Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Crane Crashes Down on Manhattan Apartment Building; People From Chicago to St. Louis in Tornado Bullseye; Oil's Slippery Surge

Aired May 30, 2008 - 10:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye in today for Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris.

You will stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.

A crane crashing down on to a Manhattan apartment building. At least one death reported. It is breaking news.

KAYE: Houses ripped apart. A train blown off its track. Today, people from Chicago to St. Louis, in the tornado bullseye.

HARRIS: Oil's slippery surge. Are speculators manipulating markets? The feds say they're investigating today, Friday, May 30th.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

KAYE: Breaking news out of New York City. You've been watching all morning, a massive crane has toppled from a high-rise on Manhattan's East Side. Fire crews said they have pulled people from the wreckage that has swallowed the sidewalks and city streets below.

Here's what we know right now. At least one person is confirmed dead. Fire crews digging through the wreckage searching for others. And when the crane toppled it slammed on to an adjacent building that is called the...

HARRIS: The Electra.

KAYE: Electra building, and that is just there on 91st Street and it unleashed an avalanche of debris.

In March, another construction crane collapsed in Manhattan that left seven people dead. It had collapsed on a brownstone.

HARRIS: CNN crews have scrambled to the scene. Our Jason Carroll is there and he joins us with the latest.

And Jason, if you would, share with everyone joining us now the conversation you had with two construction workers on this project a short time ago.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Exactly. Well, basically, what happened is I spoke with -- one of them is a laborer, the another is a carpenter. One was on the sixth floor, the other on the 11th floor. Both of them say building inspectors had been on site.

For the past several weeks, the site had never been shut down. They say everything seemed in order and all of a sudden they heard a loud snap. One of them saying it sounded like a toothpick. They looked up somewhere near the highest floor and saw the cab on top of the crane fall with the engineer inside of it.

Basically, both of them saying that they can't understand why this happened. All safety protocol had been followed. They called it a freak accident.

What I want to do is -- right now is bring in one of the laborers that I spoke to. Her name is Asia. She is standing next to me, Tony. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to hand her the phone and I'm going have you talk to her and she's going to be able to describe what happened to her. She was on the 11th floor.

HARRIS: Terrific. Asia?

ASIA, WORKER AT SCENE OF CRASH: Hello?

HARRIS: Asia, are you there?

ASIA: Yes.

HARRIS: OK. Asia, just sort of take your time and just tell us the story of what happened this morning, what did you see? What did you hear?

ASIA: I was on the 11th floor doing debris at the edge of the building, and we just heard, basically, a loud snap that sounded like the crane snapped like a toothpick, like it's -- like -- just that boom, it just snapped. And then it started to lean away from the building. It hit the top of the penthouse of the building that's directly across the street from us, bounced and then hit the building and went straight down.

The cab -- the top of the crane is what fell, the cab with the engineer inside of it.

HARRIS: Asia, how concerned were you that the -- the crane would actually bounce off the Electra and bounce back on to your building -- ricochet to your building?

ASIA: Well, actually it -- didn't even hit our building. The building I'm working on, it never hit that building.

HARRIS: Were you concerned that it might?

ASIA: No, no.

HARRIS: OK.

ASIA: Not really, not really. HARRIS: OK.

ASIA: Because the way it fell, I -- it fell outward so I was pretty sure it wasn't going hit the building. But it was just -- you know, it was really shock because we never expected this to happen.

HARRIS: Asia, have you had any problems on that site? Any problems at all? Never mind...

ASIA: Absolutely, no.

HARRIS: Never mind the minor things that happen...

ASIA: OK.

HARRIS: ... at every site. But I'm thinking about...

ASIA: I hear you.

HARRIS: ... something that might have caused real concern for you as a worker that you might be working on an unsafe project, anything of that sort?

ASIA: Never. I have been working with this company almost three years. It's the only company I've ever worked with. I'm a local -- I'm a union person so they can send me anywhere. But this is the only company I've ever worked with. They've always made me feel safe.

These are very good guys. These are guys that know what they're doing. So this is something that I never really expected to happen.

