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Fay Has Finally Left Florida, But Flooding Continues; Iraqi Girl Duped into Suicide Bomb Vest; Convention Preparations Continue; Tornado Warnings Raised in Alabama; Beijing Olympics Handoff to London

Aired August 25, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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


JOHN ROBERTS, CNN HOST: Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. John Roberts for Kiran Chetry. We will see you back here again bright and early tomorrow morning.
Our coverage continues right now on CNN, and here's Soledad O'Brien.

Good morning, Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, John. Thank you very much. Good morning and welcome, everybody.

Let's begin with the shot, is what I'm calling it today. The Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, day one of the Democratic convention. It's going to begin here. And, of course, it will build, as John just mentioned a moment ago, to Thursday which is when Barack Obama will accept his party's nomination before a crowd that, frankly, is big enough to fill six Pepsi Centers.

He officially becomes the nominee with a race all tied up right now, if you believe the polls, 47-47, according to the latest CNN Opinion Research poll. And that's the first polling that's been done since Joe Biden joined the ticket over the weekend. Now we should note that's down seven points from just last month.

Possibly fueling some of that erosion is this -- 66 percent of registered Democrats who wanted Hillary Clinton as their nominee, they're now going with Barack Obama. And that, of course, is down. You can see right there 75 percent at the end of June. So 27 percent say of them say they are now going to support John McCain. And that, of course, will be a huge problem for Barack Obama.

Bringing the Clintonites back into the fold will be a major challenge and a big focus for the DNC this week. Let's get more on that from CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The ticket is set. Time to sell it to the country. But the first challenge is convincing some delegates at their own convention who wanted something different.

BASH (on camera): Who are you here to vote for?

MARK FRIEDLAND, DEMOCRATIC DELEGATE: I'm here to vote for Hillary Clinton.

BASH: Mark Friedland is a Democratic delegate from North Carolina who says the bitter primary battle isn't over for him and blames Barack Obama for not reaching out to Clinton supporters.

FRIEDLAND: If he had welcomed us even two, three months ago, had welcomed the Clinton delegates, had welcomed Hillary Clinton, had involved us all in the process of running this convention, there wouldn't be any question about tension and disunity.

BASH: Strategists are concerned that disunity is the biggest threat to Obama making Denver a success. And it's not just the rank and file.

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: As a Hillary Clinton supporter, I'm -- I am not impressed -- neither impressed nor pleased with the way this is handled.

BASH: Some Clinton confidante are downright furious that Obama did not reach out to either Hillary or Bill Clinton before picking a running mate, calling it a missed opportunity.

CARVILLE: If you're going to consult people about a vice-presidential pick, you might want to pick up the phone and call her.

BASH: But Obama supporters point to high-profile speaking slots for both Clintons as proof they're trying and some strategists warn the onus for unity is really on them.

PETER HART, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's a lot of pressure on Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton to deliver the right message. The pressure actually is not on Barack Obama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And you heard there -- Peter Hart talking about the onus not necessarily being on Barack Obama. The Clintons, according to sources I've spoken to who were close to them, they, apparently, sold that -- understand that. And that is why they are going to make a point, not only of Hillary Clinton doing what we heard about last night, which is symbolically releasing her delegates, making clear to them that it is time for them to let go and time for them to support Barack Obama.

But also they are -- they're well aware that the kinds of speeches they give on the -- in the convention to the delegates on the floor in the Pepsi Center behind me, both Hillary and Bill Clinton, the tone and tenor of those speeches and the way that they made clear to their supporters that it's time to support Barack Obama.

That is going to be very important to them -- to the tenor of the convention and the unity in the convention but also, Soledad, to the kind of viability that Hillary Clinton will have in the future of the Democratic Party -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Dana Bash -- sorry, Dana. Thank you very much. Randi Weingarten is the president of the American Federation of Teachers. She's going to be talking a little bit later today addressing the convention.

Randi, nice to see you again, as always. You know one of the things we heard from Dana was sort of that focus on unity, unity, unity. And, of course, it's a big problem, because as much as there's a talk of unity, one of the sub-stories, if you will, has been trying to get these Clinton supporters to actually back Barack Obama.

You just heard those latest polls a moment ago. You were a Hillary Clinton supporter. You're now a Barack Obama supporter, I'm told. Will everyone else come along with you?

RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: Look, you know, we've just had a convention in the beginning of July where both Hillary was there and Barack was there on video. And there was enthusiastic support for Barack Obama. And Hillary was terrific.

She talked about how and why we must support Barack. But frankly, she didn't even have to. It's a no-brainer. What happens is the American electorate is pretty smart. And you just have to talk to people about what the stakes are in the election.

