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American Morning

Final Showdown: Montana and South Dakota Primaries Today; Majority Whip James Clyburn Endorses Barack Obama; Bill Clinton Lashes Out on Reporter; Admiral William Fallon Breaks His Silence

Aired June 03, 2008 - 07:00   ET

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


JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Just to remind you, one hour and nine, eight, seconds to go until polls open there, 7:00 a.m. Central, 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Montana an hour later.
Thirty-one delegates at stake today. That breaks down to 15 in South Dakota and 16 in Montana. And as the final votes are cast, is unity next for the Democratic contenders? The language is already changing.

CNN's Jim Acosta is live in Keystone, South Dakota, for us. And good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Barack Obama is doing all he can to hold the door open for Hillary Clinton to make a graceful exit from this campaign. Both of these candidates have sounded less like bitter rivals over the last 24 hours and more like potential teammates who could change the face of presidential politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Looking beyond South Dakota and Montana and on to the battle ground state of Michigan, Barack Obama is offering the kind of praise political analyst love to parse.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She is an outstanding public servant, and she and I will be working together in November.

ACOSTA: No offers are being made, both campaigns say, but the two senators will be talking as Obama put it at a time and place of her choosing.

OBAMA: We still got two more contests to go, and I'm sure there'll be further conversations after Tuesday.

ACOSTA: It was another gesture to go with the olive branch he extended to Hillary Clinton in South Dakota.

OBAMA: She is going to be a great asset when we go into November to make sure that we defeat the Republicans. That I can promise you.

ACOSTA: While Clinton is still hammering home her contested claim to the popular vote edge.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am now over 300,000 votes ahead in the popular vote.

ACOSTA: She is doing it with a velvet glow. She knows word is trickling out that her campaign is apparently telling some staffers they'll be out of a job once the curtain closes on the primaries.

CLINTON: Our main job at the end of this historic closely contested primary season is to nominate the next president who must be a Democrat. That is our goal.

ACOSTA: Slightly less subtle was the former president in South Dakota.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind. I thought I was out of politics until Hillary decided to run.

ACOSTA: Pondering the next step at the footsteps of Mount Rushmore, some Democrats welcome the thought of their party making presidential history.

JESSICA FREY, DEMOCRAT: I really hope that that means they're going to combine forces and work together to win, the Democrats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And one polling group shows Clinton gaining on Obama in Montana and beating him here in South Dakota. There are not enough delegates at stake in either of these states to put Obama over the top. He is going to need super delegates to get to that match magic number of 2,118, John.

ROBERTS: But as we saw in the magic wall yesterday, Jim, he doesn't need very many of those. Jim Acosta, for us this morning. Jim, thanks.

ACOSTA: Not many.

ROBERTS: Yes -- Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the Obama campaign expects more super delegates to fall in line with them tonight. But one key group of senate super delegates is waiting until at least tomorrow. They're getting together on Capitol Hill to hash things out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM HARKIN (D), IOWA: A lot of us feel that the sooner this thing comes to a close that we have a nominee, the better off everyone is going to be in our party. Bring closure to this and march ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, this campaign has had more false endings than a Hollywood movie. Is this really it? Suzanne Malveaux has been trying to produce the film. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, we were counting down the seconds. You know, it's gotten bad. How many seconds left to this thing?

PHILLIPS: That's right. No, I know -- I mean, the energy. You can feel the energy and the excitement. I mean, this is it. This is grand finale.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. It's amazing.

PHILLIPS: You talked to both sides of the camps, or both camps rather. What are you hearing on Hillary Clinton's side?

MALVEAUX: You know, people who talk to Hillary Clinton, they've always kind of operated outside of her staff, a close set of advisers and friends who have been acting as emissaries. And I've been talking to one of them. Essentially she is going to go for it today.

She's not likely going to suspend the campaign. It's not likely going to endorse Obama necessarily, but she is going to say I'll do whatever it takes to unify the party to win in November.

That's a message that has been passed along to the Obama campaign as including -- that does include accepting a VP offer of number two spot on the ticket if it was offered. The Obama folks are coming back saying, look, we're not really excited about any kind of deals or preempting a process that's already in place looking for a potential number two.

PHILLIPS: But even yesterday Senator Obama said he was looking forward to, when things sort of settle down and we're talking about the whole Pfleger, Father Pfleger thing, that he hopes to have some quality time with her and meet her in a certain place and time. Do we read between the lines there? I mean --

MALVEAUX: There's a lot of speculation about tomorrow, whether or not the two of them are going to appear together. And one person put it very well, and Obama, very close to the candidates said, look, she has to stand down first before we stand together. And that's the message that really has to come across because what they're looking for is some sort of gesture on her part that, you know, we need to bring these sides together.

