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Tropical Storm Headed for Texas, Louisiana; Extreme Heat Hits Midwest; Details Emerge About Anthrax Mailings Suspect; China Faces Protests Before Olympic Games; Obama Announces Energy Plan
Aired August 04, 2008 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: All eyes on Edouard. It may not be big, but it's close and getting closer to the Texas and Louisiana coast by the minute. Our Chad Myers is watching in the weather center.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And the feds prepare to close the books on the post-9/11 anthrax attacks, even while chilling new information emerges on the suspect. Wait until you hear what the man's own therapist said about him.
KAYE: And four days before the Beijing Olympics. Not all Chinese are in a party mood. For these Beijing residents, the games are hitting too close to home.
Hello, I'm Randi Kaye at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
LEMON: Hello, Randi. Good to have you.
I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, you can call it this, a gathering storm and growing concerns. We've got our eye on Edouard. At the moment it is still a tropical storm and it's churning in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil rigs are in its path, but we haven't heard of any being evacuated just yet. We're going to check on all of that.
And along the Texas and Louisiana coasts, the warnings are out. Edouard could be near hurricane strength when it crashes ashore come tomorrow. Shades of Hurricane Dolly, only a couple of weeks ago.
I turn to Chad Myers as I ask that question. It is shades of Dolly, isn't it?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. Very quick developing and close to land, and we have a lot of hot water here. And even think about the water that is in the Louisiana bayou. This is very hot, as well. You can now begin to see the storm on radar. It's not that far from New Orleans, but it is traveling to the west.
And so with this westerly component, it will be traveling through a very highly populated oil rig, oil drilling and also pumping rig area. Every dot you see here is a rig, and there's the line right into the Houston Shipping Channel. Clearly, it could go north or it could go south with the cone that we talk about. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, because one way or the other, because the rigs are everywhere. These rigs are not stationary with big pilings all the way down into the ground. Too deep for that. These actually have motors on all four corners. Yes, literally like boat motors on all four corners, and GPS keeps this thing right above where it's drilling. Not just hooked to the ground; completely out there floating around. When you get winds that are too strong, the engines can't keep up.
Of course, so far we don't see that happening. We don't see that, really, getting more than probably just a weak Category 1 hurricane. And in fact, the hurricane center calling this probably only a 20 percent chance of that happening. Eighty percent chance that it just says a strong tropical storm.
But let me tell you, Don, this thing and all storms in the Gulf of Mexico are completely, almost -- almost impossible to tell you right on the dot whether it's going to go left or go right and how strong it's going to be, because there's so much energy in that Gulf of Mexico now. That water is so hot.
LEMON: Depends on a lot of factors. All right, Chad. We'll be checking with you throughout the day. Thank you very much for that -- Randi.
KAYE: Don, a lot of people in Texas and elsewhere are also watching the thermometer. The mercury is rising into the dangerous triple digits. Much of Texas could be five degrees hotter than normal. It could be twice that in Oklahoma and Arkansas, and in the very center of the country, folks are bracing for an extra 15 degrees.
CNN's Reynolds Wolf takes a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It could become one of the hottest summers on record in the Lone Star State. Officials blame triple digit temperatures in the deaths of three people in Dallas and Ft. Worth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you notice that you're outside in the heat and sweating around and you stop sweating, it's very important that you should go inside. That means you're very dehydrated.
WOLF: So far Dallas has had ten straight days of 100 degree-plus temperatures.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We try to stay cool out here because we know it's hot temperatures, and don't know what can happen.
WOLF: Businesses are trying to cope as best they can, but customers are not taking chances.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We chose to sit inside instead of outside. No one was really sitting out on the porch.
WOLF: The mercury reached a sweltering 107 degrees in Dallas on Sunday; 109 in Wichita Falls. And it's not over yet. In fact, parts of north Texas are under an excessive heat warning until later this evening.
Reynolds Wolf, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Let's talk now about the high cost of gas. It's putting a crimp in spending habits. The Commerce Department tells us consumer spending, adjusted for inflation, well, it fell in June. The 0.2 percent drop followed a surge of spending in May. The inflation measure hit a 27-year high, mostly because of gas prices.
And speaking of gasoline, every penny counts. You can really say every half penny counts, too. AAA says the national average cost of a gallon of gas is down again by 0.6 of a cent. We're talking a $3.88 -- $3.88 a gallon. That's what we're talking here.
Oil, meantime, was down more than 4 points at 1 point -- at one point today trading just above $120 a barrel. Right now it's trading at $121.
And T. Boone Pickens, we've heard a lot about him. The Texas tycoon who made billions from oil says he has a solution to the energy crisis, but who's going to pick up the trillion dollar tap? That is a question and hopefully tonight, he'll answer it live on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE," tonight at 9:00 Eastern -- Randi.
