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American Morning
Five-Year-Old Boy Found Alive; Mr. Brown Goes to Washington; Exodus From Port-Au-Prince
Aired January 21, 2010 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning to you on this Thursday, January 21stt. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
Glad you're with us today. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks for being along today.
Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
New video showing us the earthquake as it struck Haiti last week. It captures the violent shaking and then huge clouds of dust as buildings in Port-au-Prince collapsed. And now, with medical care falling short, there are fears that people could actually die in the days after the quake than more people could die after the quake than die in the initial shock.
CHETRY: It's two days after winning the Senate seat once held by Ted Kennedy, Scott Brown is now headed to Washington today. The new Republican senator-elect from Massachusetts will be paying courtesy calls to his new colleagues, Democrats and Republicans. And more on the 41st Republican senator's first day -- ahead.
ROBERTS: And Southern California getting slammed by another storm, the fourth one this week, the most powerful yet. Hundreds of homes threatened by mudslides, and this latest system could drop six inches of rain or more before it finally moves out.
CHETRY: First, though, the unfolding human suffering in Haiti. Thousands of injured victims said to be dying of infection, gangrene, terrible lack of medical supply still the case nine days after the earthquake hit. And victims were also quickly filling be up the Navy's floating hospital, the USNS Comfort, which has 1,000 beds.
Hope, though, still lives in the ruins of Port-au-Prince. In fact, a 5-year-old boy was pulled out alive yesterday, eight days after the quake. And the rescuers who are now tending to him say he is getting better every moment.
There's also a new video of the moment that the quake hit. A man captured it from a balcony overlooking Port-au-Prince. You can see the nation's capital turning to dust and rubble before the camera's eyes.
ROBERTS: As Kiran mentioned -- a miraculous sign of life yesterday. A 5-year-old boy pulled out alive from his collapsed home.
Our Anderson Cooper is live in Port-au-Prince this morning.
And, Anderson, what an incredible story of survival and to see this every day, but this one in particular really touches your heart.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, John, we were kind of stunned.
We happened to be at general hospital when the little boy was brought in by his uncle, clutching, you know, unto his uncle's neck. They waded through the crowd and immediately got medical attention. This little boy, Manli Alesay (ph), 5 years old.
His uncle was digging -- his uncle says he was digging through the rubble of his Manli's parents' home, the parents he believes are dead. He was trying to find their bodies, and then he heard little Manli saying, "I'm here, I'm here," that he and five of his friends continue to dig.
They had a flashlight. They shined the light. They heard Manli say, "I see the light. I see the light. You have given me light."
And they took him out. They brought him to the hospital. He was severely dehydrated. He clearly had not had food or water for quite some time. The uncle thinks he hadn't had any food or water the entire eight days. Whether or not that's true we simply do not know.
But his -- you could tell by the condition of his skin, he was severely dehydrated. They gave him fluids. And even in the hour to hour and a half that we were there with him watching the nurse and the doctor from the International Medical Corps working on him, you could see him slowly get better. He was able to cross his legs, which the doctor, Colleen Buono, took as a sign that -- took it as a sign that the fluids were starting to have their affect.
The little boy kept saying, "I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty," but they don't want to give too much fluid or too much water at once when someone hasn't had any for that length of time. But they believe, as of now, you know, he's doing OK.
CHETRY: You know, thanks goodness. And I mean, again, as you said, these are the small stories, the small miracles that we're seeing everywhere that still give people hope.
But, you know, the overall situation -- and I was watching some of your reporting last night where you're talking about the fact that these people haven't gotten any help, and this aid is not getting to them. And in some cases, the people that are in charge of bringing these convoys are saying, we're waiting for a security detail, you question whether that was really being overblown.
What is the situation? And have you gotten an answer about why it's taking so long for the supplies to get to these medical hospitals?
COOPER: Yes. Well, let me say that, you know, there are a lot of good people here trying to do the best they can. It's a chaotic situation. There's no infrastructure. The Haitian government is really functioning on a very low level, if that at best.
That being said, it's pretty clear now that there has been a bottleneck of supplies at the airport. Even if they get to the airport, getting them out is slower than it should be.
I think there's a couple things at work here and now, we're hearing from one administration official who's saying that they are acknowledging privately that there are some problems, that they are trying to fix and trying to address and that they are aware of.
But there hasn't been the priority on getting medical emergency aid in. There hasn't been that priority. They've been trying to sort of get everything in at once. So, they're getting in bulldozers, heavy equipment. They're getting food, which is kind more of a long- term thing, or even something that can -- you know, a several days thing.
