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Government Shutdown Set for Friday; GOP Plans to Cut $6 Trillion in 10 Years; FAA Orders Boeing 737 Checks; Gadhafi Deal Rejected by Opposition; Japan Dumps 3 Million Gallons Radioactive Water into Pacific; Gabrielle Giffords for Senator?; Will There be a Royal Pre-Nup?; UConn Wins NCAA Championship

Aired April 05, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. on the West. I'm Carol Costello in for Kyra Phillips.

Southwest Airlines finds another plane with cracks. And now the federal government is stepping in. The FAA orders more detailed inspections of certain older jets.

Severe weather tears up parts of the south. Thousands of people waking up this morning with no power.

And another college basketball season is a wrap. One is very exciting. But UConn is the last team standing.

The clock is ticking toward a government shutdown. Friday is the deadline for a spending plan to cover the rest of -- the rest of this fiscal year. Today, President Obama will meet with Republican and Democratic leaders. They will try to work out a budget compromise to keep things running.

If Friday comes and goes with no deal, we will see the first government shutdown in 15 years. Some museums and national parks will close. Passport applications could get held up. And a Pentagon official tells CNN that U.S. troops will not be paid on time.

CNN's Dana Bash is in Washington.

So Dana, there is this big White House meeting and man, we've been down this road before.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. But you know even in times in the past or the past couple of months where we've had this rollercoaster of will the government shutdown, won't it, publicly and privately, we have heard from leaders and from aides that we've talked to that they don't -- they really think it's going to happen.

I just talked to a source who I really trust who said just this, quote, "things are bad." And things are bad, that means that what has been going on behind closed doors in negotiations over how much spending to cut really have grinded to a halt. Republicans and Democrats can't figure out not just how much but even more specifically what exactly they want to cut and can come to agreement on in terms of programs and agencies.

That's why this White House meeting is happening that President Obama really, Carol, is really getting involved in these face to face talks for the first time since -- in months since this is going back and forth since January.

But, you know, I talked to you about the fact that we have privately been told that's not going to happen. Guess what happened last night? The House speaker, John Boehner, had a meeting with House Republicans and he said, prepare for a government shutdown. He even directed the committee chairman for the House Administration Committee to prepare people here -- up here on Capitol Hill for it.

So that is a very interesting development. Again, you know, there is a desire not to make that happen. But there is such a difference over what spending to cut to keep the government running, to pass that spending bill unclear how they're going to get that done.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll see if the meeting helps at all at the White House, that is.

Dana Bash reporting live from Capitol Hill.

The House budget chairman is putting his plan on the table. Republican, Paul Ryan, wants to slash $6 trillion over just 10 years.

Jim Acosta is taking a look at the Ryan plan. And Jim joins me now.

I'm in Washington, by the way, in case you couldn't figure that out.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.

COSTELLO: And Ryan's budget proposal is not for 2011 which is what Congress is grappling with right now. It's for 2012.

ACOSTA: It's hard to keep track of all of this, Carol. Essentially we've been playing toll booth government over the last several months. Every couple of weeks we throw another quarter in the toll booth and it keeps the government running with these continuing resolutions.

What Paul Ryan is talking about, the House Budget Committee chairman, is a -- is a fiscal year budget for 2012, which essentially is a fight that we haven't had yet. And -- I mean let's talk about this for just a moment. Just the latest (INAUDIBLE) of what he's talking about.

He's calling this his path to prosperity. We have some details here to just show you exactly what Ryan is talking about. He's talking about cutting $6 trillion -- that's trillion with a T -- in spending. He's talking about overhauling Medicare, would be a different kind of program. And I know we're going to talk about that in just a second.

The states would administer Medicaid under this proposal. They would get -- the states would get block grants from the federal government and administer the Medicaid program. The Bush tax cuts would be extended permanently and defense and domestic spending would be cut back to 2008 levels. And I asked John Boehner's office, the speaker's office, about whether or not Republican leaders are behind this and I got an answer, yes, the speaker does support this proposal. So this is a politically risky move for the Republicans. In the middle of these fights right now, they are talking about taking on entitlement spending. That's a risky move -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's a risky move, but let's talk about, like, how it will affect the real world. So basically when Ryan is talking about Medicare, the federal government would no longer act as a health insurer. Instead, seniors would pick from a list of private insurance plans and then the government would subsidize those with vouchers.