KAYE: Don, in the race for the White House, Barack Obama is talking energy. He unveiled his so-called Energy for America plan a short time ago in the battleground state of Michigan.
Among other things, the Democratic candidate wants to tap into the Strategic Oil Reserve. And after railing against offshore drilling earlier in the campaign, Obama now says he could go along with it as part of a compromise to lower energy costs.
A bit later this hour, we will hear more of what Obama is saying today.
John McCain is also talking economic and energy issues. He's in the Philadelphia area. A short time ago the Republican candidate toured a label plant and spoke to a small-business round table in Lafayette Hill.
Later today McCain heads to South Dakota for the Buffalo Chip Motorcycle Rally. We'll hear more from the Arizona senator later this hour in the NEWSROOM.
And check out our political ticker for all the latest campaign news. Just logon to CNNPolitics.com, your source for all things political.
LEMON: Well, after seven years and plenty of pitfalls, the government's probe into the post-9/11 anthrax attacks, well, it might be wrapping up. Sources tell CNN the case could end today or tomorrow. Now, when that happens, we could learn details that have been under wraps for years. Our Brianna Keilar looks at what we've learned so far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has learned there is DNA evidence linking the anthrax used in the 2001 mailings to a flask used in Bruce Ivins's Army laboratory, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
As federal prosecutors grew closer to charging Bruce Ivins in connection with the anthrax attacks, his therapist, Jean Duley, told a Maryland judge in late July that she was scared to death of Ivins and sought a temporary restraining orders against him.
In court tapes obtained by "The New York Times," Duley described a murder plot the troubled scientist laid out during a group therapy session.
JEAN DULEY, THERAPIST: He proceed to describe to the group a very long and detailed homicidal plan and intention to -- that he had bought a bulletproof vest, had obtained a gun, a very detailed plan to kill his co-workers. To -- that because he was about to be indicted on capital murder charges, he was going to go out in a blaze of glory. That he was going to take everybody out with him, that he had been rooming the streets of Frederick, trying to pick a fight with somebody so that he could stab them.
KEILAR: After that therapy session, Duley started the process to have Ivins involuntary committed to a high-security mental health facility. She told the court she'd been subpoenaed to testify against Ivins before a federal grand jury.
As she made her case for a restraining order, Duley also said Ivins had been forensically diagnosed by several top psychiatrists as a sociopathic homicidal killer, though CNN has not been able to confirm those diagnoses.
Just days after this testimony, Ivins killed himself in Frederick, Maryland.
Prosecutors were so sure they had their man, they had scheduled a meeting to discuss a possible plea bargain with Ivins' attorney last Tuesday, the day Ivins died. Officials planned to reveal some of their evidence at that meeting.
But many people are skeptical the FBI has got it right this time, especially after repeated mistakes throughout the seven-year investigation. Jeffrey Adamovicz, a former bacteriology chief who worked with Ivins for 12 years at Fort Deitrich's bio defense lab, says it would have been nearly impossible for Ivins to pull off the attacks.
JEFF ADOMOVICZ, FORMER COLLEAGUE OF IVINS: The labs were not equipped, for instance, with a lot of the equipment that would have been required to dry this material down and create the highly refined state that it was in. KEILAR (on camera): Sources familiar with the investigation say authorities may publicly release their evidence against Ivins as soon as this week and then go ahead and close the case. According to those sources, that would happen after a federal judge unseals grand jury evidence and officials brief the families of those who were killed and injured in the 2001 attacks.
Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Brianna, thank you for that.
After allegedly abducting his daughter and fleeing the state, Clark Rockefeller is going back to Massachusetts. Rockefeller has agreed not to fight extradition at a hearing in Baltimore where FBI agents arrested him and safely recovered his 7-year-old daughter.
Rockefeller allegedly took the girl during a supervised visit in Boston last Sunday.
The FBI, acting on a tip, tricked him into the open, telling him his 26-foot catamaran was taking on water at a Baltimore marina.
Rockefeller reportedly claimed to be part of the wealthy oil family, but police say they aren't even sure if that's his real name.
KAYE: A discovery on a Washington state beach may have ties to a Canadian mystery.
A sneaker with flesh and bones inside turned up near Port Angeles last week. The discovery comes about a year after five shoes containing feet started washing ashore in British Columbia. Investigators still don't know why one found in June turned out to be a hoax. It contained an animal paw, actually.
The flesh and bones found in the new shoe are now being tested to find out whether they are human.
