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Herman Cain Does Damage Control; Snow Pounds Northeast; Dow Falters; Video Shows Seeming Child Abuse at Camp; Story Alleges Herman Cain Accused of Sexual Harassment; NATO to Officially End Operations in Libya; Georgia High School Rivalry Goes Viral
Aired October 31, 2011 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Martin Savidge, in for Brooke Baldwin.
Herman Cain is on damage control.
Many employees forced to pay more because of weight or lifestyle.
And millions right now without power.
It is time to play "Reporter Roulette."
We will begin with Joe Johns in Washington.
The political world is abuzz, Joe, over allegations involving Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain. So what's the latest?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: The latest is that Herman Cain says this is a witch-hunt.
This all started with a report in Politico which claimed that there were two women who charged him with various forms of sexual impropriety, if you will, improper conduct, back in the 1990s when Herman Cain was working at the National Restaurant Association. The report was that there was actually some type of a settlement and that the settlement was sealed.
Well, now we know from a speech and question-and-answer session at the Press Club here in Washington, D.C., that Herman Cain says he was falsely accused of sexual harassment. He says he didn't know that there was a payout, and, if there was, he says he hopes it was a small one, in his view, again, a witch-hunt. That's about where we stand, Martin.
SAVIDGE: Joe, all of this comes out when, of course, Herman Cain reaches the top of the leaderboard, so to speak. Any chance this came from some rival campaign maybe?
JOHNS: Million-dollar campaign right there. We have asked Politico that question. We have had one person who actually said it came from a tip, not specifying where that tip came from.
Another reporter who worked on the story saying this was just a lot of hard work over several weeks done by Politico. So still trying to flesh that out. As you know reporters want to keep their sources a secret if they can. A lot of people, when a story like this comes out, always want to know the source of it so they can sort of judge the motivation. But you're certainly asking the right question there.
SAVIDGE: Joe Johns, we will continue to follow it, thanks, through you.
(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
SAVIDGE: Next on "Reporter Roulette" CNN meteorologist Chad Myers, he is in York, Pennsylvania, a town still woozy after a weekend winter pounding.
Chad, how are the people of York recovering today?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Finally getting back to normal.
Only 6,000 people now without power in York. And that's not bad compared to where we were. We were the first to get snow, but we're also the first to get sun. Rarely do I ever go on a snow blizzard event and then actually have to worry about sunscreen. But the snow is gone.
There's not enough snow here to make a snowball, really. That is good. Because we got about 10 inches here of snow and then all of a sudden the sun came out yesterday and it just went straight down. All that just melted into the ground. Even the crews here talking about when are the mowers going to come out? It looks like the lawn mowers should be here because the grass is getting long now.
But the people to the northeast here, they actually got much more snow than we did, compared to 10 inches here to 20 to 30 inches for Massachusetts through Connecticut, parts of Upstate New York, and even Northeastern here up through the Delaware water gap. That's where most of the power lines are still down. That's where we're talking about the millions of people still without power, Marty. That won't be over for the next couple of days.
There are so many power lines are down as the weight from the snow on the leaves took the power lines down, right smack down to the ground. Now they all have to go back up. They will not go back up in unison. It's one crew after another. They will get one line up. They prioritize the lines. If that line that is on the ground can get 5,000 people back online, they're going to put that line up a lot sooner than they're going to put your line up if it's on your property and you're the only person that's going to get power back.
That's how they prioritize what they can do for the most people -- for the best people that they can at a time. So this isn't over by any stretch. I don't even think by Friday everyone will get the power back across parts of the Northeast.
SAVIDGE: Chad Myers, a remarkable storm. Thanks very much. That is today's "Reporter Roulette."
Still ahead on this Halloween, a disturbing story out of Missouri. What a worker found inside a haunted house that involved a noose and a young woman.
Plus, how far is too far? Disturbing video of a boot camp for kids, now a criminal investigation. You will see it.
Also, Justin Bieber says one senator should be locked up because of her stance on music and the bill she is pushing. It would have a huge impact on the music industry.
And, then, want to go into space? NASA making a big move that paves the way for space tourism. Stay right here.
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(NEWS BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're filled. They're totally filled. Nobody can go in them anymore. You just have to hold it.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Passengers and crew sitting on a plane for nearly eight hours. Bathroom stops working. Up next, why a pilot had to beg for help. And I will speak live to a retired pilot about whose responsibility is it in situations like these, the airline or the airport? Don't miss it.
