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American Morning
O'Donnell Money Questions: Complaint Filed Against Spending; O'Donnell Campaign Headquarters in Living Room; Critical Senate Vote Scheduled Today on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"; Palin's Primary Scoreboard
Aired September 21, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Checks and balances. Questions for the suddenly silent rising star of the Tea Party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, about the rentals last year, why were you paying rent money with campaign money?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Where does Christine O'Donnell get her money? Is she using campaign cash as her personal credit card?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: No truth to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: ON the Most Politics in the Morning.
And good morning. Thanks so much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. It's Tuesday, it's the 21st of September. One more day left of summer. So use it wisely.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: Yes, it's more the official start of fall, although it feels in much of the country like summer.
ROBERTS: I don't know what happened to the last decade, let alone summer.
CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. We're going to have a lot more on Christine O'Donnell in just a few minutes.
Some other top stories this morning. It is now officially the deadliest year for coalition forces in Afghanistan. NATO saying that a chopper went down in southern Afghanistan this morning, killing nine soldiers. The number of dead in 2010 now to at least 529. The most since the war began nine years ago. ROBERTS: The great recession is history. That's the official word from a panel of economists who say it ended more than a year ago.
Well, you didn't feel it, did you? If it's over, why are so many Americans still feeling so much pain? We're going to talk with economist Jeff Sachs from Columbia University about that this morning.
CHETRY: And the debate continues today in the Senate on whether to dump the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Meantime, Lady Gaga is waging her own war against the military policy banning openly gay service members. She brought her star power to a rally in Maine urging lawmakers to repeal it.
ROBERTS: What did she say? That freedom is the prime rib of America?
CHETRY: Perhaps she said that since she posed in an outfit made up only of prime rib.
ROBERTS: Yes, defending everyone's freedom to wear a meat dress should they so choose.
And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation going on right now. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.
Well, up first this hour, given the Tea Party's new superstar a chance to clear the air.
CHETRY: Yes. A lot of questions continue this morning about the way that Christine O'Donnell, the Republican candidate for Senate in Delaware, spent some of her campaign money. A complaint was filed with the Federal Election Commission over a handful of checks that were written in 2009 after her 2008 run for Senate was over. Christine O'Donnell was speaking at a campaign forum in Delaware last night. And our Gary Tuchman went to the candidate to give her a chance to respond. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: We have been ethical. We have not -- I personally have not misused the campaign funds. We have our SEC lawyer, a great attorney answering those charges if it ever goes anywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, the O'Donnell campaign is calling the accusations, quote, "frivolous," but there are a lot more records coming out. Things that raise all kinds of ethical questions, like a check that O'Donnell wrote back in March of 2009 for $750 to a landlord and former boyfriend. Gary caught up with the candidate later to get a response to that. Here's what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miss O'Donnell, may I ask you the one question you promised you'd answer? CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: I did answer it.
TUCHMAN: No, about the rentals last year. Why were you paying rent money with campaign money?
O'DONNELL: Sorry, not happening.
TUCHMAN: Well, that was the one question I had.
O'DONNELL: I answered it.
TUCHMAN: No, you didn't answer it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A Washington organization called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington did a lot of digging on this story. It's gone after candidates on both sides of the aisle in the past, claims to be none partisan. They say Christine O'Donnell is, quote, "clearly a criminal and should be prosecuted because of this spending." The group's executive director explained why last night on "AC 360."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You say in this report that -- that she is a criminal. How can you say that? I mean, shouldn't she be innocent until proven guilty?
MELANIE SLOAN, CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY & ETHICS IN WASHINGTON: Well, of course, everyone's innocent until proven guilty, but if you look at the facts in this case and is literally just the facts, you can look at the campaign finance reports Christine O'Donnell filed. You can look at what her former campaign staffers have said, and two former staffers, David Keegan (ph) and Christine Murray have both said she basically treated the campaign coffers like her own personal piggy bank and she routinely was spending at campaign money for her personal lifestyle. This is the stuff that crimes are made of. This is embezzlement. This is no different than any other employee who steals from their job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, we have calls out to Christine O'Donnell to respond to these questions about her finances. So far, there has been no response. As of right now, O'Donnell continues to use campaign cash to pay for her home. But there's a catch to that. It doubles as her election headquarters. Brian Todd is taking a look inside for us this morning.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran. This is a campaign that is struggling to hire staff to ramp up operations at the same time that it's taking on a lot of serious questions about Christine O'Donnell's past. We've got some real insight into how the campaign staff is dealing with all of that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TODD (voice-over): Christine O'Donnell and her tightly knit staff scrambling to show they're ready for prime time in Delaware and beyond. This nondescript townhouse outside Wilmington, not the place you'd expect to find a hot campaign that's already beaten one political machine and is taking on another.
