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American Morning
Rove's Shadow GOP: Millions Raised to Attack Democrats; Soldier's Story: From Here to Afghanistan; Recession Reality Check; Massachusetts Showdown; Florida's Tea Party Surprise; Rick Scott's Seven Steps to 700,000 Job Plan; Parents: Following Your Gut Could Save Your Child's Life
Aired September 27, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Levee on the brink. People on the move before the water traps them in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We wouldn't be able to get in and out for days on end. And we'd have to float in and out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Wisconsin River rising to levels we've never seen on the Most News in the Morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning to you. Thanks so much for joining us on this 27th day of September. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. We'll have more on the flooding in just a moment, but some other top stories.
Mega church pastor, Eddie Long is speaking publicly for the first time since four young men now have filed lawsuits accusing Long of coercing them into sex when they were teenagers. We're live on this developing story just ahead.
ROBERTS: An overwhelming majority of people think the country's economy is in the toilet, but the president hopes to sway voters as he begins a cross-country trip today. From New Mexico to Virginia and spaces in between, he got a packed schedule. Live report coming up from our Ed Henry.
CHETRY: He was once called Bush's brain. Karl Rove, the man that former President Bush called the architect is going on the offensive again. He reportedly raised millions to attack Democrats in the stretch run, but is he really worried more about the uprising in his own party? We're going to talk about the Tea Party and a possible GOP civil war.
ROBERTS: Up first, though, extreme weather. Emergency crews are fearing the total failure of a levee that's been around for 110 years in Wisconsin. It's located along the Wisconsin River just south of Portage. Emergency officials told about 150 residents to get out yesterday, fearing that flooding could wash out the only road leading in and out of the area. Some people who didn't listen are already cut off.
The same storm system overflowed rivers and extremes in southern Minnesota. Water pouring through dam destroyed more than half of the homes in the small town of Hammond. Some people who were allowed back to get their belongings found an inch of mud on their floors.
And there's more torrential rain on the radar. The Carolinas on the alert this morning. Up to five inches of rain could fall there.
Our Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center tracking all of this for us this morning. And Rob, it's looking pretty ugly out there.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. No rain expected for Wisconsin and Minnesota. But what came through last week and really a matter of two days -- in some cases almost as much as a foot of rain in this area.
To give you an idea of what we're looking at. The Wisconsin river, a pretty big river that eventually dumps into the Mississippi river. But at portage, it makes this turn down to the south. That puts more stress on this levee, which was built over 100 years ago, pretty sandy composition of this thing. So officials are knowing it's not well made and they're worried about that, as well. So as this river makes this turn down to the south, it puts that pressure off.
But what's the deal with it? Where are we as far as the crest goes? Well, it did crest yesterday at 20.56 feet. So they've never seen the river that high. It is slowly making its way below flood stage, but is not going to do that until Wednesday or Thursday. You're looking at two to three days of this above flood stage, meaning putting extreme pressure on the levee system there.
So that's the issue we're dealing with here. It's not just -- usually when a river crests, we begin to relax. But because we have this pressure for another couple of days, there's no relaxing whatsoever.
And we have the rainfall across parts of Carolinas, two to four, five inches of rain on top of what we've seen. And there it is. It's going to be a slow-go on the east coast today. And we'll watch out for flooding across the Carolinas. More on this and the tropics later on in the program. John and Kiran?
ROBERTS: Looking forward to that. Rob, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Well, new this morning. There are new details emerging in the manhunt now for a gunman who opened fire at an off-campus party near Seton Hall University over the weekend. Nineteen-year-old honor student Jessica Moore seen here on her Facebook page was killed in the attack. Witnesses are telling local news agencies that she died trying to save her friend, jumping in front of a friend to shield her from the gunfire.
There were other people injured, as well. Most are in stable condition. Still not sure if the shooter was a student. Right now officers are looking at surveillance video in the neighborhood for potential evidence.
ROBERTS: The first of three rescue capsules arriving at the mine in Chile to reached 33 men trapped for two nearly months now. It's going to be a long trip too. Don't forget they're 2,300 feet down. Engineers in charge of the drilling now think they could reach the men by early November.
CHETRY: Embattled mega church Pastor Eddie Long breaking his public silence about this growing sex scandal. Bishop Long took to the pulpit yesterday, telling the faithful that he's under attack and that he plans to fight back.
Four men now are accusing long of coercing them into sex when they were teenagers. CNN's Martin Savidge is following developments right now live in Atlanta. These are civil cases filed, correct?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's correct. These are not criminal allegations made, these are civil cases, they're lawsuits that have been filed.
Bishop Eddie Long admitted yesterday that this past week had been the most difficult week he's ever had to face in his entire life. Many of his parishioners would say the same thing, which is why they couldn't wait to hear what their pastor had to say.
