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Severe Weather Blasts Kentucky; Seeking Stimulus Support

Aired January 31, 2009 - 11:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM, hello to you all on this 31st day of January, thank you for being here. I'm T.J. Holmes.

NGUYEN: Hello everybody I'm Betty Nguyen. Deadly conditions as people in Kentucky try to cope with ice and power outages.

HOLMES: Also President Obama, he's turning his attention to the Senate trying to twist some arms there possibly to get support for his stimulus plan. Questions still being raised also about a potential member of his cabinet.

NGUYEN: And how is the experiment in democracy going in Iraq? The voters they are giving their verdict. We're going to show it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: Well, they're hoping to thaw out just a bit in parts of the country. But another icy blast of winter weather is bearing down. Kentucky still crippled after this week's winter storm, more than half a million homes and businesses remain in the dark. Four people reported dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. That of course often happens as people are trying all kinds of ways to stay warm in their homes. Even a report of somebody having a charcoal grill inside the home. Also another nine deaths in Kentucky blamed on that storm. Plus the water is out to about 200,000 people. Right now the governor is touring many of the hardest hit areas. He talked to us here on CNN just a little while ago.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

VOICE OF GOV. SEVEN BESHEAR, KENTUCKY: We have power crews that the utilities are bringing in from all over the place. We obviously waived any requirements for their trucks to stop at the border on these weigh stations. They're rolling in fast. The Red Cross and other private organizations are doing a wonderful job. FEMA is in here working with us and trying to move stuff in here as rapidly as we can. Everybody is really pitching in and I think we're moving about as fast as we can.

(END OF AUDIO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Well, despite all of those efforts, the governor admits it is going to take a while to recover. CNN's Susan Candiotti is live in Louisville where shelters are packed. How are things going there obviously without electricity and some places without water, people are desperate situations? SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, it's the biggest power outage in Kentucky's history. Yesterday 700,000 customers without power throughout the state, at least they have whittled that number down to about a half million. But this has meant that a lot of people are seeking out shelters where they will be warm. We're here to talk to two of them, we're outside one of those Red Cross shelters at a church in downtown Louisville. This is Gregory Rowe and one of his three children, four children, excuse me, joining us this morning. Your power went out when?

GREGORY ROWE, STAYING IN SHELTER: Our power went out about 2:00 a.m. Wednesday morning when the last wave of the storm came through. There was a lot of sleet and ice and limbs started breaking constantly. The sky was going green with transformers exploding all night long and about 10 minutes after 2:00, we lost power.

CANDIOTTI: And there was little doubt you would come to a shelter because of how young your children are?

ROWE: Well with the wind storm last year we knew they had a experience repairing a lot of damage like that. So we stuck it out until the end of the day and when it became apparent we weren't going to get power, we started calling around to find a place to take the children.

CANDIOTTI: How old is your youngest?

ROWE: Fifteen months.

CANDIOTTI: Fifteen months. Angela, what has it been like for you to live in a shelter? I mean it's not fun, but at least it's warm?

ANGELA ROWE: Well it's been an eye opening experience because everybody's equal regardless of whether you come off the streets and they don't have a home or whether you come in and need shelter. You know the Red Cross people they are really friendly and they accommodate everybody. Everyone pitches in to help the person next to them which I think is good.

CANDIOTTI: Did you take any creature comforts with you from home while you were here?

A. ROWE: I actually just brought my little brother's teddy bear and his little stuffed toys and my school books, my textbooks, yeah.

CANDIOTTI: You're a very good student?

A. ROWE: I like school, so it's fun, it keeps me busy.

CANDIOTTI: Calculus and the like you were telling me, right?

A. ROWE: Yeah pre cal and (INAUDIBLE).

CANDIOTTI: Good for you, good for you. Well you see what an experience it has been. How well have they been accommodating you here at the church? G. ROWE: Ever since we got here they have seen to every possible need and even made adjustments for individual cases. Lynne and Kerry and Robert have been outstanding, they've treated my family very well. People with medical needs are inside being treated like royalty. It's really something.

