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American Morning
Texas Fires Burn Nearly 500 Homes; Homes Damaged in Suburban Atlanta; Flooding Shuts Down Mississippi Roads; Katia Now a Category 3 Hurricane; Bachmann Campaign Shake Up; GOP Hopefuls Tout Conservative Principals; Is Postal Service Obsolete?; Wall Street Braces for Losses; Dueling Jobs Plans; Wildfires Destroy Nearly 500 Texas Homes; Bachmann Campaign Shake-Up
Aired September 06, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. Here's what you need to know to start your day. Deadly flooding and tornadoes tearing up the south while Texas burns and a Category 3 hurricane churns in the Atlantic. Extreme weather destroying homes, disrupting lives in several southern states.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi. All shook up, the Bachmann campaign pressing on this morning with a new man at the helm. Big changes at the top and the questions they're raising about the congresswoman's campaign.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello. President Obama offering up one hint about his highly anticipated jobs plan. His proposal to put Americans back to work on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: All right. Good morning, everyone. It is Tuesday, September 6th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI: What's going on with the weather?
ROMANS: I know. I know, from earthquakes to hurricanes to wildfires.
COSTELLO: We need some locust.
VELSHI: All we need is locust and then we'll complete the picture. It is going crazy. Mother nature is piling on. As Christine said, fires, tornadoes, and flooding across the south.
In Texas, dozens of dangerous wildfires are burning across the state fanned by winds from Tropical Storm Lee and fueled by the worst one-year drought in the state's history. Nearly 500 homes have been destroyed. Thousands of people have been evacuated.
In suburban Atlanta, tornado sirens sounded through the night, suspected twisters spawned, damaged or destroyed dozens of homes in a four-mile area. Trees are down all over the place. Flooding is a big problem in Jackson, Mississippi. Several major roads submerged and shut down.
Authorities say a man was killed when he was swept away by floodwaters. And all this as a Category 3 hurricane now begins to approach the United States. Katia, not going to get here, but it's going to have an impact.
Katia is now churning northwest in the Atlantic bringing the threat of dangerous rip currents to the east coast in the next few days. Wow, a lot going on. Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center tracking Lee's trail of destruction.
Jim Spellman is in Bastrop, Texas, just south of Austin. He's covering the record-breaking wildfires. Let's go to Jim first. Jim, 3.5 million acres of Texas have burned since November. It's an area roughly the size of Connecticut. What's going on now?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's really amazing how many fires they've had here and that sheer volume the size of Connecticut. It's unbelievable.
We know this fire here in Bastrop, southeast of Austin, already nearly 500 homes have been destroyed, about 25,000 acres and I would be shocked when the sun comes up and they get to assess this if both of those numbers haven't grown.
This fire when we got here yesterday, it was amazing. This huge wall of smoke that just spread across the horizon, helicopters in the air, planes dropping water and retardant trying to get a handle on it.
But it was burning so fast and aggressively they were having trouble getting even a hold on it yesterday. Like you said these epic drought conditions are creating the perfect opportunity for these fires to spread, heat, drought conditions, and wind.
It just goes so fast, these fires spring out of nowhere. It barely gives people time to get out of the way. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We left our house and about 30 minutes later we couldn't even get back to it. It's moving probably eight or 10 miles an hour across the ground. So, you know, God help us, that's all we can do right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SPELLMAN: And with 90 percent of Texas under the severe drought conditions, more people are bound to have to evacuate until they get some kind of long-term, serious relief from this drought, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Jim, is there some sense of when they might get a handle on this?
SPELLMAN: Yesterday, when I spoke to firefighters here, they honestly weren't optimistic. They said it could be days, even a week before they really could get this on hand.
This morning a little good news for them, it's very cool, only about the low 60s and the winds are calm. They'll take advantage of every minute of conditions like that working on the ground to try to create fire lines between the fire and the existing fuel. And in the air with more helicopter and plane drops while they can until, you know, the winds pick up again, Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Jim, thanks very much. We'll check in with you, Jim Spellman in Texas.
COSTELLO: OK, let's head to Atlanta and check in with Rob Marciano. Although it seems like the world might be ending, Rob. Put this in perspective for us, it is hurricane season, right? It's sort of the time of year when these things happen.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. You know, for folks in Texas, it's good news that it's hurricane season because the odds are they'll get something tropical to get into Texas. We were hoping that would be the case with Lee.
Adding insult to injury, it passed to the east and that just spawned more in the way of backside dry winds in through Texas and that's part of the problem that we've seen the past couple days. But Lee is moving off towards the north and east.
A cooler air mass is settling in. You heard Jim speak about that. Temperatures in the 60s are this morning. So that's great news and lighter winds. We don't see any rainfall coming this way.
