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First Fatality Found in Cedar Rapids Flooding; Recalling Iowa's 1993 Flood; Impact of Flooding of America's Bread Basket; Looking at the Shuttle "Discovery's" Touchdown; An NBC Colleague Remembers Tim Russert; Catastrophic Flooding in Iowa; Obama and McCain Debate Over Gitmo Rights

Aired June 14, 2008 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: We welcome you back now. I'm Rick Sanchez in the "CNN NEWSROOM."

There is new information coming in on this developing story that we're following for you out of Iowa, yet another fatality. We just heard there from the governor's office. Governor Culver announcing that a 50-year-old woman was just found dead. She was found in her home in Cedar Rapids.

By the way this is the first fatality from the flooding in Cedar Rapids. However, the total number of fatalities thus far as a result of this is 16. That's 16 people who died as a result of this severe weather.

Look at these pictures as we follow them for you. And as we get more information we're going to be sharing it with you. People living in Iowa say that this year's flooding is worse than the big flood they recall from 1993. That inundated 22 million acres. Government officials said it was the costliest most devastating flood in U.S. history and CNN was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CAPPS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The back breaking work of sandbagging flood prone areas has begun in Iowa. Already rising water from a swollen Mississippi River is making its way into neighborhood and downtown streets in Davenport. The National Guard has been called in to aid in sandbagging and most of eastern Iowa has been declared a disaster area because of the high water.

JUDY FORTIN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Record rainfall has forced the Mississippi over its banks causing the worst flooding since 1965. To date more than a dozen counties in Iowa alone have been declared disaster areas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my Mississippi. I'm not afraid of it. Got to respect it.

FORTIN: Some 100 businesses are underwater as residents anxiously wait for the river to crest. UNIDENTIFIED CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Already the damaged livestock and land and the crops that didn't grow or won't now will likely top $1 billion. It will be hard to tell until the water goes away.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: It is Davenport that suffered the most extensive urban damage, $100 million to date.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Floating down street by street in Missouri you can see the damage. The river crested once here at 28 feet and there is concern that there could be another crest which could bring them even more trouble.

PAT ETHERIDGE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Cleanup efforts are out of the question until the water recedes. So for now residents can do little more than watch, wait and worry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time we do this we think it is the last. But this is a reminder just how powerful Mother Nature is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Deja vu all over again. Let's talk dollars and cents now. This is issue number one. This flood is right in the middle of the nation's bread basket. It will hit you in the wallet.

Jeff Caldwell talks about the economic impact. He's news and features editor of agriculture.com. That's an online resource for farmers.

Thanks so much for being with us. What will we see as a result of this, you say?

JEFF CALDWELL, EDITOR, AGRICULTURE.COM: Thank you, Rick. My heart goes out to everybody who has been affected so hard -- harshly by this tragedy.

SANCHEZ: And those who may still be affected.

CALDWELL: Definitely. I wasn't around in the flood in '93 to see the sights, but the things we're seeing out there are believable, especially out in the country side. A lot of farmers, this is sort of the culmination of a perfect storm that have hit corn farmers this year. A lot of farmers are late getting their crops in the ground, if they have yet at all. Some are still waiting. Some aren't going to get that crop in. So we'll see a pretty substantial cut in the number of bushels we see coming out of the Corn Belt this fall.

SANCHEZ: We can expect that in the next, what, month, if we go to the store and get anything that is corn related -- and by the way, there is corn syrup in just about every single thing we touch in this country -- we'll start to see those prices go up?

CALDWELL: Not necessarily. As far as where we'll see the prices go up, it is actually probably going to be later on into this fall before we know just how many bushels we're going to be short as harvest comes in. Actually, surprisingly, to many people one place where we will see a -- or possibly see a rise in consumer prices is in the meat case. A vast amount of the corn that is raised in the Corn Belt goes toward feeding cattle and hogs. And so there is one place where we could possibly see a little bit higher prices.

But what is important to understand is these days, in the last year or so, we have seen a very big bullish force in the markets for the grains. And so now this is just going to kind of add to the bullishness that is in that business right now.