And they haven't gave -- given a top priority to emergency medical equipment, things that can save lives now. We're talking hours matter, days matter -- you know, not weeks and months later. So, that's one of the problems, prioritizing these things. We've been seeing that for days now.
Doctors Without Borders, one of the greatest medical organizations in the world working in disasters, has had numerous planes diverted, end up going to the Dominican Republican. They have to drive supplies across.
A mobile surgical unit that could have been out practicing surgery. A group of doctors, Partners in Health, estimated yesterday that as many as 20,000 are dying a day from lack of life-saving surgery. I think those numbers are vastly overstated. That was an estimated and I think it's very, very high, and the U.N. agrees on that.
But if it's a few hundred people dying a day from life-saving -- lack of life-saving surgery, that's completely unnecessary if they prioritize better. They need to have somebody making decisions of what planes get diverted. They need to have somebody who has a knowledge of what's on those plane and they haven't had that thus far.
And this reliance on -- this -- the U.N. has a rule about every group has to have security. And it just -- it's kind of overstated. I mean, the people out here are not the enemy. It's amazing how well- behaved, how ordinarily things have been given all that these things people have been through.
So, you know, there are clearly some very real concerns here. But I think -- I think a lot of this focus on security has been overstated to some degree at this point.
ROBERTS: Well, you're down there -- you're down there, Anderson. You know what the situation is, and some great personal reflections. Also, I don't know if you can see it while you were just talking just a little while ago.
We did have some live pictures of relief workers handing out those HDRs, Humanitarian Daily Rations, basically the civilian version of the MRE, can feed a couple of people for a day. And those are obviously going to be great help.
CHETRY: And as Anderson said, you can see it's an orderly situation. People are just lining up, waiting, and getting handed. It's not some sort of mass, you know, fight to try and get their hands on those rations.
Anderson Cooper for us in Port-au-Prince -- thank you.
ROBERTS: And coming up: we're going to find out what medical supplies are needed in Haiti when we talk to Dr. Mark Hyman. He has been volunteering down there since last week.
CHETRY: Well, America's soon to be 41st Republican senator in Washington, D.C., comes this morning, two days after setting the Democratic Party on its ear. Senator-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts will spend the day checking out his new D.C. dig, chatting with new colleagues and maybe even pitching himself if he gets a free moment.
Congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar live on Capitol Hill.
So, Scott Brown is quickly becoming something of a sensation, and he's heading there today to make those phone calls and to do some glad handing. What's going on?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He is, Kiran, and he's, of course, the 41st Republican senator -- but the first Republican senator from Massachusetts in 32 years.
This is where he's coming today, of course, to Capitol Hill, the place he's going to be calling home, where he's going to be doing his work for the better part of the next three years. But this is where he's going to be spending quite a bit of his day. And this is the Russell Senate Office Building where many senators have their offices. It's very possible that this is where he's really going to be calling home for his time here serving in Congress.
He's got a number of meetings here in the Russell Senate Office Building today. First, he's going to be meeting with Senator John McCain, who was really his most high-profile backer. He's also going to be meeting with Senator John Kerry, who, of course, he'll have to work with, now -- a Democrat who's now the senior senator from Massachusetts. And he'll also meet with Senator Paul Kirk, the man who is holding the place of Ted Kennedy until this special election worked itself out.
After that, he's going to be having lunch with the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, perhaps meeting some other Republicans. But, Kiran, he obviously has yet to be sworn in. He said today as he made his way to the airport that he's expecting to be sworn in sometime next week. At this point, we don't see any reason that that's going to be held up at all, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Brianna Keilar for us this morning in Washington -- thanks so much.
And for more on what we can expect from Senator-elect Brown and the future of health care reform in this country, we're going to be joined at the bottom of the hour by Karen Tumulty. She's a national political correspondent for "TIME" magazine and a chance to sit and actually speak to Scott Brown. She's going to weighing in in just a moment.
ROBERTS: Other stories new this morning. Former presidential candidate, John Edwards, is now admitting that he is the father of the child born to his campaign aide, Rielle Hunter. In a statement he says, quote, "I am Quinn's father. I will do everything in my power to provide her with the love and support that she deserves." He goes on to say, "To all of those I had disappointed and hurt, these words will never be enough, but I am truly sorry."
CHETRY: And it is official now. CNN confirming that NBC's "Tonight Show" upheaval is all but done now. The network has reached a deal for Conan O'Brien to leave the "Tonight Show," and for Jay Leno to return as its host in the original 11:35 p.m. time slot. The agreement was signed around 4:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning.
