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American Morning

Aftershock Hits Haiti; Republican Wins Kennedy's Seat; Frantic Search for Survivors in Haiti; Haiti's Forgotten Victims; FHA-backed Loans to Get More Difficult

Aired January 20, 2010 - 08:00   ET

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

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to the Most News in the Morning on this Wednesday, the 20th of January.

Thanks for being with us. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.

We have some big stories we're going to be telling you about in the next 15 minutes, including breaking news out of Haiti, Haiti rocked by a powerful 6.1 aftershock. This quake the strongest to hit the island since last week's devastating 7.0 earthquake hit. It shook buildings that are barely standing.

Our Anderson Cooper is in Port-au-Prince. We're going to be checking in with him in just a moment.

ROBERTS: Democrats did not see this coming, a Republican capturing the Senate seat that once belonged to the late Ted Kennedy. Scott Brown, turning Massachusetts red, a damaging blow to President Obama that could ultimately derail health care reform.

CHETRY: And police going door to door in the Tujunga neighborhood in Los Angeles, urging people living there to evacuate their homes immediately. It's raining right now and the area could get up to eight more inches of rain.

Southern California has been hit with rain, lightning and even a tornado the past two days, and officials are worried about the threat of mudslides.

ROBERTS: But first, another blow to Haiti as it struggles to recover. A powerful 6.1 aftershock struck about two hours ago. The tremor which was felt across Haiti was the strongest since the earthquake eight days ago.

Our Anderson Cooper is live in Port-au-Prince this morning.

And it must have been a frightening feeling for everyone there. We understand that a lot of members of the CNN crew ran out of the hotel as quickly as they could.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it was obviously a surprise to a lot of us. And we've had aftershocks, although, I feel like, for the last couple of days, we really haven't had any or certainly, nothing very significant. You know, you could feel the place that we're staying in literally just kind of swaying. A lot of us just kind of ran into doorways and, you know, there's not much you can do. You just kind of, you know, try to sense whether or not you should run out of the building, whether we should, you know, what exactly you should do.

There's always concern, you know, you can run into something as much as you can run away from something. You can run into -- you know, a piece of falling debris as much as you can, you know, run away from something that's falling. So, I basically just stood in a doorway. But, you know, it is -- it's the last thing people here in Port-au-Prince need. Any time there's an aftershock like this, especially something on that scale, which we haven't seen, you know, people here there's a lot of cries, there's a lot of screams.

There's people just, you know, sleeping out in the streets, thousands of them. And they're very much afraid that, you know, debris will fall and then people run away from any buildings. It's a -- it's a very disconcerting feeling for the residents here.

ROBERTS: It will also be a problem for rescue workers as they try to pick through the rubble there and find people who are still alive. And, Anderson, it's almost remarkable that here we are, eight days after the initial earthquake, and survivors are still being pulled out of those collapsed buildings. And it's almost a miracle. And you were at the scene of one of those yesterday near the national cathedral. Tell us about that.

COOPER: Yes. It certainly is remarkable. I didn't -- I almost didn't believe it when I heard it. We heard that an operation was underway at the national cathedral. We rushed over there and witnessed, about an hour after getting there, a crew from Mexico and South Africa, there was also a German crew there -- they were working to try to get what they believed were three people trapped in the rubble of a building right next to the cathedral, a building that belonged to the diocese.

The Mexican team and the South African team were able to pull out this woman. Her name is Anna Zizi. She's in her 70s. She was dusty, obviously disoriented, extremely dehydrated. She had a number of fractures.

They pulled her out. They gave her some water. The rescue workers were celebrating.

I mean, it's very rare for this kind of thing to happen. Seven days and a woman of her age with fractures. It was just extraordinary. She was praying.

They took her about a block away to a nearby park where medics had set up sort of a triage unit for injured people, and there wasn't much they could do for her there. They put an I.V. in her. They, you know, listened to her heartbeat but she needed surgery. She needed a surgeon. She needed to deal with these fractures, which in a woman her age, in this condition, are life-threatening. And that's the other thing here. Even when someone is rescued alive, there's not necessarily someplace to take them. And the medic who was there was very concerned. He didn't know where to bring her.

Some aid organizations heard about her plight. The Coast Guard -- they called in the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard came in, brought a helicopter into the presidential palace. They took Anna Zizi to the USS Bataan, and then they were going to ferry her to a hospital run by the state organization.

So, we don't have enough data on her condition today. We'll try to get one for you later on. But it's -- it's just remarkable, John.

ROBERTS: Yes. Anderson, she was in terrible condition when she was pulled out of the rubble there. But also, at about the same time, the Los Angeles County Urban Search and Rescue team pulled out a woman who had been in rubble in a different building for about the same period of time. She looked in terrific shape. She got into a car and drove away.

When you talk to these rescuers, are they surprised by how well some of these people who are now just being pulled out of rubble are doing?

