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American Morning
Search for Survivors in Deadly Earthquake in China Under Way; Decision Day in West Virginia; State of Emergency in Florida Declared Due to Wildfires
Aired May 13, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We're also talking a lot about the breaking news and the dramatic new numbers in China right now. At least 12,000 people are dead. Ten thousand are still missing from the most powerful earthquake there in decades. The scope of that devastation is making any rescue and relief effort extremely difficult.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
Entire city blocks have been toppled, homes and schools collapsed, and reports that a chemical plant has now ruptured bearing hundreds of people. Thousands of soldiers are carrying medical supplies on foot right now because the roads are blocked with rocks and debris. Rescuers are only now beginning to reach the epicenter of that quake in central China. We hope to have a live report coming up within the next few minutes.
We're also following breaking news out of Florida. Right now, wildfires have closed all 18 schools in the town of Palm Bay, about 60 miles southeast of Orlando. Police say that they think that an arsonist or group of arsonists set as many as nine fires. The drought and high winds are pushing the flames into neighborhoods and highways. Fifty homes and thousands of acres have now been burned. A 34-mile section of I-95 remains closed in Brevard County, and Florida's governor has now declared a state of emergency.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the "Most Politics in the Morning," as we said, it's primary day in West Virginia. Polls open now less than a half an hour from now. Hillary Clinton favored to win big, but it still may not be enough for her. Twenty-eight delegates at stake today. Only 189 pledged delegates remain after tonight.
Right now, Senator Barack Obama leads Senator Clinton by 166. As Clinton stays focused on an improbable comeback, Obama is looking ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And there were some folks who didn't want us to keep going until we got to West Virginia. They wanted to say West Virginia doesn't matter. I don't think they understand West Virginia or politics because West Virginia really matters when it comes to making the decisions affecting our country. SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need some truth telling out of Washington. Now, John McCain, John McCain, remember he liked to say he's part of the straight talk express, but let me tell you something. That straight talk express lost a couple wheels on the way to the Republican nomination because he hasn't been straight with the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: CNN's Sean Callebs is live from a polling site in Kanawha (ph) City, West Virginia this morning. And Sean, it doesn't seem to be any question that Hillary Clinton is going to win this one by a landslide. How are folks there this morning feeling?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that a lot of people in the state expect that she's going to do extremely well. If you look at the expectations game here, we expect a big turnout.
If you look at what's going on so far, a record 76,000 people have voted early and, of course, a big turnout is going to favor Hillary Clinton. The polls show that she could win by as much as 30 percentage points. But the big question is what happens after today?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, West Virginia. Thank you. Thank you. Love you back.
CALLEBS (voice-over): It came as no surprise but taking over the lead in the battle for superdelegates added a little more swagger to Barack Obama's campaign. And it happened as Hillary Clinton continues to enthuse crowds trying to get a maximum turnout in West Virginia.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a big day for West Virginia and it's a big day for America.
CALLEBS: The last time West Virginia had such an impact on the nation's political landscape was nearly 50 years ago when JFK was running for president. Senator Clinton is currently far ahead of Obama in the polls here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm supporting her because she wants to cut some gasoline taxes. I'm supporting her because of her stand on people losing their homes, trying to do something in that arena. I'm for her wanting more jobs.
CALLEBS: The economy is the overriding issue in this state. But health care, benefits for retirees, education, and the ongoing war also rate pretty highly on voters' minds.
RED DAWSON, WEST VIRGINIA VOTER: It's a scary issue, especially at some of our ages, you know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
DAWSON: We're going to be affected by it. I'm supposed to get Social Security in October. I still want it.
CALLEBS: One more twist -- the Republican Party in West Virginia says some party members are switching to independent or Democrat just to vote against Senator Clinton.
MELODY POTTER, WEST VIRGINIA GOP: I think it's a strategy to maybe knock another candidate out of the nomination, and people do things for various reasons.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: Barack Obama didn't spend a great deal of time campaigning in the state. However, John, if you look at the amount of money that the candidates sunk into this state, he outspent Hillary Clinton by about a two to one margin.
ROBERTS: Sean Callebs for us this morning in Kanawha City, West Virginia. Sean, thanks. We'll check back with you a little bit later on.
And after today, there are just five contests left in this primary season. Next Tuesday, it's Kentucky and Oregon with a total of 103 delegates. Oregon, a mail-in vote, by the way, which is already under way. On June the 1st, it's Puerto Rico with 55 delegates. Then on June the 3rd, the final two primaries, Montana and South Dakota, with just 31 delegates between them -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, new this morning. The Pentagon dropping murder charges against a suspected terrorist held at Guantanamo Bay for his alleged role in the September 11 attacks. Investigators say that Saudi national Mohammed al- Katani (ph) missed a chance to be involved in the attacks because he was denied entry to the U.S. by an immigration agent.