According to the "Wall Street Journal," that report also adding some other details. Here they are: expected to include a $32 million payout for Conan, as well as $12 million for his staff. The staff severance is something that Conan reportedly pushed very hard for. There's no word when Conan's last show will be, but the host has been hinting on air all this week that it will likely be tomorrow night.
And the deal has -- or may include a disparagement clause, barring both Conan and NBC from bashing one another -- something we've certainly seen in the late-night landscape, Conan taking shots at his own network throughout the course of this.
ROBERTS: What will he use for material until such time as he actually does go off the air?
And a powerful Pacific storm is pounding southern California this morning. It's the fourth one this week. And, by far, it's the most powerful. There are concerns about mudslides, freeways everywhere are flooded. We are live this morning in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, where a lot of families are wondering if they still have a home by the end of the day.
CHETRY: That's where our Rob Marciano is this morning as well, keeping track, keeping an eye on everything that's been happening there weather-wise.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. You know -- you know from the fires over the summer just how rough the terrain is. And people live right up against these hillsides in many cases. Behind me is just one of those hillsides that loosened up by yesterday, during the heavy rainfall.
Look at all this mud that came down yesterday, just kind of oozing out of the hillside, blocked by these K-rails which have been put in place since the fire. So, they've kind of been anticipating this along the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. And there are winding roads like this one that winds through neighborhoods. And on either side of these roads are homes, like this one right here. So, you have these K-rails, kind of a first line of defense, and a lot of these homes now are building up sandbags as a second line of defense.
So far so good, but if we get the amount of rain we think we're going to get today, that hillside may very will give way entirely, and that means the homes on this street, well, they're going to be in a world of hurt for sure.
Let's talk about this rainfall has come down so far. Take a look at this graphic which has rainfall in excess of 10 inches in some spots. Obviously, the more mountainous areas is where you're going to get the most amount of rain. The rain now is starting to fill in on the radar scope.
In Santa Barbara down to San Diego, that seems to be where the heaviest amounts are. We're actually in a bit of a dry slot right now, that's the good news. But the forecast is for more rain to come in over the next 12 to 18 hours. So, flash flood watches have been extended and may very well be extended further on down the line.
Folks here are evacuated. About 1,000 homes in total, and, John and Kiran, they may very will be evacuated until Monday if we get the rain that we think we're going to get later today. Right now, it's just kind of -- kind of spinning. We certainly hope it stays that way. But there's a lot of moisture out there in the Pacific that has yet to come in.
Back to you in New York.
CHETRY: All right. Rob Marciano for us in the foothills this morning -- thanks.
ROBERTS: Still ahead on the Most News in the Morning, dire medical conditions in Haiti. Why some are saying thousands more people could die. We'll talk to a volunteer on the ground -- coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: More than a week after the earthquake in Haiti, doctors still don't have the medical supplies they need to save lives. The aid organization, Partners in Health, estimates that thousands of quake survivors may be dying while waiting for medical care.
Dr. Mark Hyman is a volunteer with that group and he joins us from Port-au-Prince this morning. He's been in Haiti since last week.
Dr. Hyman, thanks for being with us.
DR. MARK HYMAN, PARTNERS IN HEALTH: Thanks for having me.
CHETRY: Give me your assessment of where things stand on this front, in terms of patients waiting for care and medical supplies being in short supply in Haiti.
HYMAN: Well there has been a huge problem since the beginning. We got here five days ago, six days ago when there was no supplies. We brought a few with us. And we've slowly been trickle, trickling supplies but there's no logistical supply change. And remember the administer of health yesterday to try and set up some kind of logistical supply chain for getting the supplies from all the NGOs and all the aid organizations.
But they're often not getting to where they need. Yesterday morning I was in the operating room, and there was not enough gloves to actually put on to change dressings and do surgery, there were no surgical drapes, there were not surgical dressings.
We basically had to scrounge what we could yesterday morning just to get the operating room started again. And there are patients who are not getting care because we haven't been able to open and scale the hospital surgical capacity fast enough.
Even though we starting to get more doctors and doctors -- we have doctors waiting around in the hospital who have come from the United States to help us that have not been able to operate because we do not have the supplies. We just got a plane load from Mount Sinai, 30 doctors and supplies last night, so today we should be better but it has been tough for the last week.