(on camera): Inside the O'Donnell campaign headquarters now. Looks like a small operation right now but it's getting booted up very fast. About eight people are inside here right now. We're told that some of them not only work here but live here. About five people live in this townhouse as well.
(voice-over): It's here that we're looking for answers to some questions about O'Donnell's finances and her personal past. Like this comment in 1999 on Bill Maher's old show "Politically Incorrect."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE O' DONNELL: I dabbled into witchcraft. I hung around people who were doing these things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: O'Donnell is not here to answer our questions about that. Inside this cramped living room, campaign officials say that episode was a moment of soul searching in her youth. The campaign provides us this clip of her defense at a public event Sunday.
CHRISTINE O'DONNELL, DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: I was in high school. How many of you didn't hang out with questionable folks in high school? But no, there's been no witchcraft since.
TODD: This campaign is scrambling to bring on more staff, including people to handle press questions. Campaign manager Matt Moran is at first reluctant to go on camera, but then agrees.
(ON CAMERA): From the broader charges from several different quarters that she's misused campaign money for her personal expenses, what's your response?
MATT MORAN, O'DONNELL CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, several different quarters would probably qualify as a lot of the establishment. And then for the supposedly bipartisan organizations there are --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know that it never happened --
MORAN: -- who brought forth the suit, you know, I'm very confident that they will be dismissed as frivolous. And for the charges that need to be articulated fully, we have some lawyers that will be looking at that addressing those concerns.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Matt Moran went on to say that O'Donnell has been living for a while off her savings. Another campaign official told me she's been paying her personal expenses with some money that she's earned doing PR work for a client. When asked for specifics about that, this official declined to give them citing privacy concerns.
John and Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Brian Todd for us this morning. Brian, thanks so much. The story we'll be developing all day. So for the latest on Christine O'Donnell or the Tea Party, or all the day's political news, go to our Web site, CNNpolitics.com.
CHETRY: Six and half minutes past the hour. Also new this morning, Pacific Gas & Electric releasing a list of the 100 riskiest pipeline segments in its natural gas system after pressure from state regulators. The segment that exploded in San Bruno earlier this month killing four people and burning down dozens of homes was not on that list. PG&E president Christopher Johns insists segments that are on the list do not pose a safety risk. So a little confusing as to what the point of the list is then.
ROBERTS: Yes. And obviously they had some problem there as witnessed by the video.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man behind the proposed Islamic center and mosque near New York's Ground Zero, is getting protection from the police. That's according to friends who also say the imam has been avoiding New York lately because of security concerns. The New York City Police Department is not commenting.
CHETRY: And a national distracted driver summit gets underway today in Washington. Transportation officials, safety groups, law enforcement all gathering to deal with a deadly problem that only seems to be growing -- texting while driving. It's killed over 5,400 people last year alone in the U.S. Officials say that roughly one in six traffic deaths are now caused by people who do it.
ROBERTS: And the afternoon rush hour in Atlanta, a little worse than usual last night after -- yes, that's a small plane that made an emergency landing on I-85, just north of downtown. The plane clipped trees on the way down, but was able to miss vehicles and people landing just outside the HOV lane. Hope there was two people in the aircraft. We don't know why the pilot was forced to bring the plane down, but made for quite a scene and quite a tie-up there on I-85.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Maybe he was texting while flying.
ROBERTS: Let's hope not.
MARCIANO: There are strict laws in Georgia actually now. You cannot text while driving.
CHETRY: Yes.
MARCIANO: You can talk without -- like this, but you can't --
CHETRY: Oh, you can still do that?
MARCIANO: Yes.
CHETRY: In New York you can't even do that.
MARCIANO: So --
CHETRY: But you know, it's funny because people, when they ask teens especially or younger drivers I think under 20, they think that it's not as dangerous as drunk driving even though a lot of the stats have shown it is just as dangerous as drunk driving. You don't do it, though.
MARCIANO: Ten and two, baby.
CHETRY: Ten and two.
MARCIANO: Ten and two the whole way.
Good morning, John. Good morning, Kiran. All right, let's talk weather.
We've got Igor and we've got another storm, as well. But Igor did its damage to Bermuda yesterday as you know. It is still a hurricane. So with winds of 75 miles an hour and approaching Cape Race, Newfoundland, we'll do that later on today, the northern part of the storm will get there and maybe scrape it with tropical storm-force winds. But there is still a hurricane watch that's posted.
Look at how it kind of scoots around and actually misses Greenland. I mean, by then it's not really going to be a hurricane. It will be just be a northern Atlantic storm but nonetheless, very interesting.
Also interesting, this is tropical storm Lisa, newly formed this morning or last night as a tropical depression. Now named a tropical storm, 40-mile-an-hour winds. It will be heading off towards the north and west, pretty far away from land at this point. So we're not terribly concerned about Lisa.