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(APPLAUSE)
SAVIDGE: Standing before an overflowing crowd of congregants in the mega church he built, Bishop Eddie Long was in no mood to back down.
BISHOP EDDIE LONG, NEW BIRTH MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: There have been allegations and attacks made on me. I have never in my life portrayed myself as a perfect man. But I am not the man that's being portrayed on the television. That's not me. That is not me.
(APPLAUSE)
SAVIDGE: It was Long's first public comments since four young men filed lawsuits accusing him of using his spiritual position and the church's wealth to coerce them into sex. So many came to hear what Long had to say, traffic was still snarled as the service began.
SAVIDGE (on camera): What do you hope to hear today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The truth. The truth.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Inside, parishioners waited an hour for their embattled pastor to appear. When he finally did, walking hand- in-hand with his wife, the crowd came to its feet. Clearly feeling at home, Long acknowledged those listening went far beyond his usual Sunday morning crowd.
LONG: Good morning, new birth, and good morning to all our other guests.
(LAUGHTER)
SAVIDGE: When long eventually turned to the scandal itself, the levity was gone.
LONG: I've been accused, I'm under attack.
SAVIDGE: And his intentions became clear, describing a legal battle of biblical proportions.
LONG: I am not a perfect man. But this thing I'm going to fight.
(APPLAUSE)
And I want you to know one other thing, I feel like David against Goliath. But I got five rocks, and I haven't thrown one yet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: Well, some people would point out that that analogy of David and Goliath is a very interesting one, but they're not sure it really applies here. After all, Eddie Long is the head of one of the largest mega churches in the country, one of the richest, and one of the most politically connected. He flies around the world in his own private jet and he knows many world leaders including presidents by their very first name. Hardly the image of a David. Kiran?
CHETRY: The other thing is he was careful to say "I'm not perfect, I made mistakes" or however he put it, he did not deny any of the allegations. But that could technically be on the advice of his lawyers, as well, who don't want him says much at this point?
SAVIDGE: Right, he came out and spoke to reporters after that service and said, yes, at the advice of attorneys. He always seemed to couch his phrasing there was more he wanted to say but could not say. Still, some people would say, how come you couldn't say you're innocent because that would hardly seem a phrase that would bother an attorney?
CHETRY: Martin Savidge for us this morning with the latest on this case, thanks.
ROBERTS: Coming up now on eight minutes after the hour. New this morning, a trip to Virginia Beach turns into the fight of one young surfer's life. A teenager and a friend were standing in the water next to their surfboards when they felt something brush up against them.
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CALEB KAUCHAK, SURVIVED SHARK ATTACK: There was something out there with us. And it grabbed my ankle and I kind of felt a little bit of a thrashing. I immediately jumped on my board to try to get myself out of the water. And as I did I felt my board start to lean back and I felt a sharp pain in my knee.
And after that, it let go. It was just a quick bite and release. I was hoping I wasn't going to lose a leg or not be able to must've my leg ever again. I feel real lucky I can still move my leg.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And 51 stitches and a harrowing tale later authorities are saying it was a small shark that bit the boy's leg. They're trying to figure out what kind of shark it was, but consensus is it was a fairly small shark.
CHETRY: And imagine if it was a bigger one, yikes.
ROBERTS: Might not have hit the leg anymore.
CHETRY: Hyundai recalling nearly 140,000 2011 models because of faulty steering columns. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigating the same problems with steering column parts last month. Dealers say they will inspect and update the power software for free.
ROBERTS: Greed is good. So is the sequel, apparently. Gordon Gekko, aka Michael Douglas, takes "Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps" to the number one spot at the box office over the weekend. It made an estimated $19 million big ones on the opening weekend.
CHETRY: He is the man that former President Bush called "the architect" waging a shadow political war raising millions to get the Democrats out of power, but is it making the GOP split wider? We'll talk about that coming up next. It's 10 minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome. It's after the hour. He's back and busy trying to get his brand of Republicans elected. The "New York Times" reporting that GOP strategist Karl Rove is playing a leading role in what amounts to amount a shadow Republican Party.
Joining us now to talk about this is Jim Rutenberg of the "New York Times" and in Columbus, Ohio, Jeff Zeleny, both national correspondents for "The Times."
So, Jim, Rove is holding the strategy sessions over chicken pot pies with people like Ed Gillespie, Mary Cheney, a whole lot of others. What's going on here?
JIM RUTENBERG, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, you thought he was going to leave, or a lot of Democrats though he was going to leave, and he's back in action, and he's really raising a lot of money to help his party get Congress back this fall.
