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American Morning
Tackling the Tax Issue: Extending Bush Tax Cuts Up for Debate; White House Takes on Boehner; President Obama to Deliver Back-to- School Speech; The Humanitarian "A-Team"; Clinton to Meet with Israeli and Palestinian Leaders; Reading the Tea Leaves; Deadline Shopping
Aired September 14, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING for this Tuesday, September 14th. I'm Candy Crowley.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Acosta. John and Kiran are off this morning. But we've got lots to talk about. It's primary day. May feel like Groundhog Day, but it's actually primary day across the country. So let's get right to it.
It is the final primary day before midterm elections. Polls in seven states opening this morning and all eyes are on Delaware where a little known Tea Party candidate is looking to pull off a big upset against a nine-term congressman.
CROWLEY: Congress back in session battling over the Bush tax cuts and whether to let them expire. It is getting ugly. Republicans are splintered. Democrats are threatening to defect, all with your paycheck on the line. A live report from the nation's capital in a moment.
ACOSTA: And saving lives in Pakistan. We'll take you on a mission with combat veterans giving aid to flood victims in places too remote and dangerous for other rescue teams. It's a story you will see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
CROWLEY: And the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation right now. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.
ACOSTA: Plenty to talk about there. And we're happy to find out if America has a taste for tea this morning on this primary day. Polls are opening this morning in seven states in Washington, D.C. and the race with the biggest buzz is in Delaware. If you hear that music, you know we're talking politics here on CNN. In Delaware where Tea Party darling Christine O'Donnell has a legitimate chance to upset nine-term Congressman Mike Castle in the Republican primary for Senate. O'Donnell's qualifications have been questioned by her own party leaders. But Sarah Palin has got her back recording this robo call on the candidate's behalf.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: I can relate to the vicious personal attacks on Christine and can tell you it's sad to see the establishment's desperation in this. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: And another critical race unfolding in Washington, D.C. where we could be witnessing a referendum on education reform. Mayor Adrian Fenty fighting for his job this primary day after firing hundreds of teachers and stepping on more than a few toes.
And in New York, 80-year-old Congressman Charlie Rangel is battling for his job too. He is facing five Democratic challengers and an ethics scandal that threatens to sink a 20-term career.
ACOSTA: Interesting to see if that will actually happen. We'll have to wait and see.
CNN is the only place to be for your primary day coverage. We've got Ed Henry live at the White House this morning. He'll tell us how the administration is about to go after a very prominent Republican. But let's begin with Brianna Keilar live in Washington.
Brianna, Congress is back in session for the big midterm election push and they've got a very big issue on their hands in the matter of whether or not to extend these Bush tax cuts. This is -- this is going to be a really interesting one to watch here in the next couple of days.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And this is the big issue, Jima as Congress comes back today. Well, the House is back today. The Senate was back yesterday. And this is the issue that in really less than four weeks because they're out of there again. They're out of Washington again ahead of the election season. This is what they're going to be dealing with. And obviously, the issue that continues to resonate is Republican leader John Boehner who had said that he would go along with extending the tax cuts for everyone except for the wealthiest Americans, which, of course, is what President Obama has gone for. But it's created a jumbled message among Republicans. Because look at what some other Republicans are saying. You have Mitch McConnell, the top Republican of the Senate who is saying, no, I'm pushing legislation to keep these tax cuts in place across the board. Of course, Republicans say if you increase taxes for those people making above $250,000 a year, you're going to be hitting small businesses, and they consider this a very winning issue for them.
And then you have Boehner's own deputy in the House, Eric Cantor, supporting across the board tax cuts, as well. Mike Pence, who is the chairman of the Republican conference in the House, saying no tax increases on the wealthy. He's saying that the White House line on this is tantamount to class warfare. And so what you're seeing is this Republican conference that up until now has really enjoyed a lot of cohesion, they're kind of jumbled when it comes to this issue, Jim.
CROWLEY: Brianna, it's Candy. You know, politics is no place for nuance. And it seems to me that when you go back and you look at what Boehner said, he said if the only choice I have is whether to vote for middle class tax cuts or not, of course I'm going to vote for them. That kind of gets lost in the whole discussion. Is the problem here that Boehner may have sort of given away the store before they ever started to bargain? That he kind of tipped his hand too early rather than what he said?
