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Horror Scene on Bus; Offshore Drilling Fight Escalates; Radio One President Reveals Views of African-Americans
Aired July 31, 2008 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Carnage on the Trans-Canada Highway. A bus rider decapitates a fellow passenger, while dozens of other passengers watch. We have got the horrifying details.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Britney and Paris, founding fathers on dollar bills, McCain and Obama and the so-called race card. We will sort out the latest attacks and counterattacks in the race for the White House.
PHILLIPS: And a summer vacation dilemma, fly or drive? Don and I hit the road and the airport to settle things once and for all. And we didn't go alone. You will see all our ups and downs this hour.
Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in New York.
LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon live here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: Well, this is one of the small towns where news hardly ever happens. But overnight in the Canadian countryside, something horrible and violent happened.
We're still waiting for a police statement. It's expected any minute now. Witnesses on the Greyhound bus say a man suddenly snapped and killed another passenger with a huge knife.
Here now, the recollections of a man who says he saw it all. And we warn you, this story is pretty disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARNET CATON, EYEWITNESS: I was sitting just in the seat in front of the killer and the victim. I was just reading a book. All of a sudden, I heard a guy screaming. I turned around, and the guy sitting right next -- beside me was standing up and stabbing another guy in the throat repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly.
The guy that he stabbed was listening to his head phones and sleeping. The people at the front of the bus didn't really understand what was going on. Everybody was running, screaming off the bus. Me and a trucker that stopped and the Greyhound driver ran up to the door to maybe see if the guy was still alive or we could help or something like that. And when we all got up, we seen that he was cutting off the guy's head there. When he saw us, he came back to the front of the bus, told the driver to shut the door. He pressed the button. The door shut, but it didn't shut in time. And the guy was able to get his knife out and take a swipe at us. So, we backed off the door. He came. He started walking to the front of the bus. And he had the head in his hand. And he just looked at us like this and dropped it on the ground, like totally calm.
And we just stayed outside while he tried to get out of the door, telling him, stay put, stay put, stay there. Don't try to come out. He tried to get the bus working. And the bus driver disabled the bus. It was at that point I think that the police showed up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And like I said, the Canadian police are releasing more information this hour. We are going to bring you details as we hear them.
LEMON: All right, Kyra.
Well, rescuers are searching for more possible victims of a plane crash south of Minneapolis. The business jet went down this morning in a cornfield near the airport in Owatonna. Now, the sheriff says 10 people were supposed to be on board. Seven bodies have been recovered. Another person is still in the hospital, leaving two unaccounted for.
The flight originated in Atlantic City.
Our Chad Myers joins us now and he tells us, when that happened, there were some strong storms going on in the area.
Did they fly right through or right above a thunderstorm?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm not sure of the timing, Don, because the FAA doesn't actually know, hasn't released the time that it went out and where they were supposed to be, still obviously notifying relatives here.
But there's an ugly storm rolled right through the area very close to the time. And we had winds gusts of 72 miles per hour at that little airport there, not exactly at the time they were flying to fly, but certainly there was lightning in the air. There were downdrafts. There were updrafts, all kinds of things in the air there up in Minnesota.
Now, that weather has actually scooted on down to almost Chicago. And, O'Hare, you're about an hour behind because of that weather there. And, Atlanta, 45 minutes to an hour behind, because the rain around the area. And if you're sitting in an airport, not able to take off to Atlanta, that's why. That's called a ground stop. You are not able to get in the air because they just don't know how many planes are going to get on the ground.
There's only 80 planes in the air right now on the way to Atlanta. There should be over 150, which means 70 planes are still sitting there, either hopefully not on the tarmac, hopefully just at the gate. But I know some are probably sitting out there idling with everybody getting disgusted, because it's -- well, it's not raining where I am, but it is raining in Atlanta, I can assure you -- Don.