HARRIS: So what is then your reaction? What do you do? You hear the snap, you see the crane careening into the building across from you and then collapsing. Tell me about your thoughts, what you're thinking and what you do.

ASIA: I was thinking I've got to get the heck out of here. So, I -- basically, I ran to the ladder, and I jumped down about three ladders and then I came and I ran down the stairs and we got out. But it was pretty much -- everybody was shaken, but they were very -- you know, we were still kind of calm and going -- I think it took a while for it to even hit anybody because we really never expected this to happen.

We have buildings apartment. We have -- our union sends out inspectors. We have -- we have so many people come to the job. They're on us every day. Always (INAUDIBLE), but they came every day. They were -- whatever they like, they told us. Whatever they didn't like, they told us.

We've, you know, complied with them 100 percent. That's why the job wasn't shut down. So we basically don't know how this could happen.

HARRIS: What are your thoughts? Have you received the news that one of the members -- I can't even say that because I'm just not sure. Have you received any...

ASIA: OK.

HARRIS: ... any word about the engineer in the cab, on the engineer's condition?

ASIA: Well, the only thing I've heard -- I heard he was still alive when he was in there, and I heard they pulled him out. I don't know anything from then on. I have to find out. I will have to find out. But I don't know anything from that on. Nobody's saying if he's dead or anything.

They're just saying that, you know, he was -- he was alive. He was still breathing and they've just got him off the cab. They just took him out of the cab of the crane.

HARRIS: OK. And this is someone you know? I don't want to assume you know just because you're on the team. Is this someone you know?

ASIA: I know him -- I know him because I see him every day, but as far as hang out, no -- I don't him like that. But he's a really good guy and -- I've been on the job this -- by about two or three months, a new guy -- and he's good guy. He's good with what he does. He listens very carefully. He can see what's going on because the crane overlooking the building.

This is not like it's a blind crane that's on the street. You get to know what's going on. It's up, so he sees what's going on. So...

HARRIS: How high...

ASIA: You know, he's a really good guy.

HARRIS: How tall -- on what floor were you operating on? You were on the 11th. But how tall...

ASIA: I was on the 11th floor.

HARRIS: Was the crane operating and working above you?

ASIA: Yes. We're - there's two floors above me...

HARRIS: OK.

ASIA: ... that we're doing, which is the deck, and he was about 40 feet above the top of the building.

HARRIS: And, Asia, another quick one, do you know whether or not you had reached the point where you were either stepping the crane up to begin work on another level or stepping the crane down to do work on a floor below?

ASIA: Well, no, we already had it where we needed it, so we can go up as far as with the floors. So it's like -- it was already where we needed it to go -- to go -- to erect with the floors.

HARRIS: OK. Asia, thank you for your time. Thank you for your description and we're happy that you're OK and we hope that engineer...

ASIA: Thank you so much.

HARRIS: ... is fine as well.

ASIA: OK. Thank you.

HARRIS: Asia was working on the 11th floor of this building at the time of the collapse and describes this snap and seeing the crane actually swinging to the other building and then it was time for everyone, as you can understand, to get out of that building.

Asia working as a laborer on the Azure.

And Jason, I know you're back on the phone. And...

CARROLL: Thanks again. I'm glad you're OK.

HARRIS: Yes. Jason?

CARROLL: Hello?

HARRIS: Jason, are you with us?

CARROLL: Yes, I'm with you now.

HARRIS: And if you would, can you match that description? I know you were listening. Can you match that story with the story that you received from the other construction worker?

CARROLL: Right. That was Tom, the carpenter. He was on the 6th floor, and what Asia told you matches with what Tom had told me as well.

Both of them saying that the engineer who was in that cab was someone who was knowledgeable, obviously. They say that he had a great reputation and in terms of safety measures that were in place, again, and given the history of what happened in the city, they say that there were building inspectors down here on a regular basis that were checking things out and they were in compliance which is why it is so difficult for them to understand, Tony, why something like this happened.

