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Buzz Abounds Over Meeting Between Obama and Clinton; Unemployment Rates Surge; Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Released from Prison; Convicted Steroids Dealer Found Dead

Aired June 06, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

You'll see events come into the NEWSROOM live on Friday, June 6.

Here's what's on the rundown.

Late-night rendezvous. Barack Obama gives reporters the slip and meets Hillary Clinton for secret talks.

A runaway wildfire could double in size in North Carolina today. The East Coast bracing for a weekend heat wave.

He sold steroids to NFL players then named names. Now he's been shot to death. "Texas Mystery," in the NEWSROOM.

Getting together to bring their party together. Presidential politics -- the morning after of a secret meeting between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It was their first since Obama earned enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination. And it comes as Clinton prepares to announce tomorrow she is suspending her campaign and backing Barack Obama.

Both Democrats are out of the spotlight today.

As for the other side, Republican John McCain campaigns in Florida. He takes a boat tour of the Everglades. McCain says he voted against legislation to restore the wetlands area because it was part of a pork barrel spending bill.

Our Suzanne Malveaux with us live in just a moment with more on the secret Obama/Clinton get-together.

HARRIS: And developing now, firefighters in eastern North Carolina facing some ferocious flames. A wildfire near Columbia has nearly tripled in size, scorching nearly 29,000 acres. About half of the fire is burning on a wildlife refuge. Seventy homes have been evacuated and firefighters had hoped to contain the fire last night. But it jumped containment lines, giving it the potential to double in size again. Let's find out what's happening on the ground right now. Bill Swartley from the North Carolina division of Forest Resources. He's on the phone with us.

Bill, good to talk to you. If you would, outline your main objectives for this day.

VOICE OF BILL SWARTLEY, DIVISION OF FOREST RESOURCES: Well, today, as we've lost the eastern containment line of the fire, which was the western road, we are resituating our resources on Highway 94, which was on north/south. It's about four, five miles farther east from our original containment line.

HARRIS: Bill...

SWARTLEY: (INAUDIBLE)

HARRIS: Sure. Bill, do you have everything you need in terms of resources manpower?

SWARTLEY: Yes. We had a type-1 heavy tanker come in from Florida yesterday. And we're not giving up the land between the old containment line and the new one on Route 94. We're using that heavy tanker to go ahead and do air, water retardant drops, see if we can slow the fire down and see if we can establish a containment line sooner.

The problem is with this dense, (INAUDIBLE) vegetation, it can be a representative of a safety hazard to work in that.

HARRIS: Bill, smoke and ash as far away as the outer banks. Is that correct?

SWARTLEY: Yes, it is. What's happened the past couple of days, and potentially could happen today, was an unstable atmosphere. You can have a plume dominated fire. When that happens, you can have the airlifting as high as 40,000, 45,000 feet. And when that happens, the fire literally starts creating its own weather. Fire branch embers can spot out upwards of a mile and more.

HARRIS: Are you concerned about the fire maybe closing 64 or 94?

SWARTLEY: No, not at this time. We still have a good distance to those roads and we do have a fortunate happening today of light winds today, winds which should be in less than five miles per hour. Again, that is in the case of -- short of the fire creating its own weather. Then we can have a whole different ball game.

HARRIS: OK. Bill Swartley is the public information officer of the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources.

Bill, best of luck today. Thank you for your time.

COLLINS: Millions of Midwesterners holding their breath today, hoping they are not in for another round of this. Severe weather tearing through the Great Plains yesterday. Tornadoes touching down in Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. Fierce winds in Oklahoma ripped a roof right off this he church in Tulsa. Several homes also damaged. And in one town, power lines came down and started the fire.

Heavy rain also a huge problem. Streets turned into streams, as you can see there, in Kansas. This guy getting around by floating through his neighborhood.

In Iowa, rivers flooded and more storms expected there today. And people are preparing by sandbagging flood-prone areas in several towns.

Jacqui Jeras watching all of it. And what a busy morning it has been for you, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, don't go in that water.

COLLINS: No.

JERAS: Can I just say? How nasty is that water?

COLLINS: Well, besides that, yes.

JERAS: You know what's in that water?

