thrifty lifestyle.

His stock is not thrifty at $133,000 a share, but it certainly has really remarkable returns over 43 years -- 21.5 percent. That's hard to get close.

KEILAR: Yes. That is amazing.

All right. Susan Lisovicz for us in New York.

Thanks.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LEMON: So, Susan questioned Warren Buffett about soaring oil prices. Well today, they are sending stocks lower. Let's go to Stephanie Elam at the New York Stock Exchange with the very latest on the market action.

Hi, Stef.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don.

You know, things can change around oh so quickly around these parts. And so for most of last week, we told you that oil prices were retreating. But they are back at record highs today, toppling $120 a barrell.

Also worrying investors is Microsoft's decision to withdraw its $46 billion offer for Yahoo! But that's not the only takeover story here on Wall Street.

The "Wall Street Journal" says Germany's Deutsche Telecom is mulling a bid for Sprint/Nextel. A deal is far from certain at this point. But Sprint shares are up 4 percent on just that rumor right now. Deutsche Telecom is the parent company of T-Mobile. And if they take over Sprint, T-Mobile will become the nation's largest wireless provider. At this point, neither company is commenting. Let's take a look at the numbers here on Wall Street. And the Dow down 92 points, 12,965. And NASDAQ off 14, at 24,062. That's the latest from here.

Now coming up next hour, I'll have more on that surge in oil prices. Obviously we have to keep our eyes on that, Don and Brianna.

LEMON: Yes, certainly do.

OK. Thanks, Stef. We'll see you in a bit.

KEILAR: Outraged over the cost of a cup of rice. In at least one nation, it is taking a deadly toll.

LEMON: And we're on the trail with the candidates before the next big primaries. We'll talk to our CNN producers on the move with Senator Barack Obama. That will happen next.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Couple of stories we're working on for you today, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We're getting a glimpse of convicted D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey's suicide note. Police say Palfrey wrote that she was the victim of a modern-day lynching. Palfrey hanged herself at her mother's Florida home.

The hunt for a suspected Philadelphia cop killer expands to New Jersey. Police are searching south of Newark for Eric Floyd, one of the men who allegedly gunned down Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski with an assault rifle on Saturday. Another is behind bars. Police killed the third suspect.

The 600-plus passengers from the German cruise ship are now safe and sound after it hit a sand bar in the Baltic Sea yesterday. They have been taken to Latvia, but crew members are staying on board as the salvage operation goes on.

KEILAR: So many people are dead in Myanmar now it's mind boggling. That government now reporting more than 10,000 killed in a monster cyclone that hit over the weekend. Who knows how many more are hurt or homeless? Much of the country, also known as Burma, is in a desperate state.

Cities are cut off from the outside world. Hundreds of thousands need shelter and clean drinking water. Food there is in short supply and power is out. Phone lines are down and aid agencies around the world are scramling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KI-MOON: I have already mobilized this U.N.-DAC, this is the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team, to find out what we can do. United Nations is very much committed to actively assisting Myanmarese people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The magnitude of this monster cyclone really what we've been talking about all day. And our T.J. Holmes is tracking the story from the international desk.

What is the latest there, T.J.?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well the latest is really just amazing. The number you just gave there, the 10,000 number, this was a story we were covering here over the weekend. The talk was just a few hundred, even though that's certainly a tragedy, a few hundred dead.

Now the number jumped this morning, certainly staggering to hear that 4,000 possibly dead. And now it has jumped to 10,000. But this small country really got hit and got hit hard.

Myanmar -- we're showing you some of the video here of what happened. Yangon -- city of 6-plus million people, that really, really took a pounding. Ten hours of rain Friday and into Saturday. Some 20 inches of rain falling there. Boats being -- were sinking in the Yangon Harbor. The airport had to completely be shut down; all flights were canceled over the weekend, for a short time. Roofs coming off houses, bridges washed out. Things like that.

Now Myanmar is not really a name, a country, you hear in the news day in and day out really. However, you did hear a lot about it last year, because there way a major uprising going on there. This was -- some 200 monks were arrested during a violent crackdown by the military Junta there, the group that's been ruling this country really since 1962, took over during a coup that took place there.