But the firefighters will take lighter winds and most certainly take cooler temperatures. And that's what we're getting today for the next couple of days, but no rain in the forecast until further notice.
We've seen severe weather from leftovers of Tropical Storm Lee. We saw it across Atlanta and Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana yesterday. And this is parts of northern North Carolina and Virginia.
A couple counties in south central Virginia there under a tornado warning until 6:15, north easterly movement although south at about 30 miles an hour. The entire area is under a tornado watch through 2:00 this afternoon.
You see a good chunk of North Carolina and you'll also notice all that rainfall up towards the north and that is heading towards -- already in through the northeast. That's going to cause some other flooding issues.
All right, quickly Hurricane Katia, Category 3 storm. At one point last night this was a Category 4 monster still a beast. North westerly movement at 10 miles an hour and winds of 125 miles an hour.
It will split the difference between Bermuda and the east coast and we still think that this strong cold front that's on the east coast will push it out to sea. But, strong or huge swells now rolling and pounding the eastern seaboard and big time rip currents are going to be a threat there as well.
That combination along with leftovers of lee, are going to create a flooding issue also or reinvigorate the flooding issues I should say across upstate New York and Vermont. We'll be watching that carefully over the next couple days.
COSTELLO: People in New Jersey are saying, my gosh, more rain. So anyway, thank you, I think, Rob Marciano.
MARCIANO: All right.
ROMANS: Thank you, I think.
All right, turning to 2012 presidential politics now and a shakeup involving two of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's top campaign staffers.
Her campaign manager, Ed Rollins, is stepping back into an advisory role and her deputy campaign manager is leaving the campaign altogether.
Our Peter Hamby joins us now live from Columbia, South Carolina. Peter, why the shakeup? Why is Ed Rollins a veteran, why is he stepping back?
PETER HAMBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michele Bachmann is really entering a new phase of the presidential campaign. She won the big Ames straw poll in Iowa, but Rick Perry has come in the race and really shaken it up.
Really damaged her standing in Iowa and South Carolina, two conservative states with a lot of Tea Party activists and social conservatives that she's relying on, but Rollins went on Anderson Cooper last night and this was his official explanation. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm 68 years old. You know, I had a stroke a year and a half ago and so, you know, I'm -- work 12, 14 hour days, it's wearing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMBY: So that's what Rollins is saying. That's the official line from the campaign. I can tell you behind the scenes that Bachmann and Rollins never really clicked.
In hindsight that doesn't seem too surprising. Bachmann has always been this populist, grassroots outsider. Bachmann is the salty veteran of campaigns. So another deputy Keith Nahigian is going to take over the campaign for Bachmann and try to kind of help boost her standings, Christine, in the polls because she has slipped in recent weeks.
ROMANS: Rollins' intent was to get some discipline into that campaign and make her a disciplined candidate. And certainly it seems as though she has been more disciplined in recent weeks and months than in the early stages of her coming up on the national stage. Let me ask you about the five GOP candidates at that forum in South Carolina organized by Tea Party Power Senator Jim DeMint. Who impressed there?
HAMBY: You know what? Mitt Romney had the highest stakes I think. Not typically his wheelhouse, these sorts of Tea Party events. He stepped up his efforts to reach out to them in recent weeks and I talked to a lot of activists last night down here in South Carolina who actually impressed with his performance.
You know, he was asked about the controversial health care law, controversial among conservatives that he implemented in Massachusetts. A lot of Tea Party folks that I talked to were impressed with his answer there, that he delivered a state based solution, but Obama care, as he called it, is a federal overreach.
But it was a largely friendly forum. There wasn't a debate format. It was more like they would come up, Jim DeMint was sort of press them on how they thought on the issues and mostly trained their fire on President Obama. Listen to this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Foreign policy.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot. First, I would have one.
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I happen to believe that this administration is weakening America militarily. This is not what Americans want. The world is not safer.
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The constitution does not specifically enumerate nor does it give to the federal government, the role and duty to super intend over education. That historically has been held by the parents.
REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Liberty and rights aren't -- don't have anything to do with entitlements. Entitlements means that you can take somebody else's money, you know, and the government there is to redistribute it.
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's the most effective food stamp president in American history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMBY: One person we didn't see yesterday was Texas Governor Rick Perry, the Republican frontrunner. We're still waiting to hear if he will participate in a debate on Wednesday in California, which should be, we all expect it to be a little more contentious than yesterday's friendly forum here in South Carolina, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much, Peter Hamby. Of course, Rick Perry attending to those wildfires, record wildfire season in Texas. He went home. Thanks so much. VELSHI: We're getting new details about Mitt Romney's plan to create jobs. In an editorial this morning in "USA Today," Romney writes, quote, "our country has arrived at a fork in the road. In one direction lies the heavy hand of the state, indebtedness and decline. In the other direction lies limited government, free enterprise, and economic growth. I know in which direction lie the millions of jobs we need," end quote.
