Return to Transcripts main page

Issue Number One

Awaiting Obama's VP Announcement; Tropical Storm Fay Continues Pounding Florida; Gas Prices Keep Tumbling Down; Considering the Economic Toll of Political Conventions

Aired August 22, 2008 - 12:00   ET

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

GERRI WILLIS, CO-HOST: Barack Obama says he's picked his vice presidential running mate.
Tropical Storm Fay pounds Florida, and there's a lot of life left in her.

Gas prices take a tumble. Is oil doing the same?

And as we count down to the convention, why you are actually paying for the political party.

Issue #1 is your economy. ISSUE #1 starts right now.

From the ISSUE #1 headquarters to the CNNMoney.com newsroom, we are all over the stories that matter to you.

Hello, everyone, and welcome. I'm Gerri Willis. Ali Velshi is off today.

Well, Fay just won't go away. The tropical storm is causing all sorts of problems across the state of Florida. And wait until you hear where she's going to go next.

What one big city wants you to do with your table scraps.

And we'll have one big corporation plan for a company-wide vacation.

But the big story today, Christine Romans, no doubt about it, it is the VP announcement we're expecting maybe in this hour from Barack Obama.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-HOST: Any moment now. That's absolutely right, Gerri.

Barack Obama knows who his VP pick is, but apparently doesn't want to share, at least just not yet. But it could happen any moment now.

Let's go to CNN's Candy Crowley in Chicago.

Candy, how much longer can they wait to do this? They built an awful lot of momentum heading into this announcement.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and aren't they pleased about that? Absolutely.

ROMANS: Right.

CROWLEY: This is what they wanted, as you know. The convention begins on Monday. They wanted a big rollout, some real adrenaline to get into that convention.

Theoretically, how long can they wait? Well, until Wednesday, actually, because that's when the vice president gives -- the vice presidential nominee gives his speech. But practically speaking, since Obama's going to be in Springfield, Illinois, where he launched his campaign, he is leaving tomorrow to go there for a big rally. He is going to have his vice presidential pick with him, so practically speaking, I suppose they could wait up until that moment.

Nonetheless, they've told supporters that they're going to let them know via text message. So we could hear that, as you say, from now until right up to the moments of that speech in Springfield.

ROMANS: In the last 24 hours, we've heard Obama talk about what he's looking for in a VP. First and foremost, that this person is ready to serve on day one. What is he saying about who fits that bill or what exactly is on that bill?

CROWLEY: Well, this is -- he's not saying who would fit that bill...

ROMANS: Right.

CROWLEY: But, you know, he also says, listen, I need someone who can help me steer the economy, who can help me reframe foreign policy. I need, as you say, someone who can step right in. And he says, I want someone who will help with a healthy debate in the White House, somebody who will challenge me if they think I'm wrong.

Well, this could fit a lot of people. Certainly, Joe Biden, whose name has remained in there for sometime. He's a senior member on the Senate side. He is -- has vast foreign policy credentials.

You may remember he was most recently in Georgia at the request of the president there. So a vast, vast resume on that score.

He also is a grownup, as we like to say, somebody who at this point has been in public service for so long. He would not hesitate to take on even a president.

You have Evan Bayh. He's been in the Senate for a long time, he has some foreign policy credentials, also comes from a state that might help Barack Obama if he can pull in Indiana.

There's talk about the governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine. He has no foreign policy experience, he seems more of a long shot than these other two.

And we're even now hearing about a congressman from Texas named Chet Edwards. So, you know, again, the field is pretty vast. A lot of people still talking about Hillary Clinton. It seems to be one of those four -- Christine.

ROMANS: Candy, do we know who has been vetted, how many people have been vetted, how far -- how big that pool was? I mean, it's one of the reasons why there's buzz about Chet Edwards this morning, because there's all of this talk about who has been vetted, you know, how many people have been vetted. And what does that say to us?

CROWLEY: Right. Well, you know, there's really vetted and then there's kind of vetted. And then, in the really vetted thing, I think those four names you just heard the AP today reporting, that Chet Edwards was one of those who was seriously vetted, as they say.

They looked at a broad array of people, I'm sure. What's interesting about this politically is a lot of names get thrown into the hopper and pushed from both sides. Maybe there's a congressman or a senator or a governor who wants to be viewed in that light for sort of local political reasons.

There is also the idea, of course, that the campaign wants to, if you will, sort of give a nod to those people who have been helpful to them. So it's hard to kind of decipher.

