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American Morning
New Terror Threat; The Hunt for Bin Laden; Tea Party Bus Tour; Prices on the Rise; Voters Focus on Economy as Midterms Near; What Lurks Beneath; Chest Compressions First
Aired October 18, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks so much for being with us on this Monday, the 18th of October. It's good to have you with us today. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. We have some top stories to tell you about, catch you up on what happened while you were sleeping.
We're following two major terror stories that are developing right now. First, Europe is on high alert this morning after Saudi officials say that al Qaeda is targeting the continent, but especially France. Also there's some new information about where Osama bin Laden may be hiding out. Our Barbara Starr is live in Afghanistan, this morning, with new details on the hunt for the most wanted man in the world.
ROBERTS: She claims drug pirates killed her husband on the border. We'll talk to Tiffany Hartley about the latest on the investigation. What she told authorities during an eight-hour statement on Friday.
CHETRY: And the Tea Party Express bus tour ready to roll into Reno, Nevada. Sarah Palin will be providing the big sendoff. The party plans to stop in 30 cities in 15 days to drum up support for their candidates. We're going to tell you which candidates are in their cross hairs between now and November 2nd.
ROBERTS: Up first this morning, an A.M. Security Watch and two major terror stories on the radar this morning.
First, new information on where Osama bin Laden may be hiding. A senior NATO officer spoke to our Barbara Starr about the hunt for the terror leader and his number two, and says they may not be very far apart.
CHETRY: Also, target Europe. France on high alert after Saudi officials specifically named that country in a new terror theft from al Qaeda. There's already tight security around major tourist areas.
Nic Robertson has the latest from London this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to France's interior minister, this threat is active or about to be active, this information it says came from Saudi officials within the last couple days. We talked to Saudis, they won't comment on this.
What the French interior minister is saying, however, is that this means the threat is very real. He says that France is vigilant. However, France is not increasing its terror threat level. It's at the second highest level right now, which is heightened red, the highest is scarlet. But right now with the information they have, the French are not raising that warning.
What is significant perhaps here is that what we're seeing emerging, if you take in the recent threats from the group in Hamburg, in Germany, leading to sort of a Europe-wide travel warning for the United States, we're seeing perhaps al Qaeda organize itself to target inside Europe. It can't pull off a 9/11 attack again, but it is looking to target on mainland Europe. And that seems to be the picture emerging.
Where did the Saudis get this information? They won't say, but they did say just a few days ago that a Saudi national, former Gitmo, Guantanamo Bay detainee, had turned himself in, possibly this information coming from him. But as far as the French are concerned, this is a very real threat either in the process of being planned or about to be planned. The interior minister also said that in the past year, two terror threat attacks inside France had been thwarted, and 61 people in France remain detained on terrorism offenses.
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: All right. Nic Robertson for us this morning.
Also new this morning, a privacy breach at Facebook impacting tens of millions of users. "The Wall Street Journal" reports most of the popular apps on the social networking site have been transmitting profile names to Internet tracking companies and advertising firms. In some cases, the names of a user's friends are also being transmitted. A spokesman for Facebook says there's not evidence that any personal information was misused.
And don't tell folks in Fayetteville, West Virginia, to take a flying leap, because they'll apparently take you literally. Saturday marked the first anniversary of the River Gorge Bridge Day Festival in Fayetteville, locals celebrated by base-jumping off the 876-foot bridge. It's the western hemisphere's longest single steel arch bridge. It takes about 8.8 seconds to fall from the bridge to the water. One day a year when you're allowed to do that.
CHETRY: Right. And I just can't believe how many people they get that are willing to just throw themselves off a perfectly good bridge.
ROBERTS: I'll tell you, you got people who are waiting 364 days to do that.
CHETRY: It's grown in popularity every year. It's just amazing to see these pictures. Really --
ROBERTS: Yes, even on a foggy day like that, too. You can't really tell where the bottom is.
CHETRY: Yes, that sounds really fun. Yikes.
Well, anyway, the Philadelphia Phillies have ended -- have evened up -- sorry, I did not mean to say ended, honey -- have evened up their national league championship series with the San Francisco Giants. Philadelphia pitcher Roy Oswalt was dominant over eight innings last night. It was a 6-1 victory. Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins also hit a home run.
So, game three is scheduled for tomorrow night in San Francisco. Unfortunately, though, if you live in New York City, because of a little dispute with one of the cable companies and one of the networks, you can't watch the game.
ROBERTS: Yes. I couldn't get the football game either yesterday for a while.
CHETRY: What a pain.
ROBERTS: Yes. At four minutes after the hour, let's get a quick of this morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano is on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, outside New Orleans this morning.
