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American Morning
Pakistani American Arrested on Subway Bombing Plot; Critiquing Obama on "The Daily Show"; Indonesia Battered by Three Disasters; American Swimmer Remembered
Aired October 28, 2010 - 07:00 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 to you. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It's Thursday, October 28th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Here are this morning's top stories, a chilling plot to blow up subway stations near the Pentagon and kill as many as possible.
Investigators say the suspect thought he was working with al Qaeda, but it was actually the FBI. We're live on this developing story just ahead.
CHETRY: A deadly earthquake and a tsunami ravaging Indonesia. More than 300 people now confirmed dead, hundreds more missing, entire villages have been wiped out. Some of them is so remote that it could be days before help arrives.
ROBERTS: And world class swimmer Fran Crippen died in an open water race off the United Arab Emirates last weekend. Some say the race should never have been held. We'll talk to a teammate of Crippen's who was in the water with him about what went wrong.
CHETRY: We begin the hour with the countdown until America votes. Just five days to go before midterm elections. The president and the candidates entering the final campaign stretch. We've got "The Best Political Team on TV" covering it for us.
Ed Henry is at the White House covering the president's appearance on "The Daily Show" and Dana Bash reporting on the record spending taking place this election.
ROBERTS: But first, something that's never happened before in American politics, a sitting president appearing on Comedy Central. President Obama going one-on-one last night with "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have passed historic health care reform, historic financial regulatory reform. We have done things that some folks dongts even know about it for --
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": What have you done that we don't know about? (LAUGHTER)
Are you planning a surprise party for us?
(LAUGHTER)
New jobs and health care!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Ed Henry is live for us at the White House this morning. And what are they saying about the president's performance there?
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they feel pretty good. I mean, they've had eyebrows raised before when the president has been aggressive about unconventional venues to try to get his message out, even on "The View" to reach out to female voters, for example. They got some flak for that.
Now there may be people raising their eyebrows about him sitting down with a comedian. But they say Jon Stewart's got a lot of influence and sort of a quasi-news comedy program. They feel just as he reached out to female voters before, now he's reaching out to young voters on the eve of the midterm election, young voters who may have been supporters in 2008 may now be disillusioned.
And this was a vehicle to address their concerns. And Jon Stewart did not give him a free pass. He asked him questions about whether he's lived up to the hype of 2008. And the president pushed back, saying, look, it's still yes, we can, but I never said it's going to happen overnight. You got to give us a little bit more time.
And on issues like health care, he feels he's got successes that he wants to tell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: You ran with such, if I may, audacity. So much of what you said was great leaders lead in a time opportunity. We're the ones we're looking for. Yet legislatively it has felt timid at times. And I'm not sure at times what you want out of a health care Bill.
OBAMA: And this is -- Jon, I love your show but --
STEWART: Very kind of you.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: -- but this is something where I have a profound disagreement with you and I don't want to lump you in with a lot of other pundits.
STEWART: You may.
(LAUGHTER) OBAMA: No, no, this motion that health care was tilled, you've got 30 million people who are going to get health insurance as a consequence of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: When he was pressed on the economy and whether his economic team was too close to Wall Street, the president said that Larry Summers had done a heck of a job, to which Jon Stewart said that might not be the best phrase after that whole "Brownie, heck of a job," after Katrina.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: It certainly might not be. Ed Henry for us this morning, thanks.
CHETRY: As we've been saying just five days to go until America vote. We have the newest poll numbers out in America's tightest races. Let's check out California first. The latest CNN/"TIME" research poll has Barbara Boxer, incumbent, clinging to a five-point lead over Republican challenger Carly Fiorina.
Let's go to the Colorado race, 47 percent of likely voters backing Republican Ken Buck, 46 of course support Democratic candidate Michael Bennett.
ROBERTS: In Nevada, the senate majority leader is in trouble, deep trouble. Republican Sharron Angle holding a six-point advantage over Harry Reid. And turning to Kentucky, Republican Rand Paul has opened up a seven-point lead over Democrat Jack Conway.