COLLINS: Yes, and then danger, obviously. You don't know how deep it is.

JERAS: Sewers back up in that water. Oil on the streets in that water.

HARRIS: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: All righty. Jacqui, stick to it. We'll get back to you should we need to...

JERAS: All right.

COLLINS: ...as this situation develops. Thank you.

Well, speaking of developing, the economy, issue No. 1. New government numbers out just moments ago show a surge in unemployment.

Senior business correspondent Ali Velshi crunching the numbers now for us.

So that percentage is what and what does it mean, Ali?

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: 5.5 percent now.

COLLINS: Yes. VELSHI: We're now in an unemployment rate at 5.5 percent which is -- which we haven't seen since about October of 2004. But the jump from 5 percent in April to 5.5 percent in May, that's the biggest jump in 22 years. We haven't seen a jump like that in unemployment since -- I guess it was about 1986 or so. February of 1986 is what the numbers that I have.

So we have a jump in the number of people -- the percentage of people unemployed. But let's take a look at the jobless number itself -- the number of people who have actually lost jobs.

In May that number was 49,000. 49,000 people lost jobs in the United States in May. Now you add up the losses from January through to May -- we haven't had any jobs created since January. They've all been lost. We've now lost 324,000 jobs.

You can see there, in October and November, December, we were gaining jobs. And all of a sudden we switched 76,000, 83,000, 88,000. April was 28,000. That looked like a bit of bright spot. Now we're going in the wrong direction again. So we are now at 324,000 jobs lost in the United States. They were lost in construction, in manufacturing, in retail, even in temporary help.

So that's a bad situation.

COLLINS: Yes. Very bad. And explain it, for a moment, if you could, Ali, how can it be that there is not one single job created, I mean, since...

VELSHI: Well, it's actually mathematical. So there would have been...

COLLINS: Yes.

VELSHI: ... x numbers of jobs created and x number of jobs lost, and you subtract one from the other and that's what it is. So in other words, in health care, there were actually jobs that were created. There were jobs added in health care. But the losses in those trades -- those areas that lost jobs outweighed those.

COLLINS: Bigger, yes.

VELSHI: So there, you can break it down. You can figure out where there were still jobs. And that's what we're going to do, by the way, through the course of the day. We are going to find out where the job growth remains. But in the end the net result was a lost of jobs.

Good question, though. Thank you for asking that.

COLLINS: Yes. And then if you have the opportunity, go into those industries.

VELSHI: Correct. Right. And a few things you want to keep in mind. Go in to the industries that are growing and be in the -- if you have the mobility be in the parts of the country. So there's a combination of things. There's some areas, some cities that are faster growth than others.

But if you have the mobility to make those decisions, the future can look very bright for you.

COLLINS: Yes. Excellent. All right. Ali, thanks so much.

VELSHI: OK.

COLLINS: Appreciate it.

HARRIS: A late-night secret meeting in an undisclosed location. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, former political rivals, trying to unite their party.

Suzanne Malveaux, live from Washington this morning.

Suzanne, great to see you. Hey, they faked us out. Maybe they can work together. OK. But tell us about the meeting, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's kind of like, you know, he used to always that the American people have been bamboozled. Well, we were...

HARRIS: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Well, we were bamboozled yesterday. The campaign played a very effective cat-and-mouse game after a campaign rally in northern Virginia. Reporters boarded the campaign plane at Dulles Airport. Now after the doors were shut, reporters discovered that Obama and his Secret Service detail were not on the plane. When they asked his spokesperson where he was, he was coy saying he has some meetings in Washington.

Our own embedded reporter Chris Welsh alerted the assignment desk, dispatched cameras, crews to the candidates' houses. The plane took off to Chicago without Obama.

Now this morning, spokesman Robert Gibbs explained why they took this kind of cloak-and-dagger approach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GIBBS, OBAMA CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: There was a desire, first of all, to do this in a very private way and in a private location. And obviously, it would have been hard to have done that with 100 of our best friends with their video cameras and tape recorders.

