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Michelle Obama Stepping into the Fray; State-by-State Unemployed; Details of Terror Suspect Case
Aired September 18, 2009 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning everyone it is Friday, September 18th. And here are the faces of the story driving the news this morning right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
First Lady Michelle Obama stepping into the health care fray this hour; can she sell reform with a soccer mom approach?
Henry Gasparian, an American immigrant who witnessed Nazi cruelty arrested after taking on protesters with signs showing the President as Hitler.
And conservative values advocate Tony Perkins leading the Values Voter Summit in Washington this weekend, he is with me live.
Good morning everyone, I'm Tony Harris. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
So let's quickly get you caught up on the day's hot headlines then take the time to break down the big issues to find out why they really matter.
And leading the way this hour, a charm offensive in the battle over health care reform; first lady Michelle Obama, pushing her husband's message. She is set to speak shortly at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House.
You are looking at here with live pictures of the very popular First Lady using her appeal to win over women to health care reforms. It's seen as crucial for her husband to get his plan through Congress.
State by state unemployment numbers for August came out last hour. The Labor Department says Michigan has the highest jobless rate in the nation at 15.2 percent. That is more than five percentage points above the national average. Nevada recorded the next highest rate over 13 percent. Rhode Island, California and Oregon fill out the top five.
A Denver airport shuttle bus driver is expected to return this hour for a third day of FBI questions. Sources tell CNN Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old Afghan immigrant may be part of a Madrid-style subway bomb plot. But listen to Zazi's lawyer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARTHUR FOLSOM, NAJIBULLAH ZAZI'Z ATTORNEY: My client has no comments (INAUDIBLE). If you have any questions you can direct them to me.
All I can say is if they have found bomb making material in his car, on his computer or one wild report I saw yesterday that they sort that there were enough explosives in the apartment he brought to the buildings, do you really think the FBI would have allowed us to walk out of here last night?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Ok, more to come on Zazi and this investigation. Our Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is digging on this story in Denver.
Iranians took to the streets of Tehran today in an annual pro- Palestinian rally. Witnesses tell CNN government opposition supporters gathered near the city's Revolution Square while they chanted anti-government slogans on one side of the street.
Supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad chanted pro-government slogans on the other. They were chanting death to American, death to Israel. A line of police stood between the two groups. We will get a live report from the region at the half hour.
That's our look at the day's big stories. Now, let's go in-depth right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Adding a cooler touch to the hot button issue of health care reform, first lady Michelle Obama holding an event right now to win over women to her husband's plan for overhauling the system.
Live now to CNN White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux. Suzanne good to see you. The first lady using her personal appeal, personal capital, to promote the president's plan. I'm curious, who's in the room?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Tony, there are people that we haven't seen in this debate before that are actually going to be in that room. This is an event that's sponsored by the White House Council on Women and Girls. And so you're going to see an audience made up of family, of mothers, of friends, that type of thing, the YWCA, even another group, the National Congress of American Indians.
So these are folks that are getting into the health care debate and it really is meant to show this picture of health care reform being necessary for everybody, for every day Americans. And that's what we're going to hear from the first lady.
Some people call her the secret weapon. But it's no secret at all Tony, that she's very popular. That she puts a friendly face on this health care debate. And it's not just going to be eat your vegetables that kind of thing although she has a vegetable garden here at the White House and she has made that part of her platform.
But she's also going to be talking about the need, the necessity for health care reform specifically for women, for their families. And how this impacts them directly whether they have a pre-existing condition, if they can get insurance or not and whether or not they have health care expenses...
HARRIS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: ...and bills that are just out of control. These are the kinds of real day everyday scenarios that she's going to be talking about. We do not expect that she's going to get into the weeds of the Baucus Bill...
HARRIS: Right.
MALVEAUX: ...and how that weighs up against what Republicans want but really just paint a kind of friendly approachable face and a storyline...
HARRIS: Sure.
MALVEAUX: ...to this whole health care debate.
HARRIS: And Suzanne, to the president now, coming off what was an upbeat and raucous campaign style health care rally at the University of Maryland yesterday, the president launching a really an all-out media blitz starting today, isn't he?
MALVEAUX: We are going to see President Obama over and over and over again. Obviously, we've already seen some of the carts of all of the different crews coming in here. Each one of the networks, five networks; it's a media blitz for the Sunday shows. They each get 15 minutes with the president in the Roosevelt Room and then he's going to hit Dave Letterman, so he's going to be doing the comedy circuit as well.
