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New Video Coming Out of China; Barack Obama Achieving Rock Star Status in Oregon; Valedictorian at a Historically Black College; Woman Called for 911 Got Ridiculed; South Florida Wildfires; Ted Kennedy Recovering from Seizure Attack; John McCain Down; Obama at One of the Largest Crowds of the Democratic Campaign
Aired May 18, 2008 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, Senator Ted Kennedy hospitalized with a seizure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Democrats would miss him greatly if he remains on the side lines
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: How big a blow is it to the Obama campaign?
The most revealing pictures to date out of China like this of this moving hand taken with a special camera.
Right now, in South Florida 33,000 acres burning. We are live.
While he is being pummeled, he keeps driving. Why? We'll tell you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Travis Childers endorsed by liberal Barack Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: They always worked before. Call them liberals and they lose, not this time. And it has this Republican heavyweight worried enough to say this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TOM DAVIS (R) VIRGINIA: The president is the face of the party. He is absolutely radioactive at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: I really just don't give a (bleep) to what happens to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: What? That's what a 911 operator said to this woman. And what may be the biggest crowd ever for a political event. A jam- packed newscast now.
And hello again, everybody, I'm Rick Sanchez. We've got a lot of news to get to including we are hearing word now of some kind of deal being reached as far as funds are concerned between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. We're going to be telling you about that in just a moment. But before we do anything else, let me show you what's going on right now in South Florida. Let's go to those pictures if we can.
These are the fires from one tip of the state to the other and it could cause havoc as the winds continue to fuel these fires. We're going to explain that to you with Chad Myers in just a bit, who is going to be joining us. The fires run the gamut, by the way, all the way from the Florida Panhandle to Central Florida to the Florida Everglades and it's even affecting parts of Miami.
On the phone with us now is C.J. Norvell. She's one of the officials tasked with trying to manage this situation there in the south.
C.J., what can you tell us right now? And I guess what we need to know is is this thing controllable?
C.J. NORVELL, SOUTHERN AREA INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM: Golly, you know, what I hear from the folks on the ground there are -- you know, I hear all the time, Rick, is that it sounds like it's something that probably will last until we get rains here.
SANCHEZ: And listen, we understand that those fires are normal in Florida. The Everglades just burn from time to time. Do you just watch them burn and make sure they don't hit residences or affect interstates?
NORVELL: Well, there are a lot of things that we can do to kind of send the fire in the direction that we would like for it to go. Things like putting fire lines. Some of that we did today along the southern edge of the fire and it's always successful in that part of the fire. Pretty cold fires were out. The southwesterly winds have really pushed that fire on up to the northeast and so that's really presented some problems for firefighters.
SANCHEZ: Hey, C.J., hold on in just a minute. I want to bring Chad Myers into this. He's been standing by and he's been watching this thing develop for quite some time.
Chad, as you can tell right now, help C.J. out and tell her what you're seeing in terms of winds not only now but through the morning when they start that, you know, those traffic patterns on like I-75 and I-95 in Florida.
CHAD MYERS, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: And you know what, when that wind dies off the middle of the night, Rick, that smoke just settles down and it can be a real mess. You get the dew involved. It just becomes a smoggy mess and then you get crashes on the interstates there. What we have now winds out of the west at 15 miles per hour. They are shifting to the southwest at about 10 to 15 miles per hour. By morning, those winds will be from the south at 6 to 7 miles per hour. So that's going to keep it mixed up a little bit. But, boy, it has been an absolute mess out there today.
And look at this smoke. It is actually traveling all the way over into the Bahamas right through Miami, clearly, and a bunch of fires right there by Lake Okeechobee -- actually, more smoke from the Lake Okeechobee fire than right down there in the Everglades fires and it is still going to burn all night long. This not even close to containment.
And I guess we'll just go back to C.J. real quick. I don't even know -- what did I hear containment 20 percent now? Is it up more now?
SANCHEZ: Is that right, C.J.
NORVELL: 30 percent. Yes.
SANCHEZ: Hey, C.J., you know, Chad made an interesting point. The problem is if you're on one of those expressways whether it's, you know, Tamiami Trail or I-95, I-75, the Florida Turnpike and there's a sudden amount of smoke in front of you, you can't see the car in front of you.
And I know and you know in the past that there have been some serious accidents where somebody literally just hits the back of somebody else's car and it becomes a tumultuous effect. Are we near a problem like that and what are you doing to make sure that doesn't happen tomorrow morning?
NORVELL: I think we're absolutely near a point like that. Smoke has been a real problem. We've seen this time after time on wildfires across the country. Just as you described, someone is driving along and they can't see where they're going and they stop in placed on the highway someone rear ends them.