Charges were filed in February, but the convening authority for military commissions dropped them on Friday. Military lawyers would not give a reason why but have previously said that al-Katani (ph) was subjected to harsh interrogation methods authorized by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The price of gas reached a new high for the seventh straight day, now at $3.73 a gallon. According to AAA, up more than a penny in the last day. Today Washington is making plans to do something about it.
Also, Democrats in the House and Senate want a windfall tax on oil companies. Republicans want to increase drilling in Alaska. Well, both sides want to temporarily stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until prices fall.
And President Bush will be discussing the impact of high oil prices on the U.S. and world economies when he meets with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah later this week. The president is expected to say that demand for oil is just too high compared to the supply. The two leaders last talked about high oil prices in January.
ROBERTS: It's coming up on seven minutes after the hour. Breaking news, fire raging in south Florida. Here's some live pictures from Palm Bay, Florida, and you can see these have been burning all night long and burning dangerously close to homes and schools.
Our Rob Marciano has got a live report from the fire lines just ahead for us.
New video this morning of the earthquake in China sent in by you, our I-reporters. Images at the moment that disaster strikes. Take a look at this. This is 500 miles away. Your video coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
And in tough economic times, many consumers tighten their belts. But we'll visit one pizza chain that's certainly making dough, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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PHILLIPS: Moments away from voting in West Virginia. The Democratic primary begins in about 20 minutes from now. We're going to check in with the best political team on TV live at the polling places all morning long.
ROBERTS: It's nine minutes after the hour now. Do you want to bet as we wake up in this Tuesday morning that there's another record price for gasoline?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right. $3.73. But --
ROBERTS: And the big but here, maybe there's some alternative sources for gasoline.
VELSHI: Oh, yes, yes, yes, that's what I'm here to talk about. There might be options for gasoline. And one of the things I want to talk to you about over the next few days is when we talk about gasoline and how it comes from crude oil, what else can we do to make gasoline for the moment?
And there are some options around. A few weeks ago, I mentioned to you that I have spoken to the CEO of a company in South Africa called Sasol, which makes coal from -- which makes gasoline from coal. That's a coal-rich country, and more than half the gas in South Africa is actually made by this company.
Well, that can be done in the United States as well and we're looking into that. My colleague Deborah Feyerick has a story on how that can be done. But let's just discuss how you get gasoline from coal.
You basically start with coal, which we have a great deal of in the United States. You convert it into a waxy crude oil, so to speak, which then goes through a refining process and becomes gasoline. The advantage of doing this is that it reduces the reliance on crude oil that we have, and the fuel that actually burns once you have made it into gasoline is cleaner than regular gasoline that you buy. It's very, very clean, in fact.
The disadvantage, of course, is getting it to become that clean fuel, releases carbon dioxide and there are a lot of people who think that anything you do with coal is very dirty. So the process to make the clean oil can be very dirty.
The demand, if this where to take off, could look a little like the demand for corn to make ethanol. And what if we start using all of this coal for gasoline and then the other problems it will take years to implement this sort of thing in the U.S. We don't have factories that do this right now. There are discussions under way.
The Air Force would like to use this. They've certified all their aircraft for using jet fuel that's made from coal. So there are lots of things -- it's a possibility.
What it would do is reduce our reliance on crude oil. It's not necessarily cheaper. In fact, in the early stages it would be quite expensive to do this.
ROBERTS: Do we know how expensive it would be?
VELSHI: Well, Sasol, the South African company, says that the cost of a gallon of gasoline extracted from coal would only be about 2 cents cheaper at the moment than the current price that we pay for gasoline, because it's still -- you have to build infrastructure. In the early stages it's very hard because you have to build infrastructure.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: At least it's not more expensive.
PHILLIPS: It's an alternative.
VELSHI: It's not more expensive, and it's an alternative.
PHILLIPS: Right.
ROBERTS: Yes.
VELSHI: So, again, there's lots of -- lots of discussion to have is to whether this is the right thing to do.
ROBERTS: Unless, of course, like we saw with corn, the pressure, you know, sends the price of coal through the roof.
VELSHI: That's the problem. The idea would be if you had a few options and I'll discuss them with you through the course of the week, a few different things you could do instead of using crude oil, and that way nothing sends the price up too high of any of these commodities that you use.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to this. It will be an educated week.
VELSHI: We'll try. ROBERTS: It's always good to go home smarter than you came in.
VELSHI: That's what I -- that's not hard when you're me.
ROBERTS: Or me.
However --
PHILLIPS: I'm in between the two smartest men.
VELSHI: Some guys, yes.
ROBERTS: At the desk.
PHILLIPS: OK, I'm not going there.
But I will tell you right now at this very moment that rescuers just started to arrive in central China where more than 10,000 people are still trapped. Entire towns are devastated. We'll have the breaking details as they happen.