HARRIS: Yes. All right. Jason Carroll -- and as you talk about that I'm searching for the quotes from New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg in reacting to this latest deadly crane collapse. He called this unacceptable and intolerable.

Certainly, more comments to come from New York's mayor.

Jason Carroll on the phone with us this morning.

Jason, appreciate it. Thank you.

KAYE: And Tony, also with us is CNN Radio chief, Steve Kastenbaum. He is at the scene.

And Steven, you had really a remarkable description earlier when we spoke about the scene there, for those viewers who might just be joining us. Can you set the picture once again?

STEVE KASTENBAUM, CNN RADIO CHIEF: Yes, earlier we were a block closer to this accident site. They've since pushed us back to 89th Street. So I can't really see what's going on right now on 91st, but earlier we were close enough that we could see the rescue operation taking place on the pile, the debris on 91st Street and 1st Avenue.

It was about 10 feet high. It was a jumbled mess of twisted metal from the crane boom. You could see the crane cab and then there was lots of brick and debris from the apartment building that was struck by the crane.

You can see several apartments -- on the corner of the apartment building that was struck by the crane, you can actually see into the apartment and, of course, on the very top floor of that apartment building, that's the penthouse that was very badly just demolished and damaged by the crane boom as it came down.

There are lots of people out here now on 89th Street who reside in that apartment building that was struck by the crane. They were all going about their morning routines when all of a sudden they heard an incredibly loud bang and felt what they thought was either a bomb going off or a massive earthquake. They said the entire building shook.

Now I can't see people on the support structure of the crane itself that it's still standing, still affixed to the building that was under construction. It looked like there are crews walking along and examining, inspecting the parts of that hold, the crane support structure to the building now.

I can only presume that they want to make sure that there isn't any danger of a further collapse here and literally, minutes ago we had to get out of the way as the police department escorted in another construction crane, rushing it to the scene here to help lift some of the heavy debris off to see if there are any other people beneath that tile.

So obviously, this is still very much an active rescue scene right now.

KAYE: And Steve, the last time we saw this happen on 51st Street just a couple of miles south of there back in March, that was -- that crane was actually being raised higher which apparently is a process called jumping or it's known as jump.

Do we have any idea because -- because of that accident there were supposed to be inspectors on the scene? For this, Jason Carroll is telling us that the construction folks he spoke with did say that there were inspectors on the scene there. Do we have any idea what this crane was doing at the time? Was it being raised? Or was it simply just working?

Have you been able to gather any information on that?

KASTENBAUM: The few construction workers that I've spoken to weren't actually involved with the crane itself, but they don't believe that it was being raised at the moment. If you can see in some of the videos that you've been getting from the helicopters, that the crane, the top portion of it would have been about four or five stories above where the top of this building under construction is right now.

So I can only speculate that there would not have been a need to raise the crane at this point. You know, as you drive around New York, day in and day out, you see construction sites all over the city and you grow accustomed to the routine and you sort of get an understanding of the rhythm of how this works.

And typically the cranes do not get raised until they absolutely have to be. So this concrete structure that was under construction now would have had to reach another five or six stories before they would have had to have raised this boom to bring it higher up to continue the work, to continue adding floors on to the building under construction.

Again, I am speculating, but I'm basing that upon, you know, the experience of seeing these buildings go up all over the city. So I don't get the sense that they were in the process of raising this crane at the time which is what they were doing two months ago when we had the previous deadly crane collapse.

KAYE: All right. CNN Radio Steve Kastenbaum. Thanks for your work there on the ground. We will continue to check with you.

We're also expecting a news conference...

HARRIS: OK.

KAYE: ... to be updated on the very latest. That should be coming up shortly. We'll keep an eye on that as well. And we're also, of course, watching the weather which we've also been taking a look at this morning.

HARRIS: That's for sure.

Let's talk about the weather. Boy, what a story it is and has been for months now. Millions of Americans in the danger zone, very much so today. Severe weather, a very real threat for much of the Midwest and plain states. The same region that got hit with this last night.