But in terms of seriously being vetted, it is those four people that we know of. But honestly, I wouldn't say it's outside the realm of possibility that there are one or two people that are also in that category that we just don't know about that haven't been talking.

ROMANS: All right. Candy Crowley.

Thanks so much, Candy.

CROWLEY: Sure.

WILLIS: Well, one person who could still be Obama's VP choice, Hillary Clinton. What could Obama learn from Hillary's campaign tactics?

CNN's Bill Schneider takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Hillary Clinton's on board.

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: To anyone who voted for me and is now considering not voting or voting for Senator McCain, I strongly urge you to reconsider.

SCHNEIDER: Are they listening? "The Wall Street Journal"/NBC News poll reports that a bare majority of Clinton supporters say they will vote for Obama. Twenty-one percent favor McCain, while 27 percent are still undecided or say they will vote for somebody else.

Another poll shows John McCain has been making gains among white men and working class whites, the same voters who delivered for Clinton in the primaries. How does Obama reach those voters? The same way Bill Clinton did in 1992, and Hillary Clinton did in the primaries -- economic populism.

CLINTON: If I tell you I will fight for you, that is exactly what I intend to do.

SCHNEIDER: Look who's a born-again populist now.

OBAMA: But what I can do is I can say, I'm going to wake up every day thinking about you and thinking about how to make your life a little bit better.

SCHNEIDER: Obama even used his new populist edge to slice up McCain.

OBAMA: Because I don't think that the 463,000 Americans who've lost their job this year are seeing the great progress that John McCain has seen.

SCHNEIDER: Here's another idea: Put Hillary Clinton on the ticket. It would turn the Democratic convention into a love-in, 4,400 delegates singing "Kumbaya."

Would Clinton add to the ticket? Apparently.

If Clinton were the Democratic nominee for president, the Journal/NBC poll shows she'd leading McCain by six points. Obama's lead in the poll? Three.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: Iraq was the issue that got Obama the Democratic nomination. The economy was Hillary Clinton's issue. But if Obama is going to win this election, he's going to win it on the economic issue.

That's why he has to find his populist voice. Because you know something? Populism is popular.

WILLIS: Well, "Kumbaya" back to you, Bill Schneider. Thank you for that.

ROMANS: OK. Joining us now is CNN political analyst and journalist Carl Bernstein, who was part of "The Washington Post" team which won a Pulitzer Prize for its Watergate coverage. Bernstein has just written a new book about Hillary Clinton called "A Woman in Charge."

Welcome to the program.

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to be here.

ROMANS: Any possibility, any outside possibility that Hillary Clinton is on this ticket?

Well, it's more than an outside possibility. She's clearly been under consideration. She gave a speech yesterday in Florida that many people there thought she sounded less than totally enthusiastic about Barack Obama's candidacy. And that would be perhaps an indication that she's been disappointed.

She would like to be the vice presidential nominee, obviously. Many people think she would be the strongest nominee.

I think by deduction, we can pretty much think that the two that are being most seriously considered toward the end were Hillary and Biden, or somebody that we don't know about. A complete surprise.

ROMANS: This morning, a little bit of buzz about Chet Edwards, the congressman from...

BERNSTEIN: I wouldn't take that very seriously. I think the -- you know, the thing about Evan Bayh is that he was very enthusiastically for this war. He tried to organize Democrats in the Senate to support President Bush on the war. So I think that kind of eliminates the rationale of Obama's candidacy from the start. So I'd be very surprised.

He's also considered kind of dull, though very able and smart. So I would say we're -- you know, if I had to guess -- and that's all I'm doing -- except I do know that Bill Clinton two days ago said to somebody that I talked to that he's planning to leave the convention after two days.

Now, that was two days ago, something could have changed, because Obama might have notified the prospective nominee yesterday. But, you know, I think that we need to look at a number of things that are going on now, not just the vice presidential question, in terms of how Obama can improve his campaign.

And a lot of it, I think, is going to have to do with what he says at this convention, and perhaps be much more specific about his message, maybe give something, the equivalent almost of a State of the Union Address, saying here's the problems of the country, here's how I'm going to address them, because he's had real problems by not being specific. And I think that we're going to see two big stories: who the nominee is for vice president, how Hillary handles and her people handle the convention if she is not the nominee, which could be very difficult for Obama.

And then, this question of how he begins to change, how he is perceived in terms of perhaps a vagueness that many voters feel.

ROMANS: Some folks have been telling me that they think the vice presidential pick, in and of itself, can only hurt him, it can't really help him.

