Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Clinton to Suspend Campaign, Endorse Obama; Vallejo, CA, Broke; Celeb Foreclosures; Severe Weather Again Batters Midwest

Aired June 07, 2008 - 10:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In the end, while this primary was lost, I am so proud we stayed the course together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So what's the next course on Senator Clinton's path? Well, she is in Washington for a noon rally. Here's a live picture of where that's going to take place. And the best political team on television is bringing it all to you live.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR OSBY DAVIS, VALLEJO, CALIFORNIA: You cannot continue to pay what you don't have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAN SIMON, CNN ANCHOR: People aren't the only ones facing tough economic times. So are cities. Even Wal-Mart moved out of this one.

NGUYEN: Plus, Big Brown goes for the big stakes. (INAUDIBLE) right now of Belmont Park where Big Brown might be the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years. And hopefully we will get a chance to see that live as it happens.

It's a big day politically, it's a big day at track, it's a big day here at CNN and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. It's Saturday, June 7th.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.

SIMON: And I'm Dan Simon, in for T.J. Holmes. It's 10:00 a.m. here in Atlanta. Let's get you caught up on all of the news.

NGUYEN: All right. Well, the Clinton rally now just two hours away. But our special coverage is just one hour away. This is what we're expecting to hear today. Senator Clinton will announce that she suspending her campaign. She gets to keep all of those delegates until the Democratic Convention in August.

We are also expecting to hear her first public endorsement of Barack Obama as the Democratic flagbearer. SIMON: That support coming just two days after a face-to-face meeting between Clinton and Obama. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joins us this morning from the National Building Museum in Washington where Senator Clinton, by the way, Paul, she's not there yet, right? We're watching to see when she leaves. We have -- we're looking at her house. We're watching the big room there. What can you tell us about the speech?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: You're right. Not here yet. About two hours from now is the big speech and it's going to bring to a close a year-and-a-half bid for the presidency. I think one of the things you're going to hear from Hillary Clinton today is a theme of party unity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TERRY MCAULIFFE, CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHMN.: She will do anything she can to help Barack Obama.

STEINHAUSER (voice-over): That's Terry McAuliffe, chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign.

CLINTON: I want to start tonight by congratulating Senator Obama and his supporters on the extraordinary race that they have run.

STEINHAUSER: That's as far as Clinton went on Tuesday night as the primaries ended and Barack Obama claimed the Democratic presidential nomination. Today the senator from New York is expected to suspend her bid for the White House, concede defeat, and pledge to do anything she can to help Barack Obama beat John McCain in the presidential election.

Thursday night the two spent an hour together at a secret meeting here in Washington.

ROBERT GIBBS, OBAMA CAMPAIGN COMM. DIR.: They talked about how to come together and how to unify this party and move forward, because what we have at stake in November is so important and what unites us as a party far exceeds what might divide either of these two candidates.

STEINHAUSER: But those familiar with the discussion said there was no talk about Clinton joining a ticket as Obama's running mate. Those close to Clinton say she would take the job if offered. And it seems that's what Democrats want, 54 percent of them questioned this week in a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll say they think Obama should name Clinton as his running mate.

But there's a gender gap, 60 percent of women want Clinton as V.P., but only 46 percent of male Democrats agree.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEINHAUSER: And those numbers are really telling. If Barack Obama is going to win in November, he needs Hillary Clinton, and even more importantly, Hillary Clinton's large number of women supporters behind him come November.

And right now we're keeping our eyes on the house. We're here as well. We've got cameras outside where I am. We're inside the hall, two hours from the big speech -- Dan.

SIMON: Hey, Paul, can you talk to us a little bit about this distinction between dropping out of the race and suspending her campaign? What's the difference there?

STEINHAUSER: Well, there are two things that -- there's a big difference in two different ways. First of all, by suspending and not dropping out, Hillary Clinton is allowed to keep her delegates. And this is something that a lot of candidates have done.

John Edwards, when he dropped out, Mitt Romney and some of the others, they suspended their campaigns rather than close them because that allows them to keep their delegates.

Secondly, as we all know, Hillary Clinton's campaign is in the red by a lot of money. By suspending her campaign and not ending it, it allows her to continue to raise cash to try to pay off that debt.

SIMON: All right. Paul, thanks very much. And of course, we're going to be keeping an eye on the pictures there in Washington, D.C. And so, you know, the question really becomes, what went wrong with Senator Clinton's campaign? Some of CNN's top political analysts share their thoughts in about 45 minutes.