One of the things that we've been telling people, you know, is if you don't have to be out there, you recognized it's smoking, do something different. If it's a possibility to stay in, do that. But whatever you do, don't stop directly in the highway if it's -- if you're able to, go ahead and get off of the highway completely.
Turn on your flashers and that sort of thing and hopefully before long the smoke will lift, you know, and after that you may continue. But certainly, you know, our number one concern is firefighter safety and the safety of the public. And the smoke is one of the things that really present issues for us.
SANCHEZ: And C.J., we're going to be monitoring this all night long tonight and certainly over the next hour. But as far as we know right now, the interstates have not been shut down nor do we know if they will be shut down tomorrow morning, right?
NORVELL: We do not know that at this time. SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks so much, C.J. Norvell for bringing us up- to-date on that story. We'll be checking back with you throughout the course of the evening.
Tonight, it's being described as one of the biggest political events of the season. Biggest as in most people. No exact numbers are released. But we're told on the ground there could have been as many as 50,000 people in Oregon who turned out to listen to Senator Barack Obama speak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We don't need gimmicks. This is a serious time. And we need a serious conversation. And some of it is going to be about sacrifice. We can't keep on doing things the exact same way and expect to pass on the kind of America we want to pass on to our children. But if we tell the truth -- see, I think that the American people, they want a grown-up conversation. They're tired of pandering, they're tired of distractions, they're tired of division.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: By the way, Oregon holds its primary Tuesday. It goes without saying that Barack Obama will do well among the earthy folks there, but he likely will not do so well in Kentucky. That is where Hillary Clinton is expected to have a very good showing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yesterday, the president was in Saudi Arabia asking the Saudis to please, please help us out. Produce more oil or sell it at a lower price. That is not an energy policy. Frankly, I find that embarrassing that the president of the United States would go over to Saudi Arabia and beg for their help! I'll tell you one thing, if I'm your president, you won't see me holding hands with Saudis. You'll see me holding them accountable and moving toward a better energy future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Most have been noting a shift in tone, therefore Hillary Clinton -- by the way, John McCain's biggest problem. What is it? Tonight, a leading Republican tells McCain if he wants to win he has to sever ties to -- you may be surprised to what or who that to is. That's ahead.
Teddy Kennedy is recovering tonight at a Boston Hospital with a lot of his family around him. We've been following this story over the course of the last 24 hours. He did not have a stroke as was initially feared. But tonight doctors are confirming, once again, he did have a seizure.
A little timeline for you now. He was here Friday at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Bedford Whaling National Park. He seemed fine to everyone who was in the room at the time. But then Saturday, he was airlifted to the Massachusetts General Hospital. There's the picture for those of you who haven't seen it yet. That's him there in the gurney being taken from Cape Cod Hospital to Mass General. That's where CNN's Dan Lothian is standing by now.
Dan, what have you been learning throughout the day?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that he was doing well enough to watch his beloved Boston Red Sox and also the Boston Celtics play today on television. And we are told with very happy with the outcome of those games.
What we have not been able to get any information on is what doctors may or may not have found after conducting test which began after he was brought here yesterday.
Beyond the fact, what you mentioned just a few minutes ago that, in fact, he did not have a stroke, but instead suffered from a seizure. We hope that perhaps by tomorrow we will get more information as the results from those tests hopefully will come in.
What we also know is that he has been surrounded by his family members and friends. His wife, Vicki, has been here at the hospital with him. Other family members including Joe, his nephew -- Joe Kennedy and his wife. And also he had a chance this morning to reach out to some of his friends and colleagues by phone.
He spoke with Senator Barack Obama who was campaigning out in Oregon today. Senator Obama said that he sounded well. He sounded like his old self, but obviously, he said they are optimistic but still concerned because they really want to find out what caused those seizures.
Again, we're hoping that perhaps by tomorrow doctors will give us more information if indeed they get that information. We know that they continue to do evaluations and to do test and we're told by a family spokesperson that he should be in the hospital for at least the next couple of days.
Rick?
SANCHEZ: All right. I guess, it's all the matter of taking tests and then looking at the tests, analyzing them and once again looking at this picture that most of America has seen by now. Unbelievable. Quite a scare that most people got when they first saw this yesterday. As the story unfolds, we will continue to share the details with you.
Dan Lothian, thanks for being the man there at the hospital for us.
SANCHEZ: Let's turn now to somebody who knows American politics as well as anybody. He served four presidents, both Democrats and Republicans. Senior political analyst David Gergen is joining us now by phone. Let's get right to it, David.