BERNSTEIN: I don't buy that for a minute. I think that Biden could bring something to the ticket. I think that Hillary can bring something.

ROMANS: Foreign policy experience for Biden. BERNSTEIN: Well, more than that. Joe Biden is somebody who is very able on his feet. He has some real wisdom.

He's been an excellent senator, he's a Catholic. He has working class appeal. He has lived a simple life, particularly given, you know, some of the charges that are going back and forth about who is an elitist and who is not. I think Biden could bring a lot to the table.

ROMANS: Let me ask you about this whole, you know, sniping about who is richer or who is not rich, and what is rich on the campaign trail. How does that play to the middle class voters and to voters when these two are going at it like this?

BERNSTEIN: I'm not an expert, quite honestly, on how voters perceive things. What I do think is that both campaigns have played very effectively to cable news and the evening news in terms of being oversimplistic and too many of us on the air have bought into it. I think that there are complex issues in this campaign that deserve far more serious attention than I'm seeing on a lot of broadcasts.

ROMANS: And that's what the Obama convention speech needs to really be specific about.

BERNSTEIN: Well, I think, again, I think more of this is up to us. I think we have to delve deeper into who these two candidates are, what their records really are.

Yes, we can talk about who is an elitist, supposedly, and who has how many houses. And, you know, the real thing that I saw with McCain, quite honestly, when I watched him on the question of the houses is not knowing how many houses he had.

ROMANS: Right.

BERNSTEIN: In turn -- you know, I did one of the original pieces on McCain in 1999/2000 for "Vanity Fair," a profile that's on my Web site, carlbernstein.com. I spent months with him.

The John McCain we're seeing today is not the McCain of 2000. He's not as swift on his feet, he's slow in responding, he's showing age. That's a question we ought to be looking at.

We also ought to be looking at, you know, his strengths, his weaknesses. But we're getting too sidetracked, I think, in the media on some of what the political consultants like Karl Rove, like Mark Penn, back in the primaries, wanted us to look at...

ROMANS: Sure.

BERNSTEIN: ... instead of what -- you know, the most important thing we do is to determine what is news. We shouldn't be letting these guys do it quite to the extent that they are.

ROMANS: I'll leave it right there, Carl Bernstein. But we're going to keep you around. If this happens in the next hour or so, we really want to be able to go to you for some analysis and talk about -- delve deeply into who that person is...

BERNSTEIN: Glad to do it.

ROMANS: ... and what that person brings to the ticket.

Thanks so much.

Carl Bernstein -- Gerri.

WILLIS: Fascinating stuff.

Well, that brings us to our "Quick Vote" question, where you get to weigh in.

Poppy Harlow from CNNMoney.com is here with today's question.

And, of course, it's all about politics.

Hi, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Of course it's all about politics and issue #1, the economy.

Well-versed in economic issues, that is what all of you voters out there hope our next president will be, with so many economic issues at the forefront of your mind right now. What's the most critical? Here's our question for you today.

Which issue #1 topic is most likely to get a candidate elected president: health care, housing, energy, or taxes? Tell us what you think on CNNMoney.com. We'll bring you the numbers a little later.

WILLIS: That will be an interesting one. Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: You're welcome.

WILLIS: Well, the CNN hurricane center is tracking Tropical Storm Fay as she churns over Florida. We have the very latest on where she's headed next.

Plus, we're tracking your gas prices headed into the summer weekend.

And why you are helping to pay for those big political conventions. You'll want to hear about that.

We're all over issue #1, right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Tropical Storm Fay is still sitting over Florida, slowly moving west, and it's leaving behind flooding in many areas of the state.

Jonathan Petramala of our affiliate Bay News 9 is live in Crystal River, Florida. Jonathan, what are you seeing out there? And how are people coping?

JONATHAN PETRAMALA, REPORTER, BAY NEWS 9: Well, as you can see, Fay continues to pack a punch as it moves over the state again. You can tell because I'm standing in Kings Bay, a freshwater bay, even though I'm in somebody's front yard.

Now, emergency planners say they expected something like this, but they weren't as worried because it's not really posing a danger yet. What they were really worried is Fay as a rain event (ph).

As you can see, it is raining. It's been raining here since about late last evening.

And so they're worried that there might be some localized flooding in some low-lying areas. But they are keeping a close eye on this water, because this is actually getting close to low tide. You can see how much water's on your left.

When it first happened this morning, it was up almost to that house right over there. So if this water stays in and there's another high tide this evening, it could pose a risk to these homes.

