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American Morning
: Afghan Peace Talks: Karzai Appoints Peace Council; Feds Underestimated Gulf Spill; Too Easy to Text "I'm Late"; Roy Halladay Makes History; O'Donnell Back in the Spotlight; Big Concerns at Little Blue Run; Kegger Costs Them $86,000
Aired October 07, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys. Thanks so much for being with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It is Thursday, October 7th.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys and gals.
CHETRY: Exactly. All of you out there, thanks for being with us this morning.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts. Good morning. Thanks for being with us. Let's get you caught up with what happened overnight.
Some major developments from Afghanistan as we enter the tenth year of the war this morning. President Hamid Karzai now says he is reaching out to broker peace with the Taliban. But across the border, a new report says Pakistan is encouraging the enemy to attack U.S. forces. We're live in Kabul with both sides this morning.
CHETRY: Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay turning his first ever playoff start into something historic. Halladay's no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds last night is just the second in baseball's postseason history. The second no-hitter ever in the postseason. The first in nearly 54 years since the Yankee Donald Larsen's World Series perfect game.
ROBERTS: And this was almost a perfect game. And the White House slammed for its handling in the gulf. An independent commission finding the Obama administration vastly underestimated the size of the spill or tried to deceive the public about it. Ed Henry live from the White House this morning with the administration's response.
CHETRY: Up first this morning, some major developments in Afghanistan on the day that we enter into our tenth day of the war. First, word that Afghan President Hamid Karzai is talking to the Taliban about peace but over the border. A new report says Pakistan is trying to stir the pot even more.
ROBERTS: The "Wall Street Journal" reporting today that Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI, is urging the Taliban to strike U.S. and coalition forces. In the past week alone, the Taliban has claimed responsibility for a string of ambushes on the Pakistani side of the border attacks near Quetta, attacks that have left lines of NATO supply trucks in burning wrecks. Ivan Watson discovering both of these new developments for us this morning. He's live in Kabul. And, Ivan, President Karzai said it's time to sit down and talk to the Taliban?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. After trying and failing for years to convince Taliban commanders to stop fighting against this government, President Karzai tried to basically reboot this peace initiatives by holding the first meeting of what he's calling a high-peace council. It's about 68 tribal and Afghan elders, some former warlords, some religious clerics. Eight women who were gathering to try to figure out ways to try to talk to the Taliban. Take a listen to what Karzai had to say at this inaugural meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANISTAN (through translator): The opposition are our Taliban brothers. Every son of this land and every youth, whether he's inside or outside of this country, wishes to serve this country. I call on them once again to use this opportunity and to say yes to this endeavor. I want them to come and bring peace to this land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Now, John and Kiran, that is a message we've heard over the years from President Karzai. He and his aides are trying to play down some of the swirling media reports of alleged high-level contacts between his government and the Taliban. We spoke to the Taliban today. They are denying these reports and saying they have no representative that is currently negotiating with the Karzai government -- John.
CHETRY: At the same time, you have these reports that Pakistan is urging the Taliban to attack U.S. convoys. This is a surprising revelation about a critical ally in the war, but we've seen all week the pictures of these oil tankers and convoys on fire.
WATSON: Those are reports that, of course, Pakistani officials have denied. They say that they are fighting and losing soldiers in the fight against militants on their side of the border. But there's no question that this conflict across the border has been heating up in recent weeks. The tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan, it's supposed to be an ally, have heated up. Last week, U.S. attack helicopters mistakenly killed two Pakistani border troops in a cross- border across into Pakistani airspace. Last night, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan apologized for that.
Meanwhile, the militant attacks on these convoys of civilian oil and fuel trucks that are destined for Afghanistan have stepped up over the last week. We had about 40 fuel trucks hit and torched along that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan by unknown militants on the Pakistani side of the border -- Kiran.
ROBERTS: Ivan Watson for us with the very latest in Kabul this morning. Ivan, thanks so much. CHETRY: We have an update on a story that you may have been following. Mexican police have now called off the search for an American man who was reportedly shot by pirates while jet skiing with his wife on a lake along the U.S./Mexico border last week. Now CNN has learned that Mexican authorities received threats and that they feared that their search teams would be ambushed.
David and Tiffany Hartley from Texas were boating on Falcon Lake last week. She says gunmen in three boats approached and open fire shooting her husband in the head. Falcon Lake straddles the border between the U.S. and Mexico. You see it there in this map.