KEILAR: That's exactly the issue. Because Republican sources say this may be where the debate settled in the end. But they felt that they had a winning point. And as you know, Candy, when it comes to taxes, this is an issue that Republicans consider a win for them and Democrats say, yes, we can't really beat Republicans on taxes. And what you also have is a lot of Democrats, especially those vulnerable ones who are in tough races, who weren't siding with their Democratic leadership on this for these tax increases for those making $250,000 or more. And so, you have Republicans telling us that they feel like maybe they can't really take as much advantage of that argument and the fact that there is some disunity among Democrats on the issue.
CROWLEY: Brianna Keilar, thanks so much. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks on Capitol Hill.
At the White House, the president is drawing a hard line in the sand against Republicans despite House Minority Leader John Boehner's recent concession that he'll back off of the continuing tax cuts for the very rich. Our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is live at the White House this morning.
Ed, does the White House view what Boehner said as a win?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, big time, Candy. You're not going to be surprised to hear that they think this shows Republicans are in some kind of disarray. And their argument has some merit because if you look at what's happened over the course of the last week, this all started with the president really kind of putting the pressure on Boehner starting last Wednesday. He had a pretty fiery campaign-style speech in Cleveland. He picked Cleveland to lay out the president's new economic plan because that's where Boehner had laid out the Republican economic plan a couple of weeks ago. And then at Friday's news conference here at the White House, the president had this line that he hit that basically charged that Boehner and the Republicans were holding the middle class hostage by demanding that all the tax cuts, including the tax cuts for the rich move forward.
And then what happens as Brianna noted within 48 hours, the White House thinks Boehner essentially blinked and said, look, we'll accept just the middle class tax cuts, which is not where the Republicans were on Friday. And so, now, when you have the Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell yesterday not giving Boehner any cover and saying, look, we don't want to just do the middle class tax cuts like Boehner suggested, as the president suggested as well, we want all of them, all the tax cuts extended, including those for the rich. This was a division that the president was only too happy to exploit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We could get that done this week. But we're still in this wrestling match with John Boehner and Mitch McConnell about the last two to three percent where on average we'd be giving them $100,000 for people making $1 million or more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: So the White House basically feels like they finally after months of having the president's plans out there and getting hit by everybody, they now have a foil. Somebody that they can, you know, lay out their alternative in the case of John Boehner and say, look, this is what the president wants, this is what the Republicans want. And they believe that's finally starting to resonate.
We should point out, though, that, you know, as Brianna knows full well, not all the Democrats are on the same page about these middle class tax cuts. Some of them actually are pressing Speaker Pelosi to put -- you know, extend all the tax cuts, including the tax cuts for the rich. Not something the White House wants to hear. So I think the leadership on both sides are having some problems within the ranks as we get closer and closer to this election -- Jim, Candy.
ACOSTA: Yes. And it may be a preview of things to come in the new Congress if they're having to put together coalitions of Republicans and Democrats to get things done. Imagine that.
CROWLEY: Heavens.
ACOSTA: Heaven forbid. But, Ed, let me ask you about the president's second event coming up today, or big event coming up today -- his second annual back-to-school speech. I seem to recall his first back to school speech causing a little bit of controversy. Something about indoctrinating our children?
HENRY: Oh, yes, you're absolutely right. Conservatives were hammering the president this time last year saying that he was trying to indoctrinate America's students. The White House brushed off that controversy and moved ahead with the speech anyway. And it was last year, you remember, pretty straightforward, you know, study hard, and stay in school. It wasn't in the end very controversial.
Today, the president is going to Philly. He's decided to give a second annual back-to-school speech. And take a listen to some of what -- he's going to tie the economy as well as the war in Afghanistan interestingly enough into this, saying he understands that students are facing a lot of hardships in their family. Quote, "You read about the war in Afghanistan. You hear about the recession we've been through. You see it in your parents' faces and sense it in their voice. A lot of you are having to act a lot older than you are to be strong for your family while your brother or sister is serving overseas, to look after younger siblings while your mom works that second shift, to take on a part-time job while your dad is out of work."
So you can see how he's trying to weave in both the war in Afghanistan as well as the recession. But there's absolutely no real political lines in this speech. This is something they feel that gets the president out there talking about issues like education that really matter to real families -- Jim, Candy. CROWLEY: Thanks, our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry. We will, of course, have coverage of President Obama's back-to-school message live from Philadelphia today. You can watch it right here starting at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
ACOSTA: And in 30 minutes, we'll be talking Tea Party and taxes with Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of TheDailyBeast.com. Looking forward to that.
CROWLEY: Just in to CNN. You are looking at new video of Secretary of State Clinton arriving in Egypt there for a new round of Middle East peace talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The negotiations are part of a process aimed at closing a peace deal within the next 12 months.
