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American Morning

The President's Economic Plan; As Ohio Goes, So Goes America; Qu'ran Burning Controversy; Encouraging Calm; The Tea Party's A Sure Thing; Bed Intruder Tune; Cutting to the Carbs

Aired September 07, 2010 - 08:00   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Good morning. Tuesday, September 7. I'm Drew Griffin in for John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us this morning.

We have a lot to talk about. We have some new polls out this morning on where people may go as we are in the big run-up to the midterm elections.

And the president is trying to turn the economy around, preparing to unveil plan featuring $200 billion in tax cuts for small businesses. But a new CNN poll shows that more and more voters are turning to Republicans to handle the economic crisis.

GRIFFIN: The CNN Election Express rolling into Ohio this morning where so many jobs have been lost at the state. Usually comfort zone for Democrats, wow it's a danger zone. It's been said, as Ohio goes, so goes America. And right now Ohio could be turning crimson.

CHETRY: The end of Ramadan falling on 9/11. And for that reason, many Muslims are choosing to avoid backlash and observe the holiday on Friday instead. One leader says he fears there will be more controversy ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EBOO PATEL, INTERFAITH YOUTH CORE: A mother came up to me at my Muslim house of worship earlier this week and said to me, Eboo, when will my 8 and 10-year-old sons stop being bullied on the playground because of their names, Ahmed and Akbar? And what I said to her is very soon. Very soon. Because the forces of inclusion in America have always defeated the forces of intolerance. And they will defeat the forces of intolerance again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, coming up, we're going to hear from the Islamic community about how they are hoping to change people's perceptions of their religion.

GRIFFIN: And we'd like to hear from you right now. The amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation right now. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX. CHETRY: With the midterm elections just two months away now, President Obama has a plan to energize American businesses and ultimately save jobs, including perhaps his own. Tomorrow in Cleveland, the president will unveil his ideas for jump-starting our economy -- a tax cut for small businesses, 100 percent write-off for new investments and plans and equipment.

GRIFFIN: It comes with a price tag, though, $200 billion. The idea behind it: to allow America's business owners to keep more cash now when they need it most.

Ed Henry live at the White House this morning.

Ed, why do Democrats expect this plan to succeed?

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Drew, it's a good question because it's not even clear if Congress is going to bring it up before the elections. But it's clear that this White House is under pressure to come up with some new economic plans.

Also interesting, the president's aides keep saying, look, there's not going to be a second stimulus plan. And yet, when you add this up, we are -- you know, on Sunday, we learned $100 billion tax credit for businesses on research and development. Yesterday, the president was in Milwaukee talking about $50 billion in infrastructure spending. Now new details this morning, a $200 billion tax cut on buying a -- you know, building new plans, buying new equipment. Very interesting because in the face of this Republican criticism that he spent too much money, the president, as he laid out in Milwaukee yesterday, in a fiery speech, really seems to be taking it to the Republicans, saying despite your criticism, I'm moving ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's been at the heart of what we've been doing over these last 20 months: building our economy on a new foundation so that our middle class doesn't just survive this crisis. I want it to thrive. I want it to be stronger than what it was before.

And over the last two years that's meant taking on some powerful interests -- some powerful interests that have been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time. And they're not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog.

(CHEERING)

OBAMA: That's not in my prepared remarks. It is just -- but it's true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Talk about me like a dog -- an unscripted moment from the president. Why is he fired up? Why this flurry of economic proposals all of a sudden? Look at our latest polling, CNN/Opinion Research Corporation. Which party can do a better job in handling the economy? Big flip against this president.

Look back to August of '09: 39 percent said the Republicans do a better job, 52 percent said Democrats. June of this year, 48 percent said Republicans do a better job, 45 percent said Democrats. Now, 46 percent say Republicans would do a better job, only 43 percent saying Democrats would do a better job.

Now, pretty close, both under 50 percent. Neither party getting high accolades, if you will. But a big flip from last summer when this president was in a much stronger position -- Drew, Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Ed Henry for us at the White House this morning -- thanks so much.

GRIFFIN: Yes. Thanks, Ed.

As Ohio goes, so goes the nation. It's an overused old cliche, of course, but it happens to be true. Right now, things aren't going so well there for the Democrats.

CHETRY: Yes. That's why they call it the swing state. So many times, it is the deciding factor.

GRIFFIN: Oh, I thought it was because of the dance.

CHETRY: No.

GRIFFIN: Anyway.

CHETRY: No. I think your state dance might be something else.

But we'll get onboard the Election Express right now. Our chief national correspondent, John King -- see, John knows all these little factoids. I bet he knows the state dance of Ohio.

Even Columbus this morning --

GRIFFIN: He's found the magic board -- the magic board political dance.

