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Awaiting Vice Presidential Announcements; Fay Lingers Over Florida's Coastline; A New Front In U.S. Missile Defense
Aired August 20, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris is on vacation.
See events coming into the NEWSROOM live on Wednesday, August 20th. Here's what's on the run down.
Waiting for number two. Vice presidential announcements expected soon. I'll have a couple of political experts to handicap the favorites.
And Fay watch. The storm hugging the Florida coast this morning. It could refuel over the Atlantic and strike the state a third time.
Plus scientists linking a chemical common in water to diabetes. Drink with caution, in the NEWSROOM.
Who's number two? Speculation and anticipation building today. Who will the presidential candidates pick as running mates? An announcement expected any day now from Barack Obama. One name thought to be on Obama's short list, Delaware senator, Joe Biden.
Here's what he told news crews outside his home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: I promise you, I don't know anything. I have no idea. I haven't spoken to no one.
(CROSSTALK)
BIDEN: I have no idea. I haven't spoken to no one.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You have not spoken with the campaign at all?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) you said it's not me.
BIDEN: I have not spoken with anyone. I have not spoken with anyone.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You're not ruing out that you're still being considered then?
BIDEN: I have no idea. You know as little as I do.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: Hmm. Suzanne Malveaux on VP watch this morning. So, all right, Suzanne, we've heard from Biden. What are the other potential running mates saying?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's interesting, Heidi, because we usually hear a lot from Biden. What's fascinating, he's been quiet, kind of mum the last week or so.
COLLINS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: Obviously trying to perhaps get reporters off the scent there, being a little bit coy, but people say that it's very possible. Those close to the process that they just don't know. They have not yet been told one way or the other.
One of the others is Indiana senator Evan Bayh. He was a huge Hillary Clinton supporter, initially, would be very helpful in bringing the white women, blue-collar voters, that's somebody that is on the short list.
Also, Virginia's Governor Tim Kaine. He is a fresh face, popular, really somebody who would bring a lot of energy to the ticket and perhaps would even bring Virginia -- the state of Virginia -- give that to a Democrat, the first time in more than four decades or so.
The other one is the Kansas governor, Kathleen Sebelius. She actually shares that Kansas roots with Barack Obama. His parents being from there. There is some back and forth over there that, some mixed feelings about whether or not as a woman she might alienate some of Hillary Clinton supporters who believe that it's Hillary Clinton who should be on the ticket.
COLLINS: Well, you keep -- mentioning Hillary Clinton. What about the timing of this announcement? Is she definitely out of the mix? I know that's such a strong word in politics.
MALVEAUX: You can -- you can't rule out anybody at this point.
COLLINS: No.
MALVEAUX: We're reading the tea leaves. And yesterday Barack Obama said for the first time when he referred to his running mate as he -- he usually says he/she. So we don't know if that's something that actually gives us a clue or not. We'll wait and see.
In terms of the timing itself, as you know, they're going to do it in a very unique way. Text message their supporters. Everybody's got that number, the text handy. We'll see if we can actually beat -- that is our goal here, to beat the text messaging system.
COLLINS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: But people are saying today a little early for this announcement, but surely the target date is Saturday. That is when he's going to be in Springfield, Illinois. A big rally planned. That is where he announced his candidacy. COLLINS: Yes, it could come full circle, couldn't it, right there in Springfield.
All right, Suzanne Malveaux, nice to see you. Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Good seeing you.
COLLINS: Barack Obama's lead over John McCain may be shrinking. According to the latest CNN Poll of Polls, Obama's lead has been cut in half. The findings have Obama leading McCain by just 3 percentage points now, 46-43 percent. Less than a week ago Obama was ahead by 6 percentage points, 47 percent to 41. This poll is an average of several national surveys.
More on the VP watch coming up just a few minutes from now. Political insiders from both parties talk about the strategy behind all the speculation.
Tropical Storm Fay back over open water this morning. Florida residents back on edge. Right now the storm is lurking along central Florida's Atlantic coast and could make its third Florida landfall probably tomorrow in north Florida.
So far Fay has kicked up damaging winds and spun off at least seven tornadoes. Outside Orlando, dozen of homes were damaged.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was sitting in my daughter's room reading a book. And all of a sudden this loud, loud noise came and all of a sudden the roof just came off in planks. And flying glass and everything just started flying around. And everybody just -- it just went.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: You just don't know how it feels until you're in something like that.
We want to get the very latest from meteorologist Rob Marciano in the Extreme Weather Center now.
So, Rob, you're back from the area. And it was pretty nasty yesterday. Now they're kind of having to gear back up for all of this.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it was nasty yesterday at landfall but not nearly as nasty as it was after landfall. This had a rare occurrence where things actually came together and after it made landfall. There you could see the early frames of this (INAUDIBLE) showing of an eye.