How's the weather down there? It looks beautiful.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Gorgeous. Yes, the sun is coming up, like Pontch (ph), and it's all calm, the birds are flying around. And weather should be primo for the game tonight in the Bronx. All is good as far as weather goes.
We are watching one area in the northwestern Caribbean or southwestern Caribbean where -- similar to where Paula formed last week. And this area that's kind of percolate this time of year, and this close to the U.S., obviously, it's a concern. And we all know that Hurricane Wilma developed here and slammed into Florida back in 2005.
So, the National Hurricane Center has their eye on this puppy for about a 50/50 shot or so of developing in the next 48 hours to a tropical depression or maybe even a tropical storm.
Meanwhile, continue dry on the warm side southeast. Eighty- four in New Orleans, red flag warnings are up for parts of Georgia and Alabama because of the dry air and the breezy conditions and low humidity. A little bit of showers from Chicago to Detroit, and moving east towards, say, Columbus, Ohio, or Pittsburgh, but it should be dry across parts of New York. Today, the highs, 85 in Dallas, 81 degrees in Atlanta, 63 degrees expected in New York.
We are down here because it is three months since we capped that well, six months since the explosion. It's time for Gulf of Mexico oil spill checkup. Our report in the next half hour will detail what's going on in the local beaches. There's still oil there, and what they're doing about it, in about 30 minutes -- John and Kiran.
CHETRY: Rob Marciano for us. All right. We look forward to your report. Thanks, Rob.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.
Back to our top story, and more on the hunt for Osama bin Laden. A high-level NATO official gave our Barbara Starr new information this morning on potentially where he's hiding. He pointed to northwestern Pakistan.
She's live for us inside Afghanistan.
You know, Barbara, for so long, we've heard that bin Laden may be in a remote area of the northwest territories -- obviously much of the region is remote, but this might be closer to where he was than we thought.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, it really seems like that's possible, John. A top NATO security official tells me first, number one, they absolutely believe that both bin Laden, and Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, his number two, are alive and well in Pakistan, and living in relative comfort. He says there's no al Qaeda leader living in a cave these days.
I asked him, so, where do you think he is? And he said, if you, too, asked me to draw a circle on a map, here's the circle I would draw. He said bin Laden may have ranged in the Northwest Territory, in that tribal region, all the way toward the Chinese border. But there's another place they think is really possible. That's called the Kurram Valley, a very remote, hundreds of square miles mountainous terrain, fiercely tribal region.
But here's what's interesting. This is the part of Pakistan that is right across the border from Tora Bora where bin Laden fled Afghanistan back in late 2001, as U.S. Army started following there -- John.
ROBERTS: So what's the sense there in Afghanistan? Obviously, it may have some impact on terror threats that we've been seeing in Europe. But if bin Laden were to be captured or killed, would it have any effect on the fighting going on there?
STARR: The feeling is no, not a lot of difference on the ground here for the war here inside Afghanistan. Now, I have to tell you, General David Petraeus feels the coalition is making success. And just as we come up on those midterm elections in the United States, he will be able to record to President Obama that the strategy is working.
I don't think everyone quite agrees. The people that we speak to, this top NATO official, for example, says time could be running out down the road here to make it all work. NATO countries may not support it much longer, clearly declining support in the United States. And no matter what, the insurgents seem to be able to regenerate their fighters.
Right now, the estimate is, under pressure, the insurgents could put perhaps as many as 30,000 fighters in the field across Afghanistan and Pakistan. There's as many as 1 million disaffected unhappy young men in this region that could take to arms. The real key will be the peace process here, getting the Taliban to the peace table, because they think they have no other option, and getting the Afghan government to get its act together -- John.
ROBERTS: Barbara Starr for us live in Afghanistan this morning -- Barbara, thanks.
CHETRY: Well, still to come, the Tea Party Express bus is getting ready to roll. It begins this morning in Reno, Nevada. Sarah Palin is providing the send-off. And they're planning a stop in more than 30 cities in 15 days, and they're gunning for one very prominent Democrat. We're going to have the latest in what they're up to.
ROBERTS: And the latest in the mystery on the border. An American tourist gone, his wife claims drug pirates killed him. She gave a long statement to the authorities in Mexico on Friday. And Tiffany Hartley will join us with the latest on her husband's case, coming up next.
It's nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 12 minutes after the hour.
New developments this morning in a story that we have been following closely, a mystery on the border. U.S. and Mexican officials are moving forward with their investigation into the disappearance and alleged death of American David Hartley, despite the grisly murder of the lead Mexican investigator in the case.
Hartley's wife claims her husband was killed by drug pirates on Falcon Lake, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border. But his body has not yet been found. In fact, there's been no trace of him at all. On Friday, she gave an eight-hour interview to federal and state authorities in Mexico.