Texas officials say that it's a disturbing sign that drug violence is spilling across the border. Tiffany Hartley held a news conference yesterday calling on the State Department and the president to help recover her husband's body.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIFFANY HARTLEY, WIFE OF DAVID HARTLEY: Once we do receive David back and we can, you know, properly give him, you know, burial that he would like, we could be able to say our goodbyes and really have that closure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Texas Governor Rick Perry has asked to speak to Mexican President Felipe Calderon in the next couple of days to make sure that Mexico's doing everything they can to recover Hartley's body.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning at five minutes after the hour, new subpoenas from the federal grand jury investigating the campaign finances of former senator and presidential candidate John Edwards. Edwards' attorney says a sizable number of subpoenas have been issued in the case. The panel is looking into allegations that money from Edwards 2008 presidential campaign paid for a cover-up of his affair with Rielle Hunter. Edwards publicly admitted for the first time earlier this year that he fathered Hunter's child.
CHETRY: Well, coming soon to a Verizon wireless store near you, haven't we heard this one before, the iPhone. Well, the "Wall Street Journal" is reporting that Apple is making a version of its iPhone that will be available in the first quarter of 2011 to Verizon customers. The new phone will resemble the iPhone 4 that's currently sold by AT&T which has until now had a lock on the Apple product.
ROBERTS: And in his first-ever postseason's, Philly's pitcher Roy Halladay makes history with a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds. He is just the second pitcher to throw a postseason no-hitter. The only other time it was done, 1956, by Yankee pitcher Don Larsen who threw a perfect game in the World Series. And this was almost a perfect game except for a fifth inning walk.
CHETRY: Yes, Philly fans are grumbling that the catcher moved a little bit to the side. They called it a ball. It should have been a strike. But -- ROBERTS: Hey, that's the game of baseball.
CHETRY: Exactly. But it was wonderful and no-hitter for Philly fans.
Six minutes past the hour. We got a check of this morning's weather headlines.
Even the Yankee fans were watching that game, right?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes.
CHETRY: They were watching it pretty closely as well.
MARCIANO: You got to tip your hat. I got a picture of that Don Larsen, the last pitch that they threw in that 1956 World Series in my living room. So, yes, hats off. The Phillies are tough, man. Boy, they're tough for sure. And congrats to the Yankees and (INAUDIBLE) for pulling one out on the Twins.
Hey, Phoenix or Flagstaff, I should say. We talked about this tornado threat yesterday. Early in the morning how rare it was and rare just to have tornadoes drop in Arizona. Well, several did. And we had damage. Check it out just west of Flagstaff. Four in all, two of which were in the Bellemont area, 200 homes damaged. There were about six or so injuries, none of which were severe, which is good. And a couple other tornadoes touched down just near Flagstaff and one other one in Utah. So a strong storm.
We don't expect that kind of activity today, as the low that produced that is now beginning to weaken just a little bit. That low has been sticking around the northeast. That is beginning to weaken and pull out. But another day of unsettled weather today expected in that area. And this, subtropical storm Otto, 60-mile-an-hour winds could become a hurricane today. But we do expect it to stay out to sea.
Well, this time of year, not only for the weather but for baseball. Back to you guys in New York.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: I'm so happy. You've got football going as well. Basketball. Everything.
CHETRY: Yes. The year of the pitcher.
ROBERTS: The whole ball of wax in a nutshell, Rob.
An independent commission appointed by the president has released its investigation in the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And the Obama administration reeling this morning after getting slammed for its handling of it. A live report from the White House just ahead.
Eight minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: It's coming up now at 11 minutes after the hour. When it came to determining the size and scope of this summer's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the White House either vastly underestimated it or tried to deceive the public about it.
CHETRY: Yes, that's the conclusion of an independent commission that's being investigated. It's investigating the disaster since June. It was a commission that was actually appointed by the president himself. Ed Henry is live at the White House this morning. So not a very flattering investment of the Obama administration's performance as it relates to the oil spill.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kiran. This is just a blistering series of reports that this commission comes out, basically charging that the administration just did not fully inform the public about how much oil was flowing into the gulf. It goes back to two weeks after the first explosion where basically these reports are charging that the government scientists wanted to put some worst case scenarios out there for the public about how much oil just may be pumping into the gulf and that it was blocked by the administration essentially. And then throughout this crisis, the administration simply just did not fully informed the public in this commission, which as you said was appointed by the president himself. It's charging that led to the sense that the government at all levels just was not on top of it. Take a listen to this in a report. Quote, "The federal government created the impression that it was either not fully competent to handle the spill or not fully candid with the American people about the scope of the problem. It is possible that inaccurate flow-rate figures may have hindered the subsea efforts to stop and to contain the flow of oil at the wellhead."
You know, the administration now obviously thought that once that well was capped that maybe this crisis was over. But as this commission completes its investigation, this crisis is clearly not over, John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: It's so ironic that the White House is getting slammed by its own report. I guess it's kind of a case of be careful what you wish for here. So how is the White House responding?