So it actually got better structured, more organized once it made landfall, and had higher winds on the east side of the state actually saw the most damage from Fay. Unbelievable. 45-mile-an-hour winds right now, gusting to 65. So it finally has weakened as its made its trek across Florida peninsula. Obviously the right side of the storm now is tapping some of the moisture of the Atlantic, getting a little bit more organized on the west side.
But we'll see what happens here over the next couple of hours. The center of it pretty much right over Cape Canaveral and it's heading north. And you got to remember that the coastline of Florida is north-northwest. So it should take it over water completely here over the next few hours.
It probably won't make it all of the way over to the Gulf Stream which has really some warm water. And the winds in the past couple of days it kind of churned up the waters across north Florida. So they're a little bit cooler than they were, say, just four or five days ago. So that will also probably limit its intensification.
So here's the latest forecast track. Latest forecast keeps it below hurricane status. If it stalls or moves a little bit to the east, and we'll look for hurricane to develop. But right now that's not the forecast. Slams it back into Florida later on tonight or early tomorrow.
And then notice that the cone of uncertainty brings it possibly into the Gulf of Mexico.
Quick shot of Dallas. We got that camera. I know we ordered one up. Boy, you have seen a lot of rain. And you're going to see more today.
Actually this shot out of Wichita Falls. You had record rainfall yesterday and also rain the day before.
Yes, I think that's Wichita Falls. And you're looking for more rain today. Flash flood watch warnings posted -- warning out now actually for Dallas County in Dallas. So just be aware of that.
COLLINS: Yes.
MARCIANO: And take it easy in Texas. It's wild.
COLLINS: OK. Very good. And we know you're watching all of it for us. Thank you, Rob. We'll check back later on.
Want to get to this now. Extreme weather on the other side of the world. Typhoon Nuri is lashing the Philippines with heavy rains. Wind gusts have topped 100 miles an hour. Authorities shut down schools and other offices due to fears of catastrophic flash floods. Several people have been killed by landslides.
In June, a typhoon killed more than 500 people across the Philippines. We'll keep our eye on that for you.
In the Grand Canyon now, a happy ending in that search for 11 hikers. Rescue crews have tracked down everyone who was considered missing. Weekend thunderstorms caused a dam to give way, washing away trails and overflowing creeks over the course of two days. More than 250 people had to be airlifted out of the Canyon.
Just in to CNN now. Two U.S. Navy ships and a Coast Guard cutter getting ready to take humanitarian supplies to Georgia.
I want to go live to CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr now with more on this.
What's the latest here, Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, Pentagon officials tell us they are now working up the final details and talking to the Turks about -- Turkey about get that final approval for three ships -- two U.S. Navy warships and a Coast Guard cutter -- to cross through the Dardanelles passage and enter the Black Sea and travel to Georgia to deliver humanitarian relief supplies.
The USS McFaul -- you see that destroyer's picture here. That is one of the ships along with the Coast Guard cutter Dallas, loading up (INAUDIBLE) humanitarian relief supplies. Also loading up in Italy is the USS Mount Whitney, a large U.S. Navy warship, also with humanitarian relief supplies that -- if the final approval does come -- and that could happen as soon as today, we are told -- the ships will begin making their way into the Black Sea to Georgia.
And, of course, the big question on the table is, Russia's Black Sea Fleet, will that Russian fleet be waiting for these Navy ships? They have been operating the Russians in that area. They have been in control of the Russian port -- of the Georgian port of Poti where the U.S. Navy plans to unload some of these supplies.
So it will be very interesting to see what happens, awaiting the final approval. It could come today. They could be in Georgia within the next several days. They insist they are there to unload supplies, but the U.S. Navy will create a very interesting presence in the face of the Russian black fleet -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Yes, they certainly will.
Hey, Barbara, quickly, want to get back to what we talked about yesterday about these tanks. There were some dispute over whether or not Russia had taken some U.S. tanks or do we have an update on that?
STARR: We do have an update. It turns out the pictures we saw yesterday, of course, Humvees, if you will, those armored vehicles that we see so often in Iraq and Africa.
The Humvees that the Russians tied tow ropes to and towed out of that port, we were just talking about, those turned out to be U.S. Marine Corps Humvees. They were in Georgia as part of a training exercise. And the Marines have looked at those pictures and say those Humvees belong to them and they'd like them back -- Heidi.
COLLINS: So it's Humvees and not tanks.
STARR: Right. COLLINS: All right, well, boy, the whole situation is kind of strange. I know you'll stay on top of it for us. Let us know if we should come back to you. Appreciate it.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, thanks.
Taking U.S. missile defense to Russia's doorsteps. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this morning signed a formal agreement with Poland. It calls for the installation of 10 American interceptor missiles near Russia's boarder. Rice stresses the system is for defense only.
But an angry Moscow doesn't see it that way. It says the missile defense system is aimed at blunting Russia's nuclear deterrent. Moscow warns the deal could open Poland to attack. Washington plans to start deploying the Patriot Air and missile defense system next year.
