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Severe Weather Strikes South, Southwest; Aid Finally Getting into Myanmar; Renewed Fighting in Darfur; Campaigning in Oregon
Aired May 10, 2008 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, we're following several developing stories ahead in this hour. From the CNN Weather Center we're tracking an approaching storm center, one that could affect millions of people who have already been hit hard.
Then, signs of hope for the suffering in Myanmar. Aid is finally arriving and now word more supplies could soon be on the way. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, where the news unfolds live this Saturday, May 10th, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
More aid getting into cyclone-ravaged Myanmar. A senior U.S. military official tells CNN the U.S. plans to send two relief planes on Tuesday if all goes well during Monday's scheduled flight. Plus two aid flights from Thailand and Dubai landed in Myanmar today. Military rulers in the country also known as Burma are distributing much of the donations themselves despite the widespread devastation. The government today held a referendum on a proposed constitution. Military rulers claim it's a step towards democracy. Critics dismiss it as a ploy by the military to remain in control.
Western reporters are not welcome in Myanmar, but CNN's Dan Rivers managed to slip in earlier in the week. And now that he is out of the country he filed this reporter's notebook detailing his experiences. A warning now, some of the pictures may be disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The furious winds of cyclone Nargis have ripped apart towns and villages, tens of thousands were dead and the airports have been shut for two days. We were on the first flight in when it reopened and we were shocked at what we saw. Yangon was choked with fallen trees, there were plenty of soldiers, but many seem to be standing doing nothing. And then there were the lines for fuel. Finding fuel for our car was also a nightmare and all the while we had to be careful we weren't being followed by the authorities. It just goes on and on and on for miles, really. There was limited electricity and communications were fraught. But we were still managing to report on what was happening. We have to change hotels every day. Now my reports were on air, I was a marksman. Having to sneak in and out of a hotel through the back stairs. So that they don't know we're here because we understand that the authorities are now looking for me specifically.
There were two guys basically sitting in a car outside of our hotel, looked like they could have been sitting waiting and watching. It's really difficult not to get completely paranoid and ridiculous here because you kind of feel like everyone is potentially military intelligence and they're all looking for you. We spent more than eight hours driving to the worst affected area through torrential rain, which was compounding the misery of survivors huddled in the debris of their own homes. The roads are terrible. There are also numerous check points, we're forced to find another way in. We finally manage to get to the heart of the eerie water delta where the devastation was appalling. We'd narrowly avoided being arrested and we were effectively on the run. I almost got caught in the last town. The police have my photo and they took the rest of my team in and were questioning them and showing them my photo and they were let go and I caught up with them afterwards. We then drove down, we hit a check point, we got turned around, and we decided basically that we were going to get caught so we pulled off the road, we've taken a boat up here and we're now stuck in the middle of the eerie water delta with about two snickers bars and a dairy can of fuel to last us.
We try to push further into the delta, but just after this video we shot, we're detained by the police, somehow we talk our way out and decide it's time for me to leave. I'm left feeling angry the junta has spent so much time hunting us while the bodies of tens of thousands of poor souls are abandoned and decomposing. We even filmed bodies being carried and unceremoniously dumped in the river. Perhaps this is why the regime is so keen to keep us out. Dan Rivers, CNN, Myanmar.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And of course, we know you may want to help so at cnn.com, we have a special page on the devastation in Myanmar complete with links to aid agencies that are organizing help for the region. It's a chance for to you impact your world. Let us be your guide.
And this new video just in from Sudan. Pictures you'll only see on CNN here. An informed military source tells us that armed Darfur rebels are clashing with security forces on the outskirts of the capital city of Khartoum. Sounds of heavy fighting have been heard for the past 24 hours and people have been ordered to stay off the streets.
Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Darfur. He joins us now live. Nic, what's your understanding as to what precipitated this?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the Darfur rebel groups, the justice and equality movement JAM has become the strongest rebel group over the past few months, we understand. So they have become well armed, but they have a lot of vehicles. The Sudanese government says they get backing from Chad, this group has long said they wanted to overthrow the government of Khartoum, and what appears to have unfolded in the last 24 hours, the JAM rebel group tried to storm the capital of Khartoum earlier today getting into some of the western outskirts of the city where there was heavy fighting with government forces, government helicopters were gunning down rebel convoys, convoys of vehicles that have machine guns, heavy machine guns fixed to the back of their vehicles. Now the Sudanese government has imposed a curfew, the interior minister has been on television this evening, he's told the residents of the capital Khartoum, that they should stay indoors until 10:00 in the morning that the government troops are out trying to clean up and take control. The government says that it is firmly in control but now the government appears to be very concerned about what could happen right here in Darfur. The government has sprung a surprise curfew until 7:00 a.m. in the morning in Darfur. They say they're doing this to provide security in this area, their concern appears to be that as the rebel groups have taken on the government forces in the capital, the government has shown pictures of killed rebels and rebel leaders on the Sudanese television. The government concern appears to be that there may be a very negative and violent backlash here in Darfur from other rebel groups. Fredericka?
WHITFIELD: So, Nic, even though there's been a curfew imposed, and I know you just underscored that mostly rebel leaders have been killed, any idea whether this new spate of violence has hurt or killed any innocent citizens?
ROBERTSON: We're certainly hearing about casualties from Khartoum, the details of which aren't clear at the moment. It does seem likely when analyzing the past fighting that goes on here in Darfur and other parts of Sudan, civilians do get killed and injured, the JAM group has been fighting with the government here in Darfur. Over the past few months there have been some big military exchanges, as recently as February the government bombing the rebel positions, many civilians forced from their homes, many civilians killed. Reports just this past week of rebel positions being bombed, and up to 13 people, some of them civilians being killed. In this latest action, we don't have the details yet but it would appear very likely that among the casualties very likely as we've seen before, there will be civilians. Fredericka?
WHITFIELD: Ok, Nic Robertson, thanks so much, reporting from the Darfur region there while this violence now breaking out in Khartoum, Sudan. Thanks so much.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: People in Arkansas have been especially hard hit by tornadoes this spring. Storms killed seven people there last weekend alone. More than 10,000 people have applied for disaster assistance. Now some of them are getting some of the help that they need. Susan Candiotti is in Damascus, Arkansas, to see how the cleanup is going.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Fredericka, it is always a long, long road to recovery. That's what's happening here in Van Buren County where, by the way, we remain in a tornado watch box even as we speak. Behind me is the Southside Baptist Church and it was only a week ago that a tornado ripped through here. At that hour, there were workers inside, if they didn't get out when they did, surely they would've been seriously injured, because as you can see from those steel girders, everything came tumbling down, collapsing on the inside. You see all the insulation, everything, this church had only been weeks away from opening up. And now the clean up. Joining us now is John Tutor. You're a retired contractor, a church member, you have quite a job ahead of you. This must be so deflating.
JOHN TUTOR, CHURCH MEMBER: Well it is but it's sort of unbelievable the help we're getting from the people, the Red Cross, Southwest Energy and DeSoto Drilling, they're furnishing equipment to do our demolition work at no charge to us.
CANDIOTTI: Doing that for free?
TUTOR: Doing it for free. We've had several pretty good size donations. And it's just unbelievable how the people are helping each other here.
CANDIOTTI: Well, they certainly are. How long do you think it will take for you to get this church open? And you have to start all over again?
TUTOR: Well, I was meeting with Joe with MBMC when you guys arrived, we were talking about this. We were hoping within two weeks we'll be back under construction and in five months we'll have the exterior of the building complete. And in 10 months, we should be having services in the church.
CANDIOTTI: We wish you all the best, certainly.
TUTOR: Thank you.
CANDIOTTI: You can imagine all the people that live in this area are once again under a tornado watch, worrying whether they might possibly get hit again. You can just imagine what that must feel like.
WHITFIELD: Well, fingers are crossed here.
CANDIOTTI: Back to you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much. Fingers are crossed that doesn't happen again. Thank you so much, Susan.