CHETRY: But -- you know, we are talking about this big --

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How about the Buckeye waltz?

CHETRY: Did he say the wall?

GRIFFIN: Buckeye waltz.

CHETRY: Oh, the Buckeye waltz. There you go.

GRIFFIN: You do it backwards.

CHETRY: But seriously, this battle for control of Congress and once again, we're talking about the state of Ohio.

KING: Drew and Kiran, if you could study one state from now to Election Day, this is probably a good state to pick, if that's all could you do because you have everything here that's at stake in this national election dynamic.

Number one: the battle for Congress. There's a big Senate seat here. Now, this is one the Republicans need to hold. Their incumbent Republican, George Voinovich, is retiring. If Republicans are going to get the 10 seats they need, the 10-seat net gain to take control of the Senate, they have to hold on their current seats.

This is a great race here. You have Rob Portman. He used to be in the Congress. He used to be the Bush trade representative and the Bush budget director. He is the Republican nominee, running against longtime statewide official, Lee Fisher, who has been in Ohio politics for decades.

And so, the Democrats are saying, why would you want go back to a guy who worked for Newt Gingrich in Congress and who worked for George W. Bush? You don't want to do that. And yet, Rob Portman has opened a comfortable lead.

You have you the governor's race where have you an incumbent Democrat, Ted Strickland, who and the president is studying this race very closely, an incumbent chief executive and tough economic times, double digit unemployment, Ted Strickland was head if we want in the polling six months or so ago. He now is losing in this race as we see a Republican tide in Ohio.

Who is he losing to? John Kasich, used to be a Republican congressman in the Gingrich days, was the budget committee chairman, also worked for Lehman Brothers in the private sector. And the Democrats thought they could use that against him, say here's this guy with ties to Wall Street. John Kasich is ahead right now. More evidence of the Republican tides.

And there are a handful of House Democrats in this state of Ohio being targeted by the Republicans. If the Republicans are to make a son of Ohio, John Boehner, the next speaker of the House, watch this state on Election Day. They need to pick up two, three, maybe as many as four of those Democratic seats.

So, everything is at play here. And as you were just talking with Ed Henry, the overriding issue, without a doubt, is the economy.

GRIFFIN: And, John, the president is going to come to Ohio tomorrow. He's going to talk about trying to pass his, quote-unquote, "jobs bill" -- an idea for this son of stimulus and at the same time, blame the Republicans who controlled no part of the government at this moment for blocking his proposals. Is that a message that could possibly resonate there?

KING: Drew, you just hit on a very, very, very critical point right there. You know what? People do say the Republicans are to blame, as much if not more than the Democrats for the bad economy, for getting it in the mess. But at the moment, the Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress. And the voters get that. And they tend to punish party in charge on Election Day.

Is it a winning message for president? That's not even really his goal right now. The goal right now for the White House is to stop the bleeding, is to try to stop this election from trending away from them, which it is doing today and has been doing, across what the White House promised would be a "Recovery Summer."

People just don't feel it. They may be the stock market goes up one day, but they don't feel it. They are still seeing foreclosures. They're still seeing unemployment. They're still may be underemployed, working part time when they wanted full time.

So, the president's biggest message -- Ed made a great point a moment ago -- he can't get this stuff passed by the Congress before Election Day. His biggest message is to get at the psychology of the economy and economy of politics, saying, look, we are trying. It's getting better slowly.

The president is trying to convince the people of Ohio and across the country that he is closer to their goals, that he's more on their side than the Republicans. Is it a winning message? You know, at the moment, you just follow the trends. The president is losing ground and this is a very tough state, very important state in eight weeks and a very important state for this president when he's seeking re- election, Drew and Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes. And we checked in with T.J. and he told us, you know, month after month, the unemployment rate in the state of Ohio keeps ticking up, up, up. It's not obviously the trend they want to see. So, when you make the argument here, we're going to put billions of dollars into creating some jobs, jobs that, you know, could possibly be started quite soon, that sounds good. And you look out at the macro level, and lot of people feel, like the Republicans do, that we need to stop spending.

So, it seems like it's a difficult balance for the president and for the party in charge right now.

KING: And what's been hard for all of the politicians this year, on both parties, is to realize that the old playbook doesn't seem to apply.

We've seen Republicans Senator Lisa Murkowski up in Alaska just got beat by the Tea Party's Joe Miller. She did what politicians have done for decades. She went home and she said, hey, look, I'm the person who brings home the money for the roads and the bridges and the courthouse. You need me in Washington to bring home the money.

