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American Morning

Big Night for Tea Party: O'Donnell Captures Delaware GOP Senate Primary; Red State Transgender Candidate; American Hiker Freed By Iran; The GOP's "Young Guns"

Aired September 15, 2010 - 06:00   ET

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


JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: It's about 6:00. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING for this Wednesday, September 14th. I'm Jim Acosta.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Candy Crowley. John and Kiran are off today. And boy, do we have stories to tell you this morning.

ACOSTA: Oh, yes.

CROWLEY: We want to get right to it.

Tea time. The Tea Party sends shockwaves to the Republican establishment by winning several high-profile primaries. And this morning, the stage is set for one tough general election. The best political team on television breaks down the results.

ACOSTA: Free at last, American hiker Sarah Shourd back in her mother's arms this morning released by Iran after more than a year in prison. Iran still holding her fiance and friend. The families of all three hikers appealing for their release.

CROWLEY: And the hurricane season is heating up. This is Hurricane Igor right now. But we're also watching two other powerful storms in the Atlantic this morning. Rob Marciano is tracking all of them for us this morning.

ACOSTA: And the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation right now. I'm sure you have plenty to talk about. There were some elections last night that we'll be talking about. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.

CROWLEY: But first, a very big night for the Tea Party in the last big primary of the 2010 midterm campaign. The best political team on television will be covering all the big races for you over the course of the morning. Shannon Travis, Jessica Yellin, Joe Johns, along with Michael Crowley from "Time" magazine.

In the closely watched Republican Senate race in Delaware, Christine O'Donnell, the candidate backed by the Tea Party and Sarah Palin toppled the state's political heavyweight, Congressman Mike Castle. It's a victory O'Donnell says is for supporters who challenged the GOP mainstream.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: You guys are the visionaries and leaders who made this possible because you rallied every day Americans outside of the political establishment, brought them involved, and created a grassroots network that made all of this possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The Tea Party influence is also being felt further north in New Hampshire's Republican Senate primary. There the contest between Tea Party favored Ovide Lamontagne and former State Attorney General Kelly Ayotte is too close to call. We'll be watching that one.

CROWLEY: And in the nation's capital, Mayor Adrian Fenty lost his reelection bid to city council chair Vincent Gray. That's for the Democratic nomination. It was a closely watched primary and a potential blow to school chiefs across the country fighting for dramatic education reform. That's because Fenty's chancellor of schools ushered in a wave of changes that became a model of reform advocated by the Obama administration.

ACOSTA: And New York's Republican gubernatorial primary, another Tea Party choice. Businessman Carl Paladino knocked out former Congressman Rick Lazio. Paladino, who now faces popular Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, said last night he is ready for a fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL PALADINO (R), CANDIDATE FOR NEW YORK GOVERNOR: Work harder and fight harder than we've ever fought before. We're going to rebuild New York together. You and you and you, we're all going to work on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: And New York Congressman Charlie Rangel who may have faced his toughest primary challenge in decades because of his ethics troubles was reelected. Rangel faced Adam Clayton Powell IV, the son of the man Rangel beat nearly 40 years ago. Last night, Rangel who's facing more than a dozen ethics violation charges told supporters it is time to move forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: I can only say that this victory has to be yours. It has to be -- my wife and I were able to stand up to the criticism and the attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And --

CROWLEY: Just one note.

ACOSTA: Oh, sure please. CROWLEY: Charlie Rangel was not reelected. That's for November. He was renominated as the Democratic nominee for that seat that he has held for 40 years.

ACOSTA: Yes, long time. And if anyone had doubts about Sarah Palin's clout, they got a wake-up call last night in Delaware.

CROWLEY: Tea Party upstart Christine O'Donnell captured the Republican Senate primary with a big push from Palin. Shannon Travis is live in Washington this morning. Just a huge victory for O'Donnell and the Tea Party. And really, Shannon, something of a mess for Republicans.

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Candy. I mean, the ground may actually still be shaking in Delaware. I mean, just a few weeks ago, Christine O'Donnell was far less known than she is right now and she was badly trailing Representative, Congressman Mike Castle in the polls. But within just a few short weeks, she gained ground and now she clinched this victory. Why? Definitely credit her own campaigning, but Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express. They went in there. Palin's endorsement and the Tea Party Express is backing, sending people out, spending money. She's claiming victory now.

ACOSTA: And, Shannon, up in New Hampshire, we're not really sure who's going to win that one. It's very, very close. Any chance we'll get some sort of decision later today?