Well, every leading man has a sidekick. We are waiting on Barack Obama and John McCain to reveal theirs. Our guests and the vice presidential possibilities.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Three friends. Some an array to the swimming hole.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Normally our bus driver say -- they see him so they open the door and there's a tussle full of them. They call them jump in the boat and then they greet everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Yes, it's August. The dog days of summer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Watching and waiting. Barack Obama expected to announce his choice for a running mate any day now. Decision day is also near for John McCain.
With us to talk about the strategy behind all the speculation, Democratic analyst Hilary Rosen.
Good morning to you, Hilary.
And Republican strategist and CNN political contributor, Leslie Sanchez.
Hi there, Leslie.
HILARY ROSEN, HUFFINGTONPOST.COM: Hey, Heidi.
COLLINS: They're both joining us from Washington this morning.
Guys, I want to start with Senator Joe Biden and something that he said just yesterday, I believe. Let's listen for a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I promise you I don't know anything. I have no idea. I haven't spoken to no one.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You have not spoken with the campaign at all?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) you said it's not me.
BIDEN: I have not spoken with anyone. I have not spoken with anyone.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You're not ruing out that you're still being considered then?
BIDEN: I have no idea. You know as little as I do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Well, Hilary, let's start with you. You actually say that he would be the best combination of many of the different traits that would make a good vice president. How so?
ROSEN: Well, I think he'd be a good combination. And let me just report that last night at a representative of Senator Biden called the "Huffington Post" to make sure that they knew that he was not denying that he was being considered. All he was saying...
COLLINS: That's right.
ROSEN: ... was he wasn't commenting.
COLLINS: That's right. (INAUDIBLE)
ROSEN: So I thought it was significant that they went out of their way to sort of roll back the denials of any involvement.
COLLINS: What does he do for Barack Obama?
ROSEN: Sorry?
COLLINS: What do he do for Barack Obama?
ROSEN: You know he brings a lot of energy to the ticket, number one. And number two -- and I think the thing that people are most focused on is really the right thing, which is he's chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate, he's traveled around the world, he knows foreign leaders, he brings a level of comfort and credibility on those issues that is really important.
But it's also important to know that Barack Obama does not feel that he needs, you know, extra judgment or extra experience. We've had the most experienced foreign policy team running this country for the last eight years. And look where it's gotten us. What Obama wants is somebody who's going to think through the problems, come up with creative solutions, and as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee Joe Biden has done a pretty good job of that.
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You know, Heidi, there's one point to that. I mean there's a lot of concern out there that Barack Obama -- Obama's inexperience could force him to say some -- really have some poor judgment on the international level.
And I think Joe Biden really puts at ease a lot of those concerns. He is the safe choice, not the pro-change choice. He's intelligent...
COLLINS: But what does that choice, Leslie, mean for the Republican side of things?
SANCHEZ: Well, with respect to that, I think it's an expectation that it's a solidified ticket. It's something to be concerned about. But I think overall, John McCain is not concerned about foreign policy credentials. He's somebody who has a vast amount of life experience and professional experience in international relations and understanding the real threats and dangers facing America. That's...
COLLINS: Harder to beat though?
SANCHEZ: Not necessarily. Not at all. I think they're so vastly different. The big thing with Biden is he's a street fighter, he's intelligent, he has said disparaging things about Barack Obama. And so it's going to be interesting if those two could come together.
But again, it's the safe choice, not the change choice.
COLLINS: All right. Well, let's move on to the Republicans.
Lots of talk out there about Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge. Want to go ahead and show you this graphic, too, because Rush Limbaugh said something interesting yesterday. He said picking a pro-life candidate would have -- right here -- "effectively destroy the Republican Party and push the conservative movement into the bleachers."
Leslie, your thought on that?
SANCHEZ: You know I wrote a piece for CNN.com talking about this. I am definitely a Governor Ridge fan in this sense. I don't believe the issue of abortion and life itself -- that issue alone in this election is a single issue determinant that's going to really be the one breaking issue for Republicans.
There are so many other issues on the table that are a big concern.
COLLINS: OK.
SANCHEZ: Very much, the Ridge candidacy or potential as VP was a trial balloon. It had a loot of pushback from conservatives. And I think it also shows you the political jockeying that happens.
COLLINS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: When something like that happens it does push somebody like Mitt Romney back on the front burner as somebody who can mobilize the base. That's what you have to have in this election.
COLLINS: Well...
SANCHEZ: Somebody energetic and...
ROSEN: And you can be...
COLLINS: (INAUDIBLE) there. Go ahead, Hilary, I want to get to one of these polls real quick, too, so, Hilary, your comment.
ROSEN: Well, you can be sure that advocates of Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are out there fanning the flames against, you know, Tom Ridge and Joe Lieberman.
Having said that, boy, Democrats sure would like to run against McCain/Lieberman or McCain/Ridge because anything that sort of divides that party helps Democrats. And Joe Lieberman, in particular, on almost every issue other than the war in Iraq, agrees more with Democrats than he does with Republicans.
