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CNN Saturday Morning News

Several Midwest States Reeling From Deadly Storms; President Obama Prepares to Return to New Balance of Power in D.C.; Looking Ahead to 2012 Presidential Campaign; Curing the New Year's Day Hangover

Aired January 01, 2011 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: Happy new year, but unfortunately not everywhere. That's especially true in northwest Arkansas where three people died yesterday when a powerful tornado roared through the area.

A few hours later, the storms nailed the greater St. Louis area. Two people were killed in Dent County, another near Rolla County. Missouri's governor is set to tour both sites later today.

Further west, it's winter weather that's hobbling Colorado Springs. Look at the bumper car derby this out of control pickup truck had on this icy road. By the way, the weather was so bad, the annual Pikes Peak Fireworks show was canceled due to the weather.

Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is now live here in the CNN Center with the very latest. And it's rough out there.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It really is. Mother nature's like a heavy weight boxer with a right and a left. The left hook has been all winter weather and the right is going to be tornado activity. And that's what we have in parts of the southeast. You see this area, it's lined in by that red line. That happens to be your tornado watch, it's in effect until 10:00 local time. And you can see the reason why.

Let's zoom right in on parts of Alabama. We've got that tornado watch that's going to be in effect for parts of Georgia, back into the heart of Dixie into Alabama, back into portions of even Mississippi and Louisiana. And they're plain as day where you happen to see the yellow and the reds. It's some of your most intense thunderstorm activity at this time.

Right along parts of 65, we zoom in towards Chilton County, you can see Jameson there, quite in the clear for the time being (INAUDIBLE) if you have one wave coming through. (INAUDIBLE) get ready, it's on the way. Goodwater, it's headed right for you, (INAUDIBLE) earlier but the bulk of it's still back towards Birmingham, towards the magic city. Everything rolling up red mountain and driving eastward.

Now along this frontal boundary, you can expect a couple of things. First and foremost, expect the brain, the possibility of tornadoes, and of course, the very strong winds. Strong winds also a factor that we're going to find in parts of the northern plains where we have plenty of snow on the ground. The winds would gust anywhere from 45 to 55 miles per hour. It could create whiteout conditions for parts of the Dakotas and back into Minnesota. That's when we have the blizzard warning in effect, more of a visibility feature where visibility could be down to 1/10 of a mile or even zero at some point.

Currently it feels like three in Grand Forest, currently feels like three in Aberdeen, four in Minneapolis, and 17 in parts of Thunder Bay, Minnesota. That is a quick snapshot of your forecast. We've got a lot to talk about. We're going to be here all morning long as the storms chug through the southeast and of course as that winter storm continues to rage in the northern plains, Joe.

JOHNS: Yes, those winds are something else. The thing that's interesting, though, is even here in Atlanta, it was pretty warm when I got in here last night.

WOLF: Very much so.

JOHNS: You know, it's sort of deceiving. It makes you think winter is not quite up, you know, winter's gone.

WOLF: Absolutely. The hammer's going to fall. Absolutely.

JOHNS: I know. All right.

Checking top stories. A night of new year's eve celebrations around the world. In New York City, a million people crowded Times Square to welcome 2011 and take part in one of the world's best known new year's eve festivities. Along with the huge crystal ball which measures 12 feet in diameter. More than a ton of confetti rained down on the crowd. Very tight security prevented any major problems.

A powerful bomb exploded outside a Christian Church in Alexandria, Egypt early this morning. It killed at least 21 people and wounded up to four times as many. Al Qaeda had threatened to attack Egypt's Christians, but police don't know if the terrorists played any role in this bombing.

Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano surprised some American soldiers in Kabul, spending new year's eve with them. Her visit also has strategic significance. She reviewed security operations at a key point along the Afghan border with Pakistan. Her goal, to stop the smuggling of weapons and explosives into Afghanistan.

President Obama rang in the new year in Hawaii where he's vacationing with his family. When he gets back to Washington, he will be tackling key spending issues and working with a new Congress no longer completely dominated by Democrats. Here's senior CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To hear the president tell it, bickering with Republicans is so 2010.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A lot of folks in this town predicted that after the midterm elections, Washington would be headed for more partisanship and more gridlock. And instead, this has been a season of progress. That's a message that I will take to heart in the new year. And I hope my Democratic and Republican friends will do the same.

