Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Saudis to Increase Oil Production?; 'Preston on Politics'; Pregnancy Pact Rocks Massachusetts Town

Aired June 22, 2008 - 22:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALI AL-NIAMI, SAUDI ARABIAN OIL MINISTER (through translator): If I were in the business of guessing what prices are going to be, I would be in Las Vegas.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Speculating about oil, making some people rich, driving the rest of us closer to the poor house. Could relief at your gas pump come from half a world away? From Saudi Arabia?

And while your bank account's fate is being debated overseas, you've only got to cross one border for cheaper gas. How would you feel about driving to Mexico for a fill up?

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Take our energy, our passion, our strength, and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama.

LEMON: She said she would. Now Hillary Clinton is set to make good on her promise to back Barack Obama. Will this week see the debut of a new campaign odd couple? I'll ask Mark Preston tonight. It's "Preston on Politics."

And it's a topic everyone is going to be talking about at work tomorrow. A group of high school girls make a pregnancy pact, a promise to raise their babies together. We'll talk to a group of girls who have been there, done that. You may want to get your teenagers in the room for this conversation.

Tonight, in the NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And good evening, everyone. I'm Don Lemon in tonight for Rick Sanchez.

First tonight, we have new developments on a story that has thrust a small Massachusetts town into a very negative light. Seventeen girls, 17 pregnant at one school in the same year. After a weekend that saw this story make headlines nationwide, the mayor of Gloucester plans to speak to reporters tomorrow following a meeting with the school officials. She is demanding answers about the principal's comments that these girls made a so-called pregnancy pact, a pact to get pregnant. Now by the way, 17 is the four-time increase in the number of pregnancies the school usually sees within a year. So many unanswered questions. For starters, why would girls so young want to have a baby in the first place? And should the school system, the media, or society shoulder any of the responsibility for what happened?

We have got a group of young ladies here with me tonight to talk about their own experiences as pregnant teens.

But first, the story from Gloucester from CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): High school is hard enough. So why would a group of girls from Gloucester, Massachusetts, a fishing village outside Boston, choose to get pregnant? In all, 17 girls are having babies, some as young as 15. Not one of them is married.

SUPT. CHRISTOPHER FARMER, GLOUCESTER SCHOOL DISTRICT: It's profoundly disturbing.

KAYE: High school administrators are reeling after learning there may have been some sort of pregnancy pact. Even more shocking, the superintendent believes at least one girl had sex with a 24-year- old homeless man just to be part of the group. The pact is so secretive, we couldn't even find out the girls' names.

This man told us the girls tried to convince his stepdaughter to get pregnant, too.

TED SORENSON, STEPFATHER OF GLOUCESTER TEEN: There was a tremendous amount of peer pressure -- negative peer pressure for as many girls as possible to join in this pact. And luckily my stepdaughter was smart enough or scared enough to say no.

KAYE (on camera): School officials first began to take notice last October when so many girls started showing up at the nurse's office to find out if they were pregnant. The nurse reportedly gave as many as 150 pregnancy tests. The superintendent says the girls went back over and over until they got the results they wanted.

FARMER: There's some talk of high fives and that kind of thing.

KAYE (voice-over): Amanda Ireland, who just graduated from Gloucester High, had a baby her freshman year. She knows one of the girls in the alleged pregnancy pact.

AMANDA IRELAND, GLOUCESTER H.S. GRADUATE: I asked her if she was keeping the baby, and she said yes.

KAYE: The superintendent says a handful of the girls have already delivered. Ireland can't understand why anyone would choose to get pregnant so young.

IRELAND: It's definitely not all peaches and cream. KAYE: The superintendent says the men who fathered the children are not students. They're older, in their 20s. If the girls agree to name them, he says, they could face statutory rape charges.

And there's more. The school's doctor has resigned after coming under fire for handing out contraceptives. It's against district policy.

DR. BRIAN ORR, CLINIC MEDICAL DIRECTOR: We were on our way to trying to do things that any parent, any adult, any community would want, decreasing the initiation of having sex and decreasing the number of sexual partners.

KAYE: Also sex education is only taught freshman year.

(on camera): Why isn't it offered beyond that?

FARMER: Well, we are very poorly funded by the state of Massachusetts.

KAYE (voice-over): Plus, with the economy so weak here, and parents scrambling to make money. This mother of five says children may not be getting enough attention at home.

SHEILA HORGAN, GLOUCESTER RESIDENT: I think that parents are so busy trying to make money to survive that in this economy, that they're not focused on their children.