ROBERTS: We've been pretty fortunate that all those hurricanes are recurving around Bermuda. Bermuda not so fortunate.
MARCIANO: Yes. Exactly. No, we've been very lucky. The last one kind of went down into Mexico, so hopefully our luck will continue.
You know, guys, yesterday we showed you that one piece about the special operations weather team. That's right, the special operations weather team. They go in and battle with the likes of the Green Berets throughout Iraq and Afghanistan. Navy SEALs, Army Rangers.
Yes. Believe me, these guys are getting it done. And well, they can't afford to get the forecast wrong. It's an "A.M. Original." A story you'll only see here on AMERICAN MORNING. We'll have that second part of a two-part series in about 20 minutes.
CHETRY: That's fascinating.
ROBERTS: OK. Looking forward to it.
CHETRY: All right. ROBERTS: I want to see if Rob jumps out of an aircraft this time.
MARCIANO: I've done it once before. Once is enough for my pay grade.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: See you guys.
ROBERTS: Lady Gaga taking the stage for a cause. The pop star putting the pressure on Republican lawmakers to support a repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gays in the military. Wait until you hear how she made the argument.
It's 10 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twelve-and-a-half minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
In just a few hours, the Senate is scheduled to vote on whether to go forward with a bill that would authorize the Pentagon to allow "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to be repealed. Well, someone who's lending her voice to the cause, Lady Gaga, pop sensation. She actually headlined a rally yesterday in Portland, Maine, in hopes of pressuring the state's two Republican senators to help get onboard to get it repealed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LADY GAGA, SINGER: I'm here because they inspire me. I'm here because I believe in them. I'm here because "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is wrong. It's unjust. And fundamentally, it is against all that we stand for as Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The glasses were a nice touch as she was giving that speech. Well, as we mentioned, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will be front and center in the Senate later today. Let me bring in senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash live in Washington.
So, Dana, did you ever think you'd be talking about the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and bringing in Lady Gaga?
DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what, it's just -- you can't make this stuff up, Kiran, that's for sure. But what's interesting about this day-to-day is that it is going to be very dramatic. It is very close. Sources tell us that it is too close to call right now.
And just to be clear, of course, nothing in the Senate is ever straightforward. So what we're talking about here is simply a vote to begin debate on a defense bill that includes the authority you talked about. The authority to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" after a year- long military review is complete and after military leaders OK it. Well, Republicans are trying to block that defense bill from the Senate floor. They argue among other things that Democrats have set up a process that would make it hard for them to change or amend the bill. So that's why Democrats think they are about one or two votes shy of overcoming the GOP filibuster.
Now, the reason gay rights activists, including Lady Gaga, had been targeting Maine Republican Susan Collins is because she supports repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and she actually voted with Democrats on it on committee. But she released a statement to CNN last night suggesting that the process needs to be changed or she'll vote with her party. Here, I'll read the statement. She said, "Let me be clear, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law should be changed." She went on to say it's simply not fair. But she said it is disappointing, however, that instead of allowing a full and open debate on the Defense Authorization bill, the majority leader intends to shut Republicans out of the debate, Kiran.
CHETRY: So it's yet again as you said not easy. It means that to support this, it's tied up with so - so much other -
BASH: Exactly.
CHETRY: -- very, very important and not that controversial issues as it relates to defense spending. So what happens next if this should fail?
BASH: You know, regardless of what happens in Congress, the Pentagon Review, which is ongoing right now is due. The report is due in December. The issue, though, is for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to be overturned, Congress does have to eventually act. And despite the fact that the president and military leaders, they've all said publicly that they believed it's time to get rid of the policy.
Gay rights activists we talked to, they say they're really worried that if Democrats in November lose control of Congress or even have diminished numbers, they say it will be much harder to pass a repeal. That's why they say doing it now is so urgent.
CHETRY: Yes.
BASH: And, I've got to tell you, Kiran, why there is a lot of frustration in the gay community, that the president and Democratic leaders waited so long to pursue this, because it was a campaign promise of the president.
CHETRY: And, quickly, what about Olympia Snowe, who's been known to, you know, buck her party at times as well and vote with Democrats. Where is she going on this?
BASH: She has, and, in this case, she is pretty much in line with her colleague from - from Maine, that she is, at this point, seems to be sticking with her party and arguing that the process is flawed. She is also somebody who thinks maybe it is best to wait until the Pentagon review is done before Congress acts.
CHETRY: All right. Dana Bash this morning. Thanks.
BASH: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Coming up now at 17 minutes after the hour.
Do you hear that sound? It's the sound of the recession ending - fourteen months ago. The official word is it has been over since June of last year. So why aren't more Americans feeling the effects of the recovery?
We're going to talk with Columbia economist Jeff Sachs, coming right up after the break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Nice to see those up arrows in the market for a change. Twenty minutes after the hour.
