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Dolly's Not Done; Terror Trial: Bin Laden's Driver in U.S. Military Court; Obama's European Tour

Aired July 24, 2008 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning again, everyone. You're informed with CNN.
I'm Tony Harris.

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

Developments keep coming into the CNN NEWSROOM on this Thursday, July 24th. Here's what's on the rundown.

Breaking up is hard to do. Tropical Storm Dolly holds it together. Heavy rains for south Texas.

HARRIS: Well, the mighty Mississippi shut down. Oil spills stops boat traffic south of New Orleans.

COLLINS: And where the detainees are. Our Jamie McIntyre has an exclusive look inside Gitmo -- in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Well, Dolly is no longer a hurricane, but it is still making all kinds of problems for Texas. Dolly's winds were gusting to 120 miles an hour when it blew ashore yesterday. Roofs, as you can imagine, ripped off, power lines knocked down. So far though, only one reported injury from the storm.

Now a tropical storm, Dolly could still dump up to 20 inches of rain over in the Texas/Mexico border region. A flood watch posted for much of south Texas. Governor Rick Perry flies over the Brownsville area this afternoon.

CNN Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf saw the worst of Dolly yesterday on South Padre Island.

Reynolds, are folks heading back to South Padre? And I'm wondering, has power been restored? We saw so many power lines down.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not yet, power is still out. You know, the power out, the reason why is, of course, because of Dolly.

Yes, we've got one other thing that we need to blame on Dolly. For you and for our viewers at home, if you happen to be tuning in, don't get the Windex and the paper towels just yet and try to clean off your screen. The reason why it looks a little bit hazy is because of the high humidity we have here. We have a little bit of condensation on the lens. We're not able to get rid of that for the time being. So you're just going to have to bear with us and just blame it on Dolly, as I mentioned.

Other things to blame on Dolly, look behind me. You see just a huge mess caused by the winds topping 100 miles per hour.

We actually were in those winds yesterday as that eye wall came ashore. Take a look at this video. I mean, it was just unbelievable.

Getting blasted by that wind and the rain. The rain coming in sideways. Just a weird thing to deal with. I mean, just surreal to have this storm that was off the shore just days ago, then just being -- making its way onshore just as a huge monster, a monster that of course ripped up all kinds of property.

You've got roof damage. You've got tree damage. And of course you have to keep in mind as you come back to me, you've got a vacation destination like this.

I mean, if you look over here, you see the pool, and you happen to see off in the distance and even in the foreground, toppled trees, and even a cabana. This is the place where people should be relaxing, Tony. They should be having a great time. But instead, for many, it's been terrifying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first, you know, bang, I thought it was one of the air conditioners flying. And then we went outside and we saw the debris and we saw the neighbors leaving, because it was the neighbor's roof.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF: The neighbor's roof, and it's going to be neighbors helping neighbors, no question, trying to clean up the mess here.

Tony, they're hoping power is going to be restored as we make way into the afternoon hours. But thankfully, the people who do live on this island -- there's about 3,000 of them that live here year round -- and of course, you multiply that several times over when you have the peak summer season of travel. But thankfully the causeway is open, so many will be heading home. But many will also be heading back.

Back to you.

HARRIS: Hey, Reynolds, what about some of the aging levees in the Rio Grande River Valley. Any problems reported?

WOLF: Well, about three days ago there was a great effort of sandbagging to ensure the strongest -- the structure of those levees. Those levees were built some time ago. Thankfully, they were up to federal code.

They really did a great job. They haven't had any major issues there.

But Tony, that isn't to say that the problem is over. It may be OK for Brownsville, but the rain is going to continue, as Rob has been telling you all morning long. They could see well over 10 inches of rain, possibly over 15 inches of rain in some places with this dying tropical system. Though it is losing strength, it still has a little bit of oomph to it.

HARRIS: Yes.

WOLF: Certainly could be producing more rain for some time to come.

HARRIS: Sounds like it.

All right, Reynolds. Appreciate it.

We're going to get to Rob in just a couple of minutes.

WOLF: You bet.

HARRIS: In fact, if you'd like to find out who's stepping in to help those impacted by Hurricane Dolly, just go to our Impact Your World Web site. There it is, where you will find links to some organizations offering assistance. That's at CNN.com/impact.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Making the case against Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan. More testimony expected today in his war crimes trial.

At the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, now, our Jamie McIntyre is covering the proceedings.