Wow! You are looking at one of several tornadoes that tore through rural Kansas, damaging several homes. Some people were stuck inside their partially collapsed homes and had to be rescued. Twisters also ripped through Nebraska, the widespread and dramatic damage there, a terrifying testimony to the ferocity of these tornadoes. Look at this. Almost 100 rail cars were blown off their tracks. Huge tractor trailers were knocked over. You see the trees and the power lines and the tractor trailers here just leveled, knocked over,.

businesses and at least one home severely damaged but, amazingly, no serious injuries are reported in Nebraska and Kansas.

Why don't we get to Reynolds Wolf? Just moments ago, a tornado watch for Illinois.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Unbelievable tornadoes.

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: The pictures are something.

HARRIS: OK, Reynolds, thank you.

WOLF: Absolutely.

HARRIS: The aftermath of a tornado always shocking, but sometimes absolutely mind-boggling. Case in point, these pictures, another personal items found in Wisconsin from a tornado that touched down in Iowa. Yes. Iowa.

KAYE: Wow.

HARRIS: More than 100 miles away. Local officials are telling people if they find any more items hand them in to authorities and they will try to locate the owners.

KAYE: Manhattan's Upper East Side -- a crane collapses smashing through a penthouse apartment just across the street. Search for victims going on right now. A news conference, we are told, is expected shortly. And you can see it right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, we got to check -- boy, the big boy, the New York Stock Exchange. We've been busy. We've been busy and hopefully folks have been making some money. Well, not much, if you take a look at the Dow right now.

Boy, this is essentially the definition of a flat start to the business day. The Dow, as you can see, up four. OK. All right. We're in positive territory, at least. Just about an hour into the trading day. The NASDAQ, at last check, was up 10.

We're going to get a complete market check with Susan Lisovicz coming up in just minutes right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. The energy fix. The increase in oil prices is taking money out of all of our pockets. And many have suspected something is amiss, including the federal government.

CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow is drilling for -- I'm sorry, drilling for answers about a government investigation.

Poppy, good morning.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Good morning, Tony. The question is really, is something fishy going here? The price of oil actually fell below $125 a barrel overnight, but it's back right now around 128 bucks near the record high we saw last weekend.

We heard late yesterday that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has been looking into potential market manipulation in the oil market. Since December now, that's why the price of crude has risen nearly 40 percent since the beginning of the year.

Now the CFTC is a regulatory body that governs the trading of all commodity futures in the U.S. markets. We're talking about everything from crude oil to pork bellies. And when we talk about futures trading we're basically talking about -- that's what traders make on the future price of a commodity like oil.

Now if you think oil is going to go up in price over the next few months, you'll buy futures contracts that reflect that higher price trend. But the question the commission is now looking into is whether traders or banks on hedge funds flooded the markets with orders, betting that crude oil prices would rise based on information that they should not have access to.

Now the former head of trading and markets of the commission was a guest this morning on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING".

Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. MICHAEL GREENBERGER, CTR. FOR HEALTH & HOMELAND SECURITY: The traders now know that someone is looking over their shoulder and their manipulative practice, their phony sales are being watched. Investment banks, hedge funds and wealthy investors in dark corners of these markets are taking money out of the consumers' pocket.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: As you can hear, pretty harsh words there.

Here's what the CFTC is proposing. They want to expand international surveillance information of crude oil trading. They plan to increase the transparency of trading here in the U.S. markets by forcing traders to give them monthly data on their positions, among other things, and, of course, they'll continue their investigation -- Tony? HARRIS: Yes. You know investigators looking over the shoulders of these folks is one thing, but public scrutiny is something else. How significant, Poppy, is it that the CFTC is making the probe public?

HARLOW: Yes, that's a great question. It's very, very significant. The commission, like all securities regulators, rarely discloses an inquiry like this to the public until it gets very serious and the run-up in the price of crude certainly, Tony, has a lot to do with this.

Keep in mind, though, the commission told Congress just three weeks ago that their studies have produced no evidence, that oil speculators are significantly driving up the price of crude. So yesterday's news really adds just a whole new layer to this story.