TRAVIS: Yes. We're not really sure when that decision will actually come out. It's too close to call right now. But there you have a little bit of a different dynamic. You have Lamontagne, who was the favorite of the local Tea Party groups there where Sarah Palin actually went with the more establishment pick in Ayotte. So we'll see what happens there. But you have a little bit of a reverse where typically throughout this cycle, Sarah Palin has been endorsing the same candidates the Tea Party movement have endorsed. Here, she kind of went a different way and went with the establishment pick. So we'll see what happens there.

CROWLEY: And, Shannon, you know, here in New York, Rick Lazio, an establishment Republican candidate, well-known name here in New York, lost the Republican nomination for governor to a Tea Party-backed Carl Paladino. Little known, had a lot of money, but was it the money or was it the Tea Party backing?

TRAVIS: You know, who would think we would even be talking about this, Candy? In New York State, this Tea Party-backed candidate actually claiming this nomination. As you just said, Rick Lazio has run for statewide office before. He's got a pretty well known name in the state. But the Tea Party movement came in, and there again they backed Paladino and he is now claiming the nomination.

One other interesting thing to note is we've seen during the cycle, the Tea Party movement going into red states and maybe even swing states, but this but marks a sea change in their strategy that they are unafraid. They're making bold moves in blue states, in Delaware, in New York, and they're actually coming out on top. So will this have a lasting impact? Will this dramatically affect their strategy? Remains to be seen. But it definitely marks a new chapter in their strategy as they try and blaze this path to power.

CROWLEY: As they say, oh, what a night, at least for the Tea Party. Shannon Travis, thanks so much.

Fresh off that victory in Delaware's Republican primary, Tea Party sensation Christine O'Donnell will be joining us live here at 7:20 Eastern. We're going to ask her what's next for her improbable run and how she plans to deal with divided Republicans.

ACOSTA: We're also keeping an eye on the tropics this morning. Three storms intensifying right now. Hurricane Igor now a monster storm. But another storm brewing in the Caribbean may be the more immediate threat this morning. We're going to turn to Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center. And, Rob, you've got your hands full this morning.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They're coming to me right now.

ACOSTA: We are here right now.

MARCIANO: Good morning, guys. I'm sorry.

CROWLEY: We're there.

MARCIANO: Good morning, guys. Yes, listen up. These couple of things. Three things, actually, as you probably mentioned, two of which are major hurricanes. So Igor for one, we talked about this. At one point had winds of 150 miles an hour. And now, it's 145. This thing's a beast. We know where this is going.

And Hurricane Julia, which yesterday was just a Category One and just the day before that was just a little tropical storm. This is now a Category Four with winds of 130 miles an hour.

The track of Igor remains the same. Bermuda is under the gun, but I think the U.S. is going to be just fine. But what came up yesterday -- and we talked about this briefly was the possibility of seeing Carl develop. And that happened yesterday afternoon as a tropical storm. But now it's almost a hurricane. Winds sustained at 65 miles an hour, approaching the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. We'll go over that and then get into the Gulf of Mexico. Could very well develop into a hurricane before it goes back into northern Mexico as we get towards the weekend.

So busy, busy time here. And at least right now, no direct impacts on the United States. So very, very lucky on that count. But we'll have some indirect impacts. We'll talk more about that in the next half hour -- Jim and Candy.

CROWLEY: Rob Marciano has his hands full today. Thanks so much.

Next on the Most News in the Morning, Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell comes up big in the Delaware Republican primary. We're going to break down the race and what it all means next. It is eight minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to the most politics in the morning. The last big primary night of the 2010 midterm election campaign turns out to be a big night for the Tea Party. The biggest surprise came in Delaware where Christine O'Donnell is now the Republican candidate for Senate after beating Mike Castle, probably the most popular politician in Delaware.

ACOSTA: That's right. And who would have thought we would have been talking about Delaware so much? I think we might want to get a check from the Chamber of Commerce. But anyway, O'Donnell doesn't have the GOP to thank for her primary win. Try Sarah Palin.

Joining us now from Washington, Michael Crowley, senior correspondent for "Time" magazine. And with us here in New York, Kate Zernike, "New York Times" reporter and author of the book "Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America." And since Kate is on the set with us, she gets to go first. Michael, we'll get to you in just a second.

You know, coming into yesterday, there were folks who were saying -- and perhaps some of us were among them that Mike Castle is probably going to pull this out. That it looks like Christine O'Donnell might have been a flash in the pan. But it turns out Tea Party turnout can be a huge factor and these primaries and it looks like that was the case last night.

KATE ZERNIKE, "BOILING MAD: INSIDE TEA PARTY AMERICA": Yes. And I feel like a broken record because I've been saying this for months that the Tea Party -- we have to watch about the tea parties, how they're organizing and how they're getting people, you know, getting out the vote. But even Tea Party activists did not think two weeks ago that Christine O'Donnell could win. I think even they were surprised by this win and it's really a late surge of her. But also look at New Hampshire. New Hampshire is very close.