Well staying the course in the race for president. Hillary Clinton, fresh from campaigning in Oregon, she's now in New York for a mother's day celebration. Barack Obama, still trying to secure votes in Oregon. Our Ted Rowlands is also there, he joins us from Bend, Oregon. Ted?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, they're just finishing up the national anthem here in the high school gymnasium in Bend, Oregon, where Senator Obama is expected within the next half hour or so after he finishes up a tour of the local business that makes solar energy components. Now Senator Obama spent yesterday in Oregon as well. The primary isn't until the 20th but Oregon is a mail-only state. So people are voting now. It's very important to get these voters obviously throughout this entire period leading up to the 20th. He wanted to do something in Eugene yesterday, he stopped by a track meet after the announcer at the track meet prompted him, he actually walked over a hurdle, didn't jump over it like a regular hurdler but he did comply and then mingled with the crowd. Then he went to the University of Oregon in Eugene for an event there. For the most part, this past week, anything negative has been directed to the republicans, he hasn't talked about Hillary Clinton much at all, but in this event last night, he did tell supporters that he hopes to wrap this thing up in this state on the 20th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The country, the American people are saying, yes, we are ready for change, we are ready for something new. We are ready to turn the page and write a new chapter in American history. And we are going to bring this election to a close right here in Oregon if all of you feel that same spirit.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is in New York today for a fundraiser. It is a mother's day themed fundraiser that she'll be attending with her daughter Chelsea. She will be back on the campaign trail tomorrow in West Virginia in anticipation to next week's Tuesday's primary there. She was in Kentucky earlier this week. And said to her supporters there that she is not by any means a quitter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One thing you know about me is I am no shrinking violet. If I tell you I will fight for you, that is exactly what I intend to do. Now I may stumble and I may get knocked down, but I will always get right back up. And I will never quit until this job is done.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: And Fredericka, John McCain is at a private event, it's a fundraiser in Texas and then he's going to take the rest of the weekend off for mother's day. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right, Ted Rowlands, thanks so much in Bend, Oregon, where things are just now getting under way.
Stay with us next hour for the CNN "Ballot Bowl." It's your chance to learn about the candidates' plans from the contenders themselves. "Ballot Bowl" today 3:00 p.m. eastern, noon pacific.
Well it is indeed a big day in Texas. The president is the father of the bride. Details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: President Bush is today father of the bride. Daughter Jenna tying the knot later on today with long-time boyfriend Henry Hager. President Bush talks about it in his weekend radio address.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BUSH: Today is my daughter Jenna's wedding day. This is a joyous occasion for our family as we celebrate the happy life ahead of her and her husband Henry. It's also a special time for Laura, who this mother's day weekend will watch a young woman we raised together walk down the aisle.
(END OF AUDIO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Several hours before Jenna Bush actually ties the knot, CNN's Elaine Quijano is in Crawford. What do we know about this hush hush wedding?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Fredricka you know the official start of the wedding weekend was really yesterday, that is when there was a bridal lunch as well as a rehearsal dinner last night, followed by a big Texas sized celebration, but all of this of course, is a prelude to the momentous occasion later tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (voice-over): He may be the leader of the free world, but in the twilight of his presidency --
BUSH: Please excuse me if I'm a little sleepy, 3:00 a.m. this morning the red phone rang.
QUIJANO: George W. Bush is embarking on a new role, father-in- law.
BUSH: It was the damn wedding planner.
QUIJANO: For months President Bush has made light of becoming father of the bride to daughter Jenna, even joking about how future son-in-law Henry Hager asked his permission for Jenna's hand.
BUSH: So the guy comes to see me and he says, "I want to marry your daughter." I said, done deal.
QUIJANO: The lightness belies the emotional intensity of his daughter getting married.
BUSH: I've got a lot on my mind, by the way. Getting ready to march down the aisle.
QUIJANO: Twenty six year old Jenna Bush was born in Dallas, Texas, one minute after fraternal twin Barbara. Jenna is said to be more like her father, gregarious and fun-loving, qualities that landed her in trouble early on in her father's presidency for underage drinking. Her mischievous streak still apparent, campaigning for her father in 2004. But since then, Jenna Bush has carved out a different identity while entering adulthood, as a schoolteacher, a UNICEF intern, and a book author. Now as a bride, she's made clear she shares her father's affinity for her home state by having her wedding at her parents' Crawford ranch.