The Republican presidential candidate will outline his vision for getting America back to work at 3:00 p.m. Eastern in Las Vegas and of course on Thursday, we'll hear from the president.
COSTELLO: Yes, you know, Mitt Romney's plan has 59 points, 59.
VELSHI: Wow.
COSTELLO: So "USA Today," read them all. That's your homework for this morning.
VELSHI: I like there's some detail somewhere.
COSTELLO: There's a lot of detail, 59 points.
President Obama also gave a brief preview of his jobs plan, speaking in Detroit, the president said one way to boost employment is for congress to get on board with rebuilding America.
Dan Lothian live at the White House. So Dan, Mitt Romney has 59 points in his plan. How many does Obama boast?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We don't have 59 points yet, and the White House being careful not to release a lot of new details ahead of the president's speech.
But what we do know is that the president will be unveiling a mix of some things that we have heard about already and some new ideas as White House aides have called them. A combination of things that the president can do on his own unilaterally.
Put in place right away, and other things that will need congressional approval. There will be things such as extending the unemployment benefits, also extending payroll tax cut, and making sure those trade deals with Panama, Colombia and South Korea get completed. But what appears to be a key component of all of this as the president previewed in his speech in Detroit yesterday, infrastructure jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We've got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. We've got private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. We've got more than 1 million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now. There is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LOTHIAN: And, of course, this all comes as the president deals with low approval ratings, as also we've seen those disappointing job numbers where no jobs were created in the month of August.
So there's a lot of criticism from Republicans who say this administration has not acted strongly enough in order to bring down the high unemployment numbers that what the president should be doing now is really sitting down and putting something on paper.
Not delivering another speech, and that he needs to create a more stable environment so some of these businesses that are currently sitting on the sidelines with their money will put that back into play. Carol --
COSTELLO: We'll see what happens on Thursday. Dan Lothian reporting live from Washington. You can see President Obama's speech before a joint session of Congress this Thursday 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
VELSHI: I haven't seen you for a few days. Have we worked out the timing of the speech so you can watch both the football game and speech?
ROMANS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Yes. It's all OK.
VELSHI: Excellent.
ROMANS: All right, the high unemployment rate we told you above 9 percent. Winning the blue collar vote may be a challenge for President Obama.
He got some help yesterday from the Teamster's Union president James Hoffa. Speaking before the president came on the stage, James Hoffa had some fiery words for Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM HOFFA, PRESIDENT, TEAMSTER UNION: President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of a -- out and give America back to America where we belong. Thank you, very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Talking about the Tea Party and not really Republicans in general. Also on Sunday, Hoffa called American companies that don't spend their money in the United States, he said they are simply unpatriotic.
VELSHI: OK, coming up next, Rhode Island is in a big financial bind. The state is running out of money and now tens of thousands of pensions might be facing the ax. Could the same thing happen to your retirement plans? We're going to talk about it.
COSTELLO: Also a crisis at the U.S. Postal Service. Costs are going up while business is going way down. So, is the postal service obsolete? It's this morning's talk back.
ROMANS: And Mr. Petraeus goes to Wangley. The newly retired army general starts his new job today as head of the CIA. It's 15 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Two Libyan military convoys have been spotted passing through Niger in the past two days. Military sources there telling CNN one of the convoys has already reached the capital city (INAUDIBLE) and the other is on its way.
There are reports that Moammar Gadhafi and one of his sons were considering joining the convoy. Meanwhile, Libya's National Transitional Council will meet with tribal leaders today to make it clear that pro-Gadhafi forces will not be harmed if they peacefully surrender.
So, a lot of discussion this morning about whether members of his security forces have already left the country. Maybe they're going to Niger -
VELSHI: Whether he has -
ROMANS: -- and whether he has or will be joining them.
VELSHI: He's - he's1 had a lot of largess towards the countries around Libya. So there's some sense that whether he was doing this in anticipation of this day or just because -
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: -- he's got friends.
COSTELLO: If he is on that convoy, it's amazing he could get out of Libya when -
VELSHI: Yes. That's right.
COSTELLO: -- everybody is supposedly looking for him.
VELSHI: Right, right.
COSTELLO: So we'll see.
A senior al Qaeda leader in charge of global operations has been arrested in Pakistan. Officials say Younis al Mauritania was captured, withheld from U.S. Intelligence agencies. They say he took orders directly from Osama Bin Laden and was charged with targeting American economic interests around the world.