So they're looking for something that's very conciliatory and moves this forward because I tell you, Kyra, there is still a lot of animosity. There's a lot of bitterness between these two, and there's a lot of mistrust.

PHILLIPS: Right.

MALVEAUX: So it's going to take quite a bit between their staff, their advisers, and these two candidates to come together and make that happen.

PHILLIPS: Real quickly, you were mentioning -- we've been talking about super delegates obviously all morning. You were mentioning a prominent African-American in Congress expected to endorse Barack Obama today? What are you hearing?

MALVEAUX: Kind of a funny thing about that is Jim Clyburn of South Carolina who has been really kind on the sidelines, but he's also been -- he's been instrumental in trying to bring these two groups together, will formally, officially endorse Barack Obama. He leaked his own endorsement yesterday because the idea was initially to roll all of this out today.

He would take the lead. Many super delegates would follow. So we are going to see some other super delegates today kind of weigh in as the day unfolds. They've been on the phone, the Obama folks, all night to those super delegates saying let's wrap this thing up. Let's end this today.

PHILLIPS: Right. We'll track it. You've got the inside scoop. John is crunching the numbers. We've got it all worked out for the grand finale.

MALVEAUX: Seconds left.

PHILLIPS: That's right.

ROBERTS: Remember way back at the beginning of the primary season when Congressman Clyburn told Bill Clinton to just chill...

MALVEAUX: Cool it, yes.

ROBERTS: ... because of what he was saying. Well, Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign is apologizing today for what they call inappropriate language from Bill Clinton. The former president slammed "Vanity Fair" reporter Todd Purdum for his scathing article about him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a really dishonest reporter. And one of our guys talked to him and he said (INAUDIBLE). I haven't read it. But the guy told me there's five or six blatant lies in there. But he's a real slimy guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The article suggests that Bill Clinton's heart bypass surgery in 2004 has changed him into an angrier man, and it also questions his business deals and his behavior on the campaign trail saying, "Four former Clinton aides told me that about 18 months ago, one of the president's former assistants, who still advises him on political matters had heard so many complaints about such reports from Clinton supporters around the country that he felt compelled to try to conduct what one of these aides called an 'intervention' because the aide believed, 'Clinton was apparently seeing a lot of women on the road.'"

Clinton called the article part of a broader media campaign against his wife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's part of the national media's attempt to nail Hillary for Obama. It's just the most biased press coverage in history. It's another way of helping Obama.

You know, they didn't do any study. They had all these people standing up in this church cheering, calling Hillary a white racist, and he didn't do anything about it. The first day he said, ah, ah, ah, well. Because that's what they do -- he gets other people to slime her. So then, they saw the movie they thought this is a great ad for John McCain. Maybe I'll quit the church.

This is all politics. It's all about the bias of the media for Obama. Don't think anything about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The correspondent, Todd Purdum, covered the Clinton White House for the "New York Times" and is married to Dee Dee Myers, who is Clinton's first White House press secretary. Purdum told CNN that he stands by his article. We invited him on this morning but unfortunately he could not appear.

Vice President Dick Cheney catching heat this morning for a joke that he made in a luncheon when answering a question about his family tree.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have Cheneys on both sides of the family, and we don't even live in West Virginia. But -- you can say those things when you're not running for re-election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: For a reaction to Cheney's remark, we bring in Elaine Quijano live from the White House this morning.

And Elaine, Senator Robert Byrd from West Virginia was quite incensed about all of this.

ELAINE QUIJANO, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he blasted Vice President Dick Cheney as well as the Bush administration saying that the vice president showed contempt and ignorance toward his own countrymen. And in a written statement, the senator went on to say, "Now that he or the administration he represents no longer needs their vote, Mr. Cheney apparently feels that he is now free to mock and belittle the people of West Virginia."

Now for his part, the vice president did offer an apology through his spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride. She said in a statement, "On reflection, he, the vice president, concluded that it was an inappropriate attempt at humor that he should not have made. The vice president apologizes to the people of West Virginia for the inappropriate remark."

Now, McBride says that the vice president made an offhand comment that was not meant to hurt anyone, but Senator Byrd points out in his statement that as we heard just a moment ago, the vice president did appear to pause and reflect for a moment before concluding that it was OK to say such things because he wasn't up for re-election.

We checked, John, by the way, West Virginia did go for the Bush- Cheney ticket two times in 2000 and 2004. Both times, John, by more than 50 percent.

ROBERTS: Yes. They had a lock on that for the last eight years. No question about that. Elaine Quijano for us this morning. Elaine, thanks.

We also just want to bring you up to date to say that Congressman James Clyburn just announced that he is supporting Barack Obama. James Clyburn is a super delegate from South Carolina who was upset earlier in the primary season over comments that former President Bill Clinton had made regarding voters in South Carolina.

