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American Morning
Barack Obama's VP Pick to be Announced Soon; Tropical Storm Fay Lingers Off the Coast of Florida; How to Beat the Terror Watch List; Obama on Winning the Race in His Own Words; How VP Choices Could Affect a Close Race
Aired August 20, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: It's coming up on the top of the hour now. And here are this morning's top stories.
Breaking this morning, Barack Obama's vice presidential choice could come at any moment. We may not have to wait until Denver to see them together for the first time, either. Brand-new details of his pre-convention plans coming up in a few minutes.
Also, new this morning, hospital death rates revealed. Statistics were once kept secret. Now "USA Today" is revealing a study done by the government over two years.
It's says Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania boast the lowest heart attack death rate in the country under 12 percent. At the other hand, Virginia's Danville Regional Medical Center with death rates for heart attacks are close to one in five.
A tour bus erupting into flames in Texas in a trip from the Midwest in Mexico City. Passengers say the driver became a one man rescue crew, helping all 15 adults and three children to safety after the bus caught fire. Then while it was being towed away, the bus burst into flames again causing a second traffic jam.
Federal investigators say the tour bus company has a clean record. Local investigators say an electrical problem may have started it.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, back to our top story now. Barack Obama could announce his running mate any day now. And this morning the drumbeat is getting louder but not necessarily clearer. Sources say that Delaware Senator Joe Biden is a leading candidate, and here's what we know.
Obama supporters will get a text message announcing who he's picked. Also, the "Associated Press" is reporting that whoever gets the pick will appear with Obama Saturday in an event in his home state of Illinois. Everything else, well, it's still up for debate this morning.
Suzanne Malveaux has been working the story all night. She joins me now. Great to see you, by the way.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you. CHETRY: First, let's play a little bit of what Senator Biden said on the possibility of becoming Obama's running mate.
(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)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you spoken with (INAUDIBLE) at all. He said it's not me.
BIDEN: I have not spoken with anyone. I have not spoken with anyone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not ruling out that you're still being considered, then?
BIDEN: I have no idea. You guys know as well as I do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So he went on to say you guys know as well as I do. What are people saying about his response?
MALVEAUX: You know, they really believe it. The funny thing is to see Joe Biden having nothing to say because we all, like, normally, he has a lot to say about this.
The people I talked to say it's very possible that they have not actually been notified one way or the other. And it's not surprising he's being a little bit coy. You don't want to look like you're actually lobbying for the job, perhaps throwing reporters off the scent a little bit.
There are some other folks that are obviously on the short list as well. Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, big Hillary Clinton supporter from back in the day, certainly would capture the white women, some of those blue-collar voters. Also, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine could be a chance for a Democrat to get Virginia, that key state in some, you know, four decades or so.
And then, also, looking at the possibility of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. A bit of a toss up here whether or not it would be more of a risk. Some Hillary Clinton supporters might not be actually -- they might not be happy that it's another woman besides Hillary.
CHETRY: Right. Not Hillary Clinton.
MALVEAUX: Yes.
CHETRY: So you're pretty much saying that most people are ruling out with the exception of Ralph Nader who's saying he still thinks it's going to be Hillary, ruling out Hillary? MALVEAUX: You know, it could be the dark horse. You know, I mean, that would be -- that would be kind of extraordinary to see. A lot of signs don't point in that direction.
CHETRY: All right. Very interesting stuff. And about this text message, I mean, is there any key on when we're going to hear about this? Sometime between now and Saturday but it's going to be through a unique way that we haven't seen before.
MALVEAUX: Well, right. It's fascinating. I mean, you sign up for this -- this texting. Everybody will get it at the same time. Essentially we're trying to beat the system, the text messaging system here. But I'm being told that today would be a little bit early. But the target here is obviously Springfield, Illinois. That's when he's going to appear, a big rally or so. That's where he announced his candidacy. It's likely that we'll know by then.
CHETRY: All right. We'll keep checking in with you. Suzanne, thanks.
MALVEAUX: OK, thanks.
ROBERTS: Also new developments on the other side of the veepstakes. John McCain is closing in on his pick as well. The announcement expected on the 29th, but sources are already talking to CNN. They're telling our John King that McCain advisers have floated the name Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania governor and the first Homeland Security secretary. That could upset social conservatives because of his abortion views.
And brand-new this morning, a CNN poll of polls showing Barack Obama's lead cut in half from last week. Now with a thin three-point lead over John McCain, 46 percent to 43. It had been eight points.
Be sure to stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the veepstakes and the conventions, of course. We'll have special live coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Denver beginning next Monday. It all starts at 6:00 a.m. Eastern.
CHETRY: And also happening right now, hurricane watches for parts of north Florida and Georgia in effect now as Tropical Storm Fay lingers off of the eastern Florida coast. This storm has already made landfall four times. Twice in Cuba, once in the Florida Keys, again yesterday morning on the mainland. And forecasters say that it could be even stronger this fifth time around.