ACOSTA: Yes.

ZERNIKE: And I think that Tea Party could pull off a win there too.

CROWLEY: Michael, let me ask you because we're talking about the Tea Party, the Republican Party, and the Democratic Party. And it seems to me that that's a facade. The Tea Party is the Republican Party. And is this not representative of a huge fight within the GOP?

MICHAEL CROWLEY, SR. CORRESPONDENT, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Candy, absolutely. And I think what is so interesting when you look at the bigger picture here is sort of the failure or the impotence of the Republican establishment machine. On a lot of levels -- for instance, chairman Michael Steele has generally been a disappointment to people in the party. The party structure is a little bit weak right now. And the party has been unable to choose nominees in several key Senate races. I think the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee is bragging that now the Republican Senate Campaign Committee has lost eight times when it supported a nominee in a Senate primary and lost eight times. So you're seeing kind of a failure of the Republican establishment to be able to kind of control what the party does, which I think is going to have actually quite interesting implications when we come to the presidential campaign in 2012 in terms of who may end up getting the nomination. It may not be who the party wise men in Washington, the fund raisers, the big lobbyists think is the best candidate. It's really, power is coming up from the people at this point --

ACOSTA: Yes.

M. CROWLEY: -- in a way that I think that makes the party leadership nervous.

ACOSTA: And, Michael, jumping off of that point, I mean, last night, our Jessica Yellin asked Christine O'Donnell, what about some of these rumblings coming out of the Republican Party leadership saying we may not go up and support her in Delaware with money or ground forces. She may say to that, well, I've got the Tea Party.

M. CROWLEY: Right. I mean, comments like that already coming out of Washington are not going to endear the party leadership again to the grassroots activists on the ground. And you could see a real kind of a civil war within the party.

CROWLEY: And, Kate, let me turn it to you about the issue of money. Because, in fact, here's what we now hear from the Republican Party establishment. Hey, as soon as she proves she's viable, we'll put some money in there. Had a source tell our Mark Preston last night. You know, she got elected by the Tea Party, why don't they throw some money at her and we'll see if she can become viable. How deep is this rift? And can she win in Delaware?

ZERNIKE: I think the numbers probably aren't there in Delaware. But look, we've seen again and again this season, you can't count out the Tea Party. You know, no one thought Rand Paul could win. No one thought Marco Rubio could win. I mean, again, we've seen this turn around over and over.

I think obviously money matters. But look at Alaska. Alaska is a different state by Joe Miller -- Lisa Murkowski outspent Joe Miller 18 to one and still lost. So, you know, the money is important obviously.

ACOSTA: Yes.

ZERNIKE: But I think Delaware is just too moderate a state. I mean, Mike Castle has won more than, I guess a dozen times statewide. He's a very moderate candidate. There's no evidence that Delaware wants a conservative candidate, or a candidate as conservative as Christine O'Donnell.

ACOSTA: And Michael, I was just - while Kate was talking there, I just thought, well, I want to go take a look at the Chris Coons for Senate website down in Delaware. And - I don't know. There's no way our viewers can pick this up on the screen, but I'm going to turn it around anyway, just in case. But on the Chris Coons website it says, "It's official. Meet our GOP opponent, Christine O'Donnell.

It's a little hard to figure out whose website is this. Is this O'Donnell's or is it Coons'? They're looking forward to this race, all of a sudden.

M. CROWLEY: Yes. I think - yes, I think there's a note of glee in that, and there certainly was a real tone of glee in the kind of barrage of press releases that the Democrats were sending out last night, really kind of triumphant (ph) about this, really excited.

And I think there was a feeling that, you know, that the U.S. Senate - control of the Senate was kind of on the cusp. Democrats were starting - for a while have felt that they were likely to lose the House and they're starting to think recently, well, we might lose the Senate.

With last night results in Delaware and also possibly in New Hampshire where you may have an insurgent sort of Tea Party candidate win, you know, even Carl Rove now at this point is saying that the odds of a Republican takeover of the Senate have probably shrunk dramatically. So, yes, they're very happy about it.

ACOSTA: And Kate, that's likely because there are - there are Republicans who are nervous about this crop of Tea Party candidates. I mean, Candy and I were talking about this before going on air this morning, if you look at Nevada, that could have been a Republican victory. You look at Kentucky, not exactly a sure thing. Kentucky, not exactly a sure thing for Republicans.

ZERNIKE: Yes. No, Kentucky should be a safe Republican seat. Nevada - look, the only reason Harry Reid is still viable today is because of Sharron Angle, who's the Tea Party candidate.