Jamie, tell us what you're hearing from where you are.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, in day four, on day four, the Salim Hamdan trial is still an effort where prosecutors are trying to essentially lay the case out against him using his own words. They're relying a lot on what Hamdan said during interrogation in the year or two, especially, right after he was captured in Afghanistan in November of 2001. This morning, an interrogator related that Hamdan said he never wanted to join al Qaeda but had admitted that he had weapons training, including training on firing surface-to-air missiles, the kind like were discovered in his vehicle on November of 2001, when he was arrested.

Probably the most fascinating part of the trial so far has been the playing of videotapes of Hamdan during those interrogations in Afghanistan where he is handcuffed with plastic cuffs, sitting in a room with what appears to be a U.S. Special Forces soldier over his shoulder, as he's asked repeated questions about his activities, where he's going, his role as a driver for Osama bin Laden, and why he had those missiles in his car. The prosecution is trying to use those videotapes to show that the interrogations of Hamdan were not coercive, were not torture, that they were standard, tough interrogations, and that the information from them is deemed reliable -- Heidi.

COLLINS: OK, Jamie. We know that you'll keep your eye on that for us, as well.

But right now you're standing outside, or at the entrance of Guantanamo Bay prison camp. I know that you were actually the only journalist given a tour inside. Tell us more about it.

MCINTYRE: Well, you know, Heidi, even though the Pentagon wants to close Guantanamo, it also wants to put the best face on the conditions here. And because of that, I got to go someplace where almost nobody gets to go, of course except for the people who really don't want to be there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice over): Down a cool, dim hallway, behind a remote-controlled steel door...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open Bravo 111. I repeat, Bravo 111.

MCINTYRE: ... is a prison cell that holds what the Pentagon likes to label the worst of the worst.

(on camera): I'm actually inside a high security cell in Camp Five (ph). This is the kind of cell detainees are kept in.

This one is set up for display purposes. It's 12 feet by 8 feet. You see it has a sink and a toilet.

And behind me you can see a window that you can see light through, but it's not the kind of window you can actually see outside. It has been made opaque.

And behind me, these are the items you get if you're in compliance: prayer rug, a couple of sets of shoes, a light brown uniform, extra blanket. These are the items you get if you're not in compliance: a prayer rug, some religious items, a pair of flip-flops, and the famous orange jumpsuit.

(voice over): This is the recreation yard where even the hard- core cases get up to three hours of outside activity: an exercise mat, a soccer ball, and Gitmo's version of a treadmill. There's even an arrow pointing to Mecca.

But you won't see any prisoners in this video. The military restrictions on photography are Draconian. All images must be digital so military sensors can delete the ones they don't approve of. That includes any faces of detainees and any security measures, including locks and towers. So any glimpse into the shadowy world of Gitmo is just that, only a glimpse.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MCINTYRE: And Heidi, the reason I was talking so softly while I was recording that report is that there were other detainees nearby, and the U.S. military doesn't want them to get any information from the outside world. It kind of underscores the isolation that these prisoners feel. Many of them have been here five, six years, with no idea when they'll ever get out -- Heidi.

COLLINS: CNN's Jamie McIntyre coming to us from Guantanamo Bay.

Jamie, thank you.

HARRIS: Shut down by an oil spill, an accident stops boat traffic on the Mississippi. We will talk with the Coast Guard about the cleanup.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Barack Obama's European tour, it began today in Germany, a meeting with the German chancellor. And in two hours, what's described by his campaign as a major speech in Berlin.

CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour is with us live from the German capital.

And Christiane, would you agree with our Candy Crowley that this event today is really the centerpiece moment of the senator's trip?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, insofar as this is where he's going to do his big speech. We're waiting for that in about an hour and a half. And insofar as this is going to be the place where he actually sees people, because his trip so far from Afghanistan to Iraq, to Jordan, Israel, has really been a sort of a whirlwind of meeting officials, giving interviews to the press, and doing that kind of thing. So this is the first time where he's going to be faced with crowds, and where they're going to be coming to listen to him.

So we're just going to show you a little bit of what we mean by that.

We're here at this historic crossroads in West Berlin -- of course now Berlin is unified. It's the -- straddling (ph) the Tiergarten, which is the famous big garden and park here in Berlin.

You can see thousands of people there crammed behind those barricades, and they are slowly being allowed to come through. And they're going to be coming here, if we can just whiz the camera around a little to show you what's been set up by the Obama campaign.

There's kiosks and stalls, not just here, as we can see. A big sound stage and music stage for entertainment over there. But as we turn around a little bit more, you can see some of the crowds who've already made it this far, to just about the foot of the great Victory Column, which is where Senator Obama is going to make his speech.

This is the column that was built in the 1860s to commemorate the Prussian victory over Denmark, Austria and France, part of Germany's militaristic history. It's also right down at the opposite end of this big wide boulevard to the Brandenburg Gate.