WILLIS: Well, it looks like localized flooding right this very moment, exactly where you are. How are people coping with that? Are they having trouble? Are they evacuated?

PETRAMALA: There's been no calls for any kind of evacuation orders, anything like that, because people -- this is not a storm that people were really worried about in terms of coastal flooding. This is just maybe about a foot, maybe two feet above high tide.

When it gets to about five or six feet over high tide, that's when people are worried about safety. But as of right now, no evacuations have been ordered, and people are driving around. There's a restaurant near here where people are eating lunch, et cetera.

WILLIS: Jonathan, it looks like it is muggy and humid there. Try to keep dry. Thanks for that report today. We appreciate it.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WILLIS: Well, the goofy hats, the massive stage, the balloons -- the two parties are about to have their big parties. And guess who is footing the bill? You are. We'll take a closer look next.

Plus, Poppy Harlow, well, she usually walks or skips into the studio. But not today. Why is she on a bicycle? There she is riding in right now.

Holy cow. Awesome.

I wonder why she's doing that. We're going to tell you all about it next.

You're watching ISSUE #1.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

ROMANS: All right. If you want to save money and the environment, it's pretty hard to beat a bicycle.

Poppy Harlow even arrived on our set by bike. There you see her on that -- well, you're going to see her on a two-wheeler.

From CNNMoney.com to the ISSUE #1 headquarters, now she's here to tell us if the bike craze could catch on in today's "Energy Fix."

You know, in a big-city place like this -- and I hear a lot of complaints from people -- it's hard to get a bike, to take it to work and to park it someplace all day without getting it stolen or getting in your building with it.

HARLOW: It was hard for us to get past security.

ROMANS: Right.

HARLOW: We rented it right outside in Columbus Circle. But you're not even really allowed to park them outside of the offices.

ROMANS: But what a perfect solution if you're talking about an urban setting or a close way to commute to work.

HARLOW: It's what a lot of people are going to be doing at the convention, folks. As Christine said, it's pretty hard to beat a bike for an energy fix. They're cheap, they're environmentally friendly, they can also help you burn some calories.

At the upcoming conventions, 1,000 bikes will be available for people to share for free. Several congressmen are challenging convention-goers to collectively ride 25,000 miles during the conventions. That would eliminate about 1,200 pounds of carbon emissions and save nearly $19,000 in travel costs, so that's a big energy fix. Pretty cool idea.

ROMANS: You wonder why the programs aren't more pervasive.

HARLOW: Yes, they're not very popular here right now. Some cities, though, folks, are beginning to make bike rentals cheap and very available.

Last week, actually, Washington, D.C., launched a program called Smart Bike. For $40 a year, riders will have unlimited access to bikes for short trips. So, for a few hours a day, you could take a bike out.

Just swipe your card. You can return it to a different location, as well. So pretty convenient.

The program starting just with 10 bike racks and about 100 bikes. But compare that to the gold standard of bike rentals. That's in Paris.

ROMANS: Ah, Paris.

HARLOW: Ah, Paris, right? They have more than 20,000 bikes for rent with a station literally every 300 yards. The program is widely popular. It's really transformed the city since it launched last summer. Of course, here in the United States, there are plenty of bike rental shops, but, of course, few citywide programs -- Christine.

ROMANS: But what about the helmet for the hair? You know?

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Hey, I wore it. I wore the helmet.

I want to advocate safe biking for all of you. It is a concern.

If you think about the fatalities, though, with auto accidents, there's no comparison. More and more bikes, the more there are on the road, of course the safer it gets.

If you check out Portland, Oregon, where biking is very popular, they've actually painted big green boxes on the road to help make the cyclists more visible. Pretty cool.

And we want to hear your ideas and if you're biking. You'll have to let us know on ireport.com/energy fix.

I cannot believe I let the producers talk me into biking in.

ROMANS: I think you did it well. I think you did it very well.

HARLOW: I did it well, thanks.

ROMANS: And (INAUDIBLE).

All right. Poppy Harlow.

Thanks, Poppy.

WILLIS: She did that in her heels, too. I saw that.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Nice. Nice.

WILLIS: Why you might be helping to pay for the Democrats and Republicans to hold their big parties over the next few weeks.

Plus, one big company's plan to send everybody on vacation at once.

You're watching the home of ISSUE #1, the economy, CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: We are waiting any moment really to hear who Senator Barack Obama has chosen to be his vice presidential running mate. You're seeing live pictures right now of Senator Joe Biden's home there on the left. You're also seeing Senator Bayh's house, where reporters are staking out both of these homes. And there is Midway Airport and Senator Barack Obama's campaign plane.

