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American Morning
Slugfest in the Desert; Home at Last; First Lady Hits Campaign Trail; CNN Heroes
Aired October 15, 2010 - 08:00 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. Glad you're with us on this Friday. It's October 15th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us.
A lot to talk about this morning, let's get you right to it.
Harry Reid debating in the Nevada desert last night with Sharron Angle. The Senate majority leader fighting to save his career against the Tea Party upstart. Right now, the candidates are in a dead heat at about 46 points a piece. Things got hot last night. We'll show you one moment in a debate when Angle told Reid to, quote, "man up."
CHETRY: They're out of the mine, many out of the hospital and finally home. Several of the Chilean miners back with their families this morning. One of them is talking about his time underground. He says he was just 10 feet away from where the ceiling began to cave in at the start of this nightmare for them. His incredible story -- ahead.
ROBERTS: And it's shaping up to be a miserable day to travel in the northeast. Heavy rain in the forecast from Boston on up to Maine. Flooding is possible. Higher altitudes in eastern New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. In the Catskills, the Green and the White Mountains could see up to eight inches of snow. Yes, we said snow.
Check ahead with your air carrier if you're flying, but things seem to be pretty much on schedule at LaGuardia this morning -- which is good.
CHETRY: That's good news. I don't know if Mother Nature got the memo. We're only in the middle of October and we're talking snow already on the East Coast.
ROBERTS: Well, it could be a good ski season up there in Vermont, though. That would be a good thing.
CHETRY: Exactly. Well, we begin the hour with a high stakes debate in the Nevada Senate race, the headliners from last night showdown in the desert, as they're calling it. The established veteran, Majority Leader Harry Reid, is battling to keep his career alive against upstart Tea Party challenger Sharron Angle.
ROBERTS: Well, it sure had the feel of a fight night in Vegas with the two candidates divided on the issues, much like the American people are. And it didn't take long for things to get prickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARRON ANGLE (R), NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm glad to give voters the opportunity to see that Harry Reid has voted to give Social Security to illegal aliens. Not only did he vote to give it to them after they have become citizens --
SEN. HARRY REID (D), NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE: Everything she said in that is false. It's not true. I've never voted for tax breaks for people who are here that are illegal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Our Jessica Yellin is live in Las Vegas this morning.
And, Jessica, any clear-cut winner emerging out of the debate last night?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, that depends for which candidate you had lower expectations. Some of early reviews already are in. Some are calling it the dud in the desert, a lame debate. Where were the fireworks?
At times, the Senate majority leader seemed awkward and wonky and smiling in inappropriate places. His insurgent Republican challenger sometimes had a hard time seemingly remembering facts and got lost in some of her answers.
But for all that apparent strangeness in a debate, what you saw here is a starkly different view of government's role in our lives. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has the backing of many of the state's casinos, even some leading Republicans. He clearly articulated a vision that government is responsible to help bring jobs to protect health regulations and to set some rules for insurance companies.
His rival said insurance companies do not have to have any guidance from the government. The free market should decide that. The Department of Veterans Affairs, she believes, should be privatized and education returned to local control.
Very different views of where this nation should be going as led from Washington.
Now, one of the fiercest back-and-forths, John and Kiran, was over this issue of social security where Sharron Angle challenged Harry Reid's manhood. I'll bring you their sound, beginning first with Harry Reid's position.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Social Security is a promise we have to keep. It takes care of seniors in their golden years. That's why I work so hard to protect Social Security. I feel so strongly about this that I took on the president of the United States when he tried to privatize it and we won that battle.
Don't frighten people about Social Security. The deal that was made by President Reagan and Tip O'Neill is holding strong. The money is there, and it's taking care of our folks, and will for the next 35 years, I've just indicated (ph).
ANGLE: Man up, Harry Reid. You need to understand that we have a problem with social security. That problem was created because of government taking that money out of the Social Security Trust Fund.
In 1990, you said it was stealing to use Social Security for anything but social Security. And then you voted to take that Social Security money into the general fund where it could be used for generally anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: This has been a big theme throughout their debate, the role of Social Security. Both sides, I have to say, in the end, met their low expectations, guys, because neither committed a major gaffe. That's what each campaign was worried about and they got through the night without any huge disaster.