SANCHEZ: But when you look at this, you say, well, these floods haven't been taking place for a very long time, you would think. It is only a matter of weeks, that they would be able to somehow once the water goes down, kind of keep going. Why not? Why would this be so long lasting?

CALDWELL: A lot of the end users, meaning the food processors and the meat packers that will be the ones who are bearing the brunt of the -- paying the higher prices for some of these products, they are contracted well ahead. And so they won't see the price impact until later on. And so then...

SANCHEZ: Sounds like the way you're describing it, we're not familiar with this but you are. It is like a chain. You got to get -- you got to hit one date so you can hit the other date so you can move the merchandise across. And it sounds like what this is doing is -- it is throwing a wrench into this and that wrench will be felt in the bubble later on.

CALDWELL: Yes. And with the bullish forces that we have seen in the marketplace in the last few months, especially, you know, there was really not very much margin for error. And we really need a very large corn crop this year. It was expected to be smaller than last year because fewer acres were going to be planted this year anyway than last year. Last year was the largest crop we have seen in this country.

SANCHEZ: Looks like we won't get that large corn crop then?

CALDWELL: Not necessarily. Right now we're looking at possibly up to 20 percent loss in total bushels coming in this fall. That's as of now. We will see more numbers later on that could reflect an even larger shortage.

SANCHEZ: The numbers are still the story. Thank you so much Jeff Caldwell. Appreciate it.

CALDWELL: Thank you, Rick.

SANHEZ: 5.7 million-plus miles and back. Forget the map. This was a long haul. Miles O'Brien on the shuttle "Discovery's" touchdown next.

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SANCHEZ: We do welcome you back to the "CNN NEWSROOM". I'm Rick Sanchez.

We'll step away from our coverage of those floods in Iowa for just a moment to bring you the latest on the space station and its resident Garrett Riesman. He's feeling something he hasn't felt for 95 days, gravity. He hitched a ride home with "Discovery" and its crew today.

Our space correspondent, Miles O'Brien, reports on this mission.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a space shuttle mission that will be remembered for it high-flying effort to fix the international space station laboratory. They did that. But there was a lot more to this mission.

First of all, take a lack at the landing. Commander Mark Kelly at the controls of the space shuttle "Discovery," bringing the craft in for its 35th landing, the 123rd shuttle flight in the history of the program. They were at the international space station for two weeks, the seven-person crew.

The main part of the mission, in addition to fixing that space station potty, was to incorporate and add on a Japanese built laboratory called Kibo, a huge laboratory with tremendous capability, that greatly expands the scientific capability of the international space station.

How big is Kibo? Look at it. The scientific racks are not in it yet. It will be a little smaller when all that happens. But space station crew member Garrett Riesman gave us an idea of how big it is by floating in the middle and proving that in theory you could get stranded there and also showing swimming in space doesn't work very well at all.

Riesman was among the crew members who actually walked off the astronaut transport vehicle after the space shuttle "Discovery" landed. That's unusual. Usually space station crew members on board for a long time and been in weightlessness for quite a long time need to take a little more time lying down before they can get up and walk around. Usually it makes them dizzy. But he looked no worse for the wear and neither did the space shuttle "Discovery."

Next mission in October, a big one, the last Hubbell repair mission. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Miles O'Brian, nobody covers space better.

FDA investigators say they're narrowing down the grower or growers who might have supplied the salmonella-tainted tomatoes that's triggered a nationwide health alert, also some farms in parts of Florida and Mexico are considered the leading suspects, we should add. The majority of the tomatoes sold in April came from those two areas where the outbreaks began. So far some 228 people in 23 states have been sickened by tainted tomatoes.

When parents go to prison, their kids really do time as well. Today's "CNN hero" tries make that split a little less painful. It's an interesting story coming up. Stay with us.

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SANCHEZ: Often when a father or mother is sent to jail, children are, well, the innocent victims. They did nothing wrong, but they are left behind to suffer. This Father's Day weekend, I want you to meet a "CNN Hero," a woman who helped repair the bond between parent and child that prison sometimes takes away.