We've talked to White House aides and we asked them look, you're getting some criticism for overexposure and they say we are not worried about that. This is the best person to put forward in health care, they get people riled up and Sunday's show really important. You're talking about policy makers, the opinion influencers...
HARRIS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: ...those kind of folks, voters who are going to be watching those shows listening very carefully to his message.
It does underscore Tony, two things. He's confident about being in front of the cameras and in front of the media...
HARRIS: Sure.
MALVEAUX: ...but also he needs to get this message out. He has not made a convincing enough case for health care reform. They don't have that legislation yet. So he's making his final push -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us, Suzanne I appreciate it. And let's show you the room again. Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House where Michelle Obama will be appearing shortly to talk about health care reform in a pretty friendly setting with friends and other stake holders that we haven't heard much from in the debate so far.
When the First Lady begins her comment, we will give you a sense of that right here on the CNN NEWSROOM.
You know at the center of this debate right is the proposal from Democratic Senator Max Baucus. But members of Baucus' own party are balking at the plan.
Here is our senior Congressional correspondent Dana Bash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Forget about Republicans, even Democrat Jeff Bingaman, who spent months negotiating with Max Baucus isn't ready to support his health care proposal.
SEN. JEFF BINGAMAN, (D) NEW MEXICO: I have favored having a public option available and voted for one in the Health and Education -- HELP Committee Bill. So I hope we can do that.
BASH: In fact, outside a closed meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, almost all of the Democratic senators we talked to said they wanted to change what their Democratic Chairman, Max Baucus, calls a consensus plan. One huge issue...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Affordability.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Affordability.
SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW, (D) MICHIGAN: Affordability for middle class families.
BASH: Concern that Americans would not get enough financial help buying the health insurance they would be required to have.
STABENOW: This has to work for families. And I understand all of the tradeoffs, but the tradeoffs can't be that a middle class family can't afford the insurance in this bill.
BASH: Are you prepared to vote against this?
SEN. MARIA CANTWELL, (D) WASHINGTON: Yes, I can't support a plan that doesn't have the affordability of health care and doesn't have the affordability for my constituents in it.
BASH: And many Democrats don't like one way Baucus helps pay for his health care overhaul. Taxing insurance companies for high cost plans.
It was John Kerry's idea.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: Yes, it was my idea originally.
BASH: But even he now opposes it saying the way Baucus structured the tax, it could penalize the middle class including union members.
KERRY: We need to make it fairer to working people so that working folks don't get dragged into this at a level where they just don't have the incomes that support it.
BASH: Meanwhile, Olympia Snowe is still the one Republican Democrats think they can still persuade.
SEN. OLYMPIA SNOWE (R), MAINE: It has to be practical, achievable and doable.
BASH: In fact Baucus stood listening carefully as Snowe spoke to reporters and then told us...
SEN. MAX BAUCUS, CHAIRMAN, SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE: Whatever the Senator still wants to do, I'm for her...
BASH: Whatever she wants?
BAUCUS: Whatever she wants.
BASH: In all seriousness, Senator Baucus told us he is willing to make changes to address concerns about affordability and potentially taxing the middle class. He knows he has no choice in order to get votes from fellow Democrats and pass this proposal in his critically important committee.
Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And we invite you to join CNN Sunday morning when President Obama sits down with CNN's chief national correspondent John King that's on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" Sunday morning at 9:00, 6:00 Pacific.
And of course, we want to hear from you; your thoughts about Senator Baucus' health care proposal. Do you plan to read it? Of course you do. You certainly aren't going to rely on the media debate to shape your view. I thought now.
Send us your thoughts at cnn.com/tony. We have a link to the Baucus plan on our Web site so you can find it quickly and read it during all of the free time you'll have this weekend.
Still to come, days and days of soaking rain in the southeast leaving homes in shambles. The big man, Rob Marciano, with the pictures to prove it and we're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right. We've got some video at some point to show you coming out of Tennessee. Boy, they got soaked yesterday with heavy rainfall and actually it's been several days with the heavy rain and with that saturated ground it doesn't take too long for those river banks and creeks to go up and over the banks.