People are asking what has changed in the last 21 days. We don't know yet, but what we do know is so far there are no specific allegations of any wrongdoing, but you can bet this is going drive...

HARRIS: Absolutely.

HARLOW: ... a lot of questions going forward.

HARRIS: Yes. It is the energy fix. Poppy Harlow, CNNmoney.com with us this morning.

Poppy, great to see you. Good weekend. Thank you.

HARLOW: Thanks.

KAYE: Layoffs, home sales, saving gas. You have questions. Well, here to answer your e-mails, CNN's personal finance editor, Gerri Willis.

How are you, Gerri?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Good morning, Randi. Hit me with that first question.

KAYE: OK. Let's get started. Of course, people are very anxious to hear your answers on these.

Question number one, "I was recently laid off from my job with a 30-day notice period. Is it legal for an employer to stop my 401k contribution for the 30-day period? And is the employer obligated to match the employee's contribution during this 30-day period?"

WILLIS: Well, some good news for Floyd. If you're still receiving a salary during this time, your 401k contribution cannot be stopped and the company has to put up your match during the period.

Now, however, if the salary you're getting is part of a severance package, your contribution will be stopped and there will be no employer match. Now that's according to the American Benefits Council. Make sure you contact your human resources representative for more info.

KAYE: All right. Mike in Michigan has this question for you, Gerri. "is a short sale on my home? Is this a good idea to do this before I start falling behind on my payments or should I try to negotiate with a lender first?"

WILLIS: You know, we get this question a lot. A short sale means, you sell your home and ask your lend to accept less than what is owed on the home's mortgage and forgive the remainder of the debt.

Now on paper, it sounds great. The problem is that it takes a long time before a lender gives approval for a short sale and in the end the lender may ask you to make up the difference anyway.

Bottom line here, a short sale and a foreclosure look just about the same on your credit record. That is big, ugly black marks. You're much better off trying to work out a payment schedule with your lender. You may be able to reduce those payments for a while until you can get through this rough this patch.

KAYE: All right. Some good advice there.

Hey, this next one had a lot of us talking here in the NEWSROOM this morning.

Question number three from anonymous, "Does it matter at what level you refill your gas tank?" Here's what we like. "There are a few rumors out there that if you fill up your tank before it actually reaches less than half a tank remaining you'll get better gas mileage."

Is this true?

WILLIS: This is -- yes. This is a little out there. A little crazy. There may some truth. Look, according to Edmonds.com -- that's who we called -- if you have a car that's from the mid-'80s, it could be true. That's because older cars may have poorly-sealing gas caps. We talked about this yesterday.

But take heart, it doesn't really matter what level you fill your gas tank to in modern cars. If you do have a wacky gas cap, get a new one because it will cut your gas mileage.

KAYE: It might hurt less, though, huh, if you fill it up when it's just half a tank.

All right. Question number four from Richard in California. This is a really good guy here because he says he helps his brother by co-signing for his house. What is the best way to get his name removed?

HARRIS: Oh boy.

WILLIS: A good guy, but I never advise people to do this. Look, it's not that easy to get your name removed. If your brother makes enough money and has a good enough credit score to qualify to refinance in his own name, you could have your name removed.

If the house has gone down in value, though, you brother may have to come up with cash at closing. And it may not -- he may not want to do that. If your brother does not qualify for a new loan it will be very difficult -- to get your name off the loan.

Remember, look, when you sign on the dotted line you've agreed to take on this person's responsibilities and the lender doesn't want to lose that leverage. They are not eager to get you out of this loan.

Look, if you have any questions send them to us at "Top Tips" at CNN.com. We love answering your questions and we answer them right here every Friday.

KAYE: And Gerri, coming up noon Eastern, "ISSUE #1," what do you have?

WILLIS: That's right. Well, forget your bill, your energy bills, your home heating and cooling bills. Make the power company pay you. Plus we put those Web sites that pinpoint cheap gas. We're going to put them to the test. We'll tell you all about that noon Eastern right here on CNN, "ISSUE #1."

KAYE: That's good. I know a lot of people check those Web sites so we're anxious to see what you found.