It might not feel like the great recession is over, but, according to a group of economists, it is. In fact, it ended way back in June of last year. But try telling that to millions of Americans who are still feeling real economic pain.
Joining us now is economist Jeff Sachs. He's Director of Columbia's Earth Institute, a Special Adviser to the United Nations. And you've got meetings during the United Nations general assembly all this week. You're a busy man this week.
JEFFREY SACHS, INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIST: This is a busy week. You had 140 world leaders here at the U.N. this week.
ROBERTS: Yes. We'll talk about that in just a second.
But, first of all, this - this headline in the "Detroit News" that I came across today really kind of says it all. Let's put it up on the screen and share it with folks. "The recession is over, but not the pain."
Ended 14 months ago, but in many places, Jeff, you'd never know it was over.
SACHS: Well, the - the meaning of the recession being over is a very technical meaning. It means that the bottom was reached. It doesn't mean we've come off the bottom or very far off the bottom. What this committee does is look at the data month-to-month and ask when did we reach the - the bottom and when is there at least some slight recovery starting?
But nobody feels that there's much recovery. This is a - pretty much a dismal situation from the point of view of jobs, from the point of view of household income, and - and spending. People don't feel that there's a recovery.
They may feel that it's not a freefall anymore.
ROBERTS: And to bottom, as you put it, reached in June of 2009. Significant, because that was when stimulus spending really was at its highest level.
SACHS: Well, it means that the overall economy began to experience some growth. And, actually, the growth looked like there was a more vigorous recovery building up at the end of last year. But, this year, things have slowed down again, and even given the fear that there could be a double dip.
ROBERTS: Yes. Let's talk about that, double-dip recession. Some of your - some of your contemporaries are suggesting that we might already be in one, that the third quarter of this year may be the first quarter of the recession. What do you think?
SACHS: I think it's clearly a weak spell. What's happened is that consumers are not spending, they're saving. That's actually for the good, if - because we went through 20 years of over consumption, spending more than our income.
What we really need is for investment to pick up. Investment, things like fast rail. But one of the stories in today's "Wall Street Journal" shows that spending on rail has hardly budged because there're still fights about who's going to control the tracks, who controls the right of way. So we're tangled up in knots in this country in a lot of ways.
ROBERTS: One of the big discussions going on in this election season is what to do about the Bush tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire at the end of this year. President Obama says he wants to end the tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans, people - households earning more than $250,000, leave them in place for the middle class.
Republicans are saying, no, leave them in place for everyone because the least thing we can afford to do at this point is to raise taxes. What do you think?
SACHS: I don't know what the Republicans are thinking. We have a budget hole that's so huge, do they really want to bankrupt the country? And can't the millionaires and the billionaires pay a bit more?
I mean, come on. I -
ROBERTS: But their - but their point is, though, that if you put more money in the hands of - of all consumers, you're going to get revenues through increased spending and taxes from spending.
SACHS: If you focus only on one thing, you can come to an erroneous conclusion. If you focus on the risks of the budget deficit, you come to another conclusion, which is are we really going to borrow our way back to prosperity by going deeper and deeper into debt to China, for example? That makes no sense.
I think the Republicans are being incredibly irresponsible on this point.
ROBERTS: But can - can you close the revenue gap just on the backs of the wealthiest Americans? SACHS: Not just. There are going to have to be a lot of things done. We really need to cut military spending also because we're spending $100 billion this year in Afghanistan. I don't think any American thinks we're getting our money's worth on that.
So there need to be spending cuts. There're going to have to be tax increases on the millionaires and the billionaires.
But we're got to be reasonable because, sure, it would be easy to say, why pay taxes at all? But then, we'll absolutely go broke at the federal level.
ROBERTS: All right. Jeff Sachs, great to see you this morning. Good luck with your meetings at the U.N. this week. We'll check back with you on all of that.
SACHS: Wonderful. Thank you very much.
ROBERTS: Appreciate it - Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, (INAUDIBLE) the weather warriors. It's a specifically trained air force unit on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq. Their job is to get the forecast right because getting it wrong could be deadly. Rob Marciano has an "A.M. Original" next.
It's 25 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-seven minutes after the hour. We're back with the Most News in the Morning.
When you picture America's elite Special Operations Forces, you don't really imagine a bunch of meteorologists leaping from the sky into the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.
CHETRY: Hey, you don't, but that's exactly what one highly trained group of weather experts is doing. Rob Marciano is here with an "A.M. Original".
So what do they do? They're basically trying to get the forecast right for guys that are in (INAUDIBLE)?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right, and that's pretty much what I thought going into this, but there's a lot more than - than what meets the eye, that's for sure.