So livestock and people alike on the run from some of this high water; here it is on the satellite radar picture with a decent amount of rainfall now heading into Memphis. So it looks like focus has shifted a little bit toward the western part of Tennessee. Most of that flooding yesterday was in the south eastern part of the state; Memphis really starting to get hit with some heavy rain at the moment.
So this is an area that has expanded as far as flash flood watches and warnings now from northeast Texas all of the way to eastern parts of Tennessee and Georgia. Another couple of inches possible today and tomorrow but the problem is the ground is already saturated so therein lies the issue. 75 rain cool degrees in Atlanta, it will be 80 degrees in Memphis.
Check out some these totals since the storm began over a foot in Mena, Arkansas; Cookeville, Tennessee, seeing almost that much; Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, everybody getting into the act. As far as where the nicer weather is, it's across parts of the northeast. You've got some good looking days coming up for you this weekend.
Not too shabby in Chicago at least for half of the weekend. And most of the West Coast looks good. Maybe some showers in Seattle and Portland today. Later today and tomorrow and then the weekend -- rest of the weekend at least it looks to be pretty good.
That's the latest from the weather department. And have yourself a great weekend. The CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris is coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's do this.
We're taking a closer look at the labor market this morning. We know the nation's overall unemployment rate is 9.7 percent, the highest in 26 years. But some states are faring better than others.
Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange to break it all down for us. Walk us through this. First of all, good morning. Good Friday, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good Friday to you, Tony.
Well, 27 states and the District of Columbia reported an increase in their unemployment rate; 23 states either stayed the same or declined. The highest rates, well, kind of can guess. Number one, Michigan with an unemployment rate of more than 15 percent, its association with the auto industry has just been devastating to that state.
Number two, Nevada, because of all of the real estate speculation that went on there.
And number three has been very high before. But it may be a surprise to a lot of folks; Rhode Island with an unemployment rate of nearly 13 percent. A lot of construction and manufacturing jobs went by the wayside.
California and Oregon both with a 12 percent unemployment rate; both tied to the housing bust, but Oregon because of its timber industry which is so huge.
Tony, let's tell you where unemployment rate is really low. North Dakota -- 4.3 percent. I think that qualifies pretty much if you want to work, you can work there.
HARRIS: What's going on there? What sectors are hiring there?
So this report clearly, Susan, underscores why so many people are relying on the government for help right now. You know, the truth here is that a lot of those people are completely exhausting their benefits.
LISOVICZ: That's right Tony. That's why Congress may extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks. This extension would affect the hardest hit states. Those states with at least an unemployment rate of at least 8.5 percent; 16 states fall into this category.
The house will be voting on this next Wednesday. In most states people get 26 weeks of benefits but high unemployment states folks can get up to 79 weeks. And why is that? Why is there a consideration for yet another extension, Tony?
By some estimates nearly 1.5 million people will lose their benefits by the end of the year. And let's face it, even though we're seeing signs of recovery, Tony, there are more than six workers for every job opening. It's tough out there.
HARRIS: It's just tough. We talk about it being a lagging indicator. The economy could be improving dramatically and still we could be slow in seeing recovery in the jobs area.
Would you for a moment here, Susan, remind us of some of the good signs we've seen this week pointing to a recovery in this economy because there have been a few.
LISOVICZ: That's very true, Tony. I'm looking at one of them including the stock market where the Dow is less than 200 points away from 10,000. We continue to see a market rally really since March because of signs that the economy is either bottoming out or improving.
I would say if I had to pick one headline it would be Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, saying this week that the recession is very likely over. That came, by the way, on the same day that we saw retail sales rise nearly 3 percent. And even when you take out -- if you took out auto and gas from that, you saw broad based spending in things that were nonessentials. That was another good sign.
Industrial production rose. That was another report we got this week. We saw factories turning out more cars and clothing and machinery and food.
Let me see if there's one more I can think of -- new jobless claims. Unexpectedly fell this week. That's just a weekly number but we like that trend. The jobless rate is at a 26-year high. But we like the fact that we saw initial benefits decline.
HARRIS: Absolutely. I totally forgot the music. You know I love Nancy Wilson. I wanted to roll in some happy talk and I totally forgot this morning.
LISOVICZ: You promised me.
Well, you and I had our happy talk.
HARRIS: We did. Susan I appreciate it. See you next hour.
LISOVICZ: You got it.