CHETRY: Jessica, it also seemed like they needed to sort of boost their likability in some way. I mean, neither, it's almost like the battle of the least unpopular, neither one of them even polling above 50 percent.
YELLIN: Right. And part of it, you can see in Harry Reid, he was trying to smile, not to attack. She was being very -- she was trying to come on the attack a bit more, I have to say, and prove she could face him toe-to-toe.
But this is now about a ground game. They wanted to get through last night, not have any huge flubs that would change anything. And it's all about their staff and their team. She has raised $14 million. He has one of the most professional operations I have ever seen.
It is about finding every vote for each of those people and getting to the polls beginning this Saturday. Early voting begins tomorrow.
ROBERTS: Yes, the get out the vote campaign is the important part of this race.
Jessica Yellin for us on the Strip this morning in Las Vegas -- Jessica, thanks.
CHETRY: Well, some drama on the set of "The View" yesterday when FOX News host Bill O'Reilly was the guest. He's a regular on the show. And things started out as usual, hugs and kisses, until the topic of the Islamic center near Ground Zero came up. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: Muslims killed us on 9/11.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": No! Oh my God!
O'REILLY: Muslims didn't kill us on 9/11? Is that what you're saying?
GOLDBERG: Extremists did that.
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: I'm telling you, 70 percent of the country --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to sit here now. I don't!
O'REILLY: You're outraged about Muslims killing us on 9/11.
(CHEERING)
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": I want to say something. I want to say something to all of you. You have just seen what should not happen. We should be able to have discussions without washing our hands and screaming and walking off stage. I love my colleagues. That should not have happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So, there you go. And they did eventually come back after Barbara calmed things down. And Bill O'Reilly also went onto clarify, I guess you could say, his comments. He said it was Muslim extremists, not all Muslims responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
ROBERTS: Now, wait a minute. They come on. It's hugs, kisses, fist bumps. And then half way through the conversation, they get so upset they walk off the set?
CHETRY: Yes, there you go.
ROBERTS: Do you think that was real?
CHETRY: Well, Joy was on her show on HLN last night. And she said that she felt that what he was hate speech. And she was very upset by it. So, and you saw Whoopi, she's upset, too.
ROBERTS: You think he ran that afoul?
CHETRY: I think he'll be back because Barbara and Bill are buds. So --
ROBERTS: All right. Yet another chapter in this to be explored, I'm sure.
Home at last. Three of the Chilean miners are back with their families this morning. This is video of them late last night of them leaving the hospital, looking healthy and happy still in sunglasses.
CHETRY: Yes, remarkably well, after 69 days underground. In fact, the one you're looking at right there, the oldest miner brought out, the one who is suffering from lung problems. And he's leaving the hospital. All of them are expected to be home by Sunday.
Patrick Oppmann live for us at the hospital in Chile this morning.
And you had told earlier that the good news is that they're actually in much better shape than some of the medical staff had earlier predicted.
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's another amazing part of this already amazing story. They spent weeks now fixing up this hospital behind me, putting in machines, triage centers, all types of equipment, bringing in medical professionals who could help with what they thought would be a large-scale operation to save some of these miners' lives, keep them healthy when they brought them aboveground.
Now, it turns out, Kiran and John, that wasn't necessary. These miners are very, very healthy, doing very, very well. And we're hearing for the first time some bits and pieces of that incredible story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We were all waiting for that. We were all very thin. I lost 12 kilos. I was afraid that I was not going to meet the child that was on the way. It was the thing that most scared me.
I think the worst thing is to pass three, four, five days without food. To know that there may not be any future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPMANN: And, we're picking up some other details from the family members who come here twice a day to have visits with their beloved miners in this hospital behind us. You know, one of the miners is an incredible Elvis fan. And he sang Elvis tunes on that Phoenix capsule ride up to the surface, we're told.
Another miner has been asking for food that he just couldn't get, like ice cream and boiled eggs down the mine. He's very eager to just have some of his favorite snacks.
And then this amazing story -- the miner, Frankie Lobos, who used to be a professional soccer player in Chile. One of the rescuers, the first rescuer who came down, Miguel Gonzalez, they used to play together, they're arch rivals in some of the league teams in this area of Copiapo, Chile. So, what an amazing story for them, years later to be reconnected at the bottom of a mine.