And Tiffany Hartley joins us now live from McAllen, Texas.
Tiffany, thanks for being with us. This interview that Mexican officials conducted with you on Friday, what was that all about?
TIFFANY HARTLEY, HUSBAND ALLEGEDLY KILLED ON FALCON LAKE: They wanted a witness statement. So, basically the whole thing was just about getting detailed statement of what happened from the time we left our house to the time that I left the sheriff's office.
ROBERTS: Now, we haven't had the opportunity to speak with you this morning and it is good to talk with you. Thanks for taking the time.
What happened there on Falcon Lake?
HARTLEY: You're welcome.
Well, David and I just decided that we were going to go out to Falcon and enjoy a day on the lake and also go and see that historical church on the Mexico side. And when we were heading back, that's when the three boats came and approached us, and started shooting at us when we started to flee the area.
ROBERTS: So, you tried to -- you saw him get hit and you tried to pull him back aboard your watercraft. But they were shooting at you and you had to get away. What happened after that?
HARTLEY: Right. Well, after they had shot David, I turned my jet ski around so I could go and help him. And when I was -- a boat came up and they had a gun towards me, and then they left, that's when I tried getting David up. And then I saw that boats were trying to come back to me -- not trying, but were, and so, I had to flee toward the U.S. and I had to pass the three boats in order to get back to the United States.
ROBERTS: So, there's been no trace of him. No trace of the jet ski. Did you have an opportunity to look back and see what happened to any of that, maybe fill in some pieces of the puzzle?
HARTLEY: No, the boats chased me pretty much all the way to the U.S. border or past it. So by the time I got to the point where I couldn't see what was going on from there.
ROBERTS: So, there seems to be a little bit of a difference of opinion here. You say that the Mexican authorities -- they interviewed you on Friday. They say you provided some valuable information to them, but the sheriff of Zapata County, Sigi Gonzalez, claims that Mexican authorities were trying to intimidate you in that interview, tried to scare you into not pushing them to pursue the investigation.
What do you say about his claim?
HARTLEY: Well, I guess -- I mean, since he wasn't really -- he wasn't in the interview, so he -- I mean, really didn't know what kind of questions they were asking. But they were asking just, you know, detailed information about the day and, you know, where we had stopped, and who we talked to kind of thing, but I didn't feel like it was an interrogation, and I really hope that they do continue the search and continue their investigation.
Ultimately, we just want David back, and as soon as we get him back, then everyone can go back to their lives that they had before.
ROBERTS: Did you get any kind of sense, Tiffany, that the Mexican authorities are reluctant to pursue this investigation? You know, we heard last week that the chief Mexican investigator, Rolando Villegas was beheaded? Was there any sense during that interview that they were trying to get you to stay away from it? Try to sort of say what we'd done all we can?
HARTLEY: No. Since really, I was just talking with the people who were translating and then the person who was writing down what I was saying. There wasn't many questions from them on, you know, questioning the story. They were just asking about, you know, what happened that day. So, I don't think so. I think they do want to find, you know, whoever, but ultimately, I don't really care if they find the person, because I know, you know, in time they'll have their day.
ROBERTS: Right. Well, suspected that the Zeta drug cartel may be behind this particularly violent group of individuals. Perhaps, they're little reluctant to mess with them, but we'll see where this goes. Tiffany Hartley, it's good to talk to you this morning. Our condolences to you, and we'll keep watching this to see where it goes. Thanks so much.
HARTLEY: All right. Thank you very much.
CHETRY: It's a terrible situation, very mysterious still as well.
ROBERTS: Yes. The fact that this lead Mexican investigator ended up just his head was basically delivered in a cardboard box, I mean, obviously, somebody is playing for keeps there.
CHETRY: Yes. A lot of intimidation going on as they try to get to the bottom of this.
But meantime, we're switching to politics now. Sarah Palin will be headlining the final tea party express bus tour of 2010 before the midterm election. It starts today in Reno, Nevada. The liberty at the ballot box tour scheduled to stop in 30 cities over 15 days leading up to the midterm elections, and four stops are planned for Nevada, where the tea party is really gunning for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Shannon Travis joins us from Reno, Nevada this morning. Even if you check out the Tea Party Express Web site, they talk about, you know, the money bombs out there trying to get support behind Sharron Angle so they can continue to advertise ads out there against Harry Reid.
SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Absolutely. I mean, you set it up right. They are gunning for Harry Reid. They want voters to fire Harry Reid before terms that are (ph) for Nevada here, and they have four stops planned in Nevada alone. It's only Texas is only tied with the number of stops. So, this is a very serious matter. It's one of their top targets as they try and blaze this path to power, getting Harry Reid out.