So how exactly would that save money?

ACOSTA: Well, they're saying that essentially instead of the government reimbursing doctors, they are going to be reimbursing insurance companies. And I think what the Budget Committee chairman is hoping is that that would give the government some leverage over the insurance companies in terms of how people are charged.

The big unanswered question on all of this, $1 trillion question in all of this, you could say, is whether or not this proposal would adequately cover seniors down the road, whether or not they would have enough money under this proposal to pay for all of their health care spending.

COSTELLO: Yes, because this plan affects everybody under the age of 55.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: We're talking a lot of people.

ACOSTA: And a lot of the savings that Paul Ryan is talking about in this budget would come from dismantling Obamacare because in the -- in the president's health care proposal, there is an expansion of Medicaid. And what Paul Ryan is talking about is shrinking that program down.

So what Democrats are already charging and there is going to be a big fight over this, not just this year but right into the presidential election year, is whether or not the poor and the elderly should be made to suffer, the Democrats would say.

COSTELLO: Right.

ACOSTA: For the sake of deficit reduction.

COSTELLO: Because also -- also in the Ryan is extending the Bush tax for good.

ACOSTA: No tax increases.

COSTELLO: Jim Acosta, many thanks.

ACOSTA: You bet.

COSTELLO: There is an emergency directive this morning from the FAA. Officials will make airlines that fly certain older Boeing 737s take a much more detailed look at the planes to make sure they're not cracked. No one wants a repeat of Friday when a hole blew open on a Southwest Airlines 737 during midflight. Southwest later found three more planes with cracks.

Jeanne Meserve joins us now from -- in Washington.

And Jeanne, we understand Southwest found a fourth plane now with the very same problem?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I talked to Southwest Airlines this morning. They say it has now found four aircrafts with the small subsurface cracks in its fleet of 737- 300s. It completed the inspections last night of all of those planes. Southwest does not expect the situation to have any impact on its flight schedule today.

Meantime, as you mentioned, the Federal Aviation Administration will be ordering immediate and repeated inspections with electromagnetic technology of older model Boeing jets which have taken off and landed more than 30,000 times. Those takeoff and landings important because the compression and decompression puts wear and tear on the aircraft, may contribute to the metal fatigue which investigators believe played a part here.

Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board is continuing its probe of what caused that terrifying incident on Friday night. The -- part of the fuselage that ripped open has been removed from the aircraft and now brought back to Washington where it's going to be examined by metallurgists and material specialists and others.

A member of the NTSB said it has now looked at the maintenance records for the aircraft in question and has not found anything unusual. And he said the plane's flight recorders contain no noteworthy information. But they really, Carol, need to get to the bottom of this to figure out what went wrong to prevent it from happening again.

COSTELLO: I'm sure many air travelers are feeling the same thing.

Jeanne Meserve, lie in Washington. Thank you.

Radioactive water from the crippled nuclear power plant in Japan is being dumped into the Pacific Ocean. We're talking about millions of gallons of contaminated water. We'll talk to Bill Nye, the science guy, to find out how worried we should be. That's coming your way next.

And after powerful storms devastated the Midwest, it's -- they made their way down south and they showed no mercy. We'll tell you where the storms are headed next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Moammar Gadhafi out, Seif Gadhafi in. The idea has been floated by a Libyan envoy as a way to end the country's bloody civil war.

Seif would replace his father and help transition to a more reformed- minded government. That's the party line, anyway. The opposition, as you'd imagine, not embracing the idea.

Reza Sayah has been following developments on the ground for us.

So Reza, we've been hearing this for the last couple of days that one of Moammar Gadhafi's sons will take over and maybe institute constitutional democracy. But are the rebels buying it?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, Carol. They're not just not embracing the idea, they are flat-out rejecting it. This talk over the past 24, 48 hours that perhaps the regime is open to a deal, open to offering a deal of political solution, that would involve Colonel Gadhafi stepping aside and the power being transferred to a member of his inner circle, perhaps one of his sons, perhaps Seif Gadhafi.