CANDIOTTI: Mr. Rowe, do you have any idea when you will be able to go home?

G. ROWE: Possibly this evening but I'm not holding my breath, because this is easily five times as much damage to the trees and the power lines since we saw the wind storm last year, easily.

CANDIOTTI: Thank you very much. Certainly hope you get to go home soon. They are talking about temperatures possibly going up to the 40s tomorrow. It will feel good and it might help utility workers get their jobs done a little bit more quickly. We'll see. Betty, back to you.

NGUYEN: Absolutely, we want to see that get done as soon as possible. Thank you, Susan, we do appreciate it.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Seven people are dead after a bus accident. This happened near the Hoover Dam. The bus was carrying Chinese tourists. Another five people are said to have life-threatening injuries. This toppled over Friday afternoon. This was in Arizona. Six people died at the scene, a seventh person died at the hospital. Bus driver believed to be those who are critically injured. No real cause for this crash that's been identified just yet. A motorcyclist was also hurt trying to avoid the bus.

NGUYEN: That and then this. Six people are dead after a plane crash Friday near the West Virginia Ohio state line. The plane crashed two miles from the Huntington, West Virginia Airport after the pilot issued a may day call saying it was low on fuel. The aircraft hit a power line as it went down.

HOLMES: Well, where has the time gone? It seemed like only yesterday that President Obama was being inaugurated. Now already he's on day 12. We're still counting here, but day 12 with the Obama administration. He's still pushing that stimulus plan. He has to work on the senate right now. This is what he's got on his plate here lately. He made his weekly radio and internet address this morning. He called on the senate to step up and pass his bill. We don't know if that will happen, didn't get a lot of republican support in the house. This afternoon no scheduled events but tonight the president expected to attend the exclusive and pretty fun as we understand, Alfalfa dinner there in D.C. Who else will be there? Sarah Palin will be along as well.

Along with us right now though, CNN's Elaine Quijano joins us from the White House. Let's start talking about this stimulus plan, didn't get a lot of support in the house and we know that some senators are now working on their own plan. So what is his strategy now? Which direction does he go in trying to push his plan?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well as you noted T.J., President Obama used his weekly address to try to ratchet up the pressure on lawmakers to get them behind that $800 plus billion economic stimulus plan. Now as you noted though it passed through the house without any republican support. This coming week it will be going over to the senate where it's likely to face some GOP opposition there as well.

Now President Obama, ahead of that had a not so veiled message for republican lawmakers in particular. Basically saying, look, Americans are sick and tired, not only of the bad economy, but also partisan gridlock in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Americans know that our economic recovery will take years, not months. But they will have little patience if we allow politics to get in the way of action and our economy continues to slide. That's why I'm calling on the senate to pass this plan so that we can put people back to work and begin the long hard work of lifting our economy out of this crisis.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Still some republicans insist that Americans are also concerned about their taxpayer dollars being wasted. They say look some of this massive spending contained in this package has simply got to go. In fact senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said today in the GOP address that many of these items in that bill look like a $1 trillion Christmas list. T.J.?

HOLMES: A $1 trillion Christmas list. Santa Claus is not going to be delivering this one for us unfortunately. Elaine, let's turn to something else that just kind of may be an embarrassment, a black eye for the administration right now. Another one of the president's cabinet choices dealing with some tax issues. Tell us about this other one now.

QUIJANO: That's right. This is a case concerning former Senator Tom Daschle who is President Obama's pick for health and human services secretary. President Obama, first of all we should note, is standing by Tom Daschle, but this obviously is an embarrassment for the White House. Senate Finance Committee members are basically concerned, they are considering Senator Daschle's nomination, but they're concerned about a few things, first the use of a limo and a driver that wasn't disclosed as income, also $80,000 in income that was not declared and third a memo obtained by CNN said that Daschle once filed a tax form listing charitable donations to organizations that did not qualify for a deduction.