Plus, stay tuned for Wolf Blitzer, the best political team on television, they are there live in Washington bringing you the Clinton exit at the top of the hour.

NGUYEN: Well, here are some new numbers on November, take a look at the close race. We asked registered voters after Tuesday who they would vote for. Well, 49 percent said they'd pick Barack Obama, 46 percent said John McCain. Virtually a tie considering the margin of error. Now those numbers coming from our CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll.

SIMON: The outcome of the presidential race could very well turn on which candidate can calm voters' fears over rising fuel prices. Now listen to John McCain and Barack Obama as they staked out their positions earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Maybe if John McCain went to Pennsylvania and he met the man who lost his job but can't even afford the gas to drive around and look for a new one, he'd understand we can't afford four more years of our addiction to oil from dictators.

That man needs us to pass an energy policy that works with automakers to raise fuel standards and makes corporations pay for their pollution and oil companies invest their record profits in a clean energy future, an energy policy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must -- we must unleash the creativity and genius of Americans and encourage industries to pursue and produce alternative non-polluting renewable energy sources where demand will never exceed supply.

Senator Obama voted for the same policies that created the problem. In fact, he voted for the energy bill promoted by the president, Vice President Cheney, which gave even more breaks to the oil industry.

I opposed it, because I know we won't achieve energy independence by repeating the mistakes of the last half century.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: And you know both candidates are going to be talking a lot about this in the weeks ahead. It's such a crucial issue. And we're going to be doing our best here to keep them honest.

NGUYEN: Well, it was a white knuckle ride on Wall Street late yesterday. There are a lot of factors, but the spark that caused it all, the massive 400-point sell-off, was a huge spike in oil prices. Traders were caught off guard as oil ran up nearly $11 to close at around $139 a barrel, that's the highest we've seen it. CNN business correspondent Stephanie Elam is in New York to help make sense of all of this.

Stephanie, I mean, a lot of people scratching their heads because, as we spoke with an analyst earlier, this has nothing to do with consumption. This sounds like it's a lot of speculation that drove it up?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's part of it. And you know, yesterday's run-up, it was kind of a one-two punch. You had that oil run-up, but you also had this jobs report coming out, taking a look at what happened with jobs in May.

Well, get this, we lost 50,000 jobs almost in May. And the unemployment rate, it was up half a percent to 5.5 percent, that's the biggest jump since 1986, and that means that right now about 8.5 million Americans are without a job.

So this is obviously a huge deal. Five months in a row now that we've seen the jobs report go down. So not a good thing for us as far as the health of the economy is concerned -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. So when we see oil jump 11 points in just one day, a lot of people are wondering, OK, so how soon before that happens at the gas pump?

ELAM: Yes, I know. And you know, you've got that $11 that were added on yesterday, the day before that, $5. So $16 have been added onto the price of oil since Wednesday. That's huge. We've never seen anything like that. But the thing about oil, it doesn't run one-to-one with gas. So if oil prices go up, you're not going to see that same 13 percent rise in gas prices Monday. I know a lot of people worry about that. It takes some time to filter through the system.

If you remember, for almost a month we've seen gas prices go up just a little every single day. But that goes back to when we first saw oil hit $130, and that is taking its time in getting to the markets here.

But, obviously, this still does have an affect on anyone who is out there trying to run a business, has to get deliveries, all of that factors in and eventually we could see it on some of the products we buy from grocery stores, say.

NGUYEN: Yes. We're already starting to see some of that, you know, really kind of trickle through. And when oil goes up so much, it obviously affects the markets. I mean, we sought market down 400 points yesterday. What does that mean for the coming week?

ELAM: Right. And the thing about this, this is the biggest loss that we've seen on the Dow so far this year. The Dow closing down about 400 points. I mean, losing 394 points, that's a huge drop.

Now, of course, the markets across the world didn't have time to react to that, so we'll be seeing what they do early Monday morning, see how they react to this, how oil prices trade over that period of time to see how Monday markets set up.

Hopefully everyone will take a moment, take a breather. Anyone who's freaked out by this, just let it all work itself through, and then we'll get back to the game.

NGUYEN: Yes. And at the same time, looking at the bottom of the screen, gas, the national average, $3.98 a gallon.

ELAM: Yes. And we say average...

NGUYEN: Hard to take a breather with those kind of numbers, you know?