That news has crept into the opposition territory here in eastern Libya and the rebel capital in Benghazi. And the opposition has a very emphatic and clear message to the regime, that no political solution is acceptable if any member of Colonel Gadhafi's inner circle, any member of his family remains in power.

They see Colonel Gadhafi and his sons as one and the same. In fact we talked to a lot of people here in the rebel capital of Benghazi and they will tell you that it has been the son of Gadhafi, Seif Gadhafi, that has essentially been running the country, you know, for the past several years. So this deal to the opposition at this point is unacceptable. So it appears a political solution at this point remains unacceptable.

You look at the battlefield. That seems to be a stalemate. More questions about where this is all going -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Reza Seif (sic), thanks very much for the update. From eastern Libya.

Months after he lost reelection and refused to leave office, and sparked a civil war, the former president of the Ivory Coast is reportedly negotiating his departure. That's happening today. His change of heart comes as he's hunkered down in a bunker underneath his house in Abidjan, surrounded by rival forces.

Those troops were able to move in thanks to the United Nations and French airstrikes, targeting his loyalists their heavy weapons. So far no public reaction today. Of course, we'll keep following developments for you.

Now on to Japan where officials are struggling to get on top of a problem at the crippled Fukushima nuclear powered plant. TEPCO, the owner of the plant, has begun making token payouts to 10 nearby communities to help people evacuated because of the crisis. One of the cities is refusing the money, which totals about $240,000 per community.

A Japanese official is apologizing that radioactive water is being dumped into the Pacific Ocean. About three million gallons of it is being released to free up storage space for even more contaminated water. And today the plant owner disclosed the water pouring into the sea, which would be the Pacific Ocean, has concentrations of radioactive iodine that are millions of times the legal standard.

So three million gallons is an insane amount of radioactive water, but to put it all into perspective, that's about five swimming pools worth and the Pacific Ocean is a very, very big ocean. Experts say the water will be quickly diluted.

I know. I know what you're thinking. So we want to check in with our expert, Bill Nye, the science guy.

Welcome.

BILL GUY, "THE SCIENCE GUY": Good morning.

COSTELLO: So three million gallons of low-level radioactive water dumped into t Pacific Ocean. How much should we be worried?

NYE: Not too worried yet because three million gallons -- it's a lot of gallons but it's not that many cubic meters or tons of water. It's only 10,000 tons of water. But when you put 10,000 tons spread over the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, it's not that much.

However, some flotsam, some floating stuff from the tsunami shown up in the Pacific Northwest. So, sooner other later, some of this water's going to show up. And what I would hope is that this would influence people to put pressure on Japanese Electric Power Company authorities, Tokyo Power Company authorities, to pave the thing over.

This deal of trying to keep the reactor cool, not being sure whether or not the containment vessel is cracked, stuff like that, that's --

COSTELLO: That's --

NYE: That's just a short-term solution, or short-term addressing of the problem.

COSTELLO: Yes, especially -- especially when --

NYE: Sooner or later, it's got to be shut down.

COSTELLO: Exactly. Especially when you think that they have 60,000 tons of contaminated water, and they have to figure out how to store that stuff. And if they're already dumping these low-level amounts of radioactive water into the sea, might they think, "Oh, maybe we'll do it again," because it didn't prove very dangerous this time?

NYE: Well, I'm pretty sure they'll have to do it again, everybody. I just --

(AUDIO GAP) NYE: -- am pretty sure there'll be more water that has to be dumped in the sea. What I hope is we can now demand --

COSTELLO: Oh, Bill, "the Science Guy," your Skype signal is disintegrating. We're going to have to say goodbye, but we totally get it. We totally get it. We hope that Japan doesn't decide to release more of that contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean, and sticks with these tiny amounts. When you heard Bill Nye, "the Science Guy" say, "No, it's not dangerous," but you just don't know, especially if Japan decides to get rid of more contaminated water in the future.

