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Senator Clinton Tasked to Deliver Unity with D.N.C. Speech; Women in Politics Honored; New Mexico Jail Break Leaves 5 Men Still at Large

Aired August 26, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. From the CNN Election Center in New York, I'm Soledad O'Brien, with continuing coverage of the 2008 Democratic convention in Denver.
Crystal clear day in the Mile High City. More importantly, a good weather forecast for Barack Obama's acceptance speech, because it's outdoors at INVESCO Field. It's expected to be in front of 75,000 people.

And right now Senators Obama and McCain are on the campaign trail. Obama at a town hall meeting in Kansas City, Missouri. And Senator McCain is in Phoenix, Arizona.

Tonight though, it will be one former candidate, Hillary Clinton, who is in the hot seat or standing as she delivers her speech. Joining us with a bit of a preview is CNN's Jessica Yellin.

Hey, Jessica. Good afternoon to you.

Somebody said to me, she's going to have to be all things to all people. I think it was Dana Bash. All things to all people. And that is a very, very tough task. Agree?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Agreed, absolutely, Soledad. There is enormous amount of pressure on Senator Clinton to deliver a speech that is unequivocally pro-Obama and yet, in a way, validating of her supporters and the struggle they feel they've been through both in their lives and in this campaign.

A very delicate balancing act she has to do. But everybody I'm talking to inside Clinton world is saying they are certain she'll do it.

They think she is going to deliver a very strong speech tonight. It will do -- well, there are two key things. One, is outline contrasts with John McCain, so effectively say to her people, look, these are the reasons you backed me, these are the things that have to get done. Barack Obama will accomplish then. John McCain will not.

Secondly, she will call on them explicitly to unite and get behind Barack Obama. And, you know, one of her top backers, Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of her former campaign, said that, really, she has done as much as you could ask anyone in her position to do already.

Let's listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY MCAULIFFE, FMR. CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: She 100 percent supports Senator Obama. She is with him. But in fairness, John, no candidate has ever done what Hillary Clinton has done.

You know, I've been coming to these -- it's 30 years I've been involved in politics. I have come to Democratic conventions where Ted Kennedy in 1980 no chance of winning, came to our convention Monday night, shut it down Monday night. Gary Hart did that to Walter Mondale.

Governor Jerry Brown never endorsed Bill Clinton in 1992. I can go through -- Hillary didn't do any of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: I spoke to one of Senator Clinton's other top backers, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. And Soledad, he told me that after tonight, he is confident that 95 percent of Clinton supporters will cast what he called a tepid vote for Barack Obama. And he said a tepid vote counts just as much as any other.

O'BRIEN: It doesn't matter as long as it's a vote, I would imagine, from his perspective.

Hillary of course is a big name. And we've been talking about her a lot today. But it's a very choreographed convention. A list of speakers.

Who are you watching for?

YELLIN: A long list, and very tightly run. But Rahm Emanuel, a rising star in the Democratic Party, will be speaking tonight. Everybody has their eye on him to possibly be speaker of the House some day after Nancy Pelosi.

And then Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia, a Democrat, another rising star running for Senate there. He's a keynote speaker.

But there are some other moments of color. For example, a bunch of women from the Senate will gather and speak because today we are honoring women's suffrage. It's the anniversary of when women got the right to vote. So look for that.

And also a tribute to Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the member of Congress who recently died.

So there will be a lot happening tonight, but still, all eyes on Senator Clinton -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Yes. And we'll be talking about it more.

Jessica Yellin for us.

Thanks, Jessica.

Coming up next, women in politics. And the woman in politics with a speech of her political life that Jessica was just talking about. It's all just hours away. So we'll go ahead and dig deeper with David Gergen and Marie Wilson of the White House Project straight ahead.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: We are just hours away from Mark Warner's keynote speech tonight, which would ordinarily take center stage. But instead, Hillary Clinton really is going to be in the spotlight, not to mention the hot seat, to a large degree.