JENNA BUSH: I think the White House is a historical, beautiful building, of course and place. But I wanted to have something more private and something that fit my personality a little bit more. QUIJANO: Jenna Bush did offer a glimpse into her relationship with her father during a phone call while appearing on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" last December.
J. BUSH: Dad?
G. BUSH: Yes, baby.
J. BUSH: Are you mad?
G. BUSH: No, not at all. I do want to say Merry Christmas to the audience and I want to tell my little girl I love her.
QUIJANO: Now, as he prepares to give her away at her wedding, George W. Bush the father is learning to let go.
G. BUSH: It's been a blessing to see them grow up and I'm real proud of them.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO: And the president of course will be leaving office in eight months. He has said privately he would like grandchildren sooner rather than later. A point he's already made to daughter Jenna as he considers life beyond the White House. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: Yeah and I like the way First Lady Laura Bush answered the question about those grandchildren, too, that they would all have some sort of George kind of name, Georgina or Georgette.
QUIJANO: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: All in the family.
QUIJANO: That's right.
WHITFIELD: And all the family members and guests are there already, right, I mean something like 200?
QUIJANO: That's right, 200 family members, friends also. It was interesting that we talked to a former aide of George H.W. Bush who has also written a book called "All the President's Men," he said not all of Jenna's friends are actually invited because she was a little bit worried about their behavior. So there's been some concerns about perhaps a little wildness going on.
WHITFIELD: Oh, that's hilarious.
QUIJANO: But in all seriousness, there is just a huge extended Bush clan as you know, so those 200 people really are mostly family and friends.
WHITFIELD: Maybe there will also be kind of a post wedding party for all those who just simply weren't invited or couldn't make it. All right Elaine Quijano, thanks so much from Crawford.
QUIJANO: Sure.
WHITFIELD: And of course, we're also going to be talking to someone later on in the hour about how the town is preparing for that wedding. In the meantime, this is a worry that so many people, almost every American seems to have these days, their jobs and losing jobs. And whether people are losing their jobs because they are either a man or a woman. That's straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, many people have been forced to cut back on spending because they've lost their jobs. But that's just part of the story. It depends on if you're a man or a woman. Josh Levs is here to explain.
JOSH LEVS: I didn't know that.
WHITFIELD: I can't believe that there's going to be some disparity between men and women who's being let go or whatever is happening to their job.
LEVS: I was surprised. You would think it would be across the board. Right? The economy is down, it's affecting everybody. That's why the numbers I'm about to show you are so striking. And credit where it's due, I'll tell you first, I spotted an article this week from "Business Week" online, and it called the slump a guy thing. So I checked with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it's true. Take a look at these numbers. Between November and April the number of men working dropped from 75.8 million to 75.1 million. Meanwhile the number of women working went up from 65 million to 65.3. So you've got 700,000 fewer guys working and 300,000 more women working. Those are all figures for Americans age 20 and over. So why the gender gap? The big reason is the sectors. Construction manufacturing have been hurt really badly in this economy. Those are predominantly male sectors. Meanwhile, there are some majority female sectors that are doing pretty well, like education and health care. This is actually a good example, there's been a nursing shortage.
WHITFIELD: For a long time.
LEVS: A long time. But they're doing something about it.
WHITFIELD: Are we still in it?
LEVS: Yes. There is still a shortage but they're starting to hire more, they're starting to do something about it, which means there's more and more nurses being hired, predominantly female. But I don't want to create too rosy a picture. As "Business Week" points out, they say the situation is hardly good news for women. Their pay is stagnant and the so-called female economy cannot stay strong for long if the so-called male economy weakens too much. So I don't want to pretend that everything is grand on one side.
WHITFIELD: Because it's still something like 75 cents to a dollar. Women's to men's salary. I still have a problem with that.
LEVS: And you know what else? It got worse in the past year.
WHITFIELD: Really?
LEVS: Yeah the salaries. Take a look at this last figure. I actually have that one up here. In terms of pay it did get a little worse over the last year. If we can show that graphic here. What it shows is that the guy's salaries in general, they have been getting closer to what women are getting, it's been getting closer. But that gap has widened over the last year. The weekly earnings for men grew 4.6 percent. It only grew 3.1 percent for women. So what this means is the guys, what they were making grew at a faster rate so actually over the past year the gap got even worse.