Rob Marciano was inside the storm yesterday, and he has the latest track for us now. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran. Yes. When this thing made landfall it was nearly as impressive as it was three or four hours after landfall. Actually gaining strength over the peninsula. Right now, winds are at 50 miles an hour and it did more damage to the east side of the state.
Check out some of the video that's coming to CNN. First off, some tornado video, tornado damage, I should say, in Palm and Miami- Dade and Broward Counties. We have five reports of tornadoes on the east side of the state certainly doing some damage there.
And in Lake Okeechobee right smack in the middle of the state, winds gusting to hurricane strength there, doing some damage to some areas around the lake. Filling the lake, several inches of rain falling and the lake was about three feet below average. So that's the only good news is that they get some much needed rainfall.
But check out some of these numbers. Okeechobee Buoy out there, 74 mile an hour wind gust. Cocoa Beach, that's on the east side. At the Airport Okeechobee, 58. Melbourne, Fort Pierce, all east side reports at least 48 miles an hour.
All right. Here's the storm right now. Just about 15 miles south of Cape Canaveral. Winds, tropical storm force pretty much on all directions but certainly more convection on the east side of this thing.
And here is the latest forecast track. The 11:00 p.m. advisory last night, actually at 5:00 p.m. shoved it offshore. They have plenty of time to intensify to hurricane strength. Because it held its act so well together over the peninsula, we thought for sure it would become a hurricane.
But now, it's hugging the coastline. That's the good news. That should limit it. Of course, it hasn't done anything we thought it would do. So if it goes offshore just a few miles, it may strengthen to hurricane status. And that's why there are hurricane warnings up for this part of south Georgia and north Florida.
We do think it will be nudged to the west because of high pressure that's to the north. There's a possibility not only for a fifth landfall, Kiran. It's possible this thing gets into the Gulf of Mexico and sits here, and we see a sixth landfall sometime over the weekend or early next week. Anything, as we've seen with Fay, is possible.
Back up to you in New York.
CHETRY: That's a storm that just won't quit. All right. Rob, thanks.
MARCIANO: You got it.
ROBERTS: Saxophone player Leroi Moore, one of the founding members of the Dave Matthews Band has died. The band says it was unexpected and caused by sudden complications from an all terrain vehicle accident back in June.
The group went ahead with the scheduled show last night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Matthews announced the death of his dear friend to the crowd. Moore was 46 years old.
Everyone missing in the Grand Canyon flood is now safe. Rescue crews tracked down the final 11 hikers lost after a flash flood over the weekend. Helicopters had airlifted more than 250 stranded people out over the past few days.
CHETRY: Oklahoma still under a flood threat this morning after fire crews and boats pulled people from their homes and rescued drivers from their cars yesterday. Parts of the state have had 10 inches of rain in just three days.
And an SUV wrecking a home in Washington State. Police say the 20-year-old driver fell asleep at the wheel, plowed through this garage. The force sent another SUV in the garage flying 15 feet through the back wall of the house and the stairs. The driver was hospitalized. No one in the home was hurt.
ROBERTS: Well, here's what we're working on for you this morning. Let's try that again.
Here's what we're working on for you this morning. Senator John McCain called it his greatest personal moral failure, the demise of his first marriage. CNN's John King takes a look back in time for the details and asks Cindy McCain where she fit in.
CHETRY: Meet the Robinsons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. JAMES ROBINSON, AIRLINE PILOT: They've got these two lists that aren't talking to each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Three people, including a third grader and a pilot, all on the terror watch list.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT.JAMES ROBINSON, AIRLINE PILOT: I'm carrying a weapon, flying a multimillion dollar jet with passengers but I'm still screened on the terrorist watch list.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: What's worse, they figured out how to get around it. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. We have Gerri Willis in for Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" this morning. As we've seen these drops in gas prices, crude oil is actually going up.
GERRI WILLIS, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Which is not a good sign. Absolutely not. Let's take a look at how light sweet crude settled last night, up $1.66 at $114.53. Not good news there.
And oil is even higher this morning on fears that we could - could post the decline in inventories. And as you know, supplies are very tight so as inventories shrink, that means higher prices ultimately.
I want to show you a chart of light sweet crude settled pries over the last two months. And look at the high here. June 19th, $145.29. You see, we've come down since then. But it looks like we may be getting something of a pick up here at the far right hand of that graphic.
Weekly inventory report is due out at 10:35 this morning from the Department of Energy. We'll have more information on those inventories. Might give you a little clue as to where prices are going.
But you might be wondering, where is Congress on this issue? There's a lot of bills in Congress right now to try to deal with this problem of high energy prices. In fact, there are dozens of bills.
A report out on CNNmoney.com this morning about big oil spending on lobbying is high and posting records. When it comes to campaign giving, they're 16th out of 50 industries. But if you drill down and you look at what they're actually spending on lobbying, they pop up to number five. They're on track to spend more than any other industry in the country this year at $83 million.
Of course, I just want to inform you about stocks yesterday closing lower. 130 points lower on the Dow. The day before we were down 180. Looks like the market is going to open higher. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if it's going to be a three-peat today.