That would be a big problem for John McCain.
COLLINS: All right. Let's go ahead...
SANCHEZ: Yes, and...
COLLINS: I'm sorry. Let's go ahead and put this poll up before we lose our time here. We have just a few seconds left.
This is the latest Poll of Polls here at CNN. And I want to show you what we've got here. August 19th now, Obama up by 3 percentage points here. Now this is significantly different from August 13th where you see a bit more of a margin. In fact, double that margin, 47 percent to 41 percent.
Both of you, your thoughts on what you make of it? Leslie, you first.
SANCHEZ: It just shows it's very close. And you know, the real issue is, I think a lot of Democrats are feeling the heat and recognizing Barack Obama is a problematic candidate. He has not really shown who his true identity is going to be in this election.
And there's a lot of concerns and people waiting in the wings to see if they're going to go with a -- you know more conservative Democrats with McCain or fundamentally support the Democratic ticket.
ROSEN: But when two candidates are in the 40's, they're both working their base. And that's been the case here. Both of -- both candidates are trying to solidify the base of their own parties. John McCain has done a good job of that over the last week. Barack Obama will do that next week at the convention. I think that's a lot of what we're seeing here, is that there are still Democrats who need to come home...
COLLINS: Yes.
ROSEN: ... and we're going to see that happen.
COLLINS: All right. To the both of you, so sorry to cut it short. We've got some breaking news I've got to get to.
Leslie Sanchez, Hilary Rosen, we'll be watching for this tick alongside you. Thanks so much.
Quickly want to move things to Madrid, Spain where we are hearing about a plane crash belonging to Spanish National Airways.
Want to get to Al Goodman who's on the phone with us and can tell us more about what happened.
Al, What did happen?
AL GOODMAN, CNN MADRID BUREAU CHIEF: Heidi...
COLLINS: Do you know yet?
GOODMAN: Heidi, there has been an accident or an incident involving a plane from the company called Spanair, that's one of Spain's carriers, not the only carrier in Spain. And airport official telling CNN that it appears to be serious, that there appears to be injuries.
Coming from the -- from the site of the -- of where this plane apparently taking off and apparently over-shooting the runway. There are conflicting reports. The airport official told us that there are Spanish media reports saying the accident occurred as the plane was landing.
The Span Air flight was headed to Spain's Canary Islands to the place called Las Palmas, a major city on the Canary Islands. So that would be about two-hour flight, two-and-a-half hour flight, from Madrid south to the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco, that's Spanish territory -- the Canary Islands.
We know that emergency workers are on the scene. And we can see pictures here that there are...
COLLINS: Right.
GOODMAN: There is a column of smoke. Now this went off on the runway that's by the newest terminal of the airport, terminal four. But the Span Air flight -- we have to confirm that, it was a Span Air flight, but this flight would not necessarily have originated taking on passengers from that terminal, instead, possibly from an older section of the airport -- Heidi? COLLINS: OK, quickly, Al, any idea how large this aircraft is?
GOODMAN: We don't know. But it may have been a somewhat -- this would not be a short hop, for instance, from Madrid to Barcelona. Because it's going on a two-and-a-half hour flight down to the Canary Islands it could well have been a larger plane carrying several hundred people.
COLLINS: Right.
GOODMAN: Heidi?
COLLINS: Exactly. All right, Al Goodman, our Madrid bureau chief, thanks so much for that. We will stay on top of that story for everyone at home.
Meanwhile, want to take a look at stocks. We're getting ready for those -- the trading day to begin, going to be happening in about 10 minutes or so. As you probably know, yesterday the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down by about 130 points. So we are watching all the business headlines coming up in just a few minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Breaking news, revealing developments, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Oil prices inched higher this morning and stocks looking for a lift today after sliding Tuesday on inflation and housing lows.
Gerri Willis is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Yesterday, yes, the news was not so good.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: No.
COLLINS: Anything to look forward to and be happy about today?
WILLIS: Well, it looks like stocks could open higher here. But let's talk a little bit about what happened yesterday. The Dow Industrial Average down 130 points after falling 180 Monday so, you know, possibility of a three-peat here that we're looking at.
But the good news is that Dow futures are looking slightly better, although I've got to tell you, it's nothing the write home about.
Let's talk about oil prices because that's really the big news in these last couple of hours. We're seeing oil prices rise again, just this morning, light sweet crude for September delivery is at $116.17 a barrel. They settled last night at $114 and change. So that's a very, very big difference.
And I want to show you a chart. I want you to get a sense of what's been going on here over the last couple of months. We've got a little fever chart to put up. It's over two months, closes on light sweet crude. And you see the high of $145.29. That's way back in June.
But, if present trends continue you could see this number pop back up. We're getting a very important report and it just -- well, golly, about 45 minutes tops, on oil inventories. weekly oil inventories from the Department of Energy. People are really watching that number to get a sense of if inventories are tighter.