There was some suggestion that Barack Obama would speak there, but Angela Merkel, the chancellor, who did meet with him earlier this morning after he landed, made it known that that was not appropriate for a candidate for a foreign election to come and speak by the Brandenburg Gate. So they've moved it here to the Victory Column.

But certainly people here are -- they're eager to hear him.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

AMANPOUR: A lot of people are wearing T-shirts saying "Climate Change" and other such things. They want to hear what he's going to say to Europe and to the world in this speech.

HARRIS: They want to hear from Barack Obama, the internationalist, on issues such as climate change, trade, other issues like that?

AMANPOUR: Well, yes, because basically a lot of people around the world are saying, what we want to see is change from the United States. They feel that they've gone through quite a trauma, and really if you look at polls around the world, America's standing has plunged dramatically over the last eight years.

And so what they're looking for is a president, whoever it might be, that can rebuild alliances, that can engage in multilateral diplomacy, instead of a go-it-alone policy, that will take the lead on the great issues that certainly Europe believes in. For instance, climate change, the environment, human rights.

A lot of people are really quite shocked by what's been going on in Guantanamo Bay and the condoning of torture. So there are all these major issues that they want to see. But let me tell you a word of caution.

HARRIS: Sure.

AMANPOUR: The European top trade official, for instance, has said, listen, Barack Obama, quit that crowd-pleasing rhetoric and get serious, for instance, on the issue of trade. You know, Barack Obama as a candidate has talked about renegotiating NAFTA. Well, that does not go down well in Europe, which believes in internationalism, in globalism, in globalization, and wants to see a president committed to free trade -- Tony.

HARRIS: CNN Chief International correspondent Christiane Amanpour with us.

Christiane, great to see you. Thank you.

And you can see Barack Obama live on CNN today at 1:00 Eastern. We will also stream it for you live at CNN.com. And here's the address here: CNN.com/live. COLLINS: The Coast Guard is holding a news conference on an oil spill today at noon Eastern. On the phone with us now from New Orleans is Coast Guard Lieutenant Anastasia Visneski.

Lieutenant, if you could tell us a little bit more about what's happened here. This is the Mississippi River that we're talking about. In fact, portions of it, I understand, from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico are actually closed at this time.

LT. ANASTASIA VISNESKI, U.S. COAST GUARD: Yes, that's correct. At this time, the safety zone actually goes from mile marker 97, which is just below the Harvey locks, to the Southwest Pass, which is the mouth of the river into the Gulf.

COLLINS: All right. So what happened here? This involved a barge and then a vessel, an oil vessel, obviously, but there was actually a tugboat towing that barge?

VISNESKI: Yes. At approximately 1:30 a.m., there was a collision between the tugboat Mel Oliver and the chemical tank ship the Tintomara. A barge being pushed by the Mel Oliver leaked approximately 419,286 gallons of number six fuel oil into the Mississippi River at that time.

COLLINS: Put that in perspective for us.

VISNESKI: Well, really, it's a lot. And the closure zone is now 100 miles.

We do have a sizable spill, and it's going to take us several days before we can get the river open. And it's going to take weeks before we can clean it all up. Right now our priority is for the safety of the people in the parishes surrounding the river, the safety of the environment, and containing and cleaning up the spill as quickly as possible.

COLLINS: Yes, because obviously, history has shown it is not an easy thing to clean up. And boy, oh boy, this is a pretty big deal. I understand the Coast Guard obviously investigating, as well as the NTSB, because this pilot of the towboat was apparently not properly licensed?

VISNESKI: Yes. At this time we do have information that the pilot of the towboat was not properly licensed. But that is a part of the investigation.

As you said, the investigation will be large. It will be ongoing. It's really a concern of ours to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again.

You mentioned that, you know, these things are hard to clean up, but we have a good track record. We've been here. We've done this. And we can do it again.

COLLINS: Of course. Of course. It's just I'm sure upsetting to everyone when we see pictures that we're looking at right now... VISNESKI: It is.

COLLINS: ... especially when we're talking about possible criminal charges that I imagine could be filed. This guy had an apprentice mate's license, which is basically like a permit, which usually means you have to have someone who has been licensed properly with the documentation in order -- along with you in order to be able to operate the vessel.

VISNESKI: That is correct.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we appreciate your time very much.

We will stay on top of this one, certainly, as that cleanup gets under way, as well as the investigation.

Lieutenant Anastasia Visneski from the Coast Guard.

Thank you.