Gerri Willis answers your questions about unemployment benefits, debt relief and tax credits. There's she is. She's next right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Good morning Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Good morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's get you caught up on our top stories right now.
The lab worker accused of killing a Yale grad student who was a control freak who clashed with scientists a source tells the Associated Press. New Haven's police chief called Annie Le's death a case of workplace violence but police haven't released a possible motive yet.
Photos now of the inside of the home of Nancy and Phillip Garrido: the California couple accused of kidnapping 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard in 1991. Investigators are using ground penetrating radar today to search the property. That's after two cadaver sniffing dogs showed interest in part of the property. Police say they could indicate possible human remains.
Not guilty: that's the verdict for a former high school coach accused of reckless homicide in the death of one of his football players. Officials say the 15-year-old player died of heat-related illness after collapsing during a hot practice last year. We will have more on this story coming up in just a couple minutes for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Can debt settlement companies help you regain control of your finances and will unemployment benefits be extended again? And how do you qualify for the education tax credit? You e-mail us the questions. CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis has your answers from New York.
Gerri, good to see you. Good Friday.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Good to see you, sir.
HARRIS: Do you want to dive in here.
WILLIS: Let's go.
HARRIS: Our first question comes from Ibrahima who writes, "I have $77,000 in unsecured debt. I'm thinking about doing the debt settlement. Can you tell me who the best debt settlement companies are? Help, Gerri, help.
WILLIS: You know, Tony, I got to tell our viewer here, choosing the best debt settlement company is kind like asking which is the best prison to go to. There are no good debt settlement companies not because they're inherently bad but because the services they offer can be damaging.
The truth is that whatever a debt settlement company can do for you, you can do for yourself for free. Credit card companies are more and more likely these days to accept less than what you owe. With your kind of debt load $77,000 you may consider talking to a credit counselor who could put you on a debt management plan. You may even be referred to a bankruptcy attorney since you'd probably be a good candidate.
HARRIS: All right.
Let's dive into our second question here. This one comes from Tony.
WILLIS: Different Tony.
HARRIS: Yes. "I live in one of the high unemployment states. Can you tell me if there is a fourth unemployment extension for us? I will exhaust all of my benefits at the end of September. I hope that there is another extension because I look for a job everyday and I have found nothing."
Any help for Tony?
WILLIS: Yes. We have a lot of help. Right now an unemployed worker can get up to 79 weeks of benefits. That's the total. It's also estimated though that about 1.5 million people across the country would use up their unemployment benefits by the end of this year.
Right now there's pending legislation that will extend the benefits probably for another 13 weeks for people in high unemployment states. That legislation will be taken up next Wednesday in Congress. If you want to keep up, of course, you can watch CNN. But you can also go to a Web site called unemployedworkers.org. In the meantime, check out your local goodwill store. Your local goodwill can provide with you job training, resources, child care, transportation, financial literacy all for free. And to find one in your area call 800-664-6577 or simply go to goodwill.org.
HARRIS: Yes. Good help.
I have a couple more I want to squeeze in with you Gerri. This is from Chris in Georgia who writes, "I was in college in spring 2009. Do I still qualify for the $4,500 education tax credit or did I have to be enrolled in fall 2009 also to qualify?
WILLIS: Well, the devil's in the details right Chris? You're talking about the hope scholarship tax credit that you can apply to tuition fees and course material expenses you had during the 2009 tax year.
It does not matter if you weren't enrolled for part of the year so long as you were enrolled half time for at least one academic period that began during the tax year.
And finally a response; you have to hear this response. We got this e-mail from Charles. We asked what did you learn in the financial meltdown?
Charles wrote back, "No one cares more about your money than you do," which I thought was one of the smartest things we heard from Charles. Thank you for that Charles.
And of course, if you have any questions, please send them to me at Gerri@cnn.com. Great comment, right?
HARRIS: That's perfect. It's spot on. We talk about your bottom line. It's Friday. We have to tee up the show this weekend.
WILLIS: That's right. You're going to be watching, I know. We're going to be talking about the very latest on health care reform. What those proposals really would mean to your wallet, your bottom line.
And winterizing your home; you better believe it's not too early to start getting ready for that cold weather. We're already seeing it up here in New York. Save some big money. We'll be covering it all. Hopefully Tony you'll be there, too.
HARRIS: We'll turn around some of the comments from your guests from Monday's show as well.
Gerri, appreciate it. Good to see you. Have a great weekend.