COOPER: You know, I went out with the Los Angeles team. They have about 75 people here roughly, men and women. And their -- the work they're doing is just extraordinary. I mean, these men and women are extraordinarily dedicated. They're risking their own lives to try to find other lives.

And you know, it isn't incredible what you are seeing. People can be trapped in a void space and if they have maybe some more ventilation, that increases their odds. If they have access to food and some water, that can increase their odds. If they're younger and in good health before the incident, that can increase their odds.

But, you know, how do you explain a 70-year-old woman in that condition surviving this long? It's pretty incredible.

ROBERTS: Yes. Anderson Cooper in Port-au-Prince this morning -- Anderson, thanks so much.

CHETRY: Well, now, the big political story of the day, switching gears, for the GOP's stunning upset in last night's special election in Massachusetts. Take a look at the numbers now. Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley with 52 percent of the vote to her 47 percent, seizing the late Ted Kennedy's seat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS SENATOR-ELECT: And this bill is not being debated openly and fairly. It will raise taxes. It will raise taxes. It will hurt Medicare. It will destroy jobs and run our nation deeper into debt.

MARTHA COAKLEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS SENATE CANDIDATE: We'll always remember our terrific senator, Ted Kennedy, and his words, "The work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream lives on."

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

CHETRY: Well, that was the concession speech. But there is a reality facing the Democrats that now their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate is gone. And that leaves health care reform in jeopardy.

Our Jim Acosta joins us live from the state house in Boston this morning.

So, the voters have spoken. What do they think happened in Massachusetts yesterday?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Martha Coakley said it best last night, Kiran, when she said there would be a lot of Wednesday morning quarterbacking going on. It's odd that she made a sports reference after her ill-advised remark about Curt Schilling being a Yankees' fan. That did not go over well with voters here.

But we heard two big things from voters about Martha Coakley in this race. One thing is that she ran a lazy campaign and the other is that she ran a nasty campaign. And both of those -- both of those qualities did not go over well with these angry independent-minded voters up here in Massachusetts who are very upset about the way the economy is going right now.

And along comes Scott Brown, this little-known state senator driving a pick-up truck. He essentially loaded all of those independents into the back of his pick-up truck and drove them home to victory. And as you heard last night, talking about health care reform -- this was not some secret during the campaign, he openly campaigned against health care reform, in what is arguably the most liberal state in the country and he crushed Martha Coakley last night. Kiran, this was not even close.

CHETRY: And we still have much more on this historic vote. Thanks so much, Jim.

At 8:30, we're going to be talking with Andy Card, former chief of staff for George W. Bush and Democratic strategist Kiki MacLean.

ROBERTS: We're also following a developing story in central Virginia right now. Authorities in Appomattox say the man accused of killing eight people has turned himself. The suspect, Christopher Speight, has been on the run since yesterday. State police say Speight knew the victims and acted alone. At one point during the manhunt, Speight allegedly fired at a police helicopter, rupturing the fuel tank and forcing it to make an emergency landing.

CHETRY: Well, a third storm in as many days is now closing in on southern California today. It has firefighters and police fearing mudslides, especially in the Tujunga neighborhood in Los Angeles. They're actually going door to door, urging hundreds of people to evacuate their homes, warning them that they may have to stay away for up to five days. ROBERTS: Well, let's check in with Rob Marciano for more on the storms out west this morning.

And, Rob, they're not having a great time of it.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No. You know, I was out there for those fires in that Tujunga area. And I can tell you, that landscape is absolutely barren. And it's surprising to me that it's held up so well for so long this season.

All right. Tonight, may be the straw that broke the camel's back. Let's look at the radar. More rain is coming in. Right now, it is in northern California, but already, the radar's beginning to fill in across southern California, as well.

As Kiran mentioned, they had five inches of rain already in parts of southern California, with probably that much more coming in tonight with wind as well. And we also had a couple of reports of tornadoes. Potentially, tornadoes across the south and mid-south today and also freezing rain across the upper Midwest. So, kind of a triple whammy across the U.S.

We'll talk more about weather, especially west coast, in about 30 minutes.

John and Kiran, back up to you.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.

CHETRY: Still coming up on the Most News in the Morning: we've seen some of these amazing stories of rescues by the L.A. County Search and Rescue team. We're going to be speaking to the captain of that team about the work they're doing in Haiti -- these glimmers of hope amid so much tragedy and devastation.

It's nine minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Eleven minutes after the hour. That means it's time for an "A.M. Original."

But first, new this morning, more than 50 Haitian children are now safely on the ground in Pennsylvania. Governor Ed Rendell rescued the children from an orphanage damaged by last week's earthquake. Most of them will be placed in temporary foster homes while officials try to find them permanent adoptive homes.

CHETRY: And donations for the relief efforts in Haiti are still pouring in. A newspaper that covers nonprofit groups says that American charities have raised more than $220 million so far.