And as you said, we expect to see more of those miners leave today, all of them perhaps home by the end of the weekend, Kiran and John.
ROBERTS: Wow, it's interesting. Opponents on the soccer pitch and unified together underneath the ground 2,300 feet.
So, what about the guys that are out, or maybe all of them together? Are they making any plans? You know, obviously, this story is probably worth some money. Are they getting together on that to figure out how they're going to deal with it?
OPPMANN: You know, one thing we've heard from some of the letters that families have received is there's been a vow of silence. We're not sure just yet why they've made that vote, if it's they don't want to talk about an ordeal that was obviously quite trying and had its horrible, dark moments to it, or if they're waiting to tell the story all together in a setting that they have yet to pick.
But back on that amazing story, there's two soccer players reunited understood ground. Yesterday, President Sebastian Pinera was here and the rescuers are going to have a soccer match at some point, very soon, with the miners who they rescued. The winner will get to stay in the presidential palace.
ROBERTS: Wow. That would be -- what do you bet that's going to be broadcast nationally there in Chile as well.
Patrick Oppmann, great to see you this morning. Thanks so much.
Well, they don't have to dig anymore. Anything the miners touch is turning to gold these days. Those sunglasses that they're still wearing after 69 days in darkness, product placement, I guess you can say, those are $450 Oakleys. Analysts say they could net of more than $40 million in television advertising just from that donation.
CHETRY: Yes. And the company did donate them. They thought they were just doing a good deed, giving them out there. But --
ROBERTS: And then they walked off the set of "The View."
CHETRY: Yes, OK.
Also Chilean wine by the way, sales up reportedly 25 percent in Great Britain on the day of the rescue. Chile's entire economy is hoping for a boost from being on the world stage.
ROBERTS: And the remote mine location near Copiapo may become a tourist attraction as well, though, there's talk of building an underground museum and preserving Camp Hope, the tent city that housed family members, rescue workers and the media during the 69-day long ordeal.
CHETRY: Interesting stuff. Let's see how it all turns out.
Meanwhile, it's story of hope and inspiration that captured the world. And a lot of people want to relive it. The 33 Chilean miners rescued, those many hours where you saw the rescuers pulling each of them out of the capsule. Well, there's a countdown to the rescue. It's an "A.C. 360" special. It's tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
ROBERTS: Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center for us this morning, and he's tracking a nor'easter that's got the Northeast in its grips this morning.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, you talk about making a movie about this thing, but the television was so gripping and having the camera down at bottom of the mine, I can't imagine a movie being any better. It was amazing story from start to finish.
This story, the nor'easter that's rolling up the Northeast coastline is strengthening right now. And we're seeing winds and rain. And we might even see a little bit of snow from this. Upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and parts of Maine, get above 2,000 feet, and we'll see, yes, some wet snow accumulating. That may bring down some trees and power lines because in some spots, there are still plenty of leaves on the trees.
So, a lot of blowing around this weekend with this storm system. We could see 30 to 50-mile-an-hour wind gusts as it strengthens and slowly moves up the Northeastern Seaboard. And even though it's dried out for the most part from Philly to New York, it will be breezy right through tomorrow. So, a brisk and blustery fall weekend for the Northeast.
Sunny and warm in Dallas, 92 degrees in Vegas, and this touching on, little depression Paula, yet another hurricane missing the U.S. We will take it. We're almost through with this hurricane season, another month and a half to go. We'll see if our luck holds on.
John and Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: All right. We can only hope. Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: You bet.
ROBERTS: First Lady Michelle Obama hits the campaign trail in the Midwest. Plus, the president tries to fire up some students at a town hall style event. Candy Crowley with the Most Politics in the Morning, coming right up.
It's coming up now in 14 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back. Seventeen minutes past the hour right now. Packing higher approval ratings than even her own husband right now. First Lady Michelle Obama is hitting the campaign trail for the next couple of weeks. She's going to be raising money and also campaigning for Democrats. And she's already been to Chicago to Denver, and she's heading to Ohio this weekend.