CHETRY: One of the things Anderson Cooper has been on the ground has been talking about and we just spoke to him about this a few moments ago is that in some of these instances, the U.N. is insisting that these convoys have proper security for them. He believes the security threat may be a little bit overstated at this point. Is there any word of maybe loosening those types of restrictions to make sure that at least some of the aid can get where it needs to go, even if there is not much security in place for the convoys.
HYMAN: Well I can tell you that I'm not sure what the U.N. security issues are. But I have been in here from the beginning and I have been completely safe. I have been in a hospital compound with 5,000 starving and thirsty sick patients and their families, there has not been one instant of violence, there's only been smiles and graciousness, kindness, and, and just patience in these patients.
Everywhere I have been, there's people on the streets, everybody is quiet, everybody is calm, everybody is peaceful in helping each other. Working together, I have not seen one security issue. So I think it's completely over blown.
I am here with my wife, Dr. Pierre Buton and we have been on the hospital compound until midnight every night. We've been walking the streets at night. I feel completely safe. And there has been not one incident. I think there is need for organization, there is need for order, there is need for logistics, there's not really a need for security.
And I think it's way overblown and it's blocking the flow of supplies and care, and practitioners, and how often the patients that need it who are now a day, dying of tetanus, dying of dehydration, dying of sepsis. I had a woman yesterday who we operated on the first day, who's in seizures, she had maggots crawling out of her amputated stump.
It's been very difficult and we've had a huge set back yesterday with the earthquake where all the patients we put into the hospital were back on the hospital courtyard. Not because they had to do the building were safe but they were frightened, and the one patient had to jump out on one leg that we just had amputated stump, and he was amputating out of fear of the building collapsing, and patients were being dragged up by their families for fear of them collapsing.
But then in the afternoon, in the heat of the day, they were dying because of the dehydration of the hot sun. So it's a very difficult situation.
CHETRY: And it just -- I can't imagine, it just makes my blood run cold to hear you say this. It just seems so shocking. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for you. If you -- you know when we talked to the Coast Guard. They have 15 helicopters, they had many cutters that are there, they are trying to clear the ports, they are also conducting rescues.
And they say in some casing they are just receiving text messages or they are hearing from organizations like CNN news organizations about where the need is and responding that way. I mean if you have a platform now, you could just say what do you need and where do you need it, what would you say to people planning this?
HYMAN: Well I think the most important thing is to set up relief and aid to those patients out still in their communities, who have not been triaged, who haven't even been seen. We need to develop mobile clinics, and deploy teams in the fields and in the areas that haven't been touched yet. And have those patients taken cared off and brought by car or brought by airlift to the hospitals that are actually functioning. There are hospitals outside of Port-Au-Prince that are with physicians, with surgical supplies, and they have the capacity -- they're not being utilized.
The good news is yesterday, the minister of health and partners in health and we got authorization to use the landing strip in the stadium for helicopters to come in 300 yards behind the hospital and start air lifting, moving patients all around the country. The U.S. has come for a ride yesterday, we were able to actually mobilize patients to the comfort, we are working on the triage this morning when this all happen.
I got an email from General Keen last night, that the green light is on, the minister of health is working very closely trying to get coordination, support, and logistics from U.S. military which is really starting to happen today which is very exciting for us. Because we have been really waiting for a week to get relief.
CHETRY: Right, so you think it's safe to say you are turning a corner in terms of getting the supplies that you need?
DR. HYMAN: Yes I think we will today. I think we'll see a big change. I think it has been a very rough week. But I think we will see a shift, especially when the coordination of the Haitian government and ministry of health and General Keen has been extremely helpful in putting together the support the screen logistics system for personnel, tracking what needs to be seen, where they need to be seen, and where they need to be moved to be cared for.
CHETRY: Well we wish you the best of luck. And hopefully you are right that things are starting to turn around today. I know it's been a very very difficult week for everyone there that's trying to help out these survivors, Dr. Mark Hyman a volunteer with partners and health. Thanks for joining us this morning.
DR. HYMAN: Thank you for having me.
CHETRY: Twenty-one minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS ANCHOR: Twenty-three minutes after the hour. Christine Romans here now "Minding Your Business" and Goldman Sachs earnings are up.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: A very profitable year for Goldman Sachs.
ROBERTS: You think.
ROMANS: Yes. More than $13 billion in profits for the whole year. It's revenue just down about 2 percent from it's record in 2007. Really, when you look at the per share, which is what Wall Street looks at, we are looking at $5 and change, per share that came out of earnings, $8.20 per share for the fourth quarter. So that is much better than people thought. '
Goldman Sachs making a lot of money. However the number we are zeroing in on, is this expectation for how much money Goldman is going to pay its employees in bonuses, in compensation for the whole year. That number dramatically less than people had thought. Goldman is giving $500 million, a half billion of dollars to charity, to its own in-house charity.