ROBERTS: But is he sort of trying to position himself as the de facto leader of the Republican Party, the real strategist here, the architect of the 2010 election? RUTENBERG: I don't know if he's trying to position himself as the leader. I don't think he loves getting this kind of attention. And to some degree, he's got a book, his own TV career right now.
But he is a man with a plan. He always was for that party. And there's a vacuum right now in the leadership in a way. They don't have the presidential candidate or anything like that. So he's just trying to bring his chops to get them back.
ROBERTS: Jeff Zeleny, let's get you to talk a little bit about that. Republican leadership, Jim says there's a bit of a vacuum there. Obviously, they don't have a presidential candidate yet. And Michael Steele has been a man of controversy. Many people in the Republican Party don't think he's an effective leader. Are they looking to Karl Rove to try to give them some direction?
JEFF ZELENY, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I think that is the central element of this. I mean, what they built under the eight years of the Bush administration was really a very muscular Republican National Committee. You can ask, why does that matter? It matters in terms of getting voters to the polls. It matters in terms of maximizing the potential of their election.
A lot of Republicans were concerned this year that that muscle was no longer there that it sort of atrophied. So Karl Rove and others stepped in to try to fill some of that void.
And you can see it on the ground in places like Ohio in massive amounts of phone calls and direct mail campaign. It's all being funded by outside groups that are not coming through the basic party structure. So, you know, this shadow GOP, if you will, is having an effect in this midterm election.
ROBERTS: Jim, when you look at the people involved here, Ed Gillespie used to run the RNC, so he knows all about it. You've got very powerful figures coming together.
But at the same time, there's a bit of a civil war brewing between not the actual leadership of the Republican Party, but between these de facto leaders in the Republican Party, Karl Rove saying unkind things about Christine O'Donnell, who is the Republican nominee, the candidate in Delaware. Is there a real split between the old guard establishment and these Tea Party candidates who are coming up?
JIM RUTENBERG, NATL. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK TIMES": Oh, without a doubt. I mean, who is Ed Gillespie? Who is Karl Rove? They are the Republican establishment. The Tea Party Movement is not all about the establishment. In fact, they're very against the establishment. So there is a split. However, ironically, it will be the establishment that's going to get their candidates into power.
ROBERTS: Do you think?
RUTENBERG: Well, with their help, definitely. ROBERTS: But one of the things that Rove is doing though which is interesting, is that he doesn't like Christine O'Donnell, thinks that she was a bad choice, that Republicans may lose what could be an easy win in Delaware. But he is supporting Sharron Angle.
RUTENBERG: He's supporting Sharron Angle. It does happen to be the home state of his old nemesis, Harry Reid. But definitely, they want a majority. They want a majority. O'Donnell I think was too far field in Rove's view and the people working with him.
ROBERTS: Jeff, at the same time that all of this is going on on the Republican side, Democrats are really ramping up for the midterm elections with an assault of negative ads against Republican candidates. And every election cycle we hear this is going to be the nastiest one ever, but this really has a chance of being that.
JEFF ZELENY, NATL. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "BEW YORK TIMES": I think that's right. And we're seeing in TV ads that are running across the country earlier than ever before. We're hearing more about used car salesmen and slum lords and things like that than we are hearing about the Democrat's own health care vote, for example. What the Democrats have decided to do in the House, particularly, is really go hard at some of these Republicans who have never run for office before who are trying to take advantage of some of this anti-incumbent sentiment. And the Democrats are running very personal and negative TV ads trying to discredit them in their eyes, you know, of their voters. It's happening a lot here in Ohio where some six congressional seats are in play. So they're always negative, but more negative this year and much earlier in the cycle.
ROBERTS: All right. And you know, we talk about all politics being local, but you've got to wonder if that's going to be the case this year when you look at the approval ratings of the president. So, we'll see. We've got what? About 4 1/2 weeks to go in this whole thing? It's going to be pretty interesting.
RUTENBERG: Yes, indeed.
ROBERTS: Jim Rutenberg, Jeff Zeleny, great to talk to you this morning. Thanks so much.
ZELENY: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, coming up, the next installment of our series, "A Soldier' Story." We go along with Sergeant Randy Shorter as he makes his way back to Afghanistan. This will be his third tour of duty. What's it like for him and for the family he's leaving behind? Jason Carroll with an "A.M. Original" next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. We have been following Army Sergeant First Class Randy Shorter for months now. He recently returned to Afghanistan for a third tour of duty.
CHETRY: Yes, and for Shorter and the rest of his unit, getting to a forward-operating base in Afghanistan was half the battle. Jason Carroll joins us now with the latest installment of our series "A Soldier's Story." You actually accompanied them as well, so you got a chance to see firsthand just what it's like to be out there in such a remote and dangerous part of the country.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. And it really seemed to take forever to get there. It was a frustrating, a little frustrating on our part. I think some frustration on the part of the soldiers, as well. I think that there are a number of civilians out there who might assume that when a soldier is deployed, their unit goes straight from the United States to the assignment overseas. But now that the surge is under way, it can be a drawn out process, one that begins with goodbye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SGT. RANDY SHORTER, U.S. ARMY: Hi, sweetie.