Joining us to talk more about that is CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen. Marie Wilson, who's with the nonpartisan White House Project which advances women's leadership is with us as well. We're going to talk to both of them.

But I want to start first with David.

Dana Bash earlier said in her speech tonight, Hillary Clinton has to be all things to all people. And then launched into this kind of list of things that Hillary Clinton has to accomplish on top of it all -- be authentic, be herself, be charming, be funny, be natural. It really almost seemed like the impossible dream, to a large degree. And others say and her speech tomorrow morning will be parsed over word by word -- laugh, tone, smile.

How difficult is this task for her?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Marie Wilson will probably tell you, for a lot of women, you know, it was a candidate -- it is this old notion that you've got to be Ginger Rogers, except you've got to -- and dancing with Fred Astaire, but you've got to do it in heels and you've got to do it backwards. And that's asking an awful lot of people, of some individual to do that.

But I do think she is up to this task. I do think that she can be the healer tonight.

It's in some ways the second most important speech of the whole convention, because she brings so many voters, she has so many devoted people. And here on the 88th anniversary, this very day of certifying the right to vote for women, it's important, I think, that she speak up for women, she speak up for the hopes, dreams, aspirations and rights of women. And as she does that, to bring them with her into the Obama camp. To bring her followers, many of them women, many of them activists, many of them deeply disappointed, many of them that think she has been treated unfairly not only by the press, but by the Obama campaign, to bring them with her.

And can she do that? Yes, I do think she can. She has proven enormously capable in this campaign, especially in these closing weeks.

O'BRIEN: Terry McAuliffe said something very interesting, I thought, a few minutes ago. And he said, you know, she's been asked to do what no one else has had to do.

In 1980, Ted Kennedy came to the convention to shut it down on Monday night. Governor Jerry Brown never called Bill Clinton to get on board and congratulate him and make a speech and bring it all together.

Does he have a point? Is it a double standard or is it just different?

GERGEN: No. Listen, Hillary Clinton did something no other person has ever done. I mean, she is the first woman to bring 18 million people out to vote for a woman. It's an historic breakthrough.

It's -- you know, all around the world people are enormously appreciative of what's happening in America, that we are open enough to have both a woman and an African-American step forward as the two leading candidates of a major party. So she is -- having achieved something nobody else has ever done, she is now being asked in some ways to step up to that historic achievement and convert her support and to unite support, to join forces with the Obama forces and form this large army to try to take back the White House.

But I think she's also been put in the position -- and I -- if I may so, because last night was such an emotional, warm night, but not a night that really was substantive. Here, on a night that's supposed to be about economics, she's going to be put in a position for making the substantive argument for a Democratic victory this fall.

O'BRIEN: Add another thing to that long list, I guess...

GERGEN: Add another long list. But if anybody can do it, it's Hillary Clinton.

O'BRIEN: Marie Wilson, as we mentioned, is the White House Project founder and president.

You have said in one op-ed that you wrote recently, "The U.S. still only has nine female governors. Some 88 percent of our state legislators are male. And with 16 percent of women in Congress, our nation ranks 71st in women's political representation."

So, the 18 million cracks that Michelle Obama was talking about in the glass ceiling, Hillary Clinton, how much value does that have? How far did she really run that ball down the field, do you think?

MARIE WILSON, PRESIDENT & FOUNDER, WHITE HOUSE PROJECT: Well, Soledad, I've always felt that if we didn't have numbers of women running for the presidency, we would never make it normal enough for anybody to win. But frankly, the race that she ran, the way that she came out in those last three months, opened that crack far broader than I would ever have guessed. So I think she took it to a level where she's normalized it all by herself, to be honest. I think she is in a great place for tonight because she has proved herself that she is the general in the army of women in this country. So all she has to do is actually -- well, it's not all. She has to be loyal to her supporters and has to be loyal to...

O'BRIEN: It's a long list. It's a long "all," I have to say. But you think she can pull it off?

WILSON: I think she can pull it off because it's where she is going. She is now the leader of women in this country.