HENRY: You're right. They wanted this independent commission to sort of maybe point the finger at BP, perhaps, and get to the bottom of it that way. But now, it's take a hard look at the government itself. The White House pushing back and saying, look, the only reason why they didn't want these initial worst case estimates to get out there was that they were not fully studied. They wanted more analysis to make sure they were completely accurate.
Statement from the administration, quote, "Senior government officials were clear with the public what the worst case flow rate could be. As directed by the president, the response was based on science even when that pitted us against BP or state and local officials and the response pushed BP every step of the way."
And I can tell you this White House is getting backup from Democratic Congressman Ed Markey who, as you know, was all over this whole crisis. And he's saying the real finger should be blamed and pointed at BP, not the White House -- John and Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Yes, we heard from Ed Markey. He was on our show. He wanted, you know, to get to the bottom of this and didn't think that everything was coming out. So, now we know. Thanks, Ed.
HENRY: Thank you.
CHETRY: Well, there's just 26 days now until the election. Democrats scrambling to hold on to their majority in Congress. They are trying to stay ahead in places that they had hoped to be feeling strong at this point.
ROBERTS: Well, critics are putting some of the blame on President Obama. And on last night's "PARKER SPITZER," the conversation centered around what the president could have done better.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON SCHAMA, HISTORY PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: He should have started firing people. He's loyal to a fault. Doesn't understand that Americans actually respect people with the guts to fire people. And he should have done that then. Mike was quite right about the --
ELIOT SPITZER, HOST: Who would you fire? Who do you fire?
SCHAMA: I'd fire Axelrod who's a sweet guy, wonderful, straightaway. Except Rahm Emanuel --
(CROSSTALK)
KATHLEEN PARKER, HOST: Fire Geithner and Axelrod --
SCHAMA: Rahm Emanuel -- they had a mistake about when to be tough. Where are you going to be, you know, when is the machine is really going to work? It worked in Congress. It eventually did the job it was supposed to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And tonight on "PARKER SPITZER," don't miss Ralph Reed, political activist, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. That's tonight. 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
CHETRY: Are you sick of the texting -- sorry I'm late. I'll be there in a second. Oh, running 10 minutes late. I'll be there in a second.
We're going to be talking about how technology has enabled us to be a little ruder because we don't have to say it to anyone's face anymore.
Fifteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Eighteen and a half minutes past the hour. Now, we all have that friend, right? The one who is hopelessly, chronically late to everything. Or they may be your mother, but, you know, we're not in a therapy session. Well, they always have excuses, and now they have technology to back it up. Texting, instant messaging, mobile e-mails - all of it seems to make it a lot easier to explain away your lateness in real time. So, has technology helped enable rude behavior?
Our next guest is so sick of it that she actually wrote about it in "The Wall Street Journal." Elizabeth Bernstein joins me now. Thanks for being with us this morning.
So it is easier to blow somebody off when you don't have to do it face-to-face or on the phone.
ELIZABETH BERNSTEIN, REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: It's so much easier. You can just send a text, I'm sorry I'm late. You don't have to see how mad they are. You don't have to see their reaction. You don't have to hear it.
CHETRY: Another interesting thing is you were describing in your article, which made me laugh, actually, about you showing up at 8:00 for a date, you know, with your buddy that was supposed to be 8:00. And you got this series of real time excuses coming through on your - on your BlackBerry, explaining why this person couldn't make it.
BERNSTEIN: It just keeps coming, you know? So it's 8:00. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm leaving my office at 8:00. Well, I thought we were supposed to be here. And then it's 8:15, oh, I'm still leaving. My boss is talking to me. Pretty soon -
CHETRY: Although you lost me when this person went to stop and pick up draperies. And then he - it were something along those lines.
BERNSTEIN: It was a little bit of a (INAUDIBLE). I mean, it shocked (ph) myself too.
CHETRY: 9:47 when he finally showed up.
BERNSTEIN: Yes.
CHETRY: But the larger issue is why does it seem that because we're able to communicate and - I mean, as you said in your article, if it was a generation ago, you would have called the police and said this person may be missing. Nowadays, you can keep in touch through the mobile devices, and so you don't really have to be on time anymore?
BERNSTEIN: Yes. It's - I feel like people really have lost that sense that you have to be on time. So now, we can just text and text and text. We can start dinner -
One person I interviewed said, I can start dinner at 8:00. Even though I'm not going to be there till 8:30, I just pick up the phone and start calling and say, hey, how are you? And I talk to her the whole time I'm driving to dinner.