Miraculously, rescue teams are still pulling survivors from the rubble including a 69-year-old woman and a 15-day-old baby.

ROBERTS: Well, people have traveled from all across the globe to be part of the rescue effort. And that job is far from over.

Terry Dejournett is Los Angeles County's task force leader. Dennis Cross is the fire captain for a Los Angeles team that has pulled several survivors from the rubble. They join us live this morning from Port-au-Prince.

I want to get you to talk about the rescue that you affected yesterday, gentlemen.

But first, let me ask you, Terry, how are you holding up? It's been a long week for you folks.

TERRY DEJOURNETT, TASK FORCE LEADER, L.A. COUNTY SEARCH & RESCUE TEAM: All of us are doing really well. The teams are getting a little rest but we're getting food, water. They're still willing and working hard at all the sites. We're out there still making rescues. So, the team's doing great.

ROBERTS: And, Dennis, tell us a little bit about yesterday's rescue, because the pictures are really just amazing. You were at the collapsed ruins of a bank. You pulled a woman out. Her husband had been sort of looking for her for days as they were stripping away layers of rubble.

Tell me a little bit about getting her out of there.

DENNIS CROSS, FIRE CAPTAIN, L.A. COUNTY SEARCH & RESCUE TEAM: Well, it was truly a team effort. A young boy in a rubble pile alerted some of the residents who alerted the husband, who was able to get some heavy equipment to that site.

As we pulled up, they were pulling large, large chunks of concrete and debris. A voice was heard. She was yelling "Jesus, help me." We brought in our canine search and our technical equipment that we have with us. They made confirmation on her.

With his assistance, and some hard work by the men and women of the L.A. County Task Force, we were able to pull her to safety. It was an amazing sight to see her come out after five days. And she burst into song and tears with her husband and son there to witness it.

It's truly amazing. And that's why we're here. Every one of those is a unique story in itself.

ROBERTS: You know, Terry, as we followed that rescue and we saw pictures of her when she came out, she got into a car and she drove away waving. Were you surprised at what remarkably good shape she was in, given the fact -- there's a picture of her in the car -- given the fact she'd been in that rubble for seven days?

DEJOURNETT: It was amazing that she -- the resiliency of the people here, of her. She was lightly trapped by her hands, but to be able to sing when she came out of the hole, the way she did.

And it wasn't quiet. I mean, it was a strong voice. She was really into her singing. And it was incredible -- just the resiliency of the people here. And then after a little treatment by the doctors, she gets in the car and you would not believe this person had been trapped for that long. It was incredible.

ROBERTS: And there was a particularly poignant moment that I want to play and let run here. When you were pulling her off of the pile, the crowd that had been gathered around watching the rescue burst into a chant. Let's listen to what they were doing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROWD CHANTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: There, they are chanting, "USA, USA, USA," as you were pulling her out of the rubble. What did that mean to you folks?

DEJOURNETT: Well, it obviously does our hearts good to let the people know that we're here. But were not the only team here. There's many, many nations here doing the same thing, the same type of rescues. It just so happens that, you know, we were there at that site.

It was an incredible rescue. I don't want to diminish the fact of the difficulty and the resiliency of the woman, but we're not just one -- we're one of the teams of the men.

ROBERTS: Right. And Dennis, you know, here we are. We're in day eight now and I imagine that the window of survivability really starts to decline quite precipitously. When you go out there and you are searching the ruins for people, what are your greatest fears?

DENNIS CROSS, FIRE CAPTAIN, LA COUNTY SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM: Our greatest fear is that there's somebody close by that doesn't have the strength to make their voice heard or to tap on the walls and do the things that we pick up. Our canine searches are trained to pick up life scent and it is very difficult in the size and magnitude of these buildings so we rely on sometimes the victim tapping or their voice being heard. Well, we are getting to that point where voices are becoming week, they aren't able to tap. Even the best technology and some of the best equipment that we have is unable to hear them. And we feel that every time we leave a site where there is complete devastation, and people are telling us that they've heard this in the last few days or they've been getting text messages, it is disheartening, because we always think was there somebody in there alive? Were they still there? We give it all we have. We rely on the people and the resources but we can't affect every rescue. But the men and women that are here doing this mission are giving it their all and every life is important.

ROBERTS: Terry, in your experience, sir, what's the upper limit of survivability in a situation like this if you don't have any access to water?

DEJOURNETT: Well, we've already exceeded that. I mean, we use the term four minutes, no oxygen. Four days no water. 40 days no food. These people are surviving way past what is the normal expectation. They're incredible. And the fact that we're still making rescues just shows the strength of the people here. It says we are making rescues, but we need to continue that effort.

ROBERTS: Dennis, a question has been raised that some urban search and rescue teams had been mobilized. The task force five out of Orange County, California, had been mobilized to March Air Force Base. There is another team in Texas, another in Ohio but they were told not to come. And some people are scratching their heads saying, well, if so many people still need rescuing, why couldn't you use as many teams on the ground there as possible?