Severe weather continues to hammer the Midwest, and now the South is feeling its wrath. Rob Marciano has all the details. I'm glad I wasn't in Atlanta last night, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Boy, it was a rough night, I'll tell you that. Not much sleep for the folks who live downtown. Across much of the state of Georgia, as a matter of fact. The storm now checking in with five fatalities, most of which are downed trees. Hundreds if not thousands of trees downed with this thing. And in other parts, including Tennessee and Kentucky, we've seen structural damage.

Check out some of this video coming to you from Hendersonville and Franklin, Tennessee. This is probably -- this is the area across western Tennessee, western Kentucky, northern parts of Mississippi, and eastern parts of Arkansas, this was the bull's eye yesterday, where most of the reports for tornadoes occurred, 20 reports in total, and there you see some of the damage, there.

Also in Ballard County, Kentucky, also in western -- western parts of that state near Paducah, damage from tornadoes and injuries reported there as well.

Here's where the storms are now. The line is pushing off toward the east just a little bit. The severe weather is really across the Carolinas and mostly across parts of Florida. We're looking at severe thunderstorms rolling through Tampa, Orlando and Daytona, right now.

As a matter of fact, there was a funnel reported near the Daytona racetrack. No reports of it touching down, but we have a number of severe weather warnings, right now. Orlando is about to get hit fairly hard.

We're also watching travel delays, we've seen quite a bit of those across the Northeast and across the South, as well, because of the weather. But once this goes through, Carol, we're looking at a little bit more in the way of tranquil weather, but that won't happen for another 12 to 18 hours. So, this afternoon and tonight for folks living on the East Coast will continue to be on the rough side.

COSTELLO: I know. What happened to those gentle April showers?

MARCIANO: Well we're just getting them on start.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: OK.

COSTELLO: High school class that may determine how well you do in life. Take a look at this.

TEXT: SOLUTION: (A + B)(A + B)(A + B) = (A + B)(A + B) = A2 + AB + BA + B2 = A2 + 2AB + B2 = (A2 + 2AB + B2)(A + B)

COSTELLO: If it makes any sense to you, you're well on your way to success. We will explain just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: 5,957. According to the Department of Defense, that's how many service men and women have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003.

Fourteen-year-old Brooke Nyren knows the pain behind those numbers. Her father was in the army. He died in Iraq in December of 2005. Brooke was just eight years old.

To deal with their grief, Brooke and her family turned to the Tragedy Assistance |Program for Survivors, or TAPS. TAPS has offered grief counseling for countless families of our fallen military, and tonight is their biggest fundraising event of the year. And Brooke is here with us, now, along with Barbara Starr, our Pentagon reporter.

And I know, Barbara, you're going to MC the big event tonight, and you brought Brooke in for us, and we really appreciate that. Brooke, welcome.

BROOKE NYREN, LOST HER FATHER IN IRAQ IN 2005: Thanks.

COSTELLO: And we want to start with you and talk about your dad, because I think that those wars seem so far away and, although we try to honor our troops through certain things, I think that it's so far away, sometimes we forget the sacrifices that are taking place on the battlefield. So, tell me about your dad.

NYREN: My dad was a family man. He always joked. He -- when people think of dads being in the military, they think of them being as really strict and always straightforward, but he was never like that. He was the nicest person you'd probably ever meet. And everyone in Reston -- because where we grew up, he all -- everyone loved him.

COSTELLO: Oh. So, you found out you lost your dad at eight years old. How did that affect you?

NYREN: It -- I was heart-broken. When I first found out, all I did was just cry. And I couldn't go to sleep or anything. And I didn't -- when I went back to school, people didn't talk to me. They were afraid to say anything to me to see if they would hurt my feelings, because if anything they said would bring up my dad, that it would hurt me. So, I didn't want to go back to school ever. So --

COSTELLO: Wow. So, this TAPS program was very important to you.

NYREN: Yes.

COSTELLO: So, what things did this program teach you in how to deal with your grief?

NYREN: They taught me it's always okay to cry and don't be afraid to show your true emotions, and they told me not to be afraid to talk to people about it, because that's what really helps.