HARRIS: Where did the love go? Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen with tips for women who lost their groove and want to get it back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: OK. Here's kind of a fun segment for you, helping women get their groove back. We talked about how Viagra can benefit women on antidepressants, which is an interesting story we did yesterday. That got Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen thinking about her "Empowered Patient" column and what else women can do.

So what did you find out?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What I found out is that your doctor won't necessarily tell you this, but there are medicinal approaches to helping women with sexual dysfunction. But it's a little bit tricky getting it.

You may have to ask your doctor. If you wait for your doctor to bring it up, it might not happen.

COLLINS: OK.

COHEN: But there are some approaches you can ask about. Let's go through some of the different drugs that you can talk to your doctor about.

COLLINS: All right.

COHEN: Drugs in the Viagra family, Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, have shown some success for some women with sexual dysfunction problems. Not for everybody, but for some people.

COLLINS: Sorry, I thought Tony was taking notes.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: I knew that's exactly what you were thinking.

COHEN: Well, you know, if he needs to take notes, I'm going to let him do that.

HARRIS: All right.

COHEN: And testosterone. You can talk to your doctor about testosterone patches. Testosterone, we usually think of as a male hormone, but women have testosterone, and if your levels are too low, your sex drive won't be great.

Now, again, these are not for everyone. They're not going to solve every problem. For example, if your sex life is bad because you hate your husband, these aren't going to help you. Not going to help you.

HARRIS: Lord. Lord. Lord.

COLLINS: He's crying over there.

Yes. So, I mean, that's a very good point. There's probably not a drug that is going to fix that.

COHEN: Correct.

COLLINS: Maybe you shouldn't have gotten together in the first place. However, if you ask for these drugs, will you able to get them? I mean, I imagine there has to be quite a bit of discussion.

COHEN: There does have to be discussion. And the reason why is that these drugs are not approved for women.

COLLINS: Right.

COHEN: And so your doctor may say, you know what? I don't feel great about this, these drugs aren't approved for women, I don't feel comfortable doing this. And you can first try to explain, I understand they're not approved for women, I'm willing to discuss it with you, and if you think it will work, I will take the risk.

You can also ask for a referral to someone who specializes in female sexual dysfunction. And on our column we have places where you can go to find such a doctor. It is CNN.com/health. All the Web sites you need to learn about how to get your sex life going again.

COLLINS: Yes. OK.

Well, what about alternative medicine, though, for women who are certain, you know, they've got sex problems, they've talked to their doctor, it's been verified?

COHEN: I was very surprised that there are actually a whole bunch of different alternative medicine approaches, herbs and whatnot. There's herbs, there's an amino acid out there. There's a whole long list of them.

Again, go to CNN.com/health and you'll see exactly what those herbs are.

COLLINS: Are we talking about aphrodisiacs? I mean, like, you know, we always talk about chocolate and so forth. Or is this a different level?

COHEN: No, it's a different level. For example, some of these might work on the brain to sort of lower your stress levels. If your stress level is high, you're not going to want to have sex.

Some of them might increase blood flow to the genitals, because you've got to have that. You've got to have that blood flow or nothing's going to work. So they do work, and it's not really an aphrodisiac so to speak.

COLLINS: Got it. OK. I'm trying to not act like a fifth grader and giggle here, but...

COHEN: Oh, well, that's OK. Giggle away. That's fine.

COHEN: All right. Thanks, Elizabeth. Appreciate it.

COHEN: OK. Thanks.

HARRIS: McCain or Obama? A new poll shows who Hispanics favor. But will it translate into votes?

We will talk with political strategists about what Latinos want.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Good morning, and welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM, everybody, I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.

Just minutes ago, President Bush declared part of south Texas a major disaster area, and you know why.

Dolly's winds were gusting at up to 120 miles an hour when it blew ashore yesterday as a Category 2 storm. Roofs were ripped off, power lines knocked down. So far there are only one reported injury from the storm.

Now a tropical storm, Dolly could still dump up to 20 inches of rain over the Texas/Mexico border region. A flood watch posted for much of south Texas.

A nation thirsty for oil, a Congress searching for answers. Is more drilling needed? More conservation? And how about the nation's emergency stockpiles? Questions being considered on Capitol Hill.

CNN's Kate Bolduan is following the debate. She is in our Washington bureau. Kate, what do you hear?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you said, there are a lot of things being batted around, Tony. This is the latest of energy proposals being debated on Capitol Hill right now.

House Democrats are set to vote today on a measure that would release some 70 million barrels of crude oil over six months from the strategic petroleum reserve. This reserve has been in the news quite a bit recently. It's the nation's emergency oil stockpile set up in the 1970s. And Congress voted back in May to halt shipments to the reserves amid rising energy costs.

Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now calling to release the oil to increase supply, and she says that will lower gas prices right away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: This will reduce the price at the pump. The president is sitting on 700 million barrels of oil.

So we're saying, Mr. President, free our oil. It's our oil. It belongs to the American taxpayers because this is oil that we have purchased.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Republicans argue this reserve should only be tapped for national security purposes. And they also dismiss this proposal as simply ineffective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JUDD GREGG (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: That's about 3 1/2 days of oil. We're suggesting using oil shale. That's 40,000 -- 40,000 days of oil. So I think this debate needs to be full and robust. But in the end, hopefully, we'll get a bill that does all these things. That produces more, consumes less.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Republicans are pushing for other energy proposals, like opening up new areas for offshore drilling. But like other energy bills that we've seen in past weeks, this petroleum reserve bill is unlikely to pass, because in general, Tony, Democrats and Republicans -- they remain divided over what to do to reduce prices at the pump.

In particular, of course, we know whether to allow for more domestic drilling.

HARRIS: There you go. All right, Kate Bolduan on Capitol Hill for us.

Kate, good to see you. Thank you. BOLDUAN: Thanks, Tony.

COLLINS: Just want to take a real quick moment here to show you some pictures that we are getting in from our affiliate in Oklahoma City. This is KWTV. You're looking at a crane collapse. All we know is exactly this. A crane collapsed onto a car, and that there is possibly one person trapped.

Boy, it certainly doesn't look good. But don't see any rescue worker. Oh, there is, I believe, a fireman right there walking that line. So -- and there's fire trucks. All right, so I stand corrected. But not quite sure of exactly the situation on the ground. Lots of first responders now that I see as the shot has widened.

We'll stay on top of this for you, again, out of Oklahoma City, where a crane has collapsed onto a car.

Measuring the Hispanic vote. A new Pew Center poll shows strong support for Barack Obama. Three-fourths of registered Hispanic voters surveyed say they have a favorable opinion of Obama. 44 percent have a favorable opinion of John McCain. Two-thirds say they are leaning toward voting for Obama. 23 percent are leaning towards McCain.

On issues that matter most, the Hispanic voters, education is top, followed by cost of living, jobs and health care.

The interviews were conducted June 19th through July 13th.

So let's talk a little bit more about this and what is behind those numbers. Republican strategist and CNN political contributor Leslie Sanchez is with us.

Hi Leslie.

LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Hi, how are you doing?

COLLINS: And Democratic strategist Maria Cardona.

Thanks so much for being here, Maria.

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thank you.

COLLINS: So what do you guys make of these numbers? Go ahead, you can start first there, Leslie.

SANCHEZ: Oh sure. You know I talked to Susan Minushkin, who's the deputy director over at the Pew Hispanic Center. She pointed to three things. One, there's a strong movement toward Barack Obama. Two, it's pretty much seamless in terms of Hillary Clinton voters moving over to his camp. And three, she's talking about the dissatisfaction that's growing among Hispanics, has even increased since 2007.

All of that sounds good for Maria and the Democrats. But if you look at the dissatisfaction rate, I think there's a couple of things. One, Hispanics think the direction of the country is wrong. That's consistent with general market. Pretty much all of us think the direction of the country is not great.

So politically I think Hispanics are astute and they understand what's going on. But secondly, they think -- and I believe erroneously -- the default position that the Democrats are better for Hispanics overall. And that's somewhere where the Republicans have to continue to work.

COLLINS: And boy, oh, boy, Maria, you have a big grin on your face.

CARDONA: Yes, I think this poll actually bears out a lot of what we've been seeing since 2006, which is that Hispanics have been leaving the Republican brand in droves and I think a lot of that was started because of the immigration march.

But they've also realized that on all of these key issues that is -- that are delineated in the polls, it's the Democratic Party that not only cares about these issues that are near and dear to Hispanics, but that will actually implement the policies that will benefit Hispanics on all of these fronts.

Hispanics are hurting just like everybody else. They want a change and they see Senator Obama as representing that change.

SANCHEZ: OK, I'm going to take off my political pollster hat and kind of put on, basically, what the data is also saying politically.

If you look in there, it says John McCain is polling higher in terms of favorability than George Bush, who is really a champion in terms of Hispanic votes -- he and Ronald Reagan.

The second part is it's a national survey. It's not looking at individual states. And if you think of the fact that about 50 percent of the Hispanic vote comes from California and Texas, and you look at Arizona, where John McCain is going to do incredibly well, you start breaking out New York and New Jersey, four states really percolate to the top...