LEMON: Yes, we could hear the thunder above us during the newscast. OK, Chad Myers, thank you very much, sir.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: President Bush calling on congressional Democrats to allow a vote on offshore oil drilling before the August recess. Speaking at a coal mine operators convention in West Virginia, the president argued that lifting restrictions on offshore drilling will reduce gas prices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is legislation pending in Congress to lift the restrictions. My call is before you go home, for an extended period of time, you ought to bring these bills to the floor. The leaders ought to be giving these members a vote, a chance to say yes or no as to whether or not we ought to be finding more domestic oil to take the pressure off gasoline prices.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Democrats oppose offshore drilling. They claim it would have no immediate impact on gas prices. Instead, they want to release a small amount of oil from the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: There's nothing that the Republicans are proposing that will have an impact on the price at the pump, yes, 10 years from now, two cents. But what we're saying is, free our oil. We will have an effect in 10 days, not 10 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Competing Democratic and Republican energy proposals have stalled in Congress, which is scheduled to begin a five-week recess this weekend.
LEMON: Well, you know it's a weird economy when you rack up the biggest quarterly profits in U.S. history and investors are still disappointed.
Well, that's the case for ExxonMobil, reporting almost $11.7 billion in second-quarter income. Now, I'm talking almost $1,500 a second, $1,500 a second, and watching its stock price slide because Wall Street expected even more. Well, the company points out it doesn't just sell oil. It also buys a lot of it.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's a down day for stocks or an up day depending on which index you look at. Right now, Dow industrials down 98 points. Nasdaq though still in a bit of a rally mode. Oil prices pretty much flat on weak data pointing to lower demand in America.
LEMON: All right, let's talk some politics now. We're talking about blistering new attacks today in the race for the White House. John McCain's campaign manager accuses Barack Obama of playing the race card, that after Obama attacked McCain's new TV ad that criticizes Obama and includes shots of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. The ad calls the Democratic candidate the world's biggest celebrity. Roland Martin and Tara Wall from the Washington paper will join us in a just little bit, "Washington Times," as a matter of fact. She's a columnist there. They are going to join us in the CNN NEWSROOM in a little bit to talk about this back and forth and if this is just the beginning. Of course, we're sure it is.
Also straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, we will listen to what John McCain and Barack Obama are saying today, as they court voters in the Midwest -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Two days after her indictment on corruption charges, Senator -- or his indictment, rather, on corruption charges, Senator Ted Stevens entered a not guilty plea.
The Alaska Republican was arraigned today in Washington. He's accused of lying on financial disclosure forms to conceal thousands of dollars in gifts from on oil services contractor in his home state. He asked that his trial be held before his reelection bid in November. The judge tentatively set it to begin in late September.
LEMON: OK. We told you about this back and forth between Barack Obama and John McCain.
Joining me now from New York, CNN political analyst Roland Martin and "Washington Times" columnist Tara Wall.
Thank you both for joining us today. Can you hear me now?
TARA WALL, SENIOR ADVISER, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I can.
LEMON: Can you hear me now? OK.
Thanks, Tara, and John for -- Roland, I should say, for joining us.
Roland can't hear us right now. But we will get to Roland in just a moment.
Tara, OK, so, you heard what Barack Obama had to say today about those ads. Let's listen to Barack Obama, and then I want to listen to John McCain. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So what they're saying is, well, we know we're not very good, but you can't risk electing Obama. He's new. He's -- he doesn't look like the other presidents on the currency.
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: He's got a -- he's got a funny name.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. So, he's got a funny name, which he self-admittedly does. And people will say that as well. And you know what, Tara and Roland? He doesn't look like the other candidates on the dollar bill, as he said. So -- or former presidents on the dollar bill -- is this really playing the race card?
WALL: Well, he doesn't, but that's obvious. He doesn't have to say that. That goes without saying. I think the question is, why did he say it? Why does he have to say it? It's not something -- I mean, this is the Barack Obama who says, we are one America. We need to supersede race, if you will.
He makes legitimate points about how the McCain campaign is focusing on things that are irrelevant as far as celebrity and things like that. That's legitimate. But, certainly, you can't compare -- I think he runs in trouble here if he's comparing the fact that you can't criticize his record without also saying that you're criticizing his race. I think that's a double-edged sword that he shouldn't want to interject at this point.
And it's something quite frankly John McCain has never injected race into this race at this point.