You know this is a real supply/demand issue. If supplies are tighter it's going to push its prices higher.
You know consumers have seen the benefit of these declining prices at the pump. Gas prices -- not oil prices now -- but gas prices have been down and down again about a penny to $3.71. That's a 34th decrease in a row.
Now, given what's going on with oil, I don't know how long this can continue. But if they're down about 40 cents from a high, that, of course, is the national average from AAA -- Heidi?
COLLINS: All right. We're watching all of it and, Gerri, we'll talk with you a little bit later on.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
COLLINS: Some more news coming in this direction.
All right. Thank you.
Yes, there is competition outside the swimming pool. A young lady choreographs her own medal hall at the Olympics.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tropical Storm Fay back over the Atlantic and on track for yet another likely landfall in Florida. I want to give you the very latest now from meteorologist Rob Marciano in the Extreme Weather Center.
This is weird. It's the third time.
MARCIANO: Yes. Third time in the U.S. could be -- I mean, this is an unprecedented but it certainly is unusual. Also, which is unusual, but not unprecedented, for it to strengthen once it makes landfall. This happened, you know, just a handful of times in the past. But it's extremely, extremely rare.
It was a struggling tropical storm when it made landfall yesterday. You can see in the last few frames of this shot early -- or late last night actually had a bit of an eye form. Right now it has weakened, thankfully, at 45-mile-an-hour wind, gusting to 65-mile- an-hour wind.
We got a message from the hurricane (INAUDIBLE) that's been crisscrossing the circulation here in the last couple of hours, and that's pretty much where it remains right now.
6.33 at Vero Beach, Melbourne, almost six inches. These are all numbers on the east side of the state, much like Hurricane Wilma back in 2005. A lot of damage. A lot of effect of this storm on the eastern half as oppose to where it made landfall initially on the western half. Okeechobee Buoy out there about 12 miles or so north of Clewiston, 74-mile -- that is -- that's hurricane force. At least gusting there.
Right now on the eastern half of this storm is beginning a little bit more organized. It is centered pretty much just off the coast of Cape Canaveral. And again, winds at 45 miles an hour. The storm track from the National Hurricane Center does now not bring it to hurricane strength because it's going to hug the coastline.
Also, waters here offshore have been churned up a little bit. They're little bit cooler. But, you know, if it jazz a little bit farther to the east, stalls a little bit, it could strengthen to hurricane status. We'll watch for that.
Nonetheless, Heidi, it's going to head west or towards the panhandle. Notice that the cone of uncertainty could bring it back into the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend. And that would just, you know -- that would be Fay being Fay.
COLLINS: Yes.
MARCIANO: You know, hanging around, not doing what we need her to do.
COLLINS: Yes, exactly. And so hard to predict as usual with these things.
All right. Rob Marciano, thank you. We'll check back later on.
And there you have it, the opening bell. I believe this is just a couple of seconds ago. Today, it will be something that we are watching closely because yesterday things ended on a down note. Dow Jones down about 130 points. Right now, they open to the positive. So that's a good thing. Watching oil and watching some other economic reports as well. And sort of the after-effects of all of that.
All right. So we will watch those numbers throughout the day. In the meantime, we are also watching the vice presidential possible picks and all that suspense and speculation. We'll tell you who is hot and who is not for today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Anticipation ramping up in the V.P. watch. Barack Obama's campaign says he could pick a running mate anytime. Obama plans a big rally in Springfield, Illinois, this Saturday. Some names thought to be on Obama's short list, Delaware Senator Joe Biden, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. John McCain also getting closer to a decision. Sources say plans are in the works for an announcement August 29th. McCain's short list is thought to include former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, former presidential rival Mitt Romney, former Congressman Rob Portman and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.
John McCain and Barack Obama "Revealed" tonight on CNN. Two documentaries will tell you who the presidential candidates really are.
Chief national correspondent John King joining us live from Washington now with the preview.
Hi there, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Heidi.
You know, we spent a lot of time on this John McCain project, and you come away convinced this is a very complicated man, both politically and personally. Shaped very early on in his life by the legacy of his father and his grandfather. Both were high-ranking Navy officers.
His grandfather an admiral at that point when John McCain was a young boy. His father a captain who would go on to become an admiral. And John McCain felt those pressures from very early on. When he was in high school, he loved literature, especially Ernest Hemingway. Thought maybe he could go to Princeton or the University of Virginia to get a liberal arts education. But he also knew despite what he thought or what he might have wanted, that he had little choice to go to the naval academy where he did attend but he was hardly a model student.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK GAMBOA, NAVAL ACADEMY ROOMMATE: Socially, it was very wise to hang out with John because he got invited to a lot of parties.
KING (voice-over): Frank Gamboa was John McCain's roommate at Annapolis. Gamboa remembers his first encounter with his roommate's father, highly decorated naval captain, the fall of 1955.