And this is what the Democrats have wanted. Sharron Angle is the candidate that Harry Reid wanted to run against, and Christine O'Donnell is the candidate the Democrats wanted against, so - wanted to run against.

So, again, the Democrats have - have had to sort of pick off these races race by race because things are so tight in a wave year. But they're get - this was a huge sort of psychological lift for them last night, if nothing else.

C. CROWLEY: So, just add a cautionary, be careful what you wish for. We've been surprised -

ACOSTA: Ain't that the truth.

C. CROWLEY: We've been surprised all election long.

ACOSTA: Conventional wisdom hasn't had a great track record lately.

All right. Well, Michael Crowley in Washington, Kate Zernike here in New York. Thanks for joining us here this morning. Appreciate it.

M. CROWLEY: Thank you. ZERNIKE: Thank you.

ACOSTA: It was fun.

C. CROWLEY: Whether you are at home or on the road, you can get the latest political news 24 hours a day on our Political Ticker. Just go to cnn.com/ticker.

ACOSTA: And up next, we're "Minding Your Business". "Consumer Reports" sticking to its guns. Why they're still refusing to recommend Apple's iPhone 4.

Hello, Steve Jobs. Call on line two. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: OK. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. "Minding Your Business" now.

Chase's banking website is back online this morning after a prolonged outage. The service went down Monday night and was offline most of yesterday. The company blames the crash on unspecified technical issues. Chase has more than 16 and a half million active online customers.

C. CROWLEY: And soon it's going to be easier to add pictures and video to your tweets. Twitter unveiling the new features yesterday. They're part of a major overhaul designed to make Twitter more user friendly.

The company is partnering with more than a dozen media providers, including Yahoo's Flickr and Google's YouTube to let users embed pictures and playable videos directly on Twitter.com.

ACOSTA: And "Consumer Report" still wouldn't recommend the iPhone 4 to its readers, not as long as Apple refuses to offer easily accessible free cases to customers that solve the device's antenna issues. "Consumer Report" says it's not OK for Apple put the onus on its customers to fix the iPhone 4's reception problems.

C. CROWLEY: Next on the Most News in the Morning, she's a Democrat running for office in Red State Oklahoma, but that's not the biggest challenge for Brittany Novotny. She's also the state's first transgender candidate.

Carol Costello with this "A.M. Original" next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRITTANY NOVOTNY (D), OKLAHOMA STATE REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATE: All right, folks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ACOSTA: The next (ph) song for this next story. Top stories just minutes away. But first, an "A.M. Original", something you'll only see right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

And in one of the most right-wing Christian Red States in the country, one candidate is really putting conventional beliefs to the test. She's up against one of the most outspoken critics of gays and lesbians in the country. And Carol Costello is live in Washington with the story.

And, Carol, you and I were talking about this race just a couple of days ago and I was looking forward to this story. This is a - this is a lively one.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a fascinating race. You know, the primaries in Oklahoma are a thing of the past. They're on to the general election now and campaigning for it. And as you say in Oklahoma City, it has become one of those races to watch.

It pits a Conservative Republican known for her anti-gay comments against a Democrat who happens to be Oklahoma's first transgendered candidate. Both sides insist they want to talk issues, but that's proving to be impossible.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NOVOTNY: I salute the flag of the State of Oklahoma -

COSTELLO (voice-over): Brittany Novotny is running for a seat in the Oklahoma State legislature. For candidacy, it's a long shot. Not only is she a Democrat running in a Conservative Red State, but she's Oklahoma's first transgender candidate.

COSTELLO (on camera): So when you go up to someone, I mean, what kind of reaction do you get from people?

NOVOTNY: Well, it varies. You know, some people have - have heard of me already and they're very excited to meet me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, good luck to you.

COSTELLO: Are you surprised that you've gotten so much national attention? Because you've been everywhere, right? You're on "New York Times," you're on "Huffington Post."

NOVOTNY: You know, it's - it's something I - I certainly went into this with my eyes open and I knew that the potential for that kind of coverage might be there. I'm surprised how quickly it happens.

SALLY KERN (R), OKLAHOMA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: How are you doing today?

COSTELLO (voice-over): Novotny's opponent is Republican incumbent Sally Kern, who made national news herself in 2008.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

KERN: Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than a few decades. I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Kern's remarks went viral.

ELLEN DEGENERES, HOST, THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW: There's some misinformation going on here, and I - I think I need to call her. I think -

COSTELLO (on camera): Do you regret saying it?

KERN: You know - no, I don't regret saying it because it's what I believe. I was giving a talk to Republican activists, sharing with them how there are a group of - of homosexual millionaires who are wanting to change the political climate of the nation, and they were doing it secretly.