LEMON: OK. Roland, Rick Davis from the McCain campaign, the McCain campaign manager said: "Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It is divisive, shameful, negative, and wrong" -- Roland.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, actually, I think Rick is wrong in that regard.
I think where Obama made the mistake is, if you play that comment again, prior to him making that quote, he said -- mentioned Bush, then McCain, then raised that point. Had he said bloggers, columnists, conservative talk show hosts, they have been throwing this stuff around, he would be absolutely right. They have been doing that.
But he made a mistake I think by trying to associate John McCain by saying, oh, they're going to question I'm unlike the people who are on money. And that's why when Bill Burton came out with a second statement, he then clarified it by saying, Barack Obama doesn't believe that John McCain has done this. Obama was the one who made the mistake. He should have been more specific who he was talking about. The mistake is on him. And so McCain -- I can understand why his camp is responding the way they would. I would do the exact same thing.
WALL: That's right. That's right.
LEMON: OK. Listen, so, admittedly, from both you, it's a gaffe?
WALL: Yes, absolutely. And quite frankly McCain's campaign says it feels like it has to say something at this point, because they need to defend themselves. They needed to defend their candidate. You do have all these liberal bloggers out there saying that some of the ads that the McCain campaign has run is racist, which is ridiculous at that point. So, I think they feel like they had to defend themselves.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: We have a short time. I want to get on to other points. We have been seeing these ads with Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and what have you. And John McCain said that he was going to run a campaign that was above board, same thing from Barack Obama. But it seems to be getting nasty on both sides, because John McCain had put this ad out. Barack Obama responded. And both are being criticized for going below the belt -- Roland.
MARTIN: Look, first of all, every candidate says, let's stay above the belt. Let's run nice, clean campaigns. And none of them do.
LEMON: Right.
MARTIN: And America and public office says, we don't like negative ads, but they always respond to negative ads. That's nonsense there.
The problem with the McCain ad, it's childish. It's unnecessary. McCain wants to come cross as commander in chief. Look, that ad doesn't portray that.
LEMON: OK. OK, Roland.
Go ahead, Tara.
WALL: Well, yes, absolutely. Listen, it's -- this is at way campaigns are run. If people think that this is nasty, just wait until the fall. This is nothing in comparison for what's to come.
I think that, yes, it was probably a little juvenile. But then again, it was funny as well. And quite frankly, Barack Obama himself had a lighthearted chuckle about it in the sense that he was very, you know, upbeat about his response to it. So, I don't think it did too much damage in the way of being considered a negative ad.
LEMON: OK. Tara and Roland, I have got to ask you guys this. Now, I have seen you guys agree and I have seen you disagree. Now, you're going to be in the same room tonight. Can we get along here? Are you guys going to get along? MARTIN: No.
WALL: We're going to try. You know we got that love/hate thing going on. So, we're going to try.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: Boring TV.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: All right, well, we look forward to seeing you. Thank you both for joining us.
WALL: You bet.
LEMON: And we want to tell you that make sure you tune in tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, when Roland Martin and Tara Wall will host the CNN "ELECTION CENTER." You don't want to miss that, 8:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.
OK. Well, "They came at me hitting and swinging" -- a man accused of assaulting a police officer says he's the one who was assaulted. We have got the story for you.
PHILLIPS: And it's the great race, NEWSROOM-style. Don and I take a trip to a vacation paradise. I travel by air. Don hits the road. We will see who saves the most money.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, it's amateur video spreading across the World Wide Web shot by a passerby. It shows a New York cop beating a man with a police baton. And it's once again raising questions about police treatment.
In a high-tech time when we're able to see more of it, here's a look from CNN's Josh Levs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The event was captured on home video. The man is not yet handcuffed here. The video does not show what led to his arrest. And we can't know for certain whether he is resisting or how much.
New York City police say Michael Cephus had swung an umbrella at a police officer and hit him with his fists, causing the officer to suffer substantial pain. Police say during the arrest, Cephus kept grabbing for the officer's baton. Police have charged him with assault on a peace officer and resisting arrest.