You know, again, it was -- this was a meeting that both candidates have wanted to do and both candidates wanted to do in a very private way. And that's what -- you know, and that's what we had to do last night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The campaign is still being mum about the exact location of the meeting. It was in Washington, D.C. But as Gibbs acknowledged this morning, the main reason for this meeting was to bring these two candidates together in a private setting and to start this unifying process. That is what's really important.

Later today, Clinton is going to have her staff over for dinner at her Washington house but, Tony, as you know, all eyes are going to be on tomorrow. That is when she publicly goes before her supporters and calls for the party to unite around Barack Obama -- Tony?

HARRIS: I want to ask you, what are you hearing? What are you expecting Senator Clinton to say tomorrow? Because you rightly point out, this is the event at this point.

MALVEAUX: And this is a very important moment. I mean the meeting that happened last night was really just kind of a first step.

HARRIS: Yes.

MALVEAUX: The way people describe it is that really you want to get through that -- the initial awkward stage of these two. There's been tension between them and the camps as well, which we -- going to hear from Hillary Clinton. She's going to talk about that Barack Obama -- why he is the one, why he is qualified, what the priorities are -- the party, their policies -- and how this separates Democrats from Republicans, what's at stake here.

So expect that she really is going to give a very strong endorsement and she's going to try to bring it to the fold.

HARRIS: Yes.

MALVEAUX: It's going to take some time for her supporters -- Tony?

HARRIS: Suzanne Malveaux in Washington for us.

Suzanne, thank you.

MALVEAUX: Thanks.

COLLINS: He's trying to campaign for the presidential runoff. Zimbabwe's opposition leader detained again, released again, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Age politics in the race for the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think age matters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ought to be allowed to work as long as we're able to do so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Amen. Does it really matter?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A bill about global warming being voted on in the Senate right now. Supporters not expected to get the number of votes needed to move the bill pass filibusters.

There's a live shot for you.

President Bush had promised to veto it saying the measure was attacks on Americans. Sponsors of the bill say greenhouse gases need to be cut and feel such a measure will have better luck with a new president and Congress next year.

HARRIS: Clamp down in Zimbabwe. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has just been released after his second police detention in as many days.

Tsvangirai is trying to unseat long-time President Robert Mugabe at a controversial runoff election.

Mugabe's government is accused of using violence, intimidation and election fraud to hold on to power.

The U.S. embassy in Harari says yesterday a group of Mugabe loyalists attacked a convoy of American and British diplomats and the U.N. is outraged that Zimbabwe's government is ordering aid agencies to suspend field work indefinitely.

U.N. officials say millions of Zimbabweans depend on international groups for food and other aid.

Opposition leader Tsvangirai recently talked to CNN about the challenges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, PRES., MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE: The situation has not been normal for us in the embassy. We face so many obstacles. As I speak, all the rallies have been banned. We have had to improvise in terms of how we access the people. And it's a very hostile environment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Despite troubles at home, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe is pushing forward with his international agenda.

CNN Rome bureau chief Alessio Vinci reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLESIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF (voice over): His opponents blamed him for the hunger that stalks his country. But that didn't stop Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe from turning up at the world food summit in Rome. And when he addressed the forum, Mugabe shifted the blame to his old adversaries -- the U.S. and Britain.

PRES. ROBERT MUGABE, ZIMBABWE: They have cut off all development assistance, disabled lines of credit, prevented the Bretton Woods Institutions from providing financial assistance and ordered private companies across the world, especially in the United States, not to do business with Zimbabwe.

VINCI: But the United States says it has actually spent $170 million on food assistance to Zimbabwe alone last year.

ED SHAFER, U.S. AGRICULTURAL SECRETARY: You know, it really doesn't do much good to have him here making political statements while people at home don't have food on the grocery store shelves.

MUGABE: Your excellency...

VINCI: And the Australian foreign minister described Mugabe's presence in Rome as, quote, "obscene."

People in Zimbabwe are not only dealing with chronic food shortages but also with hyper-inflation that is driving prices sky high.

UNIDENTIFIED CONSUMER: The prices are higher as compared to the last time. Things are just going up by the day. So at least now, we're just going to buy a few items here. But basically that means, the prices are quite high. They not pay enough.

VINCI: This country used to be a food exporter. Not anymore.

(on camera): Mr. President, how do you respond to claims that your failed policies have brought the country's agriculture to its knees?

