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Obama to Announce VP Choice; Florida Copes with Fay; Schools Boost Security Measures; NATO Holds Emergency Meeting to Discuss State of Russia/Georgia Conflict

Aired August 19, 2008 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: An eastern Senator, a western governor, a Midwestern Senator or none of the above? Barack Obama may have decided on a running mate, and we may find out pretty soon.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Same spot, different storm. Fay follows in the footsteps of Hurricane Wilma in Florida but with far less impact. We'll see where it stands now.

LEMON: And look at this little face. We will also meet Rosie, a 7-year-old Ohio girl who wrote the book on generosity. You won't believe how she just celebrated her birthday.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. You've live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Oh, it's about that time the suspense builds. Hours from now we may know Barack Obama's choice for his running mate. Today Obama is on a southern swing, addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the convention in Orlando, Florida. This evening, the Democratic candidate's got a town-hall meeting in North Carolina.

Republican John McCain is also in the south after a stop in Florida. He's now in Louisiana, where he is touring an oil rig near New Orleans. McCain is pushing for more offshore drilling as part of his energy plan.

Well, Obama plans to reveal his running mate to his supporters through text messages and e-mail. And CNN's senior political analyst, Mr. Bill Schneider, joins us now from Denver at the site of next week's Democratic national convention.

Do I see what I see in my periphery? Bill Schneider wearing a good old time hat there.

So Bill, besides the hat, who's at the top of the short list for VP?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the correct answer is nobody knows except the nominee and maybe a few close associates. But we're all guessing. I have my list; you probably have yours. Most political analysts think the top of the list would be Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana. Hillary Clinton may still be on the list; Bill Richardson also a hot prospect. That's the short list that most analysts agree on.

LEMON: OK, well, let's talk about Evan Bayh. What would Evan Bayh bring to the ticket, Bill?

SCHNEIDER: Midwestern appeal, an area of the country where there are a lot of swing states, not necessarily his own state of Indiana. That's pretty solidly Republican, but a lot of states there want to see a Midwesterner on the ticket. That's where Obama was weak in the primaries.

And Bayh was a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton. So the expectation is maybe he could bring some Clinton supporters over to the ticket and make peace in the party.

LEMON: OK, I saw in the pictures there you're talking about Governor Tim Kaine. His name keeps coming up. Talk about that, Bill.

SCHNEIDER: Virginia, Virginia, Virginia, which is now, surprisingly hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1964, but it looks like it could be a swing state. It's been trending Democratic. Tim Kaine is Catholic. He speaks fluent Spanish. And again, it's a swing state.

LEMON: OK. We're also hearing about Al Gore. Al Gore is speaking at the convention. And what will he bring to the party? Obviously, he is not on the short list for VP, right?

SCHNEIDER: Well, how's this? A Nobel Peace Prize, Oscar. Those are pretty big things.

He will also, of course, remind the Democrats, as if they needed reminding, what might have been, because he got 540,000 more votes than George W. Bush, and many Democrats here at this convention continue to say their selection was stolen from them by a packed Supreme Court. So they're going to look at Al Gore, and they'll say "if only." It'll be like a return of times passed.

LEMON: OK, thank you, Bill. As we wait on this e-mail THAT we've been talking about from the Barack Obama campaign, do you want to explain to us your hat real quick?

SCHNEIDER: Oh, the hat?

LEMON: Yes.

SCHNEIDER: Well, Don, just between you and me, and this is our little secret, this is not really a political hat. It certainly looks like one, and if I were going to throw my hat in the ring, this is the hat I would throw. But between ourselves, I got this hat in Venice. It's actually the same hat that the gondoliers use when they row the gondolas in Venice. But let's keep that between ourselves.

LEMON: All right. Well, you look very smart and spiffy in that hat. Mr. Bill Schneider, our senior political analyst. Thank you very much for that, sir.

And a week from Friday could be a red-letter day on the McCain calendar. Sources say the Republican candidate may reveal his running mate then. That also happens to McCain's 72nd birthday and the day after the Democratic National Convention ends.

Right now, five men appear to be at the top of McCain's list: governors Charlie Crist of Florida, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana; former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge; and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

John McCain and Barack Obama in their own words. The two candidates talk military issues on campaign swings in the south. Coming up this hour, we'll hear what both men are saying about that.

PHILLIPS: Well, Fay never quite made it to a hurricane, but it's still making a name for itself. With soaking rains and gusty winds, the tropical storm washed ashore in Florida for the second time right before dawn near Cape Romano. Since then it's been lumbering across the state, causing flooding, knocking out power, and apparently spawning at least one tornado. It's expected to move toward the northeast, but you never know.