COSTELLO: Aw. So, Barbara Starr is here, like I said, and you're going to MC this great event tonight. And like I said before, we see a lot of surface honoring of our troops at football games and the like, and at NASCAR events.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's really the thing, Carol. We're coming up on ten years, now, and just look at the last few weeks. The headlines have taken all of us in so many different directions. But young children like Brooke, her family, so many families around the country, the war could be out of the headlines, but they are still coping with so much.

It's such an honor, really, for CNN and for us to be asked to participate in this event. TAPS is an amazing organization, in terms of it really specializes in talking with kids who have -- so many have lost their parents. And this is just -- I think, a struggle that so many of us can't even fathom.

COSTELLO: Oh, absolutely. And this is a fundraising event tonight. So, tell people, Barbara, what they can do. Where do they give the money? How do they help? How do they really help military families?

STARR: Right off the bat, TAPS' website, www.taps.org -- you're right, tonight's charity gala is a huge fundraising event from corporate sponsors and big business that supports the troops. But for all Americans who support the troops, go to some of these websites, check out your local Veteran's Administration, your local American Legion post, your city council.

All over the country, day in, day out, no matter what the news of the day is, there are so many organizations that help, and I think you just only have to look at your own town to see where you might lend your efforts.

COSTELLO: So, Brooke, try to have kind of a semi-good time tonight. You've got a great dress and you're going to help with fundraising, which is a great thing. And thank you so much for sharing your story.

NYREN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: And Barbara, thanks to you, as always.

STARR: All right, take care.

COSTELLO: We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

COSTELLO: Planning for a grim deep ocean recovery operation that's going on right now in France. The French government says it will recover the bodies found in the wreckage of that Air France jet that crashed into the Southern Atlantic nearly two years ago. It's also looking for this very important data recorder.

CNN's Zain Verjee, live in London. This is such a sad and a fascinating story at the same time. I know there are human remains that were also found. Can they possible bring them up to the surface?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, what they're looking at right now is a number of things, Carol. They're looking, for of all, for the right kind of vessel with the right kind of equipment to be able to do the job.

There are a couple of ways that they can do it. The one thing that they can do is to send a remotely-operated vehicles, called ROVs down really, really deep and they can do the work of attaching cables that will ultimately bring the big pieces of fuselage up. The other thing they can do is that they can attach these inflatable buoys and just kind of float the debris up to the surface of the water.

The actual vessel that they do end up using is going to have to keep its location and have a GPS or something operating, just so that they make sure they don't drift away. So those are some of the things they're considering.

COSTELLO: Sounds very difficult and very expensive, too. Those flight recorders, the black boxes, they've been under water since June of 2009. Will they even work anymore?

VERJEE: Well, they're not working, no, because a black box has a battery life of 21 days. So you have that amount of time to find a signal to locate the box. So they're kind of in a situation where they're searching for a needle in a hay stack. They actually have to physically look for it and it could be damaged, it could be embedded in the sand. I mean, they're like -- it's like 12,800 feet under water. So it's going to be tough.

COSTELLO: Zain Verjee, live in London, many thanks.

VERJEE: Checking our top stories now. There may be a power shift in Libya. MOAMMAR GADHAFI'S son Seif is said to replace his father. That's according to sources close to the country's leadership. The proposal, which is being offered as a solution to end the war, would put Seif in charge of helping the government transition to quick reform. Rebel leaders, however, are blowing off this idea.

In just under an hour, President Obama will sit down with Republicans and Democrats at the White House in the hopes of negotiating a deal that would avoid a government shutdown.

Southwest Airlines finds another plane with cracks and now the federal government is stepping in. The FAA ordering nor detailed inspections of certain older jets.

The long road to college basketball's championship game came to an end in Houston last night. Jeff Fischel from HLN Sports is here and it wasn't an exciting game, but it was a game.

JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: It was -- it was a game. You know, everyone expects the championship game to be this great, fantastic 40 minutes. OK, It wasn't that. But the UConn Huskies are celebrating.

You know, they struggled until the postseason started. That's when they caught fire. I'll have the title game highlights and see how close the Butler Bulldogs did come to finishing what they couldn't last year.

Plus, I'll show you how catching an easy, routine fly ball can get really dicey. All of that's 25 minutes away, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you. I can't wait.