But every family in America went through the turmoil of 2007, 2008 and 2009. They've had to cancel vacations, maybe they're unemployed, maybe their house went underwater. And so, that old message of, "I'm going to go to Washington and spend taxpayer dollars or bring tax dollars home to you," doesn't seem to be working. The stimulus is the case in point. The White House can cite statistic after statistic saying it kept the economy from getting worse, and in some places, made things a little better. Voters don't feel that. They just don't see it. When they look around, they still see an economic mess and they see all the red ink in Washington.

And so, the old playbook that we usually go back to in politics, this might be one of those years where it just doesn't apply. And for the Democrats, they're starting to worry, no matter what they do, it just does be matter.

GRIFFIN: All right, John, thanks a lot.

And be sure to catch "JOHN KING, USA: Election Road Trip" tonight at 7:00. Our chief national correspondent gears up for the midterms by visiting three key battleground states: Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Ohio -- tonight at 7:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

CHETRY: Meanwhile, stay with AMERICAN MORNING as well all week. We're going to be breaking down the race with the best political team on television. Tomorrow, we are in Covington, Kentucky. Thursday, it's on to Indianapolis, with more coverage from T.J. Holmes on the Election Express, as well as John King, Dana Bash, Jessica Yellin and Gloria Borger.

GRIFFIN: Happening right now at Boulder, Colorado -- an out of control wildfire is burning dozens of homes to the ground, 3,500 acres. At least 1,000 people evacuated and classes have been canceled at the schools. Crews say strong winds fanning the flames. So far, no injuries, but they don't expect this fire to be contained for several more days.

CHETRY: Also, to Texas now. South parts of Texas is getting hit pretty hard by the Tropical Storm Hermine. Our Rob Marciano says about half of the state and Oklahoma now under a flash flood watch. That's through tomorrow.

After that, the fear that this tropical storm, with its 65-plus- mile-per hour winds could actually spawn tornadoes. The state is under a tornado watch as well. That extends until 1:00 this afternoon, Central Time.

GRIFFIN: Yes. Let's get the latest on this from Rob Marciano in the weather center -- Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Drew and Kiran, just checking some of the observations around Corpus Christi, (INAUDIBLE). So, they're really getting hammered right now. Pounded, as a matter of fact. Just north of Corpus Christi, towards Rockport, seeing winds gust 40, 50 miles an hour.

The actual center of the storm is right here. So, just west of Corpus Christi now and it's heading to the -- north-northwest at about 18, 19 miles an hour. So, we're happy that it's moving relatively quickly because it's bringing in quite a bit of moisture. And, as you mentioned, we are going to see that flash flood watch that's in effect for a good chunk of Texas.

And this tornado watch, everything on the right side of the systems will have a little bit more twist to 'em. So, tornadoes are distinct possibility as we go through time.

So, this thing has popped up out of nowhere seemingly and that's the danger of this part -- time of year. These white blocks are the forecast for how much rain we think is going to drop in that area. It could very well be up and over 10 inches in spots.

The other issue today is dry air. And across Colorado, we do have red flag warnings that are posted up, mostly for the eastern part of that state. Not including Boulder. But the winds aren't going to be exactly dry or light in Boulder either as firefighters continue to battle that blaze in the rugged terrain just west of the city.

Back to you guys in New York.

CHETRY: Rob Marciano checking it all for us. Thanks so much.

MARCIANO: You bet.

CHETRY: We have been cover thing story as well today: the end of Ramadan. It's the month of fasting that usually includes food, singing and dancing to mark the end.

GRIFFIN: Right.

CHETRY: It's one of the most festive holidays. But it may not be this year, because of an uncomfortable coincidence, the holiday falls on September 11th. A lot of Muslims concerned because of the anti-Islam backlash that we've seen, the Ground Zero -- the Ground Zero mosque and cultural center, as well as this playing out in other parts of the country as well.

So, what is the plan for the end of Ramadan? Mary Snow checks it out -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: We have new developments this morning surrounding that plan to burn the copies of the Qu'ran at a Florida church. May have seen the interview earlier today. The top military commander in Afghanistan is blasting the idea. General David Petraeus says that it could put troops at even the mission in Afghanistan at risk.

KIRAN CHERTY, CNN ANCHOR: we spoke to the pastor of the outreach center about stopping the event because of the general's criticism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY JONES, PASTOR DOVE OUTREACH WORLD CENTER: We are definitely weighing the situation. We are weighing the thing that we are about to do. What it possibly could cause. What is our actual message, what are we trying to get across. How important is that to us right now. That is very, very important that America wakes up. It is very important that our president wakes up. It is very important that we see the real danger of radical Islam. And that's when we are talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERTY: Well Dr. Terry Jones also said that he realizes that burning the Muslim holy book is, in fact, offensive to people. He says that the church's message targets, quote, "radical Islam."