Now we should also note at the same time this report also says that Daschle did pay about $150,000 in back taxes and interest. None of this happened, it appears while he was in the senate. But, again, Robert Gibbs, having to come out and make a statement saying that President Obama believes Senator Daschle is in fact the right person to lead the charge when it comes to health care reform and the White House insisting they believe that Senator Daschle will be confirmed as HHS secretary.

HOLMES: All right. We mentioned it at the top and I want to ask you right quickly if you can, this Alfalfa dinner tonight, the president, do we know if he has any plans, Sara Palin will be there. Are they going to get any time together, do we know of?

QUIJANO: We haven't heard of anything, but inevitably there are leaks that come out of what is supposed to be a closed media event, but of course I'm sure all eyes are going to be watching to see what happens if there is any kind of interaction I'm sure we'll be hearing about it tomorrow.

HOLMES: One thing you can count on in Washington, its leaks. All right, Elaine Quijano for us from the White House. Thank you so much.

And a programming note here for you. Anderson Cooper 360 got a special coming up for you, Ali Velshi, some of the sharpest minds in -- they look like the dynamic duo or something right there. Some of the sharpest minds out there in business are going to take on this $800 billion plus economic stimulus plan. Big number and we're asking big questions, CNN's money summit, AC 360 and also our guy, Ali Velshi, as you see there. Stay tuned for that.

NGUYEN: For that dynamic duo. In Iraq, today is a crucial test for that country's young democracy. The polls are closed, but we're going to get a live update on how that voting went.

HOLMES: Also if you're looking for work, stay right here, we are showing you where the jobs are.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Watching the seeds of democracy bear fruit. For just the second time in the post Saddam Hussein era, Iraqis went to the polls today to cast ballots in the provincial elections. Now with plenty of candidates to chose from, more than 14,000 running for office. CNN's Arwa Damon has been pretty busy watching this take place today. She joins us now live from Bagdhad. So how did it go? How did the voting go today?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, Betty, polls just closed over an hour ago and what we're hearing from officials and from those who partook in these elections that today is a day that Iraqis can be proud of. Many Iraqis are telling us that they are proud to have been a part of it. Across the entire country we saw Iraqis taking to the polls, something that didn't happen back in 2005. Remember then, Iraq's Sunni population boycotted. We were in Al Ambar Province today earlier today with the United Nations.

There only two percent of the population showed up to vote in 2005. Remember, back then, it was an al Qaeda stronghold. Today they're pretty much voting for the first time and incredibly excited, wanting to have a stake in, which it is that gets power. And it's that power that we're talking about is regional power over essentials like basic services and jobs, things that Iraqis have been desperate for. We also went to al Najaf that is in the heart of Iraqi's predominantly SHIA south. There people are very excited to be taking part in this electoral process.

Again, and we have heard the same thing from those that were here voting in Baghdad. There is a lot of optimism that perhaps this time around, these elections could serve to really propel the country forward in a stable manner and put those officials into power that are truly going to serve the interests of the people. Betty?

NGUYEN: CNN's Arwa Damon joining us live on this a short day. Thank you Arwa.

HOLMES: We have some video here to show you. You remember this, you remember it well. Look at this video. Who can forget this scene? You remember this. Not too long ago, the shoe hurler hurling his shoes as shoe hurlers do. It's an Iraqi journalist, this is video of that infamous moment when President Bush was in Iraq. There was a statue that actually went up to commemorate the event. Some people thought it was disrespectful, others actually commended the man for taking a stand and doing what he did. But this statue, this monument, it was already taken down however. Because the Iraqi government decided to have it removed. They said that government property should not be used for something with some kind of a political statement. So the shoe hurler is still in jail and facing charges and again, like I said, has become a hero of sorts around parts of the Arab world.

NGUYEN: President Obama's half brother has been arrested in Kenya. Police arrested George Obama on charges of possessing marijuana and resisting arrest. He's scheduled to appear in court on Monday and speaking to CNN's David McKenzie from a Nairobi jail cell the younger Obama denies the charges. The president barely knows his half brother, though they have met.

