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American Morning
Another Sticky Problem for Toyota; Toyota Admits Design Flaws With Prius; Florida Governor Faces Fight from Fellow GOPer; Wall Street's Biggest Losers; Americans Jailed in Haiti; Future of American Politics; Doomed Flight Operator Limits "Fatigue" Calls; Smokeless Tobacco; "Text4Baby"; Web Health Help
Aired February 04, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It's Thursday, February 4th. Glad you're with us. I'm Kiran Chetry.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Christine Romans. John Roberts is off today. He's off trying to find his voice.
CHETRY: I know, the poor guy. He finally had to give in.
ROMANS: I know.
CHETRY: Just three or four days of just being so sick.
ROBERTS: As soon as you take the day off, I realize that I had to get up earlier. But here I am.
Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes. Just when you thought it couldn't get worse for Toyota, it did. The automaker admitting now there are safety issues with their popular hybrid, the Prius. And new questions this morning about millions of sticky accelerator pedals Toyota plans to repair. Some experts now saying those pedals are not the problem.
CHETRY: Right now, a judge in Haiti is weighing charges against 10 Americans accused of trying to leave that country with 33 children. The missionaries are still insisting they did nothing wrong. But we've uncovered some new allegations that the Americans may have known their so-called mercy mission was against the law.
ROMANS: And welcome to the tea party. CNN is putting the spotlight on the growing political movement that has Democrats and Republicans in its crosshairs. The first ever tea party convention opens today, and the best political team on television will cover it from all angles. Just ahead our Jim Acosta digs deeper on a tea party showdown in the race for Florida's Senate seat.
CHETRY: We begin this morning, though, with another big bump in the road for Toyota, so to speak. There is now a problem with the Prius that's coming to light. More than 100 owners have registered complaints about the brakes in Toyota's popular hybrid. And this morning, Toyota admits it discovered a design flaw last month but never made that public. There's also a new development with the sticky accelerator pedals that prompted Toyota to recall millions of other vehicles.
Some safety experts now claim it is not the pedals that are causing the problem but actually an electronics problem, an electrical situation. Well, combine that with a stunning comment yesterday from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and it's no wonder that millions of Toyota customers are confused.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY LAHOOD, u.s. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: My advice is, if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, take it to a Toyota dealer because they believe they have the fix for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, LaHood later clarified those comments. He meant, he said, that owners should get their cars fixed as soon as possible. The transportation chief also promised to widen his agency's probe into a possible electronic cause of the sudden acceleration in some Toyota models. Something that Toyota has ruled out, but one Michigan family is blaming it for their mother's death.
Our Deb Feyerick joins us live from Los Angeles this morning with more on the CNN inclusive. And you were here when they sort of said, look, we have identified the problem, and we know how to solve it. Now that's all changing this morning.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And you know, we spoke to that one family but it's not just that one family. It's hundreds of others now coming forward, questioning when Toyota knew about these problems and whether they acted quickly enough to fix them. What's more, last night a lawyer here in Los Angeles filed a preliminary injunction asking a judge to order a much, much larger recall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): Driving this road in Flint, Michigan, Lily Alberto is haunted by her mother's last moments, the fear the 76- year-old woman must have felt desperately trying to control her 2005 Toyota Camry as it barreled down a quiet street at 80 miles an hour.
LILY ALBERTO, MOTHER DIED OF CAR ACCIDENT: She nicked that tree and the car went airborne, and it was going 80 miles per hour. It hit the tree on the top, and it just went down. She died instantly.
FEYERICK: Guadalupe Alberto, by all accounts, was an extremely careful driver in good health.
ALBERTO: That was the first thing that I knew something had to be wrong because my mother would never cross the street because of the two-way traffic.
FEYERICK: Witnesses say the car seemed to speed out of control. No one knows exactly why, but it fits the pattern of thousands of incidents of unintended acceleration involving Toyota vehicles.
After a recent state of high profile accidents, Toyota recalled millions of cars, not including the model driven by Guadalupe Alberto. They blamed floor mats and sticky gas pedals, yet a growing number of automotive experts and class action lawyers like Richard McCune (ph) say that explanation just doesn't fit.
RICHARD MCCUNE (ph), CLASS ACTION LAWYER: What I hear over and over and over again, I'm driving down the road, and my car just takes off on me. I apply the brakes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. That's the pattern that we have seen.
JOHN KANE (ph), SAFETY ANALYST: So I think unequivocally that these recalls simply do not get to the core of the problems that Toyota has.
FEYERICK: Safety analyst John Kane (ph) has looked at more than 2,000 accelerator incidents involving Toyota and believes the root of the problem lies in the electronic throttle system, which controls the speed of the car.
KANE (ph): These are completely computer-guided systems, and we all know that electronics fail. They do fail, and they will fail. The problem with Toyota is they haven't built enough fail-safe devices into their cars to ensure that drivers get control of the vehicle when a failure happens.