COLLINS: That's right.

SANCHEZ: ... and that's going to be Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Florida -- the western states John McCain has a strong upside potential there. He understands these voters. And I think...

COLLINS: Maria, it's a good point. It's a good point.

CARDONA: Well, I think that's right. But the other point here is that Hispanics are really paying attention to this election. And even though they might think that Senator McCain is a likable guy, they also are understanding that electing him means embracing four more years of the disastrous economic and foreign policies that have put us in this hole to begin with, and that have put them in a very precarious situation from an economic standpoint.

They want a change, and again, Senator Obama represents that change on all of the issues that are important to Hispanics. SANCHEZ: Sorry. The biggest problem Senator Barack Obama has is he's still talking, (INAUDIBLE). He looks at Hispanics through a lens that we're all on one, you know, class section and he doesn't understand how diverse and dynamic the community is.

Even when you talk about Evangelical voters, business owners, young blood, even the elections and the campaign we run in 2008 is completely different from 2004. So to look and say, hey, everybody is a default to a Democrat, they don't understand the economic impact in terms of taxes, the business impact he's going to have, and national security is to ignore the fact that Hispanic voter is not monolithic and is really diverse.

COLLINS: Yes. And the issue on top of that -- is it not -- is really from, at least from what I'm reading on this poll -- is education is what Hispanics, again, at least in this poll, are actually...

CARDONA: Absolutely, Heidi.

COLLINS: ... really concerned about.

CARDONA: Absolutely. And I think that the problem from John McCain is also there's a saying in the Hispanic community, (speaking in Spanish), which loosely translated means tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are.

They see that John McCain has deeply embraced George Bush. And on all these issues -- and you named it, Heidi -- education is number one. Public schools are incredibly important to Latinos. Senator Obama wants to fully fund public schools, wants to bring in more teachers, and John McCain is not giving Hispanics the alternatives that they want.

SANCHEZ: You know and the reality is John McCain believes in support -- in ending failing schools and supporting children and allowing every child to get a college education. He doesn't believe you should set an expectation based on race, color, you know, economic class.

And I think that's the difference in the policies. Barack Obama doesn't want to look at school choice, it's helped a lot of Latino and African-American families. It's a very serious debate and education is right on the forefront.

COLLINS: Ladies I have to...

CARDONA: School choice...

COLLINS: That was pretty equal.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: Sorry.

COLLINS: That was pretty equal. Let's leave it there. CARDONA: Thanks, Heidi.

COLLINS: Leslie Sanchez and Maria Cardona -- ladies, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

CARDONA: Thank you.

HARRIS: That was good. It's just midsummer, but some stores already are singing the back-to-school blues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So how much is the rapper, the rap guy, 50 Cent worth? He says $4 million, wow, and he is filing a lawsuit to prove it.

The performer whose real name is Curtis Jackson claims Taco Bell is illegally using his name in its new "Why Pay More" ad?

Heidi, you feeling the music here?

OK. The ad promoting the new Taco Bell, the fast food items that cost less than a dollar. It urges 50 Cent to change his name to 79 Cents or to 89 Cents or 99 Cents.

Yes, that's pretty funny.

Taco Bell claims it is within its rights.

All right. 2 million people are getting a pay raise today. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with details on the minimum wage hike.

Susan, good morning.

SUSAN LISOVICZ CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony. And it's more than 50 Cent, OK?

HARRIS: More than 50 Cent, it is. That's right. Very good.

LISOVICZ: The second of three minimum wage increases goes into effect today. The federal minimum wage goes up from $5.85 to $6.55 an hour. Next year, the final boost will move it up to $7.25.

Before last year's legislation authorized the increases, the minimum wage had been left unchanged since 1997.

HARRIS: Wow.

LISOVICZ: Tony?

HARRIS: You know what I love about it, Susan? You don't say 50 Cents. You said 50 Cents.

Way to represent.

LISOVICZ: I'm an urban -- I'm an urban girl. HARRIS: You really are. I love it. I've got to ask you, is the wage hike we're talking about here really enough to make a difference, considering what we're paying these days for food and gas?

LISOVICZ: Well, Tony, one economist says the increase is a drop in the bucket compared to the increases in costs that we are all seeing.

Last week, for instance, we learned prices at the consumer levels shot up 5 percent in June, the fastest pace in 17 years. Energy prices soared 25 percent. Food rose 5 percent. At the same time, of course, many Americans are seeing the value of their greatest asset fall.

Realtors groups says the median price of a home sold last month fell 6 percent. But houses aren't selling. Sales of previously owned homes dropped much more than expected. And that's hitting stocks hard.