What's great about this nomination process is that, it brought people out to enthusiastically support candidates. And so what happens is that there was a little disappointment, and that's what you're starting to see.

But I have not found any issues in terms of my membership -- we have 1.4 million people -- and when you start talking about the issues and you start talking about who will really change the nature of America. We need a change.

And so I think that we're going to find a way this convention bringing the Democrats home and bringing people to Barack Obama's side.

O'BRIEN: I know, as I mentioned a moment ago, you're going to address the convention today, Randi.

WEINGARTEN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: But what's your message? What are you going to say?

WEINGARTEN: Look, my message is always about kids and always about education, because I always think about how are we going to help every one of America's children get to their God-given potential?

How will they not simply dream their dreams but achieve them. So my message today at the convention is all about kids and about how teachers and how all of us, together, can help in the next four years get every kid a decent education.

And that's why I am so enthusiastic about Barack Obama and Joe Biden because they're going to help us get there in a way that we have not ever been able to reach that goal. O'BRIEN: One of the things we've been hearing a lot is sort of -- a sense of unhappiness with some of the Clinton supporters. And if you look at those poll numbers, as I mentioned a moment ago, if those numbers don't change, you're going to have a problem.

Do you think it will be solved as easily as releasing your delegates, which could happen early or could happen on Wednesday, as we were told earlier? I mean what do you think is the biggest stumbling block to this unity theme?

WEINGARTEN: Well, I think what happens is that -- look, the conventions are late this year because of the Olympics and other kinds of things. I think what happens is the convention always gives you the first real look at the candidates.

So it's great that Hillary is speaking on Tuesday. It's great that she had said that to her delegates or -- that she going to release them. But ultimately I've started to see already people start thinking about post the convention, what the stakes are in this election.

And the stakes are huge. You want to turn around the economy, we want to start focusing on gas prices, on home mortgage foreclosures. You have to elect someone who is going to think about kitchen table issues, and that's Barack Obama. And ultimately...

O'BRIEN: How come that message...

WEINGARTEN: ... that's what the convention does.

O'BRIEN: How come that message hasn't gotten out yet? If you -- again, if you look at those polls and you see the number...

WEINGARTEN: Right.

O'BRIEN: ... of Hillary supporters who seem, in large number, to have gone to John McCain, you seem very confident with that. But there seem to be a lot of people who aren't making that contention. Why not?

WEINGARTEN: Well, I think what happens, as I said, is that the conventions are late this year and ultimately the convention is the opportunity for Senator Obama to reintroduce himself. And people are going to be watching.

But I know -- no, I don't know all voters in the United States, but I certainly know a lot of Hillary supporters, I was one of them. And she talked about the kind of issues that Barack Obama is championing.

And it's a matter of talking to people about this. I'm very confident that there will be unity in the Democratic Party. More importantly, I'm confident that if we elect Barack Obama we could change America. And that's what's really need.

So the convention gives him the opportunity to reintroduce himself. I know Hillary Clinton well. She will also do everything in her power to talk about unity. And I know many of her supporters, including myself, are very much going to talk about unity and talk about what we need to do in this country after November to change it around, to turn around the economy, to turn around our education system, to turn around health care and make sure that we're safe in the world.

O'BRIEN: We'll see if all that talking about unity actually changes some of those poll numbers.

Randi Weingarten, president...

WEINGARTEN: Right.

O'BRIEN: ... of the American Federation of Teachers joining us this morning.

Nice to see you. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.

WEINGARTEN: Thank you. Thanks so much.

O'BRIEN: Another note to tell you about this morning. So your guy gets on the ticket and you get some perks, of course. The Delaware delegation -- try to say that fast three times -- they're on the move now. They used to be seated up in the nose bleed section, the -- Bob, (INAUDIBLE) section, the peanut gallery section.

What a difference just one weekend makes now that Joe Biden is the guy. He's pizza front and center on the floor and getting bumped upstairs now, well, that's perennial red state Idaho.

That does it from here. We're back in half an hour and throughout the day, of course.

I'm Soledad O'Brien. We'll send it back to CNN center in Atlanta right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

See events come into the NEWSROOM live on Monday, August 25th.

Here's what's on the rundown.

Florida says good riddance to Fay. Now the big cleanup. Fay's leftovers may ease the drought across the greater south.

HARRIS: OK. That's her in orange right there. An Iraqi teenager. That's a suicide bomb strapped to her body.