ELAM: Some people -- many people are already paying more than $4 a gallon for a gallon of regular gas. So it's definitely expensive times.

NGUYEN: Yes, all right. Stephanie, thank you.

ELAM: Thanks, Betty.

NGUYEN: So do you have a question about where the economy is heading? E-mail it to us. Here is the e-mail address, issue1@cnn.com. Then tune in on Monday as CNN takes a day-long solutions-oriented look at "ISSUE #1." Gerri Willis, Ali Velshi, and the "ISSUE #1" team will have special reports all day long.

(WEATHER REPORT) NGUYEN: Going to give you a live picture on the left-hand side of your screen. Hillary Clinton's home there in Washington. And on the right-hand side of your screen, the National Building Museum.

Now, that is where in just under an hour Hillary Clinton will be heading to, and then a little later be giving this speech today, a concession speech where we understand here at CNN that in those prepared remarks she will endorse Barack Obama and call for party unity. So we will bring that live to you every step of the way. Stay here for that.

Meantime, though, can't pay the bills? Filing for bankruptcy?

SIMON: Well, that's exactly what a California city did. Tough times in Vallejo, California, that's coming up here in the NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: Another sign of the economic times, the rise in foreclosures. Even some celebrities are getting hit. Our guest looks at both ends of this housing crisis. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Seems like every weekend we're telling about severe weather. And today is no exception. Look at this, Indianapolis, Indiana, this coming to us live from our affiliate WTHR. Strong storms blew through that area for the third time in a week. High winds, even reports of tornadoes in the northern parts of the region.

We also understand there were semi trailers blown over on I-69. On top of all of that, people riding in boats through what would seemingly be neighborhoods. Some 23,000 customers were without power at times last night, and as of today, still tens of thousands are in the dark. So we are watching this very closely for you as Indiana tries to dry out.

SIMON: Two men arrested in Palm Bay, Florida, after they allegedly instructed a 6-year-old girl to pose in some really disturbing pictures. According to our local affiliates, police say 30-year-old Toby Allen put a gun in the 6-year-old's hand and then forced her to pose for pictures. In one photo the child is pointing the gun at the camera with her finger actually on the finger. Allen's 26-year-old roommate was arrested.

NGUYEN: Well a Utah hospital is busting at the seams with twins. Ten sets of them, in fact, born in just three days. Quite a phenomenon. There are nine boys, 11 girls. Typically that hospital averages two twin deliveries a week.

Well, Ed McMahon, the former "Tonight Show" sidekick, you know, you know his name, you've seen his face. Well, he could actually lose his home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is a normal person. Foreclosures happen to everyone. You just get behind and you just -- you know, it's a snowball effect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: McMahon, he is going public saying he has been pounded by a perfect storm of money troubles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. Here's something you don't see every day. Look at that, it's not like, folks, this is a neighborhood in Indianapolis, Indiana, a strong line of storms rolled through. In fact, the third time in a week that central Indiana received storms and some of them are reported to have had tornadoes as a part of them.

Lots of things blown over, flooding, I mean, these are people just trying to get in and out of their homes and salvage what is left. But, boy, what a mess on their hands. We're trying to work our sources on the ground and bring you more information, but what we can tell you is that tens of thousands of people obviously are without power, because of these storms. We'll stay on top of it for you.

SIMON: What happens when you have more bills than your budget can cover? For many people, bankruptcy is the only way out. And it's not just individuals filing bankruptcy. A California city also has that dubious distinction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON (voice-over): Vallejo, California, was once the state capital. Its claim to fame now for being the largest city in California ever to file for bankruptcy.

DAVIS: We spent the last 15 years robbing Peter to pay Paul until Peter is now broke also.

SIMON: Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis cites a steady increase in labor costs. For years he says the city has been able to get by. But the downturn in the economy sent the community of 120,000 over the edge and now Davis says the city can no longer afford the cost of its most treasured public servants: police officers and firefighters.

The biggest problem is that three quarters of Vallejo's general fund goes to pay for them.

DAVIS: It is sad we have to make this decision and we find ourselves in this circumstance.

SIMON: The city wants to trim salaries or benefits by thousands of dollars. The unions are fighting it so the issue will be decided in court. The average pay now for its 128 police officers is $122,000 a year, and for its 123 firefighters, is $130,000. Both figures do not include overtime.

