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American Morning
Hillary Clinton Gets Burst of Momentum; Barack Obama Cuts Ties with Controversial Church; Shakeup at Wachovia; Ted Kennedy to Undergo Surgery
Aired June 02, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the admiral will be joining us live for his first television interview since his resignation. You'll see the exclusive interview tomorrow morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning to politics. We're heading into the home stretch just one day and two contests left in the Democratic primary process. Senator Hillary Clinton getting some late momentum after an overwhelming 2 to 1 victory in Puerto Rico. She won 68 percent of the vote to Barack Obama's 32 percent.
But the turn out was far less than what Clinton had hoped for. And with the finish line now in sight, Clinton is making it clear that she is not done campaigning and insisting that she's ahead in the popular vote.
Last night, she reminded reporters aboard her aircraft that superdelegates can still change their mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One thing about superdelegates is that they can change their minds. With us in the front of the cabin is a superdelegate who went from me to Senator Obama and now is back with me in the course of, you know, a matter of weeks.
I think it's only now that we're finishing these contests that people are going to actually reflect, who's our stronger candidate? And I believe I am and I'm going to make that case. And at some point, it will either be accepted or it won't be, but I feel very strongly about making it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton picked up 38 delegates yesterday. Barack Obama is 17. He is now just 48 delegates shy of the 2,118 needed to clinch the nomination. Hillary Clinton 203 delegates away from the magic number. And with just 31 delegates left between Montana and South Dakota, both candidates are going to have to rely on superdelegates to put them over the top.
And the wild race for the Democratic nomination coming to a close. Tomorrow those last two primaries, Montana and South Dakota.
PHILLIPS: Barack Obama cut ties with his controversial church after being a member there for 20 years. But the controversy doesn't end there. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins us with the story.
You know, he's getting criticized. OK, he's acting like a typical politician. He's bailing out of the church.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. Right.
PHILLIPS: Well, he would have been accused of the same type of things if you stayed in the church. He can't win.
MALVEAUX: You know, Kyra -- I mean, this was a personal decision. It was a political decision, but also a personal decision. When I interviewed Michelle Obama they talked about the kind of pain that actually disassociating themselves from Reverend Wright, but they stayed in the church because of the relationship with the church.
But this weekend it was really quite different, because it was a political decision as well. Which is they had no control of the church, and so they had to sever ties.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Another scandal at Barack Obama's church.
REV. MICHAEL PFLEGER, FAITH COMMUNITY OF SAINT SABINA: I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show!
MALVEAUX: Visiting Priest Michael Pfleger's remark quickly went viral and immediate target for pundits and bloggers. And this time, Obama had had enough.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We also don't want a church subjected to the scrutiny that a presidential campaign legitimately undergoes.
MALVEAUX: Pfleger gave a mea culpa, Sunday.
PFLEGER: I am deeply sorry. And I pray that my apology will be accepted even by those who have told me they won't accept it.
MALVEAUX: But it was too late for Obama.
OBAMA: By Father Pfleger, who is somebody who I've known, who I consider a friend, who has done tremendous work in Chicago but made offensive statements that have no place in our politics and in the pulpit.
MALVEAUX: Still, the decision to leave was difficult for Obama. Trinity was a place where he married his wife and where his children were baptized.
OBAMA: I want to be able to take Michelle and my girls, sit in a pew quietly, hopefully get some nice music, some good reflection, praise God, thank Him for all the blessings that he has given our family. Put some money in the collection plate.
MALVEAUX: Parishioners at the church say the story was blown out of proportion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Politics and church should be something totally separate. And I say how can they bring all of these politician things inside the church. You know, if someone's preaching and they're delivering the word -- however they feel to deliver that word, and that should be them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This goes not going to take the church down, any stretch of the imagination.
MALVEAUX: But it remains to be seen if Obama can distance himself enough to quell voters' concerns over his judgment come November.
OBAMA: I have no idea how it will impact my presidential campaign. But I know that it's the right thing to do for the church and for our family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And, really, one of the challenges that Barack Obama has, and they realized is that he has to go out and define himself, and sometimes redefine his candidacy to voters who don't know him so well.
So this kind of thing, he really can't afford to be associated with the church especially because they just couldn't control what was coming out of it. And it's something that they really -- they've struggled with for quite some time.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's such a personal thing. It's got to be tough. I mean, he was married in this church. His kids were baptized in this church. And sort of sad to see just even Reverend Wright and now Father Pfleger. You know, they're taking advantage of their moments of fame. And it's too bad it even had to happen in the first place.
But you know, it's historic what's happening in this election. Not only you have an African-American, you have this first female candidate going for president, but just the subject matter. I mean, we haven't seen a controversy like this.
MALVEAUX: And in my church, I fell asleep in my church. It was never this exciting. We've had a whole different kind of role of pastors -- I mean, on both sides -- the Republicans as well as the Democrats here, which is why a lot of people make the argument, you know, church and state, keep them separate.