A sad update now on a story we first brought you last week. A Welsh man attacked on his honeymoon in Antigua has died. He and his new wife were shot in an apparent robbery attempt in a resort cottage. She was killed immediately. He'd been comatose on life support ever since, with tests finally determining he was brain dead. Still no arrests in that attack.
LEMON: Very sad, Randi.
We also have a developing story to tell you about right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman is in a Memphis, Tennessee, hospital. He's in serious condition, we're told, after a wreck in neighboring Mississippi. We're talking about a car wreck here.
Our affiliate WMC says Freeman's car went off a northern Mississippi highway last night, flipping over several times. Now Freeman, who is 71 years old, reportedly had a female passenger with him. We have no word of her condition, and we'll keep following this story for you. We'll bring you any new details as we get them.
KAYE: All right, Don, thanks.
China gets ready for its moment in the global spotlight, but all is not well as the Olympic Games get set to begin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: We'll tell you what sparked this protest in the heart of Beijing.
LEMON: Let's talk kids and food now. Find out what a consumer group says about children's meals at some of the country's top fast- food chains.
KAYE: Convenience store clerks and customers get an eye full. We'll tell you what happened when a man emerged from the men's room in nothing but his birthday suit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Don Lemon.
Give him a whistle and watch him go. An Iranian directs Tehran's traffic chaos as a hobby.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: The Chinese government has never much tolerated protests. Now, though, with all eyes on Beijing for the Olympics, officials are doing some medal-worthy contortions.
CNN's Emily Chang explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You don't see this often in China. Near Tiananmen Square, angry Chinese stage a protest.
"We're not against the Olympics," this woman says, "but they shouldn't have destroyed my house, evicted me, and left me homeless."
Their neighborhood sits on prime real estate and is being turned into a commercial strip.
"The developers can't take advantage of the fact that it's the Olympics and take away my house," says another woman.
Evictions: it's is one of the biggest complaints among Beijing locals as land is seized for redevelopment. This protest was quickly stifled by police. In fact, impromptu protests are not allowed in China. But in the last few months, it's become clear some activists will try anyway, hoping to get attention for sensitive issues like human rights in Tibet and Darfur.
So in addition to Olympic venues, the government has set up protest venues. Three parks across the city, but well away from sporting events and any spectators.
(on camera) This is Ritan Park, one of the designated protest zones. But in order to demonstrate here, protesters must submit an application in person five days prior to the event, including the purpose, date, and time, and all posters and slogans that will be used.
(voice-over) But how many requests will be granted, and will those critical of China get a turn? The last large-scale protest approved was three years ago, an anti-Japan rally. The government ended it as more and more people joined up and protesters turned aggressive.
Still, officials insist dissent will be allowed during the Olympics. The question remains: what will happen if dissenters break the official rules?
Emily Chang, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Security at the games is a huge concern for authorities, so an attack on a police station today has prompted even tighter measures. China's state-run news agency reports two attackers drove a truck into a group of police out jogging, then lobbed explosives into the barracks and slashed at people with knifes. At least 16 officers were killed.
It happened in the western Xinxiang province, a region with an ethnic Muslim population that has seen violence from radical separatist groups.
LEMON: OK. So with only three months until election day, we're bringing you the candidates in their own words. Well, today Democrat Barack Obama is talking about energy issues. Here's what he said just a short time ago in Michigan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I am president, I will immediately direct the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector working with state and local government to achieve a single over arching goal. In ten years we will eliminate the need for oil from the entire Middle East and Venezuela. In ten years' time. Ten years is how long it's going to take. Ten years is how long it's going to take.
Now, to do this, we will invest $150 billion over the next decade, $15 billion a year. And we'll leverage billions more in private capital to build a new energy economy that harnesses American energy and creates 5 million new American jobs. There are three major steps I'll take to achieve this goal. Steps that will yield real results by the end of pie first term in office.
First, we will help states like Michigan build the fuel efficient cars we need, and we will get 1 million 150-mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrids on our roads, made in America, within six years' time. We can do that. We can do that. We can do that. We can do that.
And I know how much the auto industry and the autoworkers in this state have struggled over the last decade or so, but I also know where I want fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow to be built: not in Japan, not in China, here in the United States. Right here in Michigan.
When I arrived in Washington, I reached across the aisle to come up with a plan to raise the mileage standards in our cars for the first time in 30 years, a plan that won support from Democrats and Republicans who had never supported raising fuel standards before. And I also led bipartisan efforts to invest in the technology necessary to build plug-in hybrid cars. So as president I'm going to accelerate these efforts to meet our urgent need.
With technology we have on the shelf today, we're going to increase fuel mileage standards, 4 percent every year. We'll invest more in the research and development of those plug-in hybrids, specifically focusing on battery technology.