And we're losing this sense, I really believe, of the fact that we should show up on time.
CHETRY: It is interesting. This doesn't necessarily extend, though, into the workplace. I mean, professionally speaking, you still have to be on time or have mobile devices changed that game as well?
BERNSTEIN: No. I'm pretty sure you have to be on time for your job.
And then, what's interesting is many people can hold it together and be on time every time they have to, for work or a client. But I feel like we sometimes treat the people we love the most the worst, and those are the people that we're abusing by showing up so late and -
CHETRY: Yes. And your article's sparked a little bit of a conversation among people in our newsroom who also said that mobile devices also make it so that you really can have friends that you never actually speak to or see face-to-face. Because of Facebook, because of texting, you don't have to have a real relationship.
BERNSTEIN: You don't have to have a real relationship at all. You can just text. I mean, you feel like you're close, but you're not really - if you think about it, you're not saying that much (INAUDIBLE), right? Just little, tiny bites.
CHETRY: And - and sometimes, you over share. On Facebook, you know everything about a friend that you may have lost touch with. So - a high school buddy. What is the purpose of that?
BERNSTEIN: It's we know way too much about people. I don't think people think it through, what we're saying.
And the other thing about texting is you don't really communicate well, right? You can't read any sign? You can't read a face.
I can see your face right now. I can hear your voice inflexion. I don't know when somebody - when I say I'm late, and they say, OK, I have no idea if they're mad or it's just OK. Right?
So we're - we're -- it's - we're really missing a lot here with this.
CHETRY: And what is the net effect of technology? It's not going anywhere. We're increasingly using it more and more. So what's the net effect on our social relationships, in your opinion?
BERNSTEIN: I think it's still changing right now, because it's always obviously bringing us together as well. On Facebook, we're connecting with all these people we might never have stayed in touch with. We can connect with a lot more friends and stay in touch with people. They don't have to even be here, wherever we are.
So I think that it has a lot of good. But I think we also need to think through some of these things. Like, our rudeness, our behavior, how this may be changing. It's - how it may not be good as well.
So I think it's in flux (ph).
CHETRY: Maybe we have the quantity, not the quality as much anymore. BERNSTEIN: I think - exactly.
CHETRY: What about your friend? What did she say after she realized you wrote about her for the article? Did she (INAUDIBLE) yet?
BERNSTEIN: She knew I was going to write about it before, but then afterwards, she said, I don't know that I was that late.
CHETRY: You know, the time stamp, though. That's the best part.
Elizabeth Bernstein with "The Wall Street Journal." Thanks for joining us.
BERNSTEIN: Thank you.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: Some people, I think it's safe to say, better to have a virtual relationship with.
Coming up, this is beyond baseball. Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay makes history, becoming only the second Major Leaguer to throw a no hitter in a postseason game. The first was 54 years ago.
We'll talk to our resident sports guy Max Kellerman about Halladay's magic moment, coming right up.
Twenty-three minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: They've been calling it the year of the pitcher in Major League Baseball this year and now, today - yes, we know why. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
It took almost 54 years, but Don Larson finally has some company in baseball's record book. The Philadelphia Phillies pitcher, Roy Halladay, threw a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Red in the postseason game yesterday with the postseason debuts.
ROBERTS: Of course, Larson still holds the record, though, because his no-hitter was also a perfect game in the '56 World Series.
Yesterday, Halladay was nearly perfect, just a walk in the fifth inning, but definitely the biggest game of his career.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROY HALLADAY, PITCHED PLAYOFF NO-HITTER: It's surreal. I mean, it really is. You know, I just wanted to pitch here, pitched in the postseason and, you know, to be able to go out and have a game like that, you know, it's a dream come true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: CNN contributor, Max Kellerman, our resident sports guy joins us now. What a thrill to have a no-hitter in the postseason? But, also, boy, I hope he's going to buy the catcher dinner.
MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. And he gave Carlos Ruiz, the catcher, a lot of credit right after the game. He continuously mentioned him and said "us", "we" -
ROBERTS: Yes.
KELLERMAN: -- referring to the battery.
Halladay is an incredible pitcher. I mean, even if it was just him doing what he did this year, it could be the year of the pitcher. He threw a perfect game in the regular season and was one pitch away from a perfect game in the postseason.
He's been the - the most interesting thing to me about Halladay is he's the type of guy who everyone always assumed would do well under pressure, but he'd never had to pitch in the postseason before though he really wanted to and know he was the best pitcher in baseball. And then he came through under pressure in the biggest, possible way. It's a - he's a - you know, he leaves people speechless.
ROBERTS: Not bad for a debut, right?