CHETRY: Yes. It was the bad numbers yesterday. Inflation, the highest in what, nearly three decades?
WILLIS: Yes. Ugly numbers on inflation in particular at the wholesale level and you know that's going to trickle through right to consumers.
ROBERTS: So where's Congress on all of this? They're on vacation, aren't they?
WILLIS: They're on vacation, but you know they've had plenty of time to discuss this. But I repeat myself.
ROBERTS: Nothing's getting done?
WILLIS: This is the scene that I'm always sounding.
ROBERTS: Shocking?
Thanks, Gerri.
12 minutes after the hour. This may look like a cute little blond boy, but the government thinks he's a terrorist. He's on the no-fly list. How could a third grader be a threat? CNN's Drew Griffin who's got the same problem, he's on the no-fly list, will have a look for us.
Sitting ducks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was not safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The guard who survived two tours in Iraq but couldn't survive a federal prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The population is just too unpredictable, and you never know if they're going to turn on you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 15 minutes after the hour. We have been profiling stories of ordinary Americans experiencing nightmares every time they fly because their names are on the government's terror watch list.
CNN's special investigations unit correspondent Drew Griffin even wound up on the list himself after looking into security issues. Now he introduces us to three more people all on the list. And that's not all they have in common.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Looking for terrorists? Meet the Robinsons -- James, the former assistant U.S. attorney general and Washington lawyer, on the terror watch list.
JAMES ROBINSON, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: For years now.
GRIFFIN: This James Robinson is a retired Air National Guard brigadier general. He still flies as a pilot for a major airline and, get this, is licensed by the TSA to carry a gun in the cockpit but he's not allowed to check his luggage at the curb.
CAPT. JAMES ROBINSON, AIRLINE PILOT: They've got these two lists that aren't talking to each other. I'm carrying a weapon, flying a multimillion dollar jet with passengers, but I'm still screened as, you know, on the terrorist watch list.
GRIFFIN: And this James Robinson is -- well, James Robinson the third grader.
Are you a terrorist?
JAMES ROBINSON, THIRD GRADER: I don't know. GRIFFIN: Don't laugh. Apparently James' government still doesn't know either because for the last three years every time he goes to the airport with his family, James is singled out as a potential terrorist suspect.
Do you feel like anybody in government cares about you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
GRIFFIN: It all started about the same time for all three of our James Robinsons. The Robinsons of California were heading to New York, dropped off at the curb to check in and --
DENISE ROBINSON, JAMES'S MOTHER: All of a sudden, we were told, no, you can't check in at curb side.
GRIFFIN: At the ticket counter, mass confusion. Lots of phone calls and a ticket agent who kept asking the same question.
D. ROBINSON: So then all of a sudden he goes, how old is he? And I said, he's 5. You know, he's on the phone. He's 5. We were like, what is going on? And so, he hung up and he said, I can't tell you anything. But, he said, I'm going to print out some information for you and I'll give it to you, and you just do what is on this information that I'm going to give you.
GRIFFIN: The information was on how to contact the TSA to get off a terror watch list, which according to the head of Homeland Security should be very easy.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There's actually a simple solution to this. If you can get from the innocent John Smiths your date of birth or some other additional unique identifying fact, you can put that into the system and then when they present the identification, they're immediately taken out of the system.
GRIFFIN: Here's the problem. Every one of these James Robinsons did exactly that three years ago. Like me, they followed the procedure, sending passports, date of birth information. The older Jim sent in driver's license and voter registration cards, but all of us are still on it. Captain James Robinson suspects he and the 8- year-old James and Attorney James will never get off.
CAPT. J. ROBINSON: There's going to come a point in time where everybody's going to be on the watch list.
GRIFFIN (on camera): Now the twist which won't make you feel any better about security.
This continues to happen?
D. ROBINSON: Yes. Yes.
GRIFFIN: And what do you do?
D. ROBINSON: Well, I found ways around it. GRIFFIN (voice-over): Tip a skycap, she says, the watch list disappears.
D. ROBINSON: And they'll take it straight to the ticket agent and they'll, you know, do whatever they need to do. And he comes back and they'll say here's your boarding pass.
GRIFFIN: Denise has also booked James as J. Pierce and avoided the list. Captain James says Jim Robinson or J.K. Robinson are not on the list.
(on camera): I myself have placed my first and middle name together as one and avoided the hassle.
D. ROBINSON: The fact that I can go to the skycap and I can get on pretty easily and the fact that I can change his name, you know, it just means that it's far from being an airtight system.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): January 2009 is when the TSA is expected to roll out its next possible solution -- the secure flight program. Maybe then the Attorney James, the Captain James, and the 8-year-old James will no longer be considered the terrorist James. Whoever that is.
Drew Griffin, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Wow. Great reporting on the part of Drew Griffin. We'll keep you posted on how this goes.
Meanwhile, waiting for the VP picks. The list being narrowed down as we speak and we could know Barack Obama's choice soon.