We will leverage private-sector funding to bring these cars directly to American consumers. We'll give consumers a $7,000 tax credit to buy these vehicles.
Most importantly -- most importantly, I will provide $4 billion in loans and tax credits to American auto plants and manufacturers so that they can retool their factories and start building these cars right now. That's how we'll not only protect our auto industry and our autoworkers, but help them thrive in the 21st century economy.
We're going to get the automakers here in Michigan, we're going get them back on track, and we are going to work with them. We're not going to have a situation where they've got to beg and plead to get the attention of the federal government. We're not going to have a Michigan governor trying to beg and plead to get the attention of the White House, because you're going to have a partner in the White House to make sure that the auto industry is thriving right here in Michigan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Barack Obama on the campaign trail, and today Obama also happens to be celebrating his 47th birthday.
John McCain talking energy today in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. We'll hear what he is saying at the bottom of the hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Meantime, K2, it's an infamous mountain that shows little mercy. For several climbers surviving K2 proved a feat unto itself.
KAYE: And a Mexican immigrant beaten to death in a small town in Pennsylvania. Now several teenagers face hate crimes charges.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Two mountain climbers are recovering in a Pakistani hospital after Saturday's avalanche on K2 that killed 11 other people.
The Dutch survivors were rescued from a base camp today. One reportedly has severe frostbite and isn't out of the woods yet. And Italian climber is trekking down to an altitude where rescuers can reach him.
K2 sits at the Pakistani/Chinese border. It is the second highest mountain after Everest.
KAYE: Inflation is heating up, and it is hitting some of the most recognizable names in America. Susan Lisovicz is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with look at how two corporate giants are dealing with rising prices and what it all means to you.
Hi there, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Randi.
Well, McDonald's is trying to cut the costs in making the dollar double cheeseburger. The problem is cheese costs are higher, and so is meat.
Anybody who knows Mickey D's knows that the double cheese burger is a staple of the dollar menu. Options include using just one slice of cheese, using no cheese, or raising prices.
Disney is going for plan "C." It's raising prices at its theme parks in the U.S. Disney World in Florida for tickets ages 10 and up, now will cost you $71 to $75 for the Magic Kingdom, 3 to 9 from $60 to $63. Disneyland, meanwhile, is going up by a similar amount, and that all went into effect yesterday -- Randi.
KAYE: So Susan, you said McDonald's is actually testing out a price hike. We don't normally see that. Why isn't it just passing it along, passing those higher costs along right now?
LISOVICZ: It's a valid question repeated everywhere else. Right, Randi?
Well, the thing is that McDonald's is very vulnerable to this slowing economy. Raising prices might alienate customers. We've already seen how customers are downsizing when it comes to eating out.
Disneyland and Disney World, for that matter, they actually benefit in some ways, because the dollar is so cheap, so many foreign tourists are coming over here, and they think it's just a bargain to be had.
We did get a report on inflation today. June personal spending rose, but almost all of it was accounted for by higher prices.
Here's something bucking the trend. Oil prices. Oil prices are down $4.35, under $121 a barrel. We already have seen that gas prices are down the 18th day in a row. So we could see that trend continuing.
Meanwhile, we're seeing a modest sell-off. The Dow is down nearly 15 points. The NASDAQ is down 22.
Back to you, Randi.
KAYE: All right, Susan. Thanks so much. We'll check in with you a little bit later on.
LEMON: Scientists see it as a wake-up call. New estimates on the number of Americans newly infected with the virus that causes AIDS.
And the political conventions will be here before you know it, and both campaigns just have a half a ticket. The veepstakes, all the chatter is getting close to a fever pitch.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Here today with Randi Kaye in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Time to tell you about some of the stories we're working on for you today, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Tropical Storm Edouard picking up speed, picking up strength as well. Edouard could be near hurricane force by tomorrow when it could make landfall on the Gulf coast. Warnings and watches have been expanded in Texas and Louisiana.
We could learn much more about why investigators zeroed in on the late Bruce Ivins, the apparent suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks. A source tells CNN the case could be wrapped up by today or maybe tomorrow and details could be made public.
Morgan Freeman is in a Memphis hospital in serious condition after a car wreck in Mississippi. Our affiliate, WMC, says the 71- year-old actor's car went off a highway last night and flipped several times. A female passenger was reportedly with him. No word on her condition -- Randi.
KAYE: Iran could face more sanctions for missing a U.N deadline. The five permanent members of the Security Council, along with Germany, had a conference call today. They agreed to pursue other measures because Tehran never responded to an incentives offer. The U.N. wanted to hear something by the weekend. Iran says it will get back to them tomorrow. The two sides have been at a stalemate over the country's nuclear program. Iran says it's just for electricity.