CARROLL (voice-over): It's Sergeant First Class Randy Shorter's last night at home.
R. SHORTER: All right. This is the last time in the states.
CARROLL: But his daughters Maylanie and Arianna (ph) aren't ready to say goodbye before dad leaves on his third deployment to Afghanistan.
R. SHORTER: I know it's really difficult for you.
MAYLANIE SHORTER, DAUGHTER: I just don't want you to go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say cheese.
CARROLL: The next morning --
SHERYLL SHORTER, WIFE: You can't explain the emotions, you know. You can't convey the feelings we're going through. It's hard to explain it. You can't put it in words.
R. SHORTER: Whether it's one week, one day, it doesn't matter. Saying goodbye is hard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you go through here, you're going to pick up your stuff.
CARROLL (on camera): What's happening right now is the first aids are checked it. All the soldiers that you see here have an SRP packet in their hands, a soldier's readiness package. Medical, dental records, paperwork to make sure their will is in order.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're scared, and you should be, so trust your training. Trust yourselves. Trust your buddy next to you.
CARROLL: So basically right now, everyone is boarding the flight. It's a chartered plane that's usually what the military does in these situations. Does it feel more real now when you're boarding or when you finally get there?
R. SHORTER: Now.
CARROLL: Now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, welcome aboard.
CARROLL (voice-over): The flight takes us from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Shannon, Ireland for refueling.
R. SHORTER: Long, drawn out.
CARROLL: Hours later, more refueling. Next stop, Manas Transit Center, Kyrgyzstan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Welcome to Manas.
R. SHORTER: Getting settled in, finding out where we're going to sleep.
CARROLL (on camera): From the sort of psychological point of view, where do you think you and the rest of the men are at this point?
R. SHORTER: Right now, we're kind of still got the feel of home. But in a few hours these guys, you know, they'll actually put their game faces on. Once they get that uniform on, then the reality kind of sinks in. Now it's time to do business.
CARROLL (voice-over): On day four, since leaving the states, we board a C-17 military aircraft to Bagram airfield, Afghanistan.
(on camera): Everyone's packed in pretty tight. Everyone's tired, but we're finally on our way.
(voice-over): Heavy fighting in the region stops the fifth leg of the trip. Our flight to Sharana in Eastern Afghanistan aborted midair.
R. SHORTER: We're never leaving this place.
CARROLL: The last wave of the troop surge to Afghanistan creates a bottleneck on flights.
(on camera): Waiting like this for someone like you on your first deployment. Does that help with your nerves? Does it make you more --
SPC. ADAM BOYETTE, U.S. ARMY: It makes me almost a little more nervous. I mean, like I said, you've got to get psyched up. And it's hard to keep psyching and psyching yourself up.
R. SHORTER: The longer they stay here, the more stories they hear about what's going on. And then that just builds more -- you know, it just makes them more nervous only because they don't know what to expect. CARROLL (voice-over): Finally, a flight opens. On to our final destination.
(on camera): Just a few minutes ago, we arrived here at Sharana, finally. So at this point, Sergeant Shorter is checking his men in, making sure that all the paperwork is squared away. Then they can finally get on with their mission.
R. SHORTER: It's probably good to get here. I'm tired of waiting.
CARROLL (voice-over): The wait would not be much longer. Shorter's mission would soon take his platoon outside the base to confront the threat of IEDs.
R. SHORTER: Praying that nothing happened down there. But you know, the word is, some children got injured.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: We're going to have more on that for you coming up tomorrow. Now, we originally thought that Shorter's final stop was going to be there in Sharana, but his orders were changed. He was then moved to another forward-operating base, a much smaller one called "FOB (ph) Rushmore" that's located just a few miles away. And, of course, when you move to a smaller base, there are increased security risks because you have less personnel there on the ground.
CHETRY: Sure.
CARROLL: And much was said of the delay, obviously in terms of us getting there. That's because you have 30,000, you know, some odd soldiers now all being sort of pushed into this region. And it just puts a strain on the transportation system. We talked to one of the guys out there and he tells us that the strain should relieve itself sometime in the beginning of October.
CHETRY: Wow. Also, when you go to the forward-operating base, the one that you said he was, you know, his orders were changed to, you're leaving a lot of the people that you were sort of bonding with and thinking we're going to be relying on and what, taking just a smaller group with you?