It may seem like a lot, but it's the going rate in the pricey San Francisco Bay Area. To help pay for that, budgets have been slashed for things like libraries and senior centers. (on camera): Vallejo gets its revenue from sales and property taxes, but the housing slump has hit this area hard. More than 2,000 homes have been foreclosed or are in the process of being foreclosed.

And as for sales tax receipts, they're off by about 10 percent. It didn't help that the town's Wal-Mart closed up shop and moved to a nearby community.

(voice-over): The bankruptcy has sent chills throughout the state.

DET. MAT MUSTARD, VALLEJO, CALIF., POLICE DEPT.: All around California people say, I don't want to be the next Vallejo. Are we going to be the next Vallejo?

SIMON: But not everyone agrees the action was necessary.

MUSTARD: A lot of cities in this state and a lot of cities in this country that are facing difficult times right now in reference to their finances. I don't see anybody else filing bankruptcy.

SIMON: Vallejo Police Detective Mat Mustard says the city has been mismanaging its funds for years and is now declaring bankruptcy as a way to cut wages. He says morale has plummeted and many are looking for other jobs.

MUSTARD: People come to work as police officers and firefighters to deal with crises and help you with your problems, and now they're put into a crisis mode on a daily basis.

SIMON: Mayor Davis is also in crisis mode. He knows that bankruptcy will damage the city's credit rating and cost Vallejo millions in legal fees, but he is hoping a judge will allow the city to rip up its labor contracts and bring compensation down.

DAVIS: You cannot continue to pay what you don't have, and something has to happen.

SIMON: And what has happened is causing this historic city to make history once again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: The largest city to file for bankruptcy.

SIMON: In California. You know, that city is really in an unwinnable position, you know, 75 percent of their budget is going to pay for the salaries for police officers and firefighters. You know, it surprised me that they make well over six figures.

You know, here's the problem, you can understand why they want to trim those salaries, but because everybody else is paying that in the Bay Area, you know, they make good money there.

NGUYEN: Well, it's the cost of living. I mean, you've got to, you know, factor it in. SIMON: That's right. And because, you know, San Francisco, for example, pays well over six figures, those police officers will leave Vallejo and they'll just go work for another department. So it's really a tricky deal for them.

NGUYEN: It definitely is. It just -- you know, it just speaks to the fact that everyone is feeling it in this economy.

And speaking of, foreclosures, 1 million people are in danger of losing their home, especially when we do talk about those foreclosures. And guess what, Ed McMahon is one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED MCMAHON, FMR. CO-HOST OF "TONIGHT SHOW": For everybody out there that's going through this, and we really sympathize with you and we tell you that be optimistic, you know, it can be done. All kind of things can happen. Let it work out great for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Yes. Ed McMahon on "LARRY KING LIVE" just a few nights ago. You know, he hasn't been able to work in the last year-and-a- half because he fell and broke his neck. Well, the McMahons are part of an estimated 1 million people across the country facing foreclosure. That's a lot of people. Kelly Evans from The Wall Street Journal joins us now from New York.

You know, many were surprised to see Ed McMahon's story but he's not the only one. Evander Holyfield, the boxer, also dealing with foreclosure with his home right outside of Atlanta here, $10 million for it, a massive home.

But these celebrities are dealing with the same thing everyone is, it seems.

KELLY EVANS, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Absolutely. I mean, and that's what's going on here, is we know the statistics. We know that millions of people are facing this foreclosure problem. Ed McMahon's timing just happened to kind of put a human face on it in a week where we got a lot of bad news about the mortgage markets.

NGUYEN: Yes, you know, and here's the thing, you know, when it comes to a tough economy, people don't expect it to hit highly paid celebrities, but this crunch is just indicative that no one is going to be able to escape it unless you have the means and you have been able to afford that mortgage.

But, you know, someone making millions, how can they be in dire straits?

EVANS: Absolutely. I think that's a question a lot of people have. They say, how can you point to him as victim of the foreclosure crisis when this was a guy with millions of dollars who clearly spent more than he should have. And so that criticism obviously is out there. But at the same time you know that -- his wife was saying on "LARRY KING" the other night that look, just because we're celebrities doesn't mean we have millions and millions of dollars. Ed was there with a neck brace, he hasn't been able to work in 18 months. The economy is bad. They haven't been able to sell their home.

Obviously they've been spending and borrowing against it and just have a problem right now trying to make ends meet. And so it's unfortunate that they kind of had to admit that in front of a national audience.

But you know, at the same time they're saying you know we've had a lot of people reach out to us, sympathize with us, and say, we're going through the same thing, we want to help. What can we do? And they were saying, look, we don't want any donations, we don't want that charity.