Cephus says he did nothing wrong. He says officers approached him because they thought he was drunk and carrying alcohol. He says he wasn't. MICHAEL CEPHUS, VIDEOTAPED DURING ARREST: Like I said, when they came at me without telling me to put my hands behind my back, they just came at me with force, hitting, swinging, swinging. And that's when the umbrella hit the floor. I never swung no umbrella.
LEVS: Cephus' attorney provided the video to the media. We don't know who shot it. The NYPD says an officer has been put on modified assignment during the investigation. The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association says the video shows the use of force was necessary and appropriate and the officer involved should never have been placed on modified assignment.
It's the latest example of third-party videos raising questions about police actions. Just days ago, this video showed a New York police officer apparently slamming a bicyclist to the ground. An investigation is under way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Josh Levs joins us now.
Josh, how much of a role does the Internet play in this?
LEVS: It really does. That's something you were touching on just there. What happened with the last video we saw there really caught fire on the Internet. And these days the fact that so many people can take these videos and then share them so easily, it is empowering to people who claim there was wrongdoing.
But we also always have to keep in mind that these videos are only showing us one slice of the story. And, Kyra, it's possible that sometimes we're just seeing the cops doing their jobs.
PHILLIPS: All right, Josh, thanks.
LEVS: Thanks.
PHILLIPS: Well, straight ahead, the great race. Don and I take a trip to a vacation paradise. I travel by air. Don hits the road.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right, this is where I get stressed out, not knowing how long the security lines are going to be.
LEMON: Did you see that guy cut us off? Weenie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, travel with us to see who saves the most money.
LEMON: A veteran who suffered enormous loss, now one of the things he loved the most is back. This one will bring tears to your eyes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Well, it's not easy being governor of California. But today, it's even harder working under him. With no state budget one month into the fiscal year, Governor Schwarzenegger has just signed an order cutting 22,000 state jobs and drastically cutting the pay of 200,000 state workers. How drastic? Well, they now earn the federal minimum wage, 6.$65 an hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: None of this had to happen. I have been saying this ever since the January budget, that the legislators should start negotiating immediately. We have a lot of problems, not just budget problem, but also a problem with our dysfunctional budget system and also declining economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: California lawmakers are stuck over how to make up a $15 billion deficit.
(BUSINESS REPORT)
LEMON: Well, it's part of our effort here at CNN to help you make an informed choice in the presidential race. We're going to play more of what the candidates are saying out on the campaign trail.
Let's listen to what Democrat Barack Obama had to say as he spoke today at a town hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: ... immediate assistance, because the problems that many of you are facing in your daily lives go beyond just recovering from a flood.
I have often said that this election is a defining moment in our history. We're working harder for less -- 468,000 Americans have lost their jobs since the beginning of this year. We have the highest rate of foreclosure since the Great Depression, impacting communities all across the country. It's harder to save. It's harder to retire.
But the worst part is, is that I think a lot of Americans feel as if not only are things getting tough for them right now, but they're worried about the future of their children and grandchildren and whether they're going to be pass on a better America to them. That's after all what the American dream's all about.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: That's what the American dream has always been all about, that if you try, you can make it here in America. If you work hard, you can make it. And you just don't make it for yourself, but you're passing on a better life to the next generation.
And that's what people are anxious about. They're not so sure right now. But, given the seriousness of the issue, given the fact that the decisions that we make right now are going to help determine the future, not just of the next generation, but perhaps generations after that, given the magnitude of our challenges when it comes to energy and health care and jobs, and our foreign policy, you would think that we would be having a serious debate.
But, so far, all we have been hearing about is Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: I mean, I do have to ask my opponent, is that the best you can come up with?
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: Is that really what this election's about? Is that what is worthy of the American people?
CROWD: No!
OBAMA: Even the media has pointed out that Senator John McCain, who started off talking about running an honorable campaign, has fallen back into the predictable political attacks, the demonstrably false statements.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: John McCain is campaigning today in Wisconsin. We will hear what he has to say just a few minutes from now.
PHILLIPS: It's one of the most comprehensive surveys ever made of black Americans. We are going to show you some of the surprising results and talk with the man who authorized the study.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): If you're all thumbs when it comes to sending text messages or playing games on your mobile device, well, how about tilting instead? GestureTek, a company featured at the 2009 Mobile Innovation Competition, uses cameras to detect hand motions.