COLLINS: A small plane slams into a baseball diamond during a kids' game. Rescuers pull a passenger from under a wing. "Play of the Day," in the NEWSROOM. COLLINS: Well, we are watching extreme weather coast to coast this morning. Take a look at this amazing video. You can see one of at least four tornados touching down in Colorado, not far from Denver, the site of the Democratic National Convention.

No reports of serious injuries. Flooding the fear in parts of the southeast. The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay settling over several states today. The rain is welcomed relief from a long-running drought.

Meanwhile in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Julio is dumping heavy rain on the Baja Peninsula.

COLLINS: Meteorologist Rob Marciano is live for us right now in the Severe Weather Center watching all of these stories.

Boy, nasty, nasty start to the morning, huh?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Yes. Now we have a tornado watch that's in effect for a good chunk of today. This watch just issued. And within this -- this is all, by the way, spinning around what's left over from Fay which is centered right through here, and still we're talking about the right quadrant of this storm, which says -- we know with land form and hurricane or tropical systems, the right quadrant is where we see the most spin.

And we've certainly seen that past couple of days. We're going to see it again today. And right now there's a tornado warning out just north of Montgomery and through area right here along highway 65.

And this one reported by law enforcement officers here moving north at about 28 miles per hour. It's through Montgomery County but it's north of Montgomery proper. But Prattville certainly in the path of this thing.

It's part of (INAUDIBLE) describing this. It includes Interstate 65 between exits 179 and 186. All with this conglomerate cell that could keep rolling from the Gulf of Mexico. So that was on the ground. Take cover for sure.

Besides the threat for tornadoes, the threat for flooding will linger, as well. Three to six inches potentially here in the next day or two. Some of this will get to the areas that need it across the Carolinas and north Georgia, but nothing like we've seen down across the south.

So we'll get a little bit of relief from the drought where the folks need it, but it won't be over, that's for sure.

HARRIS: Yes.

COLLINS: Hey, Rob, remind us one more time. This watch that we're looking at.

MARCIANO: That's -- in effect for the rest of the afternoon until 6:00, 7:00 local time tonight. Heavy rain comes -- will come along with that, as well. COLLINS: OK. Very good. We'll stay on top of that with you.

MARCIANO: OK.

COLLINS: Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: You got it.

COLLINS: Flooding from Fay forcing more people from their homes. This is the scene northeast of Orlando, Florida. Now residents are seeing as much as four feet of water. Look at that. People there are scrambling to save what they can.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're helping me to bring my wedding dress, my wedding pictures, everything. They're the heroes. Nobody else helped us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have nothing. Thank God I have my daughter. I could live with (INAUDIBLE). I mean I have nothing left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Fay's rain fell on Florida for more than a week. Swollen rivers blamed for much of the flooding across central Florida.

New developments now in a series of deadly plane crashes over the last few days. A small plane carrying American humanitarian workers crashed in Guatemala. 10 people killed including eight Americans. It happened yesterday.

Authorities say the pilot called in engine trouble about 45 minutes before going down in a field east of Guatemala City.

On the other side of the world, emergency workers combed through the wreckage of a passenger jet crashed outside Kyrgyzstan's main airport. 65 people killed, 25 other survived yesterday's crash.

The Boeing 737 was headed to the Iranian capital of Tehran. The cause, most likely, a technical problem, officials say.

And in Spain, some of the victims of last week's Spanair jet crash may never be identified. Government officials say many people were burned beyond recognition. And they're having trouble, too, obtaining DNA from relatives. So far 90 of 154 people have been identified. 18 survived that crash.

HARRIS: In Caldwell, Texas, a small plane crashes on to a baseball field during a game. And here's something you -- you have to see this to believe. Take a look at this dramatic rescue.

These pictures captured by a policeman on his helmet cam. You can see what he sees as he rushes to help untangle the pilot and passenger from the wreckage of a single engine Cessna. Look at this. Both men survived. Several children were playing ball when the plane developed engine trouble and crashed just a few feet from the pitcher's mound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN SCARMARDO, WITNESS: Was coming in and it nailed the -- it hit the pole. If it wasn't for the pole it would have probably came in and (INAUDIBLE) and hit some of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Well, it is certainly a game the kids will always remember. And amazingly no one on the ground was injured.

COLLINS: A celebration in Iraq explodes into a scene of terror. Just west of Baghdad, a suicide bomber struck at a party for recently freed prisoner. At least 23 people were killed, 30 more wounded.

Among those at the party on Sunday, members of the U.S.-backed Awakening Council. That group has been battling Islamic militants loyal to al Qaeda. U.S. commanders say the council is often the target of suicide bombers.