And again, if she's likes -- she's Sherman marching somewhere, but she just can't destroy Atlanta. She's got to march and have everybody turn it around so that they are in line. And that's her future. So this is just a prelude. It's great

O'BRIEN: I like your Sherman comparison (ph). That's very good.

Let me ask you a question. Earlier, David, you talked about straight talk on the economy...

GERGEN: Right.

O'BRIEN: ... that this now is the time to have that straight talk that is crucial.

Do you expect Hillary Clinton to be the one to start that? I mean, you certainly can't expect -- or do you expect Barack Obama to take a stab at that on Thursday, when you are trying to also pay homage to Martin Luther King on that big day? That could be awkward, no?

GERGEN: Sure. No, look, I do think she is very capable of straight talk. And that's what's needed tonight from the Democrats.

And because she was there in the Clinton years. She was right at the side of her husband throughout that. And so she can make the comparison that Bill Clinton so clearly wants to make tomorrow night of the economic performance of the Clinton years versus the economic performance of the Bush years and say, look, which one do you want in the future?

Which way do you want to go? Do you want to go down the path my husband and I were going, and we can renew that path, or do you want to go down this other path that the Republicans are going down?

This convention ultimately is about presenting to the American people a choice. And the Republicans of course will reframe that choice in their own way, as they should. But this is an opportunity for the Democrats to make their clearest statement as a unified party about what the future would be under a Democratic rule, as opposed to Republican rule.

And that, I think, she has enormous credibility on. She can bring both passion and credibility to that task. And that's why I think this is -- this is a very, very pivotal speech. As I say, I think it's the second most important speech in the convention, second only to the Obama acceptance.

O'BRIEN: Every word she says...

GERGEN: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: ... people will be going through with a fine-toothed comb.

David Gergen and Marie Wilson, thanks to both of you for analysis.

We've got much more convention coverage coming up in about 15 minutes from the CNN Election Center in New York.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Back to Atlanta and CNN NEWSROOM, because we're covering also Tropical Storm Gustav. We'll take a look at that right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican republic bracing for Hurricane Gustav. Which way will it go? And how that will determine how strong it gets.

Our Chad Myers is watching.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, at the world headquarters in Atlanta. And you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(WEATHER)

PHILLIPS: A sudden storm washed out an isolated road in San Bernardino County, California, and a woman trapped in her submerged car died. More than two inches of rain fell in an hour last night, causing several other roads and highways to close.

One by one, eight inmates who escaped from a New Mexico jail Sunday night are being taken down. The first was caught right away. Two more were rearrested yesterday, separately in Texas.

And these five guys are still at large. Take a look at their pictures.

One is a convicted murder. Another is suspected in a killing. The FBI, Border Patrol, U.S. Marshals and police are all involved in this manhunt.

Barbara Corley (ph) broke out of a Michigan prison in 1973. The law finally caught up with her over the weekend.

She was living in gated community in South Carolina with her husband of 30 years. Back when her name was Barbara Glenn, she did one year of a 15-year sentence on assault, fraud and weapons charges. She'll go back to Michigan to serve out that term and could get five years more for that escape.

When all else fails, follow the kudzu. No one has seen 21-year- old Amber Pennell since Wednesday. The North Carolina mother was found last night trapped in her pickup truck at the bottom of a 70- foot ravine. Searchers found her by following the truck's path through kudzu vines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITCHELL PENNELL, HUSBAND: Thank you, Jesus. I knew my baby was alive.

QUESTION: What do you have to say to these guys out here?

PENNELL: I love them so much. They did all this. They did the best job. They didn't give up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, last we heard, Pennell was in critical condition with hypothermia, dehydration, a broken leg and other serious injuries from that crash.

A new tactic for John McCain. When the topic of how many houses he owns came up on "The Tonight Show," he connected it to his POW experience.