HOLMES: President Obama labels those giant Wall Street bonuses, calls them irresponsible. But some are actually defending the practice of those bonuses even in this tough economic time. You have to hear this one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHELLE CAREY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's pretty easy to rack up frequent flyer miles, but often harder to cash them in. Well, things are looking up.

NILOU MOTAMED, TRAVEL-LEISURE: They're actually being a little bit more flexible. They're allowing you to maybe even book one leg or trying to let you use your miles even before you have accrued them. Call the airline directly. With the flying season constantly changing and you're going to get the best answer from somebody on the phone.

CAREY: Empty planes are a problem for airlines. Look for extended or newly created routes, there are usually more seats than they can sell, making it easier for you to use those miles, but be smart about it. MOTAMED: The best return on your miles is often an upgrade and the math substantiates it. Is it better to spend 50,000 miles on an inexpensive seat or on a great seat?

CAREY: And if your rewards are about to expire, there are other options.

MOTAMED: There are plenty of things you can do with your miles these days, including hotel upgrades, car rentals or even purchasing products.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, shameful, that's what President Obama called it. Wall Street paying out billions in worker bonuses despite the state of the economy. Adding to this outrage, is that some of these companies that are paying out those bonuses actually got bailout loans with taxpayer dollars Our Jessica Yellin explains how Wall Street is defending itself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly $20 billion in Wall Street bonuses during a financial crisis? There's outrage in the White House.

OBAMA: That is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful.

YELLIN: As the titans of boom are increasingly discredited.

ALLAN GREENSPAN: I made a mistake.

YELLIN: So what does Wall Street have to say for itself?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No comment.

YELLIN: Why is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're under contract not to talk about it.

YELLIN: At this Wall Street lunch spot, there are some willing defenders.

Do you think bonuses should be abolished?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, bonuses are part of the pay that they get, they get bonuses. That's how they get paid.

YELLIN: In fact for many Wall Street employees, the majority of their pay comes in their end of year bonus. They say cutting that would be like slashing anyone else's salary in half. They don't want a pay cut so they're making an unpopular case, defending Wall Street bonuses. One, eliminating bonuses will hurt the economy. RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: It really will create unemployment, it means less spending in restaurants, less spending in department stores so everything has an impact.

YELLIN: Already sales are down for Mega Yachts, Bulgari Jewels and even for Porsches. Unthinkable what could follow. Two, you need to pay for talent. According to an informed source, bailout culprit AIG gave 450 million to just 400 employees. That comes out to roughly a million per person. Sound good? They say it was necessary to keep the Michael Jordan's of the insurance business on AIG's team. Then there's the we didn't start the fire defense. Jordan Schreiber has been in finance for almost 40 years. He says Wall Street is being scapegoated.

JORDAN SCHREIBER, WALL STREET BANKER: They're trying to find blame to target blame. And the blame should be more pervasive, it should include the American public that had a zero savings rate for quite a few years.

YELLIN: And on the cocktail party circuit, he says his friends worry about losing their jobs.

SCHREIBER: They hope they're not next.

YELLIN (on camera): They also point out that bonuses were slashed, down 44 percent from 2007. Still even without a bonus, your typical Wall Street employee takes home three to four times what your average American makes. Jessica Yellin, CNN, New York.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Ok, so whether you're a fat cat or an average worker, we want to hear from you. What are you doing to keep your job or find a new one? E-mail us your answers to weekends@cnn.com or just send us an i- Report. Log on to ireport.com.

Our 4:00 p.m. eastern hour today will be dedicated to job seekers so listen up, tune in for tips, finding a new job, coping with a loss of a job and learning how to reinvent yourself. That and so much more right here in the NEWSROOM at 4:00 p.m. eastern.