So now, Congressman Clyburn officially throwing his lot in with Senator Obama. Is this the first of many shoes to drop over the course of today? Stay tuned to CNN because we'll tell you all about that.

PHILLIPS: Senator Robert Byrd hospitalized last night with a fever. A spokesperson now tells us the 90-year-old senator says he felt lethargic and sluggish while participating in a vote at the Capitol. We'll update you of course on his condition.

Also, doctors say the surgery to remove a malignant tumor from Senator Ted Kennedy's brain was successful, and Kennedy should suffer no permanent damage from the operation. The three-hour long procedure was performed by the chief of neurosurgery at Duke University Medical Center. Kennedy says that he feels like a million bucks.

And coming up later this hour, we're going to ask our very own neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta to explain how that procedure went forward.

ROBERTS: Eleven minutes after the hour. The Obama campaign is working the phones hard trying to nail down enough super delegates to declare victory by tonight. Are they close? We'll speak with Obama's communications director. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

PHILLIPS: Plus, my exclusive one-on-one with the former top commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, Admiral William Fallon. Did he lose his post because he was standing in the way of a wider war? You'll hear his side of the story for the first time straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: John, 46 minutes, 44 seconds.

ROBERTS: I can hardly wait. I can hardly contain myself. There's so much excitement today.

PHILLIPS: Lots of excitement. Lots of excitement over at Wall Street and beyond as well, talking politics, economy, gas prices.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And I would definitely want to talk about politics. And one second, I just want to tell you one story that we're following right now very closely.

We're expecting within the next 45 minutes to hear from General Motors. Unfortunately, it was bad news. Probably more plant closures and more layoffs. This is related to the price of gasoline.

We've seen this from all of the car companies. Truck and SUV sales falling off a cliff in favor of smaller vehicles. We will be bringing that to you the moment we have it.

Now, let's talk about politics for a second. I've been telling you this morning about the combinations of who occupies the White House and who occupies Congress, and how that works for the stock market. Last hour we learned that a Democratic president overall has been better for the stock market over the last 10, 25 and 50 years.

Take a look now at party domination. When one party dominates the White House and Congress, over the last 25 years the Republicans win this time. When the GOP dominates both Houses, both for the last 25 and 50 years and the White House, a 15 percent gain in this S&P 500. When the Democrats control the White House and Congress, the markets are still up but just by six percent.

And when the Democrats -- over the last 25 years. When the Democrats control both the White House and Congress over the last 50 years, they've done a little better. That's 11 percent. Eleven percent roughly, by the way, is the long-term average of the S&P 500.

What I'm going to do in the next half an hour is tell you about the one that John's been hinting at. What happens when one party controls the White House and the other party controls Congress? How your markets do in that circumstance. But lots of good stuff to think about if you are that way inclined in your voting to say I want to make the best combination for my portfolio, my investments.

ROBERTS: I'm still looking forward to it.

VELSHI: I know, I know. I think you have some sense of how this might turn out.

ROBERTS: I'm not sure.

VELSHI: I'll bring it to you in half an hour.

ROBERTS: I heard something about this sometime before. I just want to see if the brain is still working and remembers correctly.

VELSHI: Your brain is typically always working.

PHILLIPS: Overdrive. VELSHI: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: I don't think so. I don't think so.

It's coming up at 16 minutes after the hour, 44 minutes now until the polls open in South Dakota and an hour later in Montana. What's the weather going to be like for primary day out there in the northern plains? Here's Rob Marciano down there in Atlanta. Hey, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, John, we do have a few thunderstorms that are rolling across South Dakota. And we'll talk about that. Plus, a severe weather threat which is east of there. It could kind of get hairy later on this afternoon.

Complete weather coming up when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rob Marciano. A big primary day, the last one. A couple of states to deal with.

Weather-wise, Billings may see a couple of showers and thunderstorms; 73 there. 61 degrees in Great Falls, 66 in Missoula. All in all, not too shabby.

Sliding the map down to the south and east, Rapid City a couple of showers and storms. Sioux Falls may see some action later on this morning and in through the afternoon. We do have a couple little cells that are rolling through the I-90 corridor just east of the Badlands just to the south of here, and this is beginning to dissipate. So it may refire later on today but that severe weather watch box is about to be allowed to expire.

Meanwhile, this one still in effect. For the next several hours, Des Moines about to get hammered or is getting hammered with heavy showers and thunderstorms right now, and a lot of hail with this whole system that started last night. We had over 100 reports of hail in through Kansas. Some of the hail reports were the size of grapefruits and softballs.

Big, big time damaging hail. Thunderstorms that could contain tornadoes for the next several hours. A tornado watch in effect for parts of southern Illinois and eastern or western parts of Indiana. This could get a little bit hairy later on today. South of Springfield right now, we don't have any thunderstorm or tornado warnings. But later on in the next few hours and through the afternoon, it could get a little bit dicey in that part of the corn belt.