We're going to hear what he had to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: New tensions in the Russian conflict with Georgia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today formerly recognized the independence of the so-called breakaway Georgian provinces. That move was quickly condemned by the Bush administration and the European Union. In an interview with CNN, he said the decision wasn't easy, but necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. DMITRY MEDVEDEV, RUSSIA (through translator): For us to take this step was the only opportunity to prevent further bloodshed, to prevent further escalation of the conflict, and to prevent further deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And the wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain arrived in Georgia today with the World Food Program. Cindy McCain is expected to meet with Georgia's president and with troops hurt fighting the Russians.

While his wife was en route, John McCain was cracking jokes with "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno about his age and how many houses he owned. At one point it turned serious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I spent five and a half years in a prison cell without -- I didn't have a house. I didn't have a kitchen table. I didn't have a table. I didn't have a chair.

And I spent those five and a half years because -- not because I wanted to get a house when I got out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: McCain caught a lot of flack when he didn't know off the top of his head how many houses that he does own.

Now to issue #1, the nation's economy and your money.

If there was any doubt it's totally a buyer's market, check out these numbers. According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index, U.S. home prices fell 15.4 percent last quarter compared to the same time last year. Yes, that's a record drop.

And from the U.S. Census Bureau, word that the median income for U.S. households was up in 2007 to just over $50,000. That's the third straight annual increase, but the poverty rate was up, too, .2 of a percent from 2006.

The bureau also found fewer Americans without health insurance in 2007. The drop is linked to more people enrolling in government health programs such as Medicaid and the S-CHIP program for children.

Stay tuned for the Democrats in Denver. And the best political team on television has all the bases covered. We'll have a lot more on the Democratic National Convention.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody, to the CNN Election Center in New York. I'm Soledad O'Brien, with continuing coverage of the 2008 Democratic convention in Denver.

You are taking a look inside the Pepsi Center, where now as the time gets into the afternoon it starts filling up a little bit. A very big night, of course, last night for the Democrats, and a bigger night for the Democrats tonight. Could go into the history books as the night the party came together after a bruising primary, or could go into the history books as the night Hillary Clinton tried but couldn't pull off what might be a nearly impossible balancing act.

We are expecting to see Senator Hillary Clinton any moment doing a walk through around that podium and sort of checking out the sites for her speech tonight. But of course when she gets there this evening it will be an entirely different view, a whole new ballgame really. We'll talk a little more about that as dig deeper.

We are joined by GOP strategist and CNN contributor, Alex Castellanos. And also, from Denver, the former senior Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee.

Nice to see you both.

Mo, let's begin with you, if I can. It's been interesting to hear people talk about Hillary Clinton's speech. And as the time ticks to the speech, I sort of envision her sitting there doing draft after draft and crossing things out. Such huge stakes. She's got to be feeling it right now.

MO ELLEITHEE, FMR. HILLARY CLINTON SPOKESMAN: Well, look, she's been out there for the past couple of months talking extensively about why she supports Barack Obama and trying to rally folks to the cause.

I think tonight is going to be a good speech. I think she is excited to get out there and spend a little bit of time celebrating what she accomplished in her campaign, but also making the case very affirmatively and aggressively as to why Barack Obama needs to be the next president, and drawing a contrast between him and Senator McCain, laying out what the stakes are.

O'BRIEN: The ads have been using Senator Clinton's own words against Barack Obama. I want to play a little clip of this latest ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN AD)

NARRATOR: 3:00 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?

Uncertainty. Dangerous aggression. Rogue nations. Radicalism.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House and Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: So not only is that a knock-off of what was a very successful ad for Hillary Clinton in the primary against Barack Obama, you also have that kind of a damning quote.

What does Hillary Clinton have to do tonight, Alex, to -- can you even remove that?

ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's going to be very tough. It's not enough for her to say she supports Barack Obama. We kind of know that now, but there is something I teach young campaign managers when they first get started -- the laws of politics. And one is them is the law of the ketchup stain. And that is when you walk into a party and you have a big ketchup stain on your shirt, nobody is going to hear a word you say until you address it and say, hey, look, look what happened -- I got some ketchup on my shirt, until you wash the shirt. And that's what Hillary has to do tonight. She can't just say she supports Obama. She has to say, you know, I made a mistake. In the heat of the primary I said some things I wish I hadn't said. I'm sorry about that, now I'm going to go out and work 100 percent for Barack Obama.