LEMON: Well, both political conventions are just weeks away, and that means speculation over John McCain's and Barack Obama's running mates soon will reach a very fevered pitch. It's reaching that now.
Where do things stand right now? CNN's Ed Henry joins us now from Washington.
Hey, Ed, so we said it could be reaching a fever pitch, that's all we're talking about.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
I have to start with a caveat. Both campaigns insist, look -- they're not revealing any names and that they're unlikely, insiders say, -- either side -- to really name a VP nominee before the upcoming Olympics. And that's really the time window. If you don't do it this week before the Olympics, a lot of Americans' attention might go to that and the expectation is that the campaigns would instead do it after the Olympics on the eve of both conventions.
But you're right, that's not stopping any of us from trying to read the tea leaves. And one of those leaves out there today is the fact that Barack Obama on Wednesday will be spending a good part of the day in Indiana. Of course, that's the home state of Senator Evan Bayh. A lot of people in the Democratic Party wondering whether that's a little bit of a signal, maybe testing the chemistry there between Obama and Bayh. He would obviously be a fresh face. He also could try to underline the Obama effort to show that as a Democrat he still might be able to play in traditionally Republican states.
Also an asset for Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia as well. There is a lot of buzz about him. A Virginia state that is starting to go more and more Democratic. That's an opportunity for Obama potentially as well.
You see Joe Biden. The idea that he could help on the national security card. Questions, though, about whether he would stay on a message.
A new face there -- Chet Edwards, the Democratic congressman from Texas. He is really being pushed privately and publicly by Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying that he's a more moderate Democrat. He could also play in a so-called red state of Texas.
And then Governor Sebelius from Kansas. That could play into the personal narrative since Barack Obama has family roots there in Kansas. And that is yet another state that had mostly been Republican, may be edging Democrat because of that Democratic governor.
And the final bit there is that if Barack Obama does not select Senator Hillary Clinton, they're thinking, in the Democratic Party, that maybe Sebelius would be another prominent woman that he could turn to, Don. LEMON: Yes and this Chet Edwards, I heard the Speaker on all the Sunday shows really touting this guy. And I said, where did he come from all of a sudden?
HENRY: He's a senior member of the Veterans Committee. He has been big on veterans' issues. That's where Democrats think maybe that would be a good play, obviously with both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan going on. But also, he actually represents the district that I have been to many times, right around the president's ranch there in Crawford, Waco, Texas. So the idea is maybe you have a Democrat who, again, could play in a red state, Don.
LEMON: Yes. And you're absolutely right about Kathleen Sebelius because of the woman vote that Hillary Clinton captured and Barack Obama needs to get that as well.
HENRY: Critical.
LEMON: Ed Henry, we appreciate it. Thank you very much for that.
KAYE: And as we head to convention season, we're bringing you more of what the presidential candidates are saying on the campaign trail. Republican John McCain is stumping today in Pennsylvania. Here's what he had to say about the energy crunch a short time ago at a stop in Lafayette Hill (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to solve the energy crisis that's affecting businesses like National Label Company, and we need an all of the above approach. We need to aggressively develop alternative energies like wind, solar, tide, biofuels and geothermal, but we also need to expand our use of existing energy resources here at home.
That means we need more nuclear power. It means we need clean coal technology, and that means we need to offshore drill for oil and natural gas. We need to drill here and we need to drill now. And anybody who says that we can achieve energy independence without using and increasing these existing energy resources either doesn't have the experience to understand the challenge we face, or isn't giving the American people some straight talk.
Unfortunately, Senator Obama continues to oppose offshore drilling. He continues to oppose the use of nuclear power. These misguided policies would result in higher energy costs to American families and businesses and increased dependence on foreign oil. We're not going to achieve energy independence by inflating our tires.
I'm going to lead our nation to energy independence and I'm going to do it with a realistic and comprehensive all of the above approach that uses every resource available to finally solve this crisis.
As a lot of Americans know, the Congress, doing nothing, decided to go on a five-week recess without addressing the energy challenge that's affecting Americans every single day in their ability to go to work, in their ability to do their jobs, and their ability to keep inflation down as they're trying to do here at the National Label Company, and they need a Congress that will act.
Congress should come back into session. Congress should come back into session, and I'm willing to come off the campaign trail. I call on Senator Obama to call on Congress to come back into town and come back to work, come off their recess, come off their vacation, and address this energy challenge to America and don't leave until we do. Republican and Democrat joining together and a very vital part of that is nuclear power, and another vital part of that is offshore drilling.