CARROLL: Right. He's going to be taking in, you know, a smaller unit into there. And -- but their mission is still the same. Engaging the Afghan people, working with the Afghan police, working with the Afghan army. And doing that all the while being very aware of the threat of IEDs that are out there.
ROBERTS: Third tour of duty, is there anything he hasn't seen at this point?
CARROLL: Well, it isn't over yet. So, we'll see. We shall see.
CHETRY: Wow, really interesting. We look forward to tomorrow's piece, as well. Jason, thanks so much.
CARROLL: Yes.
CHETRY: And Jason tomorrow is going to be looking at American troops heading outside the wire of their forward operating bases, as it's called. It's an assignment fraught with danger, but it's an essential part of U.S. strategy to win hearts and minds of Afghan locals. He's going to give us a taste of just what that is like tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: President Obama has a packed schedule and a full plate this week. He's about to start a cross-country trip. And at every stop, voting Americans will be waiting for an explanation on one thing -- what's happening with the economy? A live report from Ed Henry just ahead.
CHETRY: Also, the real fireworks from Senate Senator John McCain's debate last night. It took place outside of Arizona. And we have the video straight ahead from the CNNPolitics.com desk.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour now. That means it's time for this morning's top stories.
Fearing total failure in Wisconsin. Crews watching the impending collapse of a 110-year-old levee. Torrential rains now building pressure along the Wisconsin River. Excuse me.
South of Portage, some 150 residents were told to get out yesterday. Emergency officials say it's too late for some who didn't leave. They are now cut off. And many homes are under water.
CHETRY: Well, there's a new kid in the class. Newly-appointed Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan at work today, a week before her term officially begins. She and the other justices will meet privately to file through thousands of appeals and to pinpoint which cases they think should be heard.
ROBERTS: "USA Today" reporting that airline fees are up, some by over 50 percent from last year. For example, want to speed to the front of a line? United Airlines charges the most at $39, in fact. And changing your flight on Continental, Delta, or United will set you back, listen to this, $250. It all adds up. The U.S. Airlines raked in over $2 billion of revenue for such fees during this year's second quarter.
CHETRY: I never got why you'd want to pay more just to sit on the plane longer. You know? I guess it's if you have so much carry-on luggage.
ROBERTS: I guess it's because you know, people are bringing on luggage because they don't want to pay the $50 or whatever it is to check in so you go down first in order to get the overhead space. Otherwise you're left with saying "we're running out of overhead so we're going to have to check some bags here."
CHETRY: And then you've got to pay a fee for that. ROBERTS: It's crazy.
CHETRY: Gas it up and just drive yourself.
Well, now to President Obama's trip to talk to real people about the unnerving realities of the U.S. economy. It all starts in Albuquerque where the president will be speaking with local families, then it's on to Madison, Wisconsin, Des Moines, and eventually, Richmond, Virginia. And there's no telling what kind of response he'll get.
Just look at this CNN poll which found an overwhelming majority, 74 percent of Americans believe we're in a recession. Our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is live at the White House. That's actually not all that surprising. I mean, no one feels, even though, you know, the brightest minds tell us we're out of it that we really are on solid ground in terms of our economy.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kiran. And it shows that, you know, with just 36 days until the midterm elections now, the president will travel to those four states, as you mentioned. He's really trying to crank up his own role in making the case for his party on the economy, the tax cuts, the twin issues that are really driving voter anger right now.
And he's running into some tough head winds. You're right because people don't feel like this recession is over. And I think if you look at a second number in the new CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll. It also asks whether or not you feel like the president's policies are making the situation better in terms of the economy. Only 36 percent say yes, 61 percent say no.
That's one head wind the president is facing. The other one is on Capitol Hill. If you remember, one of his top priorities right now is before the election, trying to get at least some of the Bush tax cuts extended permanently, specifically tax cuts for those making under $250,000 a year.
It's now clear that he just does not have the votes, especially when you listen to people like Senator Joe Lieberman yesterday on CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley. Basically saying that he and some other centrist Democrats, he's an independent Democrat are just not on board with only extending middle class tax cuts. They want to also at least temporarily extend tax cuts for the rich.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: I think that, you know, it's easy enough to say that people who make a lot of money don't deserve a tax cut now, but the truth is, if you have more money, you spend more money, you invest more money, that's what we need to happen now to grow jobs in our economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now, you'll remember how the president was trying to frame this just a couple of weeks ago at a White House news conference. He was trying to frame the whole debate as Republicans trying to hold those middle class tax cuts hostage, when, in fact, now he's got an independent Democrat like Joe Lieberman, centrist Democrats in the Senate, who essentially are holding this upright now because they also want to at least temporarily extend the tax cuts for the rich. So it's a big, big problem for them right now. Kiran. John.