PHILLIPS: Right. We'll be praying for La Kumbaya (ph).
All right. Thank you, Suzanne -- John,
ROBERTS: More breaking news to tell you about this morning. South Korea delaying a plan to resume U.S. beef imports. The move comes after more than 40,000 protesters took to the streets of Seoul. They're angry over the government's decision to resume imports. The country banned imports in 2003 amid concerns of mad cow disease.
PHILLIPS: Extreme weather this morning concerns over flooding. Right now, in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala from the remnants of tropical storm Arthur. The first named storm of the Atlanta hurricane season now just a tropical depression. It actually soaked the Yucatan Peninsula leaving several streets flooded. Waves also splashed over the sew wall. You can see the storm really took -- it took 15 inches of rain in some areas dump there.
Now, here's a little "A.M. Extra" for you, to take a look at the upcoming hurricane season. The Climate Prediction Center says that the season will be above normal. That means up to 16 named storms with up to nine hurricanes. Five of those could be major reaching category three or even greater.
ROBERTS: And we continue to follow the breaking news out of North Carolina this morning. Senator Ted Kennedy will undergo surgery on a brain tumor at the top of the hour. We've got details coming up on that.
And America's commuters feeling the pain. Gas prices and traffic jams forcing employers to help out their workers. Find out how they're helping, ahead.
PHILLIPS: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, time trip. Remembering Woodstock. Tune in and trip out with us, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It was raining Rupees in Indonesia. To promote a new book that he's written, a businessman tossed the equivalent of more than $10,000 U.S. from a plane as he circled a soccer field. Below, hundreds of people with open arms, of course.
That author initially wanted to fly over the capital of Jakarta but police said they didn't want it to happen because they fear that chaos might ensue in a place where millions of people live on less than $2 a day.
ROBERTS: Dropping money on anybody is bound to cause chaos.
News just in on a shakeup at Wachovia. The nation's fourth largest bank. Stephanie Elam in for Ali Velshi this morning with more on that.
Good morning.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
We've got more on what's coming up of Wachovia. The North Carolina Charlotte-based bank saying here that they've asked their CEO to retire.
Ken Thompson, 32-year veteran is now stepping down or retiring. The current chairman who is actually Lanty Smith. He's been a sort of an interim CEO. The board has formed a search committee here to see who would become the permanent CEO.
This also follows early May when actually Thompson stepped down from the chairman role as well as something a lot of oversight committees had been wanting banks to do.
All right, let's move on and tell you a little bit about gas prices here. I can tell you that they stabilized for a day. They didn't go up, they didn't go down. Just had a nice high of $3.97. The average there for a gallon of regular. That matches the day before and it breaks 26 days of consecutive increases.
Now, the new survey that we have here showing 4,000 driving commuters in 10 metropolitan areas, they had this to say. 30 percent of them want the option to work from home because of those high fuel prices. Also, because of just the headaches of commuting.
In fact, a recent survey found that driving to work can have mental and physical effects. This IBM study said that people who drive all the time, they have added stress. I can see that one. Anger, lack of sleep, all issues there. And they said that they may even be less productive at work. Something I know you two know nothing about.
ROBERTS: The commute into work takes a lot out of you.
ELAM: It really does and going home, too. So you're just kind of flat lining by the time you get there. No energy for the family.
ROBERTS: Steph, thanks very much.
ELAM: Sure.
ROBERTS: It may look like monkeying around, but this monkey is part of some amazing research that could help humans. We'll tell you what's going on, coming up.
PHILLIPS: And Rob Marciano in the CNN weather center tracking all the extreme weather.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Kyra.
You mentioned the hurricane season began yesterday. We already had one tropical storm. We'll talk about Arthur and the season ahead.
Plus, it's a start of a new business week if you're traveling. We got your business travelers forecast, coming up. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Bad storms through Tulsa, Oklahoma. Big time winds knocking down trees there. 70-mile-an-hour winds knocking down power lines as well. Obviously, blowing out windows in some of the store fronts. Almost 70,000 at one point without power. (WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: From the mind of a monkey, could come a breakthrough. We'll tell you what this monkey can do, and how he does it. That's coming up.
PHILLIPS: And the last stand. Hillary Clinton counting on superdelegates to be her superheroes. She says they can change their minds. How she plans to do it with the clock running out.
And breaking news right now. Senator Ted Kennedy preparing to undergo surgery on a brain tumor in less than an hour. We'll take a look at this morning's procedure, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Monkey mind control. Sounds like the stuff of science fiction but it's true. Scientists have trained two monkeys to control a prosthetic arm with nothing but their thoughts.
And joining me now to talk about what impact this could have for humans, our chief technology correspondent Miles O'Brien.