Jacqui Jeras, of course, is following the sloppy storm. What do you got for us, Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, this is a storm that just doesn't want to weaken, Kyra. It's been moving over some kind of marshy areas. And of course, the elevation very flat here. So we're looking at maximum sustained winds at 65 miles per hour. That's the update. That's even up from just a couple of hours ago. So we've got a nice burst of convection there.

There you can see the center of circulation. It's very near the town of Moore Haven. And we have an unofficial report now from the last hour from Moore Haven. A storm spotter's out there. He's got his own equipment. And his equipment is estimating a wind gust of 81 miles per hour. So that is hurricane strength. So this storm is still packing a punch.

About 93,000 people are without power. That's what Florida Power and Light is estimating across south Florida. So we still have a lot to contend with with this storm.

You mentioned the tornado that happened in Willington earlier today. Well, we've got a new warning to tell you about. This is Indian River County and St. Lucie County under a tornado warning. This storm is moving up to the northwest, by the way, so it's kind of the opposite direction of what we normally expect tornadoes to develop in as they come in with these outer bands. The threat of tornadoes is going to continue. We also have a big problem of some flooding rains anticipated. You can see things are starting to wind down a little bit on the west coast. There you can see Punta Gorda, Florida, wasn't too far away from ground zero. We want to check in on conditions there now. We've got our own Sean Callebs, looking a little wet and a little windy at this hour.

How have things changed, Sean? What's the latest there?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, really, you know, there has been a drenching rain that has really been punishing this area for hours and hours. It has let up significantly now, I'd say in the last half hour or so. But we are still getting buffeted by some pretty good winds.

What we're told, the winds are gusting to just about 40 miles an hour. And if you look behind me, that bridge that really connects Punta Gorda with Port Charlotte, very little traffic has been coming over that bridge. A lot of people have been heeding the warnings, Jacqui, that have been going out, those emergency warnings: look, stay inside unless you absolutely have to go outside. Because so many people here in in this area really remember four years ago when Hurricane Charlie really punished this area, and it wasn't supposed to hit Punta Gorda. It was supposed to hit much further up north in Tampa, St. Pete area, but, boy, this area just got whacked, Jacqui.

JERAS: Absolutely. Kind of a walk in the park, maybe, compared to Charlie, huh, Sean?

CALLEBS: Indeed, indeed. I was down here four years ago after that, and what I remember most of all coming up the day after. You know, how a hurricane takes all the humidity out of the air, blue skies. But it was just oppressively hot. There was no power. And there were a number of mobile home parks here in this area that simply got devastated.

So when these warnings do come out, those people really take the warnings seriously. They either batten down the hatches and get out or they try to get to some place much safer than a mobile home.

JERAS: And Sean, real quick, has the area really recovered since Charlie?

CALLEBS: Yes, it really has. We went through a couple of the very -- of the larger parks that got hit. There were a number of new trailers there. There were some -- we talked to residents who had done a certain amount of fixing up, but there were a lot of slabs where the trailers simply got trashed.

We spoke with one lady who said that she basically had to shove it to the curb, pay FEMA $1,200, and it was taken away. She got $30,000 in insurance. She moved from Punta Gorda to a mobile home park just across the bridge. And she's heading for higher ground today. Hoping -- I hope she's safe and moved on with her daughter on to South Carolina.

JERAS: I guess she's in love with the area. Thanks, Sean Callebs.

I guess the big question now is where is the storm going to be going? Here's the forecast track for you. It's moving northeast now, and it's likely going to take a big left-hand hook. And we're very concerned about flooding with in this storm now, Kyra, because it's slowing down and it's going to get blocked out by a high pressure system to the north.

We wish it was a drought buster for so many of us here across the southeast. Unfortunately, I think it might stay a little too far south for a lot of folks.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll keep talking. Thanks, Jacqui.

Well, here's just one reason you shouldn't going kite-boarding in a tropical storm.

Well, believe it or not, he's in stable condition right now. We're saying that we're finding out that he got slammed into the beach and the side of a building there in Miami. The 26-year-old was actually strapped into a harness, so he was unable to free himself.

LEMON: Well, rescuers used whatever floats to reach people in Roma, Texas, whatever they could get. It's been raining buckets for days in that border town, the Rio Grande Valley. The water's up to peoples' waists there. About 750 homes are flooded. A lot of people are drying out in shelters, though, but some folks refuse to leave their homes, afraid their belongings will be stolen.