ACOSTA: And at 6:09, new photos this morning of Hurricane Igor shot from space. Let's talk to Rob Marciano about that. He's in our extreme weather center.
And, Rob, those photos from space, pretty spectacular of this hurricane. It's a big one.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. It is a spectacular hurricane. And we're getting all sorts of different types of satellite and International Space Station shots. This is courtesy of NASA. They just opened up the cargo doors there of the ISS and shot these pics.
The eye there pretty big, pretty well defined. A little bit of cloud cover as far as the cirrus goes. But I tell you this, it is a well- structured hurricane. And we love these. We love these major hurricanes that just look amazing from outer space and are churning out there in the open waters of the Atlantic. And right now, we're fairly confident that it will miss the United States. Fairly confident.
Bermuda, I can't say the same for you. Look at it. This is the infrared shot behind me. It has weakened just a hair, but it's still a Category 4 storm with winds of 135 miles an hour.
All right. Let's talk about the track of this thing. Finally, you see the last couple of frames of this -- right there. Just makes that right turn. Begins to make that northerly jog. That's what we've been waiting for. And this is the National Hurricane Center forecast for Hurricane Igor over the next five days. It does bring it towards Bermuda, unfortunately, for those folks. And, you know, statistically, the U.S. not completely out of it as far as being threatened but it's looking a little bit more promising today. Talk more about that and Julia, and your national forecast a little bit later on in the program -- Jim and Candy?
CROWLEY: Thanks, Rob.
ACOSTA: Thank you, Rob.
CROWLEY: Still to come on the Most News in the Morning, Pacific Gas and Electric making a pledge this morning after last week's deadly gas explosion and fire that devastated a California neighborhood.
It is 11 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CROWLEY: For a second day now, New Zealand's air force is trying to rescue an American researcher who is sick and stranded in Antarctica. A rescue team was unable to land near the McMurdo Research Base yesterday because of blizzard condtions, but they were able to land this morning despite minus 35 degree temperatures. We don't know if the rescuers have reached the unidentified American yet and there's no information being released about his illness.
ACOSTA: And new this morning, as more video emerges of last week's deadly gas explosion in California, PG&E says it will set aside $100 million to help rebuild the San Bruno neighborhood that was destroyed. The fund includes up to $50,000 for each family's living expenses. The NTSB is still investigating the explosion and fires that killed at least four people.
CROWLEY: Tennis sensation Rafael Nadal has finally captured the only major title to elude him, the U.S. Open championship. The 24-year-old Spaniard knocked off Serbia's Novak Djokovic, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 yesterday. It was his ninth major title, and it completes the career grand slam for Nadal. He's one of only seven men to have won at least one Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open crown.
ACOSTA: Not bad.
And Oprah's known for her big giveaways, and yesterday she even topped herself. The talk show host kicked off her 25th and final season - yes, they're excited - with free trips to Australia for an audience filled with the program's most loyal viewers. Yes, trips to Australia. And, get this, actor and pilot John Travolta will fly them there.
They're going in December - I'm not so sure about that, by the way. Can he fly a plane that far? I want to - that's a - that's a very pressing question.
CROWLEY: And apparently he's flown for Qantas, so I think he's -
ACOSTA: Oh, he has? OK.
CROWLEY: They're not going to put them in a plane, let them fly Oprah, for heaven's sakes.
ACOSTA: I was going to say, that - I want to see some cameras in that cockpit, if that's going to happen.
CROWLEY: He knows what he's doing, we're told.
ACOSTA: I - we're told that he - he does. That's a good thing.
CROWLEY: Next on the Most News in the Morning, thinking you'll save a buck by buying a used car? Not so fast. Prices are on the rise. We are "Minding Your Business" next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CROWLEY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Time for "Minding Your Business".
And if you're in the market for a used car, you may have noticed they're more expensive now. That's because as the economy continues to struggle, people are holding onto their cars longer, making it more expensive to get a decent used car on the market.
ACOSTA: I might have to sell mine.
Milestone for women comes to higher education. For the first time, they earned a majority of doctoral degrees. According to the Council of Graduate Schools, in the year 2008-2009 Academic Year, women received 50.4 percent of the doctorates in the U.S. That means women now dominate every level of higher education from a bachelors degree to PhDs.
CROWLEY: I think we can make it official now, Wal-Mart seems to be selling just about everything. That now includes cell phone service. The discount giant teaming up with T-Mobile, launching a no-contract family mobile plan in some 2,500 stores around the country starting next Monday.
The deal includes unlimited talk and text for $45 a month for the first line and another $25 for each additional line.