COSTELLO: Who are these homosexual millionaires that are trying to change the climate of the country?

KERN: You want me - do you want me to name some names?

COSTELLO: I do.

KERN: OK. Tim Gill.

TIM GILL, GAY PHILANTHROPIST AND ACTIVIST: I think Sally Kerns has a great career and something ahead of her, it's just not what she's doing now.

COSTELLO (voice-over): That's Colorado multi-millionaire Tim Gill, a gay philanthropist who's doled out thousands of dollars to gay candidates in Oklahoma since 2006. Kerns suspect he's behind Novotny's candidacy.

Novotny denies that and campaign finance record shows she's received no money from Gill. Seventy-two percent of her donors are from Oklahoma, the others are from out of state.

And sources close to the Gill Action Fund say they've not contributed any money to the Novotny campaign. Actually, Ben Patrick Johnson is Novotny's largest out of state supporter, a Los Angeles actor. He's donated $1,000 and recently held a fundraiser for Novotny.

BEN PATRICK JOHNSON, VOICE-OVER ACTOR/NOVOTNY SUPPORTER: It's really Sally's own words that motivate me. If there were some kind of aggregate gay mafia millionaires, I'd probably be a part of it, but there is no such.

PASTOR PAUL BLAIR, FAIRVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH: Father God, we look to you for our protection.

COSTELLO: At Oklahoma City's Fairview Baptist Church -

BLAIR: We seek to uplift the name of Jesus.

COSTELLO: One of Sally Kern's strongest supporters is Pastor Paul Blair. He says Johnson and the rest of Novotny's out of state donors should stay out of Oklahoma politics. He says they have a plan.

COSTELLO (on camera): If it is a plan, what have they proved?

BLAIR: Proved as far as what?

COSTELLO: As far as anything.

BLAIR: That even if you're in a conservative state, you're not - you're not safe. If you take a strong stand on these moral issues, we can knock you out. If we can knock Sally Kern out of Oklahoma, then we can knock you out.

COSTELLO (voice-over): As for the candidates themselves, both say they prefer to focus on economic issues. At this point, good luck with that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So far, Brittany Novotny has raised $32,294 to Sally Kern's $30,849. And in case you're wondering, as of August 9th, Kern received only two out of state donations totaling $125.

Voters will decide what's important. And if out of state donations are important in a race, voters will decide that as they say in November.

C. CROWLEY: Out of state donations - I mean, money from anywhere has been my experience it helps candidates.

Let me ask you something, Carol. It's been my experience also that some candidates run to win and some candidates run to move the conversation. Which one is Novotny?

COSTELLO: Novotny says she's running to win. She wants to talk issues. She wants to talk economic issues. She wished all these other stuff would go away. Of course, Sally Kern sees it a whole different way. We'll see what the voters think in November.

But Novotny says she is not running to make a point. She's running to win.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, she's certainly making a point in Oklahoma.

How do voters react to her? I mean, when you -- when you see her sort of talking to folks out there, are folks open to talking to her? I mean, it's a very conservative state, Oklahoma.

COSTELLO: We followed her around. She went from door to door. But remember, she only visited Democrats.

ACOSTA: Yes.

COSTELLO: And they seemed to accept her warmly. They talked to her, came out, shook her hand. So, as for how Republicans receive her, we didn't really witness any of that. But the Republicans I talked to mostly associated with the current campaign are not receiving Novotny well.

ACOSTA: OK.

CROWLEY: Carol Costello, thank you very much. People wonder why we love politics.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CROWLEY: It is 31 minutes past the hour. And that means time for this morning's top stories.

A big night for Tea Party conservatives in the most watched primary. Christine O'Donnell who is backed by Sarah Palin beat Congressman Mike Castle in Delaware's Republican Senate race. And in New York, Tea Party favorite Carl Paladino beat former Congressman Rick Lazio for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

ACOSTA: Some radio traffic has surfaced, revealing the feelings of helplessness and horror that first responders felt when they saw that fire ball over San Bruno, California, last Thursday. For hours, firefighters thought they were dealing with a plane crash and were forced to sit and watch, even fall back when they realized they had no water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call for fourth alarm for this. Look, it appears that we have a plane down in a neighborhood, multiple structures on fire and we have a fireball still coming out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop that engine, we have no water in this hydrant, we need them to lay into us.

INCIDENT COMMANDER: Copy that. Engine 38, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think we got a broken water main down here, so they need to lay in from the corner of San Bruno Avenue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Wow. This shows you how chaotic the first moments after a calamity like this can be. The firefighters improvised, stretching lines from another water grid, thankfully, but they did lose precious time. Officials say four people died in the fire and three are still missing. Thirty-seven homes were destroyed.