WHITFIELD: If we know this, if it's public knowledge, how is it this continues? How is it that so many corporation, businesses, etcetera, continue to keep going with this?
LEVS: When it comes to that difference existing for the exact same job, that's when you get into lawsuits and structural form and that kind of thing. When it's that men and women have different jobs, then you know it's a lot bigger picture. When it's for the same job, obviously yeah, it's something that needs to be addressed. It should be the same.
WHITFIELD: We're waiting.
LEVS: We're all waiting.
WHITFIELD: Anyway, good report. Thanks Josh.
All right, well, all of it. Your house, your job, savings, debt, learn how "Issue #1," the economy, affects you because it does. "Issue #1", all next week noon eastern right here on CNN.
Here's a question that's being tossed about out there. Is it time for Hillary Clinton to get out of the race? We'll check out what the bloggers are saying straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Happening right now in the NEWRSOOM, cease fire in Baghdad. Iraq's government and Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr come to terms after weeks of fierce fighting. It's still not clear if all militias in the Sadr City area of Baghdad will abide by the truce.
And there has been some heavy fighting in Sudan. Military sources say armed rebels entered the capital city of Khartoum. Now CNN is learning that some of those or many of those military rebels have actually been defeated in this effort to overthrow the government. Earlier throughout the day, machine gunfire and explosions have been heard over the past 24 hours. Also, a curfew has been put into place this evening for citizens. There have been several reports of casualties.
And as the country faces catastrophe, we're talking Myanmar now, the military leaders there are holding a referendum today on a new constitution. Voting was postponed in areas devastated by the cyclone, but the United Nations had urged leaders to put it off entirely and concentrate on relief efforts.
Three humanitarian aid flights landed in Myanmar today and a fourth is expected to tomorrow. But Myanmar's rulers are still blocking international aid workers from actually entering the country and that's interfering with efforts to get the aid to cyclone survivors. Earlier this week, I spoke with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. I asked him about getting Myanmar's neighbors more involved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about the pressure that you might be able to use by the way of the other Asian community members. Say, for instance, China. Can you urge China, can you urge other countries that do have access to Myanmar to take those U.N. supplies, aid into that country into that country by way of these neighboring Asian countries?
BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: This is what I'm more so considering doing that way. But most important thing should come directly from the United Nations including myself. That's what I have been doing and will continue to do.
WHITFIELD: But there is an urgent need. If we're talking about no longer 40,000 or maybe even 50,000 but possibly a million people who are in peril, they can't afford to wait any longer. We're approaching a week now.
KI-MOON: This is a very tragic moment. This is a very crucial for the international community and people of Myanmar during this first few days, very vital to, first of all, help those affected people and to prevent any further spread of diseases.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. Here in this country, weather is certainly very bad. And it's been very dangerous. Jacqui Jeras is in the Severe Weather Center. We're talking about tornadoes that have touched down and now warnings of others.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: All right, back to presidential politics. White House or bust. That seems to be the rallying cry of Hillary Clinton this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And people say to me all the time, well, are you going to keep going? Well yes, of course, I'm going to keep going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Like the ever ready bunny, she says she's going to keep going and going and going. Her relentless uphill bid for the White House has the blogs a buzzing. Two influential bloggers with us right now. Nico Pitney is the national editor of the "Huffington post." Good to say you, Nico, joining us from New York. And Amanda Carpenter is a conservative blogger for TownHall.com, joining us from Washington. Good to see you.
OK lighting up the blogs. But are people also asking is it a fair question to even ask Hillary Clinton to bail out, Nico?
NICO PITNEY, NATIONAL EDITOR, HUFFINGTON POST: I think it's a fair question, but I don't think actually it would help her or Obama if she were to drop out immediately. One, she would still probably win West Virginia, which would be embarrassing to Obama having lost it with no other candidates in the race. Also I think winning in Oregon would be a perfect move for him, it's a mostly white state. The per capita income is lower in Ohio, so his victory if he wins that state, he does it with working class whites, I think it's a great sign for him.
WHITFIELD: Amanda?