But the Clintons have never been very good at apologizing.

O'BRIEN: Well let's bring it back to Mo then.

Do you think that's a realistic expectation, what Alex has laid out, to go and say, listen, when I said that, that was a mistake -- for your own speech in front of 18 million people who supported you and are expecting to hear something fabulous and gracious?

ELLEITHEE: No. Look, I think that is a silly expectation. There is nothing that Alex and his friends on his side of the aisle would like more than to continue this false story about there being divisions here.

Look, the other thing that Senator Clinton said repeatedly during the primary campaign was that if you supported her, you had a lot more in common with Barack Obama than you did with John McCain. What she has said repeatedly is if you can care about the things she cared about, fighting for access to health care, getting out of the war in Iraq, you have no chance of that with John McCain as president. The only way we can keep fighting for the things that she's been fighting for is by electing Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

And so, I think she is going to lay out these things. I think she is going to make that choice very clear. And I think there is going to be no confusion at the end of this night, and at the end of this convention, that we are a unified party and that she is fully committed to this ticket.

O'BRIEN: What we've been talking about, obviously it's the economy, it's the economy, it's the economy. And some have said, look, it's time to call for some blunt talk. You look at Mark Warner who is the keynoter here, who is really teed up to deliver. And he is also in a very tough spot.

But before you answer that, I'm being told that Hillary Clinton has now come out to do her walk through. And they are, of course -- as we've seen in the past day when Michelle Obama came out also to check out the podium. She's there is with her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, and sort of surveying and seeing the 20,000 some-odd seats, what will be full of people tonight as she delivers what David Gergen has called really, probably maybe the No. 2 speech in terms of absolute importance.

She's got a whole list of things that she's got to accomplish. Namely reach out emotionally to those 18 million people who supported her and also tell them now to go support Barack Obama and take a few jabs at Senator John McCain. And so on and so on and so on. It could be a tight-rope walking act.

And also I think some of these -- it's less of a sight survey of the podium, Alex, than a photo-op and a chance to wave to people. She doesn't look like she's checking out the podium, she's been in front of a lot of podiums. She doesn't need to see the lighting on the podium and make sure the prompter is working. She is waving to some of her supporters, as well.

CASTELLANOS: But you know, she doesn't have to say tonight that she made a mistake. She has to acknowledge the elephant in the room. And that is that she says, hey, in the heat of primaries we say things, I just want you to know -- gosh I wish I hadn't said that. That's what '41 George Bush said about when he was challenged about saying -- calling Ronald Reagan's economics voodoo economics.

You can laugh at it, you can acknowledge it. But you have to bring it up and do something with it or else you never get over that hurdle.

O'BRIEN: Bloodying the waters is what people have said. And, at the same time you hear on the other side, no, no, no, the theme really should be bringing people together.

Well, those are completely, Mo, contradictory themes. You're either going to take a stab at someone or you're going to go across the aisle. What should the strategy be?

ELLEITHEE: Look, I think talking about Barack Obama's ability to bring people together is important to do. I think you are going to hear that same theme coming out of Mark Warner's speech tonight. Another Democrat, some say another rising star in the party who has a real track record of bridging the gap and reaching across the aisle and working with folks on the other side to actually get results.

Now that doesn't mean that there aren't real differences with the other side. And drawing those contrasts is part of what you do in a campaign. It's an important way to help people make up their minds. But the difference between someone like Barack Obama or Mark Warner and someone like John McCain and a lot of the Republicans on the ticket this year is that the Democrats actually have a record of doing it, whereas the Republicans have been much more interested in the same old partisan bickering, the ideological divide, that's divided us for too long. It's time for something different.