CHETRY: In the meantime, he goes on the trail today, pretty battered. I mean, the latest CNN polling showing that his approval rating is at 42 percent. That's the lowest we've seen from this president. And the percentage of people just keeps dropping who think that he's doing a good job right now.
HENRY: He's going to try - and you're right. Because what he's going to try to do now on this swing is try to recapture some of that magic from 2008, number one. You know, in Albuquerque, he's going to go to a family and we've seen him do this recently and actually go into their yard, talk about the economy, to bring it down local like he did in 2008.
Then in Madison, Wisconsin, doing a big, large rally like 2008 with college students trying to get some of the energy going. But you have to know that Democrats are very nervous about these elections coming up quickly here. We were just talking about how they can't get these middle class tax cuts extended even though they have 59 Democrats in the Senate.
What if they end up with 52 or 51 or something like that or lose the majority even in November in the Senate. It's going to be that much harder when he's already got 59 Democrats. Right now, he still can't get the super majority of 60 on some of these big issues. It'll be that much harder next year to get his agenda through. John, Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Well, it's going to be a tough one on the road today. Ed Henry, thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Let's get a check of some of the other stories crossing the CNN political ticker this morning. Our senior political editor Mark Preston live at the cnnpolitics.com desk for us. What have you got this morning, Mark?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, John, as Ed just said, Democrats are very much concerned about the midterm elections and that's why we're seeing President Obama on the trail. Part of the reason is the enthusiasm by the Tea Party. And what do Americans think about the Tea Party? Let's take a quick look at these numbers right here, John.
We asked the question, what is your opinion of the Tea Party in this new CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll. Well, Americans are split, 43 percent say the Tea Party is too extreme while 41 percent say it's in the mainstream. But let's take the question a little bit farther. How influential is the Tea Party? When asked, are you more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who the Tea Party supports? 50 percent said yes while only 33 percent said no. So the Tea Party clearly showing it is a very influential force in politics here in the U.S.. Let's talk a little bit about my second home, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In fact, my parents still live down there as does my sister. There is a congressional race down there that Republicans think that they can take back, John and Kiran. The fact that we're talking about a Massachusetts congressional race clearly shows that Democrats are in trouble across the country.
Bill Delahunt, the current congressman is retiring. The two candidates running Jeff Perry, the Republican, the Democrat is William Keating. He is a county DA. Democrats look like they have a hold on this race but let's just go back to 2009, Scott Brown, the Republican, carried this district by 60 percent. So Democrats clearly in a bit of a fight on Cape Cod.
And let's close with this. You know, a lot of passion, a lot of anger about politics and heading into the midterm elections. Look at what just happened several hours ago, out in Arizona, where John McCain was facing off in a general election debate with Rodney Glassman, the Democrat nominee out there. Well, there was some heated arguments outside as John McCain was leaving.
And in fact, a protester tried to get in his face. And what we're told by the campaign is that you see a police officer there get in the way and push her out of the way. The protester is saying John McCain has got to go. She goes on to say, "this is how peace activists get treated and the warmonger John McCain gets to walk out." So clearly a lot of passion in the midterm elections. John. Kiran.
ROBERTS: Wow, that was interesting to watch. My second home is on Cape Cod? Wow. You're not going to generate any sympathy with that. Come on.
PRESTON: Excuse me, excuse me. Let me just say that there's a lot of misinformation about Cape Cod. Blue collar Cape Cod and then there's the island.
CHETRY: That's right. Just like all of Long Island isn't the Hamptons.
PRESTON: That's right.
ROBERTS: It's not?
PRESTON: Kiran, me and you versus John.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Mark.
We're going to check back with Mark in our next hour. For all the latest political news, go to our web site, CNN politics.com.
38 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: 40 minutes past the hour right now. Welcome back to the Most Politics in the Morning. Well, he shocked the GOP establishment in Florida on primary night. Now Rick Scott is the Republican's nominee for governor. His father was a truck driver, his mother was a sales clerk at JC Penny. He's a self-made millionaire and Scott's also a political rookie who only jumped into the race in April. But because of the Tea Party support he had and $50 million of his own fortune behind him, he was able to come from behind and win.
So today we meet the candidate Rick Scott. He's here with us this morning.
Thanks so much for joining us.
RICK SCOTT, FLORIDA'S GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning.
CHETRY: You do have a unique story when it comes to how you got into politics in the first place. In a time like this, when it's so contentious, and when there are so many huge problems, why would you want the job of CEO of Florida?
SCOTT: Well, I believe in the American Dream. I started out in public housing. My parents, my father was a truck driver. Back then, truck drivers got laid off a lot. I know what it's like to be unemployed, have parents unemployed. And I've lived the American Dream. I want that same dream for my daughters, my son-in-laws, my grandkids, and everybody in Florida. We have got to change this country.