Who stands to lose the most if for some reason Senator Kennedy is out of the political picture for a while? The Democrats who used him as we know to fundraise and Republicans who also used his name to fundraise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF DAVID GERGEN, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Ted Kennedy has become a lion of the Senate. Really, a liberal lion. And I think that the Democrats would miss him greatly if he remains on the side lines and God help us, if something more serious were to happen to him.
He was extremely important when he came and endorsed Barack Obama. Helped shift the tide toward Obama and healing the wounds of the Democratic Party when this nomination race ends in the next few days or weeks. He is going to be very important to that. And helping to bring and unite the party again for the fall.
So I think it would be a real loss for the Democrats. But it's notable that -- how conservatives have used him. You know, the Rush Limbaugh of the world. They set him up as a boogieman in order to rally the right. I don't think --
SANCHEZ: Would it be harder for them to do that now given this situation? Or you know, heaven forbid if it gets any worse?
GERGEN: I think that they clearly have to layoff him here until he's out of the hospital and back on his feet and good shape. And all the signs are so far from the family and his aides had been encouraging today. But they can't be (INAUDIBLE) -- they still have Hillary. They still have Bill. And increasingly, they have Barack. So they've got more than enough villains to beat up on.
SANCHEZ: For those of us who grew up in this country watching the Kennedy Family, the dynasty I suppose, and all the stories that go with it, if this Kennedy, who many thought would be a president of the United States at one point and did run in 1980 and was beaten for the ticket by Jimmy Carter, if he were to step out of the public limelight for health reasons, it would be a very important day, would it not?
GERGEN: It would be the end of a major era. A time that the Kennedys have been synonymous with Democratic politics, American politics now for almost 50 years. And John Kennedy ran in 1960. That was 48 years ago. But he was almost the nominee of -- vice presidential nominee of his party in 1956. So -- and his dad goes back of course all the way to the Roosevelt days.
So they have been legendary figures in American politics. There was a time when some people thought that Joe Kennedy, the father, was going to be a candidate for the presidency. So this is a long, long period. And of course, there are other Kennedys in the wings.
But Ted Kennedy became very special. And I think that you have to give him a lot of credit. There's an enormous admiration for him in the Senate. Because once he lost that presidential race and he was sort of finally out of it, he went on to a lot of legislative achievements. Some of which he worked across the isle with people like John McCain. So, you know, the irony, Rick, here right now is that some people think that Hillary Clinton, if and when this all ends for her, one of the choices she might make in life is does she want to be the Ted Kennedy of her generation.
SANCHEZ: Ted Kennedy like? Yes, that's an important point.
GERGEN: Yes. Does she want to stay in the Senate and build up this record of being a lioness, if you would, of the Senate in the way he has. That clearly is one option that is out there that she might wish to explore.
SANCHEZ: David Gergen, CNN senior political analyst. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And coming up tonight, it's now all, but official. Republicans saying they need to distance themselves from Bush and Cheney. One Republican is being more blunt, though, than most.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TOM DAVIS (R) VIRGINIA: The president is the face of the party. He is absolutely radioactive at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Radioactive. What do you do if you're John McCain? That's next.
New video coming out of China taken with a special tubular camera. Warning, these images can be eerie. That's ahead.
And she called 911 for help and got this instead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: I really just don't give a (bleep) what happens to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: What? Her story is just minutes away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. Watch this. This is a brutal bruising and pointless attack. But in the middle of it all -- see everything's moving? The driver hits the gas and just as he's getting pummeled. Why is he driving while this is going on? We have the answer. That's ahead in just a minute or two.
But first, tonight John McCain is down. One of his finance directors, former Texas congressman Tom Loeffler is the fifth person to leave the campaign in eight days over questions about ties to lobbyists, but that is far from McCain's biggest problem according to some Democrats and Republicans as well. Republicans are telling McCain his biggest problem may be George Bush. And that he should do all he can to distance himself from him. Listen to what Congressman Tom Davis who used to head the GOP House Campaign Committee said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TOM DAVIS (R), VIRGINIA: I think they've got to get some separation from the president. The president is the face of the party. He is absolutely radioactive at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Absolutely radioactive at this point, he says. He goes on to say, by the way, several other things. I'll cover some of those in a minute. Let's bring in our panelists Sarah Posner, a columnist with the "American Prospect." A magazine that says it is dedicated to liberal ideas. And Shelley Wynter is a conservative radio talk show host and by golly, proud of it.
Right?
SHELLEY WYNTER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Very.
SANCHEZ: All right, guys. Listen, before we get into the McCain thing. I want to bring something up to you. ABC News is reporting tonight, I mentioned this a little bit earlier, that the fundraisers for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be merged so they can take on Senator John McCain. What thinks, thou, of this?
Shelley?