FEYERICK: During a press conference in Japan this week, a Toyota executive ruled out any software or electronic issue with the accelerator.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, TOYOTA EXECUTIVE (through translator): For the electronic control unit, we could not come across any case where we found that there was a misfunction in this control system.
FEYERICK: McCune says Toyota's recalls are disturbing in their limitations because they don't apply to all makes and models that have allegedly experienced the acceleration problem, like the '05 Camry Guadalupe Alberto was driving.
(on camera): Based on your evidence, you're suggesting that there are cars on the road that right now should be recalled?
MCCUNE (ph): I think the recalls cover less than half of the models and model years that need to be part of this recall.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Toyota says it bases its recalls on defects that have been identified and not solely on reports of unintended acceleration. Late Wednesday, McCune filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, demanding Toyota recall all vehicle models allegedly affected and also install a brake override system that would stop a car that's accelerating out of control.
MCCUNE (ph): While everybody tries to figure this out, including Toyota, I presume, we need a system so that these sudden accelerations do not become deadly accidents, and that's what the brake override system does.
FEYERICK: A system that possibly could have saved the life of Guadalupe Alberto.
ALBERTO: Once in a while when I'm -- I come by this just to say a prayer, or just to come and look and remember the place where she died. But it's very painful. It's still very vivid in my mind, in my heart.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, has already conducted several investigations into Toyota. Now it says it's going to take a fresh look at the electronics system to see if it could be a factor in sudden acceleration -- Kiran, Christine.
CHETRY: That poor family. Deb Feyerick for us this morning, thanks very much.
ROMANS: Well, now to Toyota's latest troubles. A flaw in the brake system of the Prius. We're tapping into CNN's global resources. Kyung Lah joining us from Tokyo. A completely different problem, but the same brand, the same issue here for Toyota.
KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Same brand, same issue. We are talking about something that is fundamental to this vehicle, the ability to brake. And we're talking about the 2010 Prius.
In a hastily organized news conference, right after that earning statement, Christine, what we heard from Toyota executives is that what's happening here is a failure with the ABS system. So when you press on the brake of the brand new 2010 Prius, the brake doesn't fully function. There's a gap. Now exactly how long that gap is, Toyota executives say it is less than a second. They couldn't quantify beyond that.
So the fix is a software glitch. They've clicked the software into place in cars produced after January. So if you own a 2010 Prius produced after January and beyond, you're fine. But if you own a 2010 Prius before then, that's the question. Exactly how Toyota is going to remedy that, reach out to those customers.
At this point, Toyota says, quote, "We need more time." Toyota also saying they don't believe that this glitch is big enough to be a recall level, but they are not going to issue a recall at this point. It is something that they're thinking about, but right now, Christine, they say it is not necessary based on the information that they have -- Christine.
ROMANS: This is such an incredibly important part of the Toyota brand strategy for the future. This particular car, the Prius, this is supposed to be the gold standard of hybrid electric cars. One question it raises, I think, all of these issues is how quickly this company was growing. The vast far-flung globalization of the manufacturing processes in these cars.
You know, some, the body is made in one place. The brakes may be made someplace else. The engine is designed one place by engineers and in another place installed somewhere else. Are there any concerns that all of this, the sheer complexity is one of the issues here they're having to try to track down?
LAH: It depends who you talk to. If you talk to Toyota, they say absolutely not. Quality was not compromised in our effort to globalize. But if you talk to any analyst, I cannot find a single analyst who does not point to this problem. That if you have one company that is producing one part for millions of vehicles and there's a problem with that one part, then millions of vehicles are affected. In the old days, it was maybe 100,000 cars that were affected. So certainly it's opening them up to potential problems if there is a problem with that part, regardless of what Toyota says.
ROMANS: All right. Kyung Lah in Tokyo, thank you.
CHETRY: It is interesting, though, because when we had Jim Lentz, who's the COO and president of Toyota U.S., he did say something about maybe we did grow too soon. So it is something that is going to come up.
ROMANS: And it's interesting too because customers car -- customers right now, they're much more picky than they were even a few years ago...
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROMANS: ... because they're not buying cars like they used to, right? So it's very important for brand strategy and to keep control of your product at the time when maybe they've lost some control of their product.
CHETRY: Exactly. Other car companies are trying to actually capitalize on that. We'll continue to follow the latest with Toyota throughout the morning.
But also some other stories new today. Self-help guru James Ray will be in court today in Arizona to face manslaughter charges. He was arrested yesterday, charged in the deaths of three people who took part in a sweat lodge ceremony that he organized back in October. Now Ray is being held on $5 million bail, but his attorney now calling the charges unjust, saying that Ray will be exonerated in court.
ROMANS: Sources say Michael Jackson's live-in doctor Conrad Murray will be arraigned tomorrow in connection with the singer's death. Murray's lawyer says his client is ready to surrender if a charge is filed. Murray has admitted giving Michael Jackson a powerful sedative hours before he died. Meantime, a Las Vegas judge found Murray in default on a nearly $132,000 debt related to office medical equipment and services.