Is Hillary Clinton still in the running? Could Barack Obama pick another woman? We'll talk about it with people in the know. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most Politics in the Morning." A John McCain ad called Barack Obama the biggest celebrity in the world. Well, now, Obama's firing back again, saying that the little guy will get him to the White House. Here's where the candidates hold a town hall in his own words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't intend to lose this election. John McCain doesn't know what he's up against right now. I don't intend to lose this election.
He can talk all he wants about Britney and Paris, but I don't have time for that mess. Not only do we have to win, but we also have to restore that link, that bond between the American people and their government. They've got to start feeling like somebody's up in there fighting for them.
That's why I don't take pack money. That's why I don't take money from federally registered lobbyists. That's why you have funded my campaign. That's why you have volunteered. That's why you've gone door to door. That's why I count on you because I'm answerable to you. I'm accountable to you. You are the people I'm going to be representing when I get to the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, be sure to stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the veepstakes, the conventions. We'll have a special live coverage of the Democratic National Convention that's in Denver. It begins next Monday, 6:00 a.m. Eastern.
ROBERTS: A young man comes home from fighting in Iraq to go to work as a prison guard. But that job proved even more dangerous. What's really going on behind bars? His heartbroken mother wants answers.
And a storm that got stronger over land may slam the U.S. again. We're tracking Fay on the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 26 minutes after the hour. The right running mate could make all the difference in a close race. And make no mistake, this is a very close race. So who's on the short list and what would they bring to the table?
We're joined now by Republican strategist Kevin Madden and Democratic strategist Lisa Caputo who's here in New York. Kevin is in Washington.
Good morning to both of you. Lisa, let's start with you since Barack Obama is going to be first off the mark here in the next two or three days. Who do you think he's going to pick?
LISA CAPUTO, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I honestly think it's going to come down to Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana and Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. I think that Senator Bayh obviously brings a lot to the table from a GOP political standpoint, coming from Indiana. You can basically put him in the middle of the country and he can camp out and be very effective in those battleground states.
Let's also not forget, he was a governor, a CEO of a state before he became senator. That's a key. He's also a centrist. So he's somewhat of a safe bet.
Senator Joe Biden, I think, also brings quite a bit to the table. Key foreign policy experience to counter Senator Obama's lack of a robust foreign policy background I think would be helpful. Also, Senator Biden's judiciary responsibilities on the Senate Committee are very effective. Let's not forget that this president is going to have to appoint a whole new slew of judges.
ROBERTS: Right.
CAPUTO: And that will be key as well.
ROBERTS: Kevin, let me pick up on what Lisa just said regarding Senator Joe Biden and his foreign policy credentials. She says it gives Senator Obama something that he doesn't have, but does that also serve to remind voters that he doesn't have that experience?
KEVIN MADDEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, should he be the pick, John, you can guarantee the fact that Republicans will make that very clear. You know, what Barack Obama has to do is fill that void of experience and foreign policy and national security experience. But even somebody like Joe Biden with 36 years will essentially accentuate the fact that Barack Obama is lacking in national security, is lacking in foreign policy experience. And Republicans will seek to take advantage of that should he be the pick.
ROBERTS: Right. You know, Lisa, Biden came out yesterday and said, hey, it's not me. I'm not the guy. Then later kind of walked it back just a little bit. But Kathleen Sebelius, the governor of Kansas, is also on the short list. Can Barack Obama pick a woman as his running mate who is not Hillary Clinton?
CAPUTO: Well, I think it would be extraordinary if Barack Obama picked a woman. I listened to Suzanne Malveaux earlier. I do think Kathleen Sebelius would be a terrific pick. Let's not forget as well she's been a great bipartisan in the state of Kansas. She picked a Republican running mate.
ROBERTS: Right. But can he pick a woman that's not Hillary Clinton?
CAPUTO: Well, yes, I think he can. I'm not sure I agree with the report earlier. I think women would galvanize around that.
But I also, let me go back to the Biden point. Barack Obama just this week touted Senator Biden's proposal of $1 billion for reconstruction for Georgia after the Russian invasion. Barack Obama would make a very smart move in picking Joe Biden, and I think it would diffuse any Republican attacks against foreign policy credentials.
ROBERTS: All right. Let's flip to the Republican side of things. Kevin, you used to work for Governor Romney. Who do you think John McCain is going to pick as his vice presidential running mate? Who is it down to?
MADDEN: Well, I think it's down to Governor Romney and Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. I think what you have here is the head pick versus the heart pick.
You know, John McCain has always been a politician who's relied on his gut instincts. He's relied on a lot of people around him who are very loyal and he's known for a long time.
Tim Pawlenty is somebody who is with John McCain during the dark days of his campaign, who stuck by his side and is somebody who's been, you know, somebody who he has known for a long time, he has a good rapport with. The fact he's from the target state of Minnesota also helps his prospects.
With Mitt Romney, you have somebody who with the issue matrix being -- with the economy being number one on the issue matrix, somebody who has a strong background in business, but also has a strong economic record as governor of Massachusetts, that would help him undertake (ph) and would also add a lot of youth. Both men will add a lot of youth to the ticket. And a lot of people do worry about John McCain's age.