ED FOWLER, GESTURETEK: There's no hardware involved. We're just using the existing camera on the mobile and our little bit of software to interact and play games, Web browse. You do not have to touch the screen. What you will be doing is looking at the screen itself. The camera is looking at you. And you will send a signal to it to flip through a page, flip through a song list, stop, play, or zoom.
MARCIANO: The gestures, he says, can even navigate a subway map.
FOWLER: I'm tilting way out. I could read names of the substations. I could see where the end is.
MARCIANO: And the games create a Wii-like sensation on a small screen, bowling, for example,.
FOWLER: So, in this case, I will push the button and my ball appears right there in the lane. I take it down in a very Wii-like motion, bring it up and let go. And there goes the ball down the lane. And by tilting and locking, I get my shot off.
MARCIANO: If you're in the middle of a gesture and heaven forbid you actually get a phone call...
FOWLER: We will interrupt the game or interrupt the Web browsing, whatever, and say, you have an incoming phone call. Do you want to take this call or do you want to ignore it?
MARCIANO: Not that we're thumbing our noses at being all thumbs. Just get ready. Mobile phone providers will be offering more games and gestures as options to give those thumbs a rest.
Rob Marciano, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
PHILLIPS: I'm Kyra Phillips in New York.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: All right, it's time now to tell you some of the stories we're working on for you today right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
It was a horrifying attack on a Greyhound bus in Canada. Witnesses say a man stabbed a fellow passenger dozens of times then cut off his head.
A small jet has crashed in Minnesota, killing at least seven people. The pilot was trying to land at a regional airport in a heavy thunderstorm.
Lawyers for Senator Ted Stevens have entered a not guilty plea for him. The Alaska Republican is charged with failing to disclose more than a quarter million dollars in gifts he received. Stevens will remain free until his trial, tentatively set for September.
PHILLIPS: As part of our effort to help you make an informed choice in the presidential race, we're playing more of what the candidates are saying on the campaign trail.
Let's go ahead and listen to what Republican John McCain had to say a short time ago at a town hall in Racine, Wisconsin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE: We can do this together. On Iraq, Senator Obama says he wants peace. But even today he opposes the surge strategy that succeeded in Iraq and will succeed in Afghanistan. His policy of unconditional withdrawal, regardless of the facts on the ground, which our high-ranking military officer, Admiral Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said would be very dangerous, his policy could result in renewed violence and a third Iraq War.
I hate war. I know it costs better than many. I'm going to end this war. But when I bring our troops home, they will come home with victory, leaving Iraq secured as a democratic ally in the Arab heartland.
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: The bottom line is that Senator Obama's words, for all their eloquence and passion, don't mean all that much. And that's the problem with Washington. It's not just the Bush administration. It's not just the Democratic Congress. It's that everyone in Washington says whatever it takes to get elected or to secure the political future that they seek.
If Senator Obama doesn't have the strength to speak openly and directly about how he will address the serious challenges confronting America, how will he be strong enough to really change Washington?
We don't need another politician in Washington who puts self- interests and political expediency ahead of problem solving. We need to start putting the country's interests first and come together.
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: Come together to keep American families safe and help them realize their dreams for a better life.
My friends, in war and in peace, I've been an imperfect servant of my country. But I've been her servant first, last and always.
Whenever I faced an important choice between my country's interests or my own interests, party politics or any special interests, I chose my country. Nothing has ever mattered more to me than the honor of serving America and nothing ever will.
If you elect me president, I will always, always put our country first. I will...
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: John McCain's campaign accuses Barack Obama of playing the race card.
And coming up at the top of the hour in CNN's "THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER," McCain supporter and potential running mate, Rob Portman, will weigh in on McCain's comments. LEMON: All right, they're calling this unprecedented. It's been called one of the most comprehensive surveys ever made -- ever made -- of African-American opinion. And it has produced some very fascinating results.
For instance, when asked how they would like to be described, 44 percent of those asked said African-American, 42 percent said black and 11 percent said they simply don't care.
But there is more to this data than just the raw numbers. We want to go behind this data and get some personal stories about this and bring in Barry Mayo. He is the president of Radio One, the media group that has authorized this survey. And he joins us now from Washington.