I'm running because I believe that we've got to go back and build private sector jobs. My whole plan is seven steps to 700,000 jobs. I'm going to turn the state around.
CHETRY: And those are certainly good goals to have. Florida's been suffering, as well. But there's a recent Mason/Dixon poll out that takes a look at the political realities. It has you seven points behind Alex Sink, who is your Democratic competitor. She's with 47; you're with 40. When you look at the Republicans, they're only behind you 75 percent. I know it was a bit of an ugly primary there. And so 11 percent of them are going for Alex Sink.
How do you get your own base behind you in higher numbers and then move on to the Independents?
SCOTT: Well, as you know, Mason/Dixon had me down nine points two days before the primary, too, and I won that. This race is about jobs. In the primary I won because people believed I could build private sector jobs because that's all I've done. November 2 will be the same thing.
The latest Rasmussen Poll shows me up six points. But polls are not what's important. It's who is going to build jobs in this country? In our state, you know, we've had out migration for the first time in 40 years. And we need to build are private sector jobs. So my plan, seven steps to 700,000 jobs is a plan people believe in. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, all of us believe in this.
CHETRY: You can't get your primary opponent, though, to endorse you.
How much do you need Bill McCollum to say, the past is in the past, I'm getting behind Rick Scott?
SCOTT: It'd be nice if Bill McCollum endorsed me. It's hard for him, he's been in politics for 30 years. But my focus is on -- just like I did in that primary -- go right out and talk to voters. Talk to Independents, Republicans, and Democrats, and talk about what we need. We need jobs, jobs, jobs. And I'm going to be the jobs governor. We're going to control government spending, we're going to reduce regulation, we're going to phase out business tax, we're going to reduce property tax. And I'm going to be the chief economic development officer for the state and I'm going to build jobs in the state. We're going to be the number one job creator.
CHETRY: How do you create jobs at the same time having to balance of budget that may require some paring down, which means job losses?
SCOTT: The private sector builds jobs not government. As more money goes back to the private sector, goes back to your family, goes back to business people, they'll build their companies.
Look, we are the perfect state for growth. No income tax, right to work state, beautiful beaches, beautiful weather. Look at our location, the growth in Central/South America, the expansion of the Panama Canal. We will be the job creator.
CHETRY: I want to ask you about some of the criticisms. You have this Medicare fraud case against your former company, when you were at Columbia Healthcare. A little bit of baggage because the company had to pay a $1.7 billion fine.
Does it make it hard for voters to trust you if they say, wait a minute, when you were chief executive -- when you were heading up this former company, you guys cheated the federal government?
SCOTT: Well, you know what I tell people is, if you're the CEO of the company, you have to take responsibility for everything that happens. So, that company made mistakes, I take responsibility. We have could've hired more, should have hired more auditors. But that's a difference between a business person and a politician. A business person takes responsibility. When things go poorly, you know you have to show up and fix things. Politicians don't.
Look at where we are. In Florida, we have the highest unemployment on record. We have 44 percent of our homeowners underwater on their mortgages. Who's taking responsibility? We're walking into a budget deficit. What they know is I believe in responsibility. I will fix problems. Hopefully nothing will go wrong when I'm governor, but what they'll know is I'll take responsibility. But this election is about jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. And I've got the plan to do that.
CHETRY: I want to take a look at the campaign ad Republicans have out against your competitor Alex Sink.
Let's take a look.
(VIDEO CLIP, CAMPAIGN AD)
CHETRY: So, PolitiFact, which is the web site that fact checks the accuracy of statements by elected officials gave this ad a "barely true," because they said it really wasn't just Alex Sink making the decisions here. So you just said a CEO of a company, you have to admit you were wrong.
Are you unfairly saying she was in charge of this decision.
SCOTT: For the last few years, she's been a chief financial officer of the state. She should make sure these things don't happen. She was told by auditors multiple times that their investments were way too risky. That should never have happened. She's the chief financial officer of the state. She's responsible for this. And they lost $24 billion of pension money for Floridians. That's a big problem.
CHETRY: How influential is the Tea Party for you? I talked to people who have joked around that you're a Tea Cosy, not necessarily a real Tea Party candidate.
But, how do you plan to draw on their support to hopefully win in Florida?
SCOTT: Most of the leaders in the Tea Party movement in Florida have endorsed me because I believe in what they believe in. I believe in limited government, I believe in fiscal responsibility. I believe in watching how we spend our dollars. And so they've supported me. I'm the Republican candidate. I welcome their support no different than I welcome, you know, all Republicans, all the Independents, all Democrats. Because this is an election again, this is about jobs and that's why people are supporting me. They know that's all I've done my whole life. I started out in public housing. I've started companies and I've built jobs forever.