O'BRIEN: The economy and Mark Warner is what we were talking about right before Hillary Clinton came out. You're still looking at live pictures there as she has come out and checking out the podium, but really waving to folks. She's got a ton of supporters there. And they are going to be excited and energized to see her.

And as Hilary Rosen, a Clinton supporter, was telling me earlier, she said this is going to be the most parsed-over speech in the history of mankind, possibly, as everyone looks for the moments where she laughed and what she looked like and the actual words she said and the moment she took a break, and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Also Mark Warner in a tough spot, I think. He's got a lot to do because his campaign is already saying he is not going to be taking stabs. He is running for U.S. Senate in Virginia. CASTELLANOS: Well I know Mo is thinking that of course Republicans are the only ones that are partisans and Democrats have been all sweetness and light. But in fact, both sides, I think, to your point, Soledad, have decided they can't win this election, but they can make the other guy lose. And I think Republicans have decided Barack Obama is the most inexperienced candidate for president Democrats have ever put up at the most dangerous time in world history.

And Democrats decided Bush 3, America is not going to elect Bush 3. So we're going to hear a lot of that, and that does put Mark Warner in a tough spot. Because it's like in chess, your candidate is the king. You protect the king and you let the other pieces do the fighting. But tonight Mark Warner has to go out there and fight for Barack Obama. He has to draw those divisions. It's going to be tough for him to do without paying that price back at home. People don't want to see him as a partisan figure back in that Senate race. He's comfortably ahead.

O'BRIEN: It sounds like he is already, Mo, laying the ground work for that, almost -- early, on after some of the conversations started, people -- his side, his folks -- started saying he will not be taking jabs at Senator John McCain.

Do you think that is a big mistake, or do you think that is a tactical error, Mo?

ELLEITHEE: Yes, see -- no, not at all. Look, I think -- I guess one of the differences between my perspective here and maybe Alex's, is I don't think that both sides are just focused on trying to tear the other guy down. Look, Barack Obama, Mark Warner, the Democrats this election year have been making not only an affirmative case about why vote for them, why we need change, but they have been drawing contrasts.

I have yet to hear John McCain deliver one positive, affirmative thing that he hopes to accomplish for the country. I have yet to hear him talk about anything of his own vision or his own agenda should he become president of the United States. He is spending all of his time focusing on why not the other guy.

Whereas, the Democrats, I think, are making not only a positive argument, but also the case for change. So --

O'BRIEN: Not exactly a shocking revelation coming from the Democrats. I will tell you that. But that's OK. That's your position.

ELLEITHEE: But I think that's very true.

CASTELLANOS: Mo --

O'BRIEN: I hear you. I hear you.

So we are looking at live pictures from Denver -- from inside the Pepsi Center -- as Hillary Clinton is one of a number people who have come by and had an opportunity to kind of sit on the -- stand on the podium and take a look at the layout and set-up. And now she's -- she came out with her daughter, Chelsea, who is now off camera. But it looks like she is sort of wrapping that up, and we will our interview as well.

Mo and Alex, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

A little analysis on what to expect from Hillary Clinton's speech that is going to be the one that is the probably the most watched of the day, even though it is Mark Warner who has got that all-important keynote.

We've got much more to talk about. When my producer asked me who I wanted to interview and I said, listen, I don't care as long as it's a slam dunk. They took me literally. I got Charles Barkley, Sir Charles, up next. Hey there, we'll be talking to him up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Hillary Clinton has been known to have some sharp elbows. Probably pretty much anybody in politics, truly. Her husband is known as the comeback kid. My next guest, though, is the round man of rebound and his elbows work just as well in political venues as they do in a basketball arena.

Of course, tonight in Denver, the two are one in the same which makes Charles Barkley a real go-to guest. He is attending the convention, first time at the DNC, joins us now.

Nice to see you, Sir Charles. His first DNC -- how do you like it so far? What's it like?

CHARLES BARKLEY, TNT SPORTS ANALYST: Soledad, I'm like a little kid in a candy store. This is one of the highlights of my life. Obviously, I'm a big supporter of Barack Obama. And I'm having a blast.