Goldman Sachs gives, which gives to a variety of different charities. Goldman clearly hearing the public outcry about the fact that it took taxpayer money last year, and then is having such an incredible year, and its people will be so richly, richly paid for their trading successes and their other successes this year. So they're going to give -- their total compensation pool is now $16.2 billion, and still a heck of a lot of money, $16.2 billion but basically $4 billion less than the firm had been giving -- had given in 2007.
Another quick thing about this, the half of billion dollars to charity, it brings, you know people are still going to be very, very well compensated there. But I can tell you that there are traders and investment managers right now who are saying wait a second are you telling me that the bonus we thought we accrued in the fourth quarters, were not getting?
That looks like the way it is, so about a half a billion dollars will be given to charity. You know the president of course is still going to come out today and talk about how to limit the risk taking in these mega banks. Places like Goldman -- Goldman made a lot of money from trading. The President is going to talk about that today, new restrictions on size complexity, trading, and risk taking in these companies.
CHETRY: All right you have a "Romans' Numeral" for us?
ROMANS: I do. Yes, 53. Fifty-three times. And this is one actually, this is just to put things in perspective for you. The bonus and compensation pool of Goldman, one bank in the United States it's people are going to be paid 53 times what the entire country has donated so far to Haiti. Just to put into perspective for you how much money this is, even -- even, giving back some of that money.
ROBERTS: Interesting way of putting it. Thanks, Christine.
CHETRY: Well still to come on The Most News In The Morning. Haitians trying to get to safety any way they can, Ivan Watson takes us to one port town overwhelmed by people trying to get out any way they can. It's 25 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to The Most News In The Morning. There is a mass exodus under way in Port-Au-Prince, with no homes and little hope. Thousands of Haitians are making their way to the harbor as Ivan Watson reports nine days removed from a killer earthquake. They all have one goal in mind, getting out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chaotic crowds in the port of Port-Au-Prince. Thousands of Haiti's new hordes of homeless have been gathering here within sight of American ships anchored far offshore. Nearly all of these people have seen their houses destroyed some lost loved ones. They have been sleeping for days on this filthy quake damaged port, waiting for ships to take them out of the city.
This is where we meet Annet Clament and her daughter, Anaika.
(on camera): And they spent several days sleeping out here. They say they moved up to this hill after this morning's aftershocks because it was so terrifying. And they are sitting here, waiting, desperate for a ship to take them to another part of Haiti. (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ANAIKA: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WATSON: And she says she doesn't know how many days they are going to stay here.
(voice-over): When a resting blue ferry finally does pull into sight, families jump on wooden row boats. An armada of dangerously dingies sets out for the ferry, launching a chaotic scramble aboard the ship. Parents passing babies up a floating assembly line. The Haitian government gave away fuel to provide free transport to the port of Jerreme, but officials left out one crucial detail?
WATSON (on camera): Has anybody offered you any help of crowd control of these thousands of desperate people?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no crowd control whatsoever. We are trying ourselves to do crowd control, which is impossible.
WATSON (voice-over): The ferry is licensed to carry 600 passengers but onboard, there must be thousands. With few life boats, this could be another disaster waiting to happen. But it's here that we spot a familiar face.
(on camera): We came across little Anika (ph) and her mother who made it onboard.
(voice-over): Against all odds they got onboard and planned traveling to an aunt's house in a safer part of the country. Amid this anarchy, a moment of joy and relief -- a little girl and her mother are about to escape their shattered city.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: And Kiran, this is just a testament to how difficult the living situations are here right now. People have no housing. Very few people can say they actually got any help from the aid organizations, and the only solution they really have in mind is just to leave.
CHETRY: And you can understand why they would risk their lives and risk an even worse fate to get out of what they feel is a helpless situation. Ivan Watson for us this morning, thank you.
It's just after 8:30, and that means it's time for the top stories today. President Obama today trying to keep big banks on a short leash, the administration saying that the president will call for new government powers to limit the size of financial and also limit the risks they may take. He is expected to make the announcement today after meeting with the former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker.
ROBERTS: The man who is shaking up Washington is on his way to Capitol Hill this morning. Massachusetts Senator-elect Scott Brown has promised to send healthcare back to the drawing board. The Republican won the late Ted Kennedy's seat in Tuesday's special election and took away the Democrats 60 seat filibuster proof majority.