HARRIS: Iraqi police discovered a vest packed with explosives. Incredibly, a 15-year-old girl is wearing it.

CNN's Arwa Damon picks up the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Clear all the civilians, a voice yells.

This girl, cuffed to a cart, is wearing an explosive vest, detected when she was searched by a female security officials at a checkpoint in Baqubah. As you can see in this police video, the cameraman is keeping his distance.

She's just 15 years old. We're concealing her identity because of her age.

"Is everything OK," someone asks. "Yes, yes," the policeman replies.

With the belt safely removed, the girl is taken into custody. At the police station, her voice trembles. Her sentences are incomplete, often incoherent.

"A woman put it on me," she says. "Do you know them," the police ask. "I swear I don't know them," she answers.

She says her husband was present when the woman put the vest on her. And she also swears she didn't want to detonate herself.

"If you didn't want to detonate, why did you get rid of the trigger," a police officer asks her? "I didn't throw it away. Maybe it fell. I don't know about this," she replies.

The police try to convince her to lead them to the women. "Take us to them so we can help you," they say.

"She led us to a house," General Abdul Karim Khalaf says, where there are two women and a man who are involved in preparing suicide belts and prepping the women.

The police found a second vest but the house deserted. They detained her parents.

"She was duped," Khalaf explained. This operation was prepared by professional women.

She said she was carrying this belt on her body to transfer it from one location to another. She says she was promised it wouldn't explode. But her story kept changing. Later, she swears she didn't even know the vest contained explosives.

"I was going to give it to my mother so that she could inform the police," she swears.

The police are searching for the terrorist cell members.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And Arwa Damon joins us now from Baghdad.

And, Arwa, a lot of questions left unanswered from that piece. Let me impose a couple to you here. How is the search going for the other women, the terrorists in this case?

DAMON: Well, Tony, we actually just spoke to the police this morning -- those that detained her -- and they said that they were still trying to gather intelligence that she was giving to them and that they would be using that to carry further on raids in the next 24 to 48 hours, obviously, not disclosing too many details because they don't want to jeopardize any of these operations.

But Diyalah province, where this attack took place, is really at the heart of the insurgents' use of female suicide bombers. Just think, in the first six months of this year, we had triple the number of suicide bombings carried out by women than we had in all of 2007. And half of them have taken place in the Diyalah province.

So that's where we're seeing this really intense...

HARRIS: Well...

DAMON; ... crackdown with the U.S. and the Iraqis...

HARRIS: Sure.

DAMON: ... going after these cells.

HARRIS: Well, why? Why are we seeing so many more female suicide bombers, Arwa?

DAMON: Well, Tony, it's really for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it's a very clear and easy exploitation of a weakness within the security system. Quite simply, men can't search women. They don't have women on hand to search these female potential suicide bombers coming through.

They have started up a program to try to address that. Another reason is that when you look at what is motivating these women, some of them are being motivated by revenge. They've either had husbands, brothers, fathers who were members of al Qaeda, or killed in the fighting.

Others have lost everything in their lives, are extremely depressed and that's easy for the insurgents to exploit. They're considered to be weak and they're easily swayed by promises of heavenly rewards.

And some others that we have seen cases of have actually been mentally ill women. But the U.S. military intelligence suggest it's actually addressed this problem. It's going to mean addressing their psyche and what's motivating them, because no matter how hard they try to set up these check points with the female searchers, more often than not it isn't enough.

COLLINS: Yes. CNN's Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad -- Arwa, we appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Some would say he's a senator who speaks the language of foreign policy. But what kind of message does vice presidential candidate Biden have on the economy?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Headlines and party lines. Drama builds as Democrats and Republicans rev up their presidential campaigns this morning.

John McCain tries to wrestle the spotlight from the Democrats' big convention in Denver. Who will McCain choose now as his running mate? The buzz grows louder as he schedules a live event coming up about two hours from now.

HARRIS: The economy, "ISSUE #1" for most voters. So what does Joe Biden bring to the Democratic ticket?

CNN's Christine Romans reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Senator Joe Biden's forte, foreign policy, not the economy. But he's more average Joe than millionaire senator.

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My net worth is $70,000 to $150,000. That's what happens when you get elected at 29. I couldn't afford to stay in the Congress at minimum wage. But if I get a second job, I'd do it. ROMANS: He has voted to raise the minimum wage. He was an early supporter of NAFTA. More recently he voted against CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement -- trade deals unpopular in potential swing states, where they're blamed for lost factory jobs.

But economic clout, many say, is more critical now for the McCain camp.