ROBERTS: Yes, I know Rush Limbaugh came out and warned John McCain against picking either Tom Ridge or Joe Lieberman because of their pro-choice stance. Lisa, did you think that John McCain should reach out across the aisle or would you like to see him do that because you think he'd lose?
LISA CAPUTO, FMR. SR. ADV. TO THE HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN: Well, I think a selection of Joe Lieberman would be an absolutely bold choice. Lieberman now an independent would signal that McCain is going for those key swing voters in this election who are the independents. I think Tom Ridge would present a problem for McCain, Rush Limbaugh, as you said, has indicated he'd mount a campaign. And that would really be a signal that he's not going to cater to the far right wing of his party. I will say this. Polenti, you mentioned, I think is way too inexperienced to be considered. And my own sense is that Romney is probably the likely pick.
ROBERTS: Well, you know, off camera, Kevin was saying that the Romney and Ridge thing was a trial balloon that fell like a Led Zeppelin, right. So, there you go.
Kevin Madden, Lisa Caputo, good to see you.
Thanks very much for coming in this morning.
CAPUTO: Nice to see you.
MADDEN: It's good to be with you.
ROBERTS: All right. Take care.
CHETRY: 31 minutes past the hour. A look at the top stories now. Ignoring cancer. It's a scary new survey showing an overwhelming majority of Americans can cut their risk of cancer, but choose not to. And it's killing them. According to the American Cancer Society, 83 percent of Americans could reduce their odds by losing weight, eating right, and exercising. It's estimated that a third of cancer deaths are linked to obesity, poor nutrition, and a lack of exercise.
Small SUVs getting top marks for crash protection from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Volkswagen as well as the Ford Escape, the Mitsubishi Outlander, the Nissan Rogue all earned the top safety picks. All those SUVs have side air bags and are equipped with a stability control feature that guards against roll overs.
Also happening now, we're tracking Fay. Hurricane watches for parts of North Florida and Georgia. The tropical storm lingers off the east off of the eastern Florida coast. Forecasters say it could be stronger when it makes landfall again.
Rob Marciano live at CNN's hurricane headquarters tracking. And this is a hard one to keep track of, Fay, as she gets ready for probably another hit over land.
Hey, there.
MARCIANO: Hey. You know how alliterations are very popular in the T.V. news business, Fay has certainly been rather fickle. Here she goes or it goes, just off the coast of Florida now, 50 mile an hour winds. This thing went from 60 to 65 after it made landfall, held together almost across the entire peninsula of Florida. Certainly some impressive numbers for sure. There it is. There's most of the convention on the east side.
A couple of i-reports I wanted to share with you. First off, remind me which one this is. Palm beach? Yes. Kelly (inaudible). The east side. This reminds me of Wilma and how everything on the east side pretty much was worse than the west side. That certainly was the case in Palm Beach. Key West also on Monday, there's some - some pretty rocking video there of waves crashing when it made its first landfall on the U.S. and that's from Key West.
All right. Here you go. Check this out as far as what we're looking at. By the way, yes, i-report.com. I guess we're having a festival. Sweet. I didn't even know that. Join the festivities, my friends and send in your i-reports and as always, be safe. Here you go. This is the forecast track for tropical storm Fay. A couple advisories ago we had it going to hurricane strength because we thought it would be further offshore. Now it looks like it's going to hug the coastline. It's good news and hopefully we'll remain below hurricane strength. Either way, it will pound the east side of the state. And then maybe, traverse the west side again.
Heavy rain expected in east Texas again. Unusually strong storm across the Pacific northwest helping hopefully put out the fires there in Washington state. Kiran, back up to you in New York.
CHETRY: All right. Rob, thanks.
MARCIANO: All right.
CHETRY: Well, Senator John McCain at the forum, the Saddleback Church, called it his greatest moral failure, the end of his first marriage. But the details ended there at the faith forum. CNN's chief national correspondent John King is taking a look back at what happened. Hi, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Kiran. This is one of the many complicated chapters of John McCain's life. We looked into as far as this investigation that will air tonight. He's a very complicated guy. He is sometimes viewed as an outcast in the republican party yet he's about to become the republican nominee. You hear personal stories about his temper. We also found some remarkably soft and tender moments. But the complicated chapter you're talking about now, his second marriage and the collapse of his first, began nearly 30 years ago when John McCain was in Hawaii and had a life changing encounter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I saw her there and struck up a conversation with her.
CINDY MCCAIN, WIFE OF SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: I was a little taken back. Because I was a lot younger than he was. And I was surprised he'd be interested.
KING (voice-over): And you lied about your age?
MCCAIN: I lied.
KING: The age disparity, she is 17 years younger, was the least of their worries. McCain was still married to Carol McCain. Their daughter Sidney was 12 years old. The marriage was in trouble. He had been having affairs for several years.
And how does it sit with you to those who have over the years said John McCain comes home from Vietnam, you know, leaves his wife and then marries this younger, beautiful, wealthy woman?