We have to drill here and drill now, not wait and see whether there's areas to explore, not wait and see whether there's a package that needs to be put together, but drill here and drill now. And let's start working for the American people and not for ourselves.
So, I hope that Senator Obama will call on Congress and the leaders, Harry Reid, and Speaker Pelosi, will call Congress back into session. Let's get this energy crisis solved as Americans have been able to solve every challenge that's faced us and move forward and work for America and put America first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: After his stop in Pennsylvania, McCain heads to South Dakota.
And we want to bring back in Ed henry. He's going to join us now live once again.
There you are, Ed. Good to see you again.
We want to talk about how McCain may be planning to fill out the rest of his ticket. Who would you say are the top names for the Republican vice presidential candidates?
HENRY: Well certainly Mitt Romney is still either at, or near, the top of the list. He was on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" today and side stepped whether he'd be on the ticket insisting he just wants to work for the ticket. But let's face it, he was someone who got a lot of votes from the Republican primaries. He excites conservatives. And also, he's big, as a former businessman, he's big on the economy. That's issue No. 1 out on the campaign trail. So Romney would clearly be an asset.
You see a new face there, Eric Cantor, on the far left there. He's from Virginia, the Richmond area. His name surfaced over the weekend. He's a Jewish Republican. There's a feeling he might help hold Virginia in the Republican column, also might play well in states like Florida. But he's not well-known nationally per se.
Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota governor, also, while a fresh face, somebody that conservatives get excited about. He's not a national figure per se. And Rob Portman from Ohio. A critical there that Ohio is the state that essentially decided the 2004 election. He's a former congressman from that state. He could be a big asset there.
A potential downside, though, is that while he has a strong resume of having served in a lot of Washington jobs, Portman served a couple of those jobs in the Bush administration and bringing him on at a time when John McCain wants to sort of separate himself from the Bush administration might be difficult. I think the bottom line, though, is that a lot of conservatives think it's important for McCain to get somebody who can go out on the trail and attack Barack Obama.
We saw last week when they really mixed it up that while McCain may have picked up some ground by beating up on Obama, there's a question about lone-term whether that's a bad thing for him to always be on the attack. Maybe he needs a VP candidate to be doing that while McCain himself talks about positive things, what he would do if he was elected president, Randi.
KAYE: And there's a lot of talk, Ed, that Romney may be the man to play the good cop/bad cop with McCain because he has been out there attacking.
HENRY: Absolutely. He has been. He was on "AMERICAN MORNING." He's done a lot of these morning shows where he goes on the attack against Obama. Again, the economy a big asset. And Romney is a known quantity. He's somebody who has been vetted, obviously, having run for president himself.
In terms of timing though, while there had been a lot of speculation that maybe McCain would do it early this month, people close to the campaign now think it's more likely to be more at the end of the month before the Republican convention, Randi.
KAYE: All right. Ed Henry, we'll have to leave it there.
Thanks so much.
HENRY: Thank you.
LEMON: When is the last time members of Congress refused to leave for vacation? We'll tell you why some Republicans are hunkered down in D.C.
And of course many kids love them. Some even throw fits to get them. But how nutritious are all of those kid's meals?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The U.N. finds more than 30 million people worldwide are living with the virus that causes AIDS. The infection rate is down, but in the U.S. it's still a lot higher than the government had thought.
CNN's medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, has been looking at those numbers, and she joins us now. OK, so what happened? Is this a new way of calculating?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Very simple. They just came up with a more sensitive -- a better test for calculating how many Americans are getting infected with HIV every year. And really, the number jumped a lot when they came up with the more accurate test. Let's take a look at this.
The old estimate was 40,000 new infections per year. The new estimate 56,300. That's a 40 percent difference. That is quite big. Now, how are people getting HIV? Still the big chunk are gay and bisexual men, that's about 53 percent, 31 percent of people with HIV are getting it through heterosexual contact, and about 12 percent are getting it by using injection drugs.
Now, something that's very interesting is across the board, a big chunk of these people are under the age of 30. And, Don, the fear is that they have not heard, or at least aren't listening to, the messages that others have heard for decades: use condoms, don't share needles. Somehow those messages are not getting to people the way that they should.
LEMON: I always wonder because -- you know, you and I are old enough to remember when people were dying in such mass numbers and you don't see that now with all the cocktails. People appear to be healthier. So maybe it's just not getting to them. And even with this, this doesn't count the people who already have HIV or HIV- positive, I should say, and don't even know it.
COHEN: Exactly. And that is truly scary.
Take a look at this number. One out of four people with HIV does not know that they're infected. This could be a nightmare scenario for two reasons. One, those people can be out there spreading HIV and they don't even know that they have the disease.