They say that he's too liberal. They say he rubber stamps a failed liberal agenda, and they want to get him out. If you want to get your message out, no one can do it for these tea party activists like Sarah Palin. She will be headlining this event. She headlined it if you remember back in March, the third tea party express tour which kicked off in Searchlight, Nevada, which was Harry Reid's hometown.
So, she's back for another big kickoff to draw attention to the fact that these tea party activists that they want Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid out of Congress.
CHETRY: And will Sharron Angle actually be there at these kickoff rallies?
TRAVIS: It's a great question. Sharron Angle will not be here. That's because the tea party express, the independent expenditure arm of the tea party express has endorsed Sharron Angle. So, campaign finance law says you can't have any coordination between the candidate and the group that's endorsing her in this case, but the specter of Sharron Angle will be here.
Obviously, a lot of people are fired up to elector. There'll be a lot of talk about electing Sharron Angle, though, she won't be here in person. Another interesting thing to note that just yesterday, "The Reno Gazette Journal," the paper here in Reno endorsed Harry Reid. That's a little notable because Sharron Angle, this is actually her base here.
She was an assemblywoman from this county, from Washoe County for a number of years. So, it's a little interesting that the paper in Reno where Sharron Angle served for a lot of years is actually backing Harry Reid.
CHETRY: Yes. That is certainly interesting with the poll still tight up within the margin of error. She has a slight edge right now in the latest polling. We'll have to see how this goes, but it likes look it'll really be coming down to the wire. Shannon Travis for us this morning. Thanks so much.
TRAVIS: Absolutely.
CHETRY: Coming up at 8:40, just about 20 minutes, we're going to be speaking with tea party express chairwoman, Amy Kramer. She'll talk about the tour, where it's scheduled to stop and the candidates who are in the tea party cross hairs right now.
ROBERTS: Still to come, get ready to dig a little bit deeper. You'll soon be paying more if you aren't already for certain items like coffee. Our Christine Romans will tell you why and what else you can expect to pay more for just when you didn't want to pay any more for anything. It's 21 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, a popular energy drink has been banned from the campus of one New Jersey college after being blamed for sending nearly a half dozen students to the hospital. We'll have more on that story after the break, but first let's check in with Christine Romans.
ROBERTS: That's what you call a deep tease, a deep tease.
CHETRY: I just do what I am told. Hello, Christine. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: What's costing you more -- I was wondering --
CHETRY: I should have had a second energy drink this morning.
(LAUGHING)
ROMANS: All right. Well, listen, coffee, an energy drink that I know you drink is probably going to cost you more in the coming weeks and months. That's one of the things that you're paying more for out there (ph). Inflation is officially benign. In fact, inflation so low that Ben Bernanke, the fed chairman, has basically said it's uncomfortably low. They're starting to worry in some quarters about deflation, but there are things that you are paying more for that aren't reflected in those inflation numbers.
Among them, let me tell you. Anything that is a derivative of corn, corn prices are two-year highs. It's above $5.60 a bushel, in case you're wondering. Also, meat price is the highest since the 1980s. Coffee prices are going up bagged coffee for Dunkin' Donut, Greenmarket, Maxwell House Rising, but if you get your cup of Joe from the actual shop or from the corner diner, those have not been rising yet. So, there's your dose of good news this morning.
Energy bills are expected to increase by about $24 per family on average according to the government, and airline tickets. We have talked about this a lot, John and Kiran. Airline tickets rising anywhere from 10 percent to 15 percent, you're going to see airline tickets rise.
ROBERTS: OK. So, we don't have inflation.
ROMANS: Right.
ROBERTS: There's fears of deflation. Money costs you nothing to borrow. So, how do they justify this price increases?
ROMANS: Because they strip out food and energy in the official inflation statistics, and we know that in food and energy, a bunch of things were happen like a weak dollar, and as the dollar gets weaker, there's this rush from speculators into commodities. There are also some fundamental reasons why commodities are higher. Corn, for example, is higher because there's a drought in Russia, I think, and there's been some who have been saying there's been some hoarding of coffee supply --
ROBERTS: Airline ticket increases?
ROMANS: Oh, no. You and I --
ROBERTS: Not because of the glorious customer service.
ROMANS: No, it's because they're flying smaller planes and they're filling them up, so you have fewer choices.
CHETRY: You know, there's even this morning about some airlines doing away with first class?
ROMANS: Yes.
CHETRY: And people simply are buying first class tickets?
ROMANS: Yes. I think with more seat but not -- you're absolutely right. Now another thing, speaking of tickets I wanted to tell you about, we have new insurance industry analytics, I love this kind of stuff, that shows you what kind of person is most likely to get a ticket in what kind of car. And here you go. The person most likely to get a ticket is a middle-aged man driving a Mercedes SL class.
ROBERTS: Really?