FISCHEL: All right.

COSTELLO: Former House speaker Newt Gingrich wasted little time in talking President Obama's reelection bid. We will get the details and his pointed comments, next, in our political ticker.

And Arizona Senator John Kyl is retiring. Can you guess who's being mentioned to run for his seat?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED DUVAL, V.P. ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS: The best friend we could possibly have is my good friend Gabby Giffords. And we want to make sure we give her time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Time to heal from a nearly fatal gunshot wound. Then, maybe a run for Kyl's seat. That's right. We're talking about Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Taking a look at stories that'll make news later today. At 10:00 a.m. Eastern, the House will hold hearings on the 9/11 trials. Family members of some of the victims will testify. The Obama administration has now decided to try 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed before a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

At 11:15 Eastern, the president sits down with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres to push for peace with the Palestinians. A working White House lunch will follow.

Then at 3:02 Eastern this afternoon, work will stop at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia to remember the 28 miners that lost their lives in last year's explosion. There will also be a company-wide one minute and twenty-nine second moment of silence. Newt Gingrich reacts to President Obama's reelection announcement with some inflammatory words: "Is the president really trying to create a Chicago-style machine to extort contributions from supporters?"

CNN's senior political editor Mark Preston is here.

So, the 2012 campaign is shaping up to be really nasty, nastier than 2008.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: I don't think it could be nastier than 2008, and it appears it's going to be. We keep building upon that, Carol. Yes, we heard a lot of criticism from potential Republican presidential candidates yesterday when they heard that President Obama officially announced that he's running for president, specifically zeroing in, at least Newt Gingrich, zeroing in on the number of $1 billion, which is a figure we all expect President Obama to raise to try to win another term.

What's interesting about this criticism, though, Carol, is that when Newt Gingrich was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, one of his main jobs was to raise lots of money for Republicans. And when he left office, he also ran a bunch of organizations, including American Solutions, where they raised millions of dollars.

So we all know there's way too much money in politics. Mr. Gingrich didn't really say how President Obama is going to extort the American people. And again, too much money in politics but it seems to be a little bit of sour grapes on Newt Gingrich's part, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, yes. Because, you know, all those candidates know they have to raise a bazillion dollars to run a successful campaign. That's just the sad reality right now.

So, Mark, we're hearing a pig's foot and an anti-Semitic note addressed to Congressman Peter King were intercepted on Capitol Hill. And King is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

So, can police make any connection?

PRESTON: Well, this is one of those things where it's very difficult. And our own Dana Bash has a story up on CNNpolitics.com.

Just to recount the facts a little bit here. Police found a frozen pig's foot which was sent in the mail to Congressman Peter King. He's a Republican of New York. Peter King, last month, held a hearing on the radicalization or the Muslim radicalization in America. It caused a lot of controversy. In fact, he's had to have some personal security to protect him from some perceived threats out there.

But, you know, Carol, when you see things like this, when you see acts like this such as letters coming in the mail or in this case, a pig's foot, you know, one of three things come to my mind. One, the person is mentally unstable, and it that's the case, of course, that's very sad. The second thing is, that the person is a coward, that they want to send something in blindly and not take ownership. Or third, it's a joke. And if it is the latter two, Carol, it kind of just shows that the political discourse here in America has hit yet another low, if it can hit another low -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know. I mean, how low can you go?

Mark Preston, many thanks. Appreciate it, as always.

We'll have your next political update in one hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news, go to our web site, CNNPolitics.com.

Jon Kyl's decision to retire from the Senate could create a more interesting race to replace him next year. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' name is already been mentioned. She, of course, as you know, survived that deadly attack just three months ago.

Casey Wian has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fred Duvallis a veteran Arizona Democrat who served in the Clinton White House and is now considering a U.S. Senate run in 2012. But something's holding him back.

FRED DUVAL, V.P. ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS: First and foremost, the best candidate we could possibly have is my good friend Gabby Giffords, who is, of course, recuperating in Houston and doing great. She is breaking every record. Every doctor says this is the most impressive pace of recovery they've ever seen and we want to make sure we give her time.