AMANDA CARPENTER, TOWNHALL.COM: It's a push for her to get out of it mainly because people are just tired of this dragging on and on and on, but I sort of think of her as the Democratic insurance policy for the 2008 election. If Obama makes a mistake, she's in there teed up and ready to go.
WHITFIELD: Well, that's interesting. You said some people are expressing they are tired of it, but at the same time, this is energizing the whole process like never before. People are galvanized, interested in American politic, interested in the race for the presidency like we haven't seen in a long time. So isn't this a good thing for the political process?
CARPENTER: Sure, it's piquing interest, but at some point in time, I'm no Democrat, everybody knows that, but they have to figure out how they're going to face off against John McCain. The longer they keep focusing on each other, the less time they have to focus their energy against him.
WHITFIELD: All right Nico, there have been some who say this is what the process is all about, to be able to run and keep running until the race is over.
PITNEY: I think it's fine. I agree with what you said earlier. It is a good thing for the Democratic Party. The amount of data that the party is collecting from all these new voters, the number of volunteers, there's a report out today that Obama may have a million volunteers actively working for him in November with the numbers he's already collected so far in the primary. That is a massive unprecedented force. It should have the McCain campaign shaking in its boots. It's a great thing for us, I think.
WHITFIELD: Now, what about at super delegates? Especially this week, we've reported on so many defections, Amanda. And so you have to wonder if these super delegates are also sending a message that you know what? You're not going to be able to, Senator Clinton, get the number of delegates you need come Denver. So if you're counting on us as super delegates, we're not there for you?
CARPENTER: Well this is kind of what Howard Dean was trying to do, I think a few weeks ago in saying that we need to have all the super delegates on the record by July 1st. The thing that I think is most interesting about this is that we are in completely uncharted waters. They may come out and give a public endorsement by July 1st, but that doesn't stop them from changing again during the month of August in case something catastrophic would happen with the Obama campaigns.
WHITFIELD: Wow, look at those numbers, how tight it is. All right, Amanda Carpenter, Nico Pitney, thanks so much for your insight, appreciate it.
PITNEY: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: And of course stay with us next hour for more presidential politics. The CNN "BALLOT BOWL" is your chance to learn about the candidates' plans from the contenders themselves. "BALLOT BOWL" today 3 p.m. eastern, noon Pacific.
It is apparently the wedding of the year. At least in Crawford, Texas. What are the locals saying about it?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: OK. This Mother's Day weekend, Senator Hillary Clinton there appearing with her daughter Chelsea at a mother/daughter kind of fundraiser in New York. Let's take a listen.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I thank you for your support and your belief in what we're trying to do in our country. And I have to thank two of my favorite people, who have been friends and not only supporters but real mentors and leaders. Everyone knows that Charlie Rangel is a unique, special, wonderful human being in every respect. And I am so -- I go to bed --
WHITFIELD: Hillary Clinton there in New York, Barack Obama today in Oregon, stumping for votes and support there, and John McCain is in Houston, Texas today. And of course if you want to get the complete rundown of all the candidates' activities, what they're saying today. "BALLOT BOWL," that's your chance to hear all of that 3 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
In the meantime, while the candidates are stumping, trying to get votes, the president's daughter is trying to get hitched. Jenna Bush, well she may want to keep her wedding small and private, but she is after all the president's daughter. So privacy only goes so far. Take a look at these right here. Christmas ornaments engraved with her wedding date and her name as well as her beau Henry. You can even get a coffee mug of the bride and groom. Kind of reminiscent of the whole Lady Di thing. And there of course, is the president too. Maybe you want a teddy bear with Texas embroidered across its chest.
Well, we have Jamie Burgess on the phone right now because she happens to be the manager of a gift shop right there in Crawford, Texas, just down the road from where the wedding is taking place. All right, how quickly are all these items selling?
JAMIE BURGESS, RED BULL GIFT & GALLERY: Hello.
WHITFIELD: How are you?
BURGESS: Oh, I'm doing all right.
WHITFIELD: Is this exciting?
BURGESS: Yeah, it is exciting.
WHITFIELD: Well, tell me how hot off the press these items are? Are people snatching them up?
BURGESS: Snatching them up to the point that I'm sold out.