WYNTER: Well, I tell you, the only thing I can think about is that this is a way for Hillary and Barack -- well, for Barack to kind of pay back Hillary's debt without appearing to take the money from his -- many of his people who gave money to his campaign who were first time donors. Many people giving $25, $30 for the first time ever to a presidential campaign. I believe this is a way for them to kind of --
SANCHEZ: Is this a coming together of sorts? And by the way, Sarah, as I take this to you, I should mention that CNN has talked to Barack Obama's campaign and they're denying and they're saying they have not had any talks on this matter with the Hillary campaign people. You say what?
SARAH POSNER, COLUMNIST, "AMERICAN PROSPECT": Well, I think that there are talks behind the scenes for them to come together and unify behind the nominee, behind Barack Obama.
SANCHEZ: Yes. But with this be about, look, -- I mean, let's call this what it is. If you look at Hillary Clinton's war chest, it's nothing. In fact, it's pretty much in the red compared to Barack Obama's. Why would Barack Obama want to merge his war chest with hers? Explain.
POSNER: Well, I don't know. I mean, you're saying that his campaign is denying it so I'm not sure what the story is there. But I know that from an operational standpoint in terms of the campaign supporting the ultimate nominee and "The Washington Post" reported this morning that there were talks behind the scenes to do that.
SANCHEZ: Exactly. Let me just be a little more direct and maybe I'll take this over to you, Shelley.
Would it be possible in a case like this for Hillary Clinton's folks to say to Barack Obama's folks, look, let's put this thing to bed and one of the things that we need from you is for you pick up some of our debt.
WYNTER: Absolutely. I think that's clearly what's going on, but I don't think the Barack Obama campaign wants it to be known, per se, to many of his first-time donors, smaller donors that they're giving your money away, quote, unquote, "to the Hillary Clinton campaign." Many of whom those donors -- many of those people don't like very much that we're going to pay her down her debt by giving your money to her. So I think this is a good way of doing that.
SANCHEZ: OK and again, this is conjecture. We're having a conversation about it. I'm posing questions to you guys as analysts and experts. The only thing we can say tonight is what we heard in the ABC report. What you just mentioned, Sarah, in "The Washington Post" report. But, we, at CNN have learned from Barack Obama's people saying that they have not had these conversations.
Let's leave that now and move to another issue and that is problem within the McCain camp from a Republican like Tom Davis saying that the Bush administration is radioactive and that it could cause huge problems for McCain if he doesn't distance himself from it.
Shelley, give it a whack.
WYNTER: The Bush-Cheney tandem was radioactive two years ago when the Republicans lost control of the House and the Senate. So this is nothing new. Two years later, they're even more radioactive. And I was quite surprised when John McCain went up to the White House and shook hands with the president. I thought he was going to stay as far away as a president as he possibly could.
But at the time when I saw it happen, I thought well, maybe he was doing this just to gather up the base, do it early, get it out of the way and then move on down the line and separate yourself as you get closer to November. But clearly, the administration is clearly a radioactive team right now and McCain should stay as far away from there as possible.
SANCHEZ: But there's another part of this as well. Sarah, I want you to look at this ad. These are like the ads that have appeared lately in Louisiana, Illinois and Mississippi. Three big losses for the Republicans and what they tried to do was pin those candidates as liberals and associate them with people like Pelosi and Barack Obama and John Kerry. Let's watch a piece of that real quick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Travis Childers endorsed by liberal Barack Obama. Obama says Childers will put progress before politics, but when Obama's pastor cursed America blaming us for 9/11, Childers said nothing. When Obama ridiculed rural folks for clinging to guns and religion, Childers said nothing. Travis Childers taking Obama's endorsement over power, conservative values. Conservatives just can't trust Travis Childers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Now, for the past several decades in a place like Mississippi, that would have been a winning ad, but it wasn't. What's going on?
POSNER: Well, for a long time the Republicans tried to make liberal, the radioactive word and clearly, now, it's Republican and conservative and Bush and, of course, McCain is the radioactive word. And I think that McCain is trying to distance himself from Bush by scaling back the time he wants to spend in Iraq by 95 years. But I think it's clear that that's in response to the clear public opinion against Bush and against the war.
And you've got to wonder what happens to the straight talk express when he's been supporting the war for so many years.
WYNTER: It's definitely a problem --
SANCHEZ: Go ahead. You got ten seconds to finish your thought.
WYNTER: I just want to tell Miss Posner with all due to respect, liberal is still a radioactive word. It's just that the Bush-Cheney team has joined in, but liberal still is a radioactive word.
POSNER: I don't know about that.
SANCHEZ: You know, that's interesting. What you're saying is you're separating Republicanism from conservatism. Is that what I hear you saying?