John, back up to you.

ROBERTS: Rob, thanks very much. This just in to CNN. The third-ranking Democrat, the majority whip in the House, has just endorsed Barack Obama for the nomination. Here's what Congressman James Clyburn said just a couple minutes ago on the "Today" show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: I've decided to cast my delegate ballot for Senator Barack Obama. I think that as I watch this campaign unfold, he is elevating the political rhetoric. He's elevating our party. He's energizing our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: It is another super delegate pickup with Barack Obama trying to get enough to clinch tonight.

PHILLIPS: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."

Breaking his silence, Admiral William Fallon sits down for his first television interview since stepping down as the top commander in Iraq and Afghanistan. We'll ask him whether his decorated 40-year career in the Navy ended because he broke ranks with the president on Iraq and Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, he's known in military circles for his blunt, no nonsense talk. Not the kind to tolerate incompetence, that's for sure. So President Bush knew what he was getting when he picked Admiral William Fallon, to oversee operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But just short of a year on the job, Fallon was pushed into early retirement ending a decorated 40 years of service. An article in "Esquire" magazine had portrayed him as a rogue commander, butting heads with President Bush over a war with Iran and troop withdrawal. When Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Fallon's resignation, he refuted that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Admiral Fallon reached this difficult decision entirely on his own. I believe it was the right thing to do even though I do not believe there are in fact significant differences between his views and administration policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Fallon's critics say that he was disloyal to the president. Fallon says he was just being candid and wasn't going to pull any punches. In his first television interview since leaving command, Admiral William Fallon joins us now live with his side of the story.

Good to see you, sir.

ADM. WILLIAM FALLON (RET.), FMR. CENTCOM COMMANDER: Good morning, Kyra. Nice to be back in New York.

PHILLIPS: It's nice to have you here.

How are you informed that this was it? Who called you?

FALLON: Well, the story is -- the facts are that the situation was one that was very uncomfortable for me and I'm sure for the president. One of the most important things in the military is confidence in the chain of command. And the situation that developed was one of uncertainty and a feeling that maybe that I was disloyal to the president, that I might be trying to counterman his orders, the policies of the country, and that perception was unsettling to me.

The most important thing is that our people have confidence in their leaders just as we have confidence in them and their ability to do their -- carry out their tasks every day. And the fact that people might be concerned that I was not appropriately doing what I was supposed to do in following orders bothered me, and my sense was that the right thing to do was to offer my resignation.

PHILLIPS: Do you feel you were pushed out, admiral?

FALLON: I think the real story here is what's important. And what was important was not me. It wasn't some discussion about where I was with issues. It was the fact that we have a war in progress.

We had a couple of 100,000 people whose lives were at stake out in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we needed to be focused on that. Not on some discussion about me or what I might have said or thought, or somebody perceived that I said. And so, that's the motivation.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about this "Esquire" magazine article. I mean, this was the catalyst. This was the last straw. Tom Barnett made it appear that you were the only man standing between the president and a war with Iran. Is that true?

FALLON: Kyra, I don't believe for a second that President Bush wants a war with Iran. The situation with Iran is very complex. People sometimes portray it or try to portray it in very simplistic terms we're against Iran, we want to go to war with Iran, we want to be close to them.

The reality is in international politics that many aspects to any of these situations, and I believe in our relationship with Iran, we need to be strong and firm and convey the principles upon which this country stands and upon which our policies are based. At the same time demonstrate a willingness and openness to engage in dialogue because there are certainly things that we can find in common with these people.

PHILLIPS: Would have you done that? Would you have negotiated with Iran?

FALLON: Well, it's not my position to really negotiate with Iran. I was the military commander in the Middle East. I had responsibility first and foremost for our people and their safety and well-being. It's the role of the diplomats to do the negotiation.

PHILLIPS: So when all the talk came about with regard to a third war, a war with Iran, the president didn't have it on the table. He didn't say to you, look, this is what I want to do. And did you stand up to him and say, no, sir, bad move?

FALLON: Kyra, again, it's probably not appropriate to try to characterize it in that way. Again, don't believe for a second that the president really wants to go to war with Iran.

We have a lot of things going on, and there are many other ways to solve problems. I was very open and candid in my advice. I'm not shy. I will tell people, the leaders, what I think and offer my opinions on Iran and other things and continue to do that.

PHILLIPS: Do you think that's what cost you your job?

FALLON: No, I don't believe so at all. I think, again, it's this confidence issue of do people really believe the chain of command is working for them, or do we have doubts? And if the doubts start focusing attention away from what the priority issues ought to be, then we got to make a change.

PHILLIPS: Now, we talk about your no nonsense talk. The fact that you had no problems standing up to the president. Your critics say that Admiral Fallon is a difficult man to get along with. Are you?