ROMANS: There you go.
CHETRY: That's the most stopped car, right?
ROMANS: Yes. Toyota, the Camry Solara. This is actually more likely driven by a woman, just so you know. So, men out there are going to be hating on me this morning, and there's this Toyota here that's designed for the generation Y. That's the third one.
So, that's more of a young driver. Interesting, this data also showed you, guys, that the people least likely to get a ticket driving hatchbacks, SUVs, and mini-vans, and if you're taking other people around, you're more likely to be a cautious driver, and if you have car seats in the car, you're really more likely to be a cautious driver, and you're not getting a ticket.
CHETRY: See?
ROBERTS: Ever got a ticket?
CHETRY: Knock on wood, no. I mean, in younger parts of my life.
ROMANS: You should see Kiran with the hair flowing back, you got the Town & Country minivan racing to the suburb.
CHETRY: I don't think cops want to bother with you when you've two screaming kids in the back. They have better things to do. Does it matter about the car color or is that a myth?
ROMANS: That seems to be a myth. It doesn't seem to matter about the car color --
CHETRY: So, the bright red Corvette --
ROMANS: It's most likely that the kind of person driving the kind car - couple of Hummers on this list, too. No surprise. I didn't know 46 of the average age of the Hummer driver, and it's almost certainly a man.
ROBERTS: OK. That's all you're going to say about that, right?
ROMANS: That's all I'm going to say about it.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Christine. Do you want to do a shallow tease now?
CHETRY: Yes. A popular energy drink has been banned from one campus in New Jersey.
ROBERTS: You don't say.
CHETRY: Yes, after it has been -- because this is not just an energy drink and alcohol in the same thing. So, we're going to talk about what's in this drink and why it sent some kids to the hospital when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Half past the hour now, time for this morning's top stories.
New information this morning about the possible whereabouts of Usama bin Laden. According to an unidentified NATO official, he's not hunkered down in a cave. Instead he and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, are believed to be hiding close to each other in houses in northwestern Pakistan, protected by locals and potentially members of the Pakistani intelligence service.
CHETRY: The Philippines is getting pounded this morning by super typhoon Maggie. Maggie packed sustained winds of 140 miles an hour, gusts up to 162 miles per hour, and it made landfall today. There's some of the video just to give you a sense of how powerful that storm is.
The power is out in most of the country. They're concerned that key rice crops have been destroyed and one death so far is being blamed on the storm. Maggie is expected to trigger serious flooding problems in China as well as Thailand and Vietnam.
Here's what we were telling you about just a minute ago. The energy drink Four Loco has banned from the campus of New Jersey Ramapo College. Sixteen students have been hospitalized recently for alcohol poisoning. At least have a dozen of those cases involved Four Loco, which is also known as "liquid cocaine." One can of the energy drink is equal to consuming three beers, a can of red bull, and shot of espresso.
CHETRY: And unfortunately I'm sure the kids are not stopping at one. So there you go. You have to make your own choices, people.
Now to the most politics in the morning. T.J. Holmes is riding in the CNN Election Express trying to get a sense of what's in voters' minds just two weeks from election day.
ROBERTS: The trip will take him across the Southeast. First stop, Charlotte, North Carolina, the headquarters of Bank of America, ground zero for the banking crisis in the South. Started as a chain reaction that hit so many small businesses, and that's where T.J. joins us live from this morning with the big bus in the background. Good morning, T.J.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's a big bus. Can't miss it, can you, guys? Good morning to you both, John and Kiran.
Yes, I am in Charlotte, North Carolina. We rolled in here yesterday and immediately found good news, and we find bad news. The bad news here is that the unemployment rate is at 11 percent. That's bad. It's above the national average, above the average for the entire state of North Carolina.
The good news, though, is that the unemployment rate is at 11 percent. You see, about a year ago it was at about 12.5 percent, so it has in fact come down.
Charlotte is the 19th largest city in the U.S. But no matter what city you are in right now in the U.S., there is a good chance some of your money is tied up in this particular town, because this town, even though it's the 19th largest city, is the number two financial hub in this country only behind New York City in terms of assets.
You have over $2 trillion in assets tied up in this town, as you guys mentioned, this is the home of bank of America. Wachovia was also based here. It's been taken over by Wells Fargo. Five of the 25 largest banks in the country are here.
So you have banking, lending, mortgages tied up here. So when you have a financial crisis that's, what, based in banks, lending and mortgages, you'll have a place like Charlotte hit and hit hard. Yes, in fact it's been hit hard.