WYNTER: Oh absolutely. Absolutely. Conservatism has really, absolutely nothing to do with Republicanism. And if you watched the Barack Obama campaign during the next three months you'll see him moving more toward the center (INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: I wouldn't be surprised if what you just said becomes the trend in the next couple of months. I'm going to watch this. Shelley, good stuff. We're going to come back to you guys in just a little bit as we have more on the politics of the night.
By the way, Morehouse, it's one of the country's most famous historical black colleges, that's why seeing this year's valedictorian may catch you by surprise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: You're a white guy, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: It's one of the largest crowds of the Democratic campaign. It shows up in Portland, Oregon to see Barack Obama. Look at the pictures. Like a superstar there in Oregon or a rock star that bears the question, is it time for Hillary Clinton to bow out again? We'll ask.
And then he took a beating, but kept the bus moving. Why was he so determined to keep driving? The answer, we have it. It's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Hillary Clinton unwilling to call it quits despite the difficult odds seen by many Democrats, but certainly not her. What's her game plan? That's ahead.
Incredible pictures tonight. And now a description as to why the victim acts as he does. First the attack. See it there? The guy gets on the bus and starts pummeling the bus driver in Milwaukee, but notice what the driver does. He hits the gas. See the bus is moving there. He tries to go forward for another two blocks. Why? Well, because it turns out that he remembered as he was being attacked where a police officer usually patrolled up ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EARL, MILWAUKEE BUS DRIVER: I was shaken up by it, but I want to get back in the saddle, you know. I enjoy my job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: The car hit a tree. No, the cop wasn't there. Yes, the attacker got away and is still at large.
Tonight we have a rare look for you inside China while it toils with this disaster that may now climb to 32,000 dead. OK. We've been able to get some pictures out of China tonight that show for the first time what the government is doing to try and save lives with special equipment and special cameras. Here now, an eerie look at the carnage and the politics.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): The low-tech part of the rescue work. Men crawling on their bellies listening for a whimper, knocking, breathing, anything, but thanks to the high-tech part, tiny video cameras, rescuers spotted this. A hand, just a hand reaching silently, pleading from the darkness and the dirt and the pain.
We recorded these amazing video images not seen on CNN before tonight, from a satellite feed of news reports broadcast around the world on Chinese state-run television. That means the Chinese government has given us and you an unscrubbed, real-time unblinking look at the depth of this horrific disaster.
An open media is uncharted waters for China. Beijing always, always denies, suppresses or downplays negative or perceived negative things that happen there, even for its own people. Tiananmen Square, the SARS epidemic, anything to that, so why would China take off the filters in an aftermath of this earthquake? Can you say Olympic Games? That's part of it. Global criticism over Tibet and other internal problems, that's another.
Then there's this. President Hu, very rarely seen far from the halls of power in Beijing in his shirt sleeves now last visiting now homeless quake victims. Comforting children and cradling babies in his arms.
The imagery, powerful. China knows the world is watching thanks to one tiny bright spot in the dark horror of this natural disaster, our sudden and refreshing look inside real-life China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Video coming in just tonight. Sadly, it took a catastrophe of this magnitude to trigger China's sudden media openness.
Coming up, there's the pictures. Barack Obama achieving rock star status in Oregon tonight. It's amazing to watch. This, of course, in a very environmental state. Who are these greenies as they're often called? What do they stand for? I sit down with them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My issues and things that are affecting my health, my life, my economy aren't being addressed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: These are the newest members of the League of First-Time Voters. I'm going tell you what they had to say. Also speaking of Oregon. Does Oregon deliver the knockout punch to Hillary Clinton? The chorus says get out. Why should she? Oh, and this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLER: I'm scared to even leave out my (bleep) house.
911 OPERATOR: OK, ma'am. I updated the call. We'll get somebody there as soon as possible.
CALLER: (Hangs up)
911 OPERATOR: I really don't give a (bleep) what happens to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Can you believe he said that? When you hear what happened to this woman who called 911, I swear, it will make you angry. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Someone bursts into your home, holds a knife to your throat, but your 911 calls are totally ignored and it gets worse. That's ahead.
Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. Right now we're looking ahead to Tuesday and that's when Oregon and Kentucky hold their primaries. 52 delegates at stake in Oregon. Barack Obama has been campaigning across that state as we've been showing you throughout this newscast telling voters to help put him over the top.
Hillary Clinton is expected to do well in Kentucky, a state with 51 delegates at stake. But let's face it, if Clinton wins in Kentucky as some believe she will and Obama takes Oregon as most believe he will, one win cancels out the other. So what's really at stake?