KAYE: Others blame Hollywood movies like "Juno" that glamorous teen pregnancy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "JUNO")

J.K. SIMMONS, ACTOR: You're pregnant?

ELLEN PAGE, ACTOR: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And if it is any consolation, I have heartburn that is radiating my kneecaps, and...

ALLISON JANNEY, ACTOR: I didn't even know you were sexually active.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HORGAN: It ruins their wholes lives, it affects these children. Who is going to take care of these children? Who is going to be responsible for these children for the rest of their lives?

KAYE: It's a question many here wish the girls in the pregnancy pact had asked themselves nine months ago.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Gloucester, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Really just an outrageous story. And just for the record, we spoke with "TIME" magazine tonight. "TIME" originally quoted the town's principal as saying the girls made a pact with each other. The magazine says it stands by its reporting. "TIME" is a division of Time Warner, CNN's parent company.

So why would these girls want to have children? We've got three young ladies here who may have an idea. Scarlett Wolf on the left, Ashley Buffington in the middle, and La'Deshia Boyd on your right.

Thanks for joining us tonight. What do you think about that story when you hear there was a possible pregnancy pact, 17 girls in one high school -- Scarlett?

SCARLETT WOLF, HAD CHILD AS A TEEN: It was shocking. I immediately turned to my mom and I just said, I wish they knew what it would be like. It's not easy. And they can only know the struggles going into it. They are not going to be able to be 17 years old anymore or 16 years old. They are immediately taking another life into their hands.

LEMON: Ashley?

ASHELY BUFFINGTON, HAD CHILD AS A TEEN: Gosh, when I heard about it, I was like, are you serious? Like, who would want to get pregnant? Who would want to give their life up? It's crazy. I'm like, wow. Only if I can talk to them.

LEMON: La'Deshia?

LA'DESHIA BOYD, HAD CHILD AS A TEEN: I was amazed that they were trying to doing it together. Why would you want to get pregnant in a group and all of you all be pregnant at the same time? And that's just disgusting.

LEMON: Yes. Thanks to all of you. More of your stories -- very personal stories in just a moment right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. You don't want to miss this. We have got much more coming up. And you won't believe these young girls' story.

Hey, they are just the lyrics of a song, right? But this pop star seems to live the words she writes and she performs. Now we're told she is seriously ill. What's the deal with Amy Winehouse? So much talent, so much potential, and in just a short time, we've watched her unravel, just fall apart. Her addictions, her excesses, are they killing her? Her father says so and we'll ask a doctor about that in just a few minutes. You don't want to miss that one either.

Your price at the pump. Will the pain ever end? Coming up, some help on gas prices may be on the way from an unlikely source, Saudi Arabia. Will it do any good?

And we're not done with this pregnancy pact story yet. We'll hear some of the very personal stories from our panel of what it's really like to be a teenage mother.

And it is the summer travel season, we'll show you where the flights are backed up. Your flight tracker is later on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. So tonight, we're talking about teenage girls who get pregnant on the heels of a shocking story out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The mayor of the town plans to address the media tomorrow about why 17 girls in one school got pregnant in the same year and a report that some of the girls may have had a pact with each other to have children together. Three young ladies who may help shed some light on this problem are here, Scarlett Wolf, Ashley Buffington, and La'Deshia Boyd.

Thank you all for joining us again. I see you brought your little girl, Kyla (ph), with you. How old is Kyla?

WOLF: Four.

LEMON: Four years old. Tell us about -- you know, some young ladies may be watching this, saying, you know, I think it's cool to have a child and you hear about this pact and some people may not see anything wrong with it. But what do you say to someone in high school?

WOLF: I was 17 when I got pregnant with her, had her at 18. And I went into it thinking I was completely prepared. And come to find out, I wasn't at all. And if I didn't have the support of my mother there with me, we probably wouldn't have made it the way we have made it.

The hardest thing is you have to put them before yourself. You know, you have got this little person to take care of now and you can't be the age that you want to be or see what your friends are doing and go and do what they want to do. You've got to put this one before you now and that is really tough.

LEMON: And you're very lucky because your mom is with you tonight, I saw her in our green room, and I asked her to bring your little girl over. Kyla is her name. But in high school, kids may not have the wherewithal to even know that, Ashley, when you're thinking about having a child. Some people may think it's kind of cute but it's not at all.