CHETRY: Yes. And for people who love baseball, this is why they love baseball. I mean, it's such an intricate game. There's so many variables. And in this situation, I mean, explain for people why - this is only the second time we're talking about a no-hitter in postseason history.
KELLERMAN: And it's the first time anyone's ever pitched a perfect game and a no-hitter in the same season, one being in the regular season, one being in the postseason.
ROBERTS: Yes.
KELLERMAN: No one's ever done that before. They're just, you know - it's not just dependent on the pitcher. It's also the catcher. It's also your defense. It's also some of it's luck. But -
CHETRY: Some of it is (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTS: Butterfly flaps its wing in Oregon.
KELLERMAN: Exactly. And - so baseball is really, unlike basketball, say, where one player can touch the ball as much as he wants and really you can run the offense through him, or football where you try harder, you do better. It's a full contact sport.
Baseball is really fundamentally a probabilistic sport. You try to stack the deck in your favor as much as possible. That's what teams do over the course of the season. That's what the pitcher does over the course of the game. And Halladay, that's why they call him an ace, you know, he's a - he's a deck of aces. He's just an incredible talent and clearly the best pitcher in Major League Baseball.
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) too and there's a little a bit of a controversial one.
KELLERMAN: Yes. Well, Don Larson got the call in his perfect game in the World Series. There's a big difference. Larson was pitching in the World Series. This is the first man of the playoffs. Larson is pitching against the Brooklyn Dodgers with Campanella and Duke Snider, and this hall of famers. This is the Cincinnati Reds that they do have an excellent offense this year.
Larson gets the last pitch of that perfect game, which was more of a ball than the pitch that - that Halladay was called up, you know -
CHETRY: But -
KELLERMAN: -- he gave up the walk on to Jay Bruce. That was a closer pitch than Larson's final pitch. So included in that kind of probabilistic luck factor are things - absolutely, John, like - like umpire's calls.
CHETRY: What about the years where you saw more juicing or suspected juicing -
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: -- in baseball and, of course, since they've cracked down. I mean, could this have happened in the heydays of the, you know, big, you know, home run derbies of --
KELLERMAN: Less likely.
CHETRY: -- McGuire and Sosa?
KELLERMAN: Fundamentally probabilistic, less likely. But, Halladay, you've got to think of him as from Krypton in the sense that he comes - he was pitching in the American League East during the juice era, and he was still a dominant pitcher, arguably one of the best to play this game.
ROBERTS: And he was learning how to pitch with these guys that could just tear the cover of them all.
KELLERMAN: Monsters. And $200 million Yankees payrolls and the Boston Red Sox, $150 million payroll, he's pitching in that environment and dominated. Then he goes against to the National League and pitched against the National League Central ball club in Cincinnati, excellent offense but not like in American League East.
So it's like he leaves the red sun of Krypton and comes to the yellow sun of Earth and now he has these extra super powers, you know? The competition is diminished. He's superman.
CHETRY: You like baseball, don't you?
KELLERMAN: And - and comic books.
CHETRY: Clearly. And when they come together, that's just a bonus. Max Kellerman, great to see you today. KELLERMAN: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Max.
Crossing the half hour now -- time for our top stories.
Peace talks underway to end the war in Afghanistan as we enter today the 10th year of the war. President Hamid Karzai says he has appointed a peace council to talk to the Taliban.
CHETRY: Mexican police are calling off the search for American David Hartley. Hartley and his wife Tiffany were jet skiing on Falcon Lake along the Texas-Mexico border last week when she says that pirates pulled up and shoot her husband in the head. A Texas sheriff tells CNN that Mexican police have received threats and feared an ambush if they continue searching for Hartley's body.
ROBERTS: And according to the Pew Research Center, Americans appear to be softening their opposition to gay marriage. For the first time in 15 years, Pew finds fewer than half of us, 48 percent now opposing, 42 percent are in favor of gay marriage. The poll revealed other firsts as well, more main line Protestants and Catholics favored gay marriage and then opposed of it. Political independents who are opposed to gay marriage by a wide margin last year are now equally divided.
CHETRY: Well, turning to politics. The poster girl for the Tea Party phenomenon or poster woman, Christine O'Donnell, laying low since her Senate primary victory last month in Delaware. But she did re-emerge, she met with top Republican leaders in Washington and also a group of voters in Delaware.
ROBERTS: Our Jim Acosta is live. He is in New Castle, Delaware, this morning.
Trying to go one-on-one with Christine O'Donnell. What did she have to say, Jim?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I tried and sort of like that game last night, a switch and a miss, you might say, John and Kiran. For reasons that are too numerous to count, she has avoided the national spotlight in the last few weeks since she won the Republican primary here in Delaware.