ACOSTA: Coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, our new correspondent, Kaj Larsen, continues his series following Team Rubicon as they respond to the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Pakistan. It's been great stuff so far. You're going to want to stick around and watch this.
It is 20 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Intelligence officials say they've taken out nine alleged militants in Pakistan. The group was hit by a suspected U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan. There's no word on who exactly was targeted, but in the past week suspected U.S. drone strikes have killed more than 30 suspected militants.
CROWLEY: And those suspected attacks are a reminder of just how dangerous some places are in Pakistan. Yet, for the past week, our newest correspondent, Kaj Larsen, has been traveling across Pakistan with some combat veterans, and these guys are using their unique background and skills to help save flood victims in places where many rescue teams just can't or wouldn't go.
Joining us now from Islamabad, Pakistan is Kaj Larsen. Kaj, what - what have you been seeing in the past couple of days?
KAJ LARSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Candy, we've been seeing that the aftermath of the devastating floods here continue to isolate many of the victims from aid. So, in this next piece, you'll see me travel with Team Rubicon to Central Punjab, one of the most affected regions, and we reached a population where it's estimated that only five to 10 percent of the people have had access to any medical aid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARSEN (voice-over): When the floods in Pakistan happened, I embedded myself with Team Rubicon. After 8,000 miles and three straight days of traveling from Islamabad to Southern Punjab, Rubicon arrives to a dire humanitarian situation - thousands of people who, more than a month into the crisis, still had not received any medical aid.
LARSEN (on camera): It's important to triage people and identify the sickest patients first. So, while there was a lot of men lining up out here, the actual sickest patients were the women and the children who are kept separate, and they were in the back.
We identified one baby who had all of the signs and appearance of severe dehydration. And now, I'm bringing supplies to Doctor Dolhun so he can treat her.
LARSEN (voice-over): Dr. Eduardo Dolhun is a member of the team.
Former marine William McNulty, like all members of Team Rubicon, learned emergency life-saving skills in the military.
LARSEN (on camera): Well, what's the issue with this - with this guy?
WILLIAM MCNULTY, TEAM RUBICON: Well, the baby appears totally floppy. It's totally unresponsive.
LARSEN: And we're going to bring this baby to see Dr. Dolhun right now.
Diarrhea, vomiting.
LARSEN (voice-over): Nine-month-old baby Ali Hassan (ph) is in critical condition, suffering from severe dehydration. A treatable illness, but one that's already claimed the lives of hundreds of flood victims.
DR. EDUARDO DOLHUN, TEAM RUBICON: OK. And today, how many - how many diarrhea stools today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two times a day.
DOLHUN: Two times a day? OK.
(INAUDIBLE). Yes. I need a syringe (ph). I need a big - I need a 10- cc syringe.
LARSEN (on camera): (INAUDIBLE). Do you have a 10-cc syringe? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten-cc? No. (INAUDIBLE).
LARSEN: Nothing? What's the biggest?
Almost there, guys.
LARSEN (voice-over): Time is critical. Baby Ali's (ph) pulse is getting weaker. Dr. Dolhun immediately starts oral rehydration therapy by syringe. I watched how quickly baby Ali (ph) responds.
DOLHUN: Boom. Baby woke up. And it's, for me, as a physician, one of those moments where I know we saved a life. Baby - what? About three, five minutes later was sitting up. He was alert. Eyes were - it was -
LARSEN (on camera): Yes.
DOLHUN: -- really magical, in a way.
LARSEN: How dire was that circumstance?
DOLHUN: Oh, that baby could have been dead by tonight.
LARSEN (voice-over): For baby Ali's (ph) worried mother, relief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) know he is feeling better.
LARSEN: Well enough now to make the journey back home. We followed baby Ali (ph) for a bit, until we reached the end of the road - literally.
LARSEN (on camera): This is the reality of Pakistan in the aftermath of the floods. Yes, we saw that baby make a miraculous recovery before our eyes, but now he still has to trek an hour home through the water to his house, which is surrounded by the same dirty water that got him sick in the first place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put it here. Any - any other sick ones?
LARSEN (voice-over): While Rubicon team members continue to treat people, a local Pakistani doctor informs us that there were more victims out there.
Despite recommendations not to move for safety reasons, we loaded up once more, this time with a police escort as we move even farther into the hinterland.
LARSEN (on camera): One of the things about Rubicon is it's not necessarily that they go places that others can't go. They go places that others wouldn't go.
LARSEN (voice-over): Going as far as our escort will take us, we decided to hike it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people get (ph) overlooked.