No. 2, those drugs that Don just mentioned, they work better the earlier on that you take them. If you don't know you're infected, that means you're not taking these medicines.
LEMON: All right. We've been talking -- last week because the number came out about African-Americans. So let's look at the ethnic breakdown and who is getting it. I would imagine women, African- American women, and African-Americans, should be right at the top of this list.
COHEN: They are. They are. They are right at the top.
Unfortunately, African-Americans are very overrepresented in this group -- 45 percent of people who are HIV-positive in this country are African-American, 36 percent white, and 17 percent Hispanic. So that sort of gives you kind of a look at who has HIV in this country.
LEMON: And what is -- is that not wanting to know? Is that burying heads in the sand? I have no idea why. COHEN: Part of it is a stigma. There's said to be a stigma in the African-American community about talking about sexuality, especially about diseases that you can get through homosexual contact.
LEMON: That's stigma.
OK. Elizabeth, appreciate it. Thank you very much.
COHEN: Thanks.
KAYE: They are tasty, they are filling, and they take a lot of the guesswork out of family dinners. But kids meals, as many parents have long suspected, aren't really all that healthy. A report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest shows most kid's meals are actually loaded with calories. The center focused on 13 major restaurant chains from Jack-in-the-Box to Chile's.
You can hear more from Elizabeth Cohen on this topic next hour.
No shoes, no shirt, no pants, but -- but -- he is wearing sunglasses.
LEMON: At least he's covered somewhere.
KAYE: At least police didn't need to do a strip search when they got to this gas station.
LEMON: And Brett Favre is back in Green Bay. We'll have the latest twist in the soap opera surrounding Brett Favre -- or Favre as we call him in Chicago.
KAYE: Affectionately.
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KAYE: Here's a first for the Olympic Games. The South African swimmer who lost her leg in a motorcycle accident is the first female amputee to qualify for both the Olympics and the Paralympics. She'll do it in swimming's most grueling event, the 10-kilometer race. That is six miles of swimming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATALIE DU TOIT, OLYMPIC SWIMMER: When I had my accident and lost my leg, you know, I started from scratch. I started -- I had no endurance, I had no muscles. I had lost everything. So for me, it was difficult. I stayed with the same approach. Just working my way up lane by lane to the fastest (ph) lane and trying to reach my dream of going to the Olympic Games.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLY VON TOROS, DU TOIT'S COACH: She's very stubborn. That could be good and bad. Good for swimming because she never gives up. Difficult for the coach because she never gives up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: She never gives up, and that is a good attribute to have.
Can you imagine the upper body strength on her?
So where can you follow the action in the pool to see how Natalie makes out? No ticket to Beijing needed. We've got it right here. We've got tons of summer games -- the information right online. And our Veronica De La Cruz is here to talk about it.
She's an extraordinary person, Veronica.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She really is. She really is. And it's going to be exciting to watch.
You can watch it all online. We've created this special report, Don. You can go ahead and check out what events are taking place, when they're going to be takes place. And we partnered up with "Sports Illustrated" to do all of this, to help you stay on top of everything going on.
And something really cool, Don. Keep up to date with Olympics in the world. It's our blog. We're going to be blogging, and that's going to offer you a unique perspective from journalists who are at the games. And Don, we even have Olympic athletes blogging as well.
For example, let's go ahead and take a look at Peter Reed's blog. He's a 26-year-old British rower. Don, he has a really interesting story. He was recruited after he was spotted -- get this Don -- he was recruited after he was spotted using a rowing machine at the gym.
Did you get that?
LEMON: Yes, I got that. You know -- if you've ever seen me doing a rowing machine, you know he must be extraordinary.
OK. So listen, I imagine you guys have figured out a way to tell people exactly what's happening and when online, haven't you?
DE LA CRUZ: Yes, absolutely. Check out our gallery of anticipated events. There you can find out more about certain sports that you don't want to miss. You can mark them on your calendar.
For example, you want to stay on top of the swimming events. You want to watch Natalie Du Toit and also Michael Phelps -- August 17th is the date. All eyes are going to be on Michael Phelps challenging Mark Spitz's record of seven Olympic gold medals in one game, Don. And then the ladies event as well, 41-year-old Dana Torres. She is going to be going for the gold. And she is really inspirational -- 41- years-old.
And, Don, we were just talking about rowing two seconds ago. So does that mean that you're not athletic?
LEMON: No, I am. It's just that that rowing machine is tough.
You were talking about Mark Spitz. I remember when I was a kid, my sister had a mad crush on Mark Spitz. And now, I'm sure you know her daughters, her kids have a crush on Michael Phelps.
DE LA CRUZ: I'm sure.
LEMON: It all comes full circle, right?