CINDY MCCAIN: At the time I didn't really understand what they were saying because my husband had - had been separated and he'd - you know, 6 1/2 years. It was a long separation.
KING: McCain wrote in his memoir that he began dating Cindy after he separated from his wife Carol. In fact, his own divorce filing shows they dated for nine months while he was still living with Carol. And records show he applied for a marriage license in Arizona before his divorce was final.
The chronology that is presented publicly doesn't necessarily match the chronology of the documents, that you had applied for a marriage license in Arizona at a time when your divorce wasn't final yet.
MCCAIN: That's 30 years ago. I have a happy marriage.
CINDY MCCAIN: His reasons are his reasons. You know, I think I've been a good wife and I think I'm a good mother. And I think that's what he wanted. I think that's what he saw in me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Elsewhere in the documentary McCain says he takes full responsibility for the collapse of his first marriage. Kiran, you noted he did say last weekend he considered it to be his greatest moral failing. He also tells us that he is happy, that he and his first wife Carol continue to have a good relationship and you do see her children from time to time at John McCain events. And Cindy and John McCain have four children, Megan, Jack, Jimmy and their adopted daughter, Bridget -- Kiran.
CHETRY: You know, it's very interesting, John, because the way the question was asked by Rick Warren, he said what's your greatest moral failing and then what do you think the greatest moral failing of the country is. And so he answered the one about himself in a very short amount of time and then went on to expound on the other one. He had a little bit of an out there.
KING: He had a little bit of an out there. But it is interesting that McCain has written several books over the years and he does discussed this and doesn't give the details of the collapse of his marriage but in his own book that he's written over the years, he says that he takes full responsibility and that it's his fault. The only thing his first wife Carol has ever said about this, and again, she supports him although she doesn't come out in public. She said a long time ago right back after the divorce when he came back from Vietnam she needed him to be 40 and he wanted to be 25.
CHETRY: All right. John King, thanks. And by the way, this is going to be fascinating. It's two documentaries that you don't want to miss that tell you who our presidential candidates really are. It's "Revealed" tonight, 8:00 Eastern, John McCain. And then at 9:30, Barack Obama.
ROBERTS: It's coming up now on 38 minutes after the hour. Can you imagine the Empire State Building with a windmill on the very top of it? And an absolutely electrifying idea.
And Gerri Willis is here with more on that.
Hey, Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey, John. Is it a red hot idea or is it simply hot air? One mayor's plan to turn New York City into a giant urban wind farm, that's next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 20 minutes now to the top of the hour. Gerri Willis is in for Ali Velshi this week. And Mayor Bloomberg channeling T. Boone Pickens.
WILLIS: Not only channeling but meeting with him to talk about this ambitious plan to turn New York City into a giant wind farm. They would put wind turbines on top of buildings, skyscrapers, in the water off the shores of this island right here. Fascinating idea.
Take a look at this. Here's some of the details of how this would work. We don't know the price tag yet, by the way. Because there's been no price tag put on this. Of course, critics are saying how in the holy heck would you get all the federal agencies and state agencies to cooperate enough to make this happen. Mike Bloomberg though, very ambitious idea to make this work. Mainly because you know, New York City has a lot of energy problems in the past. Overtaxed energy grid, we have problems in 2003, 2006, Queens went for days without energy, literally days.
I want to show you a picture of what this might look like. We tried to imagine -
CHETRY: Oh, man.
ROBERTS: That's lovely.
CHETRY: Although all you see now is scaffolding and cranes beside building --
WILLIS: How different is that? Now, you might be wondering because we just sort of put existing turbines on top of buildings. But there really is a prototype for these wind turbines out there and they look like egg beaters. And the idea from designers is that you would integrate that into the design of the building so it looked like part of it.
CHETRY: You know, I have an idea. You could combine two stories. The invisibility cloak technology with the wind and then you don't have to see them but they're still doing their job.
WILLIS: Yes. You're always thinking, you know.
CHETRY: Great. Call me.
ROBERTS: Certainly looked like downtown Amman, you know, with all of the rebar sticking out in the country roofs and satellite dishes on top. Beautiful.
WILLIS: Yes. Crazy. But you know, this could happen. You know some day we're going to have to do something, right?
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Maybe the egg beater is the answer. Gerri, thanks so much for that.
WILLIS: You're welcome.
CHETRY: How about this one. A tortoise on wheels finds love at an Israeli zoo. Yes, this is true. Look at this. This little turtle, she lost the use of her back leg. So zoo keepers buckled her on to a makeshift skate board and now say the 55-pound turtle can get around just fine. She really is. She even has a boy friend, they say. How about that?
ROBERTS: Takes her out for a stroll every once in a while?
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: There you go.
Here's what we're working on for you this morning. Are unarmed security guards in prisons in danger? A young prison guard is jumped on the job. Now his heartbroken mother wants answers. You're watching the most news in the morning.