GAMBOA: John had gotten up and gone over to the sink and got a glass full of water and threw it on us. So that deteriorated into melee water fights. While we were in the midst of this, there came two knocks on the door. So we come to attention. Then I see John say, dad!
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It was my dad. He walked in the room. It was -- it was a shocking moment for him.
GAMBOA: And then I hear this rough voice behind me, this is a gross room. Carry on, gentlemen.
MCCAIN: My father was amazingly tolerant of some of my wild antics at the naval academy
GAMBOA: The captain said, God damn it, John, no wonder you're flunking.
MCCAIN: I think he had an abiding faith that if I got through it, that over time I would take up the mantle of responsibility and duty and honor and country.
CHUCK LARSON, NAVAL ACADEMY FRIEND: When people would come to him and start saying I knew your father, I know your -- I knew your grandfather, I know your father, you're not measuring up, he really resented that that sort of thing. And I think that made him tend to rebel sometimes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: McCain acknowledged that the pressure to live up to his father and his grandfather's expectations did cause him to rebel and lash out. He calls it his own immaturity. And Heidi, those pressures carried on throughout his life. Remember when he was a Vietnam prisoner of war, the Vietnamese found out his father had been promoted to the commander of U.S. Forces Pacific and offered him early release.
But John McCain said as beat up as he was at the time, as much as he would have liked to have gone home early, he thought it was a propaganda ploy to embarrass his father in that new high position, and he also thought it was the wrong thing to do because some other prisoners had been there as much as three years longer than him so John McCain ultimately said no.
COLLINS: Yes. And he just said the other day, too, I'm sure you heard it, that is a decision that he definitely does not regret, but how tough it must have been. You know, John McCain has been in the public eye for over 25 years. Anything new that you learned about him that surprised you?
KING: We did learn some new things. Number one, we explored what many have heard about his volatility, this temper he has sometimes. And yet, we also found some counter balancing, if you will -- very tender moments and soft spot.
You saw Frank Gamboa in that little clip we just told you. He was one of the first Mexican-Americans to go to the naval academy. And he said McCain used to ride him all the time using his nickname at the time, Mix (ph). He said near the end of their time there, McCain pulled him to the side and said, I hope you understand what I'm doing here. I don't mean to be so hard on you, but when you get out on the academy and out in the fleet, you're going to face some discrimination because of the color of your skin and your heritage.
And Frank Gamboa said, he very much appreciated that later in life. Also, on one thing people might find surprising is that two Democrats in our segment who worked very closely with John McCain. Tom Daschle, the former Democratic leader, and Russ Feingold who worked with him on the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Bill. They make crystal clear, Heidi, they're for Barack Obama. They think Barack Obama would be a better president. But they say the Democrats who say John McCain is too temperamental, too volatile to be president are simply wrong. They say that if he wins the election, they won't lose any sleep and they would be happy to work with him.
COLLINS: Well, that's very interesting. All right. John King, nice to have you in the NEWSROOM. Thank you.
KING: Thank you, Heidi.
COLLINS: Next hour, a preview of Barack Obama "Revealed," and tune in for the back-to-back specials tonight on CNN. Once again, 8:00 p.m., John McCain. Barack Obama beginning at 9:30 Eastern. Only on CNN, your home for politics.
A new front in U.S. missile defense. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this morning signed a deal with Poland. It calls for the installation of several American interceptor missiles close to Russia's border. That's got Moscow angry.
CNN's Zain Verjee is in Warsaw, Poland now with the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says U.S. relations with Russia are strained over its invasion of Georgia. She warned Russia against attacking Poland as it's been threatening to do over a missile defense agreement, Poland has made with the United States.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: That's pathetic. The Russians must know that we have an Article V guarantee to Poland as a member of NATO. They must know that the United States would never permit an attack on the territory of an ally under Article V. And finally, they do know that this missile defense system is not aimed at them.
VERJEE (voice-over): The U.S. signed an agreement today here in Poland that essentially involves placing ten interceptor missiles in this country. Secretary Rice says that it's essentially to defend against threats, ballistic missile threats from rogue nations as the U.S. calls them, like Iran and North Korea.
The Russians say that they feel that it's actually aimed towards them. Secretary Rice told us in our interview a short while ago that she wasn't really surprised that Russia invaded Georgia. She says that Russian aggressions toward Europe has been going on for some time now, toward countries like Norway and Estonia, as well as Georgia.
Secretary Rice also insisted that the Russian president keep his word. She says he's not doing that and continues to stall when being asked and having agreed to taking Russian troops out of Georgia.
(on camera): She called the establishment of any Russian checkpoints in Georgia a violation of the ceasefire agreement. Secretary Rice also says that it will take time for Russia to feel the effects of diplomatic isolation. She told us in the meantime that the United States as well as the international community would not hold any global meetings that involved Russia.