LARSEN (on camera): Exactly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People that don't come out because they've been - they're not liked in the village.
LARSEN: So now we're treating some infants who have some diarrhea infection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May I examine?
LARSEN (voice-over): Team Rubicon spent the next three days treating these two infants and thousands of others. But as Team Rubicon ended their mission, these former military vets felt they had provided a small life raft in a sea of tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tried to lend some medical expertise and experience here and hopefully help some people and save some lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things that, you know, the veterans of TR talk about is that we're saving lives, not taking lives.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LARSEN: You know, Jim and Candy, we had dinner with the members of Team Rubicon last night on - the other night, on their last night in town, and what we found after - and discussed after we had treated almost 3,000 victims is that we were happy with our effort there, but, at the end of the day, we realized we had just made a drop in the bucket of all the need here.
CROWLEY: It looks like - I mean, just the need is - is enormous. But, nonetheless, a drop in the bucket is certainly something, particularly to those that have been helped.
Can you give us - as I understand it, this Rubicon group is - is ex- military. Has that made a difference, do you think, in how they're greeted? Or is it just, boy, here's relief and they don't really even notice that these are ex-military or even know?
LARSEN: They don't necessarily know or notice that - the people who are receiving aid, that we were former military. What I think is significant, though, is that we were there helping. And, at this time of rising tension between the Islamic world and the West, you talked about the drone strikes in Pakistan earlier today, all of these incidents build a tremendous amount of resentment.
On the flip side of that, you have guys like the Team Rubicon guys who spent the better part of the last decade training and fighting and often being in Islamic countries. And now, here they are around the anniversary of September 11th helping. And I think that's the kind of generosity of spirit that we want to portray to the world.
CROWLEY: It is, indeed. Kaj Larsen in Islamabad -- thanks so much for joining us this morning.
It is 6:30. And that means time for this morning's top stories. A vote is planned for turning over the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay service members. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to bring it to the floor Monday as lawmakers work on the 2010 Defense Authorization Bill. Repealing the policy requires the Pentagon's final report on the policy's impact on troops. And that's not due until December.
ACOSTA: BP has resumed drilling on its relief well in the Gulf of Mexico. Crews are about 50 feet away from intersecting the ruptured well that leaked millions of gallons of crude into the ocean. They could reach it by weekend. And a bottom kill procedure to be -- will be performed to kill that well permanently.
CROWLEY: The final round of primary election gets underway this morning. Voters are heading to the polls in seven states and Washington, D.C. The big story is Delaware, where a little known Tea Party candidate is poised to pull off a big upset in the Republican primary for Vice President Joe Biden's old seat.
ACOSTA: Also developing this morning: what could be a step towards peace in the Middle East.
CROWLEY: This morning, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Egypt. She's there to prod Israel and Palestinian leaders to press forward with peace talks.
Our senior correspondent Ben Wedeman is live in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Ben, good morning. What's happening there?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, Candy, it appears that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is going to have to do a lot more prodding because these talks already are beginning to get bogged down. It appears the main stumbling point is the question of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The Palestinians are saying that if Israel resumes settlement construction after the 26th of September when its moratorium on construction comes to an end, that they will pull out of the talks. The Israelis, under political pressure from the coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is saying that they're going to resume limited construction of those settlements.
But the two sides just aren't meeting on any sort of compromise. And Secretary Clinton is under a lot of pressure to somehow push them to an agreement of some sort to get these talks moving again -- Candy.
ACOSTA: And, Ben, it's Jim Acosta, just curious because we, in the United States, we always jump to the logical question, which is: well, do we think that they can finally reach a deal on this? On the issues such as settlement, construction, and so forth. But I guess one question is: do we even have the right players on the field? Do we even have the right diplomats in place to reach this sort of consensus? Is it even possible given the nature of how things are going in that part of the world right now? WEDEMAN: Well, Jim, of course, it's possible. And let's not forget we're in the Middle East, the place where bargaining was invented. Now, the Palestinians are sort of taking the maximum position and the Israelis moved a little bit, saying that they will have some limited construction of those settlements. And somehow, the hope is that they will be able to -- you know, after a lot of bargaining back-and-forth, reach some sort of middle ground. Because this is really a make or break issue on these talks.
If the settlement issue can't be somehow finessed, the talks could fall apart. The United States has invested huge diplomatic capital in these talks. We heard in Washington earlier this month that the Americans are saying that they were hoping to have an agreement within a year. And here we are just two weeks into the process, and already the process is starting to break down.