Again, Myanmar, as you mentioned, known by many as Burma. We're having a tough time getting a lot of information out right now about what's happening with casualties and information there on the ground because of the situation there. But some of the information we're getting out is coming of course from Web sites, so often times in stories.

The Democratic Voice of Burma, that's a government opposition Web site has been posting some things; and posting even some of the minor details, if you will, talking about animals running amok at the Yangon Zoo that has been severely damaged. Also whole towns, this Web site describes, being pretty much wiped out. As you mentioned as well, Brianna, phones are down, difficult to get real accounts of the scale of the damage and the casualties there as well.

And a couple of other things here. It's been talked about how the price of gas and the price of food has just shot up since this cyclone hit. Imagine this -- $90 for a bottle of water is what this Web site is saying. Also, $1,200 -- again we're talking U.S. dollars -- for a gallon of gasoline, according to this Web site.

Now, also, again, we said Myanmar had been in the news a bit last year because of the protests that were happening there, and several celebrities have come to this cause, if you will. There's a Web site that many celebrities like Will Ferrell, Jennifer Aniston, have subscribed to. And this is a Web site, the U.S. Campaign for Burma Web site. They've been posting video clips and things like that, trying to recruit a million people -- a million supporters this month for the people of Burma.

Again, this was before the cyclone hit. This was to support those who were there protesting the military uprising of the military coup that's been going on there.

Also, another big supporter of Myanmar has been Laura Bush. She's been a very big supporter, and we expect to hear from her a short time from now, 3:00 Eastern, about the humanitarian assistance that will be coming to Myanmar. Expecting to hear from her at the 3:00 Eastern hour.

A lot of people, of course in times like this, want to help. You can go to CNN.com/impact to find out how you can help out in this tough time. And again, we also got word that Thailand is going to be the first foreign country to get a first wave of aid into the country. Of course -- shelter, water, and medicine is the big deal right now.

Some organizations on the ground there in Myanmar, but of course they don't have large operations, so they're expected to run out of supplies in short order. So supplies and money certainly starting to trickle in right now, Brianna.

KEILAR: And obviously, T.J., a lot of the pictures that we're seeing coming from the metropolitan area, but we're still awaiting a lot of news and some pictures from the outlying areas. I know you guys are probably keeping an eye on that.

HOLMES: We absolutely are and we'll get back to you.

But yes, 10,000 -- it's tough to imagine that some of those other areas we really haven't heard much about, and can't imagine this number shooting up. I guess it's a possibility, but just staggering to think how many have been killed in this thing.

KEILAR: Yes, definitely.

T.J. Holmes at the international desk. Thanks.

LEMON: What does the Pentagon care about the high price of rice? A lot apparently. CNN has learned the highest levels of the U.S. Military are taking note of food price riots in Egypt, Haiti and several other countries. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff wants to know whether the crisis could spiral into a defense issue, and what the U.S. should do if it does. Egypt is a U.S. ally in the war on terror and some fear Haitian unrest could -- could unleash a wave of illegal immigrants into the U.S.

Food riots turn deadly today in Somalia. Witnesses say soldiers fired on tens of thousands of people marching in Mogadishu, killing at least two. Several others are hurt. Bad weather and rising demands have led to skyrocketing prices on staples such as rice and cornmeal.

Adding to the worries, many shop owners fearing looting have locked their doors. Protests have also broken out in three other African nations.

KEILAR: And Don, we're also keeping our eye on powerful storms that are starting to explode across South Carolina.

So let's get right to Jacqui Jeras. She's in our Severe Weather Center.

Jacqui, what can you tell us?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we just got a watch in the last half-hour or so across parts of South Carolina and extending into North Carolina. This will be in effect until 7:00 tonight.

It's particularly right now the coastal areas that have seen the strongest of storms. And the main threat here is the large hail. There you can see our orange boxes where we have warnings in place, including right along the I-40 corridor there, and all the little balls coming down, showing you the hail shaft of this storm about nickel size. There you can see it, the maximum size about an inch in diameter now, that's affecting about 2,500 people and it's moving towards St. Helena at this time.