The political race is changing by the hour. All you have to do is head to CNNpolitics.com. And a reminder that "American Morning" is going to be on an hour early next Monday and Tuesday, starting at 5:00 a.m. eastern to give you all the political news you need to know.
And then, the morning art election on the 3rd, we're start at 3:00 a.m. That's 3:00 on the 3rd.
CHETRY: Can't wait.
ROBERTS: So we'll bring you all the election results. Some of the races won't be decided yet. So you can stay up all night with us.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, the Rand Paul supporter who was caught on videotape pushing a supporter of the liberal activist group Moveon.org to the ground and then stomping her head wants an apology from the woman he roughed up. Here's what he told our affiliate in Kentucky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM PROFIT, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY: She's saying all kinds of things but most of it's not true. I actually put my foot on her arm to -- I couldn't bend over because I have issues with my back. So I put my foot on her, and I did push her down at the very end. And I told her to stay down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The man in the video is ordered to appear in court facing an assault charge.
ROBERTS: Folks in central Virginia are dealing with the aftermath of several possible tornadoes. The worst damage was in Mechanicsville where fallen trees damaged cars and homes. Fortunately there were no reports of serious injuries.
CHETRY: It's six minutes past the hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: There's a manhunt underway in central Missouri for an armed 23-year-old man. Police say he shot and kill three people and injured a fourth. Investigators say the victims knew the suspect.
ROBERTS: Big weekend in the nation's capital. The Marine Corps marathon takes place. And the Pentagon says there's going to be extra security on hand after a string of shots were fired at military buildings including the Pentagon. Sunday's marathon is one of the world's largest, 30,000 runners are expected to participate.
CHETRY: No relief for the millions of people in New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia after FOX pulled programming almost three weeks with a dispute with cable company Cablevision. Yesterday, News Corps, the parent company of FOX, rejected a last-ditch effort from cablevision. FOX wants more money from its programming. Cablevision said it's last offer was the same rate that News Corp charges Time Warner cable to carry FOX. They hope they'll be able to salvage it for the World Series but that was thought to be.
ROBERTS: So what did the Cablevision customer miss? They missed the Giants whipping the Texas Rangers 11-7 in the first game of the World Series. The Giants batted the Rangers best pitcher Cliff Lee, scoring six runs in the fifth inning to bust the game wide open.
Game two is tonight in San Francisco. So the Giants proving that Lee is not invincible.
CHETRY: No. They got a lot of hits.
ROBERTS: They did.
CHETRY: They got a lot of runs. I didn't see it, though, because unfortunately I'm a Cablevision customer.
ROBERTS: That's the great thing about America. You do have choices.
CHETRY: Exactly.
Still ahead, incredible footage of a dangerous encounter between man and shark. We're going to show it to you coming up. ROBERTS: And new details on that mystery woman who was with Charlie Sheen in the night he allegedly trashed a hotel room in New York.
CHETRY: Also, a Virginia man in federal custody accused of plotting to bomb Washington, D.C. area metro station. We're live with details on that. It's now nine minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 12 minutes after the hour. CNN's "Security Watch" now. A suspect is in custody this morning charged in a terror plot to blow up train stations in the Washington, D.C. metro system.
CHETRY: The suspect is a Pakistani-American from Virginia. Apparently he thought he was planning attacks with Al Qaeda. It was actually, though, an FBI sting operation. Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is tracking new developments live from Washington this morning. Tell us more about what exactly he was planning?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, John and Kiran, this arrest highlights two very troubling trends. One is the targeting of mass transit. The other is plotting by domestic terrorists.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: The intended target, Washington's metro system which carries 750,000 people every day. The government alleges that 34- year-old Farooq Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, wanted to kill as many military people as possible and cased four metro stations near the Pentagon.
He did his alleged plotting with people he believed were affiliated with Al Qaeda. But they were really working for the government. As of now, officials say, they have no indication that he was working with other extremists overseas or here in the U.S.
THOMAS FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: The fact that he was arrested and the case made public is a strong indication that it's not jeopardizing any other active investigation.