Yesterday we introduced you to this elite force. It's an Air Force unit. They're called the SOWTs - Special Operations Weather Team. They go into battle with the likes of the Green Berets, the Army Rangers, and believe it or not, I happen to have something in common with these guys - being a meteorologist myself.
But that's where our similarities end.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the N4 Carbine.
MARCIANO (voice-over): They're just like any other soldiers showing off their guns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TECH SGT. ERIC GILLILAND, U.S. AIR FORCE SOWT: It's what the guys like to use when they're in the Southern Afghanistan where this big wide open space is and they really need to reach out and touch somebody.
MARCIANO (on camera): And what does this have to do with weather?
GILLILAND: Well, you have to be alive to be able to report the weather.
MARCIANO: That's a good point.
MARCIANO (voice-over): These guys are members of an elite unit - Special Operations Weather Team, SOWT.
MASTER SGT. MIKE MARSTON, U.S. AIR FORCE SOWT: The science of what we do - of what you and I do is pretty much the same. The application of it is a little bit different.
MARCIANO: Yes, much different. It's environmental recon commando style. Today is rapids training day. Get a fully loaded C-130 on the ground and off loaded quickly. This is the 10th Combat Weather Squadron. Dirt bikes, ATV, Humvees and SOWT personnel. When they need to get out into a hostile environment, they do it out of the back of a plane, and they do it in a hurry.
MARCIANO (on camera): These Special Ops weather guys aren't the weather geeks I went to school with.
MARCIANO (voice-over): No, sir, and on the ground is where they go to work.
MARCIANO (on camera): Of course the main objective for the SOWTs is to gather weather information. So that means you've got to get out there, you've got to get out there quickly and you've got set up whatever equipment you - you're using to take your data observations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Temperature 23.
SGT. EVERETT CARSON (ph), U.S. AIR FORCE SOWT: Temp, two-three Celsius.
MARCIANO (voice-over): Sergeant Everett Carson (ph) has been deployed eight times.
CARSON (ph): Overcast, one-eight-zero, all (ph) copy.
MARCIANO: Most have served multiple tours and all of them including Sergeant Bryce Howser have war stories. SGT. BRYCE HOWSER, U.S. AIR FORCE SOWT: The IED goes off, we've got guys hurt on the ground and it's my job to let the MEDIVAC birds know exactly what to expect. I suggested a flight path for them to take through a specific pass at that point there were able to get in and get the two wounded guys off the - off the L.Z. (ph).
LT. COL. JOE BENSON, COMMANDER, 10TH COMBAT WEATHER SQUADRON: This is an M4?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Lieutenant Colonel Benson commands the SOWTies and knows how important this training is to keep all forces on mission.
LT. COL. JOE BENSON, COMMANDER, 10TH COMBAT WEATHER SQUARDRON: Earlier on the Iraq campaign, we had guys up in northern Iraq who were taking weather observations and passing them back to 16 aircraft which were about to deliver 1,000 paratroopers. Weather cleared up for just a brief period of time, 1,000 guys were able to exit the aircraft and land up in a place called Bashir (ph) Airfield and on with the mission they went.
MARCIANO: So don't refer to them as just the weathermen.
BENSON: To be called just the weather man definitely gets under your skin a little bit. But once you're put in a situation where you have to prove yourself and the weather call is on the line, that's when they realize, hey, this guy isn't just the weather guy. He's a special operations weather man. And he's a soldier.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: There are less than 100 SOWTies in the Air Force, and because the unit so small, they have one of the highest deployment rates in the military. They've been doing this since World War II, and so far, no fatalities.
CHETRY: Amazing. SOWTies -- S-O-W-T-I-E-S, because people may be thinking Saudis.
MARCIANO: Right. SOWTies, Special Operations Weather Team. I should brought the patch. I forgot to bring the patch.
CHETRY: Why are there only 100, though? Is it people -- I mean, is it a very difficult to be able to do both training wise?
MARCIANO: Yes, and they actually have a few job openings if anybody wants to, you know --
CHETRY: You look ready.
MARCIANO: Your husband too as well. Maybe we both --
(CROSSTALK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: I could see you forecasting the weather with an M4 in one hand and a radio in the other.
MARCIANO: Exactly. If anyone ever accuses me of getting something wrong, you know, I'll just cap 'em.
ROBERTS: Never call a person with an automatic weapon just a weather man.
MARCIANO: No, don't that. And, you know, the guys, they do so much. It's much more than forecasting because, militarily, there's a lot more that has to be considered. You know, can I get across the river? Can I -- can I get through a mountain pass?
And they'll go in and reach out to the locals in Afghanistan and Iraq and have trained the locals to take weather observations. The more -- any military commander will tell you -- the more information you have before going into a mission or battle, the better.
CHETRY: It's true. So they have weather watchers, as well, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
MARCIANO: Exactly.
CHETRY: Thanks, Rob. Thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.