CHETRY: Ten minutes past the hour right now. We get a check of this morning's weather headlines. Our Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center. And I see a lot of blue. It looks like it's headed our way on your radar there.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. Good morning, guys. This is going to be another big storm for the mid-Atlantic especially. Remember just a month ago where the D.C. area got crushed with over 20 inches of snow. This may very well be a repeat performance.
Look at the moisture on this thing. A huge scope of precip from snow across Kansas and heavy rain in through parts of the gulf states. And this rain shield is deep in its extent of moisture. And its expanse is heading off towards the north and east. Will get into Atlanta in just a couple of hours. But it will run into colder air as it gets towards the mid-Atlantic.
Winter storm watches and warnings are posted for the Carolinas in through parts of Virginia, including D.C. and Baltimore. New York might get clipped with this as well, and we'll detail it a little bit more in about 30 minutes. Back up to you.
ROMANS: All right.
CHETRY: We're going to get our shovels and our inner tubes. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: See you guys.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead on the Most News in the Morning, we're taking a look at the tea party movement here on AMERICAN MORNING. Today we're focusing on how a key Senate race is being influenced and how it all may have started with a hug.
It's now 11 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 14 minutes after the top of the hour. A quick check of other stories new this morning.
The first ever tea party convention begins today in Nashville, Tennessee. And CNN has it covered with the best political team on television.
CHETRY: That's right. We're taking an in-depth look at the growing tea party movement. Also, some of the anger directed at both parties in Washington and what it could mean for the midterm elections.
ROMANS: In Florida, a darling of the tea partiers has the state's governor in a fight for his political life. Here's our Jim Acosta with part two of our special series.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. CHARLIE CRIST (R), FLORIDA: We know that it's important that we pass the stimulus package. JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist, it's the hug that just won't let go. His embrace of the president and of the stimulus program at this town hall meeting last year could cost this once rising GOP star a shot at a U.S. Senate seat.
MARCO RUBIO (R), SENATE CANDIDATE: I've been hearing about these tea parties now for a while.
ACOSTA: Meet Marco Rubio. He's challenging Crist for the GOP nomination for that Senate seat in a Darling of the Tea Party Movement. Rubio has turned the hug into a fund-raising gift that keeps on giving.
ACOSTA (on camera): Would you give President Obama a hug?
RUBIO: Why? Why would I? Depending -- I don't even know him. Why would I hug someone I don't know?
ACOSTA: Well, Charlie Crist has gotten himself in a lot of trouble for hugging president Obama.
RUBIO: You know, he did -- ultimately, you know, that gets a lot of attention, but what he really got in trouble for is supporting a plan that is helping to bankrupt this country.
What I find at events like this is a growing number of Americans who have never been involved in politics before. I bet you, that's a lot of you.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Rubio takes his message of smaller government and lower taxes to Tea Party rallies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the great awakening.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop the spending on unnecessary things.
ACOSTA: And his YouTube page features Tea Party activists venting their anger at Washington. Polls show Rubio has closed a 30- point gap and just might win the party primary.
ACOSTA (on camera): Would you be the first Tea Party senator, if elected?
RUBIO: Well, I'm running -- I'm running as a Republican.
ACOSTA: So just the word, it's not a party -- a political party, that is?
RUBIO: It's not a political party.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Crist, by contrast, is no Tea Party animal.
ACOSTA (on camera): Do you ever sit down with any Tea Party activists and talk to them? Have you talked to any of them over the phone?
GOV. CHARLIE CRIST (R), FLORIDA: Not really. No. I haven't. You know, I know that...
ACOSTA: Not once?
CRIST: No, not once. No. Happy to. I probably have and don't know it.
ACOSTA (voice-over): For groups like the Tea Party Express, there's no contest.
JOE WIERZBICKI, TEA PARTY EXPRESS: You want to know why there's anger with the Republican Party? Republicans embracing massive taxing and spending policies? No. That's not what the Republican Party is supposed to be about, and that's what Charlie Crist did.
ACOSTA: Tea Party groups saying millions of Independents, Republicans and even some former Democrats are ready to take down some of the biggest names in politics, from Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to Republican John McCain. But Democrats say all that in-fighting between Crist and Rubio actually presents an opportunity.
JAMAL SIMMONS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I'll take either of one of them as long as they're wounded and limping into the general election.
ACOSTA: Crist, who has a 50 percent job approval rating, is not backing down from a Tea Party fight. He defends the stimulus as a job saver and notes Rubio has stated he too would have accepted funds from the program.
CRIST: About 20,000 teachers would be out of work today in my state. I can't in good conscience look them in the eye and say, you know, you and your family are going to be without a bread winner. People have to eat.
ACOSTA: He's gambling Conservatives will come around.
Defying conventional wisdom in his own party, Crist met President Obama for another stimulus event last week.
ACOSTA (on camera): Did you get any feedback from your fellow Republicans in this state that maybe you shouldn't be there when the president landed in Tampa?
CRIST: A lot, actually. I -- I...