ROBERTS: Meanwhile, her husband is trying to re-energize the base and recapture the magic that swept him to victory two years ago. Candy Crowley, CNNs chief political correspondent and host of "State of the Union" joins us live from Washington this morning. Candy, good morning to you. So, they're pulling out the heavy guns here, Michelle Obama on the campaign trail with just a little more than two weeks to go.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They are. I think it's interesting, too, that this is such a limited period of time. People tend to really like their first ladies. Laura Bush was always more popular than her husband. Often Nancy Reagan more popular than Ronald Reagan and Michelle Obama, I think, almost from the start has been more popular than her husband, even when he was quite popular.
So, what happen though is they like their first ladies because they tend to be above the political fray. They tend not to be out there saying nasty things about other politicians. Once a first lady sort of enters into the fray, those numbers tend to go down. So, this is a shortened period. And that her pitch is largely go out and vote for Democrats. It's not anti-anything. It's sort of pro-Democrat. I think, certainly, it helps her protect what is an enormously high approval rating.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, the president in selfless (ph) out there as well trying to recapture the magic. As we've said, he had this appearance that was pretty neat on MTV, talking to young people, taking some interesting questions. What is his strategy moving forward as we get closer and closer to the midterms?
CROWLEY: Get as many people to vote as you possibly can. Listen, there are more registered Democrats than there are Republicans. At least nationwide, obviously, that changes from state to state. But the only thing you do in these final weeks is try to get the people who will vote for you to actually go do it. At this point, people are pretty made up their minds about the Obama administration or about their elective representative.
They're not, you know, getting out there with issues. It doesn't really help. You tend to see a change in the advertising. People tend to talk more about themselves. They go back to the kinder, gentler ads. And they go out there and they get out the vote. And what the president needs with this youthful which really put him over the top and helped him win the presidency not just in votes but in knocking on doors, getting other people to go out and vote, creating that kind of enthusiasm.
That's what he needs now. So, he's been trying to kind of draw the line between 2008 and 2010 saying, listen, there's something real at stake here. I know I'm not on the ballad, but remember what we all worked for so hard for in 2008. That's why I need you to go out now. Not just vote, but get other people to go vote because this is all about turnout now for the next couple of weeks.
ROBERTS: And what we were talking earlier about first ladies being more popular than husbands. I supposed we need to see as a woman in the White House so we can see if the husband is more popular than the president.
CROWLEY: I will bet you yes. I will bet you yes. I will bet you yes. I will bet you yes.
ROBERTS: I don't know about that.
CHETRY: We'll see if the first gentleman can do as well.
ROBERTS: It may not work the same way. What do you got coming up on "State of the Union" this Sunday?
CROWLEY: We are going to talk about a couple things, obviously, upcoming politics. We also want to talk about the whole idea of outside money that's being dumped into a lot of these campaigns now, particularly on the Republican side, although, the Democrats also have their share of outparty people that are putting ads up on the air, but we're obviously going to talk as well a little bit about the politics and where it now stands.
And I say, it looked pretty static. Barbara Boxer, among our guest. You know, that's a great race out in California. Republicans had really eyed that Senate seat of Barbara Boxer. She's pulled ahead in the polls. Maybe some Democrats would like to figure out what her secret is. It may just be she's in California, but we'll see.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it. Candy, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Yes, we'll be watching "State of the Union," 9:00 eastern, Sunday morning right here on CNN. Thank you, Candy.
You know, the other interesting thing about the MTV debate is that when President Clinton did it in the 90s and the people were joking around you wear boxers or brief, these kids really wanted, you know, serious answers to serious issues. They asked about genocide. They asked about, you know, commitment to gay rights. It was really interesting.
ROBERTS: Yes. They're facing very uncertain future perhaps much more so than in the 1990s. So, they care a lot about the real issues.
Tom Brokaw's controversial advice for college grads, leave America if you want to get a job. Christine Romans talks to Tom coming up next. It's 21 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour now. Christine Romans "Minding Your Business." She joins us now. Chair squeaking anymore?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No, everything is fine.
ROBERTS: You know what?
(LAUGHING)
CHETRY: It was john. It truly was. In between the entire show, he was WD-40ing the heck out of that chair.
ROMANS: I've been driving John crazy for two days.
ROBERTS: This is not product placement. This is not an ad. That's what it took.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: I talk to you and I move around so much, it's been driving John nuts.
ROBERTS: You're kind of peripatetic.