More rescues and evacuations are underway in Oklahoma, which certainly has had its share of rain this summer. The latest downpours have led to more flooding west of Oklahoma City. Only one southbound lane of Interstate 44 is open heading into Texas. We'll take you there live next hour.

PHILLIPS: And in Afghanistan, the deadliest attack on international forces in more than three years, ten French paratroopers killed today in an ambush. NATO says about 100 insurgents took part. An Afghan source says that 27 were killed. It happened about 30 miles from the Afghan capital of Kabul.

And a warning from NATO now, mixed signals from Russia, all part of the ongoing conflict in the Republic of Georgia. And here's what we know at this point. NATO allies meeting in Belgium warned Moscow to honor the ceasefire and pull out of Georgia or forget about business as usual with the alliance.

Georgians say that Russian soldiers seized about 20 Georgian troops, blindfolding them and holding them at gunpoint. They were taken to a nearby town where Russians have set up a base. Those Russian also commandeered American Humvees awaiting shipment back to the U.S.

And on the plus side, well, Georgia and Russia did exchange some 20 POWs and a small column of Russian tanks and armor left the city of Gori, the first indication of a Russian pullback from its southern neighbor.

We're going to have more on the conflict from our state correspondent, Zain Verjee, at the half hour.

Well, straight ahead, it's not the Wild West anymore, or is it? Teachers in one Texas school district can start carrying guns to school.

LEMON: At Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Army commanders are on the defensive after reports of untreated mold in barracks where wounded soldiers are recovering.

PHILLIPS: And she's making a splash with everyone who hears about her mission. We're going to meet a young Ohio girl whose birthday wish is benefiting hundreds of sick children.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Take a look at this unbelievable video. In New York, police are going after a mugger who is going after the elderly. They need your help today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Reading, writing, and revolvers? Well, the three "R's" could soon be changing, or changing parts of Texas. Governor Rick Perry says that it's OK for teachers in Harold Independence School District to carry concealed guns in class. The district is a remote area near the Oklahoma border, and supporters say the controversial policy could stop school shootings.

Any teacher who wants to work armed would have to be licensed, trained in crisis management, and use ammo that minimizes the risk of a ricochet.

LEMON: Well, don't mess with Texas teachers. And don't try to get into one Illinois district schools if you don't belong there. When students returned today in Edwardsville, they were greeted by some A-plus technology. Faculty and staff now get into the buildings with a fingerprint scan. Visitors have to hand over their driver's licenses, which are scanned and compared to a digital database.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MIENER, DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR: Sex offenders that are the primary people that we're looking for. And then for the custody situations that we need to be alerted to.

KYLEE KUBA, TEACHER: The doors are already locked. So there's no way they can get into the building without anyone knowing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The doors will lock automatically behind you. They can, I believe, they can record and see who has come in and out of the buildings and when. So I definitely think it's much better security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You want to know the price tag for installing all this stuff at the district's 14 schools? It's about $1 million. It came from tax proceeds and a building referendum.

Fingerprint scanners, teachers packing heat. Is this good security? Or is it overkill? We want to know what you think. Make sure you e-mail us at cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. And tell us why you would or wouldn't enter your child in schools like these.

In our 3:00 p.m. Eastern hour here in the CNN NEWSROOM, we'll take a closer look at the guns in schools issue. Two guests join us live for a debate.

Outrage on a Brooklyn elevator, the security camera shows it all. This man here grabs an 85-year-old woman, chokes her, then steals her purse, containing $900, and even takes her cane.

This is a different shot of the suspect. New York police believe he's connected to a string of attacks targeting elderly victims. They're asking the public to help identify him.

LEMON: Over the fence and on the run. Two inmates who escaped a minimum security prison in Ohio are still on the loose. Police say the men had been in the Eastern Ohio Correction Center less than a month when they scaled a back fence on Saturday. They were being evaluated for placement in rehabilitation programs at the time.

Well, those escapees not behind the wheel of this car. That smashed into a home in Bath Township, Ohio, yesterday. Police weren't sure why the driver lost control. They do know, though, that he was going fast enough to plow through some fences across 600 feet of lawn and through that brick wall. The homeowners were a couple -- couple rooms away when it happened, actually. They say it sounded like an explosion. The driver had to be pried out of that car, but he's expected to be OK.

LEMON: NATO's emergency meeting, warning Russia to live up to the ceasefire agreement signed with Georgia. We'll bring you the latest from Belgium.