So, it's not over yet. There will be more talks in Jerusalem tomorrow. Hillary Clinton, under a lot of pressure to make some sort of progress to give these talks credence -- because otherwise, there's a skeptical audience on the Israeli side and the Palestinian side. Some progress needs to be made -- Jim.
CROWLEY: And it's Candy, failure basically isn't an option, is it? I mean, maybe in the short run, but in the long run -- is there anything to do other than pursue this with whatever players were on the scene and for however long it takes?
WEDEMAN: No, in fact. There is no alternative to failure except chaos and potentially, a war. We have on the one hand, Hamas, which is eager to see these talks fail and they've been doing their best by resuming the attacks against Israelis on the West Bank. On the Israeli side, Benjamin Netanyahu has a very shaky coalition, which is ready to just abandon him if he gives major concessions on the talks. The alternative is a return to chaos.
And even though there is skepticism on both sides about the talks, nobody really wants to go back to the cycle of violence we've seen in this region for years now -- Candy.
ACOSTA: All right. Ben Wedeman joining us live this morning on some very crucial talks that are happening today with the secretary of state in that part of the world -- Ben, thanks so much.
And our coverage of primary day continues in just a few moments. Tina Brown of "The Daily Beast" joins us next. We'll take a closer look at the key race in Delaware and what's at stake there.
It's 35 minutes past the hour.
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ACOSTA: It's election time. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
It's the final primary day of this midterm season. And once again, the Tea Party is front and center. I feel like we've been talking about them for some time now. Is it just me?
CROWLEY: Like a year and a half, I think.
Some political analysts say the GOP is in good position to take over the House in November.
Joining us to talk about today's races and all the other burning political issues of the day is Tina Brown, editor in chief of "The Daily Beast."
Also going to talk a little bit about the exciting summit you have coming up next month. But we want to start out, because with our favorite subject, the Tea Party candidates because in Delaware today, there's yet another test of the strength of the Tea Party.
Give us your take on the Tea Party and how it's shaking things up, and whether this is to the good or the bad for the GOP.
TINA BROWN, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, what I do think it is, is that raw energy of the Tea Party is forcing a debate, not just within Republican Party, but in America itself, about how do we get our mojo back even if it's being expressed in a kind of rage. But it is a negative rage. And the point about the Tea Party, they don't really have any solutions. So, it is a no vote, a no to what's happening in America today as opposed to a "yes, we want the Tea Party."
CROWLEY: And sometimes, though, in a midterm, a "no" vote is enough (AUDIO BREAK). It usually is enough.
BROWN: It absolutely is. But at the same time, it also sends a message to the general election about what have to be done. That's going to be a pretty hellish time however for Democrats for the next two years, because they're going to be fighting off this, you know, monstrous obstruction all the time.
But at the same time, it will also mean the Democrats have to get their act together. And in the end, it might be good for them because these extremists will ultimately not win the general election.
ACOSTA: Well, that's what Mike Castle is saying, the establishment Republican running for that Senate seat against Christine O'Donnell, the Tea Party favorite over there in Delaware. Mike Castle is basically saying that if Christine O'Donnell wins this primary, the Democrats win that seat in the fall. And a lot of people had put that seat in the Republican (AUDIO BREAK).
BROWN: -- you know, is actually so far to the right that, you know, she'd be sort of falling off the face of the planet if she got any further than that. But, you know, the American economy right now is in so much people's minds about how on earth we can fix this. And in a way, the Tea Party seems to just express that anger.
That's why at "The Daily Beast," we decided to put on a big summit called Reboot (AUDIO BREAK) 300 influencers, opinion formers, business people, creative people, to ask the question: how do we get our economy back on track? How do we brainstorm? And in fact, we even have General McChrystal coming to talk about how do we become a lean, mean fighting machine again in terms of leadership.
ACOSTA: Yes, he's somebody -- he's somebody who knows (AUDIO BREAK).
How do you focus -- I mean, how do you focus all of this passion that's out there right now? Because if you want to give the Tea Party one thing, it is they have the passion, they have the energy out there to try to do something about this country. I mean, people are sort of sick of the liberal agenda which is to perhaps have more government programs to get the economy going again. Republicans seem, if you listen to Democrats (AUDIO BREAK) is basically saying, neither of these guys are right, let's just have less government.
BROWN: I think centrists have to get that passion back. I mean, Mike Castle pretty much a threat in Delaware. But, you know, then, in that case, the message is: centrists, get passionate; don't let all the passion be on the negative side.