ROMANS: I'll keep that as a compliment. Look, I'm talking about Social Security. There's probably not going to be a cost of living increase for seniors and people who are getting the Social Security check next year. We're going to hear for sure this year, but the experts say that there just isn't enough inflation out there to justify a cost of living increase.
CHETRY: Was there one last year?
ROMANS: There was not one last year. There was a big one the year before, however. But at the same time, at the grocery store, you're going to notice some things. And you might or you've been noticing this, meat prices are the highest since the 1980s. You got corn prices that have been moving higher because of a drought and some crop problems in Russia and other parts of the world, and also the price is going up in this country.
Coffee is at a 13-year high. You got prices rising for airline tickets, for health care premiums. So, this is something that seniors are going to a little bit concerned about. We'll know for sure later today, but we're not expecting cost of living increase in your Social Security check.
Now, another story I'm following is Tom Brokaw. A guy who literally wrote the book on the greatest generation was on an interview, a radio interview and was asked what his advice is for young people looking for a job after they just graduate from college. And this is what he told the interviewer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF TOM BROKAW, JOURNALIST: I wouldn't be looking just within our borders for opportunities. I'd be looking to see what the chances are of getting a job in the Middle East, for example or in India or in China.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He told the interviewer he's talked to a number of very senior American executives who say that now that so much of their work is offshore, one of the things they need or people who are willing to pack up and go there to become middle managers in China. This, of course, raising quite a bit of scuttlebutt online and elsewhere.
This has been forwarded around a lot from people who say, have we abandon hope of opportunity in this country when the author of the greatest generation is telling generation "Y", you don't have any skills. You may have an education. Why don't you go somewhere else and work. He did have some other things that the interviewer that I found very interesting.
He said that if he had to do all over again, he would have more education in basic sciences and also economics. I think the numbers have shown that that is very important for young people, but has the culture elite abandon hope for generation "Y." That's the way this is complained (ph).
ROBERTS: You know, there are a lot of skilled jobs in this country that are going to go watching because we're just not producing the skilled labor that we need to to take those jobs.
ROMANS: But is it really -- I mean, can you really take 1.5 million people in the class of 2010 and think that they're going to get good jobs in all of these other countries? And are you going to grow middle classes there? And are the immigration laws of those countries going to allow American middle class to come and try the --
ROBERTS: No, but there are some good high paying jobs overseas.
ROMANS: For someone who just graduated from college? Would you tell your kids to go to India to try to, you know, build his life in India?
CHETRY: No.
ROBERTS: Yes.
ROMANS: Because there's nothing here.
ROBERTS: I don't know. If he had an opportunity, yes. I think it would be great. Get international experience.
ROMANS: I think there's not enough opportunity on that scale. I think, on the margin, there are kids who can do that.
ROBERTS: At least go over there and learn some stuff and then come back.
ROMANS: But we have a very broad labor issue in this country. We're not providing the opportunities. The story should be how are we going to start providing the opportunities, not, we're not. Go abroad. CHETRY: Right. You know, it's something that -- as we are talking about before this -- the president at the MTV town hall as well. I mean, the young people know that they have a lot of challenges ahead. And they're very, very focused and interested in how they can better our country and our world. So, they're paying attention.
ROMANS: And they're optimistic, too. That's what I can't believe. Every time I talk to these young groups. You know, I look at these numbers, and I'm daunted. They look at these numbers and they say, we can't wait to get out there and make a difference and start to innovate. And that I think is cool.
ROBERTS: All right.
CHETRY: That's what we need.
ROBERTS: Good to see you this morning. Thanks.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: If you need anything fixed, let me know.
ROMANS: Yes. Thanks.
CHETRY: Keep yelling wrenches here. You never know --
(LAUGHING)
CHETRY: Facebook trying to fight back against gay bullying on its site. Their communications manager, Andrew Noyes, is going to be joining us next with more on what they're doing. Twenty-eight minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour now with your tops stories this Friday morning.
The first of the 33 Chilean miners are home today. Three of them were released from the hospital last night. Doctors say all the miners have responded well to treatment and many more of them will go home today.
CHETRY: We talked about the town hall event the president attended, taking questions from young people at the MTV event. Well, the president was asked directly if he thinks being gay is a choice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I am not obviously -- I don't profess to be an expert. This is a layperson's opinion, but I don't think it's a choice. I think that people are born with a certain makeup.