GRIFFIN: Well apparently he doesn't care. So new developments around Muslims this morning, and they are observing Ramadan. The holy month ends with a celebration usually. Well this year the holiday falls almost nine years to the day on the worst terror attacks on American soil.

CHERTY: Yes and tensions are especially high this year. As you know, we have been covering this growing controversy over plans to build an Islamic center mosque two blocks north of the ground zero site in New York City. Mary Snow joins us now to talk more about how Muslims are trying to avoid more of a back lash. And so for what people don't understand, unlike, let's say Christmas, its December 25th every single year, Ramadan and the end of Ramadan, known as eve, falls depending what, the moon, as well as, the lunar calendar.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDNET: Right, lunar calendar. And this eve has not fallen on 9/11 any time we know of. So this is a new situation. And there is a concern among Muslims any celebrations to mark the end of Ramadan could be misconstrued. In some cases events have been canceled or moved so they won't coincide with the anniversary of September 11th.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): Afternoon prayers at the Islamic center of Long Island. As Ramadan draws to a close later this week, these worshipers are being advised to tone down what's usually a celebratory occasion.

SAJID SHAH, PRES., ISLAMIC CENTER OF LONG ISLAND: After 30 days of fasting, you know, this is the month that ended our celebration.

SNOW (on camera): How will it be different this year?

SHAH: This year, will be a little different. You know, we are not celebrating the way we suppose to do, normally would do.

SNOW: Because?

SHAH: Because of 9/11.

SNOW (voice-over): The end of Ramadan or eve, depending on the moon Thursday night, falls on either Friday or Saturday which is September 11th. But many Muslim have decided to mark it on Friday. Imam Al-Amin Abdul Latif is the head of the Islamic leadership counsel in New York, an umbrella group of Muslim organizations. IMAM AL-AMIN ABDUL LATIF, MAILLIS ASH-SHURA: I guess people may think, we look at it as a protest, you know, against people who may be celebrating.

SNOW: One Muslim says for example, they celebrate eve at six flags park. This year organizers have been careful not to celebrate on September 11th. It comes against backdrop over anger about the proposed Islamic center near ground zero. And protests at other mosques around the country. Muslims are trying to send out their own message like this public service announcement created through grassroots efforts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to take over this country.

SNOW: One Muslim leader who worked with an interfaith youth group in Chicago says he feels the attitude towards Muslims this year is unlike any other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frankly, I have not felt this fearful. A mother came up to me at my Muslim house of worship earlier this week and said to me, Ibu, when will my 8 and 10-year-old sons stop being bullied on the playground because of their names Amad and Akbad? And what I said to her, is very soon, very soon, because the forces of inclusion in America have always defeated the forces of intolerance. And they will defeat the forces of intolerance again.

SNOW: This 9/11, this mosque in Westbury, New York, will dedicate a peace garden with other clergy. But it is also asked local police for protection following suspicious incident of broken windows at the mosque. Imam Latif says his group is also decided not to hold a counter protest Saturday supporting the Islamic center near ground zero after the families of 9/11 victims requested they not hold a rally.

LATIF: We've been encouraging our people to be calm, to be patient, to be firm and be strong, and to reach out, you know.

SNOW: And this Islamic center is opening its doors to open houses with the aim of promoting understanding.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And underscoring fears of concerns nationwide, the Islamic society of North America's is hosting a meeting today with clergy members of other faiths in Washington. The group says leaders will address, what it calls, the growing tide of fear and intolerance submerged and the debate over the Muslim community center plan their ground zero. It has been heightened , of course, by a Florida church's plans we pointed out to burn copies of the Qu'ran on Saturday.

CHETRY: Yes, when you have, I mean General David Petraeus weighing in and saying this is not going to help our cause in any way, this is not going to help our soldiers that are fighting overseas, you know, it gives you pause. Certainly and we talked to the reverend. He said they are praying about it. Sort of left the door open to not do it but he wouldn't say that.

SNOW: Uh huh, yes and very tense times. A lot of the Muslim mosques that we -- we are talking about, too, are going to have the open house on Saturday. Also some groups are calling for a national day of service.

GRIFFIN: Good stuff, thanks, Mary.

SNOW: Sure.

GRIFFIN: Well remember the Gregory brothers, these were the two New York siblings who, they remix news clips to make music. Now they have a hit record about an unlikely topic, attempted rape. The viral video has become a top hit, cracking the billboard, top 100 chart. We are going to talk to them live coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Now an "A.M. Original," something you are only going to see right here on AMERICAN MORNING with the election campaigns season now raising into high gear, we are going to take a close look at the controversial tea party movement and its potential impact on these midterm elections.