Sarah Posner is a columnist with "The American Prospect." The magazine that says it's dedicated to liberal ideas. Shelley Wynter, there on the right, a conservative radio talk show host in Atlanta.
Sarah, do you see any way that Senator Clinton can get any kind of big mow from this round of primary in two days.
SARAH POSNER, COLUMNIST, "THE AMERICAN PROSPECT": No, the math is against her and everybody knows a foregone conclusion that Obama is going to get the Democratic nomination.
And you know, you might look at Oregon and say, you know, well, it's a very liberal state and it's going to vote for Obama anyway. But you know, as far as whether liberal is going to be a radioactive word in November, if it wasn't radioactive in Mississippi, I'm not sure where it is going to be radioactive.
SANCHEZ: So what do you do, Shelley? Do you start looking to cut deals? How do you get out? Or you just keep on keeping on?
SHELLEY WYNTER: Well, I think Hillary is going to keep on keeping on. And you know what, if you asked me this question three weeks ago, I'm saying Hillary should drop out. Right now, I'm saying finish it out because if she drops out now or after Tuesday. Her base, her supporters are going to be very angry, and I think they'll take that anger out on Obama. I think she should stay in the race until June 3rd when the math is done.
The superdelegates have lined up behind Barack Obama, then she can safely say I ran a good race, I lost and she got lost with dignity and then turn her support over to Barack Obama. So right now, I wouldn't say even after Tuesday, I would say finish it out. You've gone this far and finish it out. There's no harm in finishing it out, but there is a harm in her dropping out now because I think the base gets mad.
SANCHEZ: It's kind of like the game of poker and you got to figure out what kind of hand she's holding and what she can do with that hand. WYNTER: Quite honestly, she's handling a hold of about 15 million voters on the Democratic side. So I think that the hand she's holding is one of pay down my debt. Pay off my debt, possible vice presidency if she wants --
SANCHEZ: Let me stop you there. Sarah, let me take that over to you. He just mentioned the big V.P. word. A lot of people have been talking about. You see it as possible?
POSNER: I really don't think that's going to happen. I think what is more likely to happen would be if Obama picked a Clinton surrogate, somebody like say Ted Strickland, the governor of Ohio as his running mate.
No, I don't -- I'm not saying that he shouldn't pick someone who isn't a Clinton surrogate, but I think it is more likely that he would pick someone like that than he would pick Clinton. And I'm not sure Clinton would want it.
SANCHEZ: Why not Hillary Clinton as vice president? She's radioactive?
POSNER: No. I don't think --
SANCHEZ: That word again.
WYNTER: She's radioactive.
SANCHEZ: That's the third time we've used that word (INAUDIBLE).
POSNER: No, no. I don't think it's because she's radioactive. I just think that in terms of her supporters, they would view that as second place for her and it's not right for her to play second fiddle to Obama.
SANCHEZ: But let me go back to you on that, Shelley. Are you serious? Do you really think she's radioactive or are you trying to be funny?
WYNTER: Oh absolutely. The racist won -- she's made herself radioactive to Obama's core voter. That's the first-time voter, the young voter, African-Americans, Bill Clinton's comments and the way she's run the race in the second half. I think she would be radioactive. But I don't think many people -- that's why I made the statement. I don't think many people would like to see her on the ticket. I would hate to see her on the ticket.
POSNER: Shelley just wants somebody else to be radioactive other than the Republican Party.
SANCHEZ: By the way, let me ask you guys something. Is this a testament to Barack Obama's real good campaign or Hillary Clinton's bad campaign? How did she go from being the person that everybody thought would be on the ticket to where we are today with two weeks left in the primary season? WYNTER: I think it's a combination of both. I really do. I think Barack Obama has won the most incredibly smart campaign that I've ever seen run in my brief time (INAUDIBLE).
SANCHEZ: Wow! And that's coming from a Republican.
WYNTER: And you know, he really has.
SANCHEZ: Sarah?
POSNER: Well, I think she made some operational mistakes, not getting hard in some of the caucus states where Obama won handily. And you know she's made strategic mistakes in terms of comments she made about Obama or about race or about class. But I don't think she's run -- I don't think she would be radioactive to Obama supporters. I think everybody will eventually get past all of that, but I just don't think that the unity ticket is a good idea.
SANCHEZ: I tell you what -- I mean, as far as campaigns go, it's pretty amazing where we are today and it still will be far over these next couple of weeks to see where it goes. Thanks so much to both of you for being with us tonight.
POSNER: Thanks, Rick.
WYNTER: Thank you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: You've been delightful to us.
Coming up, the woman who thought that 911 was the number you call for help when you're being attacked, instead she's ridiculed when she calls 911.