CHETRY: They will have to truck in the snow for the Winter Games. Olympic organizers say there is none in the forecast and that it won't be cold enough to make snow in time for the skiing and snowboarding events. They are taking place at Cypress Mountain in Vancouver. They say they will airlift it in if they have to.
They light the flame on February 12th.
ROBERTS: In one improbable Massachusetts night, a year's worth of work on health care reform may have slipped down the drain for the Democratic Party. Republican Scott Brown's victory on Tuesday gives the GOP 41 seats in the Senate, and that has Democrats circling the wagons right now.
Karen Tumulty, "Time" magazine's national political correspondent interviewed Brown after his big victory. She joins us live from Washington this morning.
And Karen, he did what many people thought was impossible. He will be an instantaneous rock star in the Republican Party. But what kind of impact do you think he will have? What kind of role will he play?
KAREN TUMULTY, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "TIME" MAGAZINE: I think that this election has really sent a message that -- as I was up in Massachusetts talking to people, they would bring up health care, but they would not bring up any particular provision in the bill. What they would talk about were the deals that were getting cut for other people, the process that was really unseemly.
And when I talked to Scott Brown yesterday, he said that is what he felt, too, that, first of all, people think this bill is too big and too expensive, but second that it's the process they object to, of, you know, Ben Nelson gets a deal and the drug industry gets a deal.
ROBERTS: What is your sense of Scott Brown as a man and a lawmaker? There are many conservatives, including Glenn Beck, who don't' trust him?
TUMULTY: He is not the national Republican figure. He is relatively liberal on some social issues. He's for Roe v. Wade. A few years ago he got a 100 percent rating from the Massachusetts Autobahn Society.
But he is fiscally conservative. He is the kind of Republican that can get elected in Massachusetts. While it has not had a Republican Senator for a long time, this is a state, don't forget, that has a history of electing Republican governors.
ROBERTS: How do you think he's going to legislate? He called it a victory for independent voters. He said I am no one's senator except for yours. Do you think he will remain independently-minded, or will there be pressure for him to blindly follow the Republican agenda?
TUMULTY: It was really interesting, because I asked him about that. I asked him, a lot of things you say you are going to do, changing the way things get done in Washington, those are the exact things Barack Obama was promising to do 15 months ago.
ROBERTS: And George Bush eight years ago.
TUMULTY: Exactly. And he said I can stay who I am. I have this great family that keeps me grounded. All I can say is we'll see.
ROBERTS: He does seem to suffer though from some degree of foot in mouth degrees. That whole episode with his daughters during his victory speech on Tuesday night has left some people sort of scratching their heads. He was up there on the stage thanking his supporters, thanking his family, introduced his daughters, and he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Just in case anybody who is watching throughout the country, yes, they are both available!
(SHOUTING)
No, no, no. Only kidding. Only kidding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So he will have a lot of scrutiny on him, because he is now the golden boy of the Republican Party. Does he run the risk of falling victim to his own verbal gaffes, do you think, Karen?
TUMULTY: I don't think those have been much of a problem. In fact, when I was up interviewing yesterday in the hotel suite where he had been staying, he was up there taking care of his daughter's dogs. The daughters were nowhere in evidence.
I think that family was a big part of his persona. And during the campaign, there were very, very few slip ups. It was Martha Coakley, his Democratic opponent, and a much more, I think, experienced politician making who was making all the big mistakes.
ROBERTS: I'll tell you, though, there are some conservatives who really ripped him for what he said there. His daughter said she thought it was no big deal.
Also, one other though. He is not even sworn in yet. He goes to Washington today, and already people are talking about him as a potential presidential candidate for 2012.
TUMULTY: Yes, in fact, people -- I heard people even over the weekend before he even got elected talking about him that way. It was interesting to -- people are spinning forward. At this point he says he is just so thrilled to be where he is that he can't even think about anything like that. ROBERTS: No question, though, he will have a big spotlight on him, don't you think?
TUMULTY: I think he is. I think he is. And he is very, very aware of that, although at this point he says I am the 41st Republican center, but so is every other Republican senator.
ROBERTS: Take a look at his family. He's an attorney. He is now a rock star politician, and his wife is an anchorwoman. One of his daughters Ayla was a budding singer. She was on "American Idol." It sounds like it's going to be a fairly visible political family.
TUMULTY: It is, although his background, this is a guy who grew up -- his mother was on welfare for a while. Both of his parents were married four times.
ROBERTS: Wow.