WILLIS: Thank you, sir.
HARRIS: You can either save some extra cash or maybe get your hands on some. Think about this. You wouldn't but maybe this is an option. You can actually trade in your iPod for money. Check it out at cnn.com. Did al Qaeda plan to attack New York's transportation system? Investigators seek answers next and our Ed Henry on the radio right now talking about President Obama's media blitz to sell health care. We will dip in on the conversation.
We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: In Denver today the FBI is questioning a young afghan man for a third straight day about an alleged terror plot that stretched to New York. CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve now in Denver digging on this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This is very much an ongoing investigation. Authorities are still trying to get their arms around exactly what they're dealing with here.
Now, sources have told CNN that during the searches in New York on Monday they did find multiple backpacks. Backpacks were used in 2004 in the on the Madrid subway system. And the discovery in New York, sources say, has led some in law enforcement to theorize that perhaps this alleged plot had to do with an attack on transit, perhaps a subway station or a train station. Somewhere where there would be a lot of people but minimal screening of baggage.
In addition, two sources tell CNN that authorities have found instructions for bomb making. One law enforcement source says it was found on a computer that was carried to New York by Najibullah Zazi. Zazi is the 24-year-old Afghan national at the center of this probe. His lawyer says that it just isn't so.
ARTHUR FOLSOM, NAJIBULLAH ZAZI'S ATTORNEY: I have no information confirming anything like that. And all I can confirm is that my client has no comment at this time. If you have any questions, you can direct them to me. All I can say is that they have found bomb making materials in his car, on his computer, or one wild report I saw yesterday that there were something like enough explosives in the apartment to blow up two buildings. Do you really think the FBI would have allowed us to walk out of here like this?
MESERVE: Zazi is reportedly meeting today for a third day with the FBI. Meanwhile, law enforcement sources continue to say they believe this is the real deal, and they say additional resources have been put into New York and Denver.
(on camera): However, there have been no arrests made in this case to date.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Iranians in Tehran were chanting, "death to America, death to Israel" at the annual pro-Palestinian rally in Iran. Witnesses tell us there also were anti-government protesters.
Live now to our Reza Sayah. He is in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Reza, good to see you.
Any clashes between those opposition protestors and security forces today?
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tony, there were no reports of widespread clashes. There were some but not many. That came as a surprise to a lot of people because the Iranian leadership and security forces revolutionary guard had warned the opposition supporters not to come out today and hijack this event. They came out any way.
Tens of thousands of them, probably the largest crowd we've seen among the opposition since July 17th. This occasion was Quds Day. It's a day that's supposed to show solidarity with the Palestinian cause, but as they've done in the past, the opposition supporters took advantage of what was a government approved event and came out, and once again protested the June 12th vote.
President Ahmadinejad and the ferocious government crackdown that followed that election. While he was speaking inside Tehran University opposition supporters were chanting "liar, liar, death to the dictator." Also we heard a new chant, "No to Gaza. No to Lebanon. I'm giving my life for Iran."
Tony?
HARRIS: Is that -- is that Mousavi that I see in a bit of the video from -- I guess the question is opposition leaders had said this week that they would take part in the rally.
Did they show up?
SAYAH: They did. They did show up just like they said they would. And we saw four very important faces. One of them is Mir- Hossein Mousavi, the opposition leader pictured over there. Also showing up Mehdi Karubi. He was another disgruntled opposition candidate. He's probably been the loudest, most vociferous, most aggressive critic of the crackdown that followed the elections.
Also showing up, former president Mohammad Khatami. There are some reports on reformist Web sites that he was attacked, and also showing up, former President Rafsanjani. He's been a key figure for the opposition. He's not really considered an opposition leader, but you recall on July 17th he came out. He, of course, the head of the assembly of experts in lending support to the opposition movement that really gave them some momentum back in July. So they did show up.
HARRIS: Reza, one more quick one for you.
We started this by telling everyone that there were chants again of "death to America and death to Israel." Can you please tell us again, where does this come from? This -- why isn't this drop by the Iranian president? Why does this -- it just feels like such an old narrative at this point. Is there any power for this narrative in Tehran, in Iran?
SAYAH: Well, there's some, but not much. The key is if you go outside of Iran. For example, we're in Pakistan right now. If you go to areas in South Asia and the Middle East, and you talk about President Ahmadinejad, they praise him.