And firefighters working on an out of control wildfire, actually a number of them right now in Florida. Rob Marciano live on the front lines. We're going to check in with him next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A state of emergency as wildfires spread across Brevard County, Florida. The flames fueled by dry, windy weather have damaged or destroyed at least 70 homes, torched more than 3,500 acres. And right now, the fires are burning as far north as Daytona Beach. Authorities believe the fires may have been intentionally set.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Rob Marciano live in Palm Bay, Florida, where a number of those homes have been destroyed. One of which still smolders behind me in a burned out area of this section of Florida. As mentioned, approximately 70 homes damaged or destroyed. Assessment teams will be out today and tomorrow to figure out maybe more, maybe less. Hopefully less certainly.
Meanwhile, hundreds of homes have been evacuated in this fire. Well, they're not saying it's under control. They're not saying it is contained at all. Here's what the assistant fire chief had to say about the fire early this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASST. CHIEF JIM STABLES, PALM BAY FIRE RESCUE: I don't want to give a false sense of security. What I'm going to say is we have units in place to make sure that we're not going to burn homes. You may see uncontrolled wildfire burning, but the homes is what we're trying to make sure don't burn. We're into structural protection.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MARCIANO: This is not your typical fire that you might see in a forested area. It's very spotty. It's been jumping because of the high winds and the dry weather.
They've got very highly combustible fuels like palmettos and pine trees and heavy brush that they're up against, and it's just difficult to get a hold on this thing because there isn't really any sort of fire line. It's just really spotty and it's been jumping from one home to the next.
If there's any good news is that the winds are a little bit more calm this morning. We do expect them to shift and the fire chief thinks that with that shift, hopefully that fire will be burned back onto areas that have already been burned. And some of that wind will be coming off the water so that may lift the humidity levels just a little bit.
But the rainfall here has been pretty sparse until late. There are on a streak of 35 days in a row with less than a tenth of an inch of rain. So the soil content of water is very, very dry.
In total across the states, 82 fires currently burning in 14 counties and 16,000 acres burning at the moment. We have a critical fire danger, John and Kyra, in effect again today.
Yesterday was extreme, which is pretty much off the charts, and that's one of the reasons they had a hard time handling this. The assistant fire chief also told me off camera this is the worst fire conditions he's seen in this area in his 20 years of experience. Back up to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Rob Marciano for us this morning, and Rob will be reporting from Florida all morning on those fires.
Meantime, you're out, you're out, and you're out in our "Hot Shot" now. Check this out.
It was off the bat of Toronto's Lyle Overbay last night in Cleveland. Runners on first and second go on the pitch. Indian's second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera makes a diving stab, steps on the bag, tags the runner from first for an extremely rare, unassisted triple play. Take a look at that. Not bad at all.
Just the 14th time in major league history that a player has made all three outs at once without any help. And he did it all by walking about three feet.
PHILLIPS: I would say calm, cool and selected. Take a look at it one more time. He just -- it's like notice there's no big deal. OK. Let me just --
ROBERTS: Totally set it up. There's the catch.
PHILLIPS: There in (ph) my glove.
ROBERTS: Boom. PHILLIPS: Tag the player. I just made history.
ROBERTS: Yes, look at that. Boom, he's up, walks about three feet to the bag. Boom, there you go. Oh, tag you, too. You're out. Triple play.
PHILLIPS: That's why he gets paid the big bucks.
ROBERTS: You know, he was obviously making the out on second base there and it looks like he looked up and said, whoa, I'm third, boom.
PHILLIPS: I think I got it again.
ROBERTS: There you go. If you got a "Hot Shot," send it to us. Head to our Web site, CNN.com/am. Follow the "Hot Shot" link.
PHILLIPS: It was the best of times and the worst of times. Well, some businesses are struggling with the slow economy. Others are doing just fine. The tale of two economies coming up.
And we're getting a new look at the moment the deadly Chinese earthquake hit from an American student studying abroad. His I-report coming up next.
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ROBERTS: Twenty-one minutes after the hour, and there it is. Nine minutes and counting to decision day in West Virginia. The Democratic primary begins in eight minutes and 52 seconds when the polls open. Expected to be a big win for Hillary Clinton. It will not help her cause though because the math is still stacked against here.
We'll check in with the best political team on television live at the polling places in West Virginia all morning long, and then, of course, complete coverage of the returns tonight on ELECTION CENTER -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, more breaking news now from China. Reports that the first rescue workers are now at the remote epicenter of the earthquake in China. At least 12,000 people killed, 10,000 still missing.
Veronica De La Cruz joins us with a look at some of the shots that were snapped by our I-reporters inside the country. And boy, that helps us when we can't get access into something like this. I- reporters mean everything to us with regard to visuals.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: It truly does. I mean, they're right there on the scene. We're going to go and get right to it.