(CNN HERO)

SANCHEZ: It's a great way of going about it. Tell us how someone you know could be a hero. Go to cnn.com/heroes. Right now, if you know somebody who deserves to be a hero, we'll be happy to help to set them apart.

We all know how tough it is to lose weight and keep it off. Trust me. I know. We'll share that with you when we come back.

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SANCHEZ: Welcome back to "CNN NEWSROOM." I'm Rick Sanchez.

We all know how difficult it is to try to keep weight off, especially when you work on TV and this camera I'm looking at right now adds about 20, maybe 30 pounds. Everybody thinks when they see you in person, I thought you were bigger.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us about one of his colleagues, a fellow doctor, who found the incentive that he needed right before his own eyes.

(CNN FIT NATION)

SANCHEZ: Just a hang nail. He's kind of rubbing it in, isn't he?

Talk about a class act. Tributes pouring in for the late Tim Russert. We'll look at his impact on camera and off. What a great guy. Next on the "NEWSROOM."

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SANCHEZ: Two things tonight at 10:00 about Tim Russert. First, how does a guy die of a heart attack and not show any obvious symptoms? What does that say to us over 45? At 10:00, I'll have a doctor work me up so maybe together we can learn how to avoid something like this. By the way, I worked with Tim Russert. There's something special about Tim that I want to tell you about. And I will tonight at 10:00.

Right now I want you to hear from my colleague Joe Johns, who also worked with Tim at NBC.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, FORMER COLLEAGUE OF TIM RUSSERT: The first time I met Tim actually I was asking him to be a player on the local NBC basketball team. He laughed and said no. As I think back, he was much better suited to be a coach and what a coach he was. In a lot of ways Tim Russert was the defining figure in my career.

As the "NBC News" bureau chief, he basically took me out of local TV.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM RUSSERT, FORMER NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Joe?

JOHNS, Tim, Jim this is Rockville Pike.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: And put me into my first network news job covering Congress for the peacock back in 1993.

On top of that, while I was work for the "Today" show, I went to him with this crazy idea about going to law school, which any other news executive would have outright refused. Tim said why not? Go do it. It will be good for you. He was like that. If you wanted to take a chance that was going to involve a lot of hard work, he probably would say OK. He had his own incredible work ethic. He would come to work early in the morning, do the "Today Show," then back at night for "Nightly News" and it sort of set the standard. When the boss comes in early, works all day and goes on to do the evening news, it was hard for anyone to else to grumble about the long hours.

The other thing about Tim was his Boy Scout loyalty and sense of family. He was loyal to NBC. He once told me he had every intention of spending his life there.

He was also loyal to the people he worked with. When NBC anchor and correspondent, David Bloom, died suddenly in the Iraq war, Tim called me up and said, we have got to start an award in David's honor. So we pulled some strings, did some cajoling and twisted some arms with our colleagues on did some cajoling and twisted some arms with our colleague on capitol hill, and now there's a David Bloom Award given every year by the Radio-TV Correspondence Association.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Here to prevent the first David Bloom Award, our medically Bloom and Tim Russert of "NBC News."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: But probably the most important thing about Russert was that he was a role model, especially to broadcast journalists who cover politics. The rules were very simple -- be prepared, be polite, and always, always ask the tough questions.

Once after the Million Man March in Washington, Tim invited me to be on his interview show on CNBC. For some reason, I thought it was going to be a polite, academic discussion. Before I knew it, Tim had thrown in a couple zingers that frankly I didn't know how to answer. And he was so nice about it. And that's how I found out what it was like to be interviewed by Tim Russert.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Knife like a scalpel when it came to interviews.

Tim Russert, talk about a guy who's going to be missed.

I'm Rick Sanchez. "This Week in Politics" starts right now.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN HOST: America loves winners, the fastest, the richest, the...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard a noise and we ran around the house and the foundation of our home went down and under.

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RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: So many stories but really, you know, it is about the video and it is incredible to look at because it may be best tells the story of homes lost, towns flooded, evacuations that are going on as we speak. We are all over this disaster, this unbelievable historic flooding that is taking place right now in the Midwest.

Also, rarely are two politicians so divided on one single issue. John McCain and Barack Obama, we're going to tell you what that issue is.