And we're all children of god. We don't make determinations about who we love. And that's why I think discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, the president was also asked about ending "don't ask, don't tell." He told the audience that the policy will, quote, "end on my watch."
ROBERTS: O'Reilly's view rejected. Fox News host Bill O'Reilly was the guest yesterday on the "The View." He's a regular on the program. It started as usual, hugs, kisses, fist bumps, until the topic of the Islamic center near ground zero came up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: Muslims killed us on 9/11.
JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": No! Oh my god!
O'REILLY Muslims didn't kill us on 9/11? Is that what you're say saying?
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: I'm telling you, 70 percent of the country --
BEHAR: I don't want to sit here now. I don't.
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: Go, go. You're outraged about Muslims killing us on 9/11.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, Whoopi and Joy did eventually come back after Barbara Walters calmed things down and after O'Reilly clarified, saying it was Muslim extremists, not all Muslims who were responsible for the attacks.
CHETRY: Facebook has announced a new effort in trying to fight gay bullying that takes place on its site, at least. It's teaming up with GLAD, the advocate organization for gay Americans, to try to eliminate the hateful posts and get them down quickly before they lead to something tragic.
ROBERTS: Joining us now is Facebook communications manager Andrew Noyes who is on the telephone with us. Andrews, tell us about this partnership, particularly, how is it going to work? How are you going to police the website and get comments down?
ANDREW NOYES, PUBLIC POLICY COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, FACEBOOK (via telephone): Thanks for having me on. It's an important issue and Facebook is certainly very committed to it. GLADD brought a particular page to our attention. It was an event page that memorializes young people who lost their lives to gay bullying. It is currently functioning as a community memorial and there's an outpouring of support for the families of those teens as well as youth who may be facing similar anti-gay bullying.
It happened that some trolls and folks who had very negative, hateful things to say also started posting on the site. Certain things are against our terms of service and we began a concerted effort internally once that was brought to our attention to take that down.
CHETRY: So, I mean, you guys are trying to work within the terms of your service, as you said, which does not allow for hate speech. So is part of it just an increased vigilance on what is posted on the site?
NOYES: Well, you would be interested to know we have teams working around the clock 24 hours a day responding to reports for our users when they find thinks questionable or offensive. This was a particularly high profile page and it got quite a bit of attention.
But we believe that Facebook is highly self-regulating and we call upon our 500 million users to effectively be a virtual neighborhood watch and report contents they find offensive.
ROBERTS: OK, but with a half a billion viewers, though, and users, it's going to be difficult, Andrew, for you to make sure that you police it to the degree that I'm sure you would like. How much are you going to have to rely on other people reporting offensive comments and how quickly will your team be able to track them down?
I know people who reported offensive comments on web pages and it's taken months for them to come down.
NOYES: We certainly understand that. And the issues -- hate speech and issues like that are escalated and can be taken down very quickly. We intend to work more closely with GLAD and a number of other LBJ organizations, and they can also help us flag these things.
We have technology on the back end, things we can't really talk about, that automatically flags the stuff and takes it off the site without it is reported.
CHETRY: And Andrew, not to take away what you're doing, but being bullied because of your sexual orientation is a terrible thing, but what about the broader issue of people being harassed or bullied, some of the social networking sites like Facebook, and not to just pick on you, can become bathroom walls where people have their reputations tarnished and people can say nasty things.
Are you planning to broaden it out, not just about gay bullying, but bullying in general?
NOYES: Certainly. We have a very robust safety center. There are tips and resources for parents and teens and teachers to have really important conversations about these topics. We realize the controversial topics will be discussed online, on platforms like Facebook just as they were in the outside world. And we hope our users can come together and help shed light on this.
ROBERTS: Right. Back to what you were saying a second ago, you said you have backroom technology you can't talk about. I assume you're scanning web pages for certain keywords?
NOYES: Well, I can't go into it, but it's certainly a sophisticated technology that gets better every day. It's really come a long way.
ROBERTS: All right, Andrew Noyes from Facebook for us this morning, thanks for being with us. And good luck, by the way, with the partnership with GLAD. Anything done to reduce bullying online is a good thing.