WIAN: Time to heal from the bullet allegedly fired into her head by Jared Loughner, while Giffords met with constituents nearly three months ago.

At Democratic Party headquarters in Phoenix, messages wishing Giffords a speedy recovery, while about a dozen potential candidates wait to see what she'll do.

(on camera): Congresswoman Giffords is still recovering from her injuries and yet people are already talking about her as a potential candidate for that seat.

Why do you think that's happening?

ANDREI CHERNEY, CHAIR, ARIZONA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Well, they've been talking about Congresswoman Giffords as a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate for years. And heading into this year way before the tragedy in Tucson, she was number one on everybody's list to run for the U.S. Senate seat if the seat did come open.

Right now, obviously, her focus is, as it should be, on recovery. And clearly, there's a lot of people around the state and around the country who are excited about this open U.S. Senate seat and see there's a big opportunity here to have somebody like Congresswoman Giffords, who over the years has really embodied a kind of government that works across party lines. WIAN (voice-over): The only announced candidate for the seat to be vacated by retiring Senator John Kyl is fellow Republican, Jeff Flake.

In a statement, Giffords' office said, "No one is planning a campaign for any office in 2012 or beyond. She is working hard to recover and there will be plenty of times for politics after that."

(on camera): It's likely that the man who's charged with the attempted assassination of Giffords while allegedly killing six people and wounding 13 others will see her emerge from the shooting more popular and perhaps even more influential than before.

Casey Wian, CNN, Phoenix.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Seems the British royal family has seen a string of bad marriages. In fact, three of Queen Elizabeth's four children have been divorced. So, will there be a royal pre-nup for Prince William and Kate Middleton? We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: Prince William and Kate Middleton will be married in just 24 days and people around the world are sending their best wishes but some British attorneys are sending another message, not all fairy tales and happy endings, you know.

Case in point, Prince Charles and Diana, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips; three royal weddings ending in three divorces. With that kind of track record, the British lawyers say the second in line to the British throne would be well- advised to sign a prenuptial agreement.

Mark Saunders is the expert on all things royal. So Mark, is a pre- nup in the cards for William and Kate?

MARK SAUNDERS, CNN ROYAL EXPERT: No. I did speak to Buckingham Palace and they refused to comment. But to be honest, Carol, if I asked Buckingham Palace if today was Tuesday, I think they would refuse to comment on it. After that, I spoke to a constitutional expert who said it would just be absolutely impossible to implement a prenuptial agreement that involved the future King of England or indeed any monarch.

At the moment, William earns roughly about 40,000 pounds a year as a flight attendant. Now Katherine has given up a career selling party pieces from her family business but when she becomes queen --

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COSTELLO: Wow, I was really intrigued by that. We just lost Mark Saunders signal from London. We'll see if we can get him back a little later but -- he's gone for good? Bummer.

Well, just to put a period on that story, no pre-nup. They are going to get married without one. Mark Saunders just said it.

Check out though pop singer, Fergie's dress. Yes, that is a custom- made Lego dress. Well, the design was appropriate for the occasion, trust me. I will tell you all about her dress and other stories across country next.

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COSTELLO: Checking now some stories making news across the country.

In Georgia, a powerful storm touched down overnight shredding trees and pounding cars. Thousands lost power with winds reaching 100 miles an hour. The National Weather Service issued tornado watches from the Gulf Coast to the Carolinas.

In Florida, pictures there. You're looking at bristle worms. Thousands of these creepy crawlers were found swimming in have a Vilano Beach. Aren't they pretty? Fear not though, marine biologist Dr. White (ph) tells us this was a classic case of mating frenzy. You can expect to see this every year when saltwater warms up. It drives them crazy.

And a 1997 Ferrari that reportedly belonged to Charlie Sheen is for sale on e-Bay. A seller in Denver listed the car with Sheen as its original owner. Those who want the car can pay about $80,000 for it. The bidding so far has not surpassed the $55,000 mark.

And pop singer, Fergie of the Black-eyed Peas rocked a dress made of Lego's during the Kids' Choice Awards. It was Nickelodeon's 24th show. The custom-made dress was created by L.A. designer Michael Schmidt (ph) and it was surely an appropriate dress for this occasion.