In the meantime, what's it like to be a freshman congressman in an age of financial meltdown? A couple of newcomers to the capitol are taking us along for the ride.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's 30 past the hour. Here's what we are working on. More than a half million people still without power in Kentucky. At least nine deaths in the state have been blamed on this devastating ice storm. President Barack Obama says his administration will soon outline a new strategy to create jobs, get credit flowing and stabilize markets. His top advisers are considering how to use the remaining $350 billion that congress approved last year to rescue financial institutions. And look at this, Iraqis went to the polls today for the first time in four years. More than 14,000 candidates, including about 3,900 women are running for 440 seats in provincial elections.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, next week, the president's stimulus plan goes up for debate in the senate. He hopes it gets more support from the other side of the aisle than it did in the house, where it got no support, not a single republican voted for it when it was in the house. But his efforts in the senate might hinge on the efforts of just two senators. As our Dana Bash explains, they're working this weekend streamlining the plan in hopes of garnering support from both sides of the aisle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senate republicans rushed to the cameras and vowed to oppose Barack Obama's economic plan just like republicans did unanimously in the house.

SEN BOB BENNETT, (R) UTAH: I'm going to vote against this package because it's not going to work.

BASH: But for some GOP senators, that hard line approach is unacceptable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's important that the bill be bipartisan to show the American people that we can work together on the biggest challenge facing our country.

BASH: In fact, behind the scenes, republican Susan Collins and democrat Ben Nelson are now working across party lines on a proposal to stimulate the economy. Collins actually likes a lot of what's in the democrats' bill, but agrees with fellow republicans that the $888 billion measure includes too much spending that won't stimulate the economy.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R) MAINE: There's funding to help improve our preparedness for a pandemic flu. There is funding to help improve cyber security. What does that have to do with an economic stimulus package?

BASH: Democrat Ben Nelson feels the same way and disagrees with his party's approach.

SEN. BEN NELSON, (D) NEBRASKA: It's a mistake I think the mix of many good programs that aren't necessary and only marginally stimulative in a stimulus package. I think you give people reasons not to vote for the package.

BASH: This bipartisan team plans to spend all weekend writing a new economic measure. Scrubbing what they call excess spending, things like $1.1 billion for comparative health research. $75 million for anti-smoking programs or $248 million to consolidate the department of homeland security headquarters.

NELSON: Jobs is the critical word. And so stimulus has to be about jobs, jobs, jobs.

BASH: So their bipartisan alternative would limit the spending to things like infrastructure, education and training and extending unemployment insurance and benefits to jobless Americans.

(On Camera): Senators Nelson and Collins hope to have their bipartisan economic plan ready to show other democrats and republicans as the senate starts debate early next week and there may be a handful of senators on both sides of the aisle open to this kind of compromise. Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: So most of us can barely imagine 800 plus billion, but here are some numbers that we can all relate to in the stimulus bill that has cleared the house. The tax cuts included in the plan would add roughly $12 to $13 a week to the paychecks of workers earning less than $75,000 a year. If you don't have a job, it would add about $25 a week to your unemployment benefits. And if you're buying your first home, it could mean a whopping $7,500 credit on your income tax bill. Now, keep in mind, all of these measures are highly subject to change as the measure makes its way through the senate and then back to the house. Got all that?

HOLMES: Yeah.

NGUYEN: Is your head spinning yet?

HOLMES: Ok. A lot of numbers, a lot of big numbers. Some of the people making the decision, it's strange, it can be intimidating to be a freshman in congress in the senate or in the house.

NGUYEN: In these times.

HOLMES: In these times especially. Some of them don't even know how to find the bathroom just yet in the halls but some --

NGUYEN: Yes, solve the financial situation. HOLMES: Yes, can you imagine this being your first decision that you ever make on behalf of the public? That's exactly what some of them are doing right now.

NGUYEN: Yeah, in fact more than 60 new members of the house and senate are doing just that. CNN is following two of those freshmen in a unique way. Our Josh Levs joins us with that. Hey, Josh.