And hello, again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. Let's try and get right to this because I think it's amazing when you consider what is going on in Iowa now. Catastrophic is the word that's being used and it is perfectly appropriate. It is flooding that has now spilled over in the capital city of Des Moines. Floodwaters have poured into the city overnight after a part of the levee ruptured there. Sound familiar?

National Guard troops tried but failed to build an earthen wall to keep the water contained. The story in Cedar Rapids is really just about utter devastation and we are going to be all over it.

Hundreds of city blocks remain under water. See the water, how it is flowing there? It is not just -- look at that. It is not water that is standing still. It is going some place and that's the problem. More than 20,000 people have fled to safe ground. The waters are going to be around for days to come, we're told. Despite everything you're seeing, people are being told to conserve water. Otherwise the city could run out of drinking water as well. To lesser agrees, flooding is being seen in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Minnesota. And states along the Mississippi, others could be next.

Economic losses are going to be in the billions of dollars, we're told. That includes crop losses amid the rising food prices. Now, let's start with the river in Cedar Rapids. It is crested, we're told, at something like 12 feet. And that's about 12 feet above the previous record level. Damage to the city is in the hundreds of millions of dollars already.

Live for us now from Cedar Rapids is Jim Acosta who has been following this. There he is in the thick of things. Jim, you know what I'm most curious about? If you could start us off by telling us because it is always easy to see the flooding like that in a small scale. How much of the city is actually being affected by this?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a huge part of the city, Rick. 1,200 city blocks according to city officials who just held a press conference a few moments ago, Rick. And the message from those city officials to people here in Cedar Rapids, the danger is not over yet. There is a lot of people getting out on to the roads, taking a look around. Officials are calling them gawkers. They're saying stay inside. If you're not supposed to be out on the roads, don't go out on the roads. This is why. As I'm rattling off some of the information about what is happening near Cedar Rapids, take a look at this image behind me.

This is the new rapids of Cedar Rapids, Rick. The water is flowing downstream, downriver. But it is heading through downtown and if you look behind me along some of these storefronts here in downtown Cedar Rapids, you can sort of make out along this brick wall behind me how the water has gone down and, Rick, as you mentioned just a few moments ago, the river did crest here. The river crested at 12 feet above the previous record which had stood in Cedar Rapids since 1929. So an 80-year-old record was smashed by this storm and by these floodwaters.

And as we look beyond the storefronts and to what is happening in downtown Cedar Rapids, you can see actually a local TV crew is now in the middle of downtown Cedar Rapids. We're not sure how they got there. And city officials were just parked there a few moments ago, getting an assessment as to what is going on inside this downtown because the entire downtown is without power. It is shut down at this point because of what is happening here.

And I can tell you that the catastrophic effects of this flood are already being tallied up, $375 million in damage, 25,000 to 50,000 residents who have been forced out of their homes, as you mentioned. The drinking water issue is critical at this point. They're urging people not to drink water. There is a shelter here in town in Cedar Rapids where people are being sheltered at this point. Those people there, they had to take showers out of water trucks because of how critical the water situation is. Some 10,000 people without power. And Rick, I'm standing very close by to the Quaker Oats plant, one of the grain silos here. It cracked open and spilled all of its grain, we're not sure if it was oats, into the Cedar River. That is a major problem for the people here in Cedar Rapids because that's a major employer in this area, Rick.

SANCHEZ: It's just amazing to look at the pictures. It is amazing to look behind you and see those waters -- talk about Cedar Rapids. Today it looks like rapids. There are rapids in the middle of the city. By the way, before we let you go, we're down to just a little bit of time. But where are the people?

ACOSTA: Well, hopefully the people are inside. We've seen some gawkers coming up and taking a look, taking a picture. They shouldn't be doing that right now. This area is under a severe thunderstorm and tornado warning at this point. So not a good idea. And Rick, you mentioned how these are the new Cedar Rapids. You're absolutely right. We have seen fish jumping behind us, trying to swim upstream. Unfortunately at this point, we don't know what upstream is, Rick.