Good morning. Pretty fascinating stuff.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT: It is fascinating stuff, John. And the implications are tremendous. What these researchers have done is trapped into the motor cortex portion of the brain which controls the way we move things. There you see the monkey.
The monkey is simply thinking about grabbing that marshmallow or that little piece of fruit, and then operates that robotic arm beside him. They implanted a tiny mesh inside his brain which captured the neurons as they fired as he was thinking to move the arm.
Now you see the monkey's arms are generally restrained. It's kind of underneath the banner there. But they're in a little tube there. It didn't hurt the monkey at all. Just thinking about it moved the arm. This is the state of the arm in neuroprosthetics. One of the lead authors in all this is with the University of Pittsburgh. He's a neurobiologist by the name of Andrew Schwartz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW SCHWARTZ, NEUROBIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: What we're able to do is to show that the monkey could use his brain activity to control a robot arm that was very human-like, a very natural arm, to reach out, get a piece of food, grip it with a gripper at the end and bring it back to his mouth so that he could eat it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Now, I don't know if you notice, John, but did you notice how fluid the motion was as he was eating the fruit. That's a tricky thing to do because it takes about 1,000 neurons firing for us to just do this. And the mesh that they have in there only has about 100 neurons. So what they do is to kind of fill in the gaps is do it with a mathematical formula. That's kind of the secret sauce -- the breakthrough here.
ROBERTS: This algorithm that helps to control the arm.
O'BRIEN: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Obviously, the equipment looks like it's fairly bulky. It might not have human application in terms of people who are ambulatory, who can walk around. But what about somebody who is confined, let's say to a wheelchair? How far away it might this be from application in the end.
O'BRIEN: Yes. I mean, there are some issues that they have to work through. The size is one of the issues. The other aspect is these neurons. When they implant them, they only last for about a month. They got to figure out a way to make them last longer. And you know, it's one of those things that I think they'll work toward. And of course, it would be nice to have positive feedback, to have touch. It's not a two-way street just yet.
Nevertheless, that's stuff that's not considered insurmountable could be tremendous for a lot of people.
ROBERTS: A lot further ahead now than they were just a couple of years ago.
O'BRIEN: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Perfect.
Miles, fascinating stuff. Thanks -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Breaking news this morning that we continue to cover. Senator Ted Kennedy about to undergo surgery for a brain tumor. Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen takes a look at the procedure that he's facing. That's straight ahead.
A CNN exclusive. As the death toll from the China earthquake continues to rise, CNN takes you to the quake lakes. More than 1 million people threatened with massive flooding. A live report straight ahead.
And questioning Bill Clinton's behavior on and off the campaign trail. A new article talks about the former president's new entourage and about why he's lost his political touch of gold.
Plus, three days that defined a generation 39 years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In August of 1969, 500,000 people swarmed Bethel, New York, for a music festival that became known simply as Woodstock.
Jimi Hendrix and dozens of other musicians played to the masses during one of America's most distorted periods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, there's a new shrine where Jimi Hendrix once jammed. We're going to take you inside the Woodstock Museum, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: The decision will fall on the shoulders of those leaders in our party empowered by the rules to vote at the Democratic convention. I do not envy the decision you must make.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Hillary Clinton making her case. With time running out, the final two Democratic primaries are tomorrow after a wild weekend in politics. Senator Clinton won big in Puerto Rico yesterday and is threatening to take the fight for Michigan all the way to the convention.
Joining me now is CNN political analyst Roland Martin and political commentator Michael Reagan.
Gentleman, great to see you both.
Let's talk about the high drama. On Saturday, DNC deciding Michigan and Florida delegates will get half a vote at the convention. Harold Ickes, as you know, Clinton strategist rising up and giving it to the members. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAROLD ICKES, SENIOR ADVISER, CLINTON CAMPAIGN: This body of 30 individuals has decided that they're going to substitute their judgment for 600,000 voters. And that's what I call democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Michael, what did you make of that?
MICHAEL REAGAN, HOST, "THE MICHAEL REAGAN SHOW": She's going to take it all the way to the convention. She has no other choice but take it to the convention. It's the last shot for Hillary Rodham Clinton. And so that's why you hear Harold Ickes saying what he's saying.
But remember, a long time ago, both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama signed a document agreeing to what the DNC was doing with Michigan and Florida. But that's when they thought that Hillary Clinton was, in fact, going to lawsuit this whole operation, get the nomination of the party, and of course, go on to be the president of the United States. When things changed up, they changed up. PHILLIPS: And what do you think, Roland? I mean, Harold Ickes said that they could take this to the credentials committee. Will they?
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think they will take it to the credentials committee primarily because they understand that if you press this even further, the kind of damage you're inflicting on the party.
You know, I listened to Harold Ickes comment. And frankly, the person who I thought was the most offensive on Saturday was really Senator Carl Levin who basically said we moved it because we wanted to challenge you guys on Iowa and New Hampshire.