TUMULTY: He was once picked up for shoplifting when he was a teenager. This is not a guy -- he has a picture perfect family now, but he had a very sort of interesting and complicated background, which he says is also part of who he is.
ROBERTS: And then of course there is that infamous spread in "Cosmo" from almost 30 years ago. Well, he certainly might be a colorful fellow there in Washington.
Karen Tumulty, it's great to talk to you this morning, thanks.
TUMULTY: Thank you.
CHETRY: And still ahead, a shaky decision -- no building codes, no licenses. One Haitian woman and whether or not she will rebuild her own home. Our Jason Carroll checks in with her.
You are watching the Most News in the Morning.
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CHETRY: Here is a sign of just how resilient the Haitian people are in the face of hardship and heartache. Our crews captured this scene, people in Haiti dancing and singing with nothing to really sing about. But they are showing their spirit amidst all of that tragedy.
Even though the earthquake lasted just a few seconds, it left behind destruction that will take years to rebuild and repair. Our Jason Carroll is live in Port-au-Prince again this morning.
And Jason, it really is going to be an uphill battle when structural engineers take a look at what it was like there before. They know it cannot be repeated.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you said it exactly right. This is what we are hearing from the engineers that we spent the day with yesterday. We went out with them and looked at some of these buildings with them. This is something that will take time and take money. It is also obviously, Kiran, going to take discipline to make sure that when they do rebuild here, it's done the right way.
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CARROLL: Port-au-Prince is about to face many questions about its future. How does the city rebuild when there is still so much destruction? Should damaged structures still standing be torn down?
Ava Michele is not waiting for answers. Her hour destroyed, she salvaged what she could and watched as workers started demolishing it. It's being torn down the same way it was built, by unlicensed workers. No codes to follow on tearing down or, Michele says, to build.
CARROLL (on camera): None?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
CARROLL: No code?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
CARROLL: No regulation?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
CARROLL (voice-over): Haitians says that's the way it's done. Licenses are not required, codes, where they even exist, are not enforced. It's part of the reason so much was destroyed in the earthquake and why structural engineers like Kit Myamoto from California are here now.
This is Myamoto's first day on the ground with a nonprofit called the Pan American Development Foundation. The goal -- rapid assessments, meaning quickly investigate the structural integrity of ten buildings a day.
This was the ministry of finance. It's symbolic of what went wrong with many buildings, including the presidential balance.
KIT MYAMOTO, EARTHQUAKE AND STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: No rebar. That's dangerous.
CARROLL: Myamoto says rebar can make a building more flexible when it shakes, but much of the city's businesses and homes use brick without the reinforced steel bar.
(on camera): What do you do? Do you just demolish these buildings and then cart out the debris and then start fresh?
MYAMOTO: It depends. For example, this one is probably not salvageable. But there a many buildings that can be repaired.
CARROLL: Engineers tell us, when Port-au-Prince does rebuild, they have to use new building codes and make sure the codes are enforced.
(voice-over): And engineers like Keith Martin with the Los Angeles County Fire Department say rebuilding or retrofitting is not something that can be or should be rushed.
(on camera): You are talking, to be done correctly, something that will take years to do.
KEITH MARTIN, L.A. COUNTY FIRE SEARCH AND RESCUE: Years.
CARROLL: Years to do it correctly.
(voice-over): Even though Michele says she does not have the money right now to rebuild, but if she does, she hopes there are guidelines to show her and the other people of Port-au-Prince a better way.
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CARROLL: And Kiran, another issue they have to deal with is the tons and tons of debris and rubble. Imagine, if you will, trying to move a city of rubble. That's the reality here. Do you move the rubble? Do you build on top of it? Do you try and figure out a way to use the materials in a safe way of rebuilding?
Some of the questions they are asking themselves here as they go through the assessment of how to begin rebuilding the very badly destroyed city -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Right now it really seems like an insurmountable challenge, I'm sure. But moving ahead they'll come up with some solutions, hopefully. Jason Carroll for us in Port-au-Prince. Thanks.
ROBERTS: So many medical problems in Haiti as a result of the injuries that people have been suffering. In fact many people believe more may die in the aftermath of the earthquake from their injuries than actually died in the quake itself.
And one particular injury that our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to take a look is the danger from crush injuries. And sometimes how, trying to save a limb is the worst thing doctors can do.
It's 45 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Forty eight minutes after the hour and welcome back to The Most News in the Morning.
It's time for your "A.M. House Call." And this morning Dr. Sanjay Gupta is taking a closer look at the traumatic injuries they're seeing most often in Haiti, people being crushed.