One of our star I-reporters who's been there, Colin Jones, he's an American living in China. He said the quake felt like a wave of dizziness. Take a look. Then suddenly tons of people on the street, Kyra. He also shot this photo. He said some people were shirtless, some people were barefoot. They're running from buildings.
Kyra, take a look at this. Here you see a woman. She ran out of a hospital. She still has the IV attached to her arm. Another photo there from Colin Jones.
This is the scene there. Darkness falling, people scared to go back inside because, number one, they aren't able to because of the damage to their quarters. Also, they were frightened so they decided to set up camp outdoors. They didn't want to go back inside.
Peter Olsson sent us this photo. He said that his experience was really frightening. He was separated from his daughter Nadine for two hours.
Again, let's go back to Colin Jones. Another wide open space, another wide open space here to sleep in. Colin Jones sent us this photo.
This is actually a soccer field in Chongqing. People there sleeping in the soccer field. Again, scared to go back inside.
Kyra, I want to share some video with you. This is from Kent Campbell. He also is an American college student in China.
This is a body of water normally still. There you see it splashing around. You really kind of see the strength of that quake.
So, you know, something really interesting to note Kyra. Again, a couple college students there, American college students living abroad there in China. Like you said, you know, these I-reports we get them instantaneously. They're really able to show us what the scene is there on the ground.
And some people were actually writing in to I-report saying, you know, I have friends, relatives, who are living in China. I need to find out how they're doing.
We're going to go ahead and throw up a link on our Web site CNN.com/am. Americans are being urged to contact the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. So, again, if you need to, you can contact -- you can logon to CNN.com/am. You can also send us an I-report by logging on to ireport.com -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Veronica, thanks so much. And stick around because coming up in just a few minutes we're going to go live inside China for an exclusive report from our own John Vause -- John.
ROBERTS: A war brewing on Capitol Hill today over educating our veterans. A new GI Bill essentially guarantees a full-ride scholarship for service members to any in-state public university as long as they serve at least three years.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are on board, but John McCain opposes it, floating an alternative bill that's far less generous. We're going to talk to the co-sponsor of the enhanced GI Bill, Chuck Hagel, a little bit later on this morning.
But first, it's this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Do you think military members who served three years on active duty should be given a full ride for college?
We want to hear from you. Cast your vote at CNN.com/am, and we also want to hear from you via e-mail. Tell us why you think it's a good or a bad idea. And if you've ever been on the GI Bill, tell us what it did for you. Again, that's CNN.com/am. Follow the links that say "contact us."
PHILLIPS: And as John mentioned, polls are about to open in West Virginia. We're going to hear what former candidate John Edwards thinks about Hillary Clinton's chances of staying in the race even if she wins West Virginia.
And he was an NFL star who left behind a $3.5 million contract to fight for his country after 9/11. The army says that Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire, but his family says that story just doesn't add up. We're going to hear from Pat Tillman's mother and her four- year search for answers.
And we're watching breaking news in China. New numbers in this morning and a new look at the devastation. We're live from the earthquake, the disaster zone right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Pat Tillman walked away from the NFL to join the military after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He died in a confusing scene in the mountains of Afghanistan. His death has been the subject of several investigations, inquiries and two congressional hearings. Now, four years later his family has publicly expressed frustration over what they call the military's lies about their 27-year-old son's death.
Pat's mother, Mary Tillman, has pored over thousands of pages of army documents and chronicles the family's search for truth in her new book, "Boots on the Ground by Dusk." And Mary Tillman joins me now.
Good morning, and may I say first of all, our sincere condolences for your loss. It was just so tragic.
MARY TILLMAN, PAT TILLMAN'S MOTHER: Thank you. Good morning to you, too.
ROBERTS: Why do you think the military gave you the story about Pat's death that it gave you? And this was a -- he was a victim of fratricide. It was an accidental shooting by members of his own squad. The military initially said that he had died at the hands of insurgents in Afghanistan. Why do you think they gave you that story?
TILLMAN: Well, the month of April 2004 was not a good month in the war in Iraq. The Abu Ghraib prison scandal was breaking. There was turmoil in Fallujah. The most casualties of the war thus far were in April 2004, and to have their most high profile soldier die was kind of a catastrophe for the military and the administration.
ROBERTS: You know, I talked to -- I talked to a former military person about this a couple of years ago, and that person told me that they would have readily given you that description to save you from the pain of knowing what really happened. What do you think of that?