Why?
Because he's taken ownership of the Palestinian cause. This is the most important cause in the Middle East, in South Asia, and no one has really stepped up like Iran's leadership. He knows that he's going to gain support from this region if he takes ownership and he's done that.
But keep in mind, if you go to Tehran like you saw today, many will say that Iran's people, themselves, have been oppressed and they're suffering through economic woes and tough times, and the government should focus on Iranian people first before they focus on the Palestinian cause.
HARRIS: Reza Sayah for us in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Reza, good to see you.
Thank you.
HARRIS: You can't hold down a job if you can't get down there. Nobody knows that like Susan Jacobs. Our hero of the week is putting low-income workers in Florida on the road to independence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN JACOBS, CNN HERO: I'm a single mom. Not having a car, I have to take three buses every morning. I also depend on a friend of mine to get my kids to day care, because of the way the buses run, I'm unable to do it and get to work on time.
I know what it's like to have the fear of losing my job because I can't get to work. I was hitchhiking. That didn't last long because of the kindness, actually, of a stranger. He said "I'll let you use one of my vehicles."
He was put in my path to help me move forward and made me realize I could make it.
I'm Susan Jacobs, and I provide working wheels to keep families working.
This is Susan with wheels of success.
Our goal is to try to step in to work with employers so that before they lay someone off, hopefully we have a solution. The Cavalier's done, too?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
JACOBS: We started taking donated cars and doing repairs. You pay a monthly payment for a year based on a sliding scale, and also give three volunteer hours a month back to the organization.
Jessica --
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much.
JACOBS: You're so welcome.
Receiving a car is more than just the car. People literally see how their life's going to change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is awesome. I got my own car.
JACOBS: I love what I do. My life has made a difference.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Find out more about Susan's work. Just go to our web site, cnn.com/heroes and get ready. Coming October 1st, we reveal the top ten CNN heroes of 2009.
A student dies after a gruelling football practice in the summer heat. A verdict is in for his coach.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's get a quick check of our top stories.
The jobless rate now more than 12 percent in five U.S. states.
At 15.2 percent, Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. Nevada with more than 13 percent. Rhode Island, California and Oregon round up the top five.
A suicide car bomb exploded near a crowded market in northwest Pakistan today killing at least 25 people. Officials say most of the victims were Shias who live nearby. Several shops and buildings collapse trapping victim.
Police in Ohio say a woman took a stranger's toddler over her knee in a store and spanked him. She is charged with assault. The woman says she merely patted the boy's backside because he was upset.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Are you fired up?
Ready to go? CROWD: Ready to go!
OBAMA: Fired up?
CROWN: Fired up!
OBAMA: Ready to go!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK, that was yesterday. Boy, igniting enthusiasm for his health care reform plan as support slips. President Obama targeting young people yesterday at a rally at the University of Maryland. Today, the focus is winning over women. For that, the president is getting a little help from his better half, First Lady Michelle Obama. She is holding a health care event right now.
Let's listen in and give you a bit of the flavor of her remarks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: Women are affected because of the jobs that we do in this economy. We all know that women are more likely to work part time, or to work in small companies or businesses that don't provide any insurance at all. Women are affected because as we heard in many states, insurance companies can still discriminate because of gender. And this is still shocking to me. These are the kind of facts that still wake me up at night.
Women in this country have been denied coverage because of pre- existing conditions like having a C-section or having had a baby. In some states, it is still legal to deny a woman coverage because she's been a victim of domestic violence. In a recent study showed that 25- year-old women are charged up to 45 percent more for insurance than 25-year-old men for the exact same coverage. And as the age goes up you get to 40, that disparity increases to 48 percent. Forty-eight percent difference for women for the exact same coverage in this country. But it's not just women without insurance as we've heard. As we know who are affected.
Plenty of women have insurance. But it doesn't cover basic women's health services like maternity care or preventative care like mammograms or pap smears which we all know we have to have. We can't go without these basic services. But many insurance policies don't even cover it. Or policies cap the amount of coverage that you can receive as you've heard or it drops coverage when people get sick and they really need the care. Or maybe people have coverage, but they're worried about losing it if they lose their jobs or if they change jobs or if the company changes insurance carriers. Out of pocket costs get higher.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: All right. I want to give you just a bit of the flavor of remarks from First Lady Michelle Obama holding a health care event at the Eisenhower Executive office building right next to the White House.