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CHETRY: Two inmates accused in the murder of a federal correctional officer who survived a war zone. The indictment last week has put a spotlight on safety inside of America's prisons. Are the protectors really the prey? Kelli Arena has more in part three of her series, behind bars.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Good morning, Kiran. The Bureau of Prisons says that federal correctional facilities are safe and secure. And that the killing of a correctional officer is rare. But if you talk to people on the front lines, they tell a very different story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (voice-over): 22-year-old Jose Rivera survived two tours in Iraq. But after returning home, this high security federal prison proved too dangerous.
LEE RIVERA, MOTHER: That it would happen. That it was not safe for him to work there.
ARENA: Rivera was killed by two inmates using a homemade weapon.
RIVERA: It was two against one, you know. And nobody helped him.
ARENA: Not only was Rivera working alone, but he was unarmed. That's standard operating procedure in a federal prison.
MICHAEL MUKASEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL: That's the first time in a dozen years that a guard has been killed. But I want it to be the last time.
ARENA: Any policy changes will come too late for Rivera and the Prison Guard Union.
BRYAN LOWRY, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: Only because of this tragic unfortunate loss of Officer Rivera has the agency entertained, at least trying to put some type of equipment that may prevent serious body injury or loss of life of staff.
ARENA: We asked the Bureau of Prisons for an on camera interview, but it refused. It is promising corrections officers stab- resistant vests. More staff and a change in the way that inmates are moved through prisons. The union says what officers really need are weapons. Just like those who work in state prisons. JAMES WALKER, CALIFORNIA PRISON WARDEN: The population is just too unpredictable. And you never know if they're going to turn on you or not.
ARENA: Here at California State Prison in Sacramento, officers wear protective vests. They are equipped with pepper spray and a baton and are backed up 24/7 by armed guards.
LT. D. RIOS, CALIFORNIA CORRECTIONS OFFICER: There are times when we come upon a situation where we have to protect another inmate or protect ourselves.
ARENA: The feds insist that good communication with inmates is the best security. Many of the corrections officers we spoke to say that's just crazy. And describe some of the horrors they've seen.
"DAVE", FEDERAL CORRECTIONS OFFICER: For the mere joy of it, he decided to cut this guy's throat and cut his eyeballs out just because he wanted to see if he would scream.
ARENA: The Bureau of Prisons says it's not ruling out more change. Without it, Rivera's mother says there will certainly be another death.
RIVERA: I wouldn't want another mother or anyone else to go through the tragedy we went through.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: The violence is compounded by the fact that federal prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. The prison where Rivera was killed is offering signing bonuses to fill its needs for corrections officers. John, Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: Kelli, thanks.
Well, new calls to lower the drinking age to 18, but the calls are coming from college presidents. We're going to look at why the educators say that they want students to be able to drink legally.
ROBERTS: Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are pushing for unity at the Democratic convention. But Clinton supporters may stay still somewhat divided during a role call vote. We're speaking with one governor who says he's casting his nomination vote for her.
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ROBERTS: Coming up on nine minutes to the top of the hour. Could your drinking water cause diabetes? A startling new study found that the toxin in the water may be linked to type II diabetes. We're "Paging our Dr. Gupta" from the CNN Center in Atlanta for answers. Sanjay, what toxin are we talking about here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We're talking about arsenic, John. This is something we don't typically think of as in the water supply at all, but there are levels of arsenic in the water that are deemed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency. In case you're curious about the number, it's 10 micrograms per milliliter. Now, the concern here is that when we think of diabetes, we think of things like obesity, we think of pancreas that's not working well, possibly causing diabetes. But could it be an environmental toxin as well.
Now, that was at the heart of this study. What they found is that people who have the highest levels of arsenic in their water and subsequently in their bodies had a higher chance of having diabetes. Diabetics if we go backwards had a 26 percent higher level of arsenic in their blood. Now, John, there is no cause and effect relationship here. It could be some other environmental factors as well that are in conjunction with arsenic. When you take the study a little bit further and you look at other countries like Bangladesh, Mexico, Taiwan, they find that they have higher levels of arsenic in their water and as a result have higher levels of diabetes as well.
So, there might be something going on here. It's hard to say. John, you know this but let me just demonstrate really quickly what happens in the body here when you sort of zoom in and you look specifically at the pancreas. The pancreas is responsible for producing insulin. That's these little mushroom-like things here that bind certain cells. What they believe is that when you have a lot of arsenic in the body, it sort of interferes with that particular relationship and blood glucose starts to stream through the blood in even higher levels and that causes the high blood numbers of sugar that is associated with diabetics. That maybe what's going on here but again this arsenic in the water and the diabetes connection interesting, John.
ROBERTS: I love the fact that you give me credit, Sanjay, but I had no idea how that worked.
GUPTA: I think you're a pretty smart guy.
ROBERTS: But let me ask you this question. A lot of people might not even know that there is arsenic in their tap water. If there is, is there anything they can do about it? What about water filters, a whole house water filter or one of those water filter that you put in your fridge or use the tap water and you know like a Brita filter or something like that.