WILLIS: Yes. We'll tell you the good ones and the bad ones.

KAYE: All right. Gerri Willis, thanks so much.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

HARRIS: Rules and rancor. Barack Obama uses party policy as a weapon in his presidential bid and it's not the first time that being a stickler has helped his political ambitions. The story in the NEWSROOM.

ANNOUNCER: "Stock Market Update," brought to you by...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Bottom of the hour. Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Tony Harris.

KAYE: And I'm Randi Kaye, in today for Heidi Collins.

Breaking news now out of New York. A massive crane has toppled from a high rise in Manhattan's East Side. Fire crews say they have pulled people from the rubble. It has completely covered the sidewalks and the city streets below. Here's what we know at this hour right now.

At least one person confirmed dead. Fire crews, still digging through the wreckage searching for others. And when the crane toppled it slammed into an adjacent building and unleashed apparently, an avalanche of debris. In March, you may recall another construction crane collapsed in Manhattan, also on the East Side, left seven people dead.

CNN crews have been scrambling to the scene for us.

Our Jason Carroll, is there and he joins us now with the very latest.

Jason, you were saying earlier that some of the witnesses told you it sounded like a big snap when this happened.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly what they said, Randi. They said it sounded like a toothpick had snapped.

Let me set the scene for where we are right now. 92nd and (INAUDIBLE) directly behind me, it was utter confusion. You can see the crane there. Laborers were here at the scene working on the building. There was a cab on top of that crane. It snapped off (INAUDIBLE), how literally sheer that side of the building. (INAUDIBLE) the building next to where, that apartment building where that crane seemed to sheer along the side of that building and crashing down below.

With me right now is Asia Gibson (ph), she was on the 11th floor...

KAYE: OK, we're going try and work on Jason's audio.

Jason, we're going get back to you.

Apparently, what he was telling us was earlier he had spoken with these two construction workers, one a laborer there, saying that the -- there were safety inspectors on the site. So we do know that because that is one of the regulations that was put in place recently.

We also know that -- he told us that these construction workers, Tony, told us that they heard a very loud snap, almost like a toothpick. One of them saw the crane and the cab in which the engineer sits in, actually fall from about the 20th floor. One of them who you spoke with, Asia, was working on the 11th floor at the time. And they saw this cab snap and then fall down.

HARRIS: Boy, all right. It's a story we'll continue to follow and we'll get Jason back up in just a couple of minutes.

Decision day. Tomorrow Democrats decide if Michigan and Florida voters will have any say about their party's presidential nominee. Barack Obama's campaign has been reluctant to allow the primary votes to be counted because they say Democratic leaders in those states didn't play by the rules. That's a familiar theme in Barack Obama's political career.

CNN's Drew Griffin, of our special investigations unit, revisits Obama's very first race for public office and how he used election rules to make sure he won.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's running on change, no more politics as usual.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But we know in our hearts we are ready for change.

GRIFFIN: But here on Chicago's south side, in his first race for office, Barack Obama relied on old, bare knuckle political tactics to eliminate a popular incumbent and launch his political career in the Illinois state Senate.

"Chicago Tribune" columnist, John Kass, says it may not sound like the Obama way, but it is the Chicago way and back in 1996, Obama used it to full advantage.

JOHN KASS, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE" COLUMNIST: You use lawyers, you knock off -- you know, this is not the message of Barack Obama, but everyone joined in democracy and our ideas -- the better ideas shall triumph, right? No. That was Chicago politics. Knock out your opposition, challenge your petitions, destroy your enemy, right?

GRIFFIN: Obama had been a grassroots organizer in this gritty neighborhood, registering thousands to vote before going off to Harvard Law School. He came back to Chicago, to work as a lawyer. And saw a chance to run for state Senate. But in his first race for office he made sure Democratic voters had just one choice. Him.

GHA-IS ASKIA, FORMER CANDIDATE: There was an (INAUDIBLE). Right, that's what I'm saying. I wouldn't have done it.