HENRY: But with the Republican John Boehner taking the speaker's gavel, that rosy scenario will be tested immediately in 2011. Because both parties will now have to agree on a long-term budget. After kicking the can down the road on all those spending cuts the Tea Party was demanding and the president's own death panel was proposing to no avail.

OBAMA: I expect we'll have a robust debate about this when we return from the holidays. A debate that will have to answer an increasingly urgent question. And that is how do we cut spending that we don't need while still making investments that we do need?

HENRY: With the federal cash register tapped out, it will be especially difficult to tackle the president's biggest challenge of all.

OBAMA: My singular focus over the next two years is not rescuing the economy from potential disaster, but rather jumpstarting the economy so that we actually start making a dent in the unemployment rate.

HENRY: Mr. Obama also may face resistance to his economic plans from both liberals still smarting from the tax bill he just cut and conservatives determined to repeal his health reform law.

An independent minded Republican is urging both sides to give the new balance of power a chance.

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R), ALASKA: Let's figure out how we deal with some of these very, very difficult issues, whether it's tax policy or whether it's going to be what we're going to be doing on spending. We've got enough that we need to do that we don't need to get weighted down in the partisan politics.

HENRY: Music to the ears of White House aides trying to hammer the message that Republicans now have a responsibility to govern.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They can't afford any longer to just simply sit and say no. They have to be part of a constructive conversation.

HENRY (on camera): White House officials say the president has started at least some work on his "State of the Union" address, which should be at the end of January. And we should expect a big theme to be exactly what you just heard from Robert Gibbs. Now that Republicans run at least half of Congress, they have an obligation to meet the president half way on some of these big issues, especially the economy. Ed Henry, CNN, Honolulu.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: So the president certainly has a long to do list. We'll ask two political insiders how the White House will navigate a Republican-heavy Congress. And the impact of the unofficial start of the 2012 presidential race. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: 2011 is now officially underway, can you believe that? It's time to talk politics and the number one topic, the 2012 presidential campaign.

Let's bring in two friends of CNN Weekend morning, Republican commentator Lennie McAllister joins us from Chicago and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona is in Washington.

So a lot of them out there on the Republican side. Who do you all consider the front runners? Let's start with you.

Actually, we probably start with you, Lennie.

LENNIE MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN COMMENTATOR: Happy new year to everybody. Hey, Maria. I -

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Hey, Lennie.

MCALLISTER: As far as front runners, I don't know if anybody's out there clear cut yet. We see Mike Huckabee kind of putting his name out there a little bit when it comes back to this health care reform and if they're going to try to repeal it or roll it back in any type of way. And everybody keeps throwing out Romney.

People continue to throw out Sarah Palin's name. I don't see her actually running for the presidency. Even though I do think the visit to Haiti just a little while back was a presidential-type of move. I think that was part of her feeling out process more than anything else. I don't see her being a serious candidate. And there is a strong risk that we may not even see that Republican front runner yet.

If we go back four years ago, John McCain's name was not being bantered about, it was Rudy Giuliani who was going to grab that nomination. And McCain went through the war of attrition after Romney, after Huckabee, after Giuliani and sure enough, it ended up being McCain. So we may see something similar coming up for 2012.

JOHNS: Maria, let's talk very briefly. What do you see as an effective challenge to this president who will be an incumbent, obviously, in the next election? The next challenger - what kind of message is going to be most effective in getting some votes?

CARDONA: Well, I think that that is actually the biggest question for Republicans, Joe. Because right now, what we're seeing with the field and I agree with Lennie, it is too early to tell. But there is nobody that really rises to the occasion in terms of really - really challenging this president with his popularity right now after an incredibly successful lame-duck session.

So I think it is going to be a big challenge for Republicans. But to your question, I think that voters are going to be looking for somebody who is going to put politics as usual aside and is going to do exactly what voters talked about wanting after the 2010 elections. And President Obama said it in your Senate piece which is wanting to work together both parties to try to find solutions to the country's greatest problems.