SANCHEZ: That's amazing. I'll tell you, Jim Acosta, good job, man. Great reporting out there in the thick of things for us. We'll be checking back with you. Let us know if there's any news out there that we need to report right away.

By the way, Des Moines - there's a lot of cities that are being affected by this. It's not just Cedar Rapids. Des Moines is another place. Nothing like Cedar Rapids, we're told, but much of the Iowa capital is holding its breath nonetheless because some of what you see or just saw in Cedar Rapids could soon be taking place in Des Moines. Fingers crossed all over the state. Let's go Dan Simon. You see him there. Fill us in there, Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Rick. Fortunately not a Cedar Rapids situation here in Des Moines. But there was a levee breach this morning. I'm going to step out of the way. You can see what has happened here. You can see this water, it basically looks like a big lake there. What happened is there was a levee breach behind a high school. That high school significantly flooded. Also about a half a dozen businesses around there have taken in water.

And then on the right hand side of your screen, you see those sand mounds? That was sort of billed as a temporary levee, sand barrier that was put in. They thought that may keep the water in check. Unfortunately the water just went right through it, plowed right through it. And to the left of your screen, behind the water there are about 250 homes now under a mandatory evacuation. Police started knocking on doors in the neighborhood right at 4:00 in the morning, a very methodical evacuation. That neighborhood basically empty at this point. And crews also went in, they cut the power, basically as a safety precaution.

We know there is at least one shelter in the area that is open for these folks. The concern is that that water may keep progressing. But over the last several hours, we have been watching it very closely. And fortunately that water is not moving. It is basically staying still. So that neighborhood right now is dry, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Is it supposed to rise any more? And if so, what's the variant that would cause that?

SIMON: Well, crews have basically just been keeping a close eye on it. They really weren't sure how much force was going to come out of that broken levee. At this point, they believe it is basically going stay still. But still it is a precarious situation because the levee, they believe, may still have some weak spots. So there are other parts of this levee that could also give way and if that happens, you'll obviously see more flooding and perhaps more neighborhoods that could be at risk.

SANCHEZ: Dan Simon following the story there for us from Des Moines. Good job, Dan. We'll be continuing to check back with you as well.

Let's bring in Jacqui Jeras at this point. Because if you're like me and watching this at home, you're probably wondering, OK he showed me a little bit of Des Moines and he showed me a little bit of Cedar Rapids, but really how vast is this? How much of the state or even neighboring states are affected by this flooding that meteorologists like Jacqui Jeras are calling historic? Why?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. This happens once every 500 years maybe, Rick. This is really unprecedented. And the floods of '93, everybody heard about the floods of '93. This is worse than that.

Now a lot of the reason why some parts of Des Moines are faring better this time around for example is because the levee system has changed and they planned for this so that things don't get worse and also so that they protect their water work system which has been saved thus far. The river has crested in Des Moines, so that's the good news there. But when you get a little levee breach or if any additional breaches happen, then that kind of is a whole new ball game and you're talking about other areas that may be normally wouldn't have been flooded.

And then the other concern that you deal with is how much more rainfall are we going to get? And here you can see, we've got a severe thunderstorm watch in effect across the southeastern quadrant of Iowa. And when you get real heavy thunderstorms like this that we've been tracking north of I-80 for awhile, that's been putting down an inch to an inch and a quarter per hour, you say is this going to aggravate the flood situation?

Well we think that these cells are pretty isolated. So we don't think it is going to add any aggravation. And when we talk about the flood forecast, we're expecting to crest, how long we're expecting to stay in flood, it takes within account rainfall 24 hours into the forecast period. And beyond 24 hours out, we're not anticipating any additional rain. So once we get through today and the good rest of tomorrow afternoon, we think much dryer weather will be in the forecast here. Now, how widespread this is. I only -- there are 8,000 river and stream gauges. If you go to USGS by the way and you want to do this yourself, you can find this information. Just do a Google for it and you'll find it. We put it on our Google map and we only put in the stages that are in major moderate flood. All these purple dots, that's major flood, Rick. So look at that, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, we even seen stuff up there in Minnesota.

We want to zoom in now to another city we have been talking about a lot over the last couple of days and this is Iowa City. And there you see your purple dot right along the Iowa River. And this river here not crested just yet.