And so -- look, I understand Florida. I get that. Charlie Crist, he's a Republican. But Democrats, Jennifer Granholm, the governor of Michigan, a Clinton supporter, she could have never signed that deal, this would have never happen. Democrats shot themselves in the foot. Ickes should be mad at Carl Levin and Granholm and not anybody else.
PHILLIPS: Something else that happened over the weekend. I want to hit a bunch of subjects because I have you both. The whole Pfleger fallout there at Obama's church. You actually broke the story, Roland, on Saturday, that Obama decided to quit his membership.
Michael, what do you make of that? Good move, bad move, did he have to do it?
REAGAN: What took so long to leave that church? Oprah left it a long time ago. I don't think he would have left the church had he not been running for president of the United States. I think he's listened to this for 20 years. I think he buys into what Pfleger says and what all the other pastor says in that church. I think he only left because he's running for the president of the United States.
If you remember what he said in his press conference the other day that he felt it was his fault all that was going on at the church. That the eyes of America were looking into church. I believe he would still be there. I think most of America believes he will still be there and would still be there if he were not running for the presidency of United States of America.
PHILLIPS: Interesting, Roland. Is there a side of Barack Obama that we don't know?
MARTIN: No. I think, first of all, he's already stated who he is. Also I find it interesting -- first of all, Michael, Father Pfleger is not a pastor of the church. He actually pastors a Catholic Church -- St. Sabina there in Chicago.
REAGAN: Absolutely, absolutely right. And remember --
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: No, no, no, one second. But, Michael, Michael, Michael, here's the issue here. Not only do you have a political issue in terms of this being a part of the campaign, but you also had this one church had been under the intense microscope. You know what, America doesn't even know what church Hillary Clinton goes to. You probably couldn't even name the church that John McCain goes to.
REAGAN: You're right. You're right.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Go ahead finish you thought --
REAGAN: People on Sunday morning are not standing up in Hillary Rodham's church, nor my church, and spewing the hatred that comes from the pulpit in that church. That's why they're making news.
MARTIN: But I will say this here. And here's one of the issues that we have here, Kyra. And that is you have -- look, I'm in the Bible belt right now in Houston. You have churches that make political statements all the time.
Now, they may be conservative. They may be liberal. They may be progressive but the reality is you see this. The fact of the matter is he had no choice to do it because you're moving into a general, so there's no doubt there.
But you have a combination in his own statement of a political issue having to defend any comment coming out of there, but also the intense pressure the church was under. And so again, that was no choice he had to make.
REAGAN: Does your church play the race card on Sunday mornings from the pulpit? Mine, doesn't. It never has. If it did, I would walk out the front door 20 years ago. Barack Obama did not walk out the front door.
MARTIN: Well, actually, Mike, I know a number of churches that have made political statements that are predominantly white churches as well that frankly Republican Party has embraced for a number of years. So you can't deny it, Michael. You can't deny it.
PHILLIPS: OK. Well, Roland, let me ask you this.
MARTIN: Michael, you've been denying it but it's OK.
PHILLIPS: I'm listening to both of you and I'm understanding both sides of the story here definitely.
But, Roland -- I mean, here was this white man, you look at him and, OK, he's supposed to be a Catholic priest. And then you sort of see this clip --
MARTIN: No, no, not supposed to. He is.
PHILLIPS: Well, yes. Maybe I should say fit into the stereotype as people see Catholic priests. A little more reserved. A little -- you know, not so charismatic. I mean, he looked like he was auditioning for, you know, a role of running the AME Church in Los Angeles. I mean, it was pretty outrageous, the theatrics.
MARTIN: But here's the deal, though. I have seen other white preachers who are theatric in their presentations. OK, every pastor is not Joel Osteen who talks very soft and very simple. No, there are people who have all kinds of styles of preaching.
The issue is not style of preaching, OK. The issue is the fact of what he said, which he apologized for yesterday, was indeed offensive, should not have said it. But the point is he made it at Trinity. He wasn't a pastor there. And that's the fundamental issue there.
Obama says I can't sit here and have to explain every comment that comes out of a pulpit. So therefore, you've cut the ties here. So the question is, are people from this point forward going to still tie whatever said at Trinity to him or they're going to reference him and say, you know what whatever happened to him while he was a member matters. What happens after, will it matter? We'll see.
PHILLIPS: Michael, final thought?
REAGAN: Final thought is Barack Obama may be known by his friends. And, remember, both these pastors are his friends, along with heirs. So he'll be looked on a lot between now and November.
PHILLIPS: Michael Reagan, Roland Martin, didn't expect to take so much time on this subject matter but as you see people are still talking about it and it gets folks people heated up. Thanks, guys. John.