CHETRY: Yes Jim Acosta is in Atlanta, this is the second installment of our series, "Make Room for the Tea Party." I remember when you did "Welcome to the Tea Party," a few months back. And it is interesting though, Jim, because, when people are polled, many have a decisively negative or decisively positive view of the tea party. Right now, only a quarter of people don't - or haven't heard of it or are not sure.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean, we have seen a natural progression of this movement, right. Since President Obama went into office, we saw people showing up at rallies. Now we are at the point the tea party is starting to back candidates and some pretty close congressional races. And nearly all of the candidates that we have seen so far who are backed by the tea party movement are in tight races. But that's not the case in Utah where Republican Mike Lee is almost the tea party sure thing. Lee's conservative views are straight out of the tea party movement's doctrine. You hear so much about the tea party saying that they want to defend the constitution. Well guess what. Tea partiers like Mike Lee want to change the constitution in some cases, and they are even talking about privatizing some pretty, you know, dearly held programs in this country like social security.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE LEE, (R) UTAH US SENATE CANDIDATE: George Washington was the original tea party man.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Vowing to bring a tea party revolution to Washington the republican running for the U.S. senate in Utah, Mike Lee, is a fire breathing defender of what's become the bible to this political movement, the U.S. constitution. LEE: I hereby pledge to you I will not vote for a single bill that I can't justify based on the text on original understanding of the constitution --

ACOSTA: But at the same time, Lee, a lawyer who once clerked for Supreme Court Justice, Sam Alito, also talks about changing the constitution. Lee says he would alter the 14th amendment, taking away automatic citizenship for people born in the U.S. He also supports amendments requiring balanced budgets and term limits for congress.

(on camera): You talk about defending the constitution, but yet, you want to change the constitution. Isn't there a contradiction there?

LEE: Not at all. The constitution made to be amended from time to time. Sometimes we have to do that in order to make the constitution more true to American dream.

ACOSTA (voice-over): He has even questioned the 17th amendment which allows voters to directly elect senators. Something state law makers used to do.

LEE: People will be better off if their senators when they deliver their messages to Washington remember the sovereignty of the states.

ACOSTA: And Democrats like to point out that Lee also favors privatizing social security.

LEE: So it's really unpopular thing to be the bad guy, to come along and say, we have to roll that back. We have to phase it out.

ACOSTA (on camera): Roll it back and phase it out?

LEE: Phase it out and rolling them back --

ACOSTA: Phase out in Social Security?

LEE: These are options we could consider.

Take a guy like me who's not extreme, I'm mainstream. What they see is what they get.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Salt Lake City food distributor Sam Granato is the long shot Democrat in the race. He's trying to exploit hard feelings among some Utah Republicans who are still mad at the tea party for backing Lee over the more moderate incumbent senator Bob Bennett for the GOP nomination.

SAM GRANATO, (D) UTAH U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Since the ouster of Senator Bennett, I have had more Republicans, moderate Republicans, calling, coming to help us.

ACOSTA: Like Senator Bennett's son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we tried to get Bob Bennett, to speak to the tea party, they said he is not welcome here.

ACOSTA: But other Republicans like Whit Lund are looking forward, not back.

WHIT LUND, LEE SUPPORTER: This would be Harry Reid and Pelosi.

ACOSTA (on camera): You are that angry?

LUND: "Ticked off" would be a better term.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Just like the tea party, Mike Lee wants to poll a Republican Party as far to the right as he can. And that might work and reliably red Utah.

ACOSTA (on camera): You're looking for one tea party guy to get in there and probably going to be Mike Lee.

KIRK JOWERS, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH POLITICAL ANALYST: Mike Lee is a lock unless the unthinkable happens.

LEE: This is the year we take that power back. It belongs to us. Let's bring about that change and it all starts right here.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The question is whether lee's tea party principles will work in Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And during our interview we should point out, Lee did back away from his talk that phasing out Social Security. That has been the case with other tea party candidates out there who have talked about the very same thing.

His campaign website, we should point out, says he still favors a systemic overhaul in Social Security. And as for the 17th Amendment giving the people the power to elect their senators, Lee told me he does not think that will be dropped from the constitution in our lifetime.

So it sounds good out on the campaign trail, Drew and Kiran, but it is not necessarily something that Mike Lee will be able to pull off in Washington if he gets there.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jim, thanks for that report tomorrow. And Jim will profile Florida's Marco Rubio, once the darling of the tea party, but is he no longer towing that party line?

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Also, there is exactly now eight weeks to go until Election Day, and a lot of eyes are on Pennsylvania, a state that Democrats usually consider safe, but not now. Pennsylvania is in play this fall.