JOHN GEER, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: McCain really needs to get somebody on this ticket who has real economic credentials. Because of the situation with the economy, you know, Obama is going to just have -- add a real edge there.

He can talk about, you know, the inflation rate, he can talk about the debt, because all these have been accrued under a Republican administration.

ROMANS: If there is a hallmark of Biden's economic record, it is as a representative of the corporate interest in his home state of Delaware. Three years ago, Biden sided with the credit card industry to make it harder for people to file for bankruptcy. He voted with Senator John McCain and against Senator Barack Obama.

(On camera): The challenge for this ticket is convincing Americans it has a solution to a housing crisis, a $9 trillion national debt, growing budget and trade surpluses, 40 million people without health insurance and skyrocketing food and gas prices.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: The Democrats in Denver, more convention coverage coming your way. And in the NEWSROOM, Fay is gone. But new flooding swamps the central Florida community.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: And hello again. Welcome everybody from New York. I'm Soledad O'Brien with a convention update. Preparations now under way at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Barack Obama tied in the latest CNN polling. His mission now to unite the party especially when it comes to Hillary Clinton's army of supporters and regain some of the enormous momentum he had earlier in his campaign.

The gabble will drop at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. And they're laying things out thematically. Tonight's theme is one nation. And speaking tonight will be the former President Jimmy Carter, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They'll also show a video tribute of Senator Ted Kennedy, who is battling cancer. And then, Michelle Obama will take center stage. As you mentioned, the convention begins with the race pretty much poll wise at least all tied up. Joining us this morning to crunch the number is CNN's Bill Schneider.

Hey, Bill. BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Soledad. Well, deadlock, that's what we see. 47 percent for Obama, 47 for John McCain. You can't get any closer than that.

Now, a month ago, Obama had a seven-point lead. Why did the race tightened up? Partly because of Clinton supporters. More than a third of Democrats say they would prefer to see the party nominate Hillary Clinton rather than Barack Obama. Now among those Hillary Clinton supporters, 27 percent of them say, they're going to vote for John McCain, not Barack Obama.

Back in June, only 16 percent of Clinton supporters said they would vote for McCain. What happened? Well, of course, Obama did not put Hillary Clinton on the ticket. And some Clinton supporters feel that the selection process was disrespectful of Senator Clinton. And of course, McCain is actively trying to exploit those resentments. So by our calculation, half of Obama's decline in the polls is attributable to angry Clinton supporters.

Soledad?

O'BRIEN: What do the polls tell you about Hillary supporter's take on Joe Biden as a VP choice? Good choice, bad choice?

SCHNEIDER: Well, most Americans overall think Biden was a good choice. And in fact, 73 percent of Democrats think it was a good choice. But here's the answer to your question. 59 percent, that's almost 60 percent of Clinton supporters say it was a good choice. They do not have a problem with Joe Biden himself. Their problem is Obama did not choose Clinton. 38 percent of Democrats wanted Obama to choose Clinton. And clearly some of them are taking it out on Obama.

Soledad?

O'BRIEN: When I was chatting with David Gergen yesterday, one thing he said to me was, well, that's Saturday polling. And young people, supporters of Barack Obama, may not -- you know, tend not to be in. He polls lower on the weekend. Is that true? And is there an issue with young people and polling over, you know, who carry cell phones and don't have land lines. Do those things actually matter in the polls?

SCHNEIDER: Well, we know about those problems. And pollsters have been researching them exhaustively. The poll was taken over two days, Saturday and Sunday, after the Biden announcement. This was the first full poll since the announcement was made.

Yes, we worry about the fact that some number of younger people, it's growing to minorities still, of younger people don't even have land lines. They use only cell phones. It's hard to interview them over cell phones because they have to pay for the time they used, many of them, on their cell phones.

So what do we do? We investigate, ORC, our polling partner, Opinion Research Corporation has investigated who are the young people with only cell phones. Who are we missing? And we factor that in when we calculate the results. So we are aware of that problem. It isn't that serious yet. It maybe five or ten years from now but right now we can deal with it.

O'BRIEN: Bill Schneider for us this morning. Bill, thanks. Always nice to see you. We're going to be back in just a moment. We'll be digging a little bit deeper with slate.com's John Dickerson when we return. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: There's a look at tonight's agenda as Democrats gather in Denver to nominate Barack Obama and try to come together as a party. The theme tonight is One Nation. Slated to speak, Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi and Michelle Obama. Digging deeper, let's get right to John Dickerson of slate.com.

Hey, John, nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us this morning. Let me ask you a question. Michelle Obama will be, some people say, the best articulator of who Barack Obama is. What do you think she needs to say tonight?