LEMON: And defending Fort Sill against accusations of its own ailing troops. Is there a mold problem in some of these buildings?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's issue No. 1, the nation's economy, and your money. And hey, if you were planning on buying a Chevy, Saab, Caddy, or any other GM vehicle today, you better stop. Wait until tomorrow, when you can get the employee discount.

General Motors is bringing back its employee pricing promotion. Nearly all 2008 models and some 2009s are eligible. The deal goes from tomorrow through September 2, as GM tries to clear out some of its inventory. Bad news, though, for GM, and the other American car companies. Foreign car makers again in cruise control in the latest American customer satisfaction index. Lexus and BMW tie for the top score, Honda and Toyota tied for the next spot. And Saturn's score jumped, by the way, from last year's, but the Buick and Cadillac scores were down.

LEMON: A double dose of bad news on inflation is casting a shadow over Wall Street today. Our Stephanie Elam is at the New York Stock Exchange with a look at the numbers and what they mean for you.

Stephanie Elam, how are you today?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm good, Don, but the markets aren't feeling nearly as rosy at all.

Let's talk a bit about producer prices. That's what companies pay for goods. And the index that we watched showed that it jumped 1.2 percent, the index in July. That's double what analysts were expecting.

And the annual rate of wholesale inflation is near 10 percent, and it's at a 27-year high. Now, even if we were to take out those volatile food and energy prices, take them right out the mix, the inflation rate was 0.7 percent and that was triple expectation.

Now, again, I've got to point out that these are July numbers we're talking about here, and that was a month in which oil was up to a record $147 a barrel. Today, oil is now more than $30 lower than it was at that point, Don.

LEMON: All right. Wait a minute. So does that mean that July numbers can be taken in stride, Stephanie?

ELAM: Well, that's what Wall Street is expecting the Federal Reserve to do. Because the August PPI numbers should actually reflect those recent declines in oil and other commodity prices, as well as the strengthening in the U.S. dollar of late. That should allow the fed to leave interest rates where they are into next year.

All right, let's go ahead and take a look at the big board where we were looking at triple-digit losses. But it looks like we're just below that now. All, of course, with this PPI report. And also there was a report on housing starts hitting a 17-year low, showing continued weakness in the housing market.

All right. So the Dow off 99 points, just below it, at 11,379. NASDAQ is off just about 1 percent at this point. So we'll keep our eyes on it.

And in the next hour, we'll dig deeper into that housing report to see if the battered housing market is starting to bottom out or if it's poised to keep on sliding, Don.

Back to you.

LEMON: All right, Stephanie Elam. We look forward to that. Thank you.

ELAM: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: John McCain is pushing for more offshore oil drilling as a way to ease the energy crunch. His backdrop today is an oil rig near New Orleans. Yesterday the Republican presidential candidate talked military issues in Florida. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president. What's less apparent is the judgment to be commander in chief.

And in matters of national security, good judgment will be at a premium in the term of the next president, as we were all reminded ten days ago by events in the nation of Georgia.

It's been a while since most Americans, including most of our leaders and diplomats, have viewed Russia as a threat to the peace. But the Russian government's assault on a small democratic neighbor shows why this needs revising.

As I have long warned, Russia under the rule of Vladimir Putin is becoming more aggressive toward the now democratic nations that broke free of the old Soviet empire.

Russia, as we know, also holds vast energy wealth. And this heavy influence in the oil and gas market has become a potential weapon that Russia is clearly prepared to use.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And still ahead this hour, we're going to hear what Barack Obama had to say to veterans in Orlando.

LEMON: A 7-year-old makes a splash with her birthday party. Find out why Rosie's birthday wish is helping 450 sick children. We'll talk with her in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Time to tell you about some of the stories we're working on for you today in the NEWSROOM.

Tropical Storm Fay -- you can see it in the video right behind me -- battering south Florida with heavy wind and rain after making landfall this morning. In its wake, downed trees, flooded streets, and power outages. The latest forecast: possible tornadoes over the eastern half of the Florida Peninsula.

Suspense is rising over who Barack Obama and John McCain will pick as their running mates. Both candidates are sharing their plans only with a small select group of advisors.

And the hunt is on for this man caught on video attacking and robbing an elderly woman in a New York City elevator. Eighty-five- year-old Lillian France was choked and robbed of $900 last week.

PHILLIPS: Well as we mentioned, NATO is holding an emergency meeting on the conflict between Russia and the Republic of Georgia. Our Zain Verjee has the latest now from Brussels.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: At NATO, ministers called for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops, saying there has been no withdrawal and that Russia needs to keep its word. The head of NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, says that it is not going to be business as usual with Russia.

JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER, SECRETARY GENERAL OF NATO: The fact that we have this meeting, this special meeting, this emergency meeting, of the North Atlantic Council I think is already proof of the fact that there is not, and there cannot be, business as usual.

VERJEE: NATO says it's going to put on hold meetings that it has regularly with Russia until they withdraw troops from Georgia.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was really looking for NATO to send a much tougher message to Russia. She was looking for a suspension in full by NATO and the European Union of relations with Russia, sending it into a deep freeze. What they did agree on here in Brussels was to support Georgia and the territorial integrity. They committed themselves to helping rebuild Georgia. Ministers here also established a NATO-Georgia commission to oversee Georgia's bid for E.U. membership. But they did not agree to fast track Georgia into NATO.

Zain Verjee, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: One day after getting rid of the man that they despise, Pakistan's ruling coalition is wrangling over who will replace former President Pervez Musharraf. He resigned yesterday rather than face probable impeachment. Musharraf was expected to leave the country, but the new government says there's no immunity deal.

The U.S. weighed in today, saying it's once close ally in President Bush's war on terror has the right to live wherever he wants.

LEMON: A good way of describing what you're seeing on video right here is a slow-moving soaker. It's Tropical Storm Fay inching its way inland, making landfall in southwest Florida right before dawn. It didn't become a hurricane, but it's big enough to cause flooding, power outages, and tornadoes. And it's big enough for our Jacqui Jeras to be keeping an eye on this. So Jacqui, where is this tropical storm now? Where is Fay headed?

JERAS: Fay may have moved, but this storm hasn't changed all that much.

LEMON: Still soaking and --

JERAS: Still soaking and still just as strong, which is just amazing, really. We've made landfall around Cape Romano about 5:00 this morning around here. And now look, it is miles and miles inland, but it's moving over Everglades area, unpopulated area and all that swampy water is really, really warm. Sometimes tropical storm systems can intensify a little bit as they make landfall, and we're looking at 65 mile per hour winds still, and in just the last hour, some storm spotters have some unofficial reports of wind gusts of up to 81 miles per hour. And that's right near Moore Haven, where the center of circulation is now.

We have a brand new tornado warning which was just issued. This is for southern Brevard and also for Osceola Counties. Palm Bay is included and so is Melbourne. The storm moving up towards the north into the west. We've already had one tornado in Wellington earlier today and it did cause some damage at an equestrian center. So be aware that the tornado threat is real. It is out there tonight.

There you can see that center of circulation and all the convection. The real strong stuff right now on the right hand side of the storm here, as it often is. So that's where we expect to see the strongest of winds. But still seeing some pretty good sustained winds out there. Look at this, 40 miles per hour up near the Cape, 25 miles per hour, West Palm Beach, and 21 in Naples.

So Don, the big thing we'll be watching out now as we head into the next couple of days is the movement of this storm. And it's really, really slowed down, only 8 miles per hour. So flooding, we're really worried about that in northern and eastern parts of Florida, especially.

LEMON: We always talk about when these storms stall. That creates, sometimes, more havoc than if they just blow by.

JERAS: Right.

LEMON: And you were talking about moving, you know, we saw John Zarrella yesterday being battered about in Key West.

JERAS: He was.

LEMON: He's moving up to Fort Pierce, so he's probably going to have a tough time getting up there because this thing is stalling, right?

JERAS: Yes, I don't know if you should be out there traveling, John. You be careful out there.

But yes, we've got some real strong winds, we've got driving rain, visibility is reduced and Florida officials are asking people to stay put today.

LEMON: All right, Jacqui Jeras, thank you very much.

And of course we're going to get our John Zarrella on the horn, traveling up to Fort Pierce in just a bit.

PHILLIPS: Barack Obama's on the trail today in Florida and North Carolina. First stop, Orlando where the Democratic candidate spoke to the Veterans of Foreign Affairs. He talked about Iraq, Russia's invasion of Georgia and the stakes for America in the November election. Here's just a bit of that speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Six years ago, I stood up at a time when it was politically difficult to oppose going to war in Iraq and argued that our first priority had to be finishing the fight against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Senator McCain was already turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11. He became a leading supporter of an invasion and occupation of a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. And that, as despicable as Saddam Hussein was, posed no imminent threat to the American people.

Two of the biggest beneficiaries of that decision were al-Qaeda's leadership, which no longer faced the pressure of America's focussed attention, and Iran, which has advanced its nuclear program, continued its support for terror and increased its influence in Iraq and the region.