We found, at least as local business owners yesterday, they do have concerns, sure, but they also feel pretty confident about their own community. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been a chef of different restaurants of different calibers all through the country. Right now the price point is driving everything. People are still going out to eat. The same people that didn't cook before aren't cooking now, they're just going to different places they can afford.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think a lot of people are concerned with what's happening with Bank of America, you know. I do hear people talk about that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The banking crisis hurt this city tremendously. Not only the bankers that work for the bank, but there's lawyers that are affected by that. There's -- it trickles down the line.
HOLMES: It sounds like you guys have local concerns here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like Ed said, you talk about Bank of America, but you go back to schools, libraries, parks closing, and you see that happening or hear about it in other states, and all of a sudden it happens in your state, and it's like, wow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel lucky to be in Charlotte, because if you look at it demographically throughout the nation, Charlotte is one of the best of the worst. Our mortgage foreclosures have been -- you know, they're high, everybody's are high, but we're not as bad as a lot of other cities in the nation. We're fortunate that's been that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So, yes, the problems might seem so huge in Washington and deficits might seem to be ballooning, but all that stuff trickles down to what the guys are talking about, schools, park, local businesses.
This is just our first stop, guys on a four state and at least five city swing. It will take us down to Tampa. We'll be here reporting throughout the day.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it.
CHETRY: Thanks, T.J. Have fun.
HOLMES: You've got it.
CHETRY: We're talking about another bus that's going to be rolling into town, the Tea Party express bus tour getting ready to kick off today. It will cover 30 cities in 15 days. Sarah Palin is getting things rolling in Reno, Nevada.
In just a moment, we'll be joined by Amy Kremer. She's the chairman of the Tea Party Express, to find out what they hope to accomplish over the next two weeks. It's 36 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 39 minutes past the hour. And there are just 15 days to go until Election Day, the midterm elections. For both sides it's certainly crunch time.
The Tea Party express is firing up buses. Again, a cross-country trip is planned. It kicks off today in Reno, Nevada, where Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle is locked in a tight case with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. It's also going to be making a stop in Wilmington, Delaware, to support another Tea Party favorite, Christine O'Donnell. That's set for Halloween.
Amy Kremer is the chairwoman of the Tea Party Express. She got up early to be with us in Reno, Nevada, where the trip starts this afternoon. Thanks so much for being with us, Amy.
AMY KREMER, ATLANTA TEA PARTY FOUNDER: Thanks, Kiran, for having me.
CHETRY: You've got early voting underway or soon to be underway in 32 states. A lot of these races are so tight, like the one in Nevada for Senate, and it's likely to come down to turnout. How do you keep up the energy with two weeks out, Amy?
KREMER: You know, I think the voters are energized, motivated. They want to see some changes happen on Capitol Hill. And this is the way we're going to do it. The time has come to put down the protest signs and pick up the campaign signs. People know in order to make change we'll do it at the ballot box. So it's not a tough task.
CHETRY: This race that you'll be out at today, super tight in Nevada. We have the latest polls showing Sharron Angle two points ahead, and then the third party candidate who is pulling seven percent from the latest polling. Why hasn't Sharron Angle been able to pull further ahead as we get closer to election day?
KREMER: A poll is nothing more than a snapshot in time. The people on the ground know that. We need to stay motivated, stay energized, get out the vote. We have phone calls going into all these states. Other organizations are working on this.
The Tea Party Express, we're doing four stops in the state of Nevada. And we feel very good about this race. The people are behind Sharron Angle and they believe she can win this race. I believe she can win this race. If you look back at the debate last week, she cleaned up on Harry on that debate.
CHETRY: Well, there weren't that many fireworks actually. It pretty much seemed to be whoever could make the least amount of gaffes, by some who watched it.
But in the end, it seems when you read what your group is about, you talk about fiscal conservative, talk about the need to hold the line, talk about the importance of limiting, yet a lot of the candidates have gotten themselves sort of mired in answering questions about social and culturally conservative issues.
Is that unfortunate to your whole movement, or is that something you support?
KREMER: No, the movement, we are about fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free markets. When people go to the polls, they are voting on the economy. Our economy is in shambles, and it's touching every one of our lives.
We have to get our economy back in shape, and we have to make some changes to do that. And these candidates know it's not going to be easy. That's why we send these people to Washington to make the different decisions. It's a tactic where they're being attacked for their answers that they give to these questions. But we have to make these tough decisions. It's not rocket science. We can't spend our way out of this debt.
CHETRY: I understand what you're saying. I think a lot of people are concerned certainly about spending, about the deficits, about the debt in this country.
But when you look at some of the things the candidates and what they have found themselves in trouble for, or at least something that's proven to be a distraction, you have Carl Paladino, the New York candidate for governor, who gave a speech where he talked about gay marriage and said that, you know, it's not necessarily something that he supports, but he also ended up talking about the gay lifestyle.
You have most recently Ken Buck supports "don't ask, don't tell" and that he believes homosexuality is a choice. These are things that make it harder to get libertarian and independent support.