We have got some pictures to show you from one of our i- Reporters. A big thanks to Carly Kanipe for sending these in. She said she took them yesterday afternoon. She lives there in Iowa City. She's up on a hill so Carly is OK. But she said it is so sad to see a town she loves so much inundated by the floodwaters. Said it is very heart breaking. She said it is impossible to drive around the area but she has been able to take some of these pictures and of course staying safe as she does so. So thanks to Carly.

This is a record crest here expected in Iowa City. It is already beyond the record from '93, expected to go off two feet over the next three days. And so, Rick, even when these rivers begin to crest and start to recede, we're talking about them staying outside of their banks for probably a week from now. So that's a very long time to have a lot of standing water all over the place.

SANCHEZ: So stay with that map if you can that you have behind you right there. Are you telling me that all those dots you have, all those little purple things, whatever they are, those are all flooding?

JERAS: Those are all river gauges. Some of them are along the same river. For example, if we can zoom in - hey Sarah, if you can go to the Missouri one, this will kind of give a good example. I put a little bookmark on there. And this is what we're expecting in the future, Rick.

OK, so here is Keokuk, Iowa. Here is St. Louis, Missouri. And this is all along the Mississippi River. So these are where the USGS and the Army Corps of Engineers and other folks have their gauges where they measure what the levels of the river are all the way along. And so some of them are going to be in major flood. Some of them are going to be in moderate flood. And we think it's going to stop just short of the St. Louis metro area, what we consider a major flood.

SANCHEZ: But there is no way to know. It is really just wait and see.

JERAS: Well, you kind of wait and see. Of course you happen to see what is going on upstream and you also do things like put up your floodgates, try and help the situation. You control your levee and your dam flow as well.

Right now most of the dams are just wide open, letting the water through. But this is a rain event. This is river rain flooding and so since we're not anticipating any additional flooding, we don't think that it will continue to be at these record levels as it goes downstream. You know, the farther south that you go, we're running into some drier conditions where the ground is a little bit more capable of absorbing some of that water as it comes down and runs off.

SANCHEZ: Makes sense. I'll tell you, I can only imagine folks in that area who are listening to every single word as we bring this information to you. And we can only hope and pray that things will start to settle down. These are people's lives that are being affected and thousands and thousands of people who are having to leave their homes and hoping that when they go back, they'll be able to put it back together again.

What we're going to do is we're going to stay on top of this, obviously. And Jacqui, we'll be going back to you. If there are any updates, let us know throughout this hour. In fact, throughout the rest of the weekend. This will going to be really priority number one for us to get you through this.

Now after seeing all of this, we know that you probably are thinking, man, I've got to help those folks out. And if you want to, you can find out how you can impact your world at CNN.com. That's the site -- that's what we call it and that's the site we have set up that you can go to. If you want to help, just go to CNN.com/impact. You've seen what the flooding has done to people and property in the Midwest. But the effects of this disaster could hit you no matter where you live. We're going to explain that in a minute. It is about the economy, of course.

Also, Obama, McCain and the big issue that is right now dividing them big time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. There he is, Barack Obama. Talk about a guy who needs to patch this some things up. He's reaching out to Hillary Clinton supporters. Senator Obama returned to Pennsylvania today. Remember that was a critical battleground state that he did not do well in at all, losing to Senator Clinton big time in the Democratic primary there. Working class vote, a major reason for Mrs. Clinton's victory there.

At a town hall meeting in the Philadelphia suburb of Wayne, Obama focused on the economy, proposing a thousand dollar tax cut for families.

By the way, Senator John McCain is speaking out about several hot topics in a one on one interview with our own Dana Bash. Dana asked him about Thursday's Supreme Court decision that allows detainees at Guantanamo Bay the right to challenge any charges that are brought against them in federal court.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Regardless of what you think about the decision, the reality is now there's a legal mess.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes.

BASH: So -- and it's going to be in the last lap of the next president.

If you are president, what next? What do you do?

MCCAIN: I think maybe legislation, working with the Congress, which would define more narrowly the habeas corpus rights of people who we have detained. It's very broad right now. At least try to provide some definition of that so we're not ending up in endless lawsuits.