(voice-over): The president wasn't taking questions. But during the address he defended his decision a decade ago to seize land from white farmers and redistribute much of it to his supporters.

MUGABE: Previously this land was owned by merely 4,000 farmers, mainly of British stock. While this land reform program has been warmly welcomed by the vast majority of our people, it has, however regrettably so, elicited wrought from our former colonial masses.

VINCI: Mugabe is currently running for re-election. The runoff vote is scheduled for later this month. His opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, is accusing Mugabe of trying to steal the election by intimidating opposition voters.

(on camera): Whatever his problems back at home, Mugabe appears to be determined to show his defiance on the world stage and this summit offers him the perfect opportunity to remind his few remaining friends, and especially his foes, that he should not be counted out.

Alessio Vinci, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Fearing the worst in China's earthquake zone. Water is seeping out of a dam created by landslides during last month's quake. Engineers worried the leaks and continuous aftershocks are destabilizing the rocks and mud holding back what's called a quake lake.

They don't know yet if a spill way they created to drain the lake will work. If it doesn't and the dam breaks floodwaters could threaten more than a million people living downstream. Some 250,000 people have already been evacuated.

Elsewhere crews are using explosives and heavy equipment to tear down buildings destroyed by the quake.

If you would like to help, let us direct you to CNN.com. We have set up a special page on the devastation in China and Myanmar. Plus links to aid agencies that are organizing help for the region.

COLLINS: Too old or -- excuse me. Want get to this story first. New fight for a former boxing champ, this one, to save his home. Evander Holyfield faces foreclosure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, he is poised to become the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party. Barack Obama making his mark and making history. He won enough delegates Tuesday to secure the nomination.

Obama's milestone follows a long and sometimes bitter primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. She plans to announce tomorrow she is suspending her campaign and supporting Obama.

He is now set to face presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in the general election.

A secret Obama/Clinton meeting, the end of her campaign, and the beginning of the veepstakes -- we discuss it all with our experts.

COLLINS: A former boxing champ faces a new challenge -- saving his home.

Evander Holyfied -- his estate is under foreclosure.

Reporter Tom Regan of affiliate WSB has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM REGAN, WSB REPORTER: Evander Holyfield's palatial estate sits on more than 200 acres. The 54,000-square foot mansion features 17 bathrooms, a movie theater, bowling alley and more. It's a home fit for the king of boxing. But maybe not for long.

A foreclosure notice in the local newspapers states Holyfield defaulted on a $10 million bank loan. Now the bank is set to sell the estate at auction on Fayette County Courthouse's steps July 1st.

A strange reversal of fortune for a champion believed to have earned $200 million during his storied career.

JOYCE BOLDS, NEIGHBOR: I'm just real surprised because I can't imagine having that kind of money and not using it wisely if that's the case.

REGAN: Joyce and Michael Bolds live near Holyfield's home and have attended many Fourth of July parties there.

MICHAEL BOLDS, NEIGHBOR: My heart goes out to him because, you know, I have seen so many athletes who have made lots of money and then lose the money.

REGAN (on camera): Evander Holyfield built his dream home back in 1995. At that time the cost estimates ranged anywhere from $15 to $40 million.

But in this real estate market, it is, of course, worth a lot less than that.

Would you pay $10 million for it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

REGAN: Why not? It's not worth it in this kind of market?

(voice-over): We dug through court records and found the fair market value of the estate a little less than $13 million. Annual property taxes, $156,000. We also learned the champ is scrambling to get another loan to save his home. But his accountant is closely guarding the champ's next move.

(on camera): Is he going to be able to avert this foreclosure?

UNIDENTIFIED ACCOUNTANT: There's just no comment at this time that we have.

REGAN: The house that Holyfield built may soon become his biggest loss outside of the ring.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Court documents show Holyfield also owes thousands of dollars in child support payments.

HARRIS: He claims he sold steroids to NFL players. Now he's dead. A mystery in Texas, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

COLLINS: Hi there, everybody, I'm Heidi Collins.

Happening right now, firefighters in eastern North Carolina hoping light winds will help them get a handle on these ferocious flames. The wildfire near Columbia has nearly tripled in size, now scorching nearly 29,000 acres.