Top stories now as we cross the half hour.
Trying to get answers from the Tea Party candidate for Senate in Delaware, Christine O'Donnell's past spending is raising legal and ethical questions. She canceled all appearances on Sunday talk shows this weekend but told our Gary Tuchman last night that her campaigns have been ethical.
CHETRY: Well, it is now the deadliest year for coalition forces in Afghanistan. NATO says that a chopper went down in southern Afghanistan this morning, killing nine U.S. service members and raising the 2010 death toll to at least 529 coalition forces. That's the most since the war began nine years ago.
ROBERTS: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking today at the United Nations. Protesters are already filling the streets of New York City. The demonstrators are saying they won't be silenced like the people who were during a bloody post-election crackdown in Iran.
Let's bring in our Jill Dougherty. She's up here in New York today for the United Nations General Assembly.
Jill, first up, news from Afghanistan, a chopper crash there. You just returned from Afghanistan not too long ago. What do we know about that?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, nine people -- I think the most important thing at this point is how did it happen? Why did it happen? And what the U.S. is saying is it was not insurgents. And that's important.
But they're taking it now -- NATO and the ISAF forces are taking it to the Taliban in the south. There's a lot of action. And that's where this happened.
And, you know, I think one of the important things is when this happens, it continues to undermine faith that people have in the United States, in Europe, and other places in this war. And that's the really dangerous thing because they need to take it to the Taliban, but we just got back from looking at the civilian side of the mission. And that is important, too.
So they're kind of racing against time. You do as much as you can against the Taliban, but you have to convince the Afghan people that they want the Taliban to be gone, that they don't need the Taliban to give them what -- let's say -- legal systems and other things that they're not getting from the central government. So, that civilian side is hugely important in addition to this fighting.
CHETRY: The other issue that is most likely to come up is the issue with these hikers still being held. Two American hikers are still being held and their mothers are saying they're going to be asked to meet -- they're going to be asking, actually, to meet with the president of Iran, Ahmadinejad.
DOUGHERTY: Right.
CHETRY: What is the status of that?
DOUGHERTY: You know, nobody really knows at this point. Remember, Sarah Shourd, one of the hikers, was released. And interestingly, she was released because of the direct intervention of President Ahmadinejad.
So, what does that mean? Could he intervene for the other three hikers? Will they get out?
And it's fascinating to watch Ahmadinejad right now because he really does appear to be hinting that he wants a better relationship with the United States. It seems a little counterintuitive because, you know, we'll have to see what he says when he speaks here. He usually has a lot of pretty strong attacks against the United States.
ROBERTS: For a man who wants a better relationship with the United States, he sure doesn't have the rhetoric to go along with it.
DOUGHERTY: Right.
ROBERTS: You know, one of the things standing in the way of better relations between the two countries, of course, is Iran's nuclear program. What's Ahmadinejad saying about that this time around at the U.N. General Assembly?
DOUGHERTY: You know, he always says, we have the right to do this because it's peaceful.
The United States gets increasingly frustrated with his lack of wanting to really come clean on all of the programs. So right now, the strategy is to put as much pressure economically with these very tough sanctions, keep everybody -- meaning the international community -- aboard and hope that that is going to chip away at the small group of people who are running Iran right now. Hope that works.
CHETRY: Any highlight -- any times we should watch out for today at the meetings?
DOUGHERTY: Well, today -- he's speaking, but the big action will be on Thursday when he speaks. And there are a lot of demonstrations. I was at one yesterday. There are going to be -- actually two -- but there'll be a lot of demonstrations on Thursday against him.
ROBERTS: OK. We look forward to your coverage this week.
DOUGHERTY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Jill, thanks so much. Good seeing you this morning.
CHETRY: Thanks, Jill.
DOUGHERTY: Thanks.
CHETRY: Also, don't miss Larry tonight -- tomorrow night, actually. This is when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is going to actually be on Larry's show. He is going to talk about the fate of the Americans jailed in Iran, also his nuclear ambitions, and much more. It's going to be on "LARRY KING LIVE" tomorrow night, 9:00 Eastern.
We're going to be right back. It's 36 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Thirty-nine minutes past the hour. Welcome back to "The Most Politics in the Morning."
President Obama getting an earful from voters from a town hall meeting in the nation's capital. The anger and disappointment was being voiced by some of the president's most ardent supporters. Here's a little example.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
VELMA HART, CFO, AMVETS: Quite frankly, I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now.
TED BRASSFIELD, LAW SCHOOL GRADUATE: Like a lot of people in my generation, I was really inspired by you and by your campaign and message that you brought. And that inspiration's dying away. It feels like the American Dream is not attainable to a lot of us.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
CHETRY: So, those were two people that you just heard from. And they join us now from Washington.