Plus:
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Herman Cain responds to allegations of sexual harassment and for some reason sings. We will break it down. Stay with us for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: Now, most of us who fly have been stuck sitting on the tarmac, but did you hear what happened to the passengers on a JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale to Newark over the weekend? The snowstorm that socked the Northeast, it diverted flight 504 to Hartford, Connecticut. And that's where the plane sat on the tarmac for about eight hours.
This was supposed to be a pretty short flight. There wasn't much food or water on board and the bathrooms quickly backed up. Even the pilot was frustrated. Listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, we can't seem to get any help from our own company. I apologize for this. But is there any way you can get a tug and a tow bar out here to us and get us towed somewhere to a gate or something? I don't care. Take us anywhere.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: At one point, the pilot was almost pleading, but ready to take matters into his own hands.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a paraplegic on board that needs to come off. I have a diabetic on here that has got an issue. It's a list of things. I just got to get some help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. Do you need any paramedics or anything like that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We have got the fire truck over here. And I guess they have some medical background here. I'm not sure who all the players are back there in the back yet, but it looks like they have got it covered. My priority right now is a tug and a tow bar. If you just give me a welding shop, I will be willing to make one myself.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Jim Tilmon is a retired commercial pilot and he's in Phoenix.
And, Jim, I just want to -- have you as a pilot ever been in a situation like this?
JIM TILMON, FORMER AMERICAN AIRLINES PILOT: Never. Absolutely not at all, and I'm glad I wasn't and I hope I never am. I think this whole thing did not have to happen, Martin.
SAVIDGE: Well, we're going to get into this, but I want to play a clip for you again to listen we will talk about it afterwards.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, we can't seem to get any help from our own company. I apologize for this. But is there any way you can get a tug and a tow bar out here to us and get us towed somewhere to a gate or something? I don't care. Take us anywhere.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Well, the pilot is obviously frustrated with the airline, but who really is in charge in a situation like this? Is it the airline? Is it the airport?
TILMON: It's the airline to begin with.
Let me back up a little bit, Martin. They never should have taken off. They never should have taken off. Let me tell you, Chad Myers on CNN, a good 24 hours or more before this storm hit forecast it. He talked about the specifics of it, how many people would be out of power, how many cities would be inundated by this, all that.
So this whole idea about this being a surprise storm, just forget it. That's not the case. So the airline should have known that they were flying into a zone that may have some great difficulties. Knowing that, they should also have planned for diversions to airports outside of the snow zone.
You know, we're just talking about a little bit more fuel to fly another hundred miles one way or another and you don't have any of these problems. Once you get into that, now it's the old slippery slope. Just about every decision you make is going to be a bad one.
SAVIDGE: Well, and the airline did point out, as it says, it was a very severe storm, they had to divert a number of its aircraft to a number of different places and this was just one of those things. But as you point out, if they had just been, well, listening to the weather forecast, this could have been figured out ahead of time. Why don't they do that?
TILMON: I have no idea why they don't. They have their own meteorology people. They have all kinds of access. They have CNN to take a look at. They have every reason to understand what's going on.
Yet they flew into this thing knowing full well that they may have problems. That's OK. But if you're going to do that, you have to put enough fuel on the airplane so that you have some options once you get near your destination. Airlines now routinely, more than ever before, are skimpy on fuel.
They think it's going to cost them much too much to ferry fuel unnecessarily, so pilots are kind of left in the dark in terms of making the decision about how much fuel on board. So that is a large thing in terms of where they could go and why.
SAVIDGE: All right, well, let me just read the statement that JetBlue has put out because we need to give them their due.
"Getting all the flights deplaned at the same time in a small airport is not unlike trying to get an elephant into a smart car. It's not an easy fit."
But I think as we already pointed out here, Jim, that it's not so much the problem or getting into it. It's how you get out of it. And you say the best way to get out of this one would have been for JetBlue to, what, cancel all their flights...
(CROSSTALK)
TILMON: First of all -- absolutely. Absolutely. It's done every day these days, given the kind of fines that could be levied on these airlines for problems on the tarmac like this.
So a lot of airlines are now canceling flights before they take that chance. But if you're going to take the chance, OK, put enough fuel on board so we have some options to go someplace where we can be serviced properly. And once you're on the ground, look, JetBlue flies into Hartford. It's not as if it's in the middle of nowhere and they have crews there.