BUFFINGTON: It's not at all. It's not cute at all, especially when people tell you, hey, you can do this, you can do that. We're doing it. We're doing it. And when we all do it, you end up being pregnant and everybody looking down at you, oh, yes, she's pregnant, you know she did it, oh, I ain't doing that, I ain't doing -- she's pregnant. And you ain't got no friends because they are not helping you or they say that they are going to help you and they are not.

LEMON: What is -- has having a child at such a young age -- and I'm sure it has, it has stopped you from doing things, many things you're probably -- the things you wanted to accomplish. Talk to me about that.

BUFFINGTON: Like, I wanted to go into the Job Corps, but I ended up graduating from high school, that's even better. Like, I can't hang out with my friends, like she said, you can't put yourself -- you've got to put your baby before yourself. You can't buy the shoes, get your hair done, get your nails done, none of that.

LEMON: La'Deshia, it seems like if kids are thinking -- 17 girls and probably more thinking, you know, they are going to have kids, they don't realize the compromises you have to make. When I was in school, and even before, not that this is new and not that it's the end of the world when you have a child, but people don't realize that, you know, what you have to do in order to have a child and at that age, you don't realize what you're missing.

BOYD: You have to get up early in the morning and 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning to feed the baby, change the baby, then you have to wake up again, 6:00 or 7:00 to get ready to go to school.

My son -- I was part of the child (INAUDIBLE) program and so I had a lot of help, a lot of support with my family and everything. So it wasn't easy. It's not easy now. I'm 24 and I work, I have been on my job for seven years now. But I wouldn't tell none of these girls to go out and have babies, get pregnant, especially not in school.

Like she said, you can't go to clubs, you can't do none of the things that your friends are out doing because you're at home with your baby.

LEMON: Yes. And, Scarlett, you're a child with a child, basically.

WOLF: Yes.

LEMON: What do you say to these girls? I mean, if you could sit them down face-to-face and talk to them, what would you say to them?

WOLF: First, I really wish you guys waited. You just need to sit down with your parents and go over the options and really decide if this is what you want to go full throttle into. It's a little person. It's not a doll. And you really have to sit there and take care of that kid, give them all the love that you can give them.

Don't take it as just it's going to be full bliss. It's going to be the toughest decision that you'll ever make in your entire life and it's going to be the biggest job responsibility that you have to take care of.

LEMON: And I know teen -- I have teen mothers in my family, and most of them will say, while I love my child, if I had to do it all over again...

WOLF: I would have waited.

LEMON: ... I would have made a different decision.

WOLF: I would have waited.

LEMON: Yes.

WOLF: I definitely don't regret her, but if I knew what was really in store then, I would have -- really have waited.

BOYD: Yes. They should wait until they are more stable and able to take care of a child with like jobs and education. If you're not fully educated, how can you educate your child to be a better person? You need to teach your child to be better than you. If you're not educated and you can't finish school, then, you know, I don't understand.

LEMON: Ashley, I'm going to give you the last word because I know you work with young mothers and with a program here in Atlanta. What do you say?

BUFFINGTON: I will tell them to wait, like she said. Wait because it's not just one job. It's 24/7. You're not coming home, 24/7. I work and I've got to come home and tend to my child.

LEMON: Across the board, though, you guys were like, what, when you heard this, right?

ALL: Yes.

BUFFINGTON: I was like, wow.

LEMON: Yes. Good luck to all of you and thank you so much for coming in.

WOLF: Thank you.

BUFFINGTON: You're welcome.

BOYD: Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you.

And we have a quick reminder for you, the mayor of Gloucester plans to meet with school administrators, do that tomorrow and hold a news conference. Kyra Phillips and I will be covering that for you beginning tomorrow in the NEWSROOM beginning at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. You don't want to miss it. We'll have all of the new developments on that.

LEMON: And coming up in the NEWSROOM tonight, the push is on to increase offshore drilling. Democrats say one thing, Republicans say another. We have got the facts you haven't heard yet.

And the newest political odd couple is expected to premier this week. Hillary Clinton campaigning on behalf of Barack Obama, should we expect any fireworks? We'll ask our political editor Mark Preston in this week's "Preston on Politics."

And then this story. She is as famous for her vice as she is for her voice. Amy Winehouse's health scare, her father opens up about the singer's crack cocaine habit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Making more to cost you less. Saudi Arabia is giving Americans hope tonight that cheaper gas may soon be on the way. It's one thing impacting each and every one of us tonight. AAA says we are paying about $4.07 a gallon for gas. The Lundberg Survey puts it at almost $4.10.