CROSS: Well, unfortunately, they sent us here to rescue victims. I understand with anything there's decisions that have to be made at a really high level that's way beyond us. There's been disasters the same thing where teams are mobilized, not deployed. It is a very complex scenario. We don't have the answers, know all the reasons why. We just know that the men and women that are fortunate enough to be here representing the American people and the U.S. Agency for International Development are doing our best and that's all I can tell you on that situation.

ROBERTS: Terry, could you use the extra help?

DEJOURNETT: There's always issues with bringing more people in. We've had some issues with transportation, getting people to the different sites. More people would always be a benefit, but then we have to make sure that they have the transportation, they have the equipment, they have the wherewithal to pick the sites and go to the right places. More people at the problem doesn't necessarily solve it unless they're all used effectively.

ROBERTS: All right. Well, amazing work that you guys have been doing. We take our hats off to you and keep up the good work. Terry Dejournett and Dennis Cross from the L.A. County Urban Search and Rescue Team. Great to talk to you gentlemen, an honor in fact. Thank you so much.

CROSS: Thank you, John.

DEJOURNETT: Thank you, John.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Amazing work they're doing there. You know, amidst all of the chaos and all of the sadness and the fact that they're able to still pull people out alive after this many days is amazing.

ROBERTS: You look at that pile of concrete and dust and sand and it is amazing that a human being comes out of it alive. Really is.

CHETRY: Well, still ahead, there are some new rules if you're looking to get a federally-backed home loan. Our Christine Romans is going to be joining us "Minding Your Business". It's nineteen minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Right now it is twenty-one minutes after the hour. It means it is time for "Minding Your Business." Christine Romans joins us now with a little bit more information if you're trying to get a federally backed home loan. It's going to get harder.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, in about an hour and a half we're going to get the exact details from the FHA but the government will announce today that it is going to make it harder for people to get these FHA-backed loans. These are about half of the first-time home buyer loans are backed by the Federal Housing Administration. They are very popular mortgages because the government is basically stepping in and insuring them. You are going to need more cash up front. They require mortgage insurance. You're going to be required to pay more mortgage insurance. You might not be able to get that 3.5 percent down if your credit score's below 580. Your down payment is going to have to be 10%. These are mortgages that are popular because the government wants people who might not have a credit history or might not have a lot of money to be able to get in and become homeowners. This is also going to mean tighter oversight of lenders and also sellers won't be able to kick in as much money for closing costs. Again making it a little bit harder for people who might not have a lot of money to be able to afford the home. The reason why they're doing this, of course, is because we have a housing crisis in this country still. People are having trouble paying their home loans. Record numbers of people are behind in their mortgage payments and for people who have these sorts of loans, it is about 14 percent. On average it is more like 9 percent for people who don't have these FHA- backed loans. But again this is a way the government has always been involved in the housing market for the past thirty years, trying to get people in there. This is a program that the government insures people who don't have a lot of money but can get them in on the housing game. It is going to make it a little more difficult.

ROBERTS: Do you have a "Romans' numeral" for us this morning?

ROMANS: I do. 2,824,674.

ROBERTS: That could possibly be what?

ROMANS: This is the number of homeowners in default last year. Record number. When you're looking at a number like that, 2.8 million people in default, there is no question that you also have to protect taxpayers, too. So, there's a fine balance here between trying to figure out how to cleanse this system and let this housing crisis work its way out but also not put too much taxpayer money at risk.

ROBERTS: All right. Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning. Thanks so much. Still ahead on the Most News in the Morning, Jason Carroll and our people in the more remote parts of Port-Au-Prince are struggling to survive more than a week after the earthquake. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Top stories just minutes away now. Twenty-six minutes after the hour. But first, an "A.M. original," something that you'll see only on "American Morning." Relief is finally starting to get to people in Haiti but there are still entire communities and villages on the outskirts of the capital city that are still desperate for help. Our Jason Carroll has been visiting one of those remote neighborhoods and he's live in Port-Au-Prince this morning to tell us all about it. Good morning, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John. You know, as we were covering this story, all of the locals kept telling us to check on those who live in the hillside communities. We could see them, we could see the devastating amount of destruction but we had no way of getting in there. Finally what we did was we found a guide, got ourselves into this area to see how these people are surviving without any help at all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): We found Jude Petenhome and his 4-year-old sister Soraya in one of Port-Au-Prince's poorest and most remote neighborhoods, La Vie Lu Burdo.

CARROLL (on camera): What happened to her arm here? Did she break her arm?

Yes. She broke her arm.

CARROLL (voice-over): After days of waiting, Petenhome feared help was not coming for his sister because he knows not many would know how to find where they live.

CARROLL (on camera): And you live way up there.

Yes.

CARROLL: So it took you one hour to walk down here to get help for your little sister.

Yes.