The White House is calling the arrest an example of the U.S. and Pakistan's long standing partnership in fighting terrorism.
VELSHI: The David Petraeus era begins today at the CIA. The newly minted civilian will be sworn in as the agency's new director. Petraeus retired from the Army last week after four stars and 37 years of service, which included commanding U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He succeeds Leon - succeeds Leon Panetta at CIA. Panetta is now the Secretary of Defense.
ROMANS: All right.
So your pension, right, this is the thing that is the promise between you and your employer, you and your government. A look at our states in crisis right now. Rhode Island considering a plan to slash pension benefits for more than 50,000 public workers and retirees.
The state is in big financial trouble. It is nearly $7 billion short when it comes to funding pension plans for its retired teachers, police officers and other public workers. The state legislature has scheduled a special session for next month. Just last month, the City of Central Falls, Rhode Island, filed for bankruptcy because of unsustainable pension costs.
COSTELLO: Now it's your turn to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, is the postal service obsolete?
Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night - OK, so it's not the Post Office's official motto, but it's how we as a culture have come to see our friendly neighborhood mailman. He or she is always there with birthday cards from grandma or that bill from the telephone company. That is so almost completely over now.
The Postal Service is in trouble. Not only because it's running a $9 billion deficit, but because the world has changed. The rise of FedEx, UPS and e-mail giving Mr. Mailman a run for his money and he's losing. The Post Office delivered 171 billion pieces of mail in 2010, that's a big number, but that's down 20 percent from 2006.
But that's the least of its problems. The Postal Service is also required to deliver mail wherever it's sent no matter what. And by law, it is forced to pay for retiree health costs for the next 75 years.
I tell you this because the Postal Service says it can't make the $5.5 billion payment for retiree health costs this month and is now in danger of defaulting. So the Postmaster General will be asking the Senate for help today.
Maybe the answer to that plea is in our "Talkback" question this morning. The question for you, is the postal service obsolete? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning, Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read your comments later this hour.
ROMANS: You know, in this country, Congress is in charge of the purse strings for the Postal Service -
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: -- even though the Postal Service runs on its own budget and its own money. And in other countries, they can sell phone cards. They can have savings accounts in their post office. But we have rules against that.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: So in a way Congress has ham strung the agency. I mean, it's not as flexible.
COSTELLO: Is it possible - is it possible to privatize the Postal Service?
VELSHI: It has been done in other places. It has been done. I mean, it's - I think there are a lot of options. I have to say this, for - as far as postal services go while a lot of people complain about it, in a lot of those other countries, mail delivery is just not as efficient in the United States.
ROMANS: That's true.
VELSHI: Really, they lose a lot less. You get your mail six days a week, which doesn't happen in most countries.
ROMANS: Right. But what they want here -
VELSHI: It's still fast.
ROMANS: -- is he would like Congress to quickly let them drop the Saturday's mail service -
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: -- to make - be able to cut jobs.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: Hundreds - maybe 120,000 jobs.
VELSHI: And most countries don't have Saturday mail services and they're able to do -
COSTELLO: Right, right, right, right.
And they want to cut service on Saturday because of these retiree health benefits that it is required to pay for the next -
ROMANS: I know.
COSTELLO: -- 75 years.
ROMANS: And they have no layoff clauses in some of these union contracts, too, which, you know, lay - have to lay people off.
COSTELLO: Tell us what you think.
VELSHI: OK. Coming up next, a lottery lawsuit. Why an Ohio man claims he's entitled to $2 million even though he didn't spend a penny on the winning lottery ticket. This one you will find interesting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: "Minding Your Business" this morning.
European markets are making modest gains this morning after a huge sell-off in stocks there yesterday due to rising concerns worldwide about Europe's debt problems. The worst hit, the German DAX index which lost more than five percent yesterday.
U.S. markets open today after the holiday weekend. Stock futures are down sharply, though, across the board this morning. Investors also concerned about Europe's debt. Another potential market mover today an economic survey on non-manufacturing industries like retail, health care and finance.
Economists forecasting a dip in the so-called ISM Index, not a good sign for growth in this economy.
Investors rushing to the security of gold again. Gold is back over $1,900 an ounce in overseas trading showing some skittishness worldwide.
President Obama's pick to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray, he'll face his first Senate confirmation hearing. Republican senators are expected to grill him on what they say are wide reaching powers of this new agency. Cordray is the former Ohio Attorney General.
Hurricane Irene could have an effect on cotton and tobacco prices. The storm destroyed a large part of the crop grown in North Carolina. Farmers are saying this year's crop was weak going into the storm because of a drought, too. So you could see those prices rise.