About half of the fire is burning in a wildlife refuge. Seventy homes have been evacuated. Firefighters had hoped to contain the fire last night. But then it jumped containment lines, giving it the potential to double in size again.

We're going to check in with Jacqui Jeras in just a few minutes about this one.

HARRIS: Let's get to you the New York Stock Exchange for Friday and let's see if we can end strong today. It might be a challenge with the May jobs report in.

But as we get the business day started, the Dow starts at 12,604 after kind of a big brown-like sprint to the wire yesterday.

COLLINS: I get it.

HARRIS: Big brown. Come on, triple crown. We need it -- 20 some odd years since we've had a triple crown.

COLLINS: Thirty.

HARRIS: Is it 30?

COLLINS: Thirty. That's affirmed. I was there (INAUDIBLE), it was terribly disappointing.

HARRIS: That was a great horse. That was really a bad boy. 213 points yesterday, nice run up. But again the jobs report today may drag the market down a little bit. Boy, economy shedding big, what 49,000 jobs in May. Market checks throughout the morning. Susan Lisovicz right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: We just got a report from an analyst, boy, this had better be an important analyst. And because of this report from this analyst, oil is now trading -- listen to this -- above $134 per barrel. That is close to where we were about two weeks ago. The Dow is responding to this -- Sara what is that number again on the Dow? Can we show it? $145 based on the report from this analyst. Well, all right.

We will get Susan Lisovicz up and we'll talk about this more. Prices jumping $6.43 this morning, so all right, all hands are on deck. Our money team, Susan Lisovicz, Ali Velshi, we will get this all sorted out in just a couple of minutes right here in the NEWSROOM. COLLINS: We want to give you this information just in to the CNN NEWSROOM on the cloture vote that was taking place on the climate bill. Just to remind you the Lieberman/Warner Climate Security Act of 2008. Apparently Republicans have blocked the Senate action on this global warming issue and they are saying it is just too darned expensive.

We are going to get some more detail on that and break it down a little bit later on for you. But just letting you know as we learned here that Republicans have blocked Senate action on the global warming dispute over its economic cost. That is the way it has been written to us, we will follow up for you.

New productive discussions. The official buzz about a secret meeting last night between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It was their first meeting since Obama racked up enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination. Tomorrow Clinton will announce she is suspending her run for the White House and supporting Obama. In a joint statement the campaign said last night's meeting focused on the important work that needs to be done to succeed in November.

HARRIS: The Obama/Clinton sit down, her exit from the race tomorrow, his search for a running mate. A lot of talk about this morning in presidential politics. With us from Washington, CNN special correspondent and former Washington bureau chief, there he is, Frank Sesno.

Frank good to see you as always.

"USA Today" Washington bureau chief Susan Page.

Susan great to see you. Good Friday.

Candy Crowley sat down and talked to Barack Obama yesterday and asked him about the VP choice. Here is what he had to say and then let's talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESUMPTIVE PRES. NOMINEE: Everybody just needs to settle down. We've just completed this arduous process. It has only been two days. You know, I think it's both not just in my interests and Senator Clinton's interests but in the Democratic Party's interest and the country's interest to make sure that I make this decision well.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Susan, is he correct -- sort of take a breather, settle down a bit. Put my committee together. We are going to go through a proper process here. Just take it easy.

SUSAN PAGE, "USA TODAY": I think he wants that message to get through to Hillary Clinton supporters who have been putting on this full-court press to get her on the ticket. That's been I think not helpful for Senator Clinton. I assume Senator Clinton would love to be on the ticket with Barack Obama, there's no better way to become president than to serve as vice president. But the effort to kind of force his hand on that, I thought was not likely to work. We are likely to be talking about this for months. He is not likely to choose his nominee or at least announce it until right before the convention in August. We have a long way to go.

HARRIS: Frank, what do you think?

FRANK SESNO, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: I think this is the most important thing that Barack Obama has done arguably in this campaign to date. Because what it is going to show people, his supporters and people sitting on the fence and beyond, is how does he make a decision? How does he go about things? How does he handle pressure? How's he going to manage the job of the president or the White House? Talked to a pollster yesterday and then talked to a real live voter and they aligned perfectly.