CROWLEY: And Tony Hayward, remember that name? He is -- days of testifying are not done yet. Later today, the outgoing CEO of BP will face questions from British lawmakers studying the fallout of the oil spill in the Gulf. They are considering whether new regulations are needed in Britain to limit deepwater drilling there.

ACOSTA: I can feel the folks at BP bracing for the impact of Tony Hayward talking in public once again.

After spending the last 14 months in an Iranian prison, American hiker Sarah Shourd is reunited with her family this morning. Shourd was freed on $500,000 bail. She arrived yesterday n the Gulf State of Oman and safely back into the arms of her mother.

CROWLEY: Iran is still holding her fiance and friend in prison on spy charges. After the 2 1/2-hour flight from Iran to Oman, Shourd thanked everyone involved in her release, including Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is live in Muscat, Oman.

What can you tell us, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sarah sounded very tired and emotional when she landed. She gave a very short statement to a handful of waiting journalists, very carefully-crafted statement. Very much in the lines of what she said before she left Tehran. The place it differed most of all after thanking the Omani government, after thanking the Iranian leadership, was to say that her priority now was to get her boyfriend -- to get her fiance and her other friend out of the jail in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH SHOURD, FREED AMERICAN HIKER: Today is the work that my day begins. And all of my efforts starting today are going to go into helping procure the same freedom for my fiance Shane Bauer and for my friend Josh Fattal because I can't enjoy my freedom without them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: And right now, she's resting here in Muscat, in Oman. It's not clear what her next move will be. Obviously, her family, her mother and her uncle were there to greet her. They're going to make sure that she is in the best physical and emotional condition before she moves on.

But very likely, given that she wants to do so much for her fiance, she's going to want to see what she can do, perhaps, with the Omani government, perhaps talk to officials here to see what they can do to speed their release. That's obviously her priority. And one would imagine she wouldn't want to leave the region without doing as much as she can in the meantime -- Candy, Jim.

ACOSTA: And, Nic, and any glimmers of hope at this point for these other two men who are being held? Any possible word of when they could perhaps be released?

ROBERTSON: Really, the only word that the Iranians are giving at the moment is that these two are going to stand trial on charges of spying, which all three have adamantly denied from the beginning. And their lawyer has denied on their behalf, as well. So, the best signals are that Sarah Shourd was released. The worst of the signals are that the Iranians sort of seem to be putting that to one side and continuing on ahead.

The Omani government here has said that they are happy with this humanitarian move. This shows the strength of Omani/Iranian relations. But they hope that there will be more -- there can be sort of more building of the American-Iranian relationship following this. Omanis are clearly going to stay in this game of doing whatever they can to get these other hikers free.

ACOSTA: Nic Robertson, joining us live this morning in Oman -- thanks, Nic. Appreciate that.

And coming up at 8:40 Eastern, we'll talk with the mothers of the two Americans still being held in Iran. Cindy Hickey and Laura Fattal, they will join us live in the 8:00 hour.

CROWLEY: Still to come on the Most News in the Morning, they say they're the future of the Republican Party and they're breaking with their leadership. I talked to the so-called "young guns" -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: They call themselves the future of the Republican Party. And after November 2nd, they could find their party back in control of Congress.

CROWLEY: In a new book called "Young Guns," a new generation of conservative leaders: Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Congressman Paul Ryan, and Congressman Kevin McCarthy, say Republicans lost the confidence of the American public when they didn't deliver on what they promised.

So, I began our conversation asking who lost actually the confidence of the American people and where they think the party needs to go next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), MINORITY WHIP: What we did, Candy, is the three of us got together a couple of years ago and said, you know what, we are tired of what's happened to our party, whether it's in our ways of spending or the conduct of leadership. And you know what? The voters agreed with us back then because they fired us in '06 and '08.

We also said, you know, this country has now gone way off- track. And we've got to go in search of new people that can come to the table that want to go to Washington for the right reasons. And we all believe as common sense conservatives that the answer is a free enterprise, optimistic conservative vision for this country. So --

CROWLEY: But this is an innate criticism of your own party, is it not?

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), WISCONSIN: But our party lost its way. I mean, so we have to own up to the fact --

CROWLEY: Who is that? I mean, you are your party.

RYAN: So, we have to own up to the fact that the last time we were in the majority, we spent too much money. We did not ink ourselves to our fiscal conservative principles. We have to acknowledge that if we don't want to repeat those mistakes in the future.

And so, what we're doing is, we're going around America trying to get men and women to come to Congress, not to try to build a political career, but to help advance a cause and get this country back on track.