And greenies, tree huggers, environmentalist, they've heard it all in terms of name calling and the like. They're tired of it and they want to be taken seriously. And they have something to say they want you to hear in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You're a white anyway, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Yes, he's a white guy. He's also a valedictorian at a historically black college. So many questions here. I'll ask them, that's ahead.
But first, we told you earlier about Oregon and Barack Obama. About the massive crowd that we saw today as we are looking at these pictures that he drew in Portland about the so-called earthy residents about Oregon. I already got e-mails about using that word. Many of whom say the most important issue facing all of us today is global warming and related environmental worries.
I want to know what these so-called greenies really have to say especially today, watching these pictures of Barack Obama there. So I got a group of them together. They are the newest members of my league of first-time voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You are going to be voting perhaps many of you for the very first time in your lives. If you had to vote today who would you vote for between John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would vote for myself because the fact is my issues and things that are affecting my health, my life and my economy aren't being addressed and that's the way this system is set up. The system is set up that our representatives are supposed to represent the things that impact our lives.
SANCHEZ: Do you think most environmentalists feel this way? That right now, look, nobody's talking my issue and if they are not going to talk my issue, they're not going get my support.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'd all like the candidates to get much more serious about their climate change. We'd like to hear more about it in the debates. We'd like to hear more about it in their things. And there's time between now and the election for these candidates to take stronger stances.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People have this mindset that the economy, that our health, that the environments are in this isolated vacuum, each of them. And really they're deeply interconnected and that's what the youth are recognizing now. That's what America is recognizing now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're at a tipping point now. When you look at all the different things that are going on around the globe; when you're looking at the way climate is changing; when you're looking at us reaching peak oil. You're looking at oil prices. Oil prices were not as high and not exponentially going up like they are right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our pockets are so deep and economically it's hurting our wallet. On every level from every status in America, it's hurting all of our pockets on every scale.
SANCHEZ: Can we make the change in such a way so that the American economy doesn't get flattened?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a huge, enormous potential for a sustainable economy through creating 5 million new green jobs through, you know, developing renewable energies and people who are installing solar panels and working on wind farms and then people who are retrofitting buildings and making things more efficient. And all of these jobs are so great because they can't be outsourced to other countries like so many jobs in our economy now.
SANCHEZ: Switching over to alternative fuels, renewable fuels will not destroy the American economy? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it will rejuvenate the American economy.
SANCHEZ: It will rejuvenate the American economy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. America can become an adventure again. We can lead the global economy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about replacing and not taking anything away. You know, for everything we take away we're going to put something back to sustain the environment and in a better way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Interesting group of Americans, committed to say the least. And by the way, we are committed to this. It's the League of First- Time Voters at cnn.com/league. You can go there. See the rest of that interview, by the way. The real thing goes about five, six minutes. You can see the whole thing. Go there, become a member and tell me why your group is psyched and I'll come pay you a visit as well and we'll sit down and talk.
Coming up, she called 911 for help and got this instead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: I really just don't give a (bleep) what happens to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: What? Her story minutes away.
Also, he's a college valedictorian, but at which college. That may surprise you. That's next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez. The story now that I've been telling you about. This is of a woman who called 911. Instead of getting help she got two things. She got ignored and she got ridiculed. How would you feel if you were treated this way? Here's Phil Williams from our national affiliate WTVF.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA JONES, 911 CALLER: And so I'm looking at the window for him and I don't see him.
PHIL WILLIAMS, WTVF REPORTER (voice-over): For Sheila Jones, this is how her call for help began.
JONES: Boom! He hits the door and he's coming through fast and I'm, like, this, no, no, no, stop, what are you doing? You didn't call.
WILLIAMS: It was an angry ex-boyfriend who had barged into her house.
JONES: Literally, right here is when, bam! He got me. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Metro Nashville police, fire and medical.
WILLIAMS: At Metro Nashville's 911 Center, her first call is recorded at 2:08 p.m.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Get the police here now. My life is threatened. Please, God! Please, God! Please God! Get me police here now. He has a knife on me. My life is threatened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: I felt danger, I felt threatened, I felt fear and I felt -- it was like I was seeing myself being dead that day.
WILLIAMS: And you wanted help.
JONES: And I wanted help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Get out of my house!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: For Sheila, hearing that call obtained by News Channel 5 investigates resurrects painful emotions of that day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Get out of my house.
911 OPERATOR: Is he a boyfriend?
JONES: He's an ex. Get out of my house. He's outside now. He just went outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: You're emotional, you're desperate and you call for help and then what happened?
JONES: Nothing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: He told me (INAUDIBLE) I ain't going see him when he comes.