Pollster said people will be watching closely. The real live voters said twice in the past I voted for George Bush. But I'm intrigued by this guy, Obama, but I really want to see is who is he going to pick to have around him. That's how I'm going to figure out who he really is.

HARRIS: OK, so let's talk about the VP choice, let's just do it. For Barack Obama and for John McCain. Look, given what you view, Susan, as some of the vulnerabilities for Barack Obama, what type of person and then maybe go out on a limb a bit, who is the choice, do you think, for vice president, sorry?

PAGE: You know I think for both these presumptive nominees, the vice president choice is more important than for many people who have been in that position because they both have gotten some significant vulnerability they could address. Now for Barack Obama what would be number one of course he has to unite his party. He needs to get women who will make up a majority of the electorate back on his side either by choosing Hillary Clinton or a Hillary Clinton supporter or another woman. Those are various ways he could do that.

I think he also needs to address his rather limited experience in foreign policy and national security affairs. That might argue for somebody like a Wesley Clark or a Jim Webb. Some people talked about Sam Nun. I'm not sure how serious I think that is. But for somebody who has deeper experience then he has. And also I think finally, it's going to be a big leap for this country to have an African-American presidential nominee and I think for some voters who might be a little nervous about that, they would be looking for a reassuring pick. Somebody that makes them feel, you know, increases their comfort level with voting for Barack Obama.

HARRIS: Frank, take on Obama and then I will get back to Susan on John McCain.

SESNO: On Obama, the main word is don't bobble it, don't blow it. And address these issues that Susan pointed out. It's a very interesting way of putting it, I talked to Peter Hart yesterday, a Democratic pollster. He said, you know, this whole campaign on the Democratic side has been about glass ceilings, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. How ending picking a woman, you're asking America to go through a double-paned glass ceiling with you. That's really a reach too far. So that's something to be forewarned about.

A lot of people like the Jim Webb idea. Why? He reaches back to the Reagan administration, obviously navy secretary. His son has been in Iraq. He walked around with those boots throughout his own campaign. Somewhat limited experience in Washington himself and a bit of a hot head really. You know, what most are saying is Obama, be careful, be methodical and go down the middle on it.

HARRIS: Susan, take on John McCain and given some of his vulnerabilities, what do you think? Who might be on the short list?

PAGE: You know I think John McCain has the possibility to do something kind of daring. Barack Obama needs to reach out to Hillary Clinton supporters and a lot of women. Some of those people have been saying in exit polls after the primaries, they will vote for John McCain, not for Barack Obama. That's just how mad they are that Hillary Clinton isn't going to be the nominee. So what if he put a woman on the ticket and Barack Obama did no?

You know, that might be -- give him a real entree into a group of voters that right now are not 100 percent sure. A lot of Democratic leaning voters and independent women who might be willing to give John McCain a look if he did that. He has other problems, too because his party is also not enthused. It's not so much that they are divided but it said there are big chunks of the Republican Party, including evangelical Christians, that are not energized and you need those voters to come out.

HARRIS: Frank, quickly, what are your thoughts on this? A parting shot on Hillary Clinton if I could.

SESNO: Parting shot on --

HARRIS: What are your thoughts about John McCain first and then I went want to squeeze in one more question.

SESNO: Look, John McCain has to energize people, he has to excite people. He has to offset his own age issue. I think he has to get outside the beltway, I think there will be a lot of Washington talk aimed at why Washington should be different this time. He might actually have to prove that with somebody who can deliver. That's why Tim Pawlenty governor of Minnesota is so attractive to so many.

HARRIS: Susan, tomorrow Hillary Clinton, do you expect -- I sort of do expect her to be magnanimous tomorrow. What are your thoughts?

PAGE: I think it took her a couple days to get there. She didn't do it Tuesday night. She wasn't that gracious. But I think we will hear her be more wholesome in her praise of Barack Obama. And I think she will say I endorse him.

SESNO: She knows her legacy is on the line. She knows there's a lot of bruised feelings and some things that were poorly said or badly taken by the Clintons throughout the campaign. So this is a chance for her to deliver. She's got to, I think, Tony, very important, she has to lay hands on Obama, both to sort of reassure and embrace and kind of transfer some of the excitement and she has to demonstrate to her supporters and others she thinks he is safe.