Today, our attention's also on the Republic of Georgia. Senator McCain and I both strongly support the people of Georgia and the Americans delivering humanitarian aid. There is no possible justification for Russia's actions. Russian troops have yet to begin the withdrawal required by the cease-fire signed by their own president. We're hearing reports of Russian atrocities, burning wheatfields, brutal killings and the destruction of Georgia's infrastructure and military assets.

This crisis underscores the need for engaged U.S. leadership in the world. We failed to head off this conflict and lost leverage in our ability to contain it because our leaders have been distracted, our resources overstretched and our alliances frayed. American leadership means getting engaged earlier to shape events so that we're not merely responding to them. That's why I'm committed to renewing our leadership and rebuilding our alliances as president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Obama heads next to North Carolina for a town hall meeting in Raleigh.

LEMON: All right, well you may remember CNN's John Zarrella getting battered about this time yesterday when Fay hit Key West. Apparently, that just wasn't enough for him. He is following Fay up to Fort Pierce.

And John, tell us about your journey. Tell us --

There he is right there, new technology.

Tell us what you're seeing, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don.

Well we're actually (INAUDIBLE) at about 8:00 a.m., (INAUDIBLE) and we're now heading north towards Fort Pierce, we just passed Stewart. A lot of water you can see. Not much rain right now. Very light traffic. We're on the Florida turnpike, but along the edges there in the swell, you can see how much water the storm has already dumped all along this area of southeastern Florida.

Now, we're headed up towards Fort Pierce, but, you know, the weather has been (INAUDIBLE) the rain has actually been somewhat helpful because we've been in a terrible drought. Off to my west is Lake Okeechobee, which has been way below normal. We've been in drought conditions, some water restrictions for about a year now. So this is going to be tremendously helpful for (INAUDIBLE) putting water in Lake Okeechobee.

But again, not a lot of traffic, not a lot of rain, just some light drizzle, a little bit of wind, and of course, some heavy, heavy cloud cover this entire trip. In fact, we saw more rain down in Broward County after we were heading north than we have in Palm Beach County. We're now up here in Martin County. We're about 15 miles away right now, Don, from getting into the Fort Pierce area. Again, you can see how light the traffic is and just a little rain falling -- Don.

LEMON: Yes, we can see just how light the traffic is, and all the rain, too, coming down there. As Jacqui Jeras told us just a little while ago, John Zarrella, that this thing is kind of stalling and providing a lot of rain and some flooding. Some parts, it may be good, as John mentioned because of the drought, the terrible drought, we have been having here in the southeast.

We're going to get back to our John Zarrella in a little bit. He is traveling from Key West to Fort Pierce, about 287 miles, I believe. And he said he's about 15 miles away. So more reports like this from John Zarrella in just a bit -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: The Army's commanders at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, defending themselves now after reports of untreated mold in barracks for recovering wounded soldiers.

Darrille Snipes of affiliate KOCO was among reporters getting a tour of those apparently fixed barracks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COL. ROBERT BRIDGFORD, FORT SILL GARRISON COMMANDER: This thing is sealed behind the wallpaper and of no threat to soldiers. But still, when we see that seal broken we see something behind it, and you pull it back -- we identified it. You may ask, why haven't you fixed it yet?

DARRIELLE SNIPES, KOCO REPORTER: Colonel Robert Bridgford shows the media the rooms where mold was found.

BRIDGFORD: That little metal piece was flat and that's where the water dripped down and created a problem here with the towel (ph), which you can see has already been fixed.

SNIPES: No soldier was living in this room at the time. It is going through renovation.

The mold was found during a July inspection of the Fort Sill Warrior Transition Unit barracks. Soldiers healing from various ailments live here while they go through treatments.

MAJ. GEN. PETER VANGJEL, FORT SILL COMMANDING OFFICER: In both cases, the mold found was as a result of a command directed inspection.

BRIDGFORD: From that point, until 25 July when we did our second inspection, we had already gone through 46 of the 48 rooms out of (ph) 3,705, and had already cleaned the vents in those rooms.

SNIPES: The inspections actually started back in April. That's when mold was found in the kitchen area of two shared rooms. The soldiers living there were moved immediately.

VANGJEL: The rooms involved indicated mold found was common mold, non-hazardous, much like the mold that we find in many of our homes.

SNIPES: Major General Peter Vangjel defends the Army after a report in the "USA Today." It claims the inspections were because of soldier complaints that went unnoticed. In the paper, a soldier says, "When I wake up in the morning, I have crud in my eyes and I have like this slimy phlegm in the back of my throat."