We're following a lot of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with Dana Bash.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, you know, the government, parts of it at least, could shut down on Friday because of a dispute over billions of dollars in spending cuts. That pales in comparisons compared to the trillions -- that's right trillions -- that we're going to see proposed right here behind me in the next hour by the House budget chairman. I'll have more of that in the next hour.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Zain Verjee in London. I'll tell you what newspapers around the world are saying about whether Seif al- Islam al-Gadhafi could be part of any kind of a transition in Libya.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elizabeth Cohen in Atlanta. When the clock strikes 5:00, I want you to hightail it out of the office and save yourself a heart attack. I'll explain at the top of the hour.

COSTELLO: I will take your advice, Elizabeth.

Some star power on Capitol Hill, too, today. Actor, Kevin Spacey is going to tell lawmakers why Congress should not art spending, but they cancelled on him. We won't, though. He joins us live, in half an hour.

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COSTELLO: When you're on live television anything can happen. Trust me. Kirstie Alley got a crash course herself on "Dancing with the Stars" last night.

The actress went tumbling to the floor as you saw right near the start of her Rumba. Her partner Maksim blames a leg cramping. He has apologized profusely on television and on Twitter. Still and this is the good news, the two scored well enough to land in the middle of the pack.

88 teams, or 68 teams rather, began the run for college basketballs' championship. Last night it all came down to the final two teams standing and the night belonged to Connecticut.

Jeff Fischel from HLN Sports is here. Jeff, I have read reviews of this game that said it was the most boring, worst basketball game ever.

FISCHEL: Yes, critics probably wouldn't give it high scores like if it were a movie. But you know basketball fans loved it anyway. It matched up a heavyweight UConn versus the underdog Butler. For the UConn Huskies a win is a win in the championship game.

You can't knock the Huskies for taking home the title. They ended the season on an 11-game winning streak. The Huskies, they finished 9th in the Big East conference this year. But then they won five games in five days to win their conference tournament. They were even better in the NCAA tournament. And look at Kemba Walker going to the hole there.

Coach Jim Calhoun, he gets his third national championship; a big smile on this face this morning. The Huskies, great win. As for Butler, it was their second straight championship game lost. The Bulldogs struggled last night. They set records for their poor shooting. Congrats to UConn on a national title.

Baseball from last night, the Rangers and Mariners; that's Rangers' wide-hitting short stop Elvis Andrus (ph); he hasn't hit the home run since 2009. When he gets back to the dugout, watch Carol, except for his manager, everyone ignores him. They gave him the silent treatment and then after a few seconds -- ok. We're just kidding. They piled on. Good job.

It's gone that long for the home run guy; he deserves some extra attention.

COSTELLO: They're good little boys.

FISCHEL: They are. They're still just kids playing Little League, right?

COSTELLO: Yes. Cute. FISCHEL: Later in the game, this is notable as well. Teammate Nelson Cruz, he went yard. But for him, it's not such a big deal. He's just the third player in major league history to hit a homer in his first four games of the season; Cruz getting used to this. The Rangers did beat Seattle, 6 to 4.

The Diamondbacks, they're down to their final out against the Cubbies. Take a look at this fly ball. It's like something out of a Hitchcock movie. The catch is made anyway, but it's hardly routine. And ironically, you know who the center fielder is for the Chicago Cubs, yes. It's Marlin Bird.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's perfect.

FISCHEL: He had to laugh; coming through anyway. The Cubs did get the win.

Well, finally, you know college basketball fan, going back to hoops, in Ohio he got a bit of a shock. And not just from seeing all the favorites losing the tournament. He got a bill from his cable company telling him he owed nearly $16.5 million. He said the only reason he even cared about watching cable is to watch March Madness. He also joked, "I should have gotten 'Shot Time' too for that much."

But you know, he did work with out with the cable company. The cable company can't explain why the bill is $16.5 million but they were sure they weren't going to charge him for another credit card.

COSTELLO: Well, it's nice that they admitted to making that mistake.

FISCHEL: It's rare, right?

COSTELLO: Yes. Exactly.

Jeff, many thanks.

FISCHEL: All right, Carol.