HARRIS: Will he be there?

PAGE: No, I don't think so, no.

HARRIS: Frank, no?

SESNO: For a moment.

HARRIS: Frank, good to see you. Susan, have a great weekend.

COLLINS: A man at the center of a steroid scandal is now at the center of a murder mystery. Police say David Jacobs, a convicted steroids dealer, was found shot to death in his north Texas home yesterday. A woman was also found dead in the home. Jacobs recently met with NFL security officials giving them names of players he claimed bought steroids from him. Police are not saying whether they believe the deaths were a double homicide or a murder-suicide.

Jacobs was sentenced to three months of probation last month after pleading guilty to federal steroid charges. We will be talking in just a little while with ESPN magazine reporter (INAUDIBLE). He has been covering the story for quite some time so we'll get the very latest there.

HARRIS: A grueling campaign now angering Hillary Clinton supporters rally on the web to support John McCain. Veronica de La Cruz in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We haven't heard this much lately that's for sure. Gas prices have actually ticked down a notch. AAA natural average for a gallon of regular, a little more than $3.98 this morning. That's down .03 of a penny and we'll take it. Diesel is down two selling on average for $4.76.

HARRIS: In a small way an (INAUDIBLE) immigrant tale is a success story. But today marks a sad chapter for the gas station owner. 800 gallons of premium gas, you know what that's going for, were stolen from his pumps in an overnight operation. Take a look here. Cars pulled up and the suspects took money for the gas. The owner believes they were some how selling it for half price.

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BERHANE MERHAZRIN, GAS STATION OWNER: It's hard. We just started the business. It's not our money, we borrowed from our friends. It's not even our money.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: Regulars at the Charlotte gas station are upset. The owner is out some $4,000. He worked as a cab driver for nine years to finance his dream and was barely getting by when he got robbed.

COLLINS: The higher the fuel price, the bolder the thieves. CNN's Chris Lawrence looks at how far the bad guys are going.

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CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you think you are getting robbed at the gas pump you may be right. Not just there. Police say thieves are siphoning gas like it's the 1970s, using the internet to share their tips. Consumers are fighting back, buying up gas caps with locks. Now the thieves are starting drilling holes directly into the fuel line.

SGT. WALT REID, KERN COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Not only do you lose your fuel, now you have to repair your gas tank.

LAWRENCE: Kerr County sergeant Walt Reid says it's even worse for California's farmers who use thousands of gallons of diesel fuel. This surveillance video shows one thief as he taps into a farmer's supply and another drives off with the hose attached. Snaps the line and spills fuel everywhere.

PETE BELLUOMINI, FARMER: That's part of the frustration. It's like you know if I could just catch that guy. Boy, what I would do.

LAWRENCE: Farmer Pete Belluomini says an organized gang of thieves just took 900 gallons from his tanks.

BELLUOMINI: Flip the switch, it sucks the diesel out into their storage tank, in their van.

LAWRENCE: One night's work cost him $4,000. Can you afford to keep getting hit like this?

BELLUOMINI: No. We don't recoup that. It comes out of our bottom line.

LAWRENCE: Over the past few months thieves have stolen more than a quarter of a billion dollars of fuel in this one county alone. Where do you think these thieves are reselling all of this diesel?

BELLUOMINI: Who is going to use diesel fuel, truck drivers.

LAWRENCE: Right now they are paying top dollar at legitimate truck stops. Several truckers told us that there is a black market where stolen gas is sold at a discount.

BELLUOMINI: This is going to cost him $500 to fill up and he can fill up for $200. What's he going to do?

LAWRENCE: Farmers are asking themselves the same question, wondering if fuel thieves will drive them right out of business. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Bakersfield, California. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: We want to know what did they talk about. Everyone is asking. The secret meeting and the search for Democratic unity in the NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: What did they talk about? What was going on in the meeting? Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, last night. Senator Dianne Feinstein hosted the meeting. We are starting to get some details. We will reveal all coming up in just minutes right here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Some angry Hillary Clinton supporters are backing John McCain. A strategy they hope gets Clinton to the White House in 2012. They are organizing online. Veronica de la Cruz is here now with more on this.