Today, Pepsi and the NFL expected to announce one of the largest sponsorships deals to date in U.S. sports. The "Wall Street Journal" reporting this morning that deal is worth some $2.3 billion over the next 10 years.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Well, it is 31 minutes after the hour.
So, it's time to check this morning's top stories for you.
Strong winds spreading across Texas. They're spreading those wildfires. Southeast of Austin, firefighters are struggling to contain a fast-moving fire that has torched 25,000 acres -- 25,000 acres. It's destroyed close to 500 homes and a fresh fire fanned by tropical storm Lee's residual winds is threatening homes 45 miles north of Houston.
COSTELLO: In the world of politics, Michele Bachmann has a campaign shakeup. Her high profile campaign manager Ed Rollins is stepping down from that position. He'll now be an advisor.
Rollins told our Anderson Cooper he just doesn't have the endurance to go 14 hours a day, seven days a week, due to health concerns. Bachmann's deputy campaign manager is also leaving the campaign.
ROMANS: All right. The postmaster general expected to testify this afternoon at a hearing to prevent a postal shutdown. The agency has warned it's facing a possible default on an upcoming payment to a retiree fund. If it does default, officials promise there will be no interruption in mail service.
VELSHI: All right. Markets overseas are making up some ground this morning after a steep retreat after last week's stunner from the Labor Department that there were no jobs created in August and lingering concerns over Europe's debt crisis. And it does seem that Europe was the bigger influencer on markets on Monday.
Jim Boulden is live in London.
Jim, U.S. markets obviously have not had a chance to react to what happened in Europe yesterday and things seem to be getting a little bit better, but what was going on? What was driving these European markets so much lower yesterday?
JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yesterday was all worries, as you said, U.S. jobs numbers for sure, and there was no decent growth coming out of U.K. with numbers, no decent numbers coming out of the U.K. -- real worry about the banks because the FHA and U.S. possibly going to sue six or seven European banks as well over the mortgage meltdown. That didn't help. We had losses, regional election in Germany for the chancellor there, lots of worries about in debt in Italy, lots of worries about debt in Greece.
Lots of people coming back from holiday and saying nothing has changed.
VELSHI: Right.
BOULDEN: We haven't sorted the debt crisis problems here. What we're seeing today with the markets is what they say relief rally or a dead cat bounce.
But I should tell you, Switzerland shares up more than 4 percent because the Swiss national bank has intervened in the currency markets and the euro has driven up by 9 percent against the Swiss franc. It's really interesting that this happened. They've set what's called a currency peg to the euro.
Now, what this might mean to viewers is that we could see some recovery in the U.S. dollar because of this. So, it will be interesting one to watch. But Europe, you know, we see the FTSE up 1.5 percent so far today in London. So, a bit of a relief rally.
VELSHI: All right. A whole lot of things going on. New records in gold as well. All of these things are intertwined -- whether it's the U.S. jobs situation or the European debt crisis, these currencies, the dollars and gold.
So, watch markets carefully if you're invested today.
Jim, good to see you as always. Thank you.
BOULDEN: Yes.
ROMANS: All right. New this morning, 38 people are now dead in the wake of tropical storm Talas. The storm swept through Japan over the weekend bringing record rainfall, mudslides and flooding. Fifty- four people are still missing and tens of thousands have been ordered to evacuate.
VELSHI: Four former News Corp executives will face a powerful British parliamentary committee today in the ongoing U.K. phone hacking scandal. Committee members will question two former lawyers, a former human resources manager and ex-editor with News Corp's newspaper division. They're trying to find out if News Corp engaged in corporate wide cover-ups to hide the phone hacking practices of its reporters.
COSTELLO: An Ohio man is suing for a share of a $99 million lottery jackpot that 22 of his co-workers won. Employees at a cabinet making firm in Middlefield, Ohio, have been pooling their money for years and they finally hit the jackpot last month. But one of the regular players, 39-year-old Edward Hairston, failed to contribute to the jackpot pool because he's been out of work with a back injury. He claims he is entitled to a $2 million share anyway, but he's not getting a lot of sympathy from his neighbors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry about your luck, I guess. You got to pay to play. And, you know, if he was part of the group at one time, I mean, he was part of the group while paying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel for him, but if you didn't put into it I don't think you should get anything at all.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
COSTELLO: Last week, a judge ordered the Ohio Lottery Commission to set aside $2 million for Hairston just in case he prevails in court.
ROMANS: That's terrible luck.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: On your back with a back injury, out of work, miss the pool and they win.
COSTELLO: It's kind of sad his co-workers didn't put in for him anyway, knowing that he was out with a back injury, but hey.