But a meeting halfway around the world could come home to help us here at the pump. The largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, says it will increase oil production next month to 9.7 million barrels a day. The kingdom hasn't produced that much oil since 1981. Some experts are already weighing in, saying they thought Saudi Arabia would do more, which begs the question, how much relief will this move really offer?

CNN's Wilf Dinnick went after the answers for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILF DINNICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The king of Saudi Arabia is promising the world more oil. The kingdom will boost production to levels not seen here in more than 25 years. An adviser to Saudi's oil minister says that should ease demand.

IBRAHIM AL-MUHANNA, SAUDI OIL MINISTER ADVISER: And none of them asking for more -- or if they do ask for more in the future, we will be happy to have more oil in the market.

DINNICK: To do that, Saudi Arabia will invest in its refineries and new oil fields to be able to pump even more oil in the following year. All of the parties at this conference agreed there must be more investment in the oil industry around the world.

William Ramsay leads a watchdog group that represents many Western nations, including the United States.

WILLIAM C. RAMSAY, INTL. ENERGY AGENCY: It may not help at the pumps tomorrow or the next day, the intent is to begin mobilizing enough of an effort -- enough of a consensus effort and a common effort that we begin dealing with the underlying issues, begin to fix those in the short term, medium term, we can get around some of this and we can see prices back to some kind of a reasonable level.

DINNICK: Those issues (AUDIO GAP) to investigate those traitors in the oil markets, buying and selling, accused of trying to earn a quick buck and sending up prices, or whether to invest in more alternative energy, like wind and solar power.

(on camera): All of the participants at this conference created a working document, things that can be done by all members to help bring down the price of oil. But no list of priorities, things to tackle first. So concerns are just how effective that document will actually be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What they are going to do is clearly try and put together a working group. And they're going to hope that that bridges some of the gap. But I have to say, coming out of this meeting, while that isn't impossible, there is certainly some work to be done still.

DINNICK (voice-over): And no one at this conference would say just when all of this might bring down the price of oil.

AL-NIAMI (through translator): I'm going to repeat this again. If I were in the business of guessing what prices are going to be, I would be in Las Vegas. Thank you very much.

DINNICK: A follow-up meeting in London is being set for this October, a chance to see whether any of the recommendations from this conference are being put to use.

Wilf Dinnick, CNN, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And Saudi Arabia's announcement follows a week of bitter wrangling in Washington over the prospect of offshore drilling. It's banned right now in the outer continental shelf off the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines. In an election year debate, Republicans say it's time to lift the ban. Democrats strongly oppose that idea. President Bush is also weighing in. His favorite word this week, "expand."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We should expand American oil production by increasing access to the outer continental shelf. We should expand oil production by tapping into the extraordinary expansion of oil shale. We should expand oil production by permitting exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR.

We need to expand and enhance our refining capacity. I know that Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past. Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, so while Republicans say it's time to look for more oil off the East and West coasts, where drilling by and large has been banned for 26 years, congressional Democrats strongly disagree. But there's a back story to all of this.

And CNN's Tony Harris put together some facts for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): As gas prices go up, our thoughts reel back to moments no one wants to repeat in American history.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The next president must be willing to break with the energy policies not just of the current administration but the administrations that preceded it. SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that's another example of where John McCain has taken the politically expedient way out. He had it right the first time.

HARRIS: And with that, political lines were drawn -- or better put, redrawn. McCain, reversing his position on offshore drilling from the 2000 campaign. But the politics here aren't the only thing that's complicated. Here's what you need to know that no one else is saying. These figures?

BUSH: Experts believe that the OCS could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil. That would be enough to match America's current oil production for almost 10 years.

HARRIS: The government's Mineral Management Service says those figures are based on data collected before offshore drilling was banned 26 years ago in the Atlantic and Pacific, or what's called outer continental shelf, banned by a 1981 law and a 1990 executive order signed by George H.W. Bush.

Oil companies shelved their exploration efforts way back then because they couldn't drill. Here's what else we found. Right now there are 7,457 offshore drilling leases issued, primarily in the Gulf of Mexico. Of those, 1,877 are producing oil. We're told exploration and testing are under way at the others.

But look for activity about 50 miles off the coast of Florida soon, and U.S. oil companies won't be doing the drilling. Cuba is reportedly in negotiations with China and Venezuela President Hugo Chavez to start drilling about 25 miles off the communist country's coast, technically that's the OCS. It extends 200 miles off the U.S. shore. But in this case, the international waters overlap, creating what is viewed as a neutral zone.