But Christine O'Donnell is starting to change that. As you mentioned, she's starting to do more public events in what looks like an effort to reintroduce her to voters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Any chance we'd get a couple questions, Ms. O'Donnell?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot.
ACOSTA (voice-over): And with that, Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell blew past our camera and into what was billed as a Republican forum. The event was staged in this shopping center and, oddly enough, just two doors down from a Halloween costume shop.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to welcome, Christine O'Donnell.
ACOSTA: The discussion moderated by the Republican Party officials started off with a softball. It ended up being a curveball.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where did you grow up?
CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm confused. I thought I was going to share remarks and take audience questions. Are we not doing that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we're not doing that.
O'DONNELL: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
ACOSTA: But the evening did get into specifics, and O'Donnell repeated her vow to vote to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
O'DONNELL: Make sure that the taxes, the tax increases that are coming in January do not happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CAMPAIGN COMMERCIAL
O'DONNELL: I'm not a witch. I'm nothing you've heard. I'm you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: O'Donnell whose past statements about dabbling in witchcraft have come back to haunt her is in damage control mode these days. Her events are tightly controlled.
(on camera): Any chance you can now answer some questions from the press, just for a few moments?
(voice-over): And she rarely takes questions from the national news media. But her opponent, Democrat Chris Coons insists he is taking for granted.
(on camera): Do you take her seriously?
CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: I take her seriously. She is the Republican Party nominee. She is my opponent. She's raised -- if you believe her Web site -- she's raised, I think, $2.8 million over the Internet in the last three weeks.
ACOSTA (voice-over): A University of Delaware poll shows Coons with a commanding 19-point lead. Still, the professor who conducted the poll says O'Donnell can turn her campaign around.
DAVID WILSON, POLLSTER, UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE: There are an awful lot of don't know or undecided voters still. And this is across all three counties.
ACOSTA: One of her volunteers told us she's sticking with O'Donnell despite her missteps.
(on camera): Hasn't changed your mind at all?
CHRISTIE FOUND, O'DONNELL VOLUNTEER: Not at all. Not at all. If anything, I support her more.
ACOSTA (voice-over): At the end of the event, while taking questions from the audience, O'Donnell complained of being under siege.
O'DONNELL: I've put my name on the line. I'm taken a lot of hits, a lot of slander, a lot of character assassination.
ACOSTA: Then she left out the back door where she promised she would give us an interview soon.
O'DONNELL: Call Dave and we'll set something up.
ACOSTA: Promise?
O'DONNELL: Yes, yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: You heard it right there, she promised. And we'll be talking to Dave later today, press secretary with her campaign. Meanwhile, I should explain the backdrop behind me. This a gun range here at New Castle, Delaware. She's going to be at this -- at this gun range later today, picking up the endorsement of a Delaware gun rights group. It's one of those endorsements that she's going to need, one of those core constituencies that Christine O'Donnell will need if she's going to win this race in just a few weeks from now -- John and Kiran.
CHETRY: Love it. I mean, it's great. She promised she's going to talk to you. She said "Call Dave." So --
ACOSTA: We'll see.
ROBERTS: That's when you can take --
ACOSTA: I'll call him right after this. Exactly.
ROBERTS: She said, Jim, that she was going to ignore the national media and instead the local media. Do you know if she's been doing any interviews with local press?
ACOSTA: From what we understand, no. She may have taken a couple of questions here or there from the local media. We actually talked to some folks from one of the affiliates in Philadelphia that CNN does business with. And they told us at one of the events just recently that Christine O'Donnell held that she actually tried to keep the national media out and let the local press in. That is not an unusual approach. I mean, there are other campaigns who would like to keep it local and just talk about local press and keep the national media at bay. So, we're going to have to see what happens. This is sort of a work in progress.
She really went underground a couple weeks ago there when all of those clips were coming out on the Bill Maher show and all of that. But, now, she seems to be doing more public events, coming in public, doing a little bit more out in the public spotlight.
So, we'll see. Perhaps, she'll give us that interview. Perhaps she'll start doing more with other folks in the national media.
CHETRY: And what was the deal with the understanding about what format that was going to take? Did that get cleared up relatively quickly?
ACOSTA: It did. I guess, you know, she started to take questions from that Republican moderator at the event. And then towards the very end, she started taking questions from the audience. But really, it was just two or three questions and then she was out the door and took no questions from us, as you can see, in the tape there.
ROBERTS: All right, Jimmy. We'll let you go so you can call Dave and good luck with that.
ACOSTA: Exactly.
CHETRY: Thanks, Jim.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Jim.
ACOSTA: All right, thanks. I'll keep you posted.