We saw the president doing that during the lame duck session, part of the reason why it was so successful. We'll see if Republicans can meet him half way with this new Congress, which is, again, a big challenge because the new class that's coming in, you know, a lot of it is Tea Party activists who really have no interest in negotiating with the president or with Democrats. But that's what I think voters are going to be looking for from both parties.

JOHNS: Lennie, it's been said that this part of an election cycle when you're a year out from the primary year, it's all about the potential candidates making sure they don't make big mistakes. And therefore, disqualifying themselves. What do you see as the land mine some of those Republican hopefuls have to stay away from?

MCALLISTER: Extremism. Absolutely extremism. If they get caught up in the Tea Party momentum of campaigning and they don't show the ability to govern, they're going to be seen as an extreme candidate that can't win in November. Now that you see that they are Tea Party candidates that can win in November, they have to have the image of a victor. They can't have the image of the person that's shouting outside the building frustrated because the people won't let them in. The people are in now.

The activists that felt like they're the grass roots that are not involved are now involved and some of them are going to be governing starting this month, starting Monday. If you do not show that you can have real solutions and move forward and you're still in that complaining mode, that campaigning mode versus being in governing and leading, it's not going to be enough to carry momentum through 2011 into 2012. You're not going to be seen as a fund-raiser and you're not going to be seen as being serious or a legitimate candidate.

JOHNS: Maria, let's talk a little bit more about these presidential challengers, the potential ones, at least. Take a look at a couple CNN opinion research polls taken in October. They asked about a race between President Obama and one-time presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. In that match-up, Huckabee wins 52 percent to 44 percent, against Palin, the president wins by the same margin, 52 percent to 44 percent. What does that tell you about the upcoming campaign?

CARDONA: Well, I think that what that says is that it's all influx right now. And I would - I would actually challenge everybody and say - and I've seen this in some more recent polls is that President Obama right now after the success of the lame duck session actually bests all of the candidates right now that are being put up on the Republican side. This poll was taken in October, I think that has changed.

But everything is so fluid right now, Joe, that it really is difficult to say, but again the biggest challenge to Republicans is to try to find that one candidate who is going to be able to, a, win the primary, which, we all know that primary voters are way to the right in terms of the Republican Party, to be able to win the primary, win those Tea Party voters but also show that they're going to be able to be a mainstream candidate and appeal to independents and to the big coalition that Republicans are going to need in order to win in 2012.

And one of the biggest challenges there is to win Latino voters. We saw Latinos voted overwhelmingly for Democrats and Republicans face a huge challenge with this incredibly important and growing demographic in 2012.

JOHNS: All right. Very quickly, Lennie.

MCALLISTER: Joe -

JOHNS: Go ahead. Go ahead.

MCALLISTER: If I can interject in that it's very interesting with that poll, as well. You see that poll being made about two former governors that are now media personalities. I'd like to see what that poll looks like in 2012 when they have to become politicians all over again how the president (INAUDIBLE) that's where it's going to come into play.

Is America going to vote for somebody who is active in politics or somebody that's active in activism going against the president? Those polls are really going to show us where America wants to move in 2012.

JOHNS: We will see. Very good questions, and I think hopefully we'll get the answers in the weeks and months ahead. Thanks for you both coming in on new year's day and happy new year's to you.

CARDONA: Thank you, Joe. Happy new year.

MCALLISTER: Happy new year to you, Joe and Maria. God bless you all.

CARDONA: You too, Lennie. Thank you.

JOHNS: All right.

About last night, you hit those drinks too hard, you hit them fast, now you're hurting. Open your eyes, pay attention, we're testing out hangover remedies.

In Nashville, Tennessee, the home of country music and the self- proclaimed music city USA. You might have expected a 10-foot Gibson guitar to fall at midnight, and it did, triggering a huge fireworks display over the city. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: We've been watching scenes like this from around the world all morning. Lots of parties, lots of food, and yes, lots of liquor. This morning millions are probably paying for it with one huge hangover.

So the question now is, how do you get rid of that hangover? For some answers, joining us this morning via Skype from New York City is editor in chief of "Self" magazine and co-author of "The Nine Rooms of Happiness," Lucy Danziger. Thank you for coming in. I hope you don't have a hangover. Easy question is - Go ahead, what did you say, Lucy?