O'BRIEN: One of the reasons, I'm told, that this is your first Democratic National Convention is because you were a Republican up to 2006. And here is a quote they have you saying -- "I was a Republican until they lost their minds." You were talking to Wolf Blitzer the other day and you said -- "Republicans are fake Christians."

Explain all that. What do you mean?

BARKLEY: Well, I've never been a Republican. What I said was -- I said I was rich like a Republican. That was an old interview from the 1980s where they asked my grandmother was I a Democrat or Republican. And she said Republicans are only for rich people. And I had to break the news to her that we were rich.

O'BRIEN: That is good news to break.

BARKLEY: Yes. You know the difference is I really -- the Democratic Party, I look at it as, I'm not happy with the way America has gone the last few years. The gap between rich and poor is as wide as it's ever been. And I'm supporting Barack because of that. We need change.

And to be honest with you, Soledad, it's not going to have a huge effect on my life whoever the president is. But I always have to look at the big picture. And if you are a poor person in this country today, you are in trouble, and that's really sad because we are the best country in the world. But what's happening to poor people in this country is a disgrace.

O'BRIEN: You are personal friends, as well, with Barack Obama. What personal qualities -- Michelle Obama was out there sort of talking about him as a father and husband. So talk to me about him as a friend. What personal qualities about him would you like people to know that maybe they don't know?

BARKLEY: Well I think No. 1 -- he's just a nice person. I think that's what it really -- he's just a nice guy. Everybody talking about he's articulate, he's intelligent, but he's a good guy. And he really does want change. He's not doing this to prove any point. He thinks he is the best candidate. I think he's the best candidate.

Hey, John McCain is a nice guy. I've got great admiration and respect for him. But we need something different in this country. We need change. And that's why I'm here. I'm excited for this. This is one the highlights of my life. I cannot believe that we actually have a legit chance of having a black president. That's unbelievable to me.

O'BRIEN: And that the speech will be delivered on the 45th anniversary of the "I Have a Dream Speech." That is interesting timing, too.

Sir Charles Barkley, nice to see you as always. Thanks for talking with us. Appreciate it.

BARKLEY: Thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: My pleasure.

BARKLEY: Much more convention coverage coming in about 10 minutes throughout the day and night, of course.

From the Election Center in New York, I'm Soledad O'Brien. Let's send it right back to Atlanta and the CNN NEWSROOM right after this short break.

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PHILLIPS: 2:49 Eastern time right now. Here are some of the stories we are working on for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Reports out of Sudan say a passenger plane has been hijacked after taking off from the Darfur region. According to reports, the plane landed at an air field in south eastern Libya.

And stateside, police and federal agents are scouring the southwest for five men who broke out of a New Mexico jail. These are the fugitives. They include a convicted murderer and another man facing a murder charge. Three other inmates who escaped with them have been caught.

Just this hour, authorities in Boise, Idaho, confirmed a body found inside a home destroyed by a wildfire is that of a woman reported missing yesterday. The fire spread quickly through the victim's neighborhood, destroying nine homes.

Flood victims on the east coast of Florida are in line for federal help. Today, President Bush approved individual storm assistance for Brevard County. Elsewhere in the state, a week of rain from Tropical Storm Fay is still causing rivers to rise as CNN's Susan Candiotti discovered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The last time they had anything that resembled this even remotely was back in 1924, when the lake overflowed its banks by just about two feet. And now it is beyond that. It is now up to almost 11 feet. We visited with some of the people who are experiencing flooding in their houses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: House got about 14 inches of water in it. Just moved everything up another level. A/Cs moved up, generator was moved up. Still got power, and dealing with it.

CANDIOTTI: Isbell put up this homemade sign in front of his house. It reads: "U loot, I shoot." Obviously he and some of his other neighbors around here are worried about people who might decide to come in and take advantage of the situation. Of course, there are sheriffs patrols around here, as well, trying to keep an eye on things.