VELSHI: So, the lesson learned is if you're in a pool like that, just make sure --
ROMANS: Well, you guys do, if somebody -- what would you -- our crew says --
VELSHI: Now, we're starting a fight on the floor because Christine just asked everybody to say what they would do.
COSTELLO: No, but they're nodding. Yes. They would cover.
ROMANS: They would cover.
COSTELLO: I don't believe them, but they say they would cover.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'd cover everybody.
ROMANS: There you go.
VELSHI: President Obama and Mitt Romney are about to unveil dueling jobs plans. So, who's got the solutions and will their speeches really make a difference to anybody who's looking for a job? We're going to talk about it on the other side.
It's 36 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. Two days until the president's jobs speech in front of a joint session of Congress. We got a glimpse of his plan at a Labor Day speech in Detroit. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilt. We've got private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. We've got more than 1 million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now. There is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Hear all the details of the president's plan, presidential candidate Mitt Romney is giving his own speech at 3:00 p.m. Eastern this afternoon. What can we expect from the two and are these speeches just enough to get congress to act?
Joining me now is CNN political contributor Hilary Rosen and former Republican adviser Robert Traynham. Robert is also the D.C. bureau chief for the Comcast Network.
Robert, let me start with you. Infrastructure spending, listening to the president -- wow, it sounds an awful to me like stimulus that did create jobs in 2008 and 2009.
Can Republicans get on board with more infrastructure spending?
ROBERT TRAYNHAM, COMCAST NETWORK: You know, I'm not a spokesman for the Republican parties, so I really don't know. But it seems to me that what the Republicans are for is some type of job creation that is offset with some type of spending cuts. And so, the question really becomes is that when the president makes his bold announcement on Thursday is how he's going to pay for it. That's the real question.
And then the other question becomes, is how will Republicans respond to that? So, let's say hypothetically the president says, you know what, I want to spend $6 billion in green collar jobs and I'm willing to pay for it through a tax cut. Well, that kind of puts the ball in Republican's court and one would think that the Republicans could support something like that.
So, time will tell on Thursday as to whether or not the president is really serious about job creation, but also about debt reduction.
ROMANS: We pay for it with spending cuts, right?
TRAYNHAM: Correct.
ROMANS: So, let me ask you, Hillary, it seems that there's two ideologies and I don't see any room between them. The one is the president has got to do something. So, Democrats and liberals say the president has to do something big and bold to get the job market growing. On the other side, it's everyone saying he's got to -- we've got to undo everything that the president has done.
Mitt Romney in his jobs plan, among the things, many, many points in there, undoing the regulatory -
(CROSSTALK)
HILARY ROSEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, we know that the spending cuts that the Republicans are proposing are actually putting people out of work and that, you know, if we enacted what the Republicans wanted, we'd be losing something like 7 million jobs over the next year.
So, what I think the president is going to do is two things. He's going to come up with a few things that he can do without the Congress because he just has to and I think infrastructure spending they've -- they're going to be unveiling infrastructure spending that does not require the Congress to pass it.
They, you know, did create jobs when they started this stimulus over the last year. All economists have said that. They need to get back there. Public works is the perfect way to go.
ROMANS: But anything that looks like the stimulus, Republicans are going to say this is just a spend thrift president.
ROSEN: They may. You know, the Republicans are going to trash whatever the president says. But the key thing is, can the president pull off some things that will work without the Republicans, move this economy forward a little bit and then the Republicans aren't going to have anything to say? We've got a lot way to re-election. The president is focused on the economy right now. Frankly less so on re- election.
ROMANS: You know, and, Robert, what many of the Republicans are focused on is making this a one-term president. I mean, they want his job. This is -- they've been very clear about undoing what many say is his legacy.
I wan to talk about health care. I mean, Mitt Romney is also saying that repealing, quote/unquote, "Obamacare" is among the things he thinks would get the economy going again. Is health care reform bad law or was it a bad sales job by the president and the Democrats? And is it in danger of being really in the crosshairs here?
TRAYNHAM: I think it depends on who you ask in terms of whether it's bad policy or not. But, look, when you take a look at the states whether it's Republican governors or Democratic governors, when you take a look at state supreme courts, whether or not they've been elected by the people, whether they've been put in by the governor, a lot of them are saying, you know what, this is -- this runs counter to our Constitution. This is not constitutional. You cannot mandate individuals to have health care. So, that's number one from a policy standpoint.
From a policy standpoint number two, you know, there are a lot of Democrats out there, and even Republicans, that said the president did not do a very good job of selling this plan in the first place. There is no public option. There are a lot of progressives and a lot of liberals are still upset with the president that he caved on that. A lot of Republicans are saying that not only is this a government mandate but how are you going to pay for it?