ROBERTS: All right. Next Wednesday, by the way, Delaware Senate candidates Chris Coons and Christine O'Donnell will face off in a debate moderated by our own Wolf Blitzer. And you can see it live right here on CNN, plus, complete coverage right here on AMERICAN MORNING as well.
CHETRY: That's right. We're headed to Delaware. So, it should be a good one. We'll see what happens.
Well, the federal government is considering cracking down on hundreds of coal-burning power plants across the country. They're concerned about coal ash from the plants contaminating the environment. But new regulations could crush local business. So, there's a big debate raging over this.
Carol Costello joins us with more, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Forty minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Right now, a wave of red toxic sludge is swallowing villages in Hungary. It started when a waste reservoir in an aluminum plant burst. Hungary has now declared a state of emergency as it makes its way close to the Danube River, threatening the water supply.
I mean, these are pictures, just unbelievable what they're dealing with. News reports from Hungary say that four people are dead, six people are missing because of it, and more than 100 people had to be hospitalized for chemical burns.
ROBERTS: What a tragic situation there.
Well, right now, in this country, more than 500 coal-fired coal plants are releasing dangerous toxins into the environment every day. And that's why the government is considering regulating coal ash.
CHETRY: And many neighborhoods where these plants operate people insist that the air they breathe and the water they drink is poisonous.
Carol Costello visited one place in Pennsylvania, and joins us this morning.
What was it like? And what are people who live around there saying?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, people who live around this thing is really -- they're really scared. The EPA is now deciding whether to classify coal ash as hazardous waste. Some say that's a no-brainer. After all, coal ash has potentially cancer- causing substances, like arsenic and cadmium.
But others say it's not that simple. If the coal ash is classified as hazardous, you'll notice it in your electricity bill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Marcy Hughes has lives in western Pennsylvania her whole life. It's gorgeous here, rolling hills, lush farmland and Little Blue Run, something proposed by Pennsylvania Power back in the '70s.
(on camera): What did they tell you in 1975?
MARCY HUGHES, CONCERNED ABOUT COAL ASH: Well, basically, they said they were going to have it, you know, that you could swim, you could picnic. They even showed a sailboat.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Hughes said the utility company told neighbors it would dump coal ash, the waste left over from burning coal to make electricity, into a valley and then fill the valley with water. And it did.
But sailboats? No. We thought you should see why for yourself. So when environmentalists offered us a ride, we took it. (on camera): We're on our way to Little Blue right now. It's about eight minutes away. I really want to demonstrate to you how big this thing is.
(voice-over): It's nearly 1,000 acres. And in some places, it's 400 feet deep. Tons of coal ash and other waste is piped into Little Blue every year. It comes from the First Energy Corporation, the utility company that now owns Little Blue.
The EPA says coal ash contains potential cancer-causing agents like arsenic, cadmium and lead.
And now, First Energy wants to make Little Blue bigger to handle an increase in waste.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are killing nature, trees, wildlife and making human beings sick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are sick and people are dying.
COSTELLO: The EPA is now holding hearings across the country on coal ash impoundments like Little Blue. After the disastrous coal ash spill in Tennessee two years ago, the agency is considering whether to toughen regulations and classified coal ash as hazardous. Right now, it's considered ordinary garbage.
For Hughes' daughter Tracy, that's unbelievable. Tracy has suffered three types of cancer. The first at 18. The last seven years ago. She and her mother suspect Little Blue is to blame.
(on camera): I know that they want to expand again. So when you hear about expansion, what goes through your mind?
TRACY HEINLEIN, CANCER SURVIVOR: Putting my house on the market, uprooting my family. Listening to my cardiologist who basically, the first time we visited him, looked at my mom and I in the exam room after the exam was over and asked, why do you still live there?
HUGHES: And why are you drinking the water?
COSTELLO (voice-over): The fear is that toxins from Little Blue are seeping into the ground water and possibly into neighbors' well water.
Barbara Reed fears that, too. Her son's fixer-upper is less than a mile from Little Blue. First Energy tested Reed's well in 2009. And the result showed Reed's well water contained dangerous levels of arsenic.
(on camera): And when you see this, what goes through your mind?
BARBARA REED, CONCERNED ABOUT TOXIN ON WATER : Fear. We drank that water. We were not told it was bad.
COSTELLO: There was no proof that arsenic came from Little Blue, subsequent tests showed no arsenic. But once was enough for Reed's son, his fixer-upper now sits abandoned.
CHARLES LASKY, VP, FOSSIL OPS., FIRSTENERGY.CORP.: We believe that it's completely safe. We have not identified any well, drinking water well, that we have contaminated or contributed to.