Maybe that's why Florida's governor flip-flopped his views this week, long known to oppose offshore drilling, here's something we haven't heard from Charlie Crist until now.

GOV. CHARLES CRIST (R), FLORIDA: Floridians are suffering. And you know, when you're paying over $4 a gallon for gas, you have to wonder if there might be additional resources that we would be able to utilize to bring that price down. Simple supply and demand.

HARRIS: Tony Harris, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Well, forget about the jockeying over leases and drilling here, oil companies all around the world are courting Iraq tonight as that country gets ready to pass new laws governing contracts and oil are revenue. Talks resume in Baghdad this week. "The New York Times" has reported that Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil are among the major companies close to signing deals, along with Chevron and some smaller companies.

Coming up here tonight in the NEWSROOM, Barack Obama's decision to opt of public financing has set off a political storm. But would John McCain do the same if he had the same fundraising success? We'll ask our political editor Mark Preston in tonight's "Preston on Politics."

And one of the baddest of the music industry's bad girls back in the headlines. The question is, how bad are you once your parents are talking about your crack cocaine use?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING, "REHAB")

LEMON: What a talented young lady, very talented and is really right on everyone's lips, everyone loves her songs. But we're talking tonight about talent and tragedy, the curse of dangerous drugs, and the torment an excessive lifestyle has brought to a Grammy-winning British pop star.

Amy Winehouse then, healthy, vibrant, belting out her soulful, jazzy songs of pain and loss in love. Take a look at Amy Winehouse now. Her well-documented drug abuse, including crack cocaine, look at the toll it has taken on her body, on her face, and now we hear that her health has taken a turn. Dr. Momen Wahidi is with us from Raleigh, North Carolina. He is considered the leading lung specialist at Duke University's School of Medicine.

Thank you very much for joining us tonight, Doctor.

DR. MOMEN WAHIDI, DUKE UNIV. SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Thank you for having me.

LEMON: Twenty-four years old and we're hearing from her father that she has emphysema. He's saying this. He is also saying it has to do with her drug use and abuse of cigarettes. How uncommon is it for a 24-year-old to develop this?

WAHIDI: I think this would be very uncommon. We typically see emphysema in older patients who smoke for a very long time.

LEMON: Who have smoked for a long time. But in a 24-year-old, now we don't want to speculate about Amy Winehouse, but she has been in the news a lot. It's confirmed that she has been to rehab. There was also video of her using some substance. She had to go to court for it. But when you look at drug use and this sort of thing, can it compound this problem? Do you see this sort of problem in users -- in drug users, especially cocaine and that sort of thing?

WAHIDI: Sure. I would say the majority of emphysema patients are smokers. There are a small percentage of patients that have some genetic diseases that may predispose them emphysema.

But in drug abuse, in people who abuse smoke or inhaled drugs, you can see some lung damage, damage to the airways and the air sacs, what we call airway obstruction in a fashion similar to emphysema, not truly emphysema, but what we call airway obstruction, especially if there's tobacco abuse on top of potentially marijuana or cocaine smoking.

LEMON: OK. So when you look at a 24-year-old, 70 percent lung capacity, what's the concern here? How concerned should she be, her family, her loved ones?

WAHIDI: Well, certainly this should raise a lot of alarm. She's pretty young. She already is showing some signs of lung damage. It appears to be mild. We obviously don't have the data, but certainly it's time to stop smoking or other things that she may be doing, we don't know.

But certainly some of the lung damage caused by smoke and drug is not reversible. So certainly there are some medications and lifestyle modifications that can improve lung functions.

LEMON: You put it into perspective for us, Dr. Momen Wahidi of the Raleigh -- with us from Raleigh, North Carolina. We appreciate you joining us tonight. Have a great rest of the weekend, sir.

WAHIDI: Thank you.

LEMON: All right. And coming up tonight here in the CNN NEWSROOM, we all know gas is expensive, but would you drive to Mexico to save a buck? A lot of people are doing just that.

Also, this is going to be very interesting, "Preston on Politics." Public campaign funding, Clinton campaigning with Obama, and much, much more. That's just the beginning. I'll talk with CNN political editor Mark Preston.

Hello, Mark. We'll see you after the break.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Great, Don.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's talk some politics, shall we? Barack Obama has been telling his supporters that Republicans will try to play on voters' racial fears. And a news "Washington Post"/ABC News poll suggests race continues to be an issue for many Americans. It shows about half of white Americans say race relations are in good shape, while more than 60 percent of African-Americans see race relations as not so good or poor.