Thank you very much for joining us today, sir.
OK, so people said they'd rather be called African-American than black. That's not the most fascinating thing that comes out of this. I want to go about these subgroups that you've done.
BARRY MAYO, PRESIDENT, RADIO ONE: Yes.
LEMON: Basically, you broke down African-Americans in 11 sort of subgroups here -- broadcast blacks, connected black teens, black is better. And then you go on -- stretch black straddlers, digital networkers and boomer blacks.
How did they come up with these categories?
It seems -- it seems a little bit different than most surveys I've seen.
MAYO: Well, Don, first of all, thank you for inviting us.
I think the first thing you have to understand is the macro point of this study is that you can't look at black Americans as a monolithic group. We are as diverse as the general market.
We went and found the most respectable research company that we could find, Yankelovich, which has been doing this for 50 years, to do a deep dive into taking a snapshot of the entire black consumer market.
LEMON: Why did you do this? You wanted to learn for what?
MAYO: Well, to understand and answer that question, you have to understand what Radio One is. I mean Radio One -- most people who are familiar with the company know that we've got 53 radio stations. But many don't know that we've got a cable network -- TV One, that we own Giant Magazine, that we have a controlling interest in the Tom Joyner brand.
LEMON: So then -- so you have a huge voice in the black community. And there's...
MAYO: Eighty-two million people -- 82 percent, excuse me -- of black America we speak to each week.
LEMON: OK...
MAYO: So we felt we needed to know.
LEMON: You needed to know that. But it's also you're doing this so that people, that the world can know, and especially African- Americans. And I want to go on...
MAYO: Absolutely.
LEMON: ...and talk about this.
Let's talk about the future, because some of these statistics are not the exact statistics that we usually hear. Because 70 percent of black people who you polled said that they have a plan for their future. And 60 percent said they thought that things were getting better; 54 percent optimistic about the future and blacks. Usually you don't hear that, Mr. Mayo.
MAYO: Clearly, if one were to rely on the mainstream media, you would not have the true picture of the fact that the majority of African-Americans, of black Americans, are optimistic about the future and have a plan. Even more surprising in this study was the young people, how optimistic they were. Young black executives is how my 19- year-old considers himself.
LEMON: OK.
MAYO: They're saving up for business.
LEMON: Let's get through some of these, because I want to talk about education now.
MAYO: Sure.
LEMON: Let's talk about education.
MAYO: Sure.
LEMON: Thirty-four percent say they have at least some college, 21 one percent a B.A. or higher and almost a third make more than $50,000 a year.
MAYO: That's correct. Well, the overwhelming -- when you think of education, the macro picture, the big story is that 80 percent of all African-Americans -- that represents 30 million people...
LEMON: Right.
MAYO: ...see education as the future. That's our way out.
LEMON: OK. All right, real quickly, blacks and health -- 83 percent say that they have health insurance and about half say they have a healthy lifestyle. We always hear problems with health. We were talking to someone yesterday about HIV in the black community. Was this surprising to you? Was this one of the most surprising parts of the study?
MAYO: I think the fact that 83 percent of us did. But, you know, the study showed our warts also. There's a segment called family struggles. And there's a segment called sick and stressed. They don't, by and large, have health insurance. So -- but 83 percent do.
LEMON: Wow! OK, very interesting stuff that everyone can learn from this. And it will be interesting to talk further about the results from this and exactly how this plays to your particular audience, as well.
MAYO: Sure.
LEMON: OK. Barry Mayo, who is the president of Radio One, the media group that authorized the study.
Thank you for joining us today, sir.
MAYO: Thank you very much, Don.
PHILLIPS: She's the number one official in state government. But even she has to prove that she's over 21 before going to a bar. Find out which governor had to head home last weekend because she forgot her I.D. .
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So far not so bad -- $32, $33.
What's up with all in these gnats?
PHILLIPS: Security took forever. Now we only have about 20 minutes until our flight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Oh, Kyra's baby looks just like her, doesn't it?
And which is cheaper for the family vacation, flying or driving?