MESERVE: The indictment says Ahmed provided video and sketches of the four metro stations and suggested an attack during afternoon rush hour to maximize casualties.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's definitely scary for me to think that something could have happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's really no things in place to keep someone from actually just coming into the system and blowing up the metro.
MESERVE: The investigation is continuing. Police searched Ahmed's Ashburn, Virginia, townhouse where he lived quietly, neighbors said, with his wife and young son.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, you don't expect people who are citizens to do things like that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: But U.S. officials have been sounding the alarm over domestic terrorism. More than 20 Americans have been charged with serious terror violations this year. But officials insist in this instance, the public was never in any danger.
John, Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: And on that point, Jeanne, obviously it's good to uncover anybody who's got nefarious intent against targets in the United States. But without the FBI reeling this guy in, would he have really been capable of anything?
MESERVE: We don't know that. In the indictment, there's no mention that he had any sort of explosives, as we indicated. At this point in the investigation, they have no indication that he had any ties with anyone domestically or internationally with whom he might have been plotting. However, I talked to one expert yesterday who said it could have developed into something more, especially given Internet connections and so forth. If he had found just one or two other people who have the same sympathies, who knows. Maybe this could have turned into something significant.
CHETRY: All right. Jeanne Meserve for us in Washington. Thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Well, Joy Behar may have gotten flowers after attacking Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle on her program "The View," but that doesn't mean she's making nice. Rhymes with "itch."
Fifteen and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: A song written by a friend of mine.
CHETRY: Really?
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: It's a good song.
ROBERTS: Chatted with him yesterday. Kind of got him ahead. It is -- well, it went number one too.
CHETRY: I know.
ROBERTS: So you can bet my friend's happy about that.
CHETRY: Oh, yes. ROBERTS: Well, here's some of the stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning. Some incredible video to show you of an encounter between man and shark.
Scott MacNichol says an eight-foot shark began circling him while he was filming just off of the coast of Maine. He then says the shark mistook his camera for food and attacked it. Luckily, MacNichol was not hurt. Don't know about the camera.
CHETRY: I saw his bubbles. I didn't see the shark.
ROBERTS: It's in there somewhere. Here it is.
CHETRY: Well, it's hard to improve something as basic as toilet paper, right? One company though is doing just that. Kimberly Clark getting rid of the cardboard tube with its new Scott natural tube-free toilet paper.
Now, you asked me in the last hour we were talking about how much of difference does it really make. Well, they claim that if we remove it, 17 billion toilet paper tubes, that's what we use annually in this country.
ROBERTS: Seventeen billion?
CHETRY: Seventeen billion annually --
ROBERTS: Wow.
CHETRY: -- that we could actually save 160 million tons of trash a year. Are you sold on it yet?
ROBERTS: Getting warmer, that's for sure.
CHETRY: They say it's going to be available in the northeast first and if the sales are good, expect it nationwide.
ROBERTS: But you know when I was a kid, and that was so long ago, we used to take the toilet paper tubes and we make -- pretend binoculars out of it.
CHETRY: Oh, they still do it.
ROBERTS: They do?
CHETRY: My daughter, you know, she's a big fan of "Dora the Explorer." They made little binoculars out of the toilet tubes.
ROBERTS: That would be one thing that you've been denying your kids if you did that, but probably good for the environment anyways.
Well, before you fly over the upcoming holidays, you're going to want to hear what travel experts say are the worst airlines.
Love this. According to the airline quality rating report which looked at delays fees, lost luggage, the worst, Delta Airlines, followed by United, Alaska, American and US Airways.
CHETRY: I thought it was meanest? They're mean because of delays?
ROBERTS: Well they're probably part of that, you know. The one thing, though, the one thing good about flying out of Atlanta because I fly out of there all the time, if a plane breaks, if a Delta plane breaks, there's lots of them around. And so they usually get you on a new plane.
CHETRY: Well, that's good. That's reassuring. They just put the broken ones aside.
ROBERTS: Fix it.