What we want to do is try to help people all over the country realize that, look, we know this is rough, we know you're having a hard time. We're in it with you, too.

NGUYEN: You know, when it comes to celebrities getting hit hard, we saw Ed McMahon, and we showed a picture of Evander Holyfield and his home. Maybe put that up again. A lot of people wonder, well, is it just celebrities getting hit hard in the area of the housing market or is it in other areas as well?

EVANS: Yes, it's likely in a lot of areas. Both Evander Holyfield and Ed McMahon and Jose Canseco, who walked away from his home a couple months ago, had divorces, they had other financial things going on.

So clearly, this isn't just about what's going on with their home. But at the same time what they did is what a lot of Americans did, and that is, instead of paying for a home with cash out right, which you would think that they could do having the millions that they have, instead they financed it, and we don't know how much, but it's likely that there was a lot of financing in that home.

And so if what matters most is being able to make those monthly payments and their income goes away and those payments are rising, they're basically in the same predicament a lot of people are in, even just on a much larger scale.

NGUYEN: So is the message here, no matter how much money you make, you should be saving, especially now?

EVANS: Absolutely. I mean, the national savings rate was negative for quite some time in the last couple of years. And I do think we're going to see a bounce back there. It's much more difficult now to get the type of mortgage that would put you in this situation where you have so much financing and you don't have to pay very much up front.

So I do think we're seeing a pullback, kind of a return to normalcy and to frugality. Really, I do think, over the next couple of years it's going to be a type of situation where you need that 20 percent down payment to get a home. You need that good credit score.

Unfortunately that may hold up the housing market recovery to some degree, but it's probably for the best in the long term.

NGUYEN: Yes, all right. Kelly Evans with The Wall Street Journal, Kelly, some good information today as we look at this and think, wow, celebs are feeling the pinch just like everybody else.

EVANS: Absolutely, that's the bottom line.

NGUYEN: Yes. Thank you.

You know, this is a question a lot of people have been asking. I'm sure you've asked it a time or two in your life. What do women want, right?

SIMON: That's right.

NGUYEN: Well, women voters rallied behind Hillary Clinton. They wanted her. Well, now they're going to give Barack Obama a chance.

SIMON: Plus, we're going to take a closer look at what's really next for Hillary Clinton? Is a number two spot actually in her future? Is it possible? We're going to look at that coming up here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Severe weather to tell you about on this Saturday morning. Look at this, live pictures from Indianapolis, I believe. This coming from our affiliate WTHR. Kind of hard to see there on the screen. There you go. And what you're looking at is just sheer flooding in the area. A lot of flooding and in fact this storm that blew through was the third one to blow through in a week. We understand that there was some tornadoes with it. Lots of flooding throughout many neighborhoods. In fact, tens of thousands of people still without power at this hour. And we're going to give you as much information on this as we get people on the ground, on the phone and reporters there as well. So stay with us for that.

In the meantime though, welcome back, everybody. It's a busy Saturday morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.

SIMON: I'm Dan Simon today in for T.J. Holmes. We're going to take a look at some of our top stories.

Oil prices, they surged more than $138 a barrel. Yesterday's price spike helped fuel a nearly 400 point drop in the Dow.

NGUYEN: Well, the end of Hillary Clinton's epic presidential bid is now about an hour and a half away. And our live coverage begins next hour. Clinton will announce she is suspending her campaign. A source says she will endorse Barack Obama and urge her supporters to back him in November.

SIMON: In about 90 minutes, we're going to find out exactly what Senator Hillary Clinton will do with her campaign and her career. Here's a quick look at what she wants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I understand that a lot of people are asking, what does Hillary want? I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard and no longer be invisible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: All right. Well, the question is, what is she going to do with her delegates? She still gets to hang onto them because she's suspending her campaign, not officially dropping out. So let's ask political editor Mark Preston, what do we think she's going to do?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, you know, for now we're not quite sure. We think that she'll hold onto them. At least for a little bit while and figure how she can allocate them back over to Barack Obama. But more importantly today, what we're going to hear her say is directly speak to her supporters and tell them to get behind Barack Obama, say that it's imperative for the Democratic Party to unite as one and take on John McCain in November.

SIMON: Mark, you know, we know what she's going to say. It's been widely reported. If you're one of her supporters and you're watching her up there, what does she have to do for them to say, you know what? I'm convinced. I'm now going to vote for Barack Obama?