So many issues facing Americans right now and as we see there, race continues to play a big role. Let's check in now with CNN's political guru, Mark Preston. He joins us now, and he joins us each week for the segment that we like to call "Preston on Politics."

I know you're always here with Rick, so try and do a good job for me as well, Mark. Thanks for joining us. We talked about these numbers and when you hear -- is this anything new? Does this surprise you, any of these numbers?

PRESTON: No, I'm not surprised at all. And look, I would even go as far to say the numbers are probably even worse. You know, whenever a pollster calls somebody and asks them such a very difficult question, oftentimes the person on the other end of the phone is going to answer it in the way that they think that the survey-taker wants to hear it.

So the numbers could actually even be worse. And I don't think we should be Pollyanna about it. It's probably worse.

LEMON: OK. Do you think this will transcend once people get into the voting booth?

PRESTON: Yes, for some people it might. I mean, at the end of the day someone is going to vote on the color of a candidate's skin, that's going to happen. But honestly, I think at this point, you know, there's enough people I think that would probably wipe that margin away and I don't think it's going to have a terrible effect on this election.

LEMON: OK. Obama says -- let's get now to public campaign financing, right? Obama says he won't accept public campaign financing. In doing so, did he throw I guess a meaningful conversation about finance reform under the bus?

PRESTON: Well, look, if you are Republican, you think he did. If you are one of these campaign finance advocates, you're very upset about it. If you're Russ Feingold, a Democratic senator, who really pushed for this, you're very disappointed in it...

LEMON: Hey, Mark?

PRESTON: Yes.

LEMON: I want to read you this quote before you finish answering any of this. It's from "The New York Times" and David Brooks. He says: "Obama threw public financing under the bus, in so doing, he probably dealt a death blow to the cause of campaign finance reform. And the only thing that changed between Thursday and when he lauded the system is that Obama has got more money now." True?

PRESTON: True, again, if you're Republican.

Look, it might make it harder if Barack Obama is to be elected to be president, and this is going to be one of his signature issues, to try to get through, it's going to make it harder for him to go to Congress and say, look, we really need to fix the system, when in fact his opponents on Capitol Hill will say, look, you wouldn't even stay in the system yourself.

So it could make it harder if he is going to try to enact legislation. But at the end of the day, Don, I don't think people care.

LEMON: All right. You said that, but I'm wondering though if it's going to hurt him because we have all these sound bites. Just look at "LARRY KING," 2007, and then we'll talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: I'm a big believe in public financing of campaigns and I think that for a time the presidential public financing system worked. Unfortunately, because funding has diminished relative to the costs of campaigns, I think that you're going to see a lot of people locked out. And even as I support public financing, I think it's very important for Democrats to be competitive in the general election. That's a decision we're going to have to make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So Republicans may see this as a flip-flop. Do you think they are going to hit them hard on it?

PRESTON: Yes. And they have been trying to and they are trying to use this as another example of Barack Obama will say one thing and do another. But again, at the end of the day, I think this is an issue that is very interesting to us inside the Beltway to talk about the funding of it all.

But I don't really think that people are grasping onto it. I think Republicans are frustrated by that.

LEMON: Everybody is going, oh, my gosh, I'm at the gas station and I can barely afford to pay gas. So that's what they're paying attention to.

PRESTON: Yes, absolutely. And let's just put it into numbers. Honestly, he's leaving $85 million on the table. He's likely to raise three or four times that amount.

LEMON: OK. Let's talk about next week, which is very interesting. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigning together. The Democratic Party certainly seemed torn apart when they were going back and forth. How far will this go to restoring unity, do you think?

PRESTON: Let the healing begin, as they say, right, Don? No, look, there's a couple of things that are going to happen at the end of this week. You know, first of all, Hillary Clinton is going to appear before the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. She's going to do that Thursday afternoon.

That's a very big thing because Barack Obama, of course, seemed to have a problem with Hispanic voters. Hillary Clinton did very well with them. I'm sure we're going to hear a message of unity from her and her telling them, look, you need to vote for Barack Obama in November.

Later that evening, she's going to sit down and break bread with Barack Obama and some of her top fund-raisers are going to appear there. And she's asking them to give money to Barack Obama.