ROBERTS: Half past the hour. Half past the hour now. We're following breaking news this morning. Senator Ted Kennedy will have surgery targeting a brain tumor in just half an hour from now. It's going to take place at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, scheduled to begin 9:00 a.m. Eastern and may last up to six hours. It will be followed by radiation and chemotherapy.
In a statement released this morning, the Senator said experts across the country decided that this is the best course of action and the senator added, "after completing treatment, I look forward to returning to the United States Senate and doing everything I can to help elect Barack Obama as our next president."
Also breaking today, Syria has invited nuclear inspectors in. That's according to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog group, the IAEA. Inspectors will try to find out if a facility that was flattened by an Israeli air strike last September was indeed a nuclear reactor. The U.S says Syria built it in secret with the help of North Korea. The inspections are scheduled later on this month.
And at least six people were killed and more than a dozen injured after a massive blast outside the Danish embassy in Pakistan. Denmark's embassies have been targeted in Muslim countries after Danish newspapers published cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. The death toll from last month's earthquake in China has now risen to more than 69,000 and authorities were trying desperately to keep lakes created by the earthquake from flooding towns downstream.
CNN's Wilf Dinnick and his crew got a first hand look at the massive lake that was formed by the quake. They gained exclusive access to a closed area by hiking up the mountains for more than six hours. Wilf is in Mianying, China right now and joins us live.
ROBERTS: Have they made any progress at all, Wilf, in trying to let loose some of that water although let it loose in a controlled fashion?
WILF DINNICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. Chinese authorities clearly comfortable and feeling good about this because over the next 48 hours they are starting to evacuate all the personnel, the military engineers that had been at that base camp of that quake lake trying to solve this problem. What they've been using backhoes and bulldozers to create a man-made river and let it spill over in a controlled way. Sides of mountains on either side come down into a river creating a dangerous dam. It had been swelling at about 60 per day. They were worried it would eventually spill over and pour downstream causing severe damage to already victims of this disastrous earthquake. John.
ROBERTS: You got some pretty incredible pictures there over the weekend, Wilf. How difficult was it to access that area?
DINNICK: It says a lot about what the Chinese authorities have been up against. All the roads and bridges really cut off there, difficult to get in. Only by helicopter. That's how they ferried all those bulldozers and backhoes in there. But so, we couldn't get a ride with the helicopter with the Chinese military, so we had to hike in six hours. And we really got a view of the devastation there, areas that had been cut off. Yeah, huge cities just flattened. Apartment buildings, those that were standing still askew. And mountainsides just flattened going into villages here. It just gave us a real perspective of the devastating size of this earthquake. John.
ROBERTS: Good work there in bringing us those pictures. Wilf Dinnick for us in Mianying. Wilf, thanks.
PHILLIPS: Alina Cho here with some stories making headlines. Hello.
PHILLIPS: Hey, there. Good morning, guys. Good morning, everybody. New this morning, in California, Universal Studios will be back open today after a spectacular fire destroyed many famous movie sets and tens of thousands of video reels. Hundreds of firefighters battled the three-alarm fire for more than 12 hours. The fire covered the equivalent of two city blocks. Crews say the popular "King Kong" exhibit is a total loss, but there are duplicates of all of the video reels that were destroyed.
Fans and fellow fashion designers are remembering fashion legend Yves St. Laurent this morning. St. Laurent died yesterday at his Paris home after a long illness. He was one of the most enduring and influential designers of the 20th century. His longtime business partner said Chanel gave women freedom. Saint Laurent gave them power. Yves St. Laurent was 71 years old.
And who says a chick flick can't win the box office? "Sex and the City" did and sure won big. The movie pulled in an estimated $55.7 million over the weekend. That's the biggest opening weekend ever for an R-rated film. The fab four knocked "Indiana Jones" out of the top spot but Indy still earned more overall, $200 million in less than two weeks.
PHILLIPS: Our EP was wrong. Janelle said it wasn't going to do well. Are you eating crow?
CHO: No.
PHILLIPS: She's eating crow, she admitted it,
CHO: I have to say I saw it over the weekend. I have never seen so many women in one theater at one time.
PHILLIPS: John can't wait to go.
CHO: Yes. I know. You're dying to go, aren't you?
ROBERTS: Trying to find the time.
CHO: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Schedule is jam but I'm trying to wedge it in.
CHO: You'll make it and sometimes.
PHILLIPS: Did you like it?
CHO: I did. Despite what the critics said, I thought it was actually cute.
PHILLIPS: I want to see it. You did introduce me to the Magnolia bakery though.
CHO: Oh.
PHILLIPS: The cupcakes. Yes.
CHO: Yes. That's a New York institution.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Alina.
Almost home, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fight it out in the final two democratic primaries tomorrow. A look at where the party goes after Montana and South Dakota. That's just ahead.