We'll follow her remarks and turn around a bit of her comments maybe for next hour. And if you would like to watch her comments as she continues to speak right now, you can go to CNN.com/live.
The president launching an all-out blitz to ramp up support for his plan to overhaul health care. Let's see if we can get a couple of minutes here with -- there he is -- our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, doing his radio show in Washington.
Ed, good to see you.
First of all, let's give everybody the number here so they can call.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can call here -- 1877-266-4189. We've been talking a little bit this morning about whether or not the president is overexposed.
Now it's interesting we did had one caller in Birmingham, he called in, and say, "You know what, I think basically the answer comes down to whether or not you're a fan of the president or not that we've become so polarized."
HARRIS: Yes.
HENRY: People who are fans of the president are saying, look, can't get enough of them. Get out there and talk about agenda. And the folks who are opposed to him are sort of like, turn it off, we've seen enough of him. And it's interesting how that kind of reflects the polarization in our politicians.
HARRIS: You know, that's so interesting. Because I wonder -- part of this is that perhaps there's no one better than the president to make the case for what he sees as reform in this country moving forward.
I mean, I guess you could turn it over to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services. She's doing her bid. And it looks like there are a number of people in their particular lanes on this.
HENRY: Sure.
HARRIS: But who at the end of the day is better, and who ultimately takes ownership of this more than the president?
HENRY: Well, you're right. That's what's funny is that when I talked to top White House aides and this notion of, you know, is the president overexposed? They laugh.
You know, there's such a disconnect with people on the outside thinking that, you know, enough is enough. He just did "60 Minutes" last weekend.
HARRIS: Yes. HENRY: A few days before that, he had that speech to a joint session of Congress. Millions of people saw him there. White House people say, look, when we get him out there talking about the agenda, talking about what he's pushing for, they think when he's on substance, the American people react.
Now the Republicans respond to that by saying, well, then, why are we not seeing it reflected in most of the national polls, a real hunger to get what the president is pushing on health care.
HARRIS: Right.
HENRY: Because he's had the time to make his case. And I think this weekend is going to be fascinating. He's going to do what we call in Washington the full Ginsburg.
I don't know if you remember what that is. But William Ginsburg was the attorney for Monica Lewinsky. And he was getting his 15 minutes. Some of us were joking at the time he was getting his 18 minutes of fame, because he wanted to be on TV all the time talking about the Lewinsky case. And he went on all of the Sunday talk shows one weekend. They called the full Ginsburg. No other major newsmaker has done it since. And I can tell you, clearly, no president has done it.
He's going to be doing almost all of the major networks, I should mention. But, certainly, including CNN. And John King will be sitting down with him later this afternoon.
HARRIS: I can't wait.
HENRY: It's going to all happen at the White House today back- to-back-to-back. And we'll be airing it this Sunday.
HARRIS: Yes, yes. And the president may be overexposed, but our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry wouldn't say no to an opportunity to speak to him.
HENRY: Let's get him on 44.
HARRIS: Yes. Let's get him on for you.
Ed, appreciate it. Thank you.
HENRY: Thanks.
HARRIS: There's the number again if you would like to give Ed a call on his radio show.
Let's get you back now to the First Lady, Michelle Obama.
M. OBAMA: A marketplace with a variety of options that will let you compare prices and benefits. This is exactly the approach that is used to provide members of Congress with insurance. So the thought is that if it's good enough for members of Congress, it should be good enough for the people who vote them in. (APPLAUSE)
And this is also an important part of the plan.
If you already have insurance, and it seems that there are a lot of people who are worried that they'll lose what they have under this plan, but under this plan, if you already have insurance, you're set. Nothing changes. You keep your insurance. You keep your doctors. And you're blessed.
This plan just puts in place some basic rules of the road to protect you from the kinds of abuses and unfair practices that we've heard. Under this plan insurance companies will never again be allowed to deny people like Debbie and her son coverage for pre- existing conditions. Sounds like a good thing.
So whether you have breast cancer, diabetes, asthma or hypertension, or even just had a C-section, or some mental health treatment that you had in your past, none of that will be a reason to refuse you coverage under the plan that my husband is proposing.
Because when you are fighting an illness, he believes that you shouldn't also have to be in the process of fighting the insurance companies at the same time. It's a basic idea.