TILLMAN: I think they probably do, do that, but I don't think it's to save families from pain. I think it's really to cover up their own ineptitude and negligence. But I also think that in this case because of Pat's high-profile status, turning this into a heroic kind of narrative served their purpose at the time. It deflected the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
ROBERTS: He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, and in the Silver Star is a citation. It talked all about the death of your son in terms of what the original Pentagon story was. And here is what you wrote about that. You said, "Since it was known within minutes that Pat's death was obviously a fratricide, the Silver Star was something given to him for public relations purposes and, in my opinion, to stir patriotic feeling."
Did you really think that the Army went so far as to use that award as part of a cover up? And what does it mean to you as a parent when your child is posthumously awarded the Silver Star, to have the citation around it a complete fabrication?
MARY TILLMAN, AUTHOR, "BOOTS ON THE GROUND BY DUSK": It's upsetting. It's disrespectful to Pat. It's disrespectful to the soldiers around him. It's disrespectful to us. It's a slap in the face to everyone, and Pat is not the only soldier that this has happened to and that's why this book is so important.
ROBERTS: In what sort of discussion do you hope that this book stirs again?
TILLMAN: Well, I just want people to kind of see everything laid out and make people aware. I think that the public has been numbed to being lied to and complacent. And I think that this is important. That if this was their child, their husband, their brother they wouldn't want this to happen to them.
ROBERTS: It's a compelling read. Great book.
TILLMAN: Thank you very much.
ROBERTS: Mary Tillman, thanks very much for being with us today. It's great to see you.
TILLMAN: Thank you.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, West Virginia. The polls just opened right now. It's the first time in decades that you, the voters there, will have a huge say in choosing the Democratic nominee. 28 delegates up for grabs. Only 189 pledge delegates are left after tonight and right now Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton by 166, but Clinton says she can sway the swing states.
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SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A Democrat doesn't win the White House without winning West Virginia. That's a fact. Please, do everything you can to turn out as many voters as possible. This is going to be a crucial turning point in this election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Barack Obama doesn't have high expectations for West Virginia, but he does for the general election. He's campaigning in red and swing states aiming his shots at John McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John McCain, remember he liked to say he's part of the straight talk express, but let me tell you something. That straight talk express lost a couple wheels on the way to the Republican nomination because he hasn't been straight with the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: John McCain fighting back going after Democrats and independents. He is going to an environmental round tables, the pool table today in Washington State making the environment one of the key elements of his presidential bid.
John Edwards weighing in on the campaign that's been going on without him for months now. Last night Larry King asked him if he thought it was time for Hillary Clinton to get out?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN EDWARDS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The one thing I would never do is say to Senator Clinton, who is a strong candidate and has as much experience in this as anybody around, what she needs to do. She doesn't need advice from me. She's does run a strong campaign. I think she's actually as a candidate become stronger. The odds against her have become longer, unfortunately, and I think she's in a very difficult place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, Edwards also says that he thinks that the long contest has also made Obama a stronger and tougher candidate. He says he has no interest in being on the ticket as the vice-presidential nominee again.
Hillary Clinton expected to win big in West Virginia. We'll ask Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, what her next move is coming up live at 6:54 Eastern Time. And tonight join Wolf Blitzer and the Best Political Team on TV for full coverage of the West Virginia primary. That begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right there. ROBERTS: Some people wondering does John Edwards want something, maybe attorney general?
PHILLIPS: We were talking about this this morning, weren't we? That's what everybody is putting their bets on.
ROBERTS: Oh, we'll see.
Meantime, Alina Cho here now with other stories new this morning.
Good morning to you.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. And we begin with breaking news, guys. Good morning. Rescuers searching for survivors trapped in Central China at this hour. At least 12,000 people now believed to be killed. Buildings, schools, and at least one chemical plant all collapsed. Right now soldiers and relief workers are heading to some of the hardest hit areas on foot. That's because many of the roads are blocked.
CNN's John Vause, one of the few Western reporters on the ground near the epicenter. He joins us from the region by phone.
John, Good morning. What's the latest?
JOHN VAUSE, CNN BEIJING CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Alina. What we've been trying slowly to move up the side of a mountain to get towards the province of the (INAUDIBLE). And that is where Chinese authorities say that as many as 7,000 people in fact died. As we made our way up this road, the full scale of the damage from this earthquake, it's just staggering, row after row of houses which have not been collapsed, but have been completely smashed apart.
And what we are seeing for hundreds of miles, tens of thousands of people who have gathered on the side of the road in parks, under tarpaulins, under tents, whatever they can get, large sheets of plastics to protect themselves from this miserable drizzle which has been falling steadily throughout the day. They had nowhere to go. Their homes have either been destroyed or they've been made structurally unsound and they're too worried, to scared to go back to them.
And they're also concerned about aftershocks. There have been reports of more aftershocks even now, more than 24 hours after that initial 7.9 magnitude quake. What we've also seen as we've headed up the side of this mountain is the entire side of the hill in many places has just been swept away by these land slides and parts of the Valley have actually been filled in.