JOSH LEVS: Hey guys, yeah this is interesting, this is this new spread on cnn.com following the stories of two freshmen. Let me show them to you, this is Jason Chaffetz, I'm just going to scroll down a little bit. You should be able to see Jared Polis down here. Except my new touch screen is being a little fun, there you go, there's Jason and there's Jared Holis. Not only are we telling you their stories, we have video blogs from them. They've been carrying around these little cameras with them on Capitol Hill. I'm going to show you now a little bit of what, what each of them has to say. You'll see that one of them loves wearing -- does not love wearing ties, the other one is sleeping in his office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JARED POLIS, (D) COLORADO: So I just got back from the floor and the rules committee and they make you wear a tie when you go over there. I usually come in to work in a turtle neck. So I actually had the same shirt here in the office for like two weeks. So it's actually starting to smell a little bit. I have to bring a new one in. But in the meantime I'm really happy I can switch back to my turtle neck right now. What is it, it's about 8:00 p.m. There's actually a caucus meeting going on and I'm allowed to go to caucus meetings in turtle necks. So I'm about to change. Oh, and I have my own bathroom. Look at this, this is my bathroom in my office. Not exactly palatial but there's room for me to stand in here. I'm going to turn the camera off while I'm changing. Bye.

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ, (R) UTAH: I just lay down on this little cot here and get back up and go all over it. And I save $1,500 a month doing it. And in my closet here, you can see I have my shirts, I have a little refrigerator with my jell-o puddings and make it juice and my slim fast. And then I've got my undies, my shirts, my ties. And then -- you can't see, it's kind of dark in here. Every member of congress has a lew. And they've got a sink and so I brush my teeth and then I go down to the house gym to take a shower. So it's working pretty well so far.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Not exactly the glamorous life you think about a lot of our lawmakers having when they get elected into office up there. Let me tell you a little bit more about each of them. We have a few facts for you. Since they're not only defined by where they take showers or whether they like to wear ties or not. Let's start off with this, we have a graphic for you. Jared, there you go. 33 years old, internet entrepreneur, he founded a charter school for immigrants and he was the first man who was elected as a freshman while being openly gay. That's Jared Polis.

And then there's Jason Chaffetz, and T.J. you'll take a special interest in this one. He's 41 years old, experiencing business and marketing, he's married with three kids and I know you're interested in college football. He was a star football player back when he was at Brigham Young University. In fact, I have on the screen if we can zoom in for a second, he set two school records as the starting place kicker and earned a degree in communication while he was there at BYU. So anyway, following these two guys, we're going to follow pretty much anything they're willing to tell us about life in congress in the coming weeks. We'll keep checking in, learn more about that glamorous life.

NGUYEN: Glamorous, he went from football star to sleeping in a closet there in D.C. and showing us his underwear on television. That's nice.

HOLMES: He's a father of three and it's a good move, he is saving all that money he can send back. NGUYEN: He is saving a lot of money.

HOLMES: I'm sure his wife and three kids appreciate it.

NGUYEN: He may not be getting a lot of sleep at night though. Because I think we had another piece on that showed that the workers as they go by at night and clean the floors, it's kind of loud in there, maybe get some ear plugs.

LEVS: Yeah, I think he squeezes in about three hours of sleep every night. As long as he can keep you know serving the people.

NGUYEN: Yep, that's all that matters.

HOLMES: I wonder what it smells like in there.

LEVS: Oh, gross, see I didn't want to go there.

NGUYEN: Let's not even go there.

HOLMES: All right, thank you. Sorry, I'm curious though. He sleeps there, he works there, all day.

NGUYEN: Maybe there's some Febreeze.

LEVS: He said his wife won't even go in there anymore because she's too scared of the scene..

NGUYEN: Oh really, yikes! All right, well let's get to the weather outside, because that is awfully frightful. Don't even worry about the smell, just look at the sight and sound of the ice that has been falling on the power lines. There are many homes just simply without electricity.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: President Obama and Rush Limbaugh they have been trading a few verbal jabs here and there.

HOLMES: Why is that a potential problem for the republican party though. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, conservative talk radio titan Rush Limbaugh is seen as kind of a double-edged sword by many republicans.

NGUYEN: It's no surprise that he is directing his cutting wit at President Obama's stimulus plan. He openly said that he hopes Barack Obama fails, but he's also placing the GOP in a tight spot. Here's our Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is awesome. CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Steele is the first African-American elected to run the republican national committee. A new face who may have to deal with this established voice.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States is trash talking the United States economy, for his own benefit. For the benefit of his party.