CHETRY: Well, it turns out that the mystery woman Charlie Sheen brought to the hotel suite before he allegedly trashed it was a porn star, not an escort or prostitute. They wanted to make that clear. Friends of the 22-year-old adult film actress say that Capri Anderson was not a prostitute but that she was very afraid of Sheen before calling for help early Tuesday morning. Sheen reportedly texted the Web site Radar Online calling the incident overblown and overplayed.
ROBERTS: What was it? $7,000 damage to the hotel room?
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: And apparently he just said just put it on my bill. Well, he makes almost $2 million an episode for "Two and a Half Men" so it's probably not a whole lot.
Here's a gift for someone really into the spirit of the midterms. It is the Jimmy McMillan action doll. He's the guy from the Rent is Too Damn High Party in New York's gubernatorial race. The doll even speaks and yes, you can probably guess what the doll says.
CHETRY: Yes, but they missed the best part. His gloves. He wore black gloves throughout the whole debate. And he also had an interesting hat which they don't have on Jimmy there. Oh, well.
ROBERTS: They got that out in, what, a week?
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: That's amazing.
CHETRY: Well, Nevada's Republican candidate for Senate, Sharron Angle, is getting back at Joy Behar. All of it started Tuesday on "The View" when Behar let loose during the early morning chat. The topic of conversation was a controversial ad by Angle's campaign attacking her opponent, Harry Reid's position on illegal immigration. Here's a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Let me tell you how stupid she is. Twenty-five percent of the voters in Nevada are Hispanic. Eighty percent of them are Mexican. This is a moron on top of being evil. I'd like to see her do this ad in the South Bronx. Come here (Expletive Deleted). Come to New York and do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, when the ladies reconvened yesterday, Behar said that she got a gift from Angle along with a thank you note. Here's how she responded to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": So, this morning, I get these flowers from Sharron Angle. I mean, I'm looking -- it's a brassiere moment. And it says "Joy, raised $150,000 online yesterday thanks for your help. Sincerely, Sharron Angle."
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": She has a sense of humor.
BEHAR: Well, I don't know if it's a sense of humor, but I'd like to point out that those flowers were picked by illegal immigrants and they're not voting for you (Expletive Deleted).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE) temper her thoughts.
ROBERTS: Yes, she's on a tear. You walk out on Bill O'Reilly the other day, now Sharron Angle. My goodness.
Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, a campaign first. A sitting president appearing on Comedy Central. President Obama and Jon Stewart facing off on "The Daily Show." So how did the president do? TV critic David Bianculli is coming up next with his thoughts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, it was a history-making moment for cable television last night. Take a look at who stopped by in "The Daily Show."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": Ladies and gentlemen -- please join me in welcoming the president of the United States, Barack Obama.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: It was actually the first time a sitting president ever appeared on the program. And Jon Stewart didn't pull any punches, often emphasizing the disappointment a lot of voters who supported the president so passionately in 2008 now feel.
David Bianculli is the founder and editor of the Web site TV Worth Watching. He's also a TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air. He joins us live from Philadelphia this morning. Thanks for being with us.
DAVID BIANCULLI, FOUNDER & EDITOR, TV WORTH WATCHING: Thanks, hi there.
CHETRY: Hi. Well, you know, there are a lot of skeptics about this idea of a sitting president going on a comedy talk show. Talking that maybe it diminished the office, damaged the brand. What was your take after watching it, too, last night?
BIANCULLI: I was looking forward to it and I thought it was great. You know, he's done Leno, he's done Letterman. But there was something about Jon Stewart that was special. And I expected Stewart to actually listen and do follow-up questions. And that's exactly what he did.
ROBERTS: So the president through all of this, David, was careful not to turn it into a laugh fest, though, you know, Jon Stewart obviously tried to inject as much humor as he could into it. There was one particular exchange where the president was trying to eliminate what his administration had accomplished over the last couple of years. Of course, Stewart wasn't letting him do it. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have passed historic health care reform, historic financial regulatory reform. We have done things that some folks don't even know about.
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": What have you done that we don't know about?
OBAMA: Well --
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: Are you planning a surprise party for us?