CARROLL (voice-over): Some 6,000 people live in La Vie Lu Burdo and help for them still has not arrived. And there are at least 30 other hillside communities just like it around Port-Au-Prince where the worry is, people there, too, are still waiting.

CARROLL (on camera): These steep, narrow pathways are the only way in and out of these kinds of communities here. The homes are built right on top of each other. There are no addresses so you can imagine, it is very difficult to keep track of who survived and who perished in the earthquake.

CARROLL (voice-over): The path leading in is at times blocked with debris. A maze of homes on either side, most destroyed or badly damaged. Along the way, Thomas Brutus is saying with the assistance of our translator, they need help removing bodies.

THOMAS BRUTUS, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR: We would like to take them out of one house that has three, another one has nine.

CARROLL: He leads us to one home where the smell was nearly unbearable.

CARROLL (on camera): Does anyone know who the deceased are in here?

CARROLL (voice-over): They tell me, a mother and son are buried in the rubble. The area section chief, similar to a city councilman, uses a bullhorn to get information out. He knows there is one thing standing in the way of getting help.

ROMELUS PIERRE RONAL, CITY COUNCIL: Accessibility.

CARROLL (on camera): Accessibility. They can't get down here.

RONAL: They can't get down here. Yes.

CARROLL (voice-over): 4-year-old Soraya is one of the lucky ones. She has an older brother strong enough to get her help. The worry is for the others still suffering in the city's hillsides.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Again, the problem with these hillside communities is that they are so densely populated, John, and are so complicated once you're down in there. Even some of the locals tell us, who are familiar with this area, once they get in there, they don't know how to navigate through those particular communities so you can see what types of special challenges they face. But at this point those people, still no help. They are still waiting.

ROBERTS: So the folks who are in command there in Port-Au- Prince, do we have any idea what they're planning to do about this?

CARROLL: Well, you know what it is, John? It is basically they're trying to help as many people as they can but there are so many people who need help here, it's overwhelming. There's just so many people who -- emergency crews who are available, so many trucks, so many roads that are accessible. These people though are so remote in terms of how you can get down there into them, they're just probably last on the list, at least for now.

ROBERTS: Jason Carroll for us in Port-Au-Prince this morning. Jason, thanks.

We are coming up to the half hour. That means it's time for this morning's top stories.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says Haiti needs more relief. To that end, the U.S. military is sending more ships, among them, a debris clearing vessel. Gates says it could have the blocked harbor cleared within a couple of weeks so ships can dock and deliver critical supplies. Close to 11,000 U.S. troops are on the ground there.

CHETRY: And 635,000 cribs made by Dorel Asia are being recalled. The consumer product safety commission says that the drop side cribs can detach which can trap and suffocate a child. The Dorel Asia cribs have been blamed for one infant's death and at least ten injuries. They're carried at stores like K-Mart, Sears, and Wal-Mart around the country. The make and model from January, 2005 to December, 2009, all models.

ROBERTS: The late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat will soon be occupied by a Republican. Scott Brown pulling off an improbable five- point upset in a special election in Massachusetts last night. The state's voters sending a message to Washington and stalling health care reform on Capitol Hill.

CHETRY: And so this morning Democrats are pointing fingers after that major election upset. The late Ted Kennedy's seat has been held by a Democrat since 1953 until now. And there you see the results, 52 percent for Scott Brown, 47 percent for Martha Coakley.

Here for the "A.M. Breakdown," Andy Card, former White House chief of staff for President George W. Bush. He actually considered running for Kennedy's seat before endorsing Brown. We also have with us Kiki Maclean, a Democratic strategist who also served as press secretary for Al Gore's presidential campaign. Good to see both of you this morning, thanks for being here.

ANDY CARD, FORMER BUSH ADMINISTRATION WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Good morning.

KIKI MACLEAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning.

CHETRY: So Andy, let me start with you, because you know the landscape of Massachusetts better than anyone. How was Brown able to win this seat in a state that has not sent a Republican to the Senate since 1972?

CARD: He was able to catch a wave that was upset with the arrogance practiced by Washington, D.C. and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate. He was able to motivate the people who were upset with policy recommendations that came from the administration, the Tea party crowd.

He was able to take the anger that voters in Massachusetts had to kind of buyer's remorse with their governor who was not very popular.

But most importantly, Scott Brown was able to get on his surfboard and ride that wave, and he ran a very good campaign and never fell off the surfboard.

CHETRY: It is interesting, Kiki, "The New York Times" interviewed a 73-year-old life-long Democrat who explained why she voted for Brown, the first time she's ever voted for a Republican. And she said "I'm hoping it gives a message to the country. I think if Massachusetts puts Brown in, it is a message of that's enough, let's stop the giveaways and get jobs going." What does it mean for the Democrats and the president's agenda moving forward?

MACLEAN: Well, it means that, in fact, we've got to listen and pay attention. Scott Brown made a big deal in his campaign of saying it was the people's seat. It's clear that the seat did not belong to the Democratic Party. For years it belonged to Ted Kennedy, a very special person in the lives of the people of Massachusetts.