WILLIAMS: In fact, get this, Sheila's 911 ordeal drags on for almost three hours through call after call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: They just keep on saying they enroute, they enroute, but they ain't came. It's been a long time. And he keeps calling me, threatening me.
911 OPERATOR: All right. I see where you've called and I'm going to update them and let them know what all you've told me. OK?
JONES: Yes, ma'am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: It felt like I was a test person -- you know, the test subject. We're going to see how long it takes before he goes back and actually kills her. That's what I felt like.
WILLIAMS: And Sheila had not heard what we had heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: I don't understand it!
WILLIAMS: What the 911 call taker says after she hangs up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: I'm scared to even leave out my (bleep) house.
911 OPERATOR: OK, ma'am, I updated the call. We'll get somebody there as soon as possible.
JONES: [Hangs up.]
911 OPERATOR: I really just don't give a (bleep) what happens to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: How many people they got to answer this phone? He actually said that?
WILLIAMS: He actually said that.
911 OPERATOR: I really just don't give a (bleep) what happens to you.
JONES: You know, right now I'm scared as hell because if anything happened to me now I can't depend on them. Who do I put -- who do I put -- what do I do?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Wow! Phil Williams from our national affiliate WTVF. We've now learned, by the way, that that 911 operator who uttered that extremely profane comment, he's been fired.
Why did he go to a black college if he's white? What's his view of racism now? And does he feel guilty for being the school's valedictorian. All questions answered when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: Never in its 141-year history has the college where Dr. Martin Luther King graduated had a valedictorian who was white. Joshua Packwood is his name. This is a guy who has not had an easy life. He could have gone to any school by the way because he's that smart, so why Morehouse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You're a white guy, right?
JOSHUA PACKWOOD, 2008 MOREHOUSE VALEDICTORIAN: I am, yes.
SANCHEZ: You're going to a historic black university.
PACKWOOD: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Why?
PACKWOOD: I mean, for many reasons, but I guess the few that really stand out to me in particular to gain a different perspective on issues and on -- just a different philosophy of life, I suppose.
SANCHEZ: You can get a lot of different education going to different schools.
PACKWOOD: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: What is it about a historic black university that you feel would do something different for you?
PACKWOOD: Absolutely. For me, Morehouse in particular I felt would provide me kind of a never-ending stream of motivation and inspiration in terms of the students. This institution has survived since 1867, formed soon after the civil war, gone through numerous trials and tribulations, yet has stood strong and produced amazing world leaders.
SANCHEZ: I can say the same thing about Harvard. I can say the same thing about the University of Georgia. I can say the same thing about a lot of schools. You could have gone to a lot of schools that are not historic black and gotten the same thing. So convince me what it is about this school that really attracted you because I'm not buying your argument so far.
PACKWOOD: Well, I don't think you can say the same thing about Harvard because quite frankly, Harvard has a 300-year legacy, a $25 billion endowment. They should be producing world leaders. We have a $140 million endowment. We are a private, small, all-male black school in the south, so I don't think that was a good comparison.
SANCHEZ: Now I'm hearing you. That's right. There's a little gumption there, isn't there?
PACKWOOD: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: A little attitude about this. PACKWOOD: There is. There really is because I really do think Morehouse is a special place. And I think the students there have come there with a mission and that mission is what really drew me to the school.
SANCHEZ: What do you now feel and know about African-Americans that perhaps others don't know and maybe you didn't know before?
PACKWOOD: How diverse African-Americans are. How diverse the people of the African Diaspora are. I've been absolutely amazed by the diversity of beliefs, the diversity of religions at my school and many people look at my school and say it's all black and it's male, how diverse can it be. That's a homogenous group and yet it's not.
I've been at Morehouse for four years, yet I still can't give you the definition of black. I still can't sum up what black culture is. So even after four years of what many people would term as an immersive experience, I still can't give you some clean definition, clean-cut way of looking at it.
SANCHEZ: Most blacks would say the same thing.
PACKWOOD: Absolutely, as whites would say about, what is the white experience? I'm sure you can't tell it. I can't tell it.
SANCHEZ: What about an African-American who would say this? Morehouse is one of the few great things we African-Americans have and here comes this white guy, goes to our school and he ends up being the valedictorian instead of one of our brothers.
PACKWOOD: Well, first off, I think any member of my graduating class would say that I am their brother. And I'm proud to call every single one of them my brother. But the beautiful thing about Morehouse is that it's not about race. It's really not. It's about mission.
Now that mission came out of the issue of race. It came out of the problem of race, of the color line that was created in our country and that's what that mission was born out of. So absolutely -- the race is a simple aspect but it is not the defining aspect of Morehouse.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