So, you know, there are a lot of steps. There are also a lot of governors out there that are pushing back asking for vouchers to get out of this because they simply cannot afford it because they're nearing bankruptcy. So, there's a lot of different constituencies out there. Republicans, Democrats, elected officials, nonelected officials that have issues with this so-called health care plan.
ROSEN: You know, there's just really no evidence that the health care law is affecting the economy negatively, in fact the opposite. Health care costs were skyrocketing, they were an increasing drain on the economy -- and this president tackled it. He didn't make everybody happy. And some would say he made nobody happy.
But if you're someone with a preexisting condition --
ROMANS: Right.
ROSEN: -- you can actually change your job today and be -- get health care. That is a huge issue for Americans across this country.
And the second thing is, the government is working with all of these states who are looking for vouchers and looking for exemptions and looking for slower ways in. So, the Republicans are trying to come up with everything the president did wrong, talking the economy down, and I think that the American people are tired of it. I think the American people don't want this to be the election year. They want this to be the economic recovery year.
ROMANS: Hilary Rosen and Robert Traynham, we have to leave it there, but I'll tell you, there's so much sunlight between these two positions that it makes people wonder what kind of progress we're going to get as we move forward with the super committee and all of the important choices we have to make going forward. Thanks, both of you.
TRAYNHAM: Thank you and good morning.
ROMANS: You, too. Forty-five minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELVIS DURAN, ELVIS DURAN MORNING SHOW: I'm Elvis Duran from the "Elvis Duran Morning Show" here in New York. I'm on the road a lot. I think calling me a wacky morning deejay is just an insult. There's your wacky. If we were 9 to 5ers, I think we'd be boring. I think having zero hours of sleep, it makes you say stupid things.
You could be Kate Middleton.
(LAUGHTER)
DURAN: The cool thing about radio is we can do radio shows anywhere. When the show travels, we have a big family. I mean, it's twice the size "The Brady Bunch." It takes a lot of planning. It takes a lot of begging for discounts at hotels. We're taking the show to London.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so excited.
DURAN: I love taking the show on the road. Makes you rethink everything you're doing every day. It gets you out of the routine.
I can't believe people take sometimes days to pack for a trip. I can get packed in and out boom-boom in five minutes. It's so good to get out of your comfort zone and travel somewhere and learn about someone else and what they're going through in your lives. It really enhances your life when you get back home.
Thanks a lot for joining me today. Safe travels.
(CHEERING) peace out, everybody.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Forty-eight minutes after the hour. Here's what you need to know to start your day. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI (voice-over): Moammar Gadhafi is in Libya -- unclear whether Moammar Gadhafi is in Libya. A convoy has been seen. A Libyan convoy passing through Niger with some speculation that he might be in it.
More than 60 wildfires are burning this morning in the state of Texas, southeast of Austin. Firefighters are struggling to contain a fast moving fire that's torched 25,000 acres and already destroyed close to 500 homes.
Hurricane Katia is becoming a monster. It's now a Category 3 and beginning to impact the United States. It brings a threat of dangerous rip currents to the east coast in the next few days. Forecasters are watching the track carefully.
Michele Bachmann's campaign manager, Ed Rollins, is stepping down citing health concerns. He'll now be an adviser to the campaign. Also, Bachmann's deputy campaign manager announced he's leaving the campaign entirely.
Dr. Conrad Murray's lawyers seeking a delay in the Michael Jackson's trial over the judge's refusal to sequester the jury. They pointed to the media frenzy around the Casey Anthony trial saying this one is going to be even bigger. Murray is charged with causing Michael Jackson's death.
Serena Williams and Roger Federer advancing to the quarterfinals in the U.S. Open. Federer winning in straight sets in a match that ended around 1:00 this morning. Mardy Fish, America's highest man seed was ousted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI (on-camera): That's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Fifty minutes past the hour. We asked you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. This was the question, is the postal service obsolete?
This from Jan, "As a former postal worker, the problem is too much red tape. Logistically, the United States post office has not streamlined their delivery system, and there are too many middle men. Mail trucks will set at processing center sometimes for several days before being unloaded. And no importance is put on bulk mail, only priority and first class."
This from Katie, "I'm torn, because while I do love getting mail the old-fashioned way, the ease of doing more and more electronically makes it seem like a bit of a hassle to wait in line to get a stamp, etc. There's certainly value to having a postal service for transactions that can't necessarily be completed online, but I wonder about any organizations that seems to have ignored the changing times."