Zain Verjee, CNN, Warsaw.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: There is something in the drinking water that could raise your risk of diabetes. Dr. Sanjay Gupta shares the details in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Chinese state media reporting the death of former communist party chairman Hua Guofeng. He was 87. Hua briefly ruled after the death of communist founder Mao Zedong, but was pushed aside ahead of reforms that launched China's economic boom. Hua now remembered in the official press as the wise leader.
There's been a lot of buzz over Michael Phelps' gold mining. But another USA athlete can be proud of her own medal collection. Our Larry Smith spoke to Nastia Liukin. Larry is joining us now live from Beijing.
I'm so glad you talked to her. She's definitely one of my favorites.
LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she was a real sweetheart, Heidi. There's no question. And even her face lit up when I reminded her that she is the most decorated athlete in these games who is not a swimmer. Her five medals second only to Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin of the U.S. swimming team.
At 18 years old, she is the gymnastics "IT" girl and we talked about that and even her legacy as the new Mary Lou Retton when we sat down earlier today here in Beijing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: Medal winners always say it's a dream come true. How is this to have your dream come true?
NASTIA LIUKIN, USA GYMNAST: It's just been an experience of a lifetime. And I am just so excited that I was able to be here, you know, and compete at the Olympic games, and to come home with five medals. I mean, that is more than a dream come true. I would have never dreamed anything of that.
SMITH: When you got silver in the team competition you were visibly upset. How did you put that behind you to go on the individual events?
LIUKIN: I think going in as the reigning world champions, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves and expectations on ourselves that, you know, we thought that we could do it. But I think that pushed us even more, you know, me and Shawn going into the all around a few days later because we wanted to show the world that, you know, we weren't just all about talking and, you know, we definitely showed that going once in the all around and then, you know, the next day going two, three on floor and one, two on beam and, you know, winning a silver medal on bars.
SMITH: What was it like to have your dad as a coach?
LIUKIN: You know, just to be here with him exactly 20 years after he competed at the 1988 Olympic games, that was just really special. You know, like that. But being able to share these moments and this experience with him has meant so much to both of us, I think.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In that little fragile body, there's a big tiger inside of her. And that brings all the toughness in the competition, all the confidence in her eyes. And that's what great athletes should have. She's exactly that.
SMITH: You have now more medals than he did?
LIUKIN: I do. I have five Olympic medals and he has four. But, you know, he did win two golds and two silvers, so he beat me on that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just can't describe the feelings. I have done that once, but definitely not all around. This has just tops everything I ever done in my life.
LIUKIN: When we combine them to know that we have nine Olympic medals in one house, you know, that's just pretty cool.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My baby is an Olympic champion. I don't know how to say that. It's just unbelievable.
SMITH: You weren't even born when Mary Lou Retton did what she did in L.A. back in 1984. How does that make you feel? That you sort of out done the American icon in gymnastics?
LIUKIN: Mary Lou is known to everybody in the U.S. If you ask if you know her, every single person will say yes. And I hope that, you know, over 20 years from now, people will remember me and they'll remember that name Nastia Liukin and just like they did Mary Lou. So I hope I achieve, you know, enough to be remembered for many, many years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: Well, certainly, Mary Lou Retton and Nastia Liukin have the same number of medals in the same games, five. But Nastia's -- her hall was more impressive then Mary Lou's, imagine that.
By the way, thanks both to Nastia and Larry for sitting down and talking with us. They are on a flight Thursday morning ready to head home, and they said ready to sleep in their own beds back in Texas after three weeks here in China. But what a trip it was here.
Heidi, let's go back to you.
COLLINS: Yes. And her poor mother, I finally got to see her in the stands. Because normally she doesn't watch the events. They said at one point, I guess, she was out just pacing around, wasn't really shopping or anything. She told everybody she was going to go shopping, but instead just pace around, doesn't normally watch the events, and you can see why. She was an absolute wreck watching her daughter do some of these events.
Larry Smith, appreciate your reporting as always, live from Beijing today. Thanks.
SMITH: OK.
COLLINS: Should you be concerned about the drinking water? Well, there's something in it that could raise your risk of diabetes. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Medical news now. A startling new study links arsenic levels in water to increased risk of type 2 diabetes. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here now to talk a little bit more about this.
This is weird. I mean, do you think that your drinking water would not only be free of arsenic, but certainly wouldn't have enough to bring on the higher risk of diabetes.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And you don't think of arsenic in the drinking water, and people don't really typically think there's a relationship between the two. But it's interesting. There are levels of arsenic that are higher in certain parts of the country than another parts.
And what we know is the people that have the highest levels of arsenic tend to be more at risk for diabetes. You typically think of more pounds, heart disease, high blood pressure of being risk factors. But arsenic could as well. This was a study. And what they found was that people with the highest levels of arsenic overall -- take a look at the numbers here. Diabetics had 26 percent higher levels of arsenic in their blood.
COLLINS: Wow.