ACOSTA: They were telling you, don't do it?
CRIST: Yes. Quite a few people -- I got a lot of advice.
ACOSTA (voice-over): They shook hands for 27 seconds.
CRIST: I think people really want -- I think they're honestly sort of tired of the bickering they see coming out of Washington. I think that's part of the change that they want to see. It's part of the reason I'm running for the United States Senate. I think we need more civility.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: So we're going to see the outcome of these two very different approaches in Florida, Marco Rubio embracing the Tea Party Movement, Charlie Crist certainly not embracing the Tea Party Movement.
The primary is on August 24th, so there is lots of time for this race to change, and things have already changed in Florida. The chairman of the Republican Party in Florida has stepped down because of the furor going on between these two candidates over whether or not to embrace the Tea Partiers.
When Jim Greer, the chairman down there, announced essentially his support for Charlie Crist, the Tea Partiers savaged him. He stepped down. And he said to me, when I talked to him about this story, he said, somebody tell me when I stopped being a Conservative.
CHETRY: Right.
ROMANS: Wow. Interesting.
CHETRY: Very interesting. Absolutely.
We'll be covering it throughout the morning. We'll check in with you again. Thanks, Jim.
ACOSTA: Sounds good.
CHETRY: Well also, still ahead, cruising for a cause. In the last part of our series "Welcome in the Tea Party", we're going to be telling you about a carnival cruise to the Caribbean where Tea Partiers sound off on the president ship to shore.
That's tomorrow, right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: What do you think of the Tea Party Movement? We want to know. Share your comments in Jim Acosta's log at cnn.com/amfix.
CHETRY: And coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, Stephanie Elam in "Minding Your Business". We're going to be taking a look at some of the biggest stock market losers of the past decade.
Nineteen minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-two minutes past the hour right now, and it's time for "Minding Your Business". We have Stephanie Elam with us this morning, and we're talking about the...
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, that's a surprise. CHETRY: Hey, nice to see you. You know, we've got it covered here this morning.
ELAM: Any business that happens, we're good.
CHETRY: The biggest stock losers of the past decade?
ELAM: Yes. We are taking a look at these market value losers, the biggest one over the last decade. And as you may remember, there's this bubble that have happened in the late '90s? It led to some really great stock numbers. But once you hit those levels, there's only one place to go -- down.
That's exactly what's happened here. So let's go ahead and show you the first one.
That would be Cisco Systems, a loss of $425 billion to its -- to market value over the last decade here. They had a peak market cap of $557 billion. Recent market cap, $132 billion. So obviously, when that -- that tech boom burst, that bubble burst, it really affected them. Their stock never recovered, although they still remain a top company there.
General Electric, they lost $423 billion during the last decade. Obviously, a lot of pain there. Their peak market cap was $601 billion.
Let's go to Intel. They lost $400 billion over the last decade.
Again, you'll see a lot of these companies, the biggest time for their market cap, when it was at its highest, was august of 2000, and then it's just been downhill since then.
Microsoft lost $390 billion during that decade. Still the second largest company behind Exxon Mobil, though.
ROMANS: This is why they call it The Awful Aughts, you know?
ELAM: Yes, it's true.
ROMANS: This was a really tough decade in general. If you just measure even the S&P, the total return on the S&P over the past 10 years, it's negative for the first time in history.
ELAM: Right. So...
ROMANS: Meaning, even adding in your -- your dividends and -- oh...
ELAM: All those things. So it just shows you how rough it has been out there for a lot of companies. And a lot of people (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: All the portfolios. Yes.
ROMANS: Here's to a better decade. ELAM: So you go down, you have to come back up, right?
CHETRY: There you go.
All right, Stephanie, thanks.
ELAM: Sure.
ROMANS: Next on the Most News in the Morning, we'll have the latest on 10 American Baptists being held in Haiti accused of child trafficking. What were they really planning to do when they were caught? Karl Penhaul will have an update.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: It's about 26 minutes after the hour. Top stories only a few minutes away.
But first, a new twist this morning in the case of the American missionaries jailed in Haiti for trying to take 33 children to the Dominican Republic.
CHETRY: Now, all 10 men and women have had a hearing now before a judge in Haiti, and so far they still haven't been charged. But we've uncovered startling new allegations that the group had been told their mission was illegal.
Karl Penhaul has been following all of it. Here's a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They said they were coming to save Haitian orphans in Jesus' name. First they seemed naive but well-intentioned.
But Haitian and Dominican authorities now paint a different picture. They say the Baptist missionaries had no proper paperwork and were, in fact, warned last Friday their so-called mercy mission was illegal.
CARLOS CASTILLO, DOMINICAN CONSUL GENERAL TO HAITI: And I warned her. I said, as soon as you get there no -- without proper documents, you're going to get in trouble because they're going to accuse you, because you have the intent to pass the border without the proper papers, and they're going to accuse you of kid's trafficking.
PENHAUL: But that's very different from what the group's leader, Laura Silsby, told CNN in a jailhouse interview.