Veronica, 2,012 is a long way away.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a long way away.But nevertheless Heidi, Hillary Clinton, you know, she sent this e-mail to her supporters saying that she would stand behind Barack Obama this Saturday that she would be suspending her campaign.

Immediately after that, Heidi, angry messages, such as this one, started to appear -- "The media is now painting a rosy picture that Hillary supporters will heal with time and support Obama. No way will I ever vote for Obama. I will be voting for McCain or not voting at all -- period!"

And then like you just mentioned, many of them doing it because they feel it is the best way to get Clinton into the White House in 2012.

Here is a post from a user in Silver Lake, she calls herself silver lake mom. She says -- "Millions of Clinton Democrats like myself will vote McCain in the GE. Another Democratic Party blunder, Hillary 20-12."

There's even a Web site Heidi that's called Hillary Supporters for John McCain. It's run by a man named Ed Hale. He launched it a few days ago. Already Heidi, it has 10,000 members.

COLLINS: I have so many questions for you.

DE LA CRUZ: I'm sure you do.

COLLINS: It will be interesting to see if, in fact, Barack Obama and Senator Clinton are on the same ticket, what those voters will do. Obviously we have no idea at this point but I also wonder how the McCain camp has sort of reacted to all of this.

DE LA CRUZ: Well of course. You know that they are happy to accommodate any supporters, Clinton supporters, who definitely want to turn out and rally for him.

COLLINS: Bring them on.

DE LA CRUZ: Yes exactly. Joe Lieberman sent out this e-mail yesterday for the grassroots campaign they are starting for McCain. In this e-mail he calls for anyone to support him, basically saying come down, support, regardless of your party affiliation and in the signup form we are looking at, there is even a box to check for those formerly supporting the Clinton campaign.

Then looking at the blogs Heidi, Mark (INAUDIBLE) from the Atlantic says that the spokesman for the GOP convention in St. Paul received numerous calls from Clinton supporters asking how they can help Senator McCain. In wire.com has reported that the RNC has purchased the domain name clintonsformccain.com. So I contacted the RNC yesterday to confirm this report. I also contacted them to ask them what their intentions are with this Web site. I have yet to hear back.

Big question is, how has Barack Obama responded to all of this? Our Candy Crowley was able to sit down with him. She asked what he would say to a 45 year old Clinton supporter who said that she will now vote for John McCain.

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OBAMA: I have a plan to make college more affordable and John McCain doesn't. For that 45-year-old woman who is trying to figure out how do I manage my health care bills, I have a plan to provide her health insurance if she doesn't have it and to lower premiums if she does. John McCain essentially is going to provide tax cuts but may lead to her employer dropping her coverage altogether.

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DE LA CRUZ: So there you go. Barack Obama showing where he stands on a couple of the issues versus John McCain. As you know, Hillary Clinton will still rally for Obama this Saturday as she does suspend her campaign.

COLLINS: Makes you wonder, too, are they so hardcore for Hillary or are they hard-core Democrats? It is very fascinating, still.

DE LA CRUZ: Well you know the DNC definitely has their work cut out for them trying to unite the party, so.

COLLINS: That's true. We are watching all the way through November. Aren't we Veronica?

DE LA CRUZ: We sure are.

COLLINS: Thank you.

HARRIS: Raised by her father and his three wives. Former member speaks out about a polygamist sect.

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KATHY JO NICHOLSON, FORMER MEMBER OF POLYGAMIST SECT: This has been going on for generations. It has been illegal the whole time. Why would they change now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: What she says about her experience and the fate of more than 400 children in Texas.

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COLLINS: Hi there everybody, I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: I'm Tony Harris. Stay with us all day in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Here is what's on the rundown. Hot, dry, and burning up. An East Coast wildfire could double in size today, Fed in part by a heat wave.

COLLINS: Hugs? Well we don't know. But we do know they met. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hold late night talks. New details just in.

HARRIS: This man reportedly linked NFL players to steroids now he is dead. Police are asking whodunit today, Friday, June 6th.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.