GRIFFIN: Gha-is Askia, is no longer in politics. The race against Obama was his last. He and two other Democrats were kicked off that ballot before a single vote was cast. How? Obama sent a team of lawyers and volunteers to the Chicago Board of Elections, and challenged the petitions of his opponents. You needed 757 signatures of registered voters to become a candidate. Askia said he gathered 1,999. But when the Obama team was through challenging his signatures, addresses and voter registrations, Askia came up 69 signatures short.

ASKIA: I fought for every signature -- it was going technicalities.

GRIFFIN: If names were printed instead of written in cursive, they were kicked off, campaign workers told CNN. If signatures were good but the person collecting the petitions wasn't properly registered, all of those signatures were kicked off.

ASKIA: Yes. So it was technicality.

GRIFFIN: Jay Stewart, with Chicago's Better Government Association, says there is nothing illegal about what Obama did. In fact, it's the way politics are played in Chicago.

JAY STEWART, BETTER GOV'T. ASSN. OF CHICAGO: He came from Chicago politics. Politics ain't being bad as you say in Chicago. You play with your elbows up and you're pretty tough and ruthless when you have to be. Senator Obama felt that's what was necessary at the time, that's what he did. You know, does it fit in with the rhetoric now? Perhaps not.

GRIFFIN: But Askia wasn't the incumbent.

When we come back, how Barack Obama also wiped out the rest of the competition.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Barack Obama, that is coming up or Drew Griffin's SPECIAL REPORT.

After the break, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Barack Obama's campaign is working hard to keep the Democratic national committee following the rules set out at the beginning of the presidential campaign.

CNN investigator correspondent, Drew Griffin reports, knowing how to play by the rules made a big difference in his political career.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Barack Obama was a relative unknown in 1996 when he first ran for office. To win, he had to get around the five-year incumbent, Alice Palmer. After losing a bid for Congress, Alice Palmer decided to try to keep her Senate seat. She would have been tough competition for a newcomer. But Obama planned to beat her before she ever got on the ballot.

Will Burns, was one of the volunteers assigned to challenge Alice Palmer's signatures.

WILL BURNS, OBAMA VOLUNTEER: One of the first things you do whenever you're in the middle of a primary race, or any race, especially in primaries in Chicago, you look at the signatures. Because if you don't have at the signatures on the ballot, you save yourself a lot of time to raise money and have a full-blown campaign effort against...

GRIFFIN (on camera): And you guys, successfully kept her from running. You also did your job on everybody else on that ballot.

BURNS: There are rules. I mean, if you don't have --

GRIFFIN: But, I know there are rules.

BURNS: Right.

GRIFFIN: But let me be real cynical. The guy that registered 150,000 voters. The all-inclusive candidate, let everybody have their vote, make sure he's the only guy on the ballot in 1996.

BURNS: The rules are there for a reason. GRIFFIN: We have had multiple conversations with the Obama campaign about this story. In one of them the campaign called this a rehash. In another, a hit job. We were denied an interview with the campaign and instead the campaign directed us to a quote the senator gave the "Chicago Tribune" last year.

(voice-over): To my mind we were just abiding by the rules that had been set up, Obama told the "Tribune." My conclusion was, if you couldn't run a successful petition drive, then that raised questions in terms of how effective a representative you were going to be.

But in that same "Tribune" article, Obama had this appraisal of that incumbent, Alice Palmer. "I thought she was a good, public servant." Alice palmer who is now campaigning for Hillary Clinton, told CNN she doesn't want to talk about her elimination from the ballot by Obama.

BURNS: I don't think he enjoyed it. It was not something that he particularly relished. It was not something that I thought he was happy about doing.

GRIFFIN: But the "Tribune's," John Kass, says Obama did it anyway. And in 1996, Alice Palmer, who along with her husband Buzz, two legendary southside activists, learned you didn't have to be a Chicago native to play like one.

JOHN KASS, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE" COLUMNIST: Here comes Barack Obama, out of Harvard, using political tactics of a machine to get rid of the Palmers, and then calling himself progressive. And I guess, listen, if you want to believe it, believe it, you know?