ACOSTA: And that's (AUDIO BREAK)
CROWLEY: -- passion is an oxymoron. But let me ask if you think that the president bear some responsibility for the current climate. I know at various time, you've talked about him as a bit of a bore, a little bit aloof. You're talking about this big mega jobs creation, Reboot America Summit that you're doing. Where has the president been on this? And has he sort of helped create this atmosphere?
BROWN: I actually think that the president's issue is simply that he has a sort of delayed drop at the emotional moment when he needs to connect with the -- with the public. He has a habit of waiting too long and then coming out with a considered statement.
ACOSTA: Jeremiah Wright, health care.
BROWN: Exactly right. The window gets closed. It is a very important thing in leadership to know when that window is open, to get in there, and communicate with the people. He often talks about teachable moments, but I think he misses a lot of his.
CROWLEY: And so, when he's just getting back in our final moments to this -- to this jobs submit. There has been a lot of talk and certainly, you hear it in the administration. We're looking at a (AUDIO BREAK) time we looked. And it was, you know, it may go to 10 percent by the end of the year, even according to the administration.
Why has it been so tough? And what can a summit do to change that?
BROWN: It's been tough because I think it's so defuse and incoherent. And there aren't places for people to really focus on the positive. There's a drowning media drumbeat because it's sexier, frankly, to say, we're in the -- you know, we're in the doldrums, it's not working. It's not working.
But, actually, what the summit can do is bring together as we are all these creative people from the world of business and media and the arts. I mean, we're having this in New Orleans because Mayor Mitch Landrieu, what a dynamic leader there. That city is coming back. We want to say, look at the courage of New Orleans, look at the creativity in America (AUDIO BREAK) leaders talking about what is going on right, what we can do to fix it, and how we can improve.
ACOSTA: They haven't stopped fighting down in New Orleans. That's for sure.
BROWN: They sure haven't.
ACOSTA: Good example for the country. Tina Brown, thanks so much for coming on.
BROWN: Thanks.
ACOSTA: Appreciate it. And good luck with what's happening.
BROWN: Thank you. Watch it all and tweet it and live streaming video on "The Daily Beast."
ACOSTA: We will do that. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.
Well, it is 6:43. Still to come on the Most News in the Morning, Rob's keeping an eye on Hurricane Igor. Plus, you'll have this morning's travel forecast right after the break.
CROWLEY: Ready, set, shop. How you can get designer dresses, handbags at bargain prices without having to battle the crowd. Sounds good to me.
It is, as Jim said, 44 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back. I'm Rob Marciano in your hurricane headquarters. Breaking news overnight. Julia, tropical storm, became a hurricane overnight with winds of 75 miles an hour, but it's still way out there in the Atlantic. We think this will for the most part just kind of feed the fish. This storm is giving the fish a handful right now. Hurricane Igor with winds of 135 miles an hour peaked at 150, still a category four storm. This is a beast.
It has weakened just a little bit, but look at that eye. That is unbelievable how distinct that is. And just in the last couple of frames, you can kind of see that westerly movement and then boom, boom, boom, starts to make a little bit of a jog towards the right or towards north. And we've been looking for that to get it away from the Leeward Islands, get it away from the Bahamas, and hopefully get it away from the United States. And it looks like it'll do that.
The big ridge that typically steers these storms has a big weakness in it. It'll probably shoot the gap, but Bermuda will probably be under the gun here. Remaining a major storm here over the next few days and statistically speaking should stay away from the United States. A pretty compliment about that right now. All right. A little bit closer to home. If you're traveling in the airports in the northeast, some winds today, another front moving through.
We had a couple showers roll through the New York City area last night. It will be breezy as this front rolls through and pretty pleasant after that. And the only sore spot in the nation is going to be across the midsection. We will some thunderstorms, some of which could become severe especially later on this afternoon. It will be 93 degrees in Dallas. Cooling off. It's almost fall, right? 83 in St. Louis and 77 degrees in the Big Apple. That's a quick check on weather. AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Happy to see their all paying attention in there this morning. Look at that. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Are you one of those shoppers who thrives on scoring big-ticket items at bargain basement prices? Who doesn't? But you could do without the elbows and the crowds, right?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: We can now figure out a way for everyone to do this without the crowds. You can snap up those steeply discounted deals online. There is a catch, though. Our Alina Cho explains the new online phenomenon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have ten minutes to purchase.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 12:00, and at offices across America, these shoppers are going nuts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't even think about budget. You just put it in your cart and then you deal with it.
CHO: The online store, Gilt Groupe, just opened, and the clock is ticking. In just seconds, yes, seconds, designer dresses, shoes, and handbags get snapped up by buyers looking for a loop steel at bargain basement prices. It's the web version of the ultimate sample sale.