Again, we are waiting for news any moment, really, about when Senator Barack Obama has chosen his vice presidential running mate. We're told -- he told us he's made the decision, he just hadn't told us yet.

So break out those goofy hats, build the massive stage and don't forget to fill up the balloons, the Democrats and Republicans are about to have their four-day nominating parties. And guess who's paying? Special Investigations Unit correspondent Drew Griffin says check your tax return because it may be you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you checked that little box on your tax return pledging $3 to presidential elections matching funds, you are contributing a lot to this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't know that. No. It does surprise me, actually.

GRIFFIN: It surprised us, too. Hold on to your goofy convention hats. The Federal Election Commission will give $34 million of your money, $17 million to each party, to help pay for the party.

SHEILA KRUMHOLZ, CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS: And you have to wonder what that buys us. The taxpayers are footing the bill for essentially four-day long campaign ads for their parties and their candidates.

GRIFFIN: So who came up with that idea? Come on. You already know, don't you?

SCOTT THOMAS, FORMER FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION CHAIRMAN: It was an act of Congress.

GRIFFIN: Yes, an act of Congress, of course. Former Federal Election Commissioner Scott Thomas says the idea was noble at the time. Back in the 1970s, amid concerns over corruption, the push was to get private money, big donors, out of presidential elections and equal the playing field for little known candidates. In a compromise, Congress decided each taxpayer could even choose to contribute by simply checking that box.

THOMAS: With the check box, the concept is, you know, only if citizens are actually willing to basically earmark, at that time, a dollar of their taxes to go to this program will it get there.

GRIFFIN: But here's what Congress never bothered to tell you about that checked box. It hasn't replaced private money or big donor influence. It doesn't give enough to even the playing field for lesser known candidates. And nowhere does it say check here to pay for a party.

It sounds like the voters are getting hoodwinked on this thing.

STEVE ELLIS, TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE: Certainly I think that most people, when they're checking that box, have no idea that they're paying for party conventions in Denver and St. Paul.

GRIFFIN: Steve Ellis, with Taxpayers for Common Sense, says no matter how you look at it, it doesn't make sense.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: Amazing.

Well, every day we're bringing you what the candidates are saying on the campaign trail. John McCain took a break yesterday, but Wednesday he answered a voter's question about health care. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is a health care crisis in America. We would be, if it were not for the energy crisis, we'd be talking a lot more about health care issues. And we have to reform health care in America. And we have to make insurance available and affordable for all Americans.

I do not believe that that means a government-run health care system is the most efficient or what we need. And we need to have policies that encourage home health care as opposed to institutionalized care. And we need to treat people on an outcome basis that don't pay for every test or every procedure, every visit to the doctor, but treat them for a period of time and then pay that provider.

Give -- there's a -- there's a program now for senior citizens that is not as wide as I'd like to see where it's called Cash and Counseling. And seniors are given money every month and then they're able to decide how they want to pay for their own health care. It's remarkable the savings that have been realized.

But in cases like your husband, where they're basically uninsurables, "uninsurables," people with chronic diseases, we should have what we call government approved plans so that we pool federal and state money together and establish wide risk pools so that there is affordable and available health insurance for people like you and your husband.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That was John McCain's take on fixing health care. Now let's hear from Barack Obama. He spoke in Virginia yesterday about his plan for health care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John McCain doesn't have a health care plan other than to eliminate the tax deduction for employers for paying health care premiums. And in return, giving $5,000 tax credits to each individual family.

Now, that sounds pretty good, getting a $5,000 tax credit to buy some health insurance. Here's the only catch. Health insurance for the average family is going to cost $12,000, $14,000. You're going to be $7,000 short. Meanwhile, your employer now has an incentive to get rid of their health care plan. That's John McCain's plan.

My plan says, let's work with employers who are doing the right thing and offering health care to provide them the ability to lower premiums by up to $2,500 per family per year. And if you don't have health care, then let's make sure you can get health care that is as good as the health care I have as a member of Congress.

And you will have a choice of doctors. And we'll crack down on insurance companies that aren't paying premiums -- aren't paying the claims even though you've paid your premiums. And we're going to negotiate with drug companies for the cheapest available price on drugs. And we are going to emphasize prevention, so everybody's getting regular check-ups and screenings, instead of going to the emergency room, so we can lower costs for the system as a whole.