The Dow Industrials right now down 134 points. NASDAQ down 23 points. But hey, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes?

LISOVICZ: Oil's doing nothing.

HARRIS: What?

LISOVICZ: So it's -- it's doing nothing. It sat at about $124.50 a barrel. Still really high but a lot lower than $147 a barrel which we saw not too long ago.

HARRIS: Boy, as recently as, what, a week and a half, almost two weeks ago.

All right, Susan, great to see you. Thank you.

COLLINS: You may already have noticed some back-to-school sales. Stores are trying to get an early start on what's expected to be a down season.

Here now CNN's Jennifer Westhoven.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Summertime. Families finally get a break to relax but this mom is already thinking about school.

JEANETTE MATOS, MOTHER: I'm starting to think about school books, book bags, pencils, crayons, things to go back to school.

WESTHOVEN: Back to school is critical for retailers. The second largest shopping season after Christmas. But with gas and food prices running high, retailers are competing for what's left over. The National Retail federation says back-to-school sales are only predicted to rise by a puny 1.6 percent, roughly half of last year's nearly 3 percent rise. Even that wasn't so hot.

To lure shoppers through the doors, they've got gimmicks. JCPenney is offering more fashion, new lines, and is running (INAUDIBLE) spots in movie theaters.

KEN HICKS, JCPENNEY PRESIDENT: What we're doing is offering our customer more looks and more brands and more ideas at those very smart prices that we've offered in the past.

WESTHOVEN: Other stores are sharply cutting prices.

Wal-Mart started its season the day after the Fourth of July. Sale signs are everywhere.

TRACY FERSCHWEILER, WAL-MART STORE MANAGER: (INAUDIBLE) grams for 22 cents, bottle of glue for 30 cents -- those are the items that you have to have day one in school. And we're making them -- these prices are the same prices we paid 10 years ago.

WESTHOVEN: Staples is going further, selling basics like pencils and folders for a penny.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is 99 cents. I want one of those.

WESTHOVEN: When Jeanette Matos shops with the girls she's looking for one thing -- sales.

MATOS: With the prices of things rising, anywhere you can get a sale, that's where you should be. So yes, it helps.

WESTHOVEN: But even with the staff trying to make the shopping fun...

MATOS: It's a little awkward. We should be in the beach now or taking in the sun.

WESTHOVEN (on camera): Some analysts believe even that forecast for small sales is too bright and back-to-school sales may be a minus after one of the worst summer job seasons in 30 years.

That means teenagers don't have their own money to spend. And even though it's only July, this is all a very Grinchy sign for Christmas shopping.

Jennifer Westhoven, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: So what does it mean to be "BLACK IN AMERICA"? We will hear what you have to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: It's an unparalleled television event, "BLACK IN AMERICA," a four hour documentary. See part two tonight on CNN.

CNN's Soledad O'Brien takes us back to the day civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): April 4th, 1968.

JAMES "BUTCH" WARREN, REMEMBERS MARTIN LUTHER KING'S DEATH: We still remember vividly.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Martin Luther King 20 minutes ago died.

WARREN: We remember how the kids taunted us and teased us in the hall ways and said your Jesus is dead.

AKONO EKUNDAYO, REMEMBERS MARTIN LUTHER KING'S DEATH: Every black kid in class stopped what they were doing. The teacher looks at me and I look at her and then I said not a word to me. I think I broke a desk getting up out of the class. I walked out of school.

WARREN: We all met in front of the school. And there were kids hanging all out of the windows up here and they were pointing and laughing. And they were just having themselves a good time.

EKUNDAYO: It was like somebody stuck a knife in my back through my heart, like I was screeching. I could feel that the front of my shirt is wet because I've been crying and I didn't realize I was crying.

WARREN: We all came down these steps and lined up there on the sidewalk. And then we marched from here approximately a mile to Canaan Baptist Church.

EKUNDAYO: It was just an open place where we could go to hear others say to us that the situation was going to be all right and for us not to do anything crazy.

WARREN: We were very angry in our hearts about his assassination and his death. But we wanted to make sure we did everything the way Dr. King would want us to do it. We wanted to bring honor to his name.

EKUNDAYO: I didn't go back to school for probably about a week. Some of the kids were talking about when they get back to school, folks saying, well, what you all going to do now? You know, what you going to do now? Martin Luther King is dead.

WARREN: He is the black leader that's trying to make things better for everybody, and here he is assassinated, dead. He's got a wife, he's got kids, a family. And they're laughing. I mean...

O'BRIEN (on camera): Still upsetting to you?