CROWLEY: Three hours a day, five days a week coast to coast, Rush Limbaugh holds court.

LIMBAUGH: The president of the United States once again did not tell the truth about the status of the United States' economy.

CROWLEY: A persistent critic of the stimulus plan the combative conservative Limbaugh is easily the most listened to republican in the country. And for democrats, a perfect poster boy as they dream of majority power for decades ahead.

OBAMA: Hello, everybody.

CROWLEY: Inside his charm offensive, now including a super bowl party, President Barack Obama threw a sharp elbow recently, telling a meeting of republicans you can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done. An outside liberal group cozy with democratic lawmakers joined in with radio ads. Pressuring selected senate Republicans to vote for the president's stimulus plan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will our senator John Ensign side with Rush Limbaugh too?

CROWLEY: Democrats see one of two outcomes republican votes for the 2009 stimulus plan or vulnerable republicans in 2010. The Obama versus Limbaugh story line comes at a not so great time for a humpty dumpty political party trying to put itself together again. Limbaugh has a rock solid conservative fan base. The moderate and swing voters republicans need to rebuild the party, not so much. It is brilliant democratic politics.

JOHN FEEHERY, GOP STRATEGIST: It puts republicans in a very difficult position, they either have to defend Rush Limbaugh, which puts them out of the main stream with a lot of swing voters, or they risk his wrath by not defending him. So it's very clever by the Obama campaign.

CROWLEY: The election of Michael Steele is the beginning sign of a party looking to expand its base, but still hold on to its core voters.

MICHAEL STEELE, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Rush Limbaugh is a conservative voice in this country that clearly people must pay attention to and clearly the Obama administration and others in the administration must be paying attention too. So Rush will say what Rush has to say, we will do what we have to do as a party.

CROWLEY: It's a balancing act and republicans are on the high wire. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: President Obama setting a more casual style at the White House. Could that mean I don't have to wear a tie tomorrow?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, there are a lot of things that are different about this new president including his style of dress. Sometimes he actually, you see it right there, he goes coatless in the oval office.

HOLMES: But in contrast, George Bush always wore a suit. As our Samantha Hayes reports President Obama is setting a different tone in Washington on several levels.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMANTHA HAYES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We know his politics are different, but so is Barack Obama's presidential posture. Take a look, leaning forward, elbows on his knees sitting next to new treasury secretary Tim Geithner. Contrast that with this image of President Bush. And you may not have noticed it right away but Obama's first picture as president in the oval office lacked a certain article of clothing.

GARRETT GRAFF, THE WASHINGTONIAN: President Bush was always very strict about suit and tie in the oval office.

HAYES: President Obama apparently turned up the thermostat in the White House because he's cold by nature according to his spokesperson, but he may also be striking a more casual tone. His staffers seem to have caught on and if history is any indication, the country may follow.

GRAFF: So what you saw was what John Kennedy was when he took the White House was really the first president who didn't wear a hat and that was really the end of the hat for men in American fashion. For instance, like the fact that he doesn't wear a tie. Maybe this is the end of the tie in American business fashion.

HAYES: Cocktail attire, however, may be back in at the White House. While President Bush didn't drink as a matter of habit, Mr. Obama has already opened the doors of the White House and its bar to members of congress.

GRAFF: To gather republicans and democrats in one room over the famous Washington cocktail party. So I think we're just going to see a very different type of socializing as well from the Obamas.

HAYES: One thing may stay the same, punctuality, an area where he apparently differs from the last democratic president.

GRAFF: President Clinton, of course, was famous for never starting on time and never ending on time and never being on time to anything.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: In true presidential style.

HOLMES: This is better.

NGUYEN: Is it a little more comfortable?

HOLMES: This is much more comfortable. Do you think I can get away with this tomorrow?

NGUYEN: I don't think so.

HOLMES: We'll get the call.