LAURA SILSBY, U.S. BAPTIST TEAM LEADER: We went to the Dominican consulate and was told there by the Consulate General to go ahead and head towards the border, that -- that we should be fine to -- to, you know, to -- to pass.
PENHAUL: Less than four hours after they met the consul, Silsby and the other Americans were arrested at the border with 33 Haitian babies and children, accused of child trafficking.
Haitian Steve Adrien, who translated for the group, says he believes any paperwork the Americans had may have been facilitated by Haitian policemen who worked at the Dominican consulate.
STEVE ADRIEN, TRANSLATOR: They met a -- a police guy and told him that he could help, and he was -- he was helping them with some paper.
PENHAUL: A senior Haiti police chief confirms this police officer was taken for questioning about whether he provided illegal travel documents for a bribe.
In a jailhouse interview Saturday and Sunday with CNN, Silsby and the other Americans appear to portray themselves as well-intentioned but naive.
SILSBY: I can tell you our heart and our intent was to help only those children that needed us most, that -- that they had lost either both mother and father.
PENHAUL: But another interpreter working for the missionaries says criteria for selecting the children was not whether they were truly orphans but if they were under age 10.
PENHAUL (on camera): Was Laura well aware that these children were not orphans? Did she know -- did she know they were not orphans but had a parent -- a parent or two parents or...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did she know that she -- that they are -- they were not orphans?
PENHAUL: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
PENHAUL (voice-over): An Austrian charity now caring for the children says it has already confirmed two-thirds of them are not orphans.
Some of the children came from this mountain village of Calebasse. Lelly Laurentus, like other parents we met here, said he was too poor to care for his daughters after the quake. He hoped the Americans would give his girls a better future.
LELLY LAURENTUS (through translator): "I put them both on the bus with the Americans with my own hands. I kissed them both good-bye and told them don't forget daddy," he said.
Police gave CNN permission to talk to the missionaries again in jail Tuesday night to discuss allegations they knowingly flouted the laws here and of taking young children that weren't orphans. But they were in no mood to talk.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
PENHAUL: They drowned out questions with hymns.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Here are your top stories this morning.
Toyota now admitting there's a potential safety issue with its top-selling hybrid, the Prius. The automaker confirming a design flaw with anti-lock braking system was discovered and corrected late last month. There are new questions about millions of other Toyotas that have been recalled. Many safety experts believe an electrical problem and not sticky gas pedals are causing sudden acceleration problems.
A senior intelligence official says a top Taliban operative is believed to have been killed by an American missile in Pakistan. A government official telling the "Associated Press" the terror leader may have been hit by a U.S. predator drone last month. The terror leader has taken responsibility for numerous attacks, including the deadly blast inside a CIA base in Afghanistan last year.
And Music City USA is playing host to a party today, a tea party. Nashville is the site of the first ever national tea party convention getting under way later today. Groups from around the country are gathering to vent their anger at Washington, and they're hoping candidates will reach out for their support. The convention's keynote speaker, Sarah Palin, will speak on Saturday -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Christine, thanks.
Well, you know, as part of our special coverage, "Welcome to the Tea Party," the best political team on television tracking the convention in Nashville all weekend. So, what does the tea party want to accomplish? Who are its leaders? And what do they mean for the future of American politics?
For more, we're bringing in our independent analyst, Jim Avalon, columnist with The Daily Beast. Also, our Jim Acosta, who's been covering the tea party movement extensively.
Great to see both of you this morning.
JOHN AVLON, THEDAILYBEAST.COM: Good to see you.
CHETRY: You're about to head down there, right? You're going to the convention on Friday and getting a firsthand look. Tell me what this convention is all about.
AVLON: Well, this is -- this is sort of a...
CHETRY: What's it being billed as right now?
AVLON: Well, it's being billed as, I think, the first national tea party convention. We've seen this movement appear out of nowhere. A real grassroots movement over the last year that's really managed to capture the debate in American politics. But there are a lot of misconceptions as well.
First of all, this is a leaderless movement. There's a lot of controversy about the fact that this is a for-profit convention. They've lost some speakers.
The other thing is, I think, people conflated the idea of independent voters, who are the largest and fastest growing segment of the electorate. And the tea party protestors, who are significant, but, I think, more of a conservative populist movement than representative of independent voters in general.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
CHETRY: So, would you say that most of the people you talked to -- I said you've been covering this extensively -- are they Republicans...
ACOSTA: They are...
CHETRY: ... that are sort of disenfranchised with mainstream GOP?
ACOSTA: They're in large part Republicans who are disenchanted with the GOP brand, and they're in search of a new brand. And right now, the tea party brand is a hot brand. If you go to these events, you know, and you see these folks with the teabags hanging off of their hats, you know, this is -- this is something that's fun for them, and, you know, it gives them a chance to vent their frustrations.
At the same time, you do see former Democrats out there. You do see independents out there. But, by and large, this is a very conservative movement.