GRIFFIN: And the best political team on television had to cover 24/7. The CNN election express this morning is in Columbus, Ohio. And that's where we find senior political analyst Gloria Borger. Gloria, you spoke with the Pennsylvania voters yesterday. Pennsylvania is one of those states that Republicans always salivate over that this is going to be the year, and I'm wondering if this is going to be the year, Gloria.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, they have a better shot here this year than they really have had in years past. I mean, remember in the 2008 election, Barack Obama won Pennsylvania by ten points.

But now, you know, there are lots of disaffected Democrats in the state of Pennsylvania. We were lucky enough to be in Pittsburgh yesterday, go to a Labor Day parade and talk to a bunch of people. And you found some varying points of view, some willing to give Barack Obama some more time. And some saying, you know, this isn't really what I expected. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD DIFIORE, COFFEE SHOP OWNER: I would like to see the Congress try to do things more to help people get real good jobs and make them work. I don't want them to give out more handouts, give more extensions on workers comp and unemployment, and things like that. I want people to start working again.

BORGER (on camera): And o you think Republican control would mean that?

DIFIORE: I think -- like I said, I'm a Democrat -- conservative. I mean, if it is Democrat or Republican, it is about going to work, not being lazy. It's about getting out there and producing something, being proud of yourself and being proud of your family and being proud of telling your family how hard you work and how hard you are working to try to make things right for them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are a lot of people that are very unhappy with the state of the situation. But again, it us a long time to get here and it's going to take us a while to get back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORGER: So you hear, she's willing to give the Democratic Congress and the president the time they need, which is exactly what the Democrats want. But you heard the owner of the coffee shop there, he is like, you know what, this isn't the change this I expected. I don't like it, too much big government for me.

And you know, he told me, he's ready to vote Republican this time.

CHETRY: You know, it seems -- some of the -- I guess professional odds makers on this who follow the House closely are sort of revising some of their expectations and predictions, saying that, you know, this can easily be a GOP takeover of the House. How does that affect Democrat leaders and Democrats when they hear it? And what can they do?

BORGER: Well, they're really, obviously, they are panic stricken and nervous and trying to figure out right now which races they ought to put their money in and which races they ought to cut their losses on. Those are very, very difficult decisions to make.

The Democrats have money to spend. But, Kiran, the problem is, when you see a tidal wave coming at you, sometimes even the money that you have got isn't going to stop it. So you know, a lot of tough decisions down the road for them.

But they are -- the Democrats that I talked to are quite, quite nervous now. They do not want to lose control of the House, and there's some talk that the Senate is in play. Nobody would have thought that six months ago, nobody.

GRIFFIN: All right.

CHETRY: Gloria Borger for news Ohio next door to Pennsylvania. Thanks so much.

GRIFFIN: I want to remind you for the most political news -- she saying it is gorgeous. It looks gorgeous today. So are you, Gloria. Thanks. Go to CNN.com/ticker for Gloria's reporting and all the reporting with the CNN Election Express and the best political team on television.

CHETRY: Meantime, remember the Gregory brothers, the New York siblings that remix news clips to music? One of their latest viral videos has become a pop hit, cracking the billboard hot 100 chart. But it is not without controversy. We will be speaking to them live to show you a little bit of this new video out, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, it started out as a news report about a break-in, alleged assault of a young woman. It was the victim's brother who caught the attention of thousands, and then millions on YouTube.

The video went viral after was auto-tuned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: "The Bed Intruder Song," as it's called, even making the rare web to mainstream jump, now number 92 on the billboard's top 100 charts.

Despite its fans, the video is not without its critics. Joining me to discuss their hit, part of the team behind the auto-tune version, Evan and Michael Gregory. Thanks for joining us, you guys.

MICHAEL GREGORY, AUTO-TUNE MAKER: Thanks for having us.

GRIFFIN: And there have been 18 million hits, unbelievable. The question I have is, are you laughing with this guy or at him? MICHAEL GREGORY: I think what everybody was really astounded by was how an won mixed his outrage, his righteous anger, with humor to bring attention to a really serious situation. It's really important we don't lose sight of the situation from which this arose. It is also OK to have this on your iPod.

CHETRY: It is interesting. We've had you guys on a few times. It was auto-tuning the news and you used different news clips. It was pretty funny. How did this one -- what made you decide to pick this one? And how did it take off the way it has that now it is licensed on iTunes? They are going to be playing it on radio stations around the country.

EVAN GREGORY, AUTO-TUNE MAKER: It was already a wild internet sensation before we touched it. Antoine's original interview was quite popular. So we actually built a fan base over time for the different video and music mash-ups we do. And they brought this clip to us. Our fans said hey, have you seen this yet? Why don't you take a look?

GRIFFIN: So when you took a look, did you think that -- rape, bed intruder, no, maybe we shouldn't do this? Or did you think wow, great stuff to work with?