You can't tell me they couldn't get a truck to back up there and dump those lavs. You can't tell me you couldn't get some access for some kind of sandwiches or food or water to those passengers that were on the airplane once they got into this mess.
So I'm really appalled by this. It puts a bad mark on the aviation industry and not necessarily because of something that you couldn't do anything about.
SAVIDGE: JetBlue is saying, Jim, that the passengers of 504 are not eligible for compensation. Do you think that, one, is it true? Who decides that, but could that change?
TILMON: I think the passengers on JetBlue's attorneys are going to determine whether or not they're eligible for compensation of any kind. I think they were treated in a terrible fashion, and I think the airline owes them a lot more than just a couple of bucks.
I think this is one of those cases where the passenger bill of rights really should be laid out and have it really affect that airline and any other airline that is thinking about doing something that's a no- brainer.
SAVIDGE: Jim Tilmon, pilot, retired, I should say, thanks very much for your insights
TILMON: Thank you, Martin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That little plan that I just shared with you doesn't force the Granite State to expand your tax footprint, if you know what I mean, like 9 percent expansion.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Rick Perry off the cuff and definitely very loose. There were many more of those moments and you will hear them next.
But, first, look at the Big Board, the Dow falling 200 points as we approach the closing bell. We will be right back.
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SAVIDGE: Back to Rick Perry. We showed you a clip of that freewheeling speech in New Hampshire. And we promised that we'd show you more. Well, here it is again, Texas Governor Rick Perry speaking Friday in Manchester, New Hampshire.
And he starts with something that sounds like an off-the-cuff raising plea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PERRY: I'm with her. Write your checks.
(LAUGHTER)
PERRY: Gold is good,if you have got any in the backyard, because, you know, if they print any more money there in Washington, the gold's going to be good. And she will take it.
(LAUGHTER)
PERRY: This is such a cool state. I mean, come on, live free or die? You have got to love that, right?
(APPLAUSE)
PERRY: I come -- I come from a state, you know, where they had this little place called the Alamo and they declared victory or death. We're kind of into those slogans, man. It's like live free or death, victory or death, bring it.
And our founding fathers were some of the first in the world to think about that concept and to put it into words, and they declared that our rights were endowed by our creator.
And among those were life -- I love it that they start with that one, Katherine (ph). I called it -- everybody's got a slogan, right? Mine's cut, balance and grow. Get that? Yes. Cut the size of this government and balance that budget and grow the economy, and it's pretty simple actually.
Or you can stay in the old system that's out there. And then senator -- the ones that want to stay in the old system, pay the lawyers, pay the accountants, all the money that's gone, or that. Think about it. You know, we spend half-a-trillion dollars a year in tax preparation.
Any accountants or tax lawyers out there, I'm sorry, dude, but that's too much money, a half-a-trillion dollars.
(LAUGHTER)
PERRY: And my plan is really pretty simple. It does deductions for the mortgage, deduction for charitable. Yes, you can keep that in there. And your state and local taxes are in there. You can put those on, $12,500 for every dependent that you have, and, you know, just pretty easy math. Subtract it, send it in. It's awesome.
Why not? That little plan that I just shared with you doesn't force the Granite State to expand your tax footprint, if you know what I mean, like 9 percent expansion.
(LAUGHTER)
PERRY: This little school I grew up in, it was called Paint Creek. And it was very small. As a matter of fact, the motto of the school was no dream too tall for a school so small.
(LAUGHTER)
PERRY: Yes. And, by the way, I graduated in the top 10 in my high school class.
(LAUGHTER)
PERRY: I don't -- was that on my resume?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Once again, that was Texas Governor Rick Perry speaking Friday evening in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Perry now has agreed to appear at our next CNN debate, and that is scheduled for the 22nd of November.
Time now for an America's choice 2012 politics update. Republican Herman Cain strongly denying a published report that he sexually harassed two former employees. And he says he knows nothing about reported payouts to his alleged accusers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In all of my over 40 years of business experience, running businesses and corporations, I have never sexually harassed anyone.
Number two, while at the Restaurant Association, I was accused of sexual harassment -- falsely accused, I might add. I was falsely accused of sexual harassment. And when the charges were brought, as the leader of the organization, I recused myself and allowed my general counsel and my human resource officer to deal with the situation.
And it was concluded after a thorough investigation that it had no basis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: CNN's chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, joins me now.
And, Gloria, did Herman Cain answer all the questions really surrounding these allegations?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, I don't think he did answer all of them. And I think he will have more questions as a result.