Kyra and I put it to the real life test.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. There's still some summer left.
So have you taken your summer vacation yet? Did you fly or did you drive?
Well, with gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon and the airlines tacking on baggage fees and raising rates, as well, it's a tough choice.
PHILLIPS: And what do you think, is it a better deal for your family?
Well, Don and I decided to put it to a real life test -- how much time and money would a family of three spend getting to their vacation spot in a car versus a plane?
Here you go.
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LEMON (voice-over): Our trip from Atlanta to vacation destination Orlando -- that's about 450 miles. I went by car, Kyra by plane. And for added realism, we both brought along one of those dolls programmed to cry just like a real baby.
(on camera): Oh, the baby is crying. It's 8:45 and the baby is crying.
PHILLIPS (on camera): I have a feeling this baby is going to be more difficult than anything else, so here we go.
(voice-over): And flying for the average family can be difficult and expensive if you start adding extra bags per person.
(on camera): So if you're traveling with a family of three and each person has two bags and the second bag costs $20...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, if you do it at the airport.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): But for the families I met along the way, it was still worth it.
(on camera): So whose idea was it to fly?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Mom's.
PHILLIPS: Mom's. All right.
And why did you pick flying, mom?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it's easier than a 16-hour drive from Ohio.
PHILLIPS: So I'm curious, why fly instead of driving?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gas prices.
PHILLIPS: Too expensive?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I have a 7-year-old, so it's a lot less time in the car.
LEMON (voice-over): Speaking of time in the car, we're back on the road from Atlanta to Orlando. (on camera): 12:22 and we are in -- I'm not exactly sure where we are. I guess we're getting close to Valdosta, Georgia. When you get on a plane, it's just to go whoosh. It's all about getting there. When you're in a car, part of it's getting there, but a lot of it's what's in the middle.
(on camera): Hey. I'm shopping for peanut clusters.
(voice-over): For the families I met along the way, driving had some definite payoffs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we did have the choice and we chose driving.
LEMON: Why did you chose -- gas prices are high.
Why are you driving?
STACEY RUBIN, DRIVING ON VACATION: Because airline tickets are even higher and it's educational for the kids.
LEMON: So why did you drive to Tampa instead of flying?
AURELIA LANE, DRIVING ON VACATION: Well, you know, we carpooled. So it was faster to carpool.
LEMON: It's more economical, you think?
LANE: Yes. Yes.
PHILLIPS (on camera): All right. This is where I get stressed out -- not knowing how long the security lines are going to be. I have never seen it like this in a really long time.
(voice-over): But getting through security with a baby, even a fake one, can be a little tricky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This baby has got a metal head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, lord. Stop that. Stop. Stop.
PHILLIPS (on camera): OK. That was an experience. Security took forever. Now we only have about 20 minutes till our flight.
LEMON: Did you see that guy cut us off? Weenie. We've got a child on board, mister. Slow it down.
I wouldn't have stopped for a couple of hours, but I think the baby needs changing.
PHILLIPS: OK. Here's one advantage of flying. Don has to drive, right, seven hours. Well, he can't have a cocktail.
Jeff, what do you have there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got a Chardonnay and a Merlot here. PHILLIPS: And what do you recommend?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Chardonnay.
LEMON (singing): The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): The miles are adding up and so are the costs.
So which one was cheaper, flying or driving?
Well, for a family of three, our airfare added up to $891. When you add in the $8-a-day parking at the airport for a five-day vacation, that tacks on another $40. Grand total, $931.
LEMON (voice-over): And now let's do the math on the road trip. We spent about $80 round trip for gas and lunch for two adults was about $30. If you take your own car, that's pretty cheap -- just $110. But if you decide to rent the SUV, that can tack on another $641 more for five days, for a grand total of $751.
So it costs more to fly either way. But Kyra's flight took a lot less time. So which is better?
Well it all depends on who you ask.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a lot cheaper today to drive.
PHILLIPS (on camera): So do you like flying or driving better when you take a trip?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Flying.
PHILLIPS: Flying. How come?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Because it's faster.
PHILLIPS: It's faster.
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PHILLIPS: All right, so my flight only took a couple of hours, Don. But you were on the road a heck of a lot longer.