And there you can see again the wash covering a large area. And Columbia kind of on the outer skirts of this. Now, the storm system that's producing this weather right now has developed offshore. This actually developed along the tail end of the main storm system, the same one that blew through Arkansas and killed 13 people on Friday.

Today now, we'll update that story for you and tell you that the National Weather Service is out doing aerial surveys today. They determined that there are at least eight tornadoes which did touchdown, and one of which, the one that moved through Damascus and caused most of the severe damage, was an EF-3 tornado with winds between 136 and 165 miles per hour.

What they're trying to figure out today was how long that track was. It's possible that it could have been on the ground for as long as 45 miles. But the track had some kind of weird, little spotty swirls in it, so they're trying to figure out if maybe the tornado stopped and a new one developed, or if perhaps some of the terrain changed the path of this tornado a little bit. So we'll keep you up to date on that.

The weather could be very strong or severe again in Arkansas by the middle of the week. Our next system right now pulling out of the Rockies and into the plains states will bring severe weather from Texas all the way up towards Nebraska. So this will be a slow-moving storm impacting the mid section of the country over the next couple of days -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Jacqui Jeras, keeping her eye on severe weather for us.

Thank you so much.

Taking a look now at our political ticker, North Carolina and Indiana in no particular order here. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are stumping in both states today, hours before two more primaries that nobody ever dreamt would be so important -- 187 delegates at stake here, and every single one of them counts.

CNN is bringing you special "Ballot Bowl" coverage all day today.

Well, a Democrat has captured a Louisiana congressional seat held by Republicans for more than 20 years. Don Cazayoux won a hard fought and closely watched race over Republican Woody Jenkins. The nationally parties pumped more than $1 million each into this six district contest. Republicans easily held onto another House seat that was up for grabs in Louisiana Saturday.

Well, is it the heat that makes voters swoon, or is it just Bill Clinton? The former president, he joked about it, after two supporters fainted at separate rallies yesterday in hot and sunny North Carolina.

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WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We need some water over here and an EMT.

Got an EMT coming in? We need some water here.

Somebody faints at nearly every one of these things now. At my age, I didn't think I could make anybody faint anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well these guys have been traveling around so much, the candidates, the people following them, the producers, the reporters, it's a wonder any of them don't faint. Well there it is, war of politics. CNN producers, the producers that's right, are embedded in the trenches.

Our very own Chris Welch is following the Obama campaign and he joins us now on the phone from Durham, North Carolina.

And I've got to ask you Chris -- first of all, thanks for joining us today. We've been watching the senator, both senators as a matter of fact, Hillary Clinton is force (ph) and Barack Obama usually seems very upbeat, on top of it.

But he does appear to be a bit tired. Are things wearing on him -- the campaign trail sort of wearing on him at this point? Have you noticed that?

VOICE OF CHRIS WELCH, CNN PRODUCER: Well Don, I'm sure he would be a little bit tired these days, as I'm sure all candidates are. But it's probably no more than usual. But then again, we're in the midst of this very crucial primary that is coming up tomorrow. And lots of new details could come out after the results of that. But, you know, he's more tired than usual perhaps because we've been going for, I think I would say, about two weeks now, and -- it's been since he's had a day off. But this weekend, he may have gotten a little boost. He had his family on the road with him. I think that whenever he's around his wife or his two girls, Sasha and Malia, he tends to get a little more upbeat, and that may give him a little boost for today and tomorrow.

But -- the road is wearing on everyone. And I think it's safe to say some of the press are getting tired as well, they've been going for months and months now.

LEMON: I bet you guys are.

Let's talk about the mood on the campaign trail there, Chris. Because we know that Obama was way ahead on the -- in many of the polls that we had been looking at for a little bit further out. And now it appears that the gap is closing and he may be losing some steam and momentum.

Is there some sort of mood -- what are they saying about this apparent slide in the polls there in the campaign?

WELCH: Well I haven't noticed any significant depression setting in or anything like that. I would say things are pretty of the same. They've been through ups and downs before, and what we're seeing this week is really nothing different than what we've seen before.