MICHAEL GREGORY: I hesitated for a moment. I heard the melody within Antoine's magnetic personality. And I thought that this needed to be translated into a song. And it happened. It just happened.

GRIFFIN: You get money for it, right? And he will get money?

EVAN GREGORY: So far we've all made zero dollars, approximately zero dollars.

CHETRY: Approximately zero dollars.

(LAUGHTER)

MICHAEL GREGORY: Yes, but a couple of months from now we will have made probably more than zero dollars. The deal that was struck with Antoine is to split it 50/50 down the middle. He's not only a co-performer of this song but also a co-writer.

CHETRY: You had to get his permission and he gave you guys permission. There were people that were upset saying -- apparently when it ran, when the original story ran at the local affiliate they got a bunch of calls at the station saying this makes me uncomfortable, reinforcing stereotypes. The flipside is that he was OK with it. He wanted it. He wanted you to get this out there.

EVAN GREGORY: This is an opportunity for at least something positive to come out of a terrible situation. And within a few months, we will have made -- and Antoine will have made between zero dollars and $1 trillion.

MICHAEL GREGORY: That is more than zero dollars. CHETRY: Do you have to say I like that because that's how iTune cycle? Technically, what will you make, like a couple hundred thousand?

EVAN GREGORY: It could be in that range. We won't know until the accounting comes out. But it has hit the billboard of top 100. That in turn generates more exciting attention. People are hearing it in dance clubs around the country, which is pretty amazing.

GRIFFIN: What's next? Do you start looking for more and more outrageous scenarios to apply your music to? Or is this just a one- off happenstance?

MICHAEL GREGORY: We have been doing a series called "Auto-Tune the News" for a while, and we will continue do that. We have one coming out on except 14th that will be taking people from the floor of Congress. We may take Obama's speeches. So have been doing news for a while. We will just take whatever comes our way.

CHETRY: Is there a possibility that Antoine could end up being a millionaire because of this?

EVAN GREGORY: It is probably likely that he will hit the million dollar mark with this one. But I wouldn't discredit him or underestimate him either. Antoine is savvy and has already been making money. He will start his own business based on the notoriety that he got from the original interview then combined with the phenomenon of this song.

CHETRY: How about the double rainbow video? This was another big one. This is the guy who had a very extreme reaction, I guess, you could say to seeing a double rainbow. That's a YouTube hit as well. What are you guys doing with that?

MICHAEL GREGORY: That's another case of a melody that I heard right off the bat. I could have co-written that in my sleep. And we wanted to translate the excitement over the rainbow.

EVAN GREGORY: It is another case of an outstanding personality where people connected to the double rainbow video because of the emotion that Paul, the witness to the most famous double rainbow sighting in history, that he exhibited. He was just floored with awe, and it was his natural reaction to the power of nature and that's the same kind of emotion and star power that people connect to in the song. Just like if it were a pop hit on the charts.

GRIFFIN: All right. Guys thanks for coming in. I appreciate it.

GREGORY: Thanks for having us.

CHETRY: It's amazing, 92 in Billboard chart. That's pretty surreal. Well, anyway, congrats. Thanks for coming in this morning.

GREGORY: Thank you. GRIFFIN: Thanks, guys. Hold the bacon and bring on the peanut butter. Which low-carb diets may help you live longer? Elizabeth Cohen coming up.

CHETRY: And Hermine heads inland bringing a serious flooding threat to parts of Texas. We're checking in with Rob Marciano to see where the storm is going next.

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ROB MARCIANO, AMS MARCIANO: There it is. Night-time video coming to you from South Padre Island, the South Texas coastline is just getting hammered with tropical storm Hermine which developed quickly yesterday. It made landfall quickly, just south of Brownsville, Texas. And they are still getting beat up a little bit this morning across the lower Texas coastline.

Good morning, everybody. And let's show you where tropical storm Hermine is; just about -- well, just about 50 miles or so due west of Corpus Christi.

So we're seeing winds 30, 40 miles an hour and gusting certainly in here and even some flash flood watches that have been posted and a couple of warnings also. All of this is heading north and northwest at about 18 to 20 miles an hour. The good news is its really moving relatively quickly but it has a tremendous amount of moisture with this.

And so the issues are going to be some flooding over the next 12 to 24 hours. The other issue is the fact that we've a tornado watches that are out for this area as well for the next -- well, until 1:00 this afternoon. Everything to the right side of the system is going to see the potential for seeing tornadoes drop.

As far as the stats on it, 50-mile-an-hour winds right now. Of course it's going to weaken as it continues over land but nonetheless, a decent amount of moisture that will get into not only northern Texas but in through parts of Oklahoma and then eventually this will move over towards Arkansas, too.