And we are not going to wait 20 years from now to do it, or 10 years from now to do it. We're going to do it by the end of my first term as president of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: A new battleground in the hunt for energy. How big oil is paying big bucks to people hunting and finding mineral rights.

Plus, paper, plastic and table scraps. For folks in one major city, taking out the trash is about to get more interesting.

You're watching ISSUE #1.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: You are looking at what many consider the finalist for Barack Obama's vice presidential choice Hillary Clinton and Congressman Chet Edwards also considered possibilities at this hour. Senator Obama has said he's made his choice and at any minute we will have an announcement. Make sure you leave your TV on CNN so you don't miss that. Be the first to know from the best political team on television. There you have it. The list of vice presidential possibilities. There are some others on that list, as well. But we are waiting any moment to find out.

All right. Every day at the crack of down, the Mountrail County Courthouse in North Dakota becomes an unlikely battleground in the hunt for oil. You could call them document detectives hired by oil companies to find the mineral rights to targeted oil projects.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Imagine the good fortune of having one of these on your land. Well, it's not enough to just own the surface land on top, you have to own the mineral rights 10,000 feet below. How do you figure out if you do? There are people who are called the landmen who will look into it.

It's the crack of dawn in Stanley, North Dakota. Already modern day prospectors called land men are lined up outside the Mountrail County Recorder's office in a race to get in. Inside this vault, hidden in old mortgage and deed books, are the names of lucky, sometimes unsuspecting individuals who own mineral rights. Translation, oil.

BILL PHINNEY, MINERAL RIGHTS OWNER: They said there's more oil here than there is in the Middle East.

GUTIERREZ: Stanley sits on something called The Bakken Formation, rich in virtually untapped natural gas and crude oil.

KEVIN FREDERICK, GEOLOGIST: The continual amount of oil we find in North Dakota is as much as three times as much as in Texas.

GUTIERREZ: But before a well can even be drilled, the oil company must track down everyone who owns mineral rights to the land. That's where the landmen come in. They're paid up to $500 a day to comb through hundreds of pages of historic documents to track down all the people who have legal rights to the land.

How old are some of the records in here? And how far back do they go?

JOANNE STANLEY, MOUNTRAIL COUNTY RECORDER: Our books start back in 1909.

GUTIERREZ: It's painstaking work, but Marlene Gunderson (ph) says it's exciting because the name she comes up with could potentially become rich.

It sounds like this is detective work.

MARLENE GUNDERSON, LANDMAN: It is.

GUTIERREZ: Document detective work.

There's so much work here, land men are coming in from all over the country.

CLARK DECKER, LANDMAN: My name's Clark Decker. I'm from Sequozenview (ph), Kansas. I used to own a bar and grill and now I'm researching mineral ownership.

ALVIN TOUPS, LANDMAN: My name is Alvin Toups. I was a computer engineer prior to this.

PATRICK MURPHY, LANDMAN: The money is great. And it's always continuous work. We're in great demand.

GUTIERREZ: Once their work is done, the names are turned over to the oil company.

ROGER SORENSON, MINERAL RIGHTS OWNER: This is our name.

GUTIERREZ: Who stake the site for a new well. This time on Roger and Sheryl Sorenson's farm.

SHERYL SORENSON, MINERAL RIGHTS OWNER: It's exciting to think that we will possibly get mineral royalties for the oil well that's going to be here.

GUTIERREZ: If they strike it big, these wheat farmers could become oil millionaires.

How long is the boom expected to continue? The landmen say as long as oil stays above $50 a barrel.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Stanley, North Dakota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: Good to hear somebody's doing well from high gas prices.

Well, paper, plastic, and table scraps. Taking out the trash has a whole new and different meaning than it did just a few years ago. And for residents in one major city, things are about to get even more interesting.

CNN's Chris Lawrence has the story from Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): Los Angeles sanitation workers are going door to door begging for scraps.

FRANK BRISCOE, RECYCLE AMBASSADOR: We take coffee grinds, egg shells.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chicken bones, beef bones, and, you know, all types of soil paper.

LAWRENCE: They're asking homeowners to separate spoiled fruit, cracked eggs and old pizza and give you the new kitchen pails to dump them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So once you put your food scraps in this container, take this outside, empty it into your green container.

LAWRENCE: The city says scraps account for 25 percent of the material in these black bins, which end up in a landfill. The they're asking volunteers to add those scraps to the green waste that gets sent to a composting center instead.

JAN PERRY, LA CITY COUNCILWOMAN: It doesn't require, you know, a lot of funding. It doesn't require that we build something. It just requires education.