(LAUGHTER)
Filled with jobs and health care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: An interesting way for the president to answer that question. And we've done things that you probably don't know about.
BIANCULLI: Yes, I mean, when I was watching that, I thought of Nixon immediately. It was one of those gaffes, and he made a couple of them, like then Stewart saved him but went for the humor. But you don't get to have that sort of a moment on TV unless you're listening closely to the person to whom you're speaking, rather than just waiting to pounce with your next question. I think Stewart did a good job.
CHETRY: And that is what he, you know, has been, you know, praised for in the past, is exactly what you're referring to, being able to sort of drill down because of his ability to interview and perhaps the freedom, because he's, you know, technically the fake news. Even though he's, as we saw, extremely influential. The latest askmen.com poll showing he's the most influential American.
I want to play this other exchange where again, Stewart, managed to bring out what perhaps some may call a gaffe in the president. Let's look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In fairness, Larry Summers did a heck of a job trying to figure out how to --
(LAUGHTER)
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": You don't want to use that phrase, dude.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: I was -- pun intended.
STEWART: All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Two things there, first of all, Jon Stewart called the leader of the free world "dude," which was a surreal moment. But secondly, he was calling him out. Of course, "heck of a job, Brownie," the famous words of President Bush speaking of FEMA director Mike Brown in the wake of Katrina.
BIANCULLI: Exactly. You know, President "dude" might have shown a little bit more respect. But he was listening and he was warning him and that was actually in response where he was pushing President Obama on hiring some of the exact same people, you know, when he said he was going to come in and do change. So it was at the end of a really good questioning session that we got to that very funny moment.
ROBERTS: Stewart does have an interesting license in his position in being able to interview the leader of the free world. Because if any of us ever said, interjected like that, particularly used the word "dude" we'd be getting hate mail for a week.
BIANCULLI: Right. But I like that he uses that power for good, rather than evil. He's educating young people. He's treating all people who come on as guests on his show seriously. And in between the jokes, there's really a lot of serious talk going on.
CHETRY: And so -
BIANCULLI: He started right off - I'm sorry, one sentence in, the interview was already started. They didn't waste any time with comedy.
ROBERTS: Yes. CHETRY: And in the end, a win for the president? Did he perform well?
BIANCULLI: He performed well with an audience that he wants to get out and vote, so, yes. And certainly a win for Stewart.
ROBERTS: David Bianculli, good to talk to you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.
BIANCULLI: Thanks very much for having me on.
CHETRY: Our pleasure. All right. Well, it's 31 minutes past the hour right now. Time for a look at the top stories just in time for Halloween. The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Dollar Tree Stores are recalling nearly 700,000 battery-operated Halloween lanterns because of overheating. The classic lantern shaped like pumpkins, ghosts and skulls, the bulb in the lantern can overheat causing fire and burn hazards.
ROBERTS: Cut back soda, cut back your risk for type 2 diabetes. The study that was done by the Harvard School of Public Health says drinking one or two sugary drinks, even vitamin water every day, increasing your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. How much? Researchers found that people were 26 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who drank less than one sugary drink a month. 26 percent.
CHETRY: I know but juice shouldn't get a pass either. I mean, if you're drinking pure apple juice, pure orange juice, that has just as much sugar in some cases as soda.
ROBERTS: Yes, it's not the soft drink, it's the sugar that's in it. Anything with sugar is bad.
CHETRY: Well, high winds are being blamed now for the tragic death of a Notre Dame University student. 20-year-old Declan Sullivan was filming football practice from a video tower yesterday afternoon when the tower collapsed as the winds gusted to more than 50 miles an hour. They're now investigating this accident. The university is holding a special mass in his honor today.
ROBERTS: A devastating blow from mother nature has Indonesia and the island of Sumatra reeling this morning. The tiny island nation in Southeast Asia was hammered earlier this week by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake. That triggered a deadly tsunami, sending waves as high as 10 feet crashing into the island, killing more than 300 people. Entire villages had been wiped out. If that wasn't enough, a volcanic eruption on the neighboring island of Java has taken more than 30 lives with thousands now fleeing for safety and hundreds of people missing.