CHETRY: So, let me ask you this: What is the platform? What are some of the biggest concerns? Are we talking fiscal conservatism or we're talking social conservatism?
AVLON: Fiscal conservatism. This began, when, last year, last spring, in February, and then on Tax Day protest in April. This is purely a fiscal conservative movement at this point. These are folks who are saying, "I'm angry at the bailouts, the bailout backlash, the overspending, the growth of government."
And the way they say they're angry at both parties is, they're angry about the overspending and bailouts that began under Bush.
CHETRY: Right.
AVLON: But they weren't taking to the streets under Bush. The real catalyst was Barack Obama and Democratic control of Congress. They're angry at Republicans, too.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: But let me ask you this. So, why aren't they -- why isn't it more of an independent movement? Because many of the independents also say they're very angry at the bailout.
AVLON: Absolutely. And the overlap there is fiscal conservatism. Most important difference is, independents overall are angry at the polarization of the two parties in Washington.
CHETRY: Right.
AVLON: Tea party protesters in general are angry because the parties are polarized enough. They want the Republican Party to be further to the right.
CHETRY: So, there's an element of anger. There was an element of frustration certainly that we're seeing when we just see the rallies. But what do they tell you about what they want to see? What is the change that they want as part of this movement?
ACOSTA: They want to see -- they want to bring fiscal discipline back to Washington. That's what they talk about. They want to see lower deficits. They don't want to see any more bailouts.
They would like to see, you know, some of this unused bailout money to go back to paying off the deficit. That's one specific policy example they'd like to see.
CHETRY: All right. But let me ask you a quick question, because isn't Sarah Palin going to be headlining -- keynoting this?
ACOSTA: Absolutely. Yes.
CHETRY: Sarah Palin also known for her social conservatism certainly.
ACOSTA: That's right.
CHETRY: And her positions...
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: That goes to how disorganized this movement is.
CHETRY: But do they believe that Sarah Palin would be able to get our federal house in order in terms of the budget?
ACOSTA: Absolutely. I think -- I think a scenario could take place in the next couple of years where Sarah Palin is not considered the GOP front-runner for the nomination in 2012. You're going to see tea party folks who want to see her run as a tea party candidate.
Will that be a viable candidacy? I don't know. Will that be a viable effort? Maybe not. But there are people who want to see that happen. Absolutely.
CHETRY: So, there is an element of social conservatism in terms of these issues, pro-life issues, issues relating to gay marriage, other things like that, in addition to the fiscal conservatives.
AVLON: That's right. I mean, a lot of organizers say, "Look, we're libertarian on these issues we're primarily focused," but if you look at the leaders, the people that held up by the tea party protesters, they tend to be both fiscally conservative and socially conservative.
And you can tell the disconnect there between conservative voters and the populist movement in this way: look at Sarah Palin who's the leading figure in the political establishment. You look at Rush Limbaugh, other leaders. These are folks who tend to be hugely popular with conservatives, both fiscal and social.
But if you -- but they're not popular with independents and centrists. And that's where you can see, all of a sudden, this web starting to come. This is really a conservative populist movement.
ACOSTA: And one important thing about this convention we should note this week is that two of the major groups, the Tea Party Express, which ran the big bus tour last year, very popular, very successful, they're not involved in this convention this week; and also, the Tea Party Patriots.
So, you have to keep in mind there are folks inside this movement who don't like the other folks inside this movement.
CHETRY: Right.
ACOSTA: So it's kind of hard to put together a political party in that respect. And that is why you have some folks in the movement saying, no, we just need to gravitate eventually to the GOP, cleanse the GOP, take it over, make it adhere to tea party principles and then go forward.
CHETRY: All right. This is interesting because the Democratic Governors Association blasted that fund-raising email that they sent to supporters, warning that the tea party has become, quote, "a truly dangerous political force."
But how influential -- how much of a difference can they actually make in terms of winning elections for candidates they want?
AVLON: They've been very effective at raising money and rallying supporters. And it depends on the state where the actual voters are. But I think the important thing is -- I mean, this has been a wakeup call in American politics. I think it's a mistake to say Scott Brown's election was all about the tea party.
But these folks are engaged -- they're engaged citizens. They are -- they are reading their Constitution. They are focused on the fundamentals of American politics and engaging in a very old debate, what is the proper role of government? They believe government has grown too far, too fast, and they're angry.
The danger is they went extremes. (INAUDIBLE) where the fringe is starting to blur with the base. The extremes can lead to a major backlash among most Americans, who look at the anger that seems a little unhinged and say that's not me.
ACOSTA: Yes. And that's one thing that could happen on this Crist-Rubio race that happens as well. Crist is banking on the fact that folks might get sort of overdosed on rage and eventually come back to civility in politics. That's what he wants.
CHETRY: And we're talking about the Florida Senate race, which we'll have more on as well throughout the show.
Great talking to you, guys, about this. A lot of folks are asking questions and saying, you know, "what's it all about?" So, you helped sort of shine a light on that.
John Avlon and Jim Acosta, we appreciate it.