WHITFIELD: No?
BURGESS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: What are you sold out of?
BURGESS: I'm sold out of the coffee cup, the mugs and my leather coasters.
WHITFIELD: So are these mostly locals who are buying or are people coming from all over?
BURGESS: People from all over the United States are coming in.
WHITFIELD: You're kidding me?
BURGESS: No.
WHITFIELD: All right so even though -- are you a little offended that you didn't get an invite. You all are locals?
BURGESS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Are you a little disappointed?
BURGESS: Oh, it's going great. Local people coming in, I've got tourists coming in. Got the media, got y'all calling. We're staying busy.
WHITFIELD: And you know, there are 200 guests at the wedding there on the president's ranch. So how many of those -- it sounds like you're ringing up deals as we're talking right now. That's funny. So how many of the guests of the wedding have made their way in to your shop?
BURGESS: I wouldn't know, to tell you the truth.
WHITFIELD: Are people being secretive?
BURGESS: People say hello, they come in and buy a souvenir. I'm running the cash register right now, excuse me.
WHITFIELD: You're even selling the book that Jenna put out with her mom.
BURGESS: I'm sold out of those, too.
WHITFIELD: Did she ever pop into your shop? How often do you see her in downtown Crawford?
BURGESS: Who, Jenna?
WHITFIELD: Yeah.
BURGESS: She and Barbara came in when he first became president. But because of the 911 security, it's still high right now. They have a hard time on getting out and being able to walk around.
WHITFIELD: Overall, Ms. Burgess, have you all enjoyed being in the spotlight, that Crawford is the western White House? You always have, whether it be the international press corps or White House press corps coming through? A lot of activity involving the president in town?
BURGESS: Yes, it is.
WHITFIELD: Do you like that?
BURGESS: Oh, well, I enjoy meeting people. Can you give this man his change?
WHITFIELD: Well, in part, while your phone is ringing off the hook and while you continue to ring up all that merchandise. Jamie Burgess, thanks so much.
BURGESS: Thank you so much and I'm sorry I was so busy, I couldn't talk to you a whole lot.
WHITFIELD: That's all right, that's why we wanted to talk to you because you're so busy. Get back to work. Thanks so much, Ms. Burgess.
Also straight ahead, North Korea. Well usually it's off limits but CNN was able to get inside the country this time. A rare glimpse of what we found next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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WHITFIELD: North Korea is one of the world's most closed societies. So is it rare to get any reports out of the communist country, let alone a guided tour of the top secret nuclear plant. Yet CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour did just that. Back from her assignment, she joins me from New York. We've heard so much about North Korea's push to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. What did you see first hand?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: well, we did see it first hand happening. We were able to see it because we went in at a time that the New York Philharmonic went in, to play this historic concert in Pyongyang. And it came at a time when the nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea were really at a critical point and North Korea appeared to want to show us that they were genuine in meeting the demands to dismantle that infamous Yongbyon nuclear power plant.
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AMANPOUR (voice-over): On a cold winter morning, hours before the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's historic touchdown in North Korea, we are 60 miles outside the capital Pyongyang, driving down a long bumpy road on the way to a tightly shuttered outpost at the center of worldwide controversy.
Thank you for having us. We're very interested to see what's going on here. This is the top secret Yongbyon nuclear plant where North Korea used to make energy and has made plutonium for nuclear weapons. Shall we? OK. This is the last place we thought the North Koreans were ever let us film. But they want to make a point to see CNN to the world.
It's black as anything in there. Oh, scary as hell. In February 2007, North Korea agreed to disable Yongbyon in exchange for fuel oil, trade and being removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Is it strange for you to have press here? Though some might call this a carefully choreographed show. The heart has been removed and only the shell remains. The tour appeared to be a sincere effort to prove that they have shut the plant down.
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AMANPOUR: Now there are U.S. experts there as well monitoring this dismantlement and they say that it is going ahead and in fact the North Koreans say it's 90 percent dismantled. That cooling tower you saw just at the end of that report there, the North Koreans say they're going to blow it up and they're going to make that visible as a gesture and a very dramatic gesture that would render that plant incapable of producing plutonium.