PHILLIPS: Less than half an hour away now until Senator Ted Kennedy's scheduled surgery for his brain tumor. We're going to take a look at the delicate procedure that he's facing coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS (voice-over): Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, remembering Woodstock. Taking a bad trip back in time. The fight to keep the memories and music alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Woodstock is a hard thing to grasp, especially for those who weren't there.
PHILLIPS: Peace, love and politics ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Three days to define a generation and changed America now remembered with the museum. The new Woodstock Museum is open on the site where 500,000 people showed up for a little peace, love and rock 'n' roll and a few other things 39 years ago. We're finding the politics of the time, though, still relevant together. Our Richard Roth live for us at the museum there in Bethel, in New York. He even brought out his tie-dyed shirt he made when he was 12. Looking good, Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Kyra. And I don't think I'll be able to wear this everywhere but it is the official opening of the Woodstock Museum in a couple of hours. Looking back nearly 40 years ago when the festival opened and many didn't think it would succeed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROTH (VOICE-OVER): In August of 1969, 500,000 people swarmed Bethel, New York, for a music festival that became known simply as Woodstock. Jimi Hendrix and dozens of other musicians played to the masses during one of America's most distorted periods. Woodstock has always lured people searching for the spirit of the '60s.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A year after Woodstock, people found this site. People came here. It was like a Mecca.
ROTH: Now, a museum is letting the public get on the magic bus and take a trip back in time.
DENNIS ELSAS, RADIO PERSONALITY: This is about the '60s. This is about the best parts of the '60s. And, yes, there's some of the not so nice parts of the '60s.
ROTH: Not so nice, deep divisions between left and right, between pro and anti-war factions. Sound familiar?
RICHIE HAVENS, WOODSTOCK PERFORMER: A lot of what happened then can be traced to a lot of what's going on now.
ROTH: The establishment didn't dig Woodstock then and current leaders have used the festival to take political pot shots.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now my friends, I know that was a cultural as well as a pharmaceutical experience.
ROTH: Senator John McCain, a Vietnam P.O.W. likes to say he was tied up during Woodstock.
Last fall, McCain and fellow republican block New York's democratic senator Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer from earmarking $1 million dollars in federal government funds for the museum. Although after securing private funding, the show goes on.
ALAN GERRY, DEVELOPER, "MUSEUM AT THE BETHEL WOODS": This is a squabble between the folks down there in Washington. They said that they were supporting the hippies. Well, you know, what's a hippy.
ROTH: One weekend back in 1969. This field was filled with 500,000 of them. And while the museum does its best to capture the spirit of that day and of those times -
JOHN SEBASTIAN, WOODSTOCK PERFORMER: Woodstock is a hard thing to grasp especially for those who weren't there.
ROTH: As the saying goes, if you remember Woodstock you are there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROTH (on-camera): And the goal here is also to help economically Sullivan County here in New York. I've already helped the economy of the museum gift shop here. You can have a peace, love and splat Woodstock fly swatter or perhaps some groovy candy if you would be interested. I know it's a little bit early.
PHILLIPS: What's in the groovy candy. Have you experimented with that yet?
ROTH: I don't want to experiment whether it's a Woodstock or a Manhattan but it says it look like it all has the regular ingredients that might put a few pounds on you but I have not opened to box.
PHILLIPS: It might be a little special brownies that we used to get also in junior high school. So -
ROTH: I don't think we want to know too much about your taste. I thought it worked, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We're not talking about me. Now, Richards, let me ask you do you remember Woodstock?
ROTH: I remember watching it as a young, very young and it was an amazing experience. I mean, you have all kinds of scenes that people will remember forever.
PHILLIPS: Richard, as he says and ends that quickly. Richard Roth, great to see you. Great inside look at the museum.
ROBERTS: Magic brownies in junior high, what school did you go to?
PHILLIPS: Hey, I remember making those tie dyed t-shirts. You know, we all - right. The whole crew remembers - ROBERTS: No. Don't deflect. We're not talking t-shirts here.
PHILLIPS: I just heard about, you know. About special brownies because it was rumored.
ROBERTS: Well, from magic brownies to a magic wall. A decisive win for Hillary Clinton in Puerto Rico as we entered the homestretch. What counts now? Coming up. We're going to the magic wall to see where she stands. Where just minutes away now from the scheduled surgery from Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy over at Duke Medical Center in North Carolina there where his brain surgery will take place in just a few minutes. What the procedure entails? We'll lay it out for you. Coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 16 minutes now to the top of the hour. In just a few minutes reminding you here, Senator Ted Kennedy will undergo brain surgery at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. The initial expectation for the surgery is they could last up to six hours. It could be shorter than. If they ran into some complications, it could be longer. It's going to be a combination of a surgical procedure plus chemotherapy and radiation to treat his brain tumor there. Our Sanjay Gupta is going to be following this this morning. He has got his own procedure underway right now in Atlanta and he'll be joining us a little bit later on this morning to talk more about what Senator Ted Kennedy is undergoing.