GUPTA: Now, it doesn't mean that there is a cause and effect relationship here. But we took it one step further as well and found that if you look at Mexico, Taiwan, Bangladesh -- countries that have high levels of arsenic in their water, they also seem to have higher levels of diabetes.
So, what's going on here -- we have an animation that I think might demonstrate this a little bit. You know, zoom in on the pancreas specifically here. The pancreas is responsible for producing insulin. That's the thing that absorbs glucose from the blood. That's this mushroom sort of cells here. What they think happens is in people who have high levels of arsenic, this relationship here is altered.
So the insulin can't bind and glucose stays in the bloodstream. That causes people to have diabetes. That's what they think is happening overall here. But it's unclear exactly what the mechanism is.
COLLINS: Yes. Well, I mean, how do you even know if the water you're drinking at home has arsenic in it? Do you run it through your little filter? Your thinking, I'm good to go.
GUPTA: Right. That's the first question I asked as well. Because, you know, I'm thinking -- OK, so what about the average person? Are they at risk? They estimate that about 13 million people living around the country are at risk. Not everybody, but a pretty high number. Take a look at the map here. It's a bit of a busy map.
But the red areas further out west, typically, are going to have the highest levels of arsenic, 10 micrograms per liter if you're paying attention to the numbers. This considered the upper limit of safe. But there are a few areas that have pretty high levels. You can get a map like that at that particular Web site at the bottom. But also counties, states, they have their own filtration programs. Surface water, for example, tends to be safer than water that's retrieve from down deep that has higher levels of arsenic. You can use entire home filtration systems as well if your arsenic levels come back high.
COLLINS: OK. Well, this is a weird one.
GUPTA: Some will think about this.
COLLINS: Yes. I know you'll stay on top of it.
GUPTA: I will.
COLLINS: Thank you.
GUPTA: Thanks, Heidi.
COLLINS: Appreciate it, Sanjay.
I got to get to some breaking news, quickly. Just a little while ago, we had reported this incident that happened in Spain -- Madrid, Spain, to be specific. There is a plane you see now quite a plume of smoke. Earlier, we'd only seen a little bit. This is new video that's coming in to us here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The plane we do know belongs to Spanish National Airways, Spanair. Actually, we're hearing that the plane went off the runway, may have crashed at this airport. Our Al Goodman is in the area. We will be speaking with him shortly. We are now hearing -- and here is something news that we're able to give you now -- that there are fatalities. We do not know how many in all of this. In fact, we don't know at this point even how many people were onboard. But because the plane was set to travel a distance of about two-and-a-half hours, we're assuming that it could be a larger aircraft.
And Spanair does fly quite a few 767s. So, once again, that is not yet confirmed but we are working to learn more about the number of fatalities and what type of aircraft we're talking about here. We'll have the very latest for you. Once again, our Al Goodman coming up in just a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A nice refreshing swim. Hey, we all need that in the dog days of summer. Even our K-9 companions want to take a little dip. And they'll get there any way they can. Todd Dunn from our Nashville affiliate WKRN has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, rocks! Rocks!
TODD DUNN, WKRN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jeff Heathcock runs the Red River Valley Canoe Rental in Adams, Tennessee.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't think of a better way to spend my day.
DUNN: Jeff is not alone in his love for the river. Several local dogs have learned they can catch a bus ride to the river bank.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They was waiting right there by the road. And normally our bus drives say they see them so they open the door. And there's a tassel, full of them, they come and jump in the boat and then they greet everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they do it all the time. They get on the ride, the bus up to the farm. And when they get to the farm, they'll pick out somebody that they like and they'll float down the river, ride a while, swim a while, eat a few good groceries, you know, whatever they can beg.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It's pretty cool.
DUNN: Denise Lussier doesn't mind giving a ride to the dogs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last time I came they had told me about the dogs. And then there he was following us. We were on the bus and he was just chasing us down the road in the bus. And they had told me that they had come and he always rides with them.
DUNN: But once on the water, the dog called Rusco (ph) usually catches a ride on the canoe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just jumped in. I didn't even notice when he got in actually. Just turn around and he was there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're just pretty into this. I don't claim ownership of anything. I wanted to be -- I want them to feel like they're having their own life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heathcock says the dogs just found their way to his farm. And he feeds them, but they do pull their weight. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They earn their keep. They keep the coyotes out of the field and the raccoons out of the garden. And you know, they do their purpose. They earn their food.
DUNN: And they know how to relax and have a good time on the water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's their life. It's a good life. It's the river dog's life.
DUNN: On the Red River, Todd Dunn, News 2.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Love that story. Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris is off. Stay inform all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.
Smoke signals trouble. An airliner off the runway at Madrid's airport. We're scrambling on breaking news.
Filling up the ticket. The presidential candidates closer to revealing their choices for number two.
Hartford, Connecticut, to teens, stay off the streets after dark. Curbing crime with a curfew. Find out if it's working -- today, Wednesday, August 20th.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