Already, the detainees have brought suit on diet, on reading material, on all kinds of other things that are certainly not central to what we have detained them for. So I would hope that we could at least do that.

BASH: A little politics now. Barack Obama said recently, "Lay off my wife." He said that, and he also -- his campaign also just yesterday launched a Web site to combat what they call smears, and it was in large part about things that they heard said about Michelle Obama.

Where do you think the line should are drawn on your wives? What's in? What's out?

MCCAIN: I think every candidate's wife should be treated with respect. And if there's any disrespectful conduct on the part of anyone, those people should be rejected, and immediately.

And I have the greatest respect for both Senator and Michelle Obama. I've never met her, Mrs. Obama. She's a talented and very effective person, and I admire both of them.

We have stark differences of views, but anyone who treats any of the candidates' wives, or them, frankly, with disrespect, Americans want us to have a much more respectful campaign than the kinds they've been seeing recently.

BASH: It was hard to turn on the TV this week without seeing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid raising unprompted questions about your temper. And I want to read you a quote.

He said, "McCain doesn't have the temperament to be president of the United States. Everyone who's ever worked with John McCain knows of his temper. It's explosive, to say the least."

This is a man obviously who's a senior Democrat in the Senate, but he's -- you've known him for 26 years, since you first came to the House together. What's your reaction?

MCCAIN: Well, all I can say is I have a record. I have a record of reaching across the aisle and working with Ted Kennedy, Russ Feingold, Byron Dorgan. The list goes on and on -- Carl Levin -- of all the legislative accomplishments that I've achieved.

People know me. The campaigns -- they're throughout this campaign.

BASH: You think this is a liability, this whole question of your temper?

MCCAIN: Frankly, I hadn't heard it recently, until he raised it again. But that -- Americans care about how you're going to lead this country. They care about the gas prices. They care about health care. They care about all of those issues that are important to their future.

That's what we're going to be debating.

BASH: I won't ask if it makes you angry.

(LAUGHTER)

MCCAIN: Yes. It makes me angry to hear him say that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: By the way, you heard what John McCain said about the Supreme Court's Gitmo decision. He's essentially telling members of the media that he thinks a huge mistake for them to make that decision. It was 5-4. Barack Obama has a different perspective on this. He was asked about the very same thing. In fact, it is very different. Listen to what Barack Obama has to say about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: You remember during the Nuremberg trials, part of what made us different was even after these Nazis had performed atrocities that no one had ever seen before, we still gave them a day in court. And that taught the entire world about who we are, but also the basic principles of rule of law. Now the Supreme Court upheld that principle yesterday. John McCain thinks the Supreme Court was wrong. I think the Supreme Court was right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: There you go. Joining us now, Amanda Carpenter from TownHall.com and Morra Aarons from blogher.com. And by the way, that's blogher, not blogger. H-E-R, that's pretty cool.

Guys, thanks for joining us. Who's right? John McCain says this is a huge mistake for the Supreme Court. Barack Obama says no, we have to uphold the laws even if it is ugly. Who's right?

MORRA AARONS, BLOGHER.COM: Obama's right.

SANCHEZ: Go ahead.

AARONS: Amanda, I'll let you go and explain yourself. AMANDA CARPENTER, TOWNHALL.COM: OK, sure. Well naturally I would say I think John McCain is the on the right side of this issue. He has a very reasonable position when it comes to this. He's taken a tough stance on torture. He wants to close Guantanamo Bay, but he's drawn the line at giving them a day in court like this.

Look at the hearings that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad had just a few weeks ago. It essentially turned into a circus. They were allowed to chant, consult with each other, other former terrorists. These are guys that admitted to the crimes of 9/11, said they wanted to become martyrs and were given this national stage to promote their message. So I'm with John McCain on this. It can't get to this point.

SANCHEZ: Morra?

AARONS: It is not about a national stage. It is about the right to be heard and if we don't hold up the standard in our country, what will we expect other people to do when we're on the other side of the fence? This is a tradition. I think it is a real American issue of justice and honor. I'm absolutely on Obama's side here.