CROWLEY: When you talk about the next generation of conservative leaders, you sort of implicitly talk about page-turning. Much has been made about the fact that not much was said about or to John Boehner, the Republican leader, who may or may not become the next speaker of the House.

Would you all tell me right now if the Republicans take over majority of the House, would you support John Boehner as speaker?

UNIDENTIIFIED MALE: Yes, we all would.

CROWLEY: So, this not --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at all.

CROWLEY: -- you know, a rebellion takeover "young guns"?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

CROWLEY: You support John Boehner at this point?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R), CALIFORNIA: We didn't -- we didn't create the name. This was based upon Fred Barnes writing something three years ago, saying how can the party come back after being fired? And it can come back by putting ideas out there, using their conservative principles to solve problems.

CROWLEY: Let me -- let me ask you one further while we're just -- while we're on the subject of Leader Boehner. And that is that he's made -- he's got a lot of play for saying, yes, I vote for continuing the middle class tax cuts.

It seems to me the argument isn't whether John Boehner wants all of the tax cuts to be extended. It's -- what would he do if he got a bill that was only to extend middle class tax cuts defined now as $250,000 and over? If you only get that bill, are you telling me that you would or would not vote for that bill?

CANTOR: Let's examine the question first, OK?

CROWLEY: OK.

CANTOR: The reality is there's a bipartisan majority in the House that supports our position, which says there should be no tax hikes for anyone -- no investor, no single mom, no small businessperson, especially in a recession. That's the reality.

So, the speaker right now is refusing to allow the voices of the bipartisan majority in Congress. And frankly, we know the majority of the American people who say, you know what? Tax hikes in a recession are a non-starter.

CROWLEY: Would you, tax-cutting Republicans, set the market free really vote against a bill that kept those tax cuts in place for most Americans?

RYAN: We are not interested in being party to a bill that ends up raising taxes on job-creating small businesses.

CROWLEY: Does that do it though?

RYAN: Here's the point. Here's who can answer this question. The speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, can bring a bill to the floor that extends all of the tax rate cuts and it would pass.

CROWLEY: Right now, the energy out there as you all well know are people who are backed by the Tea Party, which is actually a lot of different entities at this point. Do you easily see a transition from Tea Party candidates, be they in the House or the Senate into the Republican caucus on either side? Do you see any of these candidates easily doing that?

CANTOR: Remember what the Tea Party stands for is "Taxed Enough Already." These are people who are so frustrated at Washington's ways of runaway spending and lack of accountability.

That is our message: that people are tired of a government that frankly continues to make promises it can't keep. And we're about some transparency, some straightforward discussion as to how we can address this -- the growth in federal government that needs to be reined in, how we're going to cut federal spending, and ultimately, how we get people back to work.

CROWLEY: And let me just as a final question here. If I'm a voter and I'm sitting out there and I'm listening to you, I may be in my head going, yes, yes, yes, we have heard this all before. We're going to work together. We're going to put the best ideas on the table. Here are Republicans who are advocating tax cuts remain across-the-board, or the current tax system remain across-the-board who are also arguing that the deficit is going to kill us. And so you're going to add $3.8 billion -- trillion -- sorry -- to the deficit because you want your tax cuts.

Isn't that orthodoxy over what you all are advocating?

RYAN: Candy, domestic spending went up 84 percent last year. The spending spree has got to stop.

CROWLEY: But you can't cut your way out of the --

RYAN: When we did a budget last year, I brought a budget to the floor, the Republican budget, that cut $4.8 trillion in spending out of the budget. There's plenty of waste and there's room to cut in government and spending. If you try to balance this budget and pay off this debt by raising taxes, you will suffocate economic progress and prosperity in this country.

Spending is the root cause of our problems. We have to deal with the structural spending issues. And if we try to tax ourselves out of this, we will stifle job creation, and we will have a lost decade on our hands. And we can't afford that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Just for the record, the "Young Guns," 40 and over. So, 40 is the new young gun, which I think comes as great news, you know, to anybody over 40.

ACOSTA: We will take it. That's right.

CROWLEY: Exactly.

ACOSTA: You know, they bring up a good point about Republican Party politics. And it's no wonder that they're trying to reclaim, you know, what they feel like are their conservative principles. They're making their best stab at it.

CROWLEY: Yes. they're kind of walking a fine line here, you know. The Republicans made a huge mistake. We're not your grandfather's Republican Party. Really, because grandfather's Republican Party would pretty much be Ronald Reagan who was an icon in the Republican Party.

ACOSTA: Who was an icon, yes.

CROWLEY: So, you know, we'll see.

ACOSTA: Just not that grandfather.

CROWLEY: That's an idea machine there. Those three there cranking it out.