FALLON: Probably you could ask my wife about that. She would have a few things to say. I think that what's really important here is that when I was asked to take this job about a year and a half ago, I believe it was because we were facing some very difficult days in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and in the region.

I had some experience in dealing with international problems. I certainly had a lot of combat experience, and I was brought in an attempt to try to make things better. And that's what I went about doing.

Again, there are things that are important and other things in life that are less so. And a lot of the issues that became points of discussion to me were not really important items. The important items were the people, what they're doing, how to get this job done. How to get the war ended and get our people home.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, talk about pulling troops out by next year. John McCain says, no, we got to stay the course. What is the best course for Iraq right now?

FALLON: Well, I believe the best course is to retain the high confidence we have in General David Petraeus and his team out there. Dave has done an absolute, magnificent job in leading our people in that country. Again, this situation is quite complex. Many angles. There's a very, very important military role here in providing stability and security in this country but that's not going to be successful as we know without lots of other people playing a hand. The political side of things in Iraq has got to move forward. That appears to be improving. People have to have confidence in their futures. They want to have stability. They would like to be able to raise their families in peace. They would like to have a job. They would like to look to tomorrow as better than today. And it takes more than the military but the military is essential to provide stability and security. So, the idea that we would suddenly just walk away from Iraq strikes me as not appropriate. We all want to bring our troops home. We want to have the majority of our people back and we want the war ended.

But given where we are today, the progress that they've made particularly in the last couple months, I think it's very, very heartening to see what's really happened here. That the right course of action is to continue to work with the Iraqis and let them take over the majority of the tasks for ensuring security for the country and have our people come out on a timetable that's appropriate with conditions that are on the ground.

PHILLIPS: Final thoughts. Any regrets? If you could go back into the position and head Centcom, knowing what you know now and looking what happened and how you were nudged out of this job, would you do anything differently?

FALLON: Kyra, it's pretty tough to critique a 40-year career of just wonderful experiences and working with the best people in the world. I would probably as I'm reflecting on this I could find some things that I might do a little bit differently.

PHILLIPS: Such as?

FALLON: Probably be a little more attentive to the fact that my prioritization of things probably drives people to recognize that the imperative is to get things done now, now, now, probably pretty strong in pushing to get things that I believe are important but as I reflect back on the situation that we found ourselves in about a year and a half ago, it seemed to me that action was required now and we needed to put the small things aside and really focus on what was important and that is getting this job done and that's what I tried to do to the best of my ability.

PHILLIPS: Admiral William Fallon --

FALLON: Quite an interesting 40 years.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it has. Quite a career. Appreciate your time this morning. It was good talking to you.

FALLON: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: Thanks so much. John.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: 33 minutes after the hour now. Breaking election news for you. The third ranking democrat in the House Majority Whip James Clyburn, has just endorsed Barack Obama for the nomination. That puts Obama 42 delegates short with 31 up for grabs tonight in the final two primaries. 197 super delegates are still undecided or uncommitted. It is decision day for the democrats. The final two contests of the primary season about to kickoff in about 30 minutes' time.

In South Dakota, the polls open at 7:00 a.m. Central, that's 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Montana voters head to the polls an hour later. And Hillary Clinton's campaign is apologizing for comments made by Bill Clinton. The former president slamming the writer of a scathing article about him in "Vanity Fair" calling him "sleazy and slimy." The article quoted unnamed sources saying that Clinton aides were worried that Bill Clinton has been seeing a lot of women while on the campaign trail.

And West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd spent the night in the hospital for observation. Doctors say the 90-year-old senator went in with a fever. Alina Cho, here with other stories this morning. Good to see you.

ALINA CHO, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John. Good morning to you. Good morning everybody. New this morning, Iran's president is out with a new threat to Israel. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is predicting the country will "soon disappear" off the geographical scene. He made the comments in a speech honoring the late Ayatollah Khomeini. The Iranian leader went on to say that Israel has a 60- year track record of aggression and called it a "satanic power." Back in 2005, he said Israel would one day be wiped off the map.

More children are returning home to that polygamist compound in Texas. More than 440 kids were released from foster care yesterday after Texas authorities raided the ranch and took them away back on April 3rd. The Texas Supreme Court ruled the state went too far. But their return was not without conditions. The ranch gates cannot be closed and investigators are free to check on them unannounced. One girl was not released after her attorney said she was a victim of sexual abuse.

And investigators say that huge fire that tore through Universal Studios in Los Angeles over the weekend was an accident. Investigators say three workers were using a blow torch to apply shingles to part of a set. A security guard noticed the fire 40 minutes after they left. About 400 firefighters fought the blaze for more than 12 hours. The fire destroyed the popular "King Kong" exhibit and tens of thousands of video reels. But thankfully those reels were backup and not the originals. That's a look at the headlines at 35 minutes past. Back to you, guys.