KREMER: You know, Kiran, I understand what you're saying, but I have to disagree on that a little bit. The reason why is you go back to January and look at Scott Brown, everyone said there's no way he could win that seat because it was a Democratic seat in a blue state, and there's no way a Republican could take that seat. Look what happened.
That's when I go back to the argument that the people are voting on the economy. We're not focused on social issues. And that's what is important to people right now is getting our economy back in shape, putting people back to work. And that's what they'll be voting on.
CHETRY: And so do you wish that Christine O'Donnell as well as others, because I know you'll be in Delaware on Halloween, which some people are laughing about because of the famous "I'm not a witch ad," but Christine O'Donnell in the latest speech wouldn't answer whether she thought evolution was a myth. Do you wish these candidates would stop talking about some of these other issues and focus on fiscal issues?
KREMER: Well, I think they are focusing on fiscal issues, but you know, there are going to be people that are going to try to get off- message and go to other things, and we in the Tea Party movement, we sort, we stick strictly to the fiscal issues.
And so that's what we want to focus on. And we need to get back to the issues at hand.
CHETRY: About Christine O'Donnell, though, there were some pretty eviscerating criticism from Megan McCain. She said there's nothing that she's done in her personal life or you know, in her political life to really warrant winning a Senate seat.
Do you think Christine O'Donnell has shown fiscal responsibility in her life? Is she somebody that you're proud to be supporting with the Tea Party Express?
KREMER: Kiran, we absolutely stand behind Christine O'Donnell. We support her, we endorse her; we're behind her 100 percent going into the general election. And we believe that she absolutely can win this race. Just as -- when the -- and when everybody said she couldn't win the primary against Mike Castle, who is an entrenched establishment candidate, she won with a big -- a big spread. And so we absolutely believe that she can win this race. And we support her 100 percent.
CHETRY: All right, Amy Kremer, the Chairman of the Tea Party Express. Thanks for your time this morning.
KREMER: Thanks, Kiran, for having me. Have a great day.
CHETRY: You too.
ROBERTS: Well, it's been three months now since the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico was capped, putting an end to the worst accident oil leak in history. And scientists are still not certain just how much damage was done to the environment.
Our Rob Marciano has been looking into it. He's live from the Gulf Coast with an "A.M. Original" just ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Eleven minutes now to the top of the hour. It has been three months since the last drop of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. And it's still not clear at this point how much damage was actually done by the Deepwater Horizon disaster. That's because much of the evidence is hard to see.
Here's our Rob Marciano now with an "A.M. Original", something that you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): It was last spring when oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill made landfall in Florida. That's when we met Dr. Richard Snyder collecting surf and sand samples on Pensacola Beach. Now, nearly a half year later, we walk these same beaches again.
DR. RICHARD SNYDER, BIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA: Is that tar?
MARCIANO: Yes, look at that.
(voice-over): And the oil refuses to leave.
SNYDER: But the reality is that the oil is still there. There was such a large quantity of this material that came out, that -- that it just isn't going to go away overnight. Six months and we still got it.
MARCIANO: So his team of researchers continue taking samples, looking for lingers signs of oil and sea life like these tiny shell fish, and digging deep into the sand for hidden layers of oil.
(on camera): We'll go there?
SNYDER: That's it.
MARCIANO: Yes. And hammer down.
Austin Dixon shows me how to collect a core sample, which requires more manual labor than I prefer. In June I learned cleaning tar off the top of the sand is hard enough.
AUSTIN DIXON: This requires the touch of a surgeon --
MARCIANO (voice-over): Removing oily tar deep in the sand manually is nearly impossible.
So Perdido Key is pulling out the heavy machinery. This modified snow blower/farming sifter is called a sand shark. And it could clean up to a mile of eight foot wide beach per day.
(on camera): On this beach they are going in to about six inches to clean the sand. But you can see here in the layers, well below the six-inch mark is the layer of thick, heavy tar. The question is, do you bring in that equipment to go even deeper? Well, environmentalists are saying you may be doing more damage than good.
JUDY HANER, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY OF ALABAMA: We now have oil being cleaned on our shores and what we have is machinery, actually out there, really disrupting the shoreline, disrupting the sand surface. Is the cure really worse than the symptom?
MARCIANO: Conservationist Judy Haner is concerned about big trucks plowing through sensitive sandy habitat.
(on camera): So how do we go about getting the stuffs that's one two feet down?
HANER: Do we want to get the stuff that's one, two feet down? I think that's what we really need to have a strong conversation about.
MARCIANO (voice-over): The problem is oil that's away from oxygen and sunlight will remain in the sand for years, even decades. Early results from the sand core samples show very few chemicals harmful to humans, but oil compounds that get into the sea life and into the food chain is the bigger issue.