So this lake, this river might have another six inches to go before it crests. Certainly people around here are hoping that it stops pretty darn soon because they want to get back into their homes.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Geneva, Florida.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. Chad Myers, you're watching the storm that could be more destructive here in Georgia.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And now on up toward Clemson and South Carolina, too. This is a big tornado watch box behind me, Kyra. The big red area, there. That means potentially some storms could be spinning. We know where one storm is -- right near Clemson University. And that's the one that has a warning on for you right now.

So, if you're in the Clemson area, you need to be taking cover. There is the storm right there. There is the spin. There is you. This storm is heading right into Clemson, right now. You need to be undercover, take -- get away from the windows, don't try to open any windows, just get away from them. Stay inside maybe an inside corridor, a big hallway would be a good place, maybe a stairwell, another good place. On the lowest level of your home. That's what we're having to deal with today.

Now, what do we deal with this weekend? What we dealed with this weekend is Gustav. Gustav may be a very large storm. It could be a Category 3 or 4, in the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday. Right now it's affecting Haiti. It's an 80, 90 mile-an-hour storm right now. But look, see these numbers 1, 2, 3? That 3 means Category 3. That's Cuba, that's the Gulf of Mexico. It's headed our way. It could be left, it could be right, but it's headed into the Gulf somewhere -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Chad, thanks so much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Well, Los Angeles, some sanitation workers are going door to door asking people for their table scraps. Gristle, bones, you name it. And it's not for their dogs, it's for the earth.

CNN's Chris Lawrence explains.

(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 grounds, egg shells --

EMANUEL MADISON, RECYCLE AMBASSADOR: Chicken bones, beef bones and you know, all types of soiled paper.

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

MADISON: 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 land fill. They're asking volunteers to add those scraps to the green waste that gets sent to a composting center instead.

JAN PERRY, LOS ANGELES 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, black for everything else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need some kind of you know, guidance.

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Black?

MADISON: No, green. Same as this one.

LAWRENCE: But the pay-off 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 land fills.

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

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Back to politics. Madonna attacking John McCain. The campaign fires back at the pop star's concert video.

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PHILLIPS: Well, as Nancy Pelosi takes in her party's convention, House Republicans are still pressing for action on an energy bill as they've done since Congress adjourned for its August recess. GOP House members gathered just a short time ago for a protest. The bill's major sticking points include a Republican push for more offshore drilling.

And remember that 3:00 a.m. ad that Hillary Clinton ran during primary season? The one that questioned Barack Obama's national security considerations? Well, it's back with a new spin. A John McCain's spot uses footage from Clinton's original ad and declares Hillary's right. Clinton has blasted the McCain camp for using her words against Obama.

So, what is Madonna's beef with John McCain?

Our Carol Costello takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO (voice-over): Even at 50 she can titillate. During a performance of the song "Get Stupid," Madonna played politics, flashing images on screen that appeared to compared Adolph Hitler and dictator Robert Mugabe to John McCain.

An infuriated McCain camp shot back: "The comparisons are outrageous, unacceptable and crudely divisive all at the same time."

Not only that, in contrast, Madonna compared Barack Obama to Gandhi, John Lennon and Al Gore. That opened a door for an Obama jab: "It clearly shows that when it comes to supporting Barack Obama, his fellow worldwide celebrities refuse to consider any smear off limits."

Did you catch it? Fellow worldwide celebrities? It plays right into McCain's attempt to portray Obama as merely a celebrity.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Politically it was brilliant for the Republicans to take this issue, to seize on it and try to link Barack Obama to it. But the fact of the matter is, Barack Obama has no control over who supports him for president.

COSTELLO: The sticky and sweet tour will make its way to the United States soon. As for the Obama camp, it told us, "These comparisons are outrageous and offensive and have no place in the political process. We hope that John McCain will offer a similar condemnation as his allies increasingly practice sleazy, swift boat politics."

Carol Costello, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Democrats doing it up in Denver. We've got a lot more coverage of the party's national convention next.

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