They're in this -- it's an endurance race right now. So I think they're all just trying to keep on the same poker face. They don't want to give off too many vibes that they're feeling bad or too many vibes that they're feeling great when they aren't. So it's mostly neutral most of the time.

LEMON: OK.

I've got to ask you, Sasha and Malia were out on the campaign trail -- right -- over the weekend, the two daughters. Tell us about that.

WELCH: Well they were out for the past two days. They stopped at a few -- at a few events with the senator. They actually went to a roller skating rink, I believe it was Saturday evening. The senator and Michelle did not roller skate, but the two girls did. They looked like they enjoyed themselves, but the senator and his wife, they were out there walking around the rink while the two girls were skating towards them, helping them stay on their feet and keep from falling. A lot of this is just to help people see them as a family and help them attract more working class voters.

LEMON: Get to know them as a family.

And you didn't go skating, did you?

WELCH: Actually a few of the members of the press did go skating, so we tried on -- when the event was not going on, we tried on our roller skates and did the best we could. Some people were actually pretty good.

LEMON: All right. OK. Well keep safe out there, even at the roller skating rink things can be dangerous. Thank you.

Chris Welch, he is embedded, so to speak, with the Obama campaign. Out on the campaign trail -- thank you, sir.

And of course, we have producers embedded with the Clinton campaign as well, and we'll check in with them next hour, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

KEILAR: Feeling caught between two countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANA LUCIO, GOLF COURSE OWNER: We feel like we're being shoved over to the Mexican side of our border. And it's not a very good feeling. We are United States citizens.

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KEILAR: Plans for a border wall are prompting deep divisions.

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KEILAR: Immigration is of course a divisive issue, but a border wall is divisive by definition.

CNN's Ed Lavandera reports the wall being planned for south Texas is dividing Americans already.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The anger sizzled. Brownsville, Texas residents fighting the construction of a border fence and its architect, Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo. As the booing intensified, Tancredo fired off an unpolitician response.

REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), COLORADO: You don't like a fence around or between Mexico -- if you don't want a fence between the city and Mexico, I suggest then you build this fence around the northern part of your city.

LAVANDERA: Those words have become the boiling point in the border wall debate.

For Brownsville mayor, Pat Ahumada, it made the fight personal. An insult, he says, that this predominantly Hispanic city isn't American enough.

MAYOR PAT AHUMADA, BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS: You have those people like the Congressman there who are bigots. It's a racist thing to them. They're afraid of us Mexicans taking over politically, I think.

LAVANDERA: Tancredo stood by his comments when we talked to him a few days after the meeting. He says the wall is crucial to protecting the United States.

TANCREDO: Loyalties are actually at stake here. When it's not just a celebration of diversity, it's a question of who you're loyal to. What country you are loyal to. That's what -- in that case, multiculturalism becomes a danger to a nation like the United States.

LAVANDERA (on-camera): The tension in this part of south Texas has actually been building for months. Wall construction could begin in a matter of weeks. And while federal officials insist they've been working closely with local officials, many people around here still say they don't know exactly where the wall will be built, or what it will look like.

LUCIO: I don't understand why they're trying to keep this so hush-hush. I -- frankly I think that they're trying to shove this down our throat.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Diana Lucio and her husband run a golf course close so close to Mexico that players are warned not to hill the balls across the border. But the wall is supposed to cut through the top edge of the course, essentially cutting it off from the rest of the city.

Lucio wonders if the family business can survive.

LUCIO: We feel like we're being shoved over to the Mexican side of our border, and it's not a very good feeling. We are United States citizens, and don't appreciate being treated in this manner.

LAVANDERA: Building the wall on the winding river is too expensive. So instead, it will follow a levee, leaving several thousand acres of U.S. land to south of the border wall, and leaving many people feeling like they're stuck between two countries.

Ed Lavandera, CNN Brownsville, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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LEMON: Countries and agencies are rushing relief to the survivors of the cyclone battered Myanmar. Getting into the country, though, may be the hard part. An overview from the State Department and First Lady, Laura Bush, about to speak. We'll bring that to you live, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

KEILAR: Well this is how it began, and by now you probably know how sadly it ends. What could make a racehorse break down to the point where a quick death was the only solution?

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