But it also demonstrates a couple of things. Number one, we have a group of Americans who stood up and voted for President Obama, but we now see that the trend is they don't automatically give their loyalty to someone else. That loyalty is to him and others are going to have to earn it.

The second piece is, Jerry Sithe (ph) had a really interesting column in the "Wall Street Journal." When you looked historically at where voters were, while President Obama brought a lot of new voters to the game, it hadn't really changed the ideology of where people are.

Instead of really being a message for centrists and moderates to run in fear of 2010, I think this is a message for centrists and moderate Democrats to stand up and take charge of the party, to be leaders in the party and not to cower from this.

CHETRY: That's interesting. And we'll get more of that in a minute as to what the Democrat's strategy is. But I want to ask you, Andy, first, what the GOP strategy is now.

So there is a win here, it was quite a surprise. I think it was the first week of January you had Coakley up by 15 points and now you have what they are calling an upset win. And now there is no filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. So what's the GOP's next move?

CARD: First of all, they heard the wake-up call. The Republican Party actually has been part of the call to wake up America to the policy problems that are being created by the administration.

And there is not enough discipline in Washington, D.C. And I think the Republicans were also challenged to bring more discipline to the process. Scott Brown will bring the discipline to Washington, D.C. that the American people are demanding.

And I think that it is a wake-up call and it is going to be good, and Republicans are hearing it, too. So this is a good thing to shake up the establishment in Washington, D.C., and Scott Brown will do a good job of stirring that pot.

MACLEAN: Andy makes an important point, and that is Republicans need to hear this, too. Scott Brown never referred to himself as a Republican through this. There is a big sentiment of "throw all the bums out," looking for change anywhere they can.

So I think it would be a mistake for Republicans to look up and say, wow, there's a big tide for Republicans coming on. In fact what it was was about change.

And if you look at numbers where Republicans in Congress are and Democrats, Republicans aren't really in any better shape, mostly because they haven't put an agenda out that they're for. So I think Republicans know, and they should act as though they are in danger, because they are as well.

CARD: Kiki, this was more of a referendum on Obama and the policies that he's put forward than it was a criticism of the Republicans. I actually think the American people say we voted for change when we elected Barack Obama, but we didn't expect this kind of change. Wake up. Hello. We're here.

CHETRY: Kiki, let me ask you about that, because one of the big things people are talking about right now is whether or not this signals the end, the death knell for health care reform. Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner, we've had him on the show many times, a huge proponent of health care reform. He was really for the public option, as you know.

And he said that maybe it's time for Democrats to step back. In fact, this is what he said. He said, "We get the message. We know that in some way what we're doing here is not resonating when you have two out of three independent voters in Massachusetts saying that one of the reasons they're trending toward Brown is because they don't like health care. That's a sign we should say we get the message."

He's actually suggesting a more simplified approach, expanding Medicare, putting it in a jobs bill. Is this the end of the health care reform bill as it sits right now?

MACLEAN: I don't know it is the end of how it sits now. But what I do think is that it's the opportunity for people to go back in and listen to what voters said.

There are lots of debates about what voters are for and not for. I think everybody, Republicans and Democrats, will be held accountable if they don't deliver something on health care. That's how a lot of these folks got elected.

CHETRY: Even if the majority of voters were not for the health care reform bill as it stands.

MACLEAN: Even in Massachusetts most voters were not for the health care reform bill as they know it to be. That doesn't mean they don't want health care reform, and it doesn't mean that the two chambers of Congress can't come to some agreement to move forward, to protect those who have insurance and to help those who don't get it. Those are the principles that have to guide these negotiations.

CARD: The policies and the lack of transparency and the arrogance contributed to the anger that was expressed by the voters and the support that they gave Scott Brown.

Remember, Scott Brown ran an issue-oriented campaign. He ran a positive campaign. He knew where the voters were and he said where he was. And he invited them to join him.

So it was a campaign that was not about personality. It was about policy. And Scott Brown delivered the message and heard the message and he's going to bring that message to Washington, D.C. He ran a good campaign.

MACLEAN: He did run a good campaign.

CHETRY: There you go. We'll end on some agreement. Kiki Maclean, Andy Card, great to talk to both of you this morning. Thanks.

ROBERTS: Coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, a country reduced to rubble, a government holding on by a thread. Gary Tuchman went searching for Haiti's leadership yesterday. We'll show you what he found.

It's 37 and a half minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

Throughout the crisis unfolding in Haiti, there's been a recurring theme, many asking, where is the Haitian government in all of this? Our Gary Tuchman set out in search of Haiti's leaders, and where he found them may surprise you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The ornate presidential palace, a symbol of the Haitian government for almost 90 years, a run-down police station, the temporary presidential palace as of this week.