LAWRENCE: But residents already drag three bins to the curb -- blue for recycling plastics and papers, green for lawn clippings, and black for everything else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need some kind of a, you know, guidance (ph).

LAWRENCE: We found homeowners struggling to keep track of where to put the kitchen pails.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the black?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, the green.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, in the green.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Same as this one. Yes.

LAWRENCE: But the payoff could be huge. The test program involves about 5,000 homes. But if it expands next year, the city says the bins could keep up to 600 tons of garbage out of the ground.

PERRY: It's a very simple, very direct way to reduce our dependence on landfills.

LAWRENCE: And if the program does go citywide, L.A. won't be alone. About a dozen other cities in California already have table scrap recycling programs.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: We are waiting to hear who Senator Barack Obama has chosen to be his vice presidential running mate. We know that the senator has made that choice. He has not announced it yet. He will to his supporters by text message and then we will all know. But there's been plenty of speculation for some time. Senator Evan Bayh. Also Joe Biden, Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia. There's a long list. We're going to have all of it for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: It appears Chrysler's first ever company wide vacations were such a hit they'll do it again next year. A Chrysler spokesperson confirms the automaker will again institute a mandatory two week vacation for all of its employees. Chrysler denies it was a cost-cutting move, but rather an efficient way for all of its employees to take a break. Though industry analysts say saving operational costs probably factored into Chrysler's decision. From one big automaker to another. With sky high oil and gas prices, General Motors is betting on the electric car. Just how much does the company need this car to succeed? Ali Velshi went right to the top, sitting down with GM's CEO, Rick Wagoner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There are some people who observe the auto industry in the United States and say, did you get wacked or why couldn't you see it coming?

RICK WAGONER, CEO, GENERAL MOTORS: Well, I think, to a certain extent, all of us saw coming the fact that energy prices would increase. I mean, to be fair, we didn't see them doubling, going up that quickly. I don't think too many other people did either.

And if you look at our competitors in the business, they were investing in, you know, new truck plants or whatever. So I think it's fair to say that it came faster than almost anybody thought. But, OK, we've got to get and move faster in that direction. And that's what we're doing.

VELSHI: I spoke to you the day you first unveiled the Volt. And back then it wasn't certain this was going to become a production car. Now you're pretty certain this is going to become a production car. Are you on schedule? Is that likely to happen? And how big a deal is that going to be?

WAGONER: Yes, yes, and a big deal. The basic technology is a thoughtful one. This idea that you can -- if you go 40 miles a day in your commute, you can always go on electric. But you're not confined by the fact that you have to recharge. You can do it while you're on the road. I think, you know, our guys have really hit a very good thought process in the kind of configuration that's going to work in an extended range electric vehicles. And we're very excited about it. We're getting lots of interest in it in all sorts of ways.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: Well, we're talking VPs and the economy. We're talking falling gas prices and inflation. Could some relief be on the way? All topics our all-star CNNMoney.com team can break down for you. Paul La Monica, Poppy Harlow and Steve Hargreaves.

Welcome all.

All right, let's start with politics today because that seems to be the topic dejour (ph). And it's certainly exciting. Do any of the Democratic vice presidential candidates, the folks whose names are in the hopper, do they seem to have any experience when it comes to money and economy?

PAUL LA MONICA, EDITOR AT LARGE, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes, no one really stands out, in my opinion. I think a lot of people are talking about Obama picking someone to help out from a foreign policy perspective. The only one that possibly could be Chris Dodd, but there's a bit of a problem there given that -- the scandal with the Countrywide Home Loans there. So I think he might be a problematic choice.

WILLIS: Well, you know, Evan Bayh, of course, is from Indiana. And that's a state that has really reeled in this current economic crisis. He, at least, has some experience under his belt in dealing with localized recessions.

What do you think, Steve?

STEVE HARGREAVES, WRITER, CNNMONEY.COM: Well, I mean, I think, you know, being from Indiana and all, you know, it's a Midwestern state. I don't know if Obama's going to go there. You know, I think like Paul said, you know, it's a tough one. Most people are really looking for the foreign policy experience.

HARLOW: I do think the fact that Evan Bayh has stood out in terms of running what is traditionally a red state and getting people on his side might be helpful in that fact and running it. As you said, it really -- bearing the brunt of these tough economic times, that might help him a bit. But again, I have to agree with my colleagues here. No one really, really stands out like they do on the Republican side.

WILLIS: Yes. OK. Well, let's talk a little bit about those economic issues that the next president certainly is going to have to deal with. Let's start with gas prices, Steve.