WARREN: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Don't miss CNN's ground breaking documentary, "BLACK IN AMERICA," airing tonight, 9:00 Eastern.

HARRIS: "BLACK IN AMERICA," what has been the reaction so far?

Veronica De La Cruz has been going through your iReports as we get ready for the online event in just a couple of minutes. She joins us now with some of the discussion that is taking place online.

Veronica, good to see you again. What are you seeing? What's up there?

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Well, a mixed reaction, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes.

DE LA CRUZ: Let's start with Carmen Alexander. She says that she can relate to the special. Carmen has a degree in education, she's a bachelor's in business, Tony. She says that she recently moved to Denver and I have been flying and interviewing for jobs for the past 10 months.

She says, Tony, and I'm quoting here, "I can't tell you how many times I've been greeted by the interviewer and have seen the look pass over their face. If you are black in America, you learn to work harder and still take a backseat."

HARRIS: That's interesting, isn't it?

DE LA CRUZ: Here's another one -- yes, I know. Here's another one from Yasmin Coleman, Tony. She watched the special last night. She says that she felt frustrated afterwards.

She owns a book club called APOOO. It advances African-American literature. She said she felt the special focused on problems not solutions, but it did make her realize we needed a revolution here.

Boy, what she said, Yasmin Coleman.

And here's one from Ron Cole and he's in Miami. He argues that all Americans are multiracial. Ron is Caucasian, native American. He says the social conditions of any community are the best place to start and not the actual color.

Those conditions will spell out more about what any individual race goes through in this country than anything else.

So if you're watching the second half of "BLACK IN AMERICA" tonight, go ahead and log on to iReport.com, let us know what you think. And also don't forget to check out our special report. That's online, as well. That's where you can read more about the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. You can find lots of video there and also articles on being black in America. You can also cast your vote online right now. Right now the quick vote is asking: do you think America is ready for a black president? Yes or no? Again, you can vote right now. You can also access that special report by logging on to CNN.com/blackinamerica -- Tony?

HARRIS: So we certainly hope everyone is watching, not just black folks. We hope everyone is watching.

DE LA CRUZ: Everybody.

HARRIS: And that everyone takes an opportunity to write in some kind of reaction, some kind of response. It would be great to hear from as many people as possible.

DE LA CRUZ: Yes.

HARRIS: All right, Veronica, good to see you, thank you.

DE LA CRUZ: Nice to see you.

HARRIS: And be sure, let me give you another reminder here to watch a special hour "BLACK IN AMERICA." Your reaction today at noon Eastern. Streamed live on CNN.com.

Soledad O'Brien gets your reaction to her special documentary. And she will share more of your iReports at the special hour, stream live, noon Eastern right here at CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: New this morning, stunning video of a U.S. naval ship being blown apart. It happened during international military exercises off the coast of Hawaii. Some Australian submarines fired the new heavy weight torpedoes that sunk the ship.

Not to worry, though, the vessel was decommissioned, it was a destroyer. The military exercises run until the end of the month and are held every two years to promote stability in the Pacific Region.

HARRIS: Peanuts and baseballs just seem to go together, but not for everyone. The Seattle Mariners have now declared two sections of Safeco field no peanut zones for two games this summer.

The sections will be specifically cleaned before the August 5th game between the Minnesota Twins -- with the Minnesota Twins and again on September 9th for the Texas Rangers game.

The Mariners, not the first, though. Other major and minor league teams have offered special seating for people allergic to peanuts.

COLLINS: Yes, I here there was gluten free stuff, too.

HARRIS: OK.

COLLINS: He was burned in a wildfire. And you can feel his pain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Little guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Little bear cub named Little Smokey recovering from third-degree burns on his paws. But his caregivers at a wildlife rehab center in Lake Tahoe say he isn't suffering. His crying is merely a side effect of his medicine.

See, there you have it. Smokey will remain in their care until early next year. His caregivers hope they can then release him back into the wild.

HARRIS: Cute as can be, huh? Just cutest...

COLLINS: I love Little Smokey.

HARRIS: Look at that. Salve him up -- yes, salve him up and let's see if we can get him back in some kind of shape here.

COLLINS: Maybe she'd like some ice cream. You know we must have done something right because we got ice cream in the news room today. I just want to share that...

HARRIS: Yes.

COLLINS: Very good, isn't it?

HARRIS: And everyone's smiling around the joint today.

COLLINS: They are.

HARRIS: It's a good thing.

COLLINS: CNN NEWSROOM continues one hour from now.

HARRIS: "ISSUE #1" with Gerri Willis and Miles O'Brien starts right now.