ROBERTS: Alina, thanks very much. Appreciate it. Barack Obama says that he's going to be working with Hillary Clinton in November. Is that an opening for the dream ticket? We'll ask Obama's communications director. That's ahead.

PHILLIPS: And who's better for the stock market? The democrats or republicans? Ali Velshi is going to try to answer that straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ALI VELSHI, CNN, SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Ali Velshi. Who is better for your portfolio, your 401K, your IRA? When it comes to elections, we've been crunching the numbers for you with the help of (Standard and Pores IQ). The S&P 500 is the, is a very broad measure of the stock market. Many people index funds and mutual funds track the S&P 500. We've been telling you this morning about the various combinations of White House and Congress and who occupies them and how it does for your stocks.

Take a look at this one. This is a combination of one party occupying the White House and the other one occupying Congress. And we've studied this over the last 10, 25 and 50 years. John's cheering because he was right. The best combination for your portfolio is a democratic president and a republican Congress. Look at that. Over the last ten years, a 14 percent return on your stock market for those years where there's been that combination. Only 6 percent when it's been the other way around. A republican president and democratic Congress. Over the last 25 years, look at that. 22 percent return with a democratic president and republican Congress and only 13 percent the other way around. And over the last 50 years, it has absolutely double with democratic president and republican Congress versus the other way around.

So worth noting when you do your voting if your portfolio is what governs you. There are many other reasons why you might want to pick a candidate though.

ROBERTS: A lot goes into the decision.

VELSHI: A lot goes into the decision but that's one of the things that goes into it.

ROBERTS: Fascinating. Ali, thanks.

VELSHI: All right.

PHILLIPS: Barack Obama just picked up another super delegate just a few minutes ago. His campaign is busy working for more. Up next, we'll ask Obama's communications chief how close they are to clinching the nomination.

ROBERTS: And with the final primaries today, the race for the democratic nomination could be over. But is Hillary Clinton ready to give it up? We'll ask Clinton supporter James Carville ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: South Dakota's polls open about 20 minutes' time. Montana's an hour after that. The Obama campaign just picked up another important super delegate in the last hour. The third ranking democrat in the House, Majority Whip James Clyburn. If he gets enough super delegates today, Barack Obama could declare victory tonight. Joining me now from Chicago is Robert Gibbs. He is the communications director of the Obama campaign. Robert, you've been working the phones really hard. Are you going to have enough super delegates declared tonight for him to claim victory?

ROBERT GIBBS, OBAMA CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: You know, John, we don't know yet. But I think there's a pretty good chance that by the time Barack Obama walks out on that stage tonight, he'll walk out as democratic nominee for president of the United States and we'll begin a new phase in this campaign and talk about what's next for this country and what direction we can take it in. The type of change that you can believe in. I think the person best suited to change the direction and bring that change is Barack Obama.

ROBERTS: By our calculations, Robert, you need about 25 to 30 super delegates. Have you got enough at this point? Or are they waiting in the wings? Just waiting to pull the trigger.

GIBBS: Well, you know, we're still working the phones and talking to people. And obviously, we have two very important contests that we've been focusing on as you just mentioned the polls opening soon in South Dakota and then Montana. So, we'll certainly have to wait until a little later tonight to see what the final tally is. But we certainly feel good waking up this morning.

ROBERTS: And what do you expect Senator Hillary Clinton to do if you go out on stage tonight and he has enough to pass that finish line of 2,118 delegates?

GIBBS: You know, John, I don't know what she's going to do. I think obviously that's a decision that she and her supporters and her campaign will have to make. You know, I will say this and Senator Obama has talked a lot about this in recent days. Hillary Clinton has been - has run an amazing campaign. She has been a fabulous competitor. She's brought millions and millions of new voters out and into this process as Senator Obama has. And I think that what you're going to see is a democratic party that's going to come together once we have that nominee, come together as a strong party this fall. And I think we're going to elect the democratic president in November and I think a lot of democrats are going to work hard toward that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

ROBERTS: And Robert, she's beaten you up pretty good in some of the more recent contests in Puerto Rico, West Virginia before that. There are indications now that she might beat you in South Dakota. Do you need her now?

GIBBS: Well, look, I don't think there's any doubt that the democratic party needs all of us to come together. Whether it's these two candidates, whether it's the candidates that ran before, whether it's activists from up and down the coast of east and west coast and throughout the middle of the country. I think it's important to bring the democratic party together but I think what's also important is I think Barack Obama can appeal to independents in this country and even bring disillusioned republicans that are tired of the way that the Bush administration has done things and are quite honestly fearful that what John McCain promises is four more years of what we've had with George Bush.

ROBERTS: You know. GIBBS: That's just something that the American people can't afford.