It is truly staggering when you see what has happened to this part of the -- of China, to the geography of this part, to the landscape. The force of this earthquake at the time must have been terrifying.
Alina? CHO: John, we're just now getting live pictures of the region where you are in Guixi Township. I was wondering if you might be able to step in front of the camera. You mentioned that people sort of huddled under tents there. I'm wondering if people are getting the food and the water that they probably so desperately need right now. Are they getting relief?
VAUSE: Well, Alina, I can't hear you right now so let me just walk you through what is actually happening here at this very small township with is about 20 miles away from Sichuan County. What we have here is one of the stories about the people who are wounded, who have nowhere else to go, who are under these tarpaulins who essentially waiting for help. We have spoken to people here. They have told us that they need food, they need medical attention and they're not getting it.
What we've also seen in our journey out this side of the mountain, a woman being dragged along in a makeshift stretcher. These are the buildings I was talking about earlier before, the ones which have just simply collapsed and have been smashed to pieces by this earthquake. A very powerful earthquake. And you see this steady stream of foot traffic.
These are the people who lived in these mountains whose homes have now been destroyed who really have nowhere else to go. And we have heard so much about this massive Chinese rescue operation which is meant to be in full swing and it could very well be under way in Sichuan County, as I said about 20 miles up the road.
But for these people here right now there is actually no help. There is no aid. We have not seen a relief worker on the ground. There is no medical care. There is nothing. So for these people who are growing increasingly desperate, who are dazed and now confused and have lost almost everything that they ever had, there's now an urgent need to help.
Alina?
CHO: And these first few days are so critical. John Vause, one of the few reporters on the ground there in Guixi Township, China following that devastating earthquake. John, thank you. We'll check back with you later.
The U.S. is now sending a second cargo plane loaded with relief for cyclone victims in Myanmar. The government there says at least 62,000 people are dead or missing, but the United Nations says the real figure is more than 100,000 dead or missing. More than a million are said to be homeless and reports are emerging that the military regime is hoarding higher quality foreign aid and handing out rotten food.
Coming up in a couple of minutes, we're going to hear from Admiral Timothy Keating. He is the head of the U.S. Pacific Command and he's going to update us on the relief efforts there.
Barbara Walters is talking more about her affair with a married U.S. senator back in the 1970s. Last night on "LARRY KING LIVE" Walter has defended her decision to publicize the affair with Senator Edward Brooke who is black in her new memoir "Audition."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS, AUTHOR, "AUDITION": Remember, first of all, this was 31 years ago. Remember that he knew that it was going to be in the book. Remember that this is a new marriage -- a new marriage he's probably been married 29 years or so. So I don't really think that it affect his marriage today. I was doing it because I also felt that it's a part of history. It's a part of the way the relationship was then and how it would be treated today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Well, it certainly selling books more than a quarter of a million in less than a week, and remember you can catch "LARRY KING LIVE" weeknight at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.
And a man who claims he had to sit in the bathroom on a flight is suing JetBlue now for $2 million. Listen to this story. The man claims a flight attendant complained that her seat was uncomfortable so the pilot apparently told the man to give up his seat to the flight attendant and quote, unquote "hang out" in the bathroom. He claims he spent the last 90 minutes of a flight to New York from San Diego in that bathroom. JetBlue so far has declined comment.
I can tell you there would be some serious air rage if that was me on the flight. And I have heard about flight delays, flight problems, but certainly nothing like this.
ROBERTS: Seems beyond possible.
CHO: Doesn't it? Yes, it doesn't seem like it would be -- there would be some legal issue but at any rate this is what this man says happened to him.
ROBERTS: Wow, let us know what happens with this.
CHO: I certainly will, John.
ROBERTS: Thank you. The pizzeria and the cigar shop. The slowing economy has hurt one but surprisingly helped the other. We'll tell you which is cooking and which is going up in smoke. Coming up. Kind of give it away, didn't it?
State of emergency. Schools are closed, homes threatened as firefighters work around the clock to contain a raging wildfire in Florida. We're live on the ground, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 42 minutes after the hour. We're back with a special AMERICAN MORNING edition of the Election Center and continuing to cover issue no.1 -- the economy. With the economy slowing down and gas prices heating up, a lot of Americans have had to cut their spending, but some businesses are making dough. Our John Zarrella has got that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN FEDORUK, BUSINESS SLOWING DOWN: OK. The torpedo.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For four years, John Fedoruk has watched his business go up in smoke. That's good when you run Three J's Cigar Shop in Davie, Florida.
FEDORUK: Six and seven A's (ph) by 48, give me a couple of those.
ZARRELLA: But now Fedoruk finds himself searching for new ways to bring in business.
FEDORUK: I have to get somebody to go out to the golf courses and hand out a free cigar with my business card.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.