What we're going to see in return, Don, is that Barack Obama is probably going to tell these top finance people that he will help retire her debt. It's more than $20 million. The next day they'll campaign together. LEMON: OK. I hate to do this to you, Mark, but I want to get this question in, really, you've got five seconds. They are going to be campaigning together. What do you think is going to come up people are going to talk about most, the possibilities, secretary of state, vice president for Hillary Clinton, what do you think?

PRESTON: Vice president, but look, she's probably going to -- she wouldn't take anything but vice president. I think she still has her eyes on the White House. She still could be Senate majority leader, a very powerful position.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much. Mark Preston, "Preston on Politics," great job. And have a good rest of the weekend. Get some sleep, I'm sure we'll be talking to you tomorrow. We've got a big week ahead.

Thank you, Mark Preston.

PRESTON: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: I'm sure Mark saw "MEET THE PRESS" today, as did many Americans. And it's the second weekend, but it still looks odd to see "MEET THE PRESS" on NBC without Tim Russert at the head of that table. But we did learn who will take over hosting duties through Election Day.

He's no stranger. NBC stalwart Tom Brokaw will moderate the Sunday talker at least through the November election. Brokaw said he feels at home on the program and that he intends to continue Tim Russert's commitment to lively discussion there. We wish him well.

Well, coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The savings, it's great. It's great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about $1.50 cheaper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Is cheap gas worth breaking out your passport for? Crossing the border in search of the perfect fill-up.

And the hits, runs, and errors from Scott McClellan's testimony before Congress this week. It's our "One Last Thing."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. So you think you can do this reporting gig well at CNN? Well, show us. We ask you all the time to send in your photos and videos and, sure, go ahead and make a full report for us. We don't care. Do it. We actually really like it.

Well, let me show you what happened today in Virginia Beach. Cars lined up for blocks for some super cheap gas. Super cheap, $3.79 a gallon. That's super cheap? I guess so.

IReporter William Bernstein Jr. (ph) was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM BERNSTEIN JR., I-REPORTER: I'm I-Reporter William Bernstein on location here in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Why are we here? Simple. Several gas stations along Indian River Road and Rian (ph) Drive next to Providence Road, they are having a contest to see who can get the cheapest gas. We have found this Hess here, Wilco for $3.79 for regular unleaded. And you can see people are waiting in line, some as much as 45 minutes to an hour to get gas for $3.79.

Remember, gas prices now around the country are already $4 and above. So to see this in Virginia Beach is rather unusual. In fact, it's expected that this gas station might have regular unleaded this week for $3.67. And with a line like this for $3.79, can you imagine what it's going to be like when it gets to $3.67?

On location here in Virginia Beach, Virginia, this is William Bernstein Jr. reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Well, how about that? Who would have imagined a year ago, even six months ago, a buyer's frenzy on $3.79 a gallon for gasoline. But here's a cheap fill-up alternative if you want to -- if you can't make it to Virginia, you can always drive to another country.

And CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S.- Mexico border in Tijuana, where Americans spill over for cheap gas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The savings, it's great. It's great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about $1.50 cheaper.

GUTIERREZ: About $3.10 a gallon in Tijuana as compared to $4.63 on the U.S. side. The total savings to fill up a 20-gallon tank, about $30. And that makes financial sense to commuter Ricardo Fernandez (ph), who lives a few miles away in San Ysidro, California. He makes the international run once a week during off hours and doesn't mind waiting in line to drive into Mexico and back into the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now the traffic is not bad to go back. It takes me about an hour, hour-and-a-half.

GUTIERREZ: It sounds like a big hassle, but Fernandez says he just makes a shopping day out of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can come shopping, you know, get some groceries and stuff like that, and then I'll go back. It's like saving double.

GUTIERREZ: A similar story for Pedro Hernandez (ph) who lives in Santa Ana, California, about 100 miles north. He doesn't make a special trip to gas up, but he won't pass up the deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We come down to visit relatives and shop around, while we're here, we might as well fill up the gas.

GUTIERREZ: His savings today, $40.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On this truck, maybe about $70.

GUTIERREZ: Savings, perhaps, but Steven Mazor (ph), with the AAA Automotive Research Center Mexican, says Mexican gas is made with a different formula which contains more sulfur that, over time, could actually hurt your car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The emission control equipment, the catalytic converters, the fuel injection systems, and the sensors on your newer car, or any car, really, and make it a polluter and make you even fail a smog inspection and then have to spend a lot of money to repair your car because of the effects of that gas.