LEMON: I was on the road for six-and-a-half hours. But we got to stop at the pecan, you know, place there in Georgia. We also stopped at Great Adventure. And, you know, The V.J. here -- come here, Zack (ph). You can have your -- he's been bugging me for these peanut clusters -- Goo Goo clusters all day here. Go ahead, you can have it. I also got some peanut brittle and what have you. And then, again, we stopped at Great Adventure.
But you're right, it takes a long time, but it's very -- it's economical, I think, to drive.
But you said you found the same thing with people flying.
PHILLIPS: Hey, time is everything, you know?
You want to get there quicker. And it was. For these families, it was a lot cheaper when they weighed out the price of gas.
LEMON: It's an adventure.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Fun stuff, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, straight ahead we're talking about a homeless vet that was reunited with one of his best friends. It's the story of a man, his dog and their tearful reunion.
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PHILLIPS: Well, some bouncers take their job very seriously. Just ask the Governor of Washington, Christine Gregoire. She was turned away from a bar in Olympia Saturday night because she forgot to bring her I.D. . And since she couldn't prove that she was over 21, well, she had to head home. So the governor's husband and staff were allowed inside. She says she's keeping a good sense of humor about it. She says it's a compliment that the bouncer thought that she was under 21-years-old.
LEMON: OK. Well, they were together more than 15 years. But when a dog belonging to a homeless vet named Bob Mikolasko got sick, he realized he could no longer care for it. He left the dog on a veterinarian's doorstep, along with a note asking him to euthanize her in a humane fashion.
But Kaiser -- that's the dog's name -- regained her health and the two were reunited. An employee at the veterinarian's office shared the note that the dog -- that was left with the dog.
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DEBBIE HEROT, PET MEDICAL CENTER: "He's such a part of my being. I'll once again be alone in my life. I love you, Kaiser. Thank you for caring. Sincerely, Kaiser's soul mate."
I mean after you're in this business for so long, you've learned to look the other way because we have to euthanize animals. This one I couldn't euthanize.
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BOB MIKOLASKO, KAISER'S OWNER: When you leave your house in the morning to go to work, if you have a pet at home and you don't see them until you come back, well, that's one lifestyle. You develop a rapport. I spent 11 years in a motor home living on the streets here 24/7 with him. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, Mikolasko found out Kaiser was alive when a columnist wrote about the dog in the local newspaper. Now they're back together happier than ever before.
PHILLIPS: Aw.
LEMON: Aw is right.
PHILLIPS: A perfect warm and fuzzy to take us right to Wolf Blitzer.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much. A lovely story, indeed.
Coming up right at the top of the hour, guys, we have a CNN exclusive. John McCain strongly defending his position and saying Barack Obama is using the race card to benefit his campaign. You're going to hear what John McCain has just told our John King.
Also, both Obama and McCain held major events today. You're going to hear what they have to say about the issues in their own words, where they stand on the economy, on the war, on energy and oil.
And the Bush administration hoping to equate birth control with abortion -- the controversial new policy suggestion and what it might mean for your health insurance.
All that and a lot more coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- back to you.
LEMON: All right.
Thanks, Wolf.
The closing bell and a wrap of all the action on Wall Street straight ahead.
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PHILLIPS: Well, the closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.
LEMON: So everybody is giving me my cues, Susan and Kyra. And I -- all I hear -- I passed the Goo Goo clusters to the back. All I hear is stand by -- 10 seconds.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: They're all munching back there.
Susan, did you see -- how did you like our babies?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I loved that report. I loved all the color -- you know, Kyra, ordering a cocktail, you picking up peanuts and cashews and...
PHILLIPS: And, by the way, I didn't drink that wine. I had to breast feed.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Oh, wait a minute. That's right. It was a fake baby.
LEMON: Oh my gosh.
PHILLIPS: Sorry about that.
LEMON: I could have said me, too, but...
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: I would have had loved to have seen that, Don. That would be interesting.
LEMON: I'm sure a lot of people would.
LISOVICZ: You are nothing if not a responsible mother, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Thank you, Susan.
LISOVICZ: OK.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Let's take you now to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.