(on camera): So no longer is it a matter of what you can see scares you, it's a matter of what you can't see that scares you?
SNYDER: That's exactly right. It's mostly the material that we can't see --
MARCIANO (voice-over): What's certain is realizing the full impact of this spill will take far longer than the three months it took to cap the leaking well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: As for the marine life is concerned, well, it's going to take probably at least six months until we get a handle on the fish populations and the oil generation when they -- when they try to spawn, and it may be years, if not decades after that.
As far as the beach is concern, the way that layer of oil got there, is when Hurricane Alex -- it was nowhere near -- near the northern Gulf Coast but the waves from that threw that tar up and the winds covered it with sand, so you've got a layer of tar two feet -- two feet under. Oddly enough, the best way to get rid of that naturally is for another hurricane to come through and scrape all that tar back off the beach.
We don't really see that happening with the -- maybe the exception on what's going on in the Caribbean but -- that's a -- that's a long shot.
So they've got these land sharks out there at the state of Alabama now, they're going to go a foot and a half to two feet deep to try to get at that layer. And there's a drawbacks, you burn a lot of fuel, that's heavy equipment on -- on that sand, you're -- you're damaging the habitat and it obviously costs a lot.
But that you know, its big business from Alabama to those beautiful beaches of Pensacola, they want those beaches in prime condition for the next tourist season. Because this last one, well, it didn't go out too well for them -- John and Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Rob Marciano for us; thanks so much.
And still to come, we're talking about new changes to recommendations for CPR. New guidelines -- forget the mouth-to-mouth, they say that it's the chest compressions that really can make the difference and keep someone alive.
Elizabeth Cohen is going to be joining us to break that down.
It's 54 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Fifty- five minutes past the hour right now. It's time for an A.M. House Call, stories about your health. This morning we're talking about new guidelines. They're changing for the way that you do CPR.
ROBERTS: Yes. The American Heart Association says the new way is going to make it easier for anyone to save a life. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us this morning from Atlanta.
Just as we learned our ABCs, they're changing it all up on us.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. They're changing it, but making it so much easier. Even fifth graders have been trained to do this new method of CPR called Hands Only CPR.
Remember, in sort of the old we were all trained to take a few breaths, you pump. Take a -- do a few breaths, you pump the chest. Forget about the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Instead what they're trying to do, if someone collapses, they're telling us to straddle the person's chest, bang on the chest really, really hard and really fast to the tune of "Stayin' Alive".
That's the beat you want to maintain. If more people did this, if more people started to use this easy hands-only CPR, 20,000 lives could be saved every year.
CHETRY: All right. So, you know, you've got to get that tune in your head, I guess, so you know what you're doing.
COHEN: Right.
CHETRY: Why did they decide to do away with the mouth-to-mouth aspect?
COHEN: You know, Kiran, it was interesting. What they were finding is that when people took the time to stop pumping and to turn and do the breaths, to do the mouth-to-mouth, it was only a few seconds, but for those few seconds, the blood wasn't circulating as well as it should, so they said you know what, forget it, just keep pounding. That's what keeps the blood circulating.
ROBERTS: So they used to say ABC when it came to CPR and that was airway, breathing and then compression. So now it's CAB, compression, airway then breathing? What about kids? Same advice for them?
COHEN: You know what? It's not the same advice for kids. For kids they are still telling people check the airway and do the mouth- to-mouth. Kids are different than adults. With kids, often the reason they collapse is that they do have something in their airway, so they want you to check the kids' airway and to do those rescue breaths.
ROBERTS: All right. Some good advice this morning. Elizabeth Cohen thanks so much.
COHEN: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Three minutes to the top of the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: We're finishing out the program with the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" now stuck in my head. But it's good because if I come across anybody who's collapsed in the street, I'll be able to do it.
CHETRY: You'll say, hang on a second. I'll get to you. Let me just find "Stayin' Alive" on my iPod real quick.
ROBERTS: I would be looking forever. I won't locate it in my iPhone.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: How about yours?
CHETRY: It's on there. Of course it's on there. You know? You never know when you're going to need to do some disco.
You know when I was (INAUDIBLE) you walk into the room. ROBERTS: I was a radio disk jockey when that song first came out. It shows you how old I am. And I played it enough that I never want to hear it over again.
CHETRY: I know. It's one of the -- it's the gift that keeps on giving when you get that earworm, as they call it in your head, with the song.
ROBERTS: Yes, better than "It's a Small World".
Thank you so much for joining us this morning. We'll see you again bright and early tomorrow.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, the news continues right now. We're going to head over to "CNN NEWSROOM" down in Atlanta with Kyra Phillips -- hey, Kyra.