Velma Hart is the chief financial officer for American Veterans. And Ted Brassfield is a law school graduate now working as a freelance researcher.
Great to talk to both of you. We wanted to get you both in here because you had powerful statements and your questions to the president. And it's also interesting just to dig deeper because you both were such big supporters of the president.
Velma, when you said you were getting tired of defending the president, it's exhausting -- have you lost faith in the president? Or do you think that it's simply the circumstances we're in that he doesn't necessarily have control of?
HART: It is absolutely the latter. But I don't know that he don't -- that he doesn't have control of it.
I still have great faith in this president. I think that he is an amazing leader. I think he is inspirational.
And quite frankly, I thought that my question would set the platform for him -- for a response that would almost be -- oh, I don't know whimsical, magical, very powerful on the fact that he does believe that he's made progress. I know he's made progress. The issue for me is that I'm not certain that the progress is being felt deeply enough. And that's where I'm looking for the bang for the buck.
There's no denying that this president and his administration has made progress in these two years. No denying that at all. I just think that for middle class America, we thought we'd reap the benefits for that a lot faster.
CHETRY: Ted, you asked whether or not you felt the American Dream was still attainable. Why did you choose that question? I know that you had a lot on your mind. You had a lot that you discussed among your friends. Why did you ask about the American Dream?
BRASSFIELD: Well, it's a real problem that a lot of us who have advanced degrees -- and people who are going to college, maybe they don't know why they went to college. But we are facing massive student loans. The entire generation is just often facing six figures even when you go to public universities. And you have people like me who had good jobs but went back to school.
And it's completely -- we are in an untenable situation where the president and Teddy Kennedy really did a great job fixing the student loan situation. But you combine that with a sort of lost contract. There was a -- there was a civil contract between -- that society had said if you work hard, if you go to school, we will do -- we will have good jobs for you. And that's why it's -- you're willing to take on a massive amount of debt.
And it seems like that's been lost. And it's really hurting a lot of -- a lot of my cohort.
CHETRY: Did you get the answer you were looking for from the president or any more clarity on it?
BRASSFIELD: I think, unfortunately, I felt that the president answered very effectively all of the other questions he was asked by the audience. But like -- but like Velma, I thought that I had given him a lay-up to say this is why you should still have hope. And he didn't say that. He didn't -- he didn't answer it at all.
CHETRY: You know --
HART: And I'd like to follow up on that, Ted, because quite frankly, I thought my question about, is this new reality would be a perfect platform for him to respond -- that perhaps this isn't the new reality. There may be a new reality. But we're in transition now.
And our country is -- is deeply divided. And there are so many competing priorities. I thought his response was going to be a little different on that.
But again, I think there is just the reality of where we are. And that makes it very, very challenging for anyone, especially on the fly to answer such difficult questions. And the reality for me is that I knew the question would be difficult.
CHETRY: Well, you said you're exhausted defending him. What do people who have criticisms of the president that talk to you say? What are their biggest beefs?
HART: That he's all talk and no action, which I absolutely disagree with. I think the health care reform bill is action. I think the student loan legislation is action. I think there are -- even, you know, like it or hate it, even the financial reform is action. So, I don't get that argument.
And I -- and I get pretty passionate about it. I can't tell you I stand on top of tables and, you know, bang my head against the wall, but I believe in him. And I -- you know, there's something about what he communicates that makes me believe that he's got a plan. I just -- I'm tired of having debate -- you know, I think this is a moment of poker or something for me, maybe blackjack or 21. I want to have a card and just slam on the table that shuts the discussion, and I don't have that yet.
CHETRY: Now, a lot of people don't (ph). And Ted, just quickly before you go as well. What the president said, which I thought was interesting again was he said that some of the policies of the past ten years have made it very difficult. Do you think that he's still blaming the prior administrations for the tough economic situation we're in now?
BRASSFIELD: I think that he's correctly analyzing a situation. It's very complex and very nuanced. And the president actually sat down and explained a lot of the difficult choices that people have to make yesterday. And he said that sticking our head -- he implied that sticking our heads in the sand is no going to solve anything.
And I think that that's something that people need to understand. That we have -- he has tough actions he needs to take. And we need to -- we need to be willing to make sacrifice. And we need to be willing to take tough actions with him.
HART: Absolutely. And he -- he was quite eloquent on that point yesterday that we are at a time when there are just too many competing priorities and too many things, quite frankly, that are broken. And we are going to have to make some difficult decisions not just as an administration, not just as legislators, but as the American public. We're going to have to make those difficult decisions, and quite frankly, ride through the storm together. And I believe that's true.
CHETRY: You guys both are very eloquent in your answers as well. Glad we had a chance to talk to you this morning. Velma Hart and Ted Brassfield, good luck to you in the future both of you.
HART: Thank you so much.