We're going to be right back. Right now, it's 38 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Investigators sketched out a terrifying scene at a hearing on last year's deadly plane crash near Buffalo, New York.
CHETRY: Yes. They called it a combination of inattention, confusion, and basic incompetence that caused a plane with 49 people on board to literally fall from the sky.
Now, we're learning the airline that operated the flight may not be doing everything it can to make sure that pilots are on top of their games now.
Our Allan Chernoff has been following this story for more than a year. He brings us the latest this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The safety board concluded that fatigue probably did hurt the performance of the pilots, though it couldn't be blamed for their tragic mistakes that led to the crash.
Now, CNN has learned Colgan Air has been getting tough with crew members who don't go to work because they're tired.
(voice-over): FAA regulations require pilots to be fit for flight. A tired pilot is supposed to call in fatigue.
RANDY BABBITT, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: A pilot has every right -- he has a responsibility to remove himself from flight if he's fatigued.
CHERNOFF: Yet Colgan Air, operator of doomed flight 3407 that crashed a year ago, recently issued a memo to limit fatigue call-ins. Aviation safety experts say that amounts to pilot pushing, pressuring crews to fly whether or not they're fit. The internal Colgan memo states crews may not call in fatigued if they're coming off a break of at least 12 hours.
"The safety department will ultimately determine whether a fatigue call is acceptable or not." The memo threatens: "Blatant abuse of the fatigue option will be addressed as a disciplinary action."
JIM HALL, FMR. NTSB CHAIRMAN: In light of this tragedy, that is certainly a disappointing action on behalf of Colgan Airlines and one that unfortunately is a -- is a very poor (AUDIO BREAK) internal safety culture.
CHERNOFF: Colgan declined to appear on camera but told CNN it's been working with the pilots union on policy. "We are not looking to punish people," said a Colgan spokesperson. "The company is trying to encourage professional behavior."
But it's disturbing to the sister of crash victim Beverly Eckert.
KAREN ECKERT, SISTER OF CRASH VICTIM: There's these buzz words of "blatant abuse," "discipline," "punitive action." And I think the -- those words are what kind of intimidate a pilot who truly is fatigue from calling in because they're going to be judged.
CHERNOFF: The National Transportation Safety Board blamed Captain Marvin Renslow and co-pilot Rebecca Shaw for the errors that caused flight 3407 to stall and crash. But the board's investigation also concluded: "Colgan Air did not proactively address the pilot fatigue hazards."
(on camera): Colgan Captain Mark Segaloff, chairman of the pilots union local, tells CNN Colgan provided the union only three hours' notice of its new policy and that the pilots opposed the, quote, "presumed guilty" approach of the memo.
Now, Segaloff says Colgan and the Airline Pilots Association are working together to revise the fatigue policy. "The goal," he says, "is to make it non-punitive and make Colgan as safe an airline as possible."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Allan Chernoff for us this morning. Wow, it just really makes you think. It makes you think twice before you fly.
ROMANS: It really does. A year later, still uncovering all of the different -- the way this industry works.
All right. It's 44 minutes after the hour. Rob will have the morning's travel forecast right after the break.
CHETRY: That's right. And then, in 10 minutes, they became popular, just as popular as the game itself. We're talking about the Super Bowl ads, and our Jeanne Moos is looking at some of the best of the best.
Forty-four minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Forty-seven minutes past the hour now. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Time for your "A.M. House Call," stories about your health.
The FDA is now seeking additional information from tobacco companies. It's all part of an investigation into certain kinds of smokeless dissolving tobacco products. In letters to the company's manufacturers that manufacturing the products, officials said that they were worried that the brightly colored packaging and flavors like mint and coffee are too much like candy and could be enticing to kids and teens.
Starting today, expectant moms can get pregnancy tips sent directly to their cell phones. The so-called text for baby program is a free mobile service designed to promote safe pregnancy and to curb premature births. You can join it basically by texting baby to 511411. You can get nutrition tips and new motherhood fun facts about baby development and milestones, and these text messages are actually tied to your due date and will continue through your baby's first birthday. How they know your due date, I'm not quite sure of yet, but we'll figure that out.
Also for many of us, the doctor is just a click away. A government study finds more than half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 49 have surfed the Internet to get health information. Researchers say that women were more likely to use online chat groups to learn about specific health topics. Small number of people also say they used the Internet to refill prescriptions and to make appointments with a health care provider. How much do you wish that your doctor e-mailed? I always wished that my doctor could e-mail.
ROMANS: My doctor doesn't e-mail me but I think she would be inundated with dumb questions, right?
CHETRY: Of course.
ROMANS: Just make an appointment and get paid for it.
It is 48 minutes after the hour. Let's get a quick check of the morning's weather headlines. Let's go with Rob Marciano. He is in Atlanta with our weather forecast. Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Christine. Good morning, Kiran. We are looking at a storm that's going to rival, I think, what came through the mid-Atlantic about a month and a month and a half ago. Double barrel low here, and the southern low is going to take charges. Already gathering a decent amount of moisture and that moisture is going to dump heavy rain across the southeast today and then some of that heavy rain is going to move into colder air.