Well, Paula Hancocks just arrived in the region about an hour ago. And she's joining us by phone right now. She's on one of those islands, off of the west coast of Sumatra, the area that was hit especially hard. What can you tell us, Paula? What does it look like there? PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (ON THE PHONE): Well, John, I'm on the (INAUDIBLE) island but I'm actually on the island of the 7,000 islands that actually has an asterisk. This particular area was not hit hard. But we're very close to the areas that were. We understand from the people here telling us that certain villages have been completely flattened.
There's still hundreds of people that are still missing. And they're still waiting, and they've basically not yet got to it. It's hard to understate how remote this area is. We've been trying for two days to get to the most affected area. The aid agencies have been trying exactly the same thing. Because remember, this happened on Monday evening, this earthquake followed by the deadly tsunami. But it took until Tuesday evening for some of the report to trickle out and the realization of just how deadly it has been.
So that's a huge problem, the fact that it is very difficult to access. Planes can't go down there. Many boats can't dock there. They can dock at a neighboring port (INAUDIBLE) apparently, the hospitals are just inundated with people who have been injured. John.
CHETRY: You talk about how remote it is, Paula. How difficult it is to get there. What countries are trying to help at this point?
HANCOCKS: Well, there has been all sorts of help from the United States and also from other countries as well. But it's not actually the lack of aid that is the problem, it's the lack of being able to get the aid to where it is needed exactly. Because at this point, the aid agencies are on the ground. We have the Red Cross. We have World Vision, we have many others who have the capability of getting the food, water, tents, medicine that is needed.
But it is just very difficult to get it to the people who do actually need it. These islands are incredibly remote. They are very difficult to get to by boat, by air. Today, we tried once again and try to get to them but there was a storm and so many of the boats just did not want to sail. So it's not a case of not having the goods to give to these people, it's the fact that they can't get to the people.
CHETRY: Paula Hancocks for us on the Indonesian islands this morning. Thanks so much.
Well, some scary moments for passengers on board an Alaska Airlines flight. The jet's wing clipped another plane as it went through the gate at Seattle SeaTac Airport. No one was hurt in the incident. There was damage to the planes. 139 passengers had to be taken off that flight. The second plane was empty.
ROBERTS: Nissan is recalling more than two million vehicles worldwide. The problem may cause the engine to stall. In extreme cases the stalled engine can't be restarted. The recall involved six models in the United States, built between 2003 and 2006. And those models are the Armada, the Frontier, the Pathfinder, the Titan, the Extera and the Infinity QX56. The automaker says no injuries or accidents have been reported. CHETRY: Well, coming up, the tragic death of American long-distance swimmer Fran Crippen. He was in an open-water water swim in the United Arab Emirates. Many were asking now could his death have been prevented. Crippen's own teammate, Christine Jennings was in the water with him. She had her own desperate struggle, wondering if she herself would survive the race. She joins us next. It's 37 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's coming up on 40 minutes after the hour. New developments this morning relating to the death of 26-year-old American swimmer Fran Crippen. Crippen died while competing in a 10k race off of the United Arab Emirates after competing in warmer than usual water and air temperatures. He wasn't the only one struggling with those conditions. Three swimmers were sent to the hospital for treatment of dehydration and exhaustion.
Christine Jennings is one of them. She swims on Team USA and knew Crippen. She joins us from Denver this morning to help us understand what went wrong. Christine, thanks so much for joining us. Of course, we all feel terrible about what happened to Fran. What were the conditions like there for you as a competitive swimmer and how do they compare to what you normally swim in?
CHRISTINE JENNINGS, MEMBER USA SWIMMING TEAM: The conditions there were a bit extreme. Going into the race, the air temperature already was extremely high. And it's not something that most people are used to, unless you have lived there and grown up in that kind of environment, most of your life. The water temperature was definitely unusually high for me and several people I heard complaining about this - complaining about it as well.
ROBERTS: Now, my understanding of competitive open-water swimming, Christine, is that there are minimum temperatures before competitors can race, but there's no maximum temperature?