NGUYEN: Just stop it right there, though. Next thing you know he won't have a tie on and so on and so forth.

HOLMES: Be in a t-shirt.

MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: More casual.

HOLMES: You're right. It's the weekend. It's more casual. How are you doing? Good morning.

LONG: I've been good, nice to see you.

HOLMES: Fredericka is a little under the weather.

LONG: Yes, so I'm in for her today. Hopefully she'll be feeling a little bit better. We have a busy show coming up at the top of the hour. Were you a cheerleader?

NGUYEN: Yes, I was.

HOLMES: Oh!

LONG: Well, things have changed since we were at that age.

NGUYEN: Yes, boy, have they.

LONG: It's an energized sport now. It's really a sport now.

NGUYEN: It's really a sport now, because it wasn't back then.

LONG: It's not as much about the clapping and cheering it's really become a lot about the stunts.

NGUYEN: Right, they're doing the tumbling and all of that.

LONG: Absolutely, a lot of stunts. And there's a story that we're going to talk about -- apparently my mike's not working.

HOLMES: Here you go, go ahead continue to tell the story. Go right ahead, just use that. Go ahead and finish.

LONG: The state of Wisconsin weighing in saying that it is a contact sport so you can't sue. We followed a case back in 2004, we're going to talk about that in our legal segment and I'll just wrap up now and give the mike back.

HOLMES: That's all right. You can finish if you want to. We see the video there now. Contact sport, who knew cheerleading was a contact sport.

NGUYEN: It was a contact when I fell off one of those pyramids and hit the floor. It was a lot of contact going on.

LONG: It just changed so much now, you see the teams doing stuff that they didn't do when we were teenagers.

NGUYEN: All right, looking forward to that.

HOLMES: That explains everything. You hit your head when you were younger.

NGUYEN: And the rest is history, right.

Well fighting the fakes. Because we're going to talk about this from super bowl knockoffs to dangerously fake prescription pills, we're tackling the billion dollar black market.

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NGUYEN: The recession is helping fuel a few fake plays, shall we call it, ahead of super bowl 43 this weekend.

HOLMES: Here now is our Jeanne Meserve with the super rip-offs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): T-shirts and other super bowl memorabilia all inscribed with the logos of the NFL or its teams and all fake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The shade of yellow is very different. It's much more bold and bright than the actual team color.

MESERVE: Just since Sunday in Tampa, immigration and customs enforcement has seized pirated goods with a street value of more than a million, but the problem is much bigger than that with implications for health and safety. There are counterfeit electrical items like circuit breakers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They do cause fires.

MESERVE: And toiletries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of these items have actually been found to contain chemicals such as antifreeze.

MESERVE: And even pharmaceuticals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Often times these items have actually been made with drywall dust and painted with road paint.

MESERVE: Imitations like these are often cheaper than the original, but they have caused injuries, reportedly even deaths.

DAVE THOMPSON, DIRECTOR, ICE IRD CENTER: Money. It's strictly a greed, motivation. Basically, these individuals see a large profit margin and they'll counterfeit basically anything that's popular.

MESERVE: The value of counterfeit products seized last year was up 38 percent and there is no way to know how much wasn't caught. The estimated cost to U.S. business $250 billion in lost revenue. The estimated cost to U.S. workers 750,000 jobs.

MARK ESPER, U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: China accounts for over 80 percent of the goods that were seized last year coming into the country with India a distant second.

MESERVE: Customs and border protection inspectors routinely find counterfeit goods, but this intellectual property coordination center opened last summer is trying a new approach, fusing the enforcement efforts of many federal agencies. There have been 140 investigations since July.

(On camera): Who's making money off of this? Criminals, and authorities suggest you think about that before you stop at a street vendor to pick up a Gucci bag, Rolex watch or a Cardinals or Steelers jersey. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: There's nothing fake about this. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Melissa Long.

HOLMES: The real one. Hey there Melissa.

MELISSA LONG, CNN HOST: Thanks T.J., thanks Betty. Have a great Saturday.

HOLMES: All right, we'll see you.