BRASSFIELD: Thank you very much
CHETRY: Sure.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: The primaries are over, and Sarah Palin endorsed an awful lot of candidates. So, how many clinched their party's nomination? Palin's primary score card just ahead.
And a stormy start to the day in the upper Midwest. Rob got this morning's travel forecast right after the break. It's 47 minutes after the hour.
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ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back. I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center which is where one of our meteorologists go. This is a look at some of the daytime highs yesterday. We'll get back to that in a second, but first, let's talk about what's going on with Hurricane Igor. It's still a hurricane, although, it's transitioning into a Northern Atlantic storm and as wind of 75 miles an hour.
Tropical storm warnings are up for parts of Newfoundland, and this is going to scoot around Newfoundland and get up into Baton Bay and even kind of scrape Greenland just a little bit. All right. Let's talk about Lisa. This was formed earlier this morning, tropical storm-force winds of 40 miles an hour. It's way out there. It's by Africa, and this time of year, we're getting to the time of year where these storms actually have a hard time getting all the way across the Atlantic to the U.S., and hopefully, that'll be the case with Lisa.
All right. Back state side, Yuma, 108, phoenix 107. Some of these numbers are delayed. It's never been this hot in the season. So, it's been a dreadfully warm summer for some folks and that's continuing. We have the threat for fire across parts of Utah and Colorado today and a threat for severe across the Upper Midwest. You're up-to-date weather wise. AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: About seven minutes until the top of the hour right now. Welcome back to the Most Politics in the Morning. Crossing the Political Ticker, Sarah Palin closing out the primary season with a winning seal of approval.
ROBERTS: Our senior political editor, Mark Preston, live for us in Washington. Mark, good Tuesday morning to you.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, good morning, John. Good morning, Kiran. I'll tell you what, you know, politics is very much like sports. You are judged on your wins and losses, and Sarah Palin really was actively involved in this primary season. So, what we did is we crunch down the numbers. We looked at them. We saw how did she do in this primary? She did OK. Of candidates that she endorsed in competitive primaries, 18 of them won.
She did have 11 losses, however. In baseball, that'd be pretty good if you were a starting pitcher. Couple of big wins for her was Nikki Haley. She was the Republican nominee for governor in South Carolina, came out of nowhere, beat back some establishment candidates. And in fact, some people say Sarah Palin is the one that really helped her win.
She also endorsed Christine O'Donnell, which everyone's talking about nowadays up in Delaware. One of her big losses was Karen Handel down in Georgia who was unable to win that gubernatorial nomination. Go to CNNPolitics.com, you can see the full list.
But speaking of Christine O'Donnell, somebody who came out of nowhere and has really had the bright lights of the media shining in on her, shining in on the small state of Delaware. She now needs to transition her campaign from this very small scrappy campaign to a full blown general election campaign. In fact, what she wrote on her Twitter account just late last night, quote, "it's been a wild week since the primary, but our team is staffing up and positioning for a November win."
Part of that positioning is raising lots of money. She says she has reached her $2 million goal. Right now, they're working out of a townhouse about ten staffers, expect that to grow in the coming days. And let's close out with this very cool picture that was taken just last week. It's a U.S. navy picture sent to CNN. What you see there is sailors serving on the USS Ronald Reagan. And what they're doing is spelling out his initials and the number 100.
Why they're doing that is because next year, early next year, it will be the anniversary of the late president's birthday. And, of course, this is the aircraft carrier named after him. So, they're honoring him there. So, a very cool picture there. You can see that as well on CNNPolitics.com -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Sailors getting a little creative today. Hey, back on the Christine O'Donnell news front. This idea that she's using her home as her campaign headquarters, it's been a matter of some controversy in terms of funding, but is it all that unusual?
PRESTON: You know, it is a little bit unusual. You know, there's been a lot of talk about whether she is misusing her money, whether she's using it for personal expenses. In fact, she told CNN last night that she denied those allegations. We know that there has been an ethics complaint filed by an organization here in Washington, D.C. against her.
But you know what's really interesting, John, is that here in Washington, D.C., sometimes you have members of Congress who don't own houses here in Washington, D.C. And in fact, they live in their congressional offices. So, it is a little bizarre that she would be living in her campaign headquarters, but remember, she came out of nowhere and she had no money until she won this primary.
CHETRY: Yes, I think we featured Jason Shapit (ph), I think. He has like a pullout Murphy bed and pop tarts in his office and that's where he lives. Saves money, he said.
PRESTON: Yes, absolutely.
CHETRY: More to send back to his family in Utah. All right. Mark, good to talk to you this morning. Thanks.
PRESTON: Thanks, Kiran. Thanks, John.
CHETRY: We'll check in with Mark in the next hour, and for all the latest political news, head to the web, CNNPolitics.com.
ROBERTS: Top stories coming your way right after the break. Don't you dare go away. We'll be right back.
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