They also, this week, have handed over to the United States a long sought important cache of nuclear weapons related documents. So even after the music of the concert ended and the orchestra went home, these nuclear negotiations proceeded and many believe that concert did provide some impetus to keep this relationship going.
WHITFIELD: This is so fascinating. In the meantime, you're the only journalist to actually have a conversation, talk with the top North Korean negotiator. So what is the status right now of the six party talks and what do you believe?
AMANPOUR: Well, I was very interested to talk to him because to be frank the point of going in as a journalist was really to try and get at the hard news there as well as the cultural news. I was the only one who was asked to come into the foreign ministry and speak to the North Korean nuclear negotiator, senior foreign ministry official.
He basically said repeatedly that the North Koreans were very serious about their commitment to dismantlement. He said that it did require the United States to respond in the way that they promised to respond, providing heavy fuel oil. North Korea is a power starved country, they need energy. They also want the sanctions removed and as you heard, to be removed from the list of states that sponsor terrorism and that is proceeding.
So he this was a very critical point to have the orchestra in, that it provided a very important window really for both countries to look at each other in different ways and the orchestra played in Pyongyang the U.S. national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner as tradition demand, but this was really incredible because these two countries are still in the state of war.
And the U.S. national anthem has not been played as you can imagine in public in Pyongyang. And the North Korean official told me that was an act of great political courage by both countries. So it does seem that this moment was very important.
WHITFIELD: Wow. And you know, what's really remarkable, too, is the video we just showed where it showed the women playing who were playing the instruments, you had candid conversations with them as well. And even asked them, what do you think about the Americans? They said they don't like, they trust the Americans yet. You were able to finally get access into that country by way of traveling with the New York Philharmonic which was actually invited by North Korea. Very confusing.
AMANPOUR: Well, it is confusing until you sort of stand back and sort of look at the history. Look, North Koreans have been taught that the United States started the Korean War, which divided the peninsula, which divided their families and they're convinced because their leaders tell them that the United States is dedicated to their destruction.
And of course with the U.S. also being hard lined towards North Korea, calling it the axis of evil, that has created a whole set of real sort of barriers between understanding. So the Philharmonic's visit went quite a long way to showing a different face of the United States.
And when I talked to one of those women in her house who herself was a musician, she said to me, do I look like the axis of evil? And you know, after she had heard the music, she had a different view of the American people. Because for the first time, with no filter, she had seen American people in the form of the orchestra hold out a hand of friendship.
And that kind of people to people diplomacy is priceless because it goes a long way to in fact preparing leaders for different kind of policies towards each other. And even U.S. officials are involved in the nuclear negotiations agreed that that was the case as well.
WHITFIELD: Boy, this really helps underscore sometimes there's nothing more diplomatic than music and sports. Christiane Amanpour, thanks so much, a must-see report. Christiana's "NOTES FROM NORTH KOREA" premieres tonight and tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Eastern, don't wasn't do miss it.
The "BALLOT BOWL" begins right now.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, everybody, welcome to this Saturday edition of "BALLOT BOWL," your chance to see the candidates unfiltered, on the campaign trail live. I'm Ted Rowlands, live in Bend, Oregon, where Barack Obama will be addressing this crowd behind me in just a few minutes. West Virginia is the next battleground state on this primary calendar. Voters of course head to the polls in West Virginia on Tuesday with a tight race. Such a tight race, every contest is so important right now. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider will be with us for the entire hour from New York as well. We'll talk to him in just a bit. We have a very busy schedule ahead in the next hour.
Basically, here's the game plan. Senator Clinton is speaking right now in New York. She's a at private fund raise, a Mother's Day themed fundraiser with daughter Chelsea. Here in Bend, Oregon, Senator Barack Obama is holding a rally reception. We expect him to go on stage at any time. But let's start things off by listening in to Senator Hillary Clinton.
CLINTON: It works best when we follow the way it's supposed to work. Separation of power, a co-equal branch of government in the Congress, in the Judiciary, that the executives should not be trying to have so much power and abusing it. And then I have a very long list, Hannah, about what we have to do. We have to really get back into working with the Congress. I would tell the Congress to please send me the bills that President Bush has vetoed.