PHILLIP BLOCH, CELEBRITY STYLIST: You get caught up in the fever of the moment and people love it. It's like gambling of the horse races. It's gambling. Am I going to get it? I want it. The power of competition.
CHO (on-camera): It's called deadline shopping. The idea is simple. Entice customers with high-end designer labels at a great price, then give them a set amount of time to buy with a limited supply. At Gilt Groupe, membership is free, but in order to get in, you have to be invited by a member.
CINDI LEIVE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GLAMOUR MAGAZINE: People want a deal, but they also don't want the exact same deal that everybody else is getting. So, the brilliance of these sites is it makes you feel like you and a tiny handful of other people had stumbled on to this great, fabulous find, and that's wonderful.
SUSAN LYNE, CEO, GILT GROUPE: It's like the biggest store in the world.
CHO (voice-over): This is where the magic starts at New York's Brooklyn navy yard of all places. In this hot, dusty, 200,000 square foot facility what some fashion addicts call the Holy Grail, Gilt Groupe's warehouse.
How do you get people to buy clothing that they can't touch, they can't feel, and they can't try on?
LYNE: I think it's a couple of things. One is that it's appointment shopping, you know. We have turned shopping into an event.
CHO: That's for sure.
AMELIA MCDONELL-PARRY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THEFRISYKY.COM,; TURNER ENT. DIGITAL: I feel that shopping on Gilt has actually turned me into like an even better multitasker than I was before.
JULIE GERSTEIN, EDITOR, THEFRISKY.COM; TURNER ENT. DIGITAL: It fuses two of my major interests which are being lazy and shopping.
CHO: Think it's a fad? Think again. Gilt Groupe was founded less than three years ago. Today, it has nearly 3 million members, on track to do up to $500 billion in sales this year. Gilt was founded by two fashionistas. Classmates at Harvard business school.
It's that you don't know how many are left. You only have a limited amount of time.
ALEXIS MAYBANK, CO-FOUNDER, GILT GROUPE: And the prices are unbelievable. They're there for a day, but not the following day. So, you know that unlike a store, if you go in and there's not anything left, you think oh, not a great experience. But on Gilt Groupe you know that you have to get there early. If you get there too late, they'll be nothing left.
CHO: And because it's online shopping, each and every item sold is photographed at the Gilt warehouse with a full team of stylists working around the clock. And that's key, but there is one issue. Buyer's remorse.
MCDONELL-PARRY: I think it's cute. I think it's fun. It's different than anything I have.
CHO: And you definitely needed it?
MCDONELL-PARRY: Yes, just like I need to drink four diet cokes a day. Like that. That's how much I needed it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: You know, when the pressure's on, sometimes you make mistakes. You know, guys, the Gilt Group is faring (ph) away the most popular and has the most buzz. There are other deadline shopping sites, for sure, you may have heard of ideally. Oh look, and (INAUDIBLE) to me and the few. The model works, because designers, if you think about it, many of them have to manufacture their clothes overseas, right? You can't make just ten of them.
You've got to make 1,000 or maybe 10,000. The department stores aren't going to buy all of those. Enter Gilt Groupe or these other sites, they buy in bulk at a discount, and they're able to pass that savings on to a consumer. Now, why don't they go to say, you know, T.J. Max or Marshall's or something like that? Because then that in the designer's eyes, you lose cache, right? These sites are exclusive invitation only.
CROWLEY: And with 3 million people so far?
CHO: Well, so far, but I mean, still, you know, relatively speaking, fairly small. And it appears to have that exclusivity.
ACOSTA: And I love that warehouse shop where you just saw the volume of merchandise there. I mean, it shows you how much they have available and, you know, with the immediacy factor lumped in, I mean, people can get what they want.
CHO: It's incredible. And you know what? That warehouse in Brooklyn, they have another one in Tokyo.
ACOSTA: Wow.
CHO: And they are building another one in Louisville, Kentucky. You know why it's Louisville? It's the regional hub of UPS, and then they can ship out the packages quickly. Isn't that clever?
ACOSTA: You did mention there were some Harvard ladies who had come up with this.
CHO: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: You may have mentioned in the piece, but just quickly returns?
CHO: There is a return policy, but unfortunately, it's just store credit. So, that's a point of contention for some of the shoppers. Other shoppers --
ACOSTA: But noting how addicted people are to that site, store credit probably not such a bad thing.
CHO: It tends to work.
CROWLEY: You a member?
CHO: I am a member.
CROWLEY: Make me a member.
CHO: I will.
CROWLEY: Top stories coming your way after the break.
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