The Major General says there's no way to prove that soldier got sick from the mold. He hasn't gone to the doctor yet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And the commanding general says that disciplinary actions are being considered against the captain who ordered soldiers not to talk publicly about that mold.

LEMON: Let's talk now about medical care in crisis, contrasting surveys on how emergency room doctors feel you should be treated versus how you feel you should be treated.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, losing weight can save your life, but dropping pounds to save someone else's? We've got a heart warming story of a dad's devotion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Live pictures now from El Reno, Oklahoma. This is actually Canadian County. And you can see the flooding that is taking place due to the conditions there, the tropical storm conditions. Highway 63, State Highway 63, as you can see here -- or 66, rather -- has been closed, evacuations have been called in. We're just starting to get more information from one of our affiliates out there.

Because of these heavy rains, it's led to a number of road closings, actually, not just State Highway 66. We're told also that State Highway 4 has also been closed. And police report that a number of sections of these communities are experiencing flooding problems due to this main area right here that has been flooding for a while now. We'll follow the developments there in Canadian County. That is El Reno, Oklahoma.

LEMON: In the meantime, we have some medical news to share with you. Medical care to relieve your suffering or aggressive care that may not save your life, and what role should divine intervention play? New surveys reveal some interesting differences in the ways you and your doctors view critical care situations.

Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with some details and, of course, the implications, as well.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, there was a really interesting statistic in this study that looked at what happens when you arrived in the hospital. Let's say there has been a horrible car accident, and the doctor says, you know what? There is no hope here, we have tried everything we can, and there is just no hope. So the question posed to regular people, and then also to doctors, is could God step in and save you? Is that possible?

57 percent of just regular people said, yes, God could save you, even when the doctor says that you're on the verge of death. But only 19 percent of doctors say that God could save someone who is truly at the end of their life.

This really sort of asks an interesting question -- how do doctors and patients communicate when they start with such different expectations?

LEMON: OK, so once you're in the E.R. -- what does this mean for doctors and patients and how they do things in the E.R.?

COHEN: Well, the folks who wrote this study, what they said is that doctors really need to think about how they communicate to patients. If a patient says, OK, doctor, I know you think that mom is going to die in the next 10 minutes, but I think an angel might come and save her, doctors need to learn not to giggle at that. They need to learn to have a real discussion about that, because what these statistics show is that doctors and patients are coming from very different places.

LEMON: And these discussions happen a lot in hospitals. I remember, in my family, whether to take my dad off the respirator was -- the doctor was saying you should go ahead and do it, and my mom said, no, I'm still -- he's in the hands of the man upstairs.

COHEN: Exactly a miracle may happen.

LEMON: So this has generated a lot of discussion here in our newsroom. I'm sure you want to hear from viewers.

COHEN: That's right. We're going to be writing about this more later on in my "Empowered Patient" column. And so we want to hear from you. Have you had an experience where you thought that God could save someone in your family who was dying, even when the doctor said there was no hope? You can send us an e-mail at empoweredpatient@cnn.com. We would really like to hear what you have to say on this subject.

LEMON: Very interesting. I would love to hear what people are saying, so come back and tell us.

Thank you, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: You've heard lots of reasons for people to battle the bulge, right? Well a California dad hopes to shed 80 pounds to save his 16-year-old daughter's life. She needs a kidney, and Herb Barber is a match. But he can only donate if he loses the weight. The 270- Barber hopes his former experiences in the Navy and as a wrestler will help slim him down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERB BARBER, DONATING KIDNEY TO DAUGHTER: It will be her choice, but -- so it's my choice basically to get ready for if they do go the transplant route. Hopefully it'll bring us a lot closer together, also.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: His daughter's kidneys have been bad since she was born and have actually gotten worse over the years. Now she's on dialysis until she finally gets a transplant.

LEMON: This is really a heart warming story. A little girl collects more than 1,000 books and she is only 7-years-old. Find out how and why she did it in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're following developing weather news today in the CNN NEWSROOM. You're looking at live pictures now from Canadian County, Oklahoma. There have been more rescues and evacuations under way there which certainly has had its share of rain this summer. The latest downpours have led to more flooding west of Oklahoma City and only one southbound lane of Interstate 44 is open heading into Texas.

We're going to go live there in just about 10 minutes. But, I want to tell you that some homes are being evacuated right now. State Highway 66, between Yukon and El Reno in Canadian County, that has been closed there and there's been flooding along that highway. And the emergency management director says that the water continues to rise this morning -- or this afternoon. And residents had to be rescued from their cars. Again, this is Canadian County, El Reno, Oklahoma.