ZARRELLA: Fedoruk says business is off 10 percent. Smokers say their cigar money now goes into their gas tanks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was smoking about two a day, but in the last month I've cut back to like one a day because of gas prices.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, I find myself now trying to smoke less expensive cigar.
ZARRELLA: The smokers say they're eating out less, too. Many restaurants are suffering, but at Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, people are loosening their belts, not tightening them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you can't give up the good food.
ZARRELLA: In a tough economy people are still going to eat out, says owner Anthony Bruno.
ANTHONY BRUNO, EXPANDING RESTAURANT CHAIN: And I think they just care about their dollar a little bit more. They'll just spend it as long as they know they're getting something they can count on it.
ZARRELLA: Bruno's costs have gone up. Flour doubled in price, but Bruno says business is up 25 percent at this gourmet pizza, chicken wings and salad restaurant. And the poor economy actually helped the company's expansion plans.
BRUNO: Or we can get a little better deals, a little better locations, little less money.
ZARRELLA: It's a concept that Bruno says just caught fire, sort of like the pizzas.
John Zarrella, CNN, Fort Lauderdale.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ZARRELLA: Now, one of the ways that John Fedoruk here is bringing in new business is manufacturers will come in, they'll run a cigar tasting. They'll hand out bunches of free cigars and give 20 percent off. And that can save these people a lot. You know, when a cigar runs 8.50 for this one. Some are up to $25, John.
So, it seems to be helping Fedoruk's bottom line. Any way he can to bring in new business. And again that pizza restaurant is doing just fine.
John?
ROBERTS: Great line, too. People loosening their belts as opposed to tightening them. John Zarrella for us this morning.
John, thanks very much.
PHILLIPS: Well, the U.S. is sending another plane packed with aid to Myanmar, but it's not nearly enough, according to the head of the U.S. military in the Pacific. We'll have an update on the relief efforts.
Plus, the brutal heat and wind fanning fierce wildfires in Florida. Live pictures now via our affiliate there. We're going to talk with Rob Marciano, live on the fire line in Palm Bay. We're going to talk to him, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: 82 fires currently burning in the state of Florida. You're looking at live aerial photography from Brevard County, where 3,500 acres have burned and upwards of 70 homes damaged or destroyed.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Rob Marciano reporting from Palm Bay, Florida with scorched homes behind me. And still officials here saying that they don't have a handle on this fire. It's very spotty. It's not like your typical fire in a forest where you have a fire line and you try to dig around that.
With all the winds and dry weather they have the past couple of days, the fire has just been jumping. With the sun coming up, though, the winds are a little more calm today. They expect them to shift a little bit. That may very well help them. But nonetheless, there's still a critical fire danger in effect for the entire state of Florida today.
And let's go to the maps and show you what we have highlighted for you. No rain in the forecast. They haven't seen a whole bunch of rain here. As a matter of fact, during a stretch of 35 days where they have seen less than a tenth of an inch of rain during that daily period.
Humidity levels will be dangerously low today. That's going to be the main concern. It will be warm. We've had record-breaking temperatures in many spots, especially in south central Florida the past couple days. And again, no rain in the forecast.
As far as what winds are doing right now, relatively calm compared to yesterday. 14 to 20-mile-an-hour winds in spots and those are expected to pick up somewhat, but they should be off the water.
95 -- I-95 closed yesterday afternoon during the height of rush hour for seven miles. Still closed. Schools closed today, John and Kyra. And there's the rainfall across the northeast that Floridians certainly wish they could have down here. Back to you guys in New York.
ROBERTS: And (INAUDIBLE) to the rainy season, too.
Rob Marciano for us this morning. Rob, thanks very much.
Voting under way right now in West Virginia. Can Hillary Clinton change the nomination equation with a win? Her campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe joins us, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 52 minutes after the hour. The polls in West Virginia have been open now for some 22 minutes, and, of course, tonight on the CNN Election Center we'll bring you all of the returns and analysis of where the race has been so far and where it's going from here on in with five contests left after today's primary.
Quick check of this morning's "Quick Vote" question. We have been asking should military members who serve three years on active duty be given a full ride for college? It's in the GI Bill. It's before Congress right now co-sponsored by Senator Chuck Hagel and Jim Webb from Virginia. We'll be talking with Senator Hagel about it a little bit later on as well. 94 percent of you say yes, six percent say no. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll tally your votes throughout the morning.
We'd also like to hear from you via e-mail. Send us an e-mail. Tell us why you think it's a good idea or a bad idea or if you've been on the GI Bill, tell us what it did for you. Again, that's cnn.com/am and follow the links that say contact us.
PHILLIPS: Primary numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Let's have a huge vote, West Virginia. Let's show the world that West Virginia knows what kind of president we need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Is Hillary Clinton counting on the party to break the rules? Her campaign chairman joins us live.