We went looking for the Haitian government and found the president in the hallways of the cramped police station. We also found the prime minister and the cabinet ministers. There were 18 members of the cabinet before the earthquake. I asked the prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive --

TUCHMAN (on camera): Are all the members of your cabinet alive?

JEAN-MAX BELLERIVE, PRIME MINISTER OF HAITI: Yes.

TUCHMAN: They all survived?

BELLERIVE: Yes. But they lose minister of finance, minister of tourism, his daughter and his father.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): But the leaders are all here and want Haiti and the world to know they are on the case.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Is the government still in control?

BELLERIVE: Yes. The government is working.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): President Rene Preval says he went on his motorbike after the quake to round up his ministers.

RENE PREVAL, PRESIDENT OF HAITI: It is a catastrophe, but we are working with the help of the international community to rebuild the country.

TUCHMAN: The prime minister gave us disturbing news, the first solid casualty numbers.

BELLERIVE: Right now we have more than 70,000, seven-zero- thousand cadavers. And I believe that they will be around numbers I give you for the first time.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Which is what?

BELLERIVE: It was 100,000.

TUCHMAN: The president, the prime minister, and the cabinet will continue to run the government from this police station indefinitely. A more comfortable setting is low on the priority list.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): As the president and his translator make clear.

PREVAL (via translator): On the day of the earthquake, what happened in one minute could be compared to a campaign of bombing during many days in times of war.

TUCHMAN: The Haitian people are looking for leadership. They can find it, for good or for bad, if a worn-down police station.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: News just in to CNN. President Obama's choice to lead the Transportation Security Administration, Erroll Southers, is withdrawing his nomination. The president had tapped Southers to lead the TSA back in September.

Let's go live to Suzanne Malveaux. She's at the White House with more. His nomination had drawn opposition in particular from one Republican member of congress, Jim DeMint. But why is he stepping down? What's the reason?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he issued a statement to the president, to the administration, giving his reasons, saying that he felt he was going to become a political liability, essentially that he was becoming more of a distraction and it wasn't worth it. And the president, sadly, the White House says, has accepted the fact that he's withdrawing his nomination.

You may recall there were a couple things -- I had a chance to talk to Senator Jim DeMint a couple weeks ago in the Situation Room about this, and the main concern that the Republican senator had was that Erroll Southers would promote allowing TSA workers who join unions, and it was Senator DeMint's feeling it would not allow the kind of flexibility to move quickly and make changes and responding to potential terror attacks.

There was another situation that had also occurred as well, some misstatements that Southers had made some decades ago that led to his censure by the FBI that had long since been cleared up.

But Erroll Southers today releasing this statement. I want to read it to you very briefly, at least part of it. He says, that the partisan climate is unacceptable, and he refuses to allow himself to become part of the dialogue. So clearly he believes this has become a distraction.

The president responding this morning, saying through a spokesman that the president believes that Erroll Southers would have been an excellent TSA administrator but understands his personal decision and his choice that he has made.

But clearly, John, as we know, this brings the administration back to the drawing board to try to figure out who's going to be in charge of the TSA. It comes at a critical time for the administration, at a time when the administration is trying to prove that it is on top of national security.

All of this came about, to our attention, because of that Christmas day airline attempt, that attack -- that attempted attack rather, that happened over the holiday and the fact that this is a position that has gone unfilled. Now they are back to starting all over -- John.

ROBERTS: And certainly a real sense of urgency to get their nominee in place. Suzanne Malveaux for us at the White House.

Suzanne, thanks.

CHETRY: Well, big storms in California and the Midwest this morning. In fact they're going door to door in some parts of Los Angeles warning people to get out for fear of mudslides.

Our Rob Marciano is tracking the latest forecast. He joins us live next.

Forty-six minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Good morning, Seattle where it's cloudy, it's 51 degrees right now; later on today, rain and a high of 54. There's going to be rain all up and down the West Coast today.

Our Rob Marciano is tracking the extreme weather and he is in Atlanta in the weather center. Hey Rob, good morning.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning John. Good morning Kiran.

Again, yes Seattle had its share of severe weather earlier in the week and now the energy is pouring a little bit farther down to the south and some of that has moved into the midsection of the country.

We do have a threat for severe weather across the mid-south today and also with moisture coming over the top of some sub-freezing air across the upper Midwest we might see some freezing rain and some icing conditions later on tonight and into tomorrow.

Let's talk West Coast this is what came through the L.A. and Southern California area yesterday, dropped three tornadoes; Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, damage there. Also some wind and tree damage in spots. We've got more rain coming in and also more wind coming in. There are high-wind watches and warnings posted for a good chunk of California.

And you can see the heavy rain in San Francisco and that is starting to drive into southern California and that will spell trouble because we already have saturated ground in some of these areas and we're looking at maybe four, five, maybe six inches of more rain across this area.