ROBERTS: People keep talking about this idea of a dream ticket. Would she be an asset to you? Would she help to backstop you in important swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida? Or would she because of her prominence in this campaign take a little bit of the spotlight off Barack Obama?

GIBBS: Well, look, I think Senator Obama has said they she would be an asset to anyone. I do believe that if we're fortunate enough to get the nominee, you know, we will begin and undergo the process of selecting a vice president. That's going to certainly take some time. But again, John, I think what brings this party together is far stronger than whatever might divide it. And it's really important that we go into November as a united party and again because I think what the election is about is basically change versus more of the same. Are you willing -- do you want to change the direction of this country is in or do you want to keep it going in more of the same direction like George Bush and John McCain do. I think that's a very important choice come November. And I think that's why Barack Obama will be successful.

ROBERTS: Robert Gibbs, communications director for the Obama campaign. Thanks for coming on this morning. Good luck to you today.

GIBBS: Thank you for having me. Thank you.

ROBERTS: All right.

PHILLIPS: Surgery to remove a tumor from Senator Ted Kennedy's brain was called a success by his doctors and Kennedy was awake the entire time. Our very own neurosurgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will explain why keeping Kennedy up was key to that procedure. After today, there are no primaries left but is Hillary Clinton ready to give up? We're going to ask James Carville about the report that she may throw in the towel. That's straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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PHILLIPS: Well doctors say surgery to remove a potentially deadly tumor interest Senator Ted Kennedy's brain was successful. Kennedy was actually awake during the procedure and afterwards said he felt like a million bucks. We're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our chief medical correspondent, also a neurosurgeon. Tell us about this surgery, Sanjay.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, it's great first of all that he said he felt like a million bucks not just because it's funny but because of the fact that he could speak. That was one of the big concerns in terms of actually taking out this tumor. Kyra, let me show you these images here of the brain to give you an idea of exactly what happened here. Go ahead and spin that brain around. I want to remove some of this brain tissue in this area and then sort of light up an area that we focus so much on. The red is the parietal lobe. That's where the tumor was located. Over here though is the motor area. And up here is the speech area. You can see how close they are to where that tumor was and that was the big concern.

They did have him awake during the operation. They would have him squeeze a ball. They would have him raise his arm. They would show him flash cards. All of that is so important, Kyra, because if they got too close to those critical areas it was a clear warning to the surgeons to back off so not to cause any type of neurological problems down the road while taking out as much tumor as possible. That was the goal. Surgeons say that's what exactly they accomplished yesterday.

PHILLIPS: Amazing was that he was awake for the surgery. What does that feel like?

GUPTA: Well, I personally have never had that done. But I will tell you something, and this is - even as a neurosurgeon I find this pretty remarkable. The brain itself, that organ which provides innervation to the entire body doesn't have much in a way innervation itself. So, someone can be wide awake, actually getting their brain operated on and not have any pain or any feeling about that. You know, in fact, just when they cut the skin they put in some local medication there, a local anesthesia so the skin doesn't hurt when they cut that. But other than that, the bone doesn't have any innervation, the brain and doesn't. So it really doesn't feel like a lot to them. In fact, I think it's more of a bizarre feeling than any kind of pain. That is how a lot of patients have described it to me.

PHILLIPS: Good to hear that the surgery was successful. Of course, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks.

GUPTA: Thanks, Kyra. You got it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Exit strategy. Whispers of a super getting louder? What are we going to do? Inside info on what Hillary Clinton could say to supporters tonight.

And just the end of the beginning. Senator John McCain's plan for a campaign kickoff party. It's the most politics in the morning.

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VOICE OF BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's part of the national media's attempt to nail Hillary for Obama. It's just the most bias press conference in history. It's another way of helping Obama. You know, they didn't do any study but they had all these people standing up in church, calling Hillary a white racist. And he didn't do anything about it. The first day he said, 'ah, ah, ah, well." Because that what they do - he gets other people to slime her. So, then they saw the news and thought this was great ad for John McCain. Maybe better quit the church. This is all politics. It's all about the bias of the media for Obama. Don't think anything about it. PHILLIPS: That was Bill Clinton lashing out at the media but one particular media member got him even angrier. Clinton had some harsh words for Todd Purdum of "Vanity Fair" after the story suggested that Clinton is seeing other women. Joining us now to talk about all that, of course, is Clinton supporter and CNN contributor James Carville. But first, James, I want to talk about "the Huffington Post" for a moment. The real news of the day, Hillary Clinton will she suspend her campaign or not and throw support behind Obama? That's what's out there.