(APPLAUSE)
Under this plan insurance companies will no longer be able to drop your coverage when you get too sick. Or refuse to pay for the care that you need or to set a cap on the amount of coverage that you can get. And it will limit how much they can charge you for out-of- pocket expenses because getting sick in this country shouldn't mean that you go bankrupt. That's a basic principle of this plan.
And, finally, this plan will require insurance companies to cover basic preventive care. Seems simple.
(APPLAUSE)
From routine check ups, to mammograms to Pap smears, and this would come with no extra charge to the patient. So, folks like Roxie can get the chance to get the kind of screenings that she needs to save her life, because we already know that if we catch diseases like cancer early, we know this, it's much less costly to treat, and we might just be able to save some lives. We know this.
So, under this plan, we can save lives, and we can save money. It's not just good medicine, but it's good economics as well. So, I think this is a pretty reasonable plan. I don't know about you.
(APPLAUSE)
But I know many of you believe it's a good plan as well. And I know that many of the groups that you represent believe that what we're doing here, this fight, is important. It's important to this country. It's important to women. It's important to families that we succeed.
And now more than ever, as Tina said, Secretary Sebelius said, we need to act. No longer can we sit by and watch the debate take on a life of its own. It is up to us to get involved, because what we have to remember is that now more than ever, we have to channel our passions into change. That's nothing that you all haven't done before, right?
You all have been the driving force behind so many of our greatest health care achievements, whether it's been children's health insurance to funding breast cancer research, stem cell research, to passing the family medical leave act, the folks in this room, you're the ones that made those phone calls, right? That you wrote those letters. You knocked on those doors. You're the ones that helped make that happen. And that's exactly what we need you to do today for health insurance reform.
We are going to need you over the next few weeks to mobilize like you've never mobilized before. We need you to educate your members about what the plan really is and what it isn't, because education is the key to understanding. And it's going to take phone calls to explain, to talk things through, to make sure that people understand, not just what's at stake, but what this all means. And we know there will be all sorts of myths and misconceptions about what the plan is and isn't, so it's so important that you make sure that people know the facts, and at least they make their decisions based on the truth of what this plan is and isn't. We need you to make your voices heard right here in Washington. And you all know how to do that.
And, no, it won't be easy, because there are always folks who are a little afraid of change, you know? And we all understand that. We talked about this all during the campaign. Change is hard. Sometimes the status quo, even if it isn't right, feels comfortable because it's what we know. So, it is understandable that people are cautious about moving into a new place in this society.
There will always be folks who will want things to stay just the way they are, to settle for the world as it is. We talked about that so much. This is one of those times. But, look, I am here today, standing before you as the first lady of the United States of America because you all didn't settle for the world as it is.
Right?
(APPLAUSE)
You refused to settle. And as a result of many of your efforts, as a young girl I was able to dream in ways that I could have never imagined, that my mother could never have imagined, that my grandmother could never have imagined. And thanks to so many of you, I am raising these beautiful young women, you know?
(APPLAUSE)
Who are going to be able to think so differently about their place in the world because of the work that you've done. Health care reform is part of that movement. Health insurance reform is the next step. So, we're going to need you all, focused and clear, picking up the phones, talking, calling, writing your congressmen and women, making this something that is the highest priority for all of us so that we can make sure that every single family in this country can move forward as we hope that they can, that they don't have to worry about whether they can insure themselves. They don't have to worry about whether their kids are going to break an arm. That's what kids do, they break stuff.
(LAUGHTER)
So, I am grateful for all of you, for the work that you've done, and for what I know that we can do together over the next several weeks. But we have to be, what, fired up and, what?
CROWD: Ready to go.
M. OBAMA: And ready to go.
A little fired up and ready to go.
So, thank you so much. God bless you all, and God bless America.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Yes. That's a different tone, a different take, a different touch on this health care reform debate from the first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama.
The first lady saying I think the Baucus plan is a pretty reasonable plan. The first lady in essence signing on to the Baucus plan that is working its way, being debated now by the Senate Finance Committee, costs and affordability being the keys in that debate right now and a couple of key sticking points right now.
A couple of stories we're looking at for the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
Conservative Christian activists descending on the nation's capital right now. We will check in on this year's value voter summit.
And in our "What Matters" segment, we will take a look at some of the women in the Obama administration. Who are they, and how will they impact American politics?
Stay with us in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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