GUPTA: Yes. Those things may help. It may also help to sort of look at a map to figure out first of all if you're at risk. And there are certain maps in certain parts of the country as a result that are more at risk. You can take a look there. That's a sort of a complicated map. But if you go to the U.S. Geological Survey web site you can get an idea. The red numbers have the highest levels of arsenic. The green, the lowest. But you can look into this specifically, you can check with your county to find out if you're using well water, for example, how high the levels of arsenic are in that water or you can use a filtration system if you're concern, John.
ROBERTS: So the filtration systems do work to remove arsenic in, do they? GUPTA: They do. Some of the best ones do. But you have to make sure. You know a simple Brita filter may not but a whole house water filtration system that you mentioned may work, John.
ROBERTS: All right. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning with that news. Sanjay, thanks so much.
GUPTA: All right. Thanks, John.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (voice-over): Boomerang storm, Fay comes back with brutal force.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of a sudden, the roof came off in planks.
ROBERTS: Threatening Florida for a third time this morning.
And "guitar hero" nation. A video game keeping classics current.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My nine-year-old's favorite band is Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. And saving rock and roll.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, it may be Barack Obama's party at the democratic convention next week but Hillary Clinton supporters are planning to show their love for her one more time. They're going to publicly back her during a roll call vote at the convention. Some are asking though does that send the wrong message?
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell says that he's going to vote for Clinton. He is a long-time Clinton supporter. He joins me live from Philadelphia now.
Good morning, Governor, great to see you this morning.
GOV. ED RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Good morning, Kiran.
CHETRY: So does this roll call vote is going to come up, symbolic, if you will, at the convention. And you're one of the people who are going to vote for Hillary Clinton. Why are you doing it?
RENDELL: Well, in great part to reflect the vote of the people of Pennsylvania who in the Pennsylvania primary gave Senator Clinton a resounding win.
But I think what Senator Obama and Senator Clinton did together by agreeing to have this roll call is allowed there to be a really a catharsis for the supporters on both sides, for Clinton supporters, it's time to proudly cast our vote for Hillary Clinton who we believe in and then close that book and go ahead 1,000 percent to elect Barack Obama, as Hillary Clinton has told us to do.
So I think rather than being divisive, I think it will be tremendously supportive of the effort to close ranks.
I think there are Clinton people out who worked their tail off, who put their own money into this, who took leave of absence from their jobs and they want to cast that vote. There's no attempt to change anybody's vote.
Nobody has reached out to any people who are pledged on the other side and said switched. Senator Obama has 385-vote lead. I believe he'll win by at least 385 votes. And it will be a good thing for the party. It will be a good night for both the Obama and Clinton camps and then we'll come together and we'll be a united machine like nobody's ever seen. We understand the stakes.
CHETRY: But doesn't it still though - well governor, is there a risk though that it does once again point to the fact that there were so many supporters of Hillary Clinton, point once again and reopen the fact that there was such a tight primary race and really take the eye off the ball if you will, when it comes to unifying the party behind Barack Obama?
RENDELL: Well, the fact that we had these primaries is a good thing. For example, in Pennsylvania, we added 300,000 democrats to the registration rolls. We now have a million vote margin over the republicans in the state, the largest I think we've ever had in the history of the state. That's a good thing.
These primary contests were a good thing for our party. We grew our party. We brought in new people. And this is one last way of showing support for the candidates that each of us chose and each of us supported. But then I think you'll see tremendous unity going forward.
I think you'll see that from Senator Clinton herself and her speech on Tuesday night. I think she'll sound a call for a 100 percent unified party, looking forward, not back. She said in Washington that Saturday, you can't waste a second looking back. We've got to look forward and elect Barack Obama.
CHETRY: All right. Let me ask you about this. The latest CNN poll has Barack Obama's lead over John McCain shrinking now to just a three-point gap between the two. Are democrats worried that at this point Barack Obama isn't doing better in those polls?
RENDELL: We're the worst worry warts in America, active democrats. We worry if the lead was down from 30 to 20, we would be worried. Sure, everyone's worried. We believe the country is in such trouble.
We believe that the Bush administration has done such a bad job. We believe that Senator McCain has said he's going to continue the policies of the Bush administration. So, we believe we've got to have change. And we'd like to be sitting on a 20-point lead. But there's something good about those polls and that is nobody's going to leave Denver over-confident.
We're going to leave Denver united and ready to rip.
CHETRY: Right.
And what is the advice then if you were giving it to Barack Obama for helping to make that gap wider?
RENDELL: To make that gap wider, well, to campaign like heck. To let the people of the United States see your personality and see what a terrific, fun, smart, effective person you are.
Barack Obama's going to be a great leader for this country. He's got the right ideas, he's just got to get that across in the next 10 weeks. And we're going to have a big victory.
CHETRY: All right. Governor Ed Rendell, great to see you.
Thanks for being with us this morning.
RENDELL: Thanks, Kiran. Good to see you.
CHETRY: AMERICAN MORNING is your convention headquarters by the way. First, is the Democrats, as we've been talking of. Starting next week in Denver. The best political team on TV brings you everything as Barack Obama makes history.