While he said that he knew about these charges, that he'd been falsely accused, he also told us he had recused himself as head of the association from any investigation, but he told us he didn't know about any payout.
Well, that kind of, if you ask me, strains a little credulity there. He knew that he had been cleared, but he didn't know there had been a payout? And of course the women ended up leaving, so he might have noticed that.
SAVIDGE: Well, what is this going to do to his campaign? There are those who, of course, are going to be critical, but there are others who are going to really rally.
BORGER: Absolutely. I think that evangelicals would be a good place to start. I believe that they will rally around him because he's denied all of these charges, and they will rally around him forcefully. They will blame the media or other campaigns or whomever else. I mean, this is a candidate who said today that he has a target on his back.
But, let me say this. If this unravels on Herman Cain and things become known that are not known now, I believe evangelicals would turn on him with a great deal of force. So I think this is a very tricky situation. I think the other campaigns stay far away from this right now, but obviously if something were to happen to Herman Cain that would be good for Rick Perry, the man you just showed a few moments ago.
So, for now, I think, Martin, this kind of freezes the race as people watch how Mr. Cain and his campaign extricate themselves from this problem.
SAVIDGE: A lot of people will be watching, including us. Gloria Borger, thanks very much.
BORGER: You bet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Stunning video. It shows life inside a boot camp for at- risk kids. Tough love, or just plain too tough? Decide for yourself.
Plus, mother finds her teenage daughter stabbed after a home invasion. She later died. Now investigators say coins could be the biggest clue to solving her murder. Sunny Hostin is "On the Case," and that is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: Coins may be the clue that solves the brutal murder of a 14- year-old girl. Police think that Kelly O'Laughlin came home from school last Thursday and walked in on a burglar. She was found by her mother and was rushed to the hospital. But Kelly died of multiple stab wounds. Sunny Hostin is "On the Case." Sunny, how could a set of coins, something like that, solve a killing like this?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, these rare coins, Martin, were stolen from the home. And when I say rare, I mean rare. There's apparently one $10 gaming token commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel. So those folks that have these coins could possibly be implicated in her murder.
This is just good old-fashioned police work. They've contacted pawnshops in the area. They've contacted local coin shops. And this could very well lead to many, many leads in this case.
SAVIDGE: Well, I understand the police have been questioning a man suspected of at least one burglary in the area over the summer. So I'm wondering, you know, are they looking at him as a possible suspect here, or do you just bring him in because of what happened in the past?
HOSTIN: Well, he isn't a prime suspect, is my understanding, martin, but they are looking at him. He is part of the investigation. He is in custody right now on a warrant related to something else, but not the prime suspect, but certainly part of the investigation.
SAVIDGE: We'll wait and see how that develops. In the meantime, we've all seen talk shows featuring boot camps for troubled kids. But some disturbing video from one of those camps is raising a lot more than just eyebrows. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Sunny, that video has prompted an investigation in Pasadena, California. What kind of charges could these people involved in this video face is it criminal child abuse?
HOSTIN: No question about it. It's just so clear. And look how disturbing there video is. And I'm certain that we don't have all of the information and all of the evidence of things that happened here to this child and to others.
It's -- I see that it's very clearly criminal child abuse. We're talking about willful cruelty, that would be something that would be considered in California. The other thing is unlawful corporal punishment. I mean, you've got not one, not two, but four people, adults really screaming at this child.
I think there's part of the video where you hear this sort of blood- curdling scream coming from the child. It's really just unbelievable. When I take my lawyer hat off and put my mommy hat on, it's just infuriating. And we've seen so many teens be abused in these boot camps, and some have died. There was a government report done a couple of years ago, and there were 10 instances reported where children died in these sorts of circumstances. So we can't sort of overemphasize how cruel and unjust some of the behavior that we're seeing on this video is.
SAVIDGE: No doubt about that at all. Sunny Hostin, thank you very much for joining us.
Just hours from now, NATO's mission in Libya will be over. Seven months and thousands of air strikes later, NATO will stop its operation against Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
CNN's Matthew Chance just landed in Tripoli after flying there with NATO's military leader. What he has to say about the milestone, that's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: The NATO operation in Libya has just a few hours left to run. Today NATO's military leader, its secretary-general, touched down in Tripoli to mark the occasion. Our Matthew Chance has returned today to Tripoli as well. He was on that flight with NATO's Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Matthew, is NATO declaring mission accomplished, a success?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly what they're declaring. They're saying this is one of the biggest successes for the western alliance in its recent history. It's much more clean in terms of the in and out than, for instance, Afghanistan has been or Iraq was. And so they're very kind of self-satisfied about that.