Sanjay joins us from Port-au-Prince. Hi, Sanjay.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There're such dramatic injuries a week out and the patients are so at risk. You can look around there's blazing hot sun, no IVs hanging and significant injuries, and really no home to go to either. So you can really see what what's happening here.
And just patient after patient, it's...
(voice-over): If head injuries are the hallmark of the war in Afghanistan, the Haiti earthquake will be known for crush injuries. Doctors amputated 17-year-old's Isamin's (ph) arm three days after the quake. In her case, there was no question, but with such severe injuries over and over again doctors are faced with a tough choice, to cut or not to cut?
Like this 10-year-old boy, Des Grave (ph), he is beaten down and looks awful, but his limbs still move.
(on camera): Well, the initial instinct for most people, try and save the leg, it will be too morbid not to. But we also know now that's not always the right answer; infection, gangrene, crush syndrome.
(voice-over): Crush syndrome is a simple name for a condition call rhabdomyolysis. After your muscle is crushed it can start to break down releasing these particles into the blood scream, cause kidney failure, very high potassium levels, even cardiac arrest. So removing a limb could mean saving a life.
Here in Haiti, crush injuries are everywhere and amputations at the scene to rescue someone, or here in hospitals like this. But how do doctors decide whether to cut or not? Some clues obviously dead skin, blisters like this or a crush that simply lasted too long.
In the case of Des Grave, he had all those things and he was also severely dehydrated, that made his condition even worst. So last night Des Grave did lose his right arm. But remember, that is also probably what saved his life.
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ROBERTS: And those are some of the difficult choices that doctors have to make these days, with medicine and the state it's in, in Haiti -- Kiran.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Hey well, there are some signs of progress though off the coast of Haiti. A massive floating hospital has provided a much-needed relief during the help that they need in treating these earthquake survivors, the USNS Comfort. Our Chris Lawrence has been onboard; it's now anchored off the Port-au-Prince and trying to live up to its name. Here's a look.
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CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We follow the same route hundreds of patients are starting to follow. Onboard a Navy helicopter and then a quick couple minutes out to sea, where the big white ship is like a beacon for overwhelmed doctors in Port-au-Prince.
Besides the 40 beds in the ER, the USNS Comfort already has five operating rooms up and running.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The heartbeat of this operation...
LAWRENCE: There's also a team of U.S. Navy translators to help doctors and patients communicate.
MMFN GILBERT LAGUERRE, U.S. NAVY TRANSLATOR: And then they tell you something and you try to explain to the doctor what they are saying and sometime they can be frustrated.
LAWRENCE: Gilbert Laguerre grew up in Haiti, he struggles to watch what's happened onshore.
LAGUERRE: I can't -- I never seen anything like this. Never.
LAWRENCE: The military says the Haitian government is making the recommendations for which patients should come here. Doctors tell us they don't know if they'll see 3,000 patients or 30,000.
(on camera): "The Comfort" has about a thousand beds nearly as many as "Johns Hopkins" but at some point soon they'll all be filled.
CMDR. TIM DONAHUE, U.S. NAVY: I know at one point soon we're going to be filled to capacity.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Which raises the question, what happens when these doctors don't have any free beds and needy patients are still waiting to be airlifted onboard.
DONAHUE: We're talking with folks that recognized completely of what you just said. We have to be able to treat as many patients as we can. And we've got to be able to move these folks on.
You're not going to be able live on the ship indefinitely.
LAWRENCE: Commander Tim Donahue says there are roughly 20 facilities in the U.S. that are willing to accept patients. And officials are talking with countries like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Peru about opening their hospitals as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, there you see it and hopefully the USNS Comfort is going to be able to provide even more help as the days go on and more of the Coast Guard people are able to chopper them over to the "Comfort".
ROBERTS: Yes as Chris said it's all of the matter of where do you take the people after then. They've got to get that infrastructure in place too. CHETRY: Absolutely, still a lot of work ahead for sure.
We're going to take a quick break, we'll be right back. Its 52 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Fifty-five minutes past the hour.
We get a quick check of the morning's weather headlines.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Reynolds thanks so much. And we're coming up now to two and a half minutes to the top of the hour.
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CHETRY: You can continue on today's stories, head to our blog, cnn.com/amFix. It was so great to have you with us today. We will see you back here tomorrow morning.
ROBERTS: The news continues though on CNN with Kyra Phillips in the "CNN NEWSROOM". Hi Kyra.