JENNINGS: That is correct. There is a minimum temperature of about 60 degrees. And there's no cap on anything.
ROBERTS: Wow. So this is a 10k race, you know many of us can't imagine swimming six miles. Triangular course, 2k laps that you would compete five times in. When did things - because you were affected by this. When did things start going wrong for you?
JENNINGS: Things started going wrong probably between the 6,000 and 8,000 meters. I noticed things starting to go downhill really fast about after the 8,000 meter mark. My head started pounding and just started getting light-headed. Started veering off in directions that I wasn't supposed to be going in. And it was kind of a scary -
ROBERTS: Did you throw up as well?
JENNINGS: Yes. I did.
ROBERTS: Oh, my goodness. JENNINGS: After the first - the speed boat was positioned about 300 meters from the start. So about 2,300 meters into the race, after doing one loop, I took my first feed, and I just kind of came right back up. And just stayed down.
ROBERTS: So what was that, was it dehydration? Was it heat exhaustion you were feeling? What do you think it was?
JENNINGS: I think it was just how the heat was affecting my body.
ROBERTS: Right.
JENNINGS: It just wouldn't allow mow to keep things down.
ROBERTS: Now, at one point, you rolled over on your back and you lifted up your hand which is a signal to rescue boats that are supposed to be nearby. What happened?
JENNINGS: I'd say it was probably about maybe 500 meters from the finish, somewhere around there, it got to the point where I was starting to get scared and I didn't know where I was, so I had to turn on my back. And I lifted my hands up for about 10 seconds and just was like where - OK, hopefully someone sees this and comes, gets me, because I want to get out of this race.
So I kind of was lying on my back for several minutes and thinking "OK, why is no one coming?" OK. As I look up again, several minutes later, no one had come. And I had to tell myself, I'm like, you have to swim to shore. That's the only way you're getting out of this race.
ROBERTS: Wow.
JENNINGS: I really had to focus then.
ROBERTS: We've got video at the start of Fran's race, you can see in the background that there are a couple of boats and a jet ski as well that appear to be on hand. And, of course, there's a chase boat as well. But when you rolled over on your back and put your hands up, a signal of distress, were there any boats around you? Was there any rescue boat, anybody monitoring the race that you saw?
JENNINGS: I saw a boat maybe like 200, 300 meters away. Nobody ever came. Nobody ever saw me. That's one of the things that I want to talk about is people weren't watching. They weren't looking out for danger. And that's something every - anyone who - a life guard, for example, has to look out and be on guard about all the time.
ROBERTS: What are they supposed to do in those races? And what have they done in other races, in terms of monitoring the swimmers?
JENNINGS: Monitoring the swimmers has played - well, let's just say, most races I've been in they've done a pretty good job about that. World Cup races maybe not so much. But still a lot better than what happened here in (INAUDIBLE). In the United states we typically contact the local authorities, the local people who host events like - like for like water safety.
ROBERTS: Right.
JENNINGS: And they're normally there to advise us on how many people we need out there because they know the water's best. And typically, like the world championship --
ROBERTS: I was going to say that obviously, that lack of response is going to be a part of the investigation.
Christine, thanks so much for joining us. I know you've got a race coming up in Rio in the not too distant future.
JENNINGS: Yes.
Are you worried about that one?
JENNINGS: A little bit. But, you know, it's something I love doing, and I'm not going to stop doing it.
ROBERTS: All right. Christine Jennings, thanks for joining us this morning. Again, our condolences to you and the rest of the team about Fran's death.
JENNINGS: Thank you very much.
CHETRY: Well still to come, cholera. There's an outbreak in Haiti right now. If it hits the capital it could be catastrophic. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is there. He's uncovering a warehouse full of supplies of medicine still sitting unused while so many suffer. It's coming up in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
Also, bitter cold air plunging into the Midwest this morning, while the east stays warm and humid. Rob Marciano's going to join us with the travel forecast right after the break. It's 46 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: It was a history-making night for cable television. President Obama, the first sitting president ever to appear on Comedy Central, going one-on-one with Jon Stewart. The highlights at the top of the hour with our Ed Henry at the White House.