A live affiliate reporter will join us in the NEWSROOM at the top of the hour.

PHILLIPS: Well, when Rosie turned 7, she wanted to make a big splash with her birthday. Instead of wishing for Hannah Montana CDs or something else for herself, she asked her guests to bring books -- 450 of them, by the way to be precise. But, they weren't for her. She wanted to give them to sick children.

Rosie and her mom Sarah, join me now live fro from Cincinnati to talk about her special birthday wish.

It is so great to see both of you.

SARAH SOLIS, ROSIE'S MOM: Hi, thanks for having us.

PHILLIPS: It's a pleasure.

Rosie, let's start with you.

I had a chance to read the letter you wrote up. And you went door to door throughout various neighborhoods.

Will you read that to me?

ROSIE SOLIS, 7 YEARS OLD: Yes.

PHILLIPS: OK. Go ahead.

R. SOLIS: Hi, this is Rosie. I live on Pandora. I was wondering if you have any books that you weren't reading that are for babies up to 18. Or you could buy one. Because it's a donation for the kids in the children's hospital and they have 450 kids there, so, I need 450 books. When I turn seven on August 16th, all the books go in a big bucket. Thank you, Rosey.

PHILLIPS: I had a hard time reading it, too. I know it was a little -- well the sentence structure there, Rosie, it was very well put together.

Now, you wrote that to try and solicit getting books.

Tell me why you did this. You had seen something on TV about sick children, right?

R. SOLIS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: And that they wanted books?

S. SOLIS: Yes. PHILLIPS: OK. Tell me how that happened. Tell me what you saw and what gave you this idea.

R. SOLIS: Well, I saw these grown ups donating money to the children's hospital. But then I wanted to copy their idea, but except for then my mom called the children's hospital and asked them what they needed mostly. And mostly they needed books. And I said I would donate books to the children's hospital.

PHILLIPS: Oh, mom, this must have humbled you.

What was your reaction when Rosie came to you and said this was what she wanted to do.

S. SOLIS: Honestly, I wasn't surprised. At first I said, well, there's 10 kids coming to your party. That's 10 books. And she said, no I need 450 books. And I said, OK, how are you going to do that? And she said, can I write everybody on your computer. And I said, sure.

So, she sent out some e-mails and then she sat down and wrote a letter. And we made copies and she walked it through the whole neighborhood. And I -- it's -- it's kind of a typical thing for her. I wasn't surprised when she said all 450 children need books.

PHILLIPS: So, Rosie, why is it so important to have such a generous heart, to give back and to participate in charity like this?

Why is that important to you?

R. SOLIS: Because the kids in the children's hospital are sick and I'm not.

PHILLIPS: Oh, Rosie. So I know you're going to take these books to the kids on August 25th.

What are you going to say to them when you bring these books?

R. SOLIS: Here are some books and I hope you enjoy them.

PHILLIPS: Oh, Rosie.

Mom, finally. Have you had discussions with Rosie about this project and how proud you are of her and are you encouraging her to do more of this? And how are her friends reacting to her actions?

S. SOLIS: Oh, her friends think it's great. Every time we came home, there were more books on the porch. We've gotten books from people we don't even know. At her birthday party, the kids all brought bags of books, not just one book. And it's -- it's been the most exciting thing for me to watch and to be a part of.

PHILLIPS: Rosie, what's your final message to kids your age about maybe thinking about doing what you've been doing?

R. SOLIS: Have fun reading the books. PHILLIPS: All right. Rosie and mom, Sarah. Thanks so much for joining us.

Rosie, we're pretty proud of you.

S. SOLIS: Thank you.

LEMON: A lovable bovine with a taste for apples has a tense stand off with a stray bear cub. More on their beef in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, forget about a guard dog. All you need is a cow named Apple, with an attitude. This bovine in Hygiene, Colorado, by the way, near Boulder, had a bit of a beef with a black bear. Apple spotted the young cub in her favorite apple tree, she confronted the bear, she chased it off. Her owner says that Apple loves apples and hey, was just protecting the tree.

LEMON: All right. Well, take a look at this little guy. He could have used protection from a two headed turtle napper. That's the turtle with two heads, not the napper -- just FYI for you. The reptile was a popular resident at a New York pet supply store and animal shelter. Kids in the neighborhood liked to come and see him. Well, the owner thinks a child probably took the turtle. Bring him back, please. He says whoever took it should watch it carefully since two headed turtles don't swim very well and can easily drown. That's a word of advice for you.

The next on the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.