Of course, you know, we've seen this fantastic fall, plummet really, in gas prices really benefiting the consumer. But oil prices have been another story. They're down today, but they have been higher. Where are they going?

HARGREAVES: Well, that's anyone's guess. You know, they had been backing off for the last month or so. But then yesterday we saw a big surge. There were rumors in the market that Russia was going to dial back some of the exports in retaliation for people taking a hard line on the Georgia issue.

You know, where oil prices go, it's really anyone's guess. I mean a lot of it depends on the economy. A lot of it depends on the dollar. But in terms of gas prices, you're probably likely to see them continue to fall. You know, we're getting to the end of the summer driving season and I think most of the bets in the market are that gas prices will continue falling.

HARLOW: But has there really even been a summer driving season because so many millions of Americans have pulled back on how much they have been driving. All about those staycations.

WILLIS: Vacation has been the word of the summer, right? Exactly.

Well, when you look at this, you're following the markets all the time. Clearly there's a sentiment in the market about how things are going right now. And a lot of it has to do with oil. But there are other issues, too, like inflation. I mean, is the market sentiment positive now?

LA MONICA: Well, today, at least, it is. But it's just one day. I think, overall, what we still have is a market that's very concerned about two issues that the Federal Reserve seems in some respects power less to try and combat. On the one hand they've got the credit crunch, and then on the other they've got rising commodity prices and inflation. And both of those are contributing, I think, to the weak economic outlook that we have right now. And that's a big concern.

WILLIS: Poppy, you've been following the Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, and Warren Buffet, probably the most well-regarded investor of his generation. They've been talking about these issues. Very vocal here. When do they say this is all going to turnaround? I'm really looking for good news.

HARLOW: Well, it's interesting. This morning when Bernanke spoke in Jacksonhole, his comments were really cautious, but the Dow shot up 200 points. But he did say, you know, inflation, big concern. The economic woes are here for a while down the road. But he said the Fed is on this. They're attacking this. They're working on it.

And then Buffet said, hey, things are bad. We're in a recession. But he said, I think five months down the road, we will be in a better position. I think that's a bit of a relief for a lot of people. Five months is not that far away.

WILLIS: It's not that far away and certainly you like to see it in your rearview mirror instead of in your windshield, right, guys?

HARLOW: Yes.

WILLIS: Thanks for helping us out today. We really appreciate it -- Chris.

ROMANS: Gerri, Senator Barack Obama says he has made his choice for a vice presidential running mate. And at any minute we will have an announcement. You're looking live at Senator Joe Biden's house in Wilmington, Delaware, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine's house in Richmond, Senator Evan Bayh's home in Washington, D.C. and Barack Obama's campaign plane at Chicago's Midway Airport. We've got it covered for you. Do not change the channel. Make sure you leave your TV on CNN so you will not miss this announcement. Be the first to know Barack Obama's p pick for VP from the best political team on television right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Which issue #1 topic is most likely to get a candidate elected president? Well that is today's Quick Vote question. CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow. She is back with the results.

Hey, Poppy.

HARLOW: Hey, Gerri.

It all comes back to gas prices and oil prices because the number one topic, 51 percent of you said it is energy, 16 percent said health care, 10 percent said housing, 22 percent said taxes. But again, that's why we talk about it every single day here.

WILLIS: Wow. And taxes, 22 percent. That is really interesting. You never know.

OK, Poppy. Thank you for that.

HARLOW: You're welcome.

ROMANS: Gerri, cashing in on the Democratic National Convention. A Minnesota company marketing the official canned oxygen of the DNC. Oxygen Plus will be available for those Denver visitors who may find themselves a little short of breath from either the Rocky Mountain scenery or thin air in the mile high city. The company says their product is enriched providing four times the oxygen content than normal air. But it's not as cheap as what you and I normally breathe. Prices range from the $5 can, good for roughly 20 huffs, the $30 sized canister will give you approximately 80 plus breaths, Gerri. The company president says supplemental oxygen is becoming more popular for Denver visitors trying to acclimate to live at 5,000 feet above sea level.

WILLIS: I'd like to have some of that oxygen right now.

ROMANS: We won't make any jokes about hot air at the convention.

WILLIS: No, no, no, no.

OK. The economy is issue #1. And we here at CNN, we're committed to covering it for you.

ISSUE #1 is on CNN throughout the day, every day, seven days a week.

ROMANS: Taking over the VP watch now on CNN is Kyra Phillips.

The "CNN NEWSROOM" starts right now.