DE LA CRUZ: One of the reasons I'm asking you whether or not you're athletic is because you don't have to be. You can actually get in the games right here. You can compete in this track and field game online. You can challenge yourself to see how fast you complete this 100-meter dash. Also, Don, you can see how well you do in the javelin throw.
So lots to find online at CNN.com/Olympics. Also, we're looking for your i-reports. If you are lucky enough to make it to the games, go ahead and send us your pictures and video -- Don.
LEMON: Yes. We've got the sports guy here, Ray D'Alessio, who's going to do a segment coming up. And Randi -- they just said, that was kind of a slam, Don.
KAYE: Don doesn't have to be fit. In other words, Don, you're not fit.
LEMON: Thanks, Veronica.
DE LA CRUZ: Bye, Don.
LEMON: Bye.
KAYE: All right. So first a teary farewell, then a change of heart, hurt feelings, now a stab at making up. That is the soap opera from Green Bay, Wisconsin, starring the Packers Brett Favre. And Ray D'Alessio is here with the latest scene from this never ending drama.
What a drama it is.
RAY D'ALESSIO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: You know what I think, Randi? I honestly think the Packers and Brett Favre should be nominated for a daytime Emmy. I really do.
KAYE: He actually now -- the NFL has reinstated him.
D'ALESSIO: Right. He was officially reinstated today at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
KAYE: Right. And he has to actually tryout for his old job as starting quarterback.
D'ALESSIO: Exactly. And basically what was going to happen today, Randi -- he was reinstated at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, then he had to go through the routine physicals, even take a running test. And then most importantly here is that head coach Mike McCarthy wanted to meet with Brett Favre face-to-face. That's supposed to happen sometime today, maybe tonight. But up until now, they've only really talked on the phone.
KAYE: So we have no idea what this tryout will be, or even if it will ever happen?
D'ALESSIO: Exactly. There have been reports that the Packers are going to open up the competition between himself, between Brett Favre, and Aaron Rodgers. Mike McCarthy was basically saying, hey listen, I want to sit down, I want to meet with Favre face-to-face, really gauge his interest in coming back and playing for, not only the Packers, but playing in the NFL.
KAYE: So is it ego, or -- why come back?
D'ALESSIO: I think it's just the guy -- the guy just loves football. He loves the competition. He's 38-years-old. He's been playing football his whole life. And at certain times of the year, you're used to being in camp, you're used to being around the guys. Well he didn't have that after he retired in March. And all of a sudden he was like, you know what? I kind of miss this game. I think I want to come back.
KAYE: He's not the first guy to want to come back. Michael Jordan came back. But he didn't do it like this. He issued a simple press release -- a two-word press release from the NBA that said, I'm back.
D'ALESSIO: Michael Jordan retired three times, the first one back in 1993. Came back in 1995 -- what we're seeing here -- did not really have a good year that year. But then '96, '97, '98, he led the Bulls to the NBA finals. They won the championships in all three of those years. Retired again, came back in 2001, played two seasons with the Wizards.
So it can be done. And he actually -- as we said, Michael Jordan did have success when he came back with the Bulls the first time, but now when he -- obviously never led the Wizards to the playoffs. But you look at Brett Favre, the guy still looks to be in very, very good shape. He keeps himself in great shape, and he's a competitor.
KAYE: Yes. It will be interesting to see how his comeback is received, and where he goes back to.
D'ALESSIO: It's a mixed reaction. I've talked to a lot of Packer fans who are happy he's back. And I have talked to a lot of Packer fans say, you know what? The team is Aaron Rodgers now. Aaron -- we need to move forward with Aaron Rodgers.
KAYE: Let it go.
D'ALESSIO: Exactly.
KAYE: All right. Thanks so much, Ray.
D'ALESSIO: OK. LEMON: I'm going to end this segment on a sad note from the sports world. Sports fiction, Atlanta, a voice heard round the nation, part of a broadcasting dynasty -- Skip Caray was all of those things, all of the above. The longtime Atlanta Braves broadcaster died yesterday at the age of 68. He called Braves games on TV and radio for 33 years. Caray's father was legendary baseball broadcaster Harry Caray. Harry used to say, holy cow.
Skip had his own declaration, though.
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VOICE OF SKIP CARAY, BRAVES ANNOUNCER: The runners lead. A lot of room in right center. If he hits one there, we can dance in the streets. The 2-1 -- swung, line drive, left field. One run is in. Here comes (INAUDIBLE). Here's the throw to the plate.
He is safe! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Caray's sons Chip and Josh are also announcers for the Braves organization. Their dad had been doing only home games this year due to his failing health. Skip Caray was 68-years-old.
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