NOYES: Absolutely. More to come.
CHETRY: Thanks, Andrew.
Still ahead, the California governor's race has really been a war of words between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown. The stakes are high, and not just for people living in the golden state, but why what happens in California and how the state recovers from very tough economic times matters to all of us.
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CHETRY: It's 40 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to "The Most Politics in the Morning."
We're talking about the race for governor in California, the golden state. The campaign has been ugly. It's been expensive. And it's been extremely close. Republican Meg Whitman going toe the toe with Democrat Jerry Brown. In this week's issue of "New York" magazine, contributing editor Joe Hagan writes about the California race and why the rest of the country should care about the outcome. He joins us now this morning.
JOE HAGAN, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Hi.
CHETRY: Hi, good to see you. I used to live in California. I used to laugh at people on the east coast who say out west, out west. But California is now the seventh to eighth biggest economy in the world, and they're struggling. California is in bad shape. What did you find the most notable about writing about it for the "New Yorker" ironically? "New York" magazine, I'm sorry.
HAGAN: That's OK. Like you said, it's in horrible shape. They have $88 billion in debt, no foreseeable way to pay it. They're incredibly polarized like in Washington maybe times ten.
And everybody I met in the political class from Schwarzenegger to Jerry Brown to various veterans of California politics, were very worried in a way they never had been in the past. People are worried about whether the California dream, which they all really believe in a real way out there, can continue.
There's more people leaving the state than coming to it. It's like a reverse gold rush. That's very dire for the state and people are concerned.
CHETRY: So when you look at what options they have as governor, Schwarzenegger is on his way out. He tried to work across the aisle on some issues, but his approval ratings are in the dump, about 20 percent, in the 20s.
Then you have a former governor from the 70s and 80s and you have a former CEO who doesn't have any experience in politics. Do people that you talked to truly believe one of them can solve the state's problems?
HAGAN: I would say no. That's part of the feeling of just throwing their hands up in the air at this point. One Republican strategist in Sacramento told me it will take generations of great leaders to fix California, not just one.
And I think this dead heat you see in the polls is a result of ambivalence in the electorate about what to do at this point. I don't think either candidate is really inspiring people.
CHETRY: And it's a blue state. But it's very interesting because it's different in so many parts of it. What this campaign became is digging up trash on people's past, questions about hypocrisy and personal hiring, Meg Whitman and the nanny situation, Jerry Brown needing to apologize for calling her a whore in a conversation.
How much talk is centered around what their plan is to help bring this state around?
HAGAN: I think very little. I think this is emblematic of the entire political season we're in. It's become cartoonish. In California no less, though.
I think that part of it is I don't think anybody knows what to do. I think if you were to really lock them in a room and ask them what they're going to do, Meg Whitman has detailed ideas that she publishes in magazines that she paid for to be published. She has a lot of money.
But people in Sacramento who have been there for years think she's naive to think these things will work. Sacramento is just so -- there's such gridlock. It's impossible.
Arnold Schwarzenegger came in with an incredible amount of good will at his back, now 20 percent approval rating. It's very disheartening. He tried to forge a central way and it was practically impossible to do so.
Jerry Brown is sort of like the devil they know in this whole race. He's familiar. You may be able to make a case that he knows where the skeletons are buried in Sacramento and can cut deals. But he doesn't really have a real detailed plan either. So it's worrisome.
CHETRY: Yes, we're going to link up the article with our website so people can check it out for themselves. It's a great read. Joe Hagan, thanks for much for being with us.
HAGAN: Thank you.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: Nasty day for travel in the northeast, storms bringing heavy winds, rain, and even some snow to parts of New England. Rob Marciano has your travel forecast coming up next. It's 45 minutes after the hour.
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ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. I'm Rob Marciano. We have a doozy of a nor'easter brewing up the eastern seaboard. This is bringing some wind and some rain across the northeast. New England is really about to get pounded. And this thing is moving so slowly that it's really going to drive a lot of wind through this area right through tomorrow. So, hold on to your hats, and certainly, there's going to be a lot of leaves flying around.
What doesn't fall off the trees via wind, the rain will take it down as well, and in some cases, some snow. We're seeing winds gusting over 20 miles an hour in parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island and down east Maine seeing winds gusting over 30 miles an hour, and those winds will freshen as we go along today. Snow above 2,000 feet across the Adirondacks.