PRESTON: Well, look, I just think she has to say that she's 100 percent behind Barack Obama. Today is the beginning. She has to talk about how she thinks Barack Obama is a better candidate, would be a better leader for the nation than John McCain. But really it's about what she's going to do in the coming months.

What will she do on the campaign trail? What will she say when she goes out barnstorming across the country to really try to advance his ideas? At the same time, expect Barack Obama to really start to take hold of some of her issues. Health care, they had a little bit of a disagreement on health care on universality about it and the mandating of it. Perhaps Barack Obama will embrace that.

So Hillary Clinton will talk about unity today. Another thing she'll talk about, too, is really the historic nature of this campaign and how far women have come in just this past 17 months.

SIMON: Mark, is there any chance that the Obama campaign may have pulled another fast one and he might actually show up there today?

PRESTON: I don't think that's going to happen, actually. He's in Chicago. I think this is Hillary Clinton's day. And he's going to give it to her. Hillary Clinton will really be addressing her supporters today and really talk about the future of the Democratic Party and really talk about how Barack Obama, again, is the best candidate. I don't think Barack Obama wants to be here. He wants Hillary Clinton to have a little bit of breathing room and really have her final pep rally, her final campaign, her final last hurrah.

SIMON: OK so while he is watching this, what goes through his mind in terms of whether or not Hillary sort of hits a home run and his supporters and he will be sufficiently convinced that there's genuineness behind those remarks?

PRESTON: Well, again, it's really -- again, it starts today. She's going to talk about why people need to get behind Barack Obama. But it's again not just about today. It's about what's going to happen in the future.

I mean, look, he certainly is hoping that Hillary Clinton gives 100 percent, takes time out of the Senate, crosses the country, goes to states that Barack Obama did not win. States such as Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Texas. States where, you know, Hillary Clinton won in the primaries and Barack Obama really needs to reach those constituencies. That includes women, that includes Hispanics.

SIMON: All right. Mark Preston, thanks so much. We know that speech is coming up noon Eastern Time. Meanwhile, we're only less than 30 minutes away from our own special coverage. Wolf Blitzer, John King, the rest of the best political team on television, they are joining us for this Saturday morning for the Clinton exit. They'll bring you of course all the complete coverage of the Senator Clinton speech and rally, and that, of course, coming up in about 30 minutes.

NGUYEN: We do have some breaking news to tell you about. This just in to CNN. We have learned through the "Associated Press" that sportscaster Jim McKay, see the picture right there, has died. This according to the "Associated Press" and ABC News. You know, few commentators had the accolades that Jim McKay has. His career has been marked by so many impressive broadcasting first.

One of the most memorable moments of course during the Olympic Games in Munich, where his experience as a seasoned reporter was put to the test. While he preparing to take a swim on his first day off at the games, McKay received word that gunshots were fired in the Olympic village. He ran to the ABC studio, threw some clothes over his swimsuit and for the next 16 hours, delivered to the world award- winning coverage of the Black September terrorist attack on Israeli athletes in Munich's Olympic village. He has received a number of awards throughout his storied career. Jim McKay, obviously a big loss today, sportscaster there at ABC has died.

SIMON: And when you think of Jim McKay, you think of Wide World of Sports.

NGUYEN: Absolutely, absolutely.

SIMON: And he would have been watching the big horse race today.

NGUYEN: Big Brown.

SIMON: Big Brown and the Belmont Stakes. He's going for the Triple Crown today. But it's the guy on top of the horse that has an even more inspirational story. That ahead in the NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Welcome back. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. As you can see on the screen, we are following three big stories today. There on the top left-hand side of your screen, as you can see, lots of flooding taking place. This particular picture coming to you live from Indiana. Strong storms blew through there, including some tornadoes. And we are going to get the latest on the ground and bring you that report just as soon as it comes in.

Now on the right-hand side of your screen, you are looking at Washington, D.C. and Hillary Clinton's home. As you know, she's going to be having a big speech today, she's going to be delivering that at the National Building Museum which is also in Washington, D.C.

This is going to be her concession speech, and we understand here at CNN she will be saying that not only does she support Barack Obama, but she is calling for party unity.

And then, some sad news to tell you about today. We understand that according to the "Associated Press," that longtime ABC sportscaster Jim McKay has died at the age of 87. Many perhaps know him best for his role, ABC's Wide World of Sports. And this is a man, Dan, that has covered so much in this lifetime, including the Munich games where he was on the air for 16 hours.