And this from Rico, "You can't tell it's obsolete from my mailbox. I get about 10 pieces of mail each day. Yes, mostly catalogs, but there's still something comforting about getting the mail. The postal service's problem isn't one of functionality, it's about bad management."
Keep the conversation going. Facebook.com/americanmorning.
ROMANS: And I love my mail carrier. He's efficient. You know, he's like everybody in the neighborhood. You know, I mean, there are some really good people who work in there, listening to us talk about these stories and pretty freaked out about what's going forward.
VELSHI: All right. When the Italian automaker, Fiat, acquired Chrysler, the hope was to bring the nearly bankrupt American brand into the 21st century kicking and screaming with stylish models including the Fiat 500, the subcompact. You've probably seen it. It's one of the most talked about new cars of the year. Is it worth all the hype? I went out to the consumer's report test track in Connecticut and got behind the wheel, and I put the little Fiat 500 to the test.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: All right. We've seen what this car can do if you want to drive it that way. Most people are probably not going to drive it that way. So, this is where Dave is going to hand the car to me. Let's see what it handles like when we're just driving around like regular folk.
DAVID CHAMPION, SENIOR DIRECTOR, CONSUMER REPORTS: Let's go.
VELSHI: I'd say qualifies as easy to drive.
CHAMPION: Yes.
VELSHI: All right. What's your sense of it? What's your sense of this car?
CHAMPION: It's an OK car.
VELSHI: Right.
CHAMPION: It looks cute. It's fun to drive. But, would I want to live with it on a day-to-day basis?
VELSHI: Is this going to be a big part of the comeback strategy for Chrysler, and is it going to work?
CHAMPION: I think it's going to bring a young demographic. I think it's going to bring somebody that wasn't looking at a Chrysler, directly come into a Chrysler showroom. So, from that point of view, it's going to be a little bit of a halo card that's going to bring a totally different consumer into Chrysler. VELSHI: Bouncing a little bit on this road. This doesn't score as well as something else in this price category, other cars in this category. Do you think it's likely to improve or this is the car they're offering?
CHAMPION: No. A lot of the factors that make it score poorly is the rare seat room, the ride that isn't particularly good, and also, you know, the overall fuel economy is not brilliant for its size.
VELSHI: Right. What kind of mileage does this get?
CHAMPION: This gets 34 to the gallon.
VELSHI: OK.
CHAMPION: Which is OK.
VELSHI: What's your evaluation of this from a safety perspective?
CHAMPION: Well, it comes with all, you know, the safety features, side air bags front air bags, electronic stability control. It does well in crash tests that we've seen so far. This is a relatively small car, and a bigger heavier car will impact more of its energy into a smaller car. So, I would have certain, you know, concerns about the overall safety.
VELSHI: For the price that you pay for this car, what are you competing against?
CHAMPION: The 500 is pretty highly priced. $18,000, you can buy an awful lot more. You can look at the other sort of budget cars which are in this area such as the Honda Fit, the Mini, Hyundai Accent, and Ford Fiesta.
VELSHI: All right. Your overall view of this car?
CHAMPION: It's a cute little car. You know, it might be difficult to live with. It feels like a pair of high heels. You look good in them. They're cute, but it's a bit uncomfortable and you really wouldn't want to live in those for day-to-day basis.
VELSHI: All right. Dave, thanks very much.
CHAMPION: Thanks, Ali.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Bouncing around a little bit, how was the ride?
VELSHI: It's a cute car. That's - ultimately, that's what it is. It's cute and it's reliable, and cars -- any car today is safer than any car five years ago or ten years ago. We couldn't get that thing to slide and screech because of the electronic stability control which is, you know, common on most cars now.
COSTELLO: You know what it reminded me of?
VELSHI: What's that?
COSTELLO: Years ago, I had a Yugo. Remember the Yugo?
ROMANS: You had a Yugo?
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Yes, I had a Yugo.
VELSHI: Those were dodgy.
COSTELLO: Those were dodgy. It sort of reminded me of that, but it was much more expensive.
VELSHI: Right. So, in this case, any car you get that's new is relatively safe and it does that. But, if you're spending 18 or $19,000 on a car as he said, that's a whole new market. Ever since the recession, there are a whole bunch of small, cute cars that will do that job and you can pack them up.
ROMANS: Gas mileage really good, huh?
VELSHI: It's pretty good. There are those in that size that are even better. If you're buying that, you're buying it because you want a cute little car.
ROMANS: It's good for the Yugo, too.
COSTELLO: That's right.
ROMANS: Wow!
COSTELLO: I could never sell the thing.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: It wasn't their biggest selling point.
ROMANS: All right. Ahead next hour, the search for the lost iPhone 5. You'll never believe this new twist in the investigation. We'll have that coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