The green and white mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont. Winter storm watches posted could see several inches of wet snow pile up in these areas, and there are still leaves on the trees in some of these spots. So, that will cause some tree loading and probably some tree limbs down and maybe some power outages. 30 to 50-mile-an-hour wind gusts with this strong storm as it winds itself up off Cape Cod not only through today but tonight and tomorrow where it's not raining.
It will be breezy and chilly on the back side of this. And if you are traveling through New York City Airport, it's going to be a problem with wind. Wind and rain across Boston today. Atlanta and Charlotte also getting a little bit in the way of wind with the system, but the midsection of the country looks to be pretty nice with warm temperatures.
In Dallas, 85 degrees. It will be 79 in New Orleans, 76 degrees in Atlanta. Quick check on tropical depression Paula. This thing is weakening rapidly and probably will dissipate over the north coast of Cuba as it rolls easterly. And we can -- you're up-to-date weather wise. Have yourself a great weekend. AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Coming up now at 7 minutes until the top of the hour. All year, we've introduced you to remarkable every day people who are changing the world. They are our CNN Heroes. The top ten finalists have been announced, and voting is open on CNN.com. Now, actress Debi Mazar introduces us to one of this year's top ten honorees.
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DEBI MAZAR, ACTRESS: Hello. I'm Debi Mazar. Last year, I had the honor of helping to recognize the great works of every day people changing the world at CNN Heroes, an all-star tribute. As a supporter of the midnight mission, I'm committed to helping the homeless and the hungry through feeding and support services. And this year, I am thrilled to help CNN introduce one of its top ten honorees of 2010. Now, more than ever, the world needs heroes.
N. KRISHNAN, PROTECTING THE POWERLESS: Because of the poverty and the effaces (ph), so many people are being abandoned. I saw a very old man eating his own human waste for food. It really hurt me so much. I was working for a five-star hotel as a chef, but the old man changed everything. My name is Naran (ph) Krishan. I feed and care for the abandon and mentally ill.
I get up at 4:00 in the morning. Every meal which is being prepared fresh. People are waiting for us. They totally rely on the food which we give. We are feeding almost about 400 people three meal a day around the clock. The happiness I see in their face keeps me going. I take energy from them. I want to save my people, and I feel that is the purpose of my life.
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ROBERTS: So, who will be the CNN Hero of the Year for 2010? You decide. Go to CNN.com to vote online for the CNN Hero who inspires you the most. All ten will be honored on Thanksgiving night at CNN Heroes, an all-star tribute hosted by our Anderson Cooper, but only one of them will be named the CNN Hero of the Year.
CHETRY: A lot of great ones to choose from this year.
ROBERTS: Yes. Six minutes until the top of the hour. We'll be right back.
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ROBERTS: OK. We all want to believe, right? But so much for aliens invading the west side of Manhattan. New York City police federal aviation authorities were flooded with calls on Wednesday. All of them reporting a UFO hovering a few thousand feet over the city's Chelsea Section. Crowds gathered. There was a tweeting frenzy on Twitter. But the mystery appears to be solved this morning.
It turns out that a dozen balloons escaped from an engagement party in nearby Westchester County, floated through the sky, and officials think that's what everyone saw overhead. Just reminding folks why you may want to believe, know your UFOs. CHETRY: Know the difference between UFOs and silver engagement party balloons. But, hey, you know, I mean, it was a nice event. It was a crowd pleaser. It was a few moments of distraction in busy city light.
ROBERTS: We thought it was life from another planet. No, it was Mylar balloons. Maybe next time.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly. Just keep hoping and keep tweeting, because, one time. One, it's going to be the real thing.
ROBERTS: You never know. Klaatu may come to earth one day.
CHETRY: Here's what you don't want to do during your driving test. Check this one out. This is a 34-year-old man who crashed the car into the DMV while he was dropping off the instructor who had given him the test. This is sad because people were injured in it, but boy, what a mess.
Apparently, he thought the car was in park. I don't know if -- did the car was in park or did they think the gas was the brake or the brake was the gas? See, that's usually what happens in the situation. If you thought the car was in park, how would you slam it into a building?