The wild race for the democratic nomination coming to a close but will it be one for all and all for one? Here's CNN's Jim Acosta.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Barack Obama may be closing in clinching the nomination but don't tell that to Hillary Clinton, who is fighting hard to pull off an upset sweep in Montana and South Dakota making one final pitch to superdelegates that she is the more electable candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): It's a fitting campaign stop for a presidential contender looking to make history. Standing before Mt. Rushmore over the weekend, Barack Obama was asked whether he sees his face joining the likes of Washington and Lincoln.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think my ears would settle. So, it's just only so much rock up there.
ACOSTA: But there is little time to play tourist. Obama doesn't want to end the primary season stumbling at the finish line states of South Dakota and Montana.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I won't be a perfect president but I can promise you this. I will always tell you what I think. I will always tell you where I stand. I'll be honest with you about the challenges we face as a nation. And most importantly, I will spend everyday working hard to you're your lives better. I will think about you when I'm in the White House.
ACOSTA: Her original battle cry back in the speech.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Who is ready on day one to walk into that Oval Office and start making the tough decisions.
ACOSTA: Hillary Clinton is still campaigning with gusto, determined to show the nomination is within her grasp, working in her own Rushmore pit stop. She has taken her case from small town diners to Indian reservations, knowing eight percent of South Dakotans are native Americans.
CLINTON: And I will elevate ahead of the Indian Health Services to the Assistant Secretary level. Indian country will have a seat at the table in my White House.
ACOSTA: And Clinton is airing this new ad, which again makes her campaign's much disputed claim she held the popular vote lead over Obama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 17 million Americans have voted for Hillary Clinton, more than for any one candidate in history.
ACOSTA: But Obama has won most of the democratic western showdowns. A recent pole shows him riding high over Clinton and Montana's big sky country. He has already secured South Dakotas biggest endorsement.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: The democratic party has its sights set on the western state for the upcoming general election. That's because it's a region that has grown less red and more blue with every election cycle. Jim Acosta, CNN, Mitchell, South Dakota.
PHILLIPS: Back to the long campaign. The democrats are also down to just two contests with 31 delegates remaining. So after tomorrow, it will be up for those superdelegates to decide. So, what are the different scenarios is the magic wall.
ROBERTS: We are.
PHILLIPS: Here we go, the magic ends.
ROBERTS: Let's take a look first of all what happened in Puerto Rico yesterday. Here's the overall vote size, 6832. You want to see how it broke down across the eight senatorial districts?
PHILLIPS: Give me the numbers.
ROBERTS: You want to touch. Go ahead, touch the wall.
PHILLIPS: Oh boy. John King is going to get very upset when he sees you let me do this. ROBERTS: All right. So, Mayaguez, 69-31. It was the same in Aricebo, a little more actually 70-30. Ponce district 71-29. Here is San Juan where we thought that might be Barack Obama's best showing, 72-28. so she really hammered him all across the island of Puerto Rico. How does that translate now to our delegate count. Let's take a look. Here's where we are right now. Barack Obama is 48 away from the finish line.
Here's the finish line. It's the new one. 2,118 delegates after the decision made by the DNC rules committee over the weekend. So, Barack Obama now 48 away. Hillary Clinton about 204 away. So, she's got a lot of ground to make up.
PHILLIPS: But when you look at the numbers like that. It looks like OK, it's over.
ROBERTS: Well, it's not over until it's over but it's getting closer. Touch on Montana over there.
PHILLIPS: Oh, oh. Now, you're testing my geography. Right here.
ROBERTS: All right. So, Barack Obama is a little bit ahead of Montana so let's give him one more delegates, a couple more delegates than Hillary Clinton got. And now, if you will touch on South Dakota which is the other contest coming up on Tuesday.
PHILLIPS: That I know is right next to -
ROBERTS: We'll split those pretty much evenly. Barack Obama gets one more delegate because he gets ahead in the polls. Now, let's line that out in our graph here. Then we can see, look at how close Barack Obama is. There's only nine delegates left. Most of those are John Edwards' delegates. We split them up relatively even here. Give a few to Barack Obama, a few to Hillary Clinton. 2091, 2118 is like 25 away, 27 away. All he needs in that many and maybe a couple more delegates and he is there. He's got it. 2100.
PHILLIPS: I mean, you see it like that and it pretty much plays up.
ROBERTS: Let me put a scenario here that I accidentally came across yesterday. We'll talk about the electoral college map here. Obama thinks that maybe he can get Virginia. John McCain may come back and say OK, I can get Minnesota. There's a republican governor there. And there's this western strategy that Obama may employ. Say that he takes Colorado and Nevada, right?
PHILLIPS: OK.
ROBERTS: That could happen. That could happen. Look at where it leaves us.