And forget oil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 50 percent of this is gas right now by weight and that's a (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Why some say coal holds the answer to the energy crisis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Polls in West Virginia opened a little less than 30 minutes ago. And already we're counting down to when the polls close, 12 hours 34 minutes and 7 seconds from now. 28 delegates at stake in what is expected to be a blowout for Hillary Clinton. Is there any way that a win could change the nomination math that is tilting heavily toward Barack Obama?
Well, joining me now is Terry McAuliffe, he is the chairman of the Clinton campaign. He's with us from Washington. Terry, good morning. Good to see you. Thanks for being up early.
TERRY MCAULIFFE, CHAIRMAN, CLINTON CAMPAIGN: John, great to be with you. You bet.
ROBERTS: So let's look at the math. She trails in overall delegates, contests won, and the popular vote. So what's the path to the nomination for her?
MCAULIFFE: After tonight, I think you'll see Hillary have a significant win. She'll win next week in Kentucky. John, these are two purple states. Two states that we won in 1992, won in 1996. She'll win these two contests, will win Puerto Rico, and Hillary Clinton has the best message to take into the fall campaign, and we'll move ahead in the popular vote. So by the end of this process, three weeks from today, she will be ahead in the popular vote, will be very close on delegates, probably less than a hundred different out of 4,000, then people got to make the decision who is the best candidate to go after John McCain.
ROBERTS: Let me get you to break that down. How will she be ahead in the popular vote?
MCAULIFFE: Well, clearly today if you take everyone who has voted for Hillary Clinton and pulled the lever, she has gotten 16.6 million people who have voted for her. 16.7 million have voted for Senator Barack Obama.
ROBERTS: Now that's if you include Florida and Michigan.
MCAULIFFE: That's right, if you take everyone who is voting. Now, the issue in Florida and Michigan is you know, John, the DNC is deciding what to do about the delegates. However, no one questions that they voted. They went, they were certified at the county level, they were certified at the state level. When we finish this process we'll have a big win tonight, Kentucky will be another big win, Puerto Rico, 2.5 million registered Democrats there, we will have another big win there, and we will end this process up with a head esteem winning the states that we have to win in the general election.
She wins Florida in the general today, she wins Ohio. Today we win Missouri. Those are very powerful arguments.
ROBERTS: So how do you explain, Terry, that the majority of the superdelegates who have committed since the last contest have broken for Barack Obama?
MCAULIFFE: Well, I think after last week when most of the pundits, not you, of course, John, but some of the folks on television tried to declare the race over, I think some of the superdelegates saw that and said well, I better make a decision. But most of the folks, you would have expected avalanche of superdelegates the other day, that didn't happen.
And we have picked up superdelegates. He has picked up superdelegates. So it goes on. He needs superdelegates at the end of the process, so do we. The argument is going to be after June 3rd when all the voting is done and Florida and Michigan have been seated after the rules and bylaws meeting. Who is it that can best take on John McCain?
Hillary Clinton, her coalition of seniors, women, blue collar, those folks will help us win the states. We've got to win on November 4th.
ROBERTS: Let me come back to the popular vote for a second if I could, Terry. You said on an e-mail on Sunday night, I'm on your mailing list, by the way so I got it as well.
MCAULIFFE: Why don't you send us money?
ROBERTS: Not going to do that, Terry.
MCAULIFFE: All right.
ROBERTS: Or declare who I'm for or against.
MCAULIFFE: There's still time.
ROBERTS: You wrote in this, Hillary is within striking distance of winning the popular vote nationwide, a key part of our plan to win the nomination. So many people out there are going to say you're trying to change the rules here at the 11th hour.
MCAULIFFE: We're not. Listen, the issue comes down to the superdelegates -- ultimately for the delegates in Florida and Michigan. The rules and bylaws committee of the Democratic National Committee will hear that case on May 31st. The issue is they took away 100 percent of the delegates. It was 50 percent in the rule. Superdelegates were taken away.
They are superdelegates because they're members of Congress. There are not there because of a day change. So there are legitimate questions that people have. The bottom line is this is a country of 50 states. Of those two states, not 48. Of those two states, 2.5 million people voted. They are angry today. I have been in Florida. I have been in Michigan. They say we want to be part of this process. This is United State of America. This is the Democratic Party.
ROBERTS: Terry, one more quick question, if I could. George McGovern, who you know recently switched his allegiance from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama and call for her to get out of the race has got an op-ed today in "The New York Times." In which he floats a new plan because he is concern about divisions in the Democratic Party.
McGovern writes, quote, "After today's vote in West Virginia, the two candidates should agree to make joint visits to the sites of the five remaining primaries. During these visits, Senators Clinton and Obama should agree not to criticize each other. They would simply state what each would do if elected president."