SIMON: I mean, he was one of the giants in all of sports. I mean, Wide World of Sports, remember his saying? The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. A really sad story and his son Sean McManus is president of CBS Sports.

NGUYEN: And CBS News.

So a difficult day or that family. But boy, what a career Jim McKay has had. And again, going back to that historic day there at the Munich games where they called it coverage of the Black September terrorist attack. He was on the air 16 hours and brought that to the world. A man who is definitely going to be remembered today and a lot of people feeling the loss.

SIMON: And we were just saying he would have been watching the Belmont Stakes today.

NGUYEN: A sports guy true and true.

SIMON: Big Brown, going for the Triple Crown today. It is go time at the Belmont. So we're going to take a look at that. The horse is two-thirds of the way to the Triple Crown. And just think, a mile and a half left to go. CNN's Ray D'Alessio, he is in Belmont, site of the big race today. Give us some flavor. Behind you it looks empty, but I'm sure they'll be packing it in pretty soon.

RAY D'ALESSIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I'll tell you what, Dan, right now the big news out here is actually the fact that Casino Drive, which was considered the biggest competition to Big Brown today, he has been scratched from the race due to a bruised foot. His trainer said it is a minor injury. Still he did not want to take any chances and possibly injuring the horse even further. So again, Casino Drive has been scratched from today's race.

But again, Big Brown, the big story and for the man that will ride him today, jockey Kent Desormeaux, winning the Triple Crown would give him not only closure after he narrowly missed the Triple Crown exactly 10 years ago, it would also enable his son Jacob to be see something he may never see again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

D'ALESSIO (voice-over): As big brown runs towards his destiny, Jacob Desormeaux walks slowly towards his. Jacob loves animals, particularly horses. Especially the one his father, hall of fame jockey Kent Desormeaux will try to ride to the Triple Crown.

KENT DESORMEAUX, JOCKEY: He think he's going to be a jockey and wants me to bring Big Brown home so he can ride him around.

D'ALESSIO: More important to Desormeaux and his wife Sonia, is that Jacob sees Big Brown make history while he still can see.

SONIA DESORMEAUX, KENT'S WIFE: Usher Syndrome is a degenerative eye disease, and there's three different types. Jacob has most severe of them, which is type 1. He has all five symptoms.

D'ALESSIO: Born deaf, Jacob is slowly going blind as well. He has undergone 16 surgeries in his nine years and though he can now hear with the help of cochlear implants, there's no such hope for his fading sight.

K. DESORMEAUX: He started tripping on things and, we're like, you didn't see that, Jacob? No. And then now he's getting more of a tunnel vision.

S. DESORMEAUX: It's progressing since we found out about this a year and a half ago, but I think we're now also paying attention and noticing what it's doing and how quick it's moving.

D'ALESSIO: It may be moving quicker than Jake does. His balance thrown off by his condition. His brother Joshua helps as much as his parents, but sometimes none of them are sure who's really helping who.

S. DESORMEAUX: He doesn't realize he has any issues at all, whatsoever. He just -- gets through the day better than we do.

K. DESORMEAUX: He's the happiest kid on earth. He's also the most resilient. If Big Brown is half as resilient as Jacob, they've got no chance.

D'ALESSIO: So even as the bright lights shine on Kent, the days grow darker for Jacob. But it is the glimmer in their son's eyes that keeps the glimmer of hope alive in his parents.

S. DESORMEAUX: The only thing he knows that dad won the Preakness which meant he had no homework for a week at school. And dad wins the Belmont, then he doesn't have any homework for the rest of the school year.

K. DESORMEAUX: It's the blindness takes over and it does become real, it's going to be one of those things on a bad day he's going to be able to remember that and hopefully it will enlighten him. I know that he'll be able to remember the smiles and everyone around him, the whole world of joy. It will be a world of joy that he'll never forget.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

D'ALESSIO: Now, in the U.S. alone, Usher's Syndrome affects about four in every 100,000 children. And in an effort to raise awareness for the disease, Kent and his Sonia have established the Eye on Jacob Foundation. Betty and Dan, he truly is a remarkable little boy and certainly an inspiration not only for horse fans, but for just everybody in general. But again, the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes, an exciting time today. Big Brown, the overwhelming favorite. Now with Casino Drive out, it might even be a nastier victory, you might say. We'll see.

SIMON: It would be pretty interesting if he lost.