JOHN DICKERSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, this is one of the big themes of the convention, who Barack Obama is. She wants to get across the message -- a few messages. One, he shares your values, for Americans who have had some question about where Obama comes from.

She wants to show not only geographically where he comes from, and his biography, but what's in his heart. And one of the key messages there is that he's a dad. When you talk to the folks in the Obama campaign, they say people may not know how to get a handle on Barack Obama but when they see he's a father they can connect with that and they can say that's something I deal with in my life, and a family is something that I deal with in my life. And so, it's an entry point into his candidacy.

O'BRIEN: Earlier in the campaign there was a little flap about her patriotism. Here's a little clip of what she had to say about that when she did an interview with Roland Martin. Let's listen for a sec, John.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, BARACK OBAMA'S WIFE: I have said and will continue to say that I am absolutely proud of my country. And in no other place in this country could my story be possible. I mean, that's, you know, I am here because of the opportunities that my father had, that my mother had. You know, we are who Americans were supposed to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Because her job is to tee up Barack Obama. How much pressure is on her, do you think, John?

DICKERSON: Well, it's tricky. There is a lot of pressure on her. Again, this is one of the major themes of the entire convention. And what we saw in that clip is just how hard it is. You know, there's something editors tell writers, when they start out which is to show and not tell. But when you have the tell and keep saying I'm patriotic, I love my country, you're in a tough spot, politically. You want to be able to show it in some fashion and that's her task for tonight and for the four days of this convention.

O'BRIEN: When we were talking to Bill Schneider just a few moments ago. He said that people poll think that Joe Biden is a good choice for -- excellent choice really for vice president. In the VP nominee role, he must attack. That's kind of his job. What do you expect to see from him?

DICKERSON: Well, you know, it will be interesting watching Joe Biden. He's been in the Senate for a long time where senators are often overly nice to each other, and we'll see Biden use some of that to both talk about John McCain and his friend, and then you'll know the look right after he says John McCain, his friends you'll know the look right after that for him to wallop him over the head.

So, he'll do it in a kind of a light touch, light manner but he's obviously quite passionate. One of the things that polls have shown, voters have some issues with Barack Obama about is this notion of how much he really deeply cares about what's going on in their lives. Joe Biden doesn't have that problem. He's quite passionate about what he talks about. So he'll be an attack dog but he'll do it with this kind of Senate mannerism which might be quite appealing. The normal problem with being an attack dog of course is that it turns people off. It just sounds like nastiness.

O'BRIEN: It's hard to be a charming attack dog. Depending on who you believe, either Hillary Clinton feels slighted or Hillary's people feel slighted, and Bill Clinton doesn't like the topic of his speech, or they're both 100 percent behind Barack Obama. Which one do you think it is?

DICKERSON: Oh, I think it's probably all three and maybe even a fourth possibility. The Obama campaign has prided itself on lack of drama. And this is drama. And some of it is real and some of it is confected, and some of it is us looking for some drama in a four-day essentially infomercial.

But this is a problem. And your poll and the CNN polls shows that it's a real problem with actual human beings. Real voters. The Obama campaign has been working for over two months to try and get these Hillary Clinton supporters in. And it hasn't work. His back slid with these voters. And so that's the real problem at the core here. So people may say this is just, you know, sort of sour grapes and hard feelings from Clinton supporters but there are real poll numbers, real votes that appear to be actually at stake. And so we'll look coming out of the convention whether he's gone any distance to taking care of voters who feel still upset about him who were former Hillary Clinton supporters.

O'BRIEN: Wait and see is what you're telling me. All right. John Dickerson of slate.com. John, nice to see you as always. Thanks.

DICKERSON: Thanks. O'BRIEN: And that does it for us for now. I'm Soledad O'Brien. We'll see you back here in just about half an hour throughout the day. Other major news of the day comes from CNN NEWSROOM. And that will continue right after this short break. Stay with us.

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TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody, I'm Heidi Collins. Severe weather topping the news this morning. Thousands of people have been forced from their homes in Florida because of Fay. The storm caused massive flooding in communities from the East Coast to the Panhandle.

And in Colorado, we have amazing pictures of a tornado. Look at that. It looks just like the wizard of oz there. You can see it twisting right behind that farm house. That's Parker, Colorado, just about 25 miles outside of Denver. Thankfully no serious injuries.

HARRIS: What do you say we get a check of conditions now. Rob Marciano in the severe weather center.