The rest of the U.S. looking pretty nice on the East Coast, we're still watching dry air and some windy conditions out west. Fire dangers still high and they're battling the one just north and west of (INAUDIBLE).

That's a quick check on the weather. AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.

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GRIFFIN: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning -- finely tuned as you just say. If you're on a low-carb high protein diet, a new study suggests you may live longer if that protein is vegetable- based rather than animal based.

CHETRY: Elizabeth Cohen joins us from Atlanta with this morning's "Fit Nation" report. So what does it say about the differences in terms of protein diets -- Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh Kiran, there are huge differences. I think, a lot of people when they go on protein diets we think, great I can eat steak and cheeseburger. Well, you can except that it might not be so good for your heart.

What this study found -- it was done out of Harvard University -- is that when folks went on a protein diet and they made that protein- all animal based like steaks or hamburgers or foods like that, they had a 14 percent increased risk of dying from heart disease and a 28 percent increase risk of dying from cancer.

However, if on the other hand they made that protein more vegetable-based, not completely but more vegetable-based they had a much lower chance base of getting cancer or dying from heart disease -- Kiran and Drew?

GRIFFIN: You know for people that -- one of the only things they liked about these low-carb diets was getting that steak. I mean, seriously what are the alternatives?

COHEN: Right, that was kind of the whole point. And so let's take a look at the alternatives. And then I'm going to talk to you about what the Atkins people have to say about this.

Here are some of the alternatives. Instead of having -- you can have a hamburger which is 26 grams of protein and has 20 grams of fat. Or you could have a black bean burger which is 11 grams of protein and four gram of fat. So you can see there is a huge difference there. And if you want to get more protein you can just have two of these burgers.

And let's take a look at this. A hamburger, again, 26 grams of protein and 20 grams of fat or you can have a serving of lentil which is 18 grams of protein and one gram of fat. You can see the differences are huge.

We asked the Atkins folks about this. We said look, this study shows that when people go on your diet, and eat a lot of animal-based protein, their hearts don't do so well and nor does their cancer risk. Here's what they had to say basically they said look, "We have tested this diet many, many times and we have found that people lose weight and have improvements in cholesterol levels." That's what the Atkins people had to say.

CHETRY: You know the other -- part of it is just being a smart consumer as well. There's many different types of ground beef. You can get 80 percent lean. You know, you can get 93 percent or 95 percent lean.

The other problem -- when you are trying to look at this -- I tried to help my dad with this. He is diabetic and he's trying to eat a little bit more protein but he doesn't need the fat and sugar. Oftentimes with the veggie burgers they put a ton of salt in it because it doesn't taste as good, obviously. So isn't part of it just being a savvy consumer, making sure you're reading these labels?

Cohen: Absolutely. You need ask your doctor what kind of numbers am I looking for? How many milligrams of sodium should I be eating a day? And then reading the labels and we should all feel lucky that we really have pretty clear labels in this country. It is there for you to read. You should read it.

GRIFFIN: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks a lot.

COHEN: Thanks.

CHETRY: You still want the steak, that's the problem.

GRIFFIN: I mean come on, you want a bean burger or a steak?

CHETRY: A steak.

GRIFFIN: Please.

CHETRY: May not the best thing for us, though.

GRIFFIN: All right. It is 56 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.

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CHETRY: All right. I have often asked this to drew, how many chicken wings do you think you could eat in 12 minutes?

GRIFFIN: I don't know. Maybe 182.

CHETRY: Four. Well, we'll see because Sonya Thomas, known as the black widow of competitive eating. She is just 100 pounds, by the way. There she is, you can barely see her between all those huge dudes.

GRIFFIN: Where is she?

Chetry: She won. She ate 181 wings in just 12 minutes to take the title at the Buffalo Wing Festival this weekend. There is our buddy, Joey Chestnut, by the way. He is the one that wins the Nathan's hotdog eating contest every year. Well, he lost this one.

Sonya set a world record. She beat out Joey Chestnut. And so now, under her belt, she has records for cheesecake, for oysters, which I may be able to do, raw oysters, hard boiled eggs -- I don't know how she gets those down -- and Jalapeno pepper.

GRIFFIN: That just sounds like a recipe for disaster.

CHETRY: Well, for her it's a recipe for money on the competitive eating circuit.

GRIFFIN: I guess so. If you want to talk more about Kiran and what she can eat, continue this conversation with our blog at cnn.com/amfix. She'll be there all morning.

CHETRY: Just don't tell Elizabeth Cohen, whatever you do.

GRIFFIN: Yes, really.

CHETRY: Right now we're going to check in with Jim Acosta. "CNN NEWSROOM" starts right now. Hey Jim.