Just remember this, Richard M. Daly, who's the boss of Chicago Machine. His spokesman is David Axelrod. Their candidate is Barack Obama. Who speaks for Barack Obama? David Axelrod. There's no such thing as coincidences. Chicago politics doesn't influence coincidences. And it wasn't a coincidence to get rid of Alice Palmer that way.

GRIFFIN: Alice Palmer never ran for public office again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Boy, I -- how much time do we have here, Drew?

You know, if what Barack Obama, did in '96 with his campaign wasn't illegal, why is his campaign -- I really need the answer to this, why is his campaign upset with the story?

GRIFFIN: I think Tony, they're upset with the story because it doesn't fit the brand of who Barack Obama is today. Openness, above the fray politics. He got his start down there in the politics of Chicago, and he showed in that very first election that he could play by the rules and tough by the rules. And that I think, escapes the brand of who Barack Obama, the presidential candidate is today.

HARRIS: Yes. Any reaction from supporters of Hillary Clinton, particularly with the decision that has to be made tomorrow in New York regarding Florida and Michigan?

GRIFFIN: Well, you know the Clinton supporters have long said that the press has not done a good enough job looking at Barack Obama's past.

So they are looking at this story and looking at a candidate who used rules to eliminate his Democratic competition in 1996. And now they're looking at a weekend, Tony, where rules are most likely going to be used by the DNC to declare Barack Obama, the winner of this campaign and finally end it. So I think they're looking at this with a critical eye. But you know, like we say, this was following the rules in Chicago.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

GRIFFIN: There was nothing wrong, and rules do matter...

HARRIS: Absolutely.

GRIFFIN: And by following the rules, Barack Obama, made sure he was the only Democrat on that ballot.

HARRIS: And if the signatures had held up, we might have seen a different outcome.

GRIFFIN: You know, two of the candidates told me if they just had more time they would have had those signatures corrected.

Alice Palmer's campaign was actually going out trying to find those people who printed their signatures and get them to re-sign them. They just ran out of time because they were approaching the deadline.

Gha-is Askia, 69 signatures short. You know, so those are thin margins when you're keeping people off the ballot.

HARRIS: And it sounds like a case where you go to court and get a stay and get the extra time you need.

We could keep going and going and going.

GRIFFIN: We could keep going. We could keep going.

But this is standard, political practice in the city of Chicago. And what the newspaper columnist says, and what Jay Stewart with the Better Government Association says, is look. This is where Barack Obama has his political roots and there hasn't been a lot of coverage of his political roots. Do you know that he's just a politician for 12 years, Tony.

HARRIS: That's right. That's right. All right.

Let's leave it there for now, Drew. Good to see you.

GRIFFIN: I'll come back.

HARRIS: Come on, come on.

KAYE: When we have more time, maybe.

HARRIS: Yes.

KAYE: Falling hard. A construction crane mangles a New York penthouse apartment before slamming into a busy street.

Late details right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: Danger from the sky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Can you believe this? Tornadoes scream across Kansas and Nebraska and threaten again today.

Find out where in the NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: And, welcome back. More than 400 children taken from that polygamist ranch in Texas, could be going home soon.

The Texas Supreme Court says the state had no right to remove the children from their parents. The case involves 38 mothers from the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The ruling now applies only to those moms and their 126 children, but attorneys say it could broaden out and end up including all of the children.

HARRIS: Looking to save a few pennies at gas pump. Well, don't look online.

We'll tell you why in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And good morning, again, everyone.

You're with CNN, I'm Tony Harris.

KAYE: Hello, I'm Randi Kaye. Heidi is off today.

Developments keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM, on this Friday, the 30 of May. Here is what is on the run down.

A crane crashes into a penthouse apartment. Breaking news from Manhattan.

HARRIS: Tornadoes tearing up homes in the plains today. The bulls-eye roughly St. Louis to Chicago.

KAYE: Polygamist parents waiting for hundreds of children to come home. The Texas Supreme Court sides with them in the custody fight.

You're in the NEWSROOM.