And Rob, I know you've got an update on the weather conditions in Alabama, specifically.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We have a number of tornado warnings that had been posted over the last couple of hours. And one of which was actually confirmed on the ground. And just in the last half hour, we had a tornado warning in for the city of Montgomery. That has been allowed to expire. So, that's the good news. All associated with this line that is rotating around what's left of Fay.

We had a couple reports of tornados that were just to the west of Interstate 65, south of Prattville. Whether those made it across the interstate, we don't know. But there are still a couple of tornado warnings that are posted at this hour.

Notably this one in Chilton County, Alabama. That's in effect for the next 15 minutes for that storm that's rolling up Interstate 65. And this one from Barbour, Bullock, Macon and Russell counties for this cell that's rolling a little bit farther towards the north and northwest.

So, here it is, your tornado watch. That's in effect until 3:00, 4:00 this afternoon. I misspoke earlier. But you can see everything just rotating in around the center of what's left of Fay and a tremendous amount of moisture and spin on the right side of this system.

The other threat of course is going to be flood threat. Well, we'll see probably upwards of three to six inches of rainfall on top of what has fallen. 17 of which fell in Thomasville, Georgia. Over 12 inches in Coolidge, Georgia. And the list goes on and on. So heavy rain expected today across the southeast. I should note that some of this, guys, will get into areas that desperately need it. That probably won't happen until tonight and tomorrow. HARRIS: Just a little north of Atlanta could really, could really use it.

COLLINS: Yes.

MARCIANO: We will try to squeeze it up there.

COLLINS: OK. Control that, would you, Rob. Thank you.

HARRIS: On the southeast still dealing with the remnants of what was Tropical Storm Fay. Heavy rain coming down in some areas. Others dealing with the cleanup. CNN's Susan Candiotti has a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THERESA BISSON, HOMEOWNER: It's so beautiful and so peaceful. We feel very blessed.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Teresa and Conrad Bisson in their 80s, married nearly 63 years, love living in their modest prefab home on a lake. Then Fay hit last week and the lake water rose to saturate their floor from below.

T. BISSON: This has a double floor on it.

CANDIOTTI: All right. So we'll walk on the right side here and feel the floor go up and down.

CONRAD BISSON, HOMEOWNER: Oh, yes, that there is no good.

T. BISSON: I have an angel tree and all my things just fell down. The dining room, the table is certainly off kilter.

C. BISSON: This area is really bad.

CANDIOTTI: Now, they don't know what to do. In every room, the floor is close to sinking.

(on camera): If you step off side this wooden plank, you can really see how soft the floor is. And of course, very dangerous to walk on.

T. BISSON: And our TV room and our computer room.

CANDIOTTI: And again, how are the floors in here?

T. BISSON: The floors are all gone in here, too.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Last week, their community watched in disbelief when the lake started rising. Many neighbors had to be rescued from their flooded homes.

(on camera): What was going through your mind?

T. BISSON: My husband was in denial. He said, "It won't come much more, it won't come much more," but it did. CANDIOTTI: The worst of it is the Bissons have no insurance. Their old company pulled off stakes in Florida and now the Bissons cannot afford another policy. Many of their neighbors, including Frank Cassera (ph) are in the same boat or worse. He takes care of his disabled wife and hoped he wouldn't need insurance.

C. BISSON: Destroyed, absolutely destroyed. Without FEMA's help, I have no idea what I'm going to do.

CANDIOTTI: FEMA is their best chance for help. Starting over won't be easy and they still won't be able to afford insurance. The Bissons have a small nest egg and this might drain it.

(on camera): What do you think will happen next?

C. BISSON: Who knows? God is in charge. God is in charge. I'm not in charge.

CANDIOTTI: Susan Candiotti, CNN, Melbourne, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Desperation growing in India this morning. As many as a million people are stranded in by flooding in north-eastern India. Military helicopters and troops are trying to get aid to the area. The local government is also pleading for help from relief agencies. Heavy rains last week forced a major river across the border in Nepal to overflow its bank, washed out roads and railway mines.

HARRIS: Georgia's breakaway provinces, Russian lawmakers today voted to recognize the independence of two rebel regions in Georgia. They are South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The vote is non-binding and requires the Russian president's approval. Analysts worry it will only worsen tension between Russia and the United States.

The United Nations does not recognize South Ossetia or Abkhazia as dependent provinces. Next week, Vice President Dick Cheney is scheduled to be in the region. He will meet with Georgia's president.

COLLINS: Israel's goodwill gesture. Today, almost 200 Palestinian prisoners were freed, released into the West Bank. It happened just hours before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the region. She's trying to broker a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel said it hopes the release will reenergize the struggling peace process.