LUCY DANZIGER, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "SELF" MAGAZINE: I was going to say, we don't want people to feel bad about having fun on New Year's eve, but if they feel bad, we're here to help.

JOHNS: So what do you do? You're waking up now, a little groggy, you got that bad feeling. What are the first steps you've ought to take?

DANZIGER: OK. Well, "Self" asked Dr. Oz for his best hangover cures and the first thing he told us was eat eggs. Start cracking those eggs because cytosine in the eggs are going to fight something called acetaldehyde which is that toxin that makes you feel so terrible. And so if you eat eggs, the first thing that's going to happen is you're going to do start breaking down that toxin. So that's great news.

JOHNS: All right. And there's this other issue of the hair of the dog that bit you. Also people talk about greasy foods.

DANZIGER: Right.

JOHNS: There's not a consensus. I've even heard about hangover pills although I think that's not such a good idea. What do you think? Any of these things work for you this morning?

DANZIGER: OK. Hair of the dog, complete myth. The first thing you're trying to do is metabolize the alcohol through the system. You need broth and bananas to replace salt and potassium because you're actually dehydrated. That's one reason you have a headache. Mint tea will settle the stomach, O.J., fructose will help metabolize some of the alcohol.

And if you're in a lot of pain, take ibuprofen because it blocks the (INAUDIBLE) gland that's causing that pain. Aspirin will aggravate your stomach and acetaminophen goes right through the liver and your liver is already working over time. So stay away from that. But you know, I like to tell people to hit the gym because they're going to feel better when they start moving. And that's going to get those feel good hormones going. And a little yoga, a little jog might help out. But we've got to be honest, you're going to start drinking again today, we've got something to do beforehand that's going to help you not feel as bad again. JOHNS: OK. So that leads into the next question. You can actually make the hangover less intense really before it gets underway. But how do you do that?

DANZIGER: Yes. OK. So think about how you're feeling now. If you want to avoid that, eat something before you drink. Because your body's going to metabolize alcohol much easier if you have some food in your system. Have a turkey burger or a whole wheat bun, something healthy, lean protein. That'll help your small intestine deal with the alcohol when you do drink. And choose pale spirits. The dark liquors like bourbon, whiskey cause inflammation that's causing some of that pain right now. So you know, a vodka, a gin, you know, white wine much better choice.

JOHNS: I got to tell you, these are some of the best tips I've ever heard about hangover. And thank you so much for giving them.

DANZIGER: Well, you know,

JOHNS: Tools of the day.

DANZIGER: Well, the other thing is - before you - before you turn in, wash up. Because alcohol will suppress the immune system, and you need those T cells, you picked up germs in the bar and the cab home. And you don't want to feel sick, you don't want to get sick, wash up, drink water, stay hydrated.

And tomorrow, don't set the alarm. Because you're going to need that sleep to feel a lot better. So, you know, take good care of yourself and enjoy what you're doing. But, you know, these steps will really help make you feel better today, tomorrow, and for the rest of 2011.

JOHNS: This is just fantastic stuff. Thanks so much, Lucy Danziger, who may be in the hangover capital of the world right now, New York City. We appreciate it.

DANZIGER: That's right.

JOHNS: All right.

DANZIGER: Have a great day.

JOHNS: You too.

For more on how to cure that hangover headache, go to cnn.com/health.

We'll take a final look at our top stories after the break.

And in Carlsbad, California, came early, by design of a giant Lego brick fell at 6:00 p.m. local because hey, kids just can't stay up until midnight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Taking a look at our top stories.

Today, officials in Virginia are expected to release the identities of two people killed in an aircraft collision near the Shenandoah Valley Airport. Authorities say a medical helicopter collided with a single-engine airplane yesterday. The plane went down killing both people onboard. The chopper was able to land safely. It's unclear what caused the collision.

Egyptian officials say they believe a suicide bomber caused a huge explosion at a church in Alexandria. At least 21 people were killed and nearly 80 people wounded in today's attack. Authorities say they believe that bomber died in the blast.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is spending New Year's day in Afghanistan. She's scheduled to meet with U.S. and Afghan officials. Napolitano spent New Year's eve with American troops and visited a key point along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan to review security operations. Her week-long trip includes stop to Qatar, Israel and Belgium.

I'm Joe Johns, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" starts right now.