D'ALESSIO: That, too.

SIMON: OK, all right, well there's another race going on.

NGUYEN: Oh, yeah, the race for the Democrats. Well that one's over, but coming up, our analysts weigh in with their thoughts at the finish line. And remember, we're going to have live coverage of Senator Clinton's exit speech, that's coming up at noon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Looking at live pictures of Hillary Clinton's home where we do expect her to be departing very shortly. And then on the right- hand side of your screen, live pictures of the place where she will be speaking and bowing out of the presidential race today. That's happening at noon. Our special coverage, though, with Wolf Blitzer gets under way at the top of the hour.

You know, it is the end of a long fight, really longer than anyone originally expected. Hillary Clinton expected to suspend her campaign a little bit later today.

SIMON: And that announcement is only about an hour away. So the question is, what went wrong with the early favorite? We asked some of our political analysts to weigh in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: I think her campaign was one extraordinary misjudgment early on, of a roaring comeback towards the end that fell too short too late.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Hillary Clinton started out as a candidate who didn't really have a clear message. CLINTON: What is important is what each of us has actually done. I offer, yes, years of experience.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It went from experience, all of a sudden it then went to change, and then it went to this whole populism. It was like, who are we dealing with?

GERGEN: For all of her great strengths, and she has many, she and her team created almost a sense that they were coasting towards a coronation.

BORGER: To run as essentially the incumbent which is what she ran as, the inevitable candidate - to run as the incumbent in a year of change was probably not a terrific idea.

GERGEN: People respect Hillary Clinton. There's never been any question about that and they wanted to see her succeed. They just didn't want to see her coronated. And she I think did not understand how much people were hurting and how much they were looking for a change.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will change the country and we will change the world.

MARTIN: I think she misjudged -- yes, underestimated how he was connecting with people on a completely different level.

GERGEN: We all know in Iowa that something was happening. There was a sense of, whoa. Where'd he come from? How did he pull this off?

OBAMA: They said the day would never come.

GERGEN: We suddenly realized, we're in a fight. She's in a fight. She ran a very old-fashioned organization.

MARTIN: They misjudged the 21st century. This guy was killing them on the Internet. While she was out running around trying to get endorsements, he was talking to his Web people. They organized people through the Internet. Through that social network, through the message board. They created the buzz. They created the hype. All of a sudden that campaign took off.

GERGEN: She kept saying I'm going to be ready to govern on day one. When it came to campaign, he was ready to campaign.

BORGER: He had a better campaign. He had a message that remained constant throughout the campaign. Hillary was changing messages. They would say fine tuning. She was changing her messages. He remained constant. He had a strategy that went up until the very end.

GERGEN: If you had said six months ago, eight months ago, she wasn't going to be the nominee, I would have been extremely surprised. I thought she was going to be the next president.

(END VIDEOTAPE) NGUYEN: A lot of people did. And today she is going to give her concession speech and that is going will happen at noon Eastern. But our live coverage begin in just a few minutes from now at the top of the top of the hour with Wolf Blitzer.

But we are giving a live look right now on the left-hand side of your screen, Hillary Clinton's home in D.C. where she will be departing very shortly for the place on your right, the National Building Museum where we will hear that speech right here live on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIMON: All right. Live pictures now in Washington, D.C. On the left side of your screen that is Senator Hillary Clinton's house where she is really expected to depart at any moment to go to the National Building Museum, which is on the right-hand side of your screen. You can see some of her supporters have already gathered there to hear her big speech, which is expected to begin at noon Eastern time.

You know, she put off this speech until today, the weekend. So a lot of her supporters from around the country could attend her speech. One of the things we know that she's going to be saying is that she is suspending her campaign. Not dropping out - by suspending, she gets to keep her delegates and she also will be able to raise money and retire any campaign debt.

Meanwhile, we're expected to, again, to see Senator Clinton leave her home there in a few minutes and our special coverage with Wolf Blitzer is going to be coming up at the top of the hour.

NGUYEN: Yes, in the meantime though I want to tell you very quickly about some flooding in Indiana. This is another story that we are watching very closely for you. Look at that. These are neighborhoods under water. Storms that blew through. We understand a tornado, at least a couple of them may have been involved with that. Tens of thousands without power. So we will stay on top of that. In the meantime, it is a big political day and CNN is bringing you the Clinton exit live in the next hour.

SIMON: Let's turn it over now to Wolf Blitzer and the best political team on television, live from Washington.