CHETRY: Well it's great to talk to you this morning. Rick Scott, Florida's gubernatorial candidate, thanks so much for joining us.
SCOTT: Thank you very much.
CHETRY: Sure. John.
ROBERTS: Coming up on the Most News in the Morning, taking control of your health. Elizabeth Cohen will introduce us to parents who trusted their gut, saved their daughter's life. It's 47 minutes after the hour.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Time for an AM House Call at 54 minutes past the hour. Becoming an empowered patient. We talked a lot about this with our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. She learned firsthand just how important it is, in fact, it's the title of her new book.
ROBERTS: She's got a special coming up this weekend that you don't want to miss. Elizabeth joins us right now from Atlanta, with the first of several lessons that could save lives.
Elizabeth, as the parent of two children who played baseball, this one is really frightening.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. I mean, John, Kiran, you're parents. This is every parent's nightmare.
Your child has an injury, you know that they are seriously ill, but the folks in the emergency room say, don't worry and want to send you home. As you said, this happened to a family in Ohio, and we here at CNN Medical teamed up with the animation folks at Turner Studios to bring you their story.
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COHEN (voice-over): One spring evening Don McCracken (ph) was playing ball with his kids in the front yard. He meant to hit a fly ball to his son, Matthew, but instead it socked his seven-year old daughter, Morgan, on the head. She knelt to the ground in pain. Morgan had a bump on her head. Her parents iced it down and she seemed fine. Two nights later, something changed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She started crying.
COHEN (on camera): Tell me what you heard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said, my head. It's hurting. She was holding it. My head's hurting. My head's hurting.
COHEN (voice-over): The McCracken's rushed Morgan to the emergency room.
(on camera): When the doctor showed up, what did he say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sure it's just late, she's tired. She probably has a touch of the flu.
COHEN (voice-over): Connie (ph) and Don say the doctor told them to take Morgan home and put her to bed. But they knew better. Their instincts told them this was no flu virus. They pushed the doctor for a CT scan of Morgan's brain.
(on camera): What did you think the results of that CAT scan were going to be?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was something definitely wrong. You could feel it in your gut. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my heart, I finally knew there was a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He came back and said, I was surprised. He goes, I'm surprised. There's something there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a leakage of blood into her skull.
COHEN (voice-over): Medics rushed Morgan by helicopter to nearby Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.
DR. ALAN COHEN, RAINBOW BABIES & CHILDREN HOSPITAL: This is a big blood clot in the skull outside the brain called an epidural hematoma. That's what we had to remove to take out the blood clot and stop the bleeding.
COHEN: Today, Morgan's just fine.
(on camera): Do you feel like a lucky girl?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
COHEN (voice-over): Lucky because her parents followed their instincts.
(on camera): In the emergency room the doctor said she had a virus and she just needed to get some rest. If you had listened to that advice and brought her home to go to bed and rest, what would have happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She probably wouldn't have woken up the next morning. And we would have lost her.
CHETRY: Just amazing. I mean.
ROBERTS: So scary.
CHETRY: What could have been if they hadn't trusted their instincts. As you put it, just listen to your gut here. An important lesson, though, for parents to remember when their child is sick. What if you know, you do feel this way and you go to the emergency room doctors and say I don't agree, can you do further testing and they say no?
COHEN: Right. Well, that's initially what happened with the McCrackens. They weren't getting what they wanted, and they just said we are seriously concerned that this is not what you think it is. We think that she's had a traumatic brain injury.
When you spell it out for them that really helps. If you spell out exactly what you think it is, and why you think it is that, that will probably get the doctor more concerned. But they know that the doctor did it really in their words to appease them, I think maybe the doctor was almost getting sick of hearing from them. But it worked in their case and eventually they did do that CT scan and did get her to the surgery. ROBERTS: Elizabeth, you wonder what we as patients, but we, as parents, can do to help doctors get the diagnosis right.
Did her parents say she was hit on the head a couple of days ago?
COHEN: They did. The doctor in the emergency room said to them, well that was 48 hours ago, it couldn't be that, even though Natasha Richardson had a similar thing happen to her.
The most important question that you can ask your doctor in a situation like this is simple: doctor, what else can this be? Sure, it could have been the flu, she had a headache, she was vomiting. But, it could have been other things, too. Asking that one question can make your doctor rethink his conclusions.
ROBERTS: Let's hope the doctor heard about this story. It sounds like he needs a wake-up call.
COHEN: He did. Indeed he did. And it was a wake-up call for him.
ROBERTS: Great. Elizabeth, thanks so much.
Don't forget Elizabeth's special report, "The Empowered Patient: Taking Control of Your Healthcare," this coming Saturday and Sunday night, 7:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, your top stories, including the latest on the levee situation in Wisconsin. Some residents trapped there had after rising flood waters.
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