ACOSTA: Yes. OK. very good. And good to hear from them. Well, thanks a lot. And 6:45, Rob Marciano is tracking three active storms in the Atlantic right now. And he'll have the latest on that as well as this morning's travel forecast right after the break.

CROWLEY: And now we've seen it all, but we keep saying that, and we still see more. Social media for man's best friend. Twitter for your dog. That's still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CROWLEY: It is just about 49 minutes past the hour. We want to get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano in the Extreme Weather Center -- Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. Stay with me here. Are you ready? Julia, number one, category four storm. Igor, category four storm, as well. And now we got Karl. This one a little bit closer to home. This is not yet a hurricane, but almost there with winds of 65 miles an hour. Just to update you on Igor because this thing has been a beast with forecast track still to keep it offshore the United States. We will get some swells (ph) from that, but that is about it.

As far as Karl is concerned, that is closer to home, much greater concern. It will make landfall across the Yucatan Peninsula later on today. Getting to the Gulf of Mexico, are you worried? Most of our computer models keep it south and going to Mexico. Bad for them because it could be a hurricane at that point. So, worries there for sure. By later this morning, we could have three hurricanes going at one time, two of which would be major.

And none of which are going to affect the United States directly. That is amazing and certainly lucky. Not so lucky across the northern plains. Severe weather here today. Flash flood warnings right now for parts of Kansas and then later on today, some of these storms will regenerate themselves.

So, this is the bulls eye where we'll see some heavier rain, some flooding certainly, and some gusty winds, and some lightning. Meanwhile, lovely weather across the northeast. All these storms brewing in the highly populated northeast quarter where you, guys, are hanging out right now. Very nice. Enjoy. Jim, Candy.

ACOSTA: We will. We will do that. Appreciate it.

MARCIANO: All right, guys.

ACOSTA: This morning's top stories just minutes away, including a full rundown on primary night. We will talk to the newest tea party superstar. The winner of Delaware's GOP Senate primary, Christine O'Donnell. Can she win in November without much of her party's support and without Republican cash? That is one of the big questions.

CROWLEY: It is. But then a CNN exclusive. A look at the problem of child sex trafficking on the web. Other websites are already filling the Craigslist void. Our Amber Lyon spoke to a mother who found her 12-year-old child online for sale. And there is this amazing moment when Lyon is there and the young girl calls home. Those stories and more at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. These days, it seems everyone is on Twitter. The site has an estimated 18 million registered users, and tweeting has become a very popular way to get instant updates from friends, celebrities, even people on CNN, and now the family dog? Gary Tuchman shows us in today's "Edge of Discovery" report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Roscoe. Thanks to his high-tech ad, he's learning a new trick, how to tweet.

RACHEL COOPER, MATTEL: When I'm at work, I'm able to just hop on Twitter and I can see what my dog is up to.

TUCHMAN: These hops aren't pulling away the keyboard, though. Their tags have a motion sensor and microphone that can tell when they move or bark.

RON BAGLEY, DESIGN DIRECTOR, MATTEL: That is sent from the tag to the antenna and then the software evaluates this data that's coming in and determines an appropriate tweet to send to your dog's Twitter page.

TUCHMAN: So now, you'll know when your dog is taking a nap, chasing its tail, or even chasing away the mailman. It might be a novelty toy, but developing it as dog on tap (ph).

BAGLEY: We spent many days in many different homes with dogs trying these on, putting these on dogs' collars and having them sit still and run around. We would test very little dogs like Chihuahuas on up to big dogs like Great Danes. And this helped us to tune the microphone to be able to pick up on this broad range of volume, decibel level.

TUCHMAN: Adding edge technology that might end up a chew toy.

Gary Tuchman, CNN.

ACOSTA: And I -- I --

CROWLEY: It's all yours.

ACOSTA: I always thought those doggy tweets were so delicious, you know.

CROWLEY: Too early for puns. I don't get it. So, you put this thing around -- and I love dogs, please. I love all animals. But you put this thing around your dog's neck and you can tell everything it's doing. And I'm not sure we want to know all the things our dogs are doing. And then it shows up on a -- I don't get it.

ACOSTA: yes. I don't get it.

CROWLEY: Why do we want to do that?

ACOSTA: I mean, bark, ruff, I mean, I guess, you can get that in 140 characters or less. But when they bite the mailman's leg, I supposed, you might want to get that tweeted out, right? You know. CROWLEY: I imagine you'll hear it from your mailman.

ACOSTA: That's right. Yes.

CROWLEY: That's all I'm saying, the old fashioned way.

ACOSTA: Good way to let the neighbors know if the mailman's going to finish his route.

CROWLEY: Exactly. Top stories coming your way after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)