Exact same scenario almost like what we saw in late December. The rain shield already starting to move into Atlanta. Look how consistent it is. Very, very deep moisture with this, and it's only going to get deeper as it continues to tap moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the atlantic, two areas of low pressure. So, a lot of atmospheric energy with this as well. The northern fringe of it through the plains, just a little bit of snow, but once it gets into the northeast, we're looking at a decent amount, and we could see anywhere from 10 to 20 inches in some of these spots.
It may not get all the way to New York. the exact track of this will determine how far north it gets but looks like D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia, pretty good bet as seeing a significant snowstorm beginning tomorrow afternoon and lasting through Saturday. If you are traveling today, Houston and Atlanta are the problem spots. Some freezing drizzle in Minneapolis, where it will be 31 degrees. Expect a high temperature of 36 degrees in New York City, so the cold air in place.
The only question for the Big Apple is does the moisture get all the way there tomorrow night? I know, Kiran, that your kids are hoping for that. Christine, you're a big snow fan as well. So, we'll try to push it north for you.
ROMANS: Yes, together we have four kids that are hoping to go sledding this weekend.
(LAUGHING)
CHETRY: Exactly. Can I drop them off at your house?
Thanks, Rob.
This morning's top stories are just moments away, including at 7:10 Eastern, don't call them Republicans either. CNN is cutting through the noise, taking an in depth look at the tea party movement. Many people feel they've been abandoned by their leaders of their parties in Washington. Why one former rising star of the GOP may fall victim to it.
ROMANS: At 7:55 Eastern, doctors diagnosed with fatigue. Are you at risk because they're overworked? A new push to make sure your doctor stays sharp.
CHETRY: Also at 7:47 Eastern, they don't call it the alligator alley for nothing. Our John Zarrella taking us into the Florida everglades where you can almost get a face -- or you can almost get right to the jaws of some of the kindest gators. Do you believe that, kindest gators?
ROMANS: I'll let John Zarrella and his camera crew show us.
CHETRY: Exactly. That's a very scary sight there, but he's going to show us more coming up at the top of the hour.
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CHETRY: Time now for the "Moost" News in the Morning with Jeanne. Sometimes during the Super Bowl, the bathroom break is actually the big game because no one wants to miss the commercials. ROMANS: That's right and now there are even commercials promoting the ads. Jeanne Moos has a sneak peek of the ones that made the cut and even a few you won't see.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whether it's Doritos in a casket or a video game gone to hell called Dante's inferno.
It's time for those infernal Super Bowl ads and even online previews promoting the ads. Yes, in the third quarter, E-trade has even put outtakes online.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: Why are there any girls here?
UNKNOWN MALE: What are you talking about? Dennis is right behind me.
UNKNOWN MALE: It's Denise.
MOOS: And its Budweiser saying it was going to drop the Clydesdale horses this year then putting an ad featuring them online, so folks could vote to bring them back.
MOOS (on-camera): Football? Who cares about football? 51% of viewers surveyed by Nielsen say they may enjoy the commercials more than they enjoy the game itself.
MOOS (voice-over): Doritos lets you make the commercial. 4,000 submissions were smacked down to 6 finalists.
UNKNOWN CHILD: Keep your hands off my mama. Keep your hands off my Doritos.
MOOS: A pastor dreamed up the one about a guy faking his own death so he could eat Doritos while watching the game.
UNKNOWN MALE: We paid for 70 bags of Doritos.
MOOS: Pastor Erwin McManus says it was inspired by an actual funeral.
ERWIN MCMANUS, PASTOR: And he wanted to be buried with a pack of cigarettes and a can of beer, so they slipped it into the casket.
MOOS: Most popular amateur spots will actually air and could conceivably win a prize of $1 million or more.
UNKNOWN MALE: Anti-bark collar? You want a Doritos, you got to speak.
MOOS: An aspiring filmmaker made this on a shoestring budget.
UNKNOWN MALE: 300 bucks.
MOOS: Rosie the dog takes off her anti-bark collar.
Coke will feature characters from the Simpsons. Dr. Pepper will feature kiss, and mini-kiss, a tribute band made up of little people. Sometimes little tweaks are required. CBS wouldn't allow the tag line in the ad for the Dante's inferno video game, so it was changed to "hell awaits."
What's heavenly in terms of free exposure is having your ad rejected. This year CBS gave the thumbs down to a gay dating service called man crunch. Their hands meet in the snack bowl, and soon they're snacking on each other.
Take that, Kiss.
Jeanne Moos...
UNKNOWN MALE: It's Denise.
MOOS: ... CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: That's my favorite one.
CHETRY: That's mine too.
ROMANS: The dog collar.
CHETRY: Still, we all laugh. That's my favorite one.
Still ahead, your top stories, 90 seconds. Right now, it's 58 minutes past the hour.
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