GUTIERREZ: But Ricardo Fernandez says his truck is running fine, for now. And making ends meet right now is really all he can afford to worry about.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Tijuana, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: A hurricane force storm is battering the Philippines, flooding Manila streets, triggering landslides and completely covering island villages in water. The Typhoon crashed into Manila early Sunday, packing near 100 mile-per-hour winds, that sent sea water neck deep into city streets. And we have amazing photos to show you from that.

But this is the heartbreaking incident of this storm. These people are waiting to hear word, any word of about their loved ones who were on a ferry that flipped over during the typhoon. There were about 750 people aboard the ferry. And so far, we're told only 33 people have been found alive.

Now here are those pictures we told you about from Manila. That water is five or six feet deep. Look at that. Power is out. Roofs and windows are blown out, houses over there. And it's worse in small villages and provinces south of the capital. One island governor says most of his towns are under water and says that it looks like an ocean.

Mixed news today from Mississippi riverside residents, the water may not get any higher in some places, but look at this, that news is small comfort to people dealing with homes under water. Entire towns under water and weeks and months of hard, painful work that began when the flood -- that will begin when the floods recede. Now Iowa's agriculture secretary says crop damage in his state could reach $3 billion. Iowa was hit hardest early in this disaster. Lots of corn and soybean fields are either flooded out or not planted and further down river, in places like Winfield, Missouri, and Grafton, Illinois, the Mississippi is still rising and likely won't crest for several more days.

We're talking about fires out West in California. Literally hundreds of separate wildfires are burning and this is just one of them. Napa County, where it has been hot and dry and windy, awful conditions to try to get these blazes under control. About 250 homes evacuated and the fire has consumed about 3,000 acres of brush land.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Coming up, "One Last Thing." The president's former spokesman under oath on Capitol Hill, we'll revisit what Scott McClellan told Congress this week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A baby born with eight limbs, Indian villagers believed her to be a goddess. Now after pioneering surgery, she has a chance to be a normal little girl.

We get an update from CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like the goddess she was named for, Lakshmi Tatma had eight limbs when she was born in India's Bihar region back in 2005.

In fact, villagers there believed she was the goddess reincarnated. Word spread to India's renowned surgeon Dr. Sharan Patil.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In spite of whatever the beliefs were, the medical man has definitely thought she needs help.

GUPTA: Dr. Patil examined Lakshmi and recommended surgery to remove her extra limbs, even though it was a high-risk operation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amazing. The first I've seen anything like this.

GUPTA: Tests revealed a heart, liver and lungs, just one working kidney, another would be transplanted from the parasite.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One located here, other functioning kidneys located here.

GUPTA: The twins were also fused at the spine. They need to rebuild her pelvis.

An agonizing moment as Lakshmi goes into surgery. A team of 30 doctors had prepped for a month. At 16 hours in a critical milestone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The parasite is off.

GUPTA: After 27 hours, Lakshmi, with two arms and two legs, is transformed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The hero in this whole story is Lakshmi.

GUPTA: Today, Lakshmi recuperates at a facility in Rajasthan (ph), and still needs work on her spinal cord and clubbed feet. But doctors say her progress is remarkable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see her growing up as a normal girl.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And we'd like to thank CNN's team of journalists who covered this story, and also National Geographic. "The Girl with Eight Limbs" premiered earlier tonight on the National Geographic Channel.

And "One More Thing" tonight, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan testified Friday before Congress. He spoke to the Judiciary Committee about the leaking of a former CIA operative's name to the press. Well, he was asked about his claim that he was directly told to lie about who was involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, FMR. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECY.: That Saturday morning I received a call from the White House chief of staff, Andy Card, and he said that the president and vice president had spoken that morning and they wanted me to provide the same assurances for Scooter Libby that I had for Karl Rove.

I was reluctant to do it but I headed into the White House that Saturday morning, I talked with Andy Card and I said I would provide the same assurances for Scooter Libby provided he gave me the same assurances that Karl Rove had.

And I got on the phone with Scooter Libby and asked him point blank, were you involved in this in any way? And he assured me in unequivocal terms that he was not, meaning the leaking of Valerie Plame's identity to any reporters.

And then I contacted reporters to let them know about that information. But it was Andy Card that had directed me to do that at the request of the president and vice president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: McClellan is the highest level, current or former, Bush administration official to testify about this incident before Congress.

That's going to do it for us tonight. I'm Don Lemon, sitting in for Rick Sanchez. Hope you had a great weekend. We'll see you back here on Sunday with Rick or Saturday next week. And I'll see you in the NEWSROOM tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Good night, everybody.