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ROBERTS: The Most Politics in the Morning now. There's a staggering new estimate of just how much money is being poured into the campaigns this is year.
CHETRY: Yes. Billions and billions. Our senior Congressional correspondent Dana Bash joins us live, right? You almost got to do the pinky thing here.
Dana joins us this morning. So this is unprecedented spending?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is unbelievable and it is unprecedented. Spending in this year's election is going to shatter records. A new report out shows us by just how much.
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BASH (voice-over): Sure, there's a lot of money flowing in this year's election. But exactly how much being spent is mind blowing -- $4 billion. To put $4 billion in context, that's enough to send about 80,000 students to Princeton for a year. It could buy every person in the country three Big Macs with fries at McDonald's. Four billion is more than the $2.85 billion spent in the last midterm election in 2006, and dwarfs the $1.61 billion spent a little more than a decade ago in 1998. OpenSecrets.org compiled the figures in a new report.
SHEILA KRUMHOLZ, CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS: The stakes are so high this cycle that it's not surprising there's an intensity to the cycle that was perhaps reduced or missing in the last cycles.
BASH: Though much of the $4 billion is spent by candidates themselves, an eye-popping amount from outside candidates' campaigns -- political parties and independent groups -- $430 million in overall outside spending. Only $31 million was spent in 2002, less than a decade ago.
And despite Democrats' complaints of being outspent coming to political parties, Democrats are winning. All told, the Democratic Party has raised $782 million, a lot more than the Republican Party at $515 million. But GOP outside groups with ads like this are making up for that gap and then some. Although Democratic groups are catching up, they're being outspent by GOP counterparts two to one.
Another fascinating 2010 trend -- key industries moving campaign cash from Democrats to Republicans. Take the health care sector. When the president took office, two thirds of its dollars were going do Democrats. Since health care passed, the industry is giving 60 percent to Republicans. The same goes for money from Wall Street and the energy sector. Just last year, both gave mostly to Democrats. Now, 67 percent of Wall Street money goes to Republicans. The energy sector, 74 percent to Republicans.
KRUMHOLZ: I think they've got their finger in their ear. I think they're looking at the changing poll numbers and seeing that the Republicans have a clear shot at taking the majority, particularly in the House.
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BASH: Now, we should note that while those dollar figures are huge, they're actually just conservative estimates based on fundraising numbers reported to the Federal Election Commission and they will climb.
Now going back to that estimate over $4 billion in overall spending, remember, John and Kiran, that this is a midterm election and $4 billion is about the same that was spent on the presidential election in 2004.
ROBERTS: It really is pretty incredible, isn't it, that just the amount of money. And now, of course, with the campaign finance laws being relaxed, there's so much money flowing in from the outside groups.
BASH: And that's what the experts, especially those at this watchdog group that did the study say. And that's a big reason why these numbers are so high is that the Supreme Court allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts. And that's a big, big factor here.
CHETRY: It's so interesting that it's happening during a recession. And also, it's almost providing its own stimulus.
BASH: It is.
CHETRY: You know, to these local economies where they're advertising.
BASH: Right. If you're an ad maker or if you're a local news station owner.
CHETRY: Right.
BASH: Or if you're a consultant.
CHETRY: Definitely in these swing states. The poor people, I bet you they can't wait until Tuesday so they don't see these ads anymore.
BASH: Absolutely.
CHETRY: Dana Bash for us. Thanks so much.
BASH: Thanks.
ROBERTS: We crunched the numbers, by the way, and instead of $4 billion on the campaign, here's other ideas of how that money could have been spent. It would have paid the annual salaries for more than 83,000 high school teachers. It would have also paid the annual salaries more than 75,000 police officers. $4 billion dollars --
CHETRY: Yes. It's also enough to cover, sorry, 12.3 million unemployment checks. And also it would buy 43 million bleacher tickets for a World Series game. How about that one, Dana?
BASH: That's pretty impressive.
ROBERTS: Top stories are coming your way after a quick break. Stay with us.
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