HARRIS: She said her religious faith helped her survive six years as a hostage. Next Monday, Ingrid Betancourt will get to meet the pope. Betancourt was rescued last month after being held by rebels in Colombian jungles. After she was freed, she said she wanted to meet with Benedict the XVI. It will happened at the papal summer residence near Rome.

COLLINS: Tata Beijing, hello, London. The official site of the 2012 summer Olympics. Last night, Beijing wrapped up with a spectacular feast for the imagination. Some say it was as grand as the opening ceremony just 16 days ago. And, of course, spectators also watched the official flag handoff to London.

As you know, the Olympics are officially over. Closing ceremonies lit up Beijing skies last night. But after the dust settles, what will you remember? CNN's Larry Smith takes a look at some of the top performances.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The XXIX Olympiad began like many things in this vast country with grand expectations put fort by an overwhelming number of people. It didn't take long for those expectations to be exceeded or for the numbers to become staggering.

Fire lit up the sky the first night of these games, but it was water that dominated the opening weeks. A wondrous marvel in blue on the outside. The Water Cube was home to a true force of nature. Michael Phelps had a record breaking performance for the ages, more impressive than the forbidden city, more imposing than the Great Wall itself.

MICHAEL PHELPS, WON 8 GOLD MEDALS IN BEIJING: Coming into here, I thought anything was possible. And it's fun for me to have people say it's not possible and be able to come out and do it. It makes it ten times better.

SMITH (on camera): Nestled just behind the curious cube, the Bird's Nest was struck by lightning. Not once, but three times. By Jamaicans Usain "Lightning" Bolt. He electrified the night with three world record performances, introducing himself as the Olympics greatest star not name Phelps.

USAIN BOLT, WON 3 GOLD MEDAL IN BEIJING: I'm the greatest. You know, I'm the greatest and a normal fun person that know my personality. That's just all I am. And I'm happy to have come here and put on a great show enough for myself and my family and the country.

SMITH: And if Phelps and Bolt provided the jolt, it was the gymnast who showed that grace also has a place in competition. The host nation saw its greatest wishes granted with nine gymnastics gold. A part of a game tie 51 golds that left the country proud but the world questioning the age of China's gymnasts. The only question about Nastia Liukin's five medals was whether hers was the greatest performance by a U.S. gymnast ever.

NASTIA LIUKIN, WON 5 OVERALL MEDALS IN BEIJING: Sitting here today, I can say that I gave my all. And you know, walking away with five medals was more than I would ever have dreamed of.

SMITH: Finally, the games ended Sunday with redemption. Team USA proved once again it was the best basketball squad on the planet just as these Olympics helped China proved itself, too, worthy host of the flame, the games and the expectation of billions.

Larry Smith, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: All right. Let's get a check of the opening numbers on Wall Street, as we get the business day started for a Monday. The Dow finished last week, pretty strong, up 197 points. But we are off to a bit of a rocky start. The Dow down 101 points. That's actually an improvement. We are off session lows. The NASDAQ and S&P also down. Oil up slightly. We are following the numbers throughout the morning for you right here in the NEWSROOM.

And tapping into your 401K, Stephanie Elam looks at what you should consider before cracking your nest egg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paying off debt, buying a new car, or paying for a vacation, may seem like good reasons to withdraw money from your 401(k). But it may be more costly in the end.

LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: Taking money out of your 401(k) should be an absolute last resort financially. The problem is that when you tap into that 401(k), really, you're foregoing the potential savings you could be building up for your golden years.

ELAM: But some people have no other options.

KHALFANI-COX: Especially now with the economy being in a recession, a lot of people are cash-strapped and there may be very legitimate reasons for taking what's called a "hardship withdrawal" from your 401(k).

ELAM: A "hardship withdrawal" allows access to your account to pay medical expenses, cover a down payment or foreclosure, pay college tuition, or cover funeral expenses. But there are major financial drawbacks.

KHALFANI-COX: If you take a withdrawal, that is considered an early disbursement if you've not yet reached the age of 59-1/2 and you will be subjected to ordinary income taxes and a penalty.

ELAM: Stephanie Elam, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The road to the White House, Republicans and Democrats swerve into the fast lane. John McCain steps from the shadow of the Democratic convention. Who will he choose as his running mate? The buzz growing louder. We'll have John McCain live less than two hours from now.

And throughout the morning, a preview of the Democratic National Convention. The Best Political Team on Television always digging for the latest news out of the convention. CNN first to tell you that Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate. Now, what? CNN's Soledad O'Brien with the live report at the top of the hour.

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