SANCHEZ: It cuts across the board, in other words. You think that even this if these guys are horrible human beings, they still need to be proven to be horrible human beings. We can't go on a hunch?

AARONS: We can't go on a witch hunt. Even at Nuremberg, we heard them and we have to hear these people. Otherwise, what do we expect people to do with us if God forbid we're held in other countries.

SANCHEZ: All right you know guys, stick around, because there is something else I want to talk to you about and it has to do with something that happened with Barack Obama and a poll this week. He desperately needs to get Hillary Clinton's voters back on his side because apparently there has been some real problems there. How does he do that? And there is a new poll out that says he may or may not be winning. We'll break that down, the Hispanic vote and also blue collar workers. All of them are out. We'll share them with you. Stay with us, we'll be right back.

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SANCHEZ: We welcome back Morra Aarons and Amanda Carpenter. Guys, let's start with this. There are a couple of new polls out. First of all, I want to show you the horse race. The overall between Barack Obama and John McCain. There's where it stands as of June 6th and 9th. Obviously there is a fraction of error on this. Obama's at 47. McCain is at 41. Not a sizable lead, but a lead nonetheless.

But there is something else I want to show you now. Hey guys, let's switch to the women poll that shows how women are turning out. At this point, it is 52 Barack Obama, 33 for John McCain.

Amanda, can John McCain win the election if he doesn't get the women over to his side as other Republicans have done in the past? CARPENTER: Sure. I don't believe in having to target market each demographic of the general electorate but sure, John McCain does need to capture a large portion of the women's vote primarily because they represent more than half of the population. But a message that is going to win the women's vote is going to be a message that wins any other kind of vote, you know, trust, experience.

SANCHEZ: Before we go to the message, you say you can't look at these things and break them down, but I got to tell you, it is hard to look for a place for -- where John McCain is doing well right now with the exception of white men.

Let's look at Hispanics, for example. Something that Republicans have not won but at least evened out in the past -- 62-28. That's a big nut.

Let's look at blue collar workers now. That's another one that is somewhat surprising. Blue collar workers tend to relate to themselves as Republicans and conservative, not liberal Democrats. Barack Obama winning here. Amanda, to you.

CARPENTER: Well, sure. There is going to be a lot that's going to shake out once we see the contrast between John McCain and Barack Obama one on one. Barack Obama largely is gaining national prominence almost as positioning himself as kind of a blue dog Democrat. But now we know who is the most liberal Democrat in the Senate. His record shows that. So I think the contrast will be strong and they might come back home.

SANCHEZ: Go to you, Morra.

AARONS: I absolutely have to say when John McCain's economic plan favors the wealthy, just as George Bush's did, when John McCain's voting record in 2008 is identical to what George Bush would have voted, John McCain has positioned himself as a moderate now that he's in the general election.

Let's go back to the primary. John McCain is a conservative. He's George Bush II and he's not going to win over these demographics. He's not going to win over women once more women find out the truth, that he's anti-choice, he would approve of overturning Roe v. Wade. We have a lot of education to do and I think then we're going to see this split become even bigger.

SANCHEZ: Well what does it say about all the women? And we're down to 20 seconds, but what does it say about all those people who said Hillary's supporters will never support Barack Obama.

AARONS: That's media spin.

CARPENTER: No there's a Wisconsin delegate today that got stripped of her convention vote because she said that she would not support Barack Obama. Her name is Debra Bartoshevich and she got stripped of her delegate seat because now she's going to vote John McCain based on national security issue.

AARONS: That's one delegate.

SANCHEEZ: Well, we'll see how it turns out. Right now he's got a lead. Doesn't mean he's going to hold it. Certainly on the Hispanic vote, that was sizable. I mean, 62-28, that's a big nut. Guys, thanks so much. Excellent conversation. We'll keep doing it.

People chased out of their homes, property damage, lives turned upside down. You've seen some of these pictures that we've been showing you. We're going to stay on top of this. What you haven't seen, by the way, is how all of this -- look at that, how all of this is going to affect you and me the next time we go to the grocery store. Stay with us. Back in two.

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