Mandatory evacuations as you guys have mentioned across the Tujunga Valley area or Canyon area because of the burn areas and this more rain that's coming in tonight. Hopefully the ground holds but I think they've been pretty lucky so far. Keep your fingers crossed. John and Kiran back to you.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.

CHETRY: All right.

Well, right now, we check in with Kyra Phillips in the "CNN NEWSROOM" for a look of what's ahead coming up in the next hour. Good morning, Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning, guys.

I found this story this morning with one of my writers. I love this. Yesterday in Haiti, I can't forget this one little girl that we saw in this tent. Jason Carroll was doing this story. And she had her Bible next to her. She had just a few pieces of clothing and she was looking after her family. And she said, "This is what keeps me going, it's my Bible."

And it was very powerful. And then we found this; solar-powered Bibles heading to Haiti now. They're called "Proclaimers". And the ministry is called Faith Comes by Hearing. And they're sending now 600 of these straight into Haiti. And as you guys know, a large part of that population is illiterate so these were used to sort of spread the word of God.

But now they're saying they want to send more in because they want to show the people, hey, now more than ever depend on your faith. You've got a predominantly Catholic society there. They're very faithful people.

But isn't this great? It broadcasts the scriptures in Haitian Creole and it's so loud about a crowd of 300 can actually listen to these and hear it very clearly. I thought it was a great talker.

ROBERTS: Yes it really is its pretty incredible too. And they can certainly use the inspiration down there.

Kyra, we'll see you at the top of the hour about nine minutes from now.

PHILLIPS: Sounds good.

ROBERTS: All right, see you then.

One year in the office for President Obama. Where is the love? Our Carol Costello is searching around for it. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Time for an "AM Original" at 54 minutes after the hour; something that you'll only see on AMERICAN MORNING.

A year ago, love was in the air. America seemed to have come together behind the nation's first African-American president.

Now, 12 months later, to the day, the bloom may be off the rose. Our Carol Costello joins us now live from Washington, D.C. this morning. Hi, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John. You know, it's the best of times for President Obama, and now many consider it to be the worst of times. The candidate who ran on hope and change had a very rough year. His approval ratings are down and compared to where they were up until this summer, it makes you wonder -- where did the love go?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Inauguration Day, January 20th, 2009.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

COSTELLO: The hearts of millions of Americans were ready to burst with a Woodstock kind of love.

In 25 years of reporting, I'd not experienced an event like it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Love, the joy, the humor, the smile.

COSTELLO: Obama supporters nearly swooned over a first couple that seemed so different. 365 days later, that Woodstock kind of love went the way of the hippie's movement.

JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: We thought we were at a new moment and go to a new place but the level of resistance has been historical and ugly and very divisive.

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: What is so strange about being honest and saying, I want Barack Obama to fail?

COSTELLO: Drew Westin, a political psychologist and Obama supporter says from the get-go some of the rhetoric did become poisonous. But instead of loudly fighting back, the president tried to bring Republicans into the fold and it backfired.

DREW WESTIN, EMORY UNIVERSITY: You don't compromise with the people who completely disagree with everything you believe in. You clearly enunciate a vision and you say, "This is my vision for America," and not my vision is somewhere between what I believe and somewhere what people on the other side believe.

COSTELLO: Like on health care reform. Instead of telling Americans exactly what he wanted in a bill, President Obama left it up to lawmakers. Republicans used the president's strategy to create fear and confusion among voters. It also fueled the TEA Party movement.

This continued divisiveness is clearly something the president regrets. In an interview with "People" magazine, he says, "What I haven't been able to do is bring the country together in a way that we had done in the inauguration. That's what's been lost this year, that whole sense of changing how Washington works."

All is not lost. For some, there is still a sense change will come. Recent polls show overwhelming support for the president remains high among African-Americans, even though standing in the unemployment line.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's helping. He's helping as much as he can. I don't know how much more he can do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We gave Bush eight years. Look what he gave us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I feel like he's trying to help people who are out of jobs right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're looking for miracles and he's not a miracle worker.

COSTELLO: Even the president himself admitted that exactly one year ago today.

OBAMA: They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America, they will be met.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: John, he just has to make Americans believe that. Keep in mind, it is only year one. Other presidents have suffered through their first year, like President Ronald Reagan. And look at his place in history now? He's considered one of America's best presidents.

ROBERTS: It will be interesting to see though what the White House does in the months to come now that they've lost that super majority in the senate.

COSTELLO: And what President Obama says in his "State of the Union" which is coming up quickly.

ROBERTS: Yes. A week from today.

Thanks very much, Carol; Carol Costello this morning with an "AM Original". And it's 58 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: That's going to wrap things up for us here on "American Morning" today. So glad you were with us.

We'll see you back here tomorrow.

And meanwhile, continue the conversation on today's stories. You can go to our blog, CNN.com/amFix.

ROBERTS: meantime, the news continues on CNN with Kyra Phillips in the "CNN NEWSROOM". Good morning Kyra.