PHILLIPS: Oh, wow.
ROBERTS: 269 to 269. A tie, it goes to Capitol Hill and Congress has to figure it our.
PHILLIPS: The amazing thing about the map, you never know what you're going to come across.
ROBERTS: Well, you thought that the nominating process was bizarre. That's where we could end up in November.
PHILLIPS: Also, I'm just getting word too, we're going to be following up more on Senator Ted Kennedy and the situation with this. He's going to start surgery in about 10 minutes and it's going to last about six hours. Correct?
ROBERTS: Correct.
PHILLIPS: So, we'll be following that throughout the morning. I know that CNN NEWSROOM is just minutes away. Also, Heidi Collins at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. And of course, that's going to be a big part of the breaking news today, right, Heidi?
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. It's going to be really running the show for us today. Hi, Kyra. And good morning to you, everybody.
Breaking news, in fact, in the NEWSROOM. Senator Ted Kennedy undergoing surgery next hour at Duke University Hospital. The senator fighting a cancerous brain tumor. We will be following that story for you very closely right here on CNN.
Also, Hillary Clinton celebrating a lopsided win in Puerto Rico. She says she's taking the presidential race one day at a time.
And he threw himself on a grenade to save his buddies. Live this hour, President Bush awards the medal of honor to Pfc. Ross McGinnis.
And the risk of severe storms Missouri to Montana. We're going to keep you posted on that as well in the NEWSROOM. For now though, a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Just minutes away now to the scheduled start of surgery for Senator Ted Kennedy undergoing a procedure to treat a brain tumor. Word about the surgery coming overnight. What's involved in the operation and how long will the senator be in the hospital. Joining us by phone from Atlanta, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, first of all, from what you know, from what we've heard about what he's going to undergo, can you in any way, shape or form, tell us the risks involved here?
VOICE OF DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, any time you're having an open brain surgery, which sounds like he's having this morning, there's always concern - the biggest concern for him is damaging areas of the brain that are so vital for him. Motor strength, for example, on the right side of his body. Speech areas, which means both the ability to - but also the ability to understand speech. Those are risks of the operation. Bleeding is always a risk of the operation. There's some big blood vessels that run through that part of the brain. Infection is a concern. So, you know, these are all things that are sort of standard concerns with any operation. But, you know, a big brain tumor operation like this, you know, I think surgeons would certainly take those into account.
PHILLIPS: And what about his age? 71, right? The Senator is --
GUPTA: 76, I believe.
PHILLIPS: 76. So, isn't the brain in a different type of condition say you were doing this type procedure on someone who is 25 and you talk about those blood vessels so that the brain tissue is softer and it makes it a little more difficult to get right to the pinpointed area because of that, right?
GUPTA: Well, you know, I think when it comes to age, it's an arbitrary sort of thing. I think, you know, everyone's brains are going to be different. Certainly, the surgeons get lots of imaging tests ahead of time to figure out exactly what is located where. And they're probably going to do what is known as mapping this morning, mapping out critical areas of the brain including the motor areas and the speech areas. That's probably going to be done. As far as his recovery, certainly I think a younger person would recover better. Children's brains tend be to be a little more what we call neuroplastic meaning they adapt batter. But you know, age is an arbitrary thing. You got to make sure his heart and his lungs tolerate the operation well. That's probably the biggest concern as far as his age goes.
PHILLIPS: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our own resident brain surgeon and also our medical correspondent. Appreciate it. I know you'll be paying close attention to this, as will we. The senator due to set that - or about to engage in that surgery at the top of the hour at Duke University. Live pictures there out of North Carolina. We of course will follow all information and updates from that surgery. We're going to take a quick break. More on AMERICAN MORNING when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Just a minute left until the top of the hour. The story that we're going to continue to follow all day here on CNN, the pending brain surgery on Senator Ted Kennedy. You remember a couple weeks back he had that seizure while he was at the Kennedy compound later diagnosed as a brain tumor in the parietal lobe of his brain, up near the top, near the speech and motor center. So, it's going to be a very, very delicate surgery and as our Sanjay Gupta was saying early today, Kyra, that they may actually keep him awake during the surgery as they go in there as they probe the extent of this tumor.
PHILLIPS: And after the surgery, then that's followed by radiation, chemotherapy. It should last about six hours. Apparently, he and his family, a team of doctors over the past week got together, strategized the best way to go about this. The senator said he feels confident in these doctors and what they are going to do. We'll bring you up to date, of course, throughout the morning and afternoon as the surgery is about to start in about a couple of minutes.
ROBERTS: No question Duke Medical Center is one of the best hospitals in the world. Dr. Allan Freedman will do the operation, tremendous amount of experience. We certainly wish the senator well as they are about to undergo this. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. Kyra and I will see you back here again tomorrow.
PHILLIPS: CNN NEWSROOM now starts with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins.