JAMES CARVILLE, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Right. Let me explain something to people who have never been in a campaign. Right now, they're voting in South Dakota and they're voting in Montana. What Hillary Clinton is fighting for, what she's hoping for is that she's going to win both of these. Now, I'm not saying that she will. I'm saying that's a long shot. And that if she wins both of these, it changes the psychology of the entire race and super delegates start changing their minds. Until she goes through this process, until she is actually defeated, then she's - her mentality is she's going to stay in until every vote is counted and see how well she does tonight. If she pulls an upset tonight, this will be one of the great upsets in American presidential history.

PHILLIPS: So, you're -

CARVILLE: You saw it happen in New Hampshire.

PHILLIPS: So, you're saying no way. She's - all this talk about her suspending the campaign tonight, forget about it?

CARVILLE: I don't think she's going to suspend the campaign tonight. If she doesn't do well and then tomorrow morning if she said she's not going to do anything to hurt the party, I'm sure that the calculus tomorrow morning may very well be different than the calculus this morning. But right now, they're trying to get every vote out in South Dakota. They're trying to get every vote out in Montana and they try to win this dog gone thing and let's wait and then count these votes up and see which way it goes. It may very well be an entirely different way to look at it tomorrow morning.

PHILLIPS: So she could suspend it tomorrow?

CARVILLE: She could suspend it. She could do anything that she wants. It's completely sort of up to her but right now they're trying to win these two primaries.

PHILLIPS: All right. Senator Obama yesterday said he's looking forward to meeting with Hillary "at the time and place of her choosing." Now read between the lines here. What does that mean? Time and place of here choosing? Could they be discussing a joint ticket?

CARVILLE: Well, I think time and place of her choosing, I think that was a very smart thing for Senator Obama to do. He's reaching out. He understands as he's gone through this campaign that the people who have been through campaigns actually know what this is. I think if Senator Obama understands that she's a fighter, she's going to fight this thing through. And I don't think, I don't think there's a lot of hidden meaning in those words. I think that he says, look, I'm ready to meet with you. We got a lot of things we need to talk about. We'll discuss them. And when you're ready to do that, I just want you to know I'll come to you. You don't need to come to me. I thought that was a gracious and smart thing that he said.

PHILLIPS: It would be interesting to see what happens, of course.

CARVILLE: Right.

PHILLIPS: Scathing article about Bill again. As you smile, you know exactly what I was saying there. All right.

CARVILLE: All right.

PHILLIPS: Now, let's turn to this scathing article about Bill Clinton in "Vanity Fair." You know it insinuates cheating on his wife all the way to losing his political edge. Clinton coming forward, ripping its author. Let's just take a listen.

VOICE OF BILL CLINTON: ... sleazy. He's a really dishonest reporter. And one of our guys talked to him and eventually say ... I haven't read it but the guy told me there are five or six blatant lies in there. But he's a real slimy guy."

PHILLIPS: Well, I want to point out that these are - are Todd Purdum says these are Clinton aides. He doesn't name anybody by name. He's talking about sources here. What's your take on the article?

CARVILLE: Well, first of all, Bill Clinton has done more good than any ex-president. The Clinton Global Foundation, best foundation in the world, out of the 9700 word article, he spent something like 9642 words out of 9700 using unnamed, unsubstantiated sources and he spent 58 words talking about the good that President Clinton did. That might be pretty indicative of the way the press has acted this entire campaign. I think it was probably - I thought of a fitting - the story was kind of a fitting last piece.

PHILLIPS: Look at the timing of it. Let's look at the timing of this article and this is a pivotal night for Hillary Clinton. I mean, this has got to be hard for her to deal with this and the fact, you know, that the article is talking about that his aides need to come to an intervention because he was apparently seeing a lot of women on the road.

CARVILLE: Right. You know what, there's not a name that you're including in this and again I think that the Clinton Foundation to say something like 1.3 million. Again, it is all too typical of the kind of coverage that's all too typical of what's happened in this cycle. I don't think - you know -

PHILLIPS: Is he becoming more and more of a liability for her?

CARVILLE: I don't think so. And I think that he was out campaigning in South Dakota, somebody just pointed out all the places that he went, North Carolina, and Iowa. She actually did a lot better. And I think that the net effect of this article is going to backfire. You know what, suppose she wins South Dakota and Montana tonight. I don't know that she will. I don't think that she certainly not the favorite. But after having that would be one of the great upsets on fall with New Hampshire. And it might be that these democrats are having a backlash to this kind of foolishness. I don't know that. We'll have to wait and see.

PHILLIPS: Does she ever come to you and said, what do I do with my husband? Help me out, James.

CARVILLE: I don't think so. I think that her husband has been - I think certain things that was talked about in the article, I was actually there. I think the real danger is that we have unsubstantiated things in magazines that are unsourced, unnamed. And we sit here on television and repeat this kind of foolishness. And I think that's why we see the public that is getting so turned off by this kind of stuff. And seeing this woman run this very courageous campaign, who according to the Gallup polls this morning is favorable to surprise anytime in the campaign.