COSTELLO (voice-over): And FirstEnergy is right. There is no scientific test that shows anyone is getting sick from Little Blue.
Why do you think they're standing up and saying these things then?
LASKY: I can't answer that. I think they've gotten some information that it's not closely correlate or scientifically supported.
COSTELLO: The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said its own tests show nothing harmful if leaking from the retention pond. But some neighbors are unconvinced.
HEINLEIN: This is going to sound surreal and maybe too Hollywoodish, but I'd like to invite them to dinner, turn on my tap and hand them a glass of water from my tap and see if they will drink the water.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (on-camera): When we say there is no scientific tests showing elevated arsenic and ground water, I want to clarify no scientific tests have been done yet. But researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have begun testing residential wells in the area. But, of course, it'll take some time before we see the results of those tests.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: What about the water in the retention pond itself? Does that have high levels of arsenic in it?
COSTELLO: That does indeed have high levels of arsenic in it, but the EPA or the Pennsylvania Department of Environment, also for (ph) Energy says it is contained. They have 69 retention wells around Little Blue and the Department of Environmental Protection in Pennsylvania checked those wells.
And they say that if there are elevated levels of arsenic in those testing wells, then they've got a problem. First, energy fix is that nobody's well water outside of those test wells are affected.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: What about the residents? Are they sticking to bottled water? What are they doing?
COSTELLO: Many residents use bottled water. They're not trusting of the Department of Environmental Protection in Pennsylvania or FirstEnergy because they don't know what to believe, because when you look at that thing, it just looks bad.
ROBERTS: Is there any kind of liner in that pond as there would be in a landfill? COSTELLO: Excellent question. No liner. But when FirstEnergy expands, they will put a liner in the new part. But Little Blue is so big. And it would be so expensive to put a liner under that thing. It wouldn't be worth it. They would have to shut it down. If they had to put a liner under it, I should say.
CHETRY: All right. Carol Costello for us this morning. Tomorrow, we'll take a look at the economic impact and consequences as well. Thanks so much.
COSTELLO: Sure.
CHETRY: It's now 47 minutes past the hour. Still to come on the Most News in the Morning, Rob's going to join us. He has our travel forecast right after the break.
Plus, some video of some wild weather in Arizona yesterday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Take a look at this video out of Bellemont, Arizona, just to the west of flagstaff yesterday. Trains derailed and trailers flipped over from two tornados that touched down, another two that touched down near flagstaff. Unbelievably active and unusual day for Arizona. The low that caused that is beginning to weaken and drift up to the north.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO (on-camera): And what we're looking at across parts of the east coast is similar situation where things are not quite moving along as fast as they should. So, we're looking at rainfall across parts of Northern New England, upstate New York today, and parts of Eastern New England as well. We are looking at subtropical storm Otto which may become a hurricane here over the next few days.
Here's the official forecast tracked to the National Hurricane Center. It makes it a fish storm, so not terribly worried about this. Comfortably cool weather and dry weather is expected for the eastern third of the country over the weekend. You're up to date weather wise. AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIG SHOW, WRESTLER: Hi. I'm the Big Show from the WWE.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here comes the freight train!
BIG SHOW: This is my bus. Come on board. I travel on the road roughly around 280, 290 days a year. The main convenience for traveling on a tour bus like this for me, instead of folding up into a small car, I got on the bus. I have a nice hot shower. I have food. The Big Show is a big nerd. I like audio books. I find this really soothing, relaxing, to put an audio book on especially traveling down the road.
I have big feet. Size 18/6 feet. I find the right bag to allow me to put my boots in and also take up the least amount of space possible. I never check my gear. I can find things to get me by. If I don't have my wrestling gear, I'm useless. The great thing about having a bus is I don't have to check bags because all my clothes are -- tada -- already here.
I'm the big show from the WWE. And I'm a road warrior.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. This Kegger is really going to cost them. Three students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been fined a total of 86 grand after police were forced to bust up their house party.
ROBERTS: Two of the students were underage. The other one was 21. Police say they shut off the lights and refused to come out which only got the police more upset. Of course, they had a perfectly good explanation for everything.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were trying only to have 20 or 30 of our friends over and just kept coming and coming. And word of mouth, I guess, and just got out of hand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There's like ten cops behind him in that picture.
ROBERTS: Yes, there you go. Numbers vary (ph) on how many people were actually at the bash. The police say 200 to 300 people. The roommates say 110 at the most.
CHETRY: And I'm sure the police can just bank on the fine, the money just coming right in.
ROBERTS: $86,000.
CHETRY: I'm sure they have --
ROBERTS: Wow.
CHETRY: If they're drinking keystone light (INAUDIBLE). We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