Take a listen to what Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary-general of NATO, had to say when I spoke to him on the aircraft that took us both from NATO headquarters in Brussels to here, the Libyan capital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: We have been are to protect civilians and that nation has been a great massacre. We have saved countless lives. We have fulfilled the United Nations mandate. That was our mission, and we have gotten what we promised to get.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: Libyan leaders, though, expressing some concern that NATO may be leaving too soon. They're still very worried about the threats posed by different factions, possibly Gadhafi supporters mustering themselves and posing a security threat as well. But NATO is adamant they are in two-and-a-half hours from now approximately ending their mission in the skies over Libya, Marty.
SAVIDGE: Matthew, The country's new leaders are saying they found some of Gadhafi's chemical weapons. I guess we can assume now that they are in safe hands?
CHANCE: Well, they certainly will be, that's right. The prime minister of the country, Mahmoud Jibril, is saying that chemical weapons stores have been located in the country. The international authorities have been informed according to the interim government here in Libya, and inspectors are expected to come to Libya to deal with the issue later this week. And so that's something that's solved a lot of concern.
It is one of the big concerns of NATO also. I spoke to the secretary- general about this, that if there are any weapons, caches, around the country, arms dumps, they should be brought under control very quickly.
SAVIDGE: Matthew Chance reporting from Libya, thanks very much.
Back home, one senator should be, quote, "locked up." That's what heartthrob Justin Bieber is saying about a Minnesota Democrat is saying on music. I'll tell you what she's pushing that would affect the industry and how she's responding to the Bieber.
Plus, find out how the White House is celebrating Halloween. That will be next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: "Political Pop" time, and today is talking about a pop star who is talking politics, sort of. Justin Bieber says he wants a United States senator locked up in jail. Well, it might be a bit oversimplified. But listen to what the recording superstar told a radio show on the subject of an antipiracy bill sponsored by Amy Klobuchar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN BIEBER, SINGER: That guy needs to be locked up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a she. That's how you got your start.
BIEBER: She needs to be -- whoever she is, she needs to know that I'm saying she needs to be locked up. Put away the cuffs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Senator Klobuchar sponsors the legislation making it a felony to illegally screen copyrighted music like music. We're not sure if Justin Bieber is fully up to speed on this issue since he initially, as you heard, referred to the senator as a man. The senator's office responded saying the YouTube star has nothing to fear from her bill that goes after people who make money from stealing online content.
They celebrated Halloween a little early at the White House this year. The president, the first lady, and Mrs. Obama's mother handed out treats Saturday to children from around the D.C. area. In case you're wondering what the first family give trick-or-treaters -- a butter shaped cookie that looks like the White House, M&Ms in a box with the presidential seal, and a mix of dried fruit.
High school football can be fiercely competitive, but two schools took their rivalry to a whole new level, and it's on all the video sites. Stick around for this.
Plus, 72 days, that's how long Kim Kardashian and her new husband lasted. They said it wouldn't last. They're getting a divorce. Find out why and how much money they made from the wedding they just had.
And Lisa Respers France is live in studio. She'll join me next. But first, in case you're wondering, there are many other Hollywood couples that didn't quite make it to their first anniversary. According to "Marie Claire," Drew Barrymore and Tom Green, they lasted just five months, Renee Zellweger and country star Kenny Chesney, Lisa Marie Pressley and Nicholas Cage three months, Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman, nine days. Up next the marriages that lasted two days and six hours. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: Back now with the list of the shortest celebrity marriages according to "Marie Claire," the source. Britney Spears and her childhood sweetheart marrying for two days after getting hitched in Vegas. Remember that. But taking the cake, Italian actor Bruno Valentino spent six hours in newlywed bliss with American actress Jean Aker. She was apparently locked out of honeymoon suite.
"THE SITUATION ROOM" starts in just a couple minutes. Wolf Blitzer joins me now for a preview of what's ahead. Wolf?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": We are going to spend some time look at these accusations that were leveled by "Politico" at Herman Cain. He's the Republican presidential front-runner right now not only in many of these national polls among registered Republicans, but certainly even in Iowa statically in a dead heat right now with Mitt Romney.
So Herman Cain responded vociferously today over at the National Press Club. We are going in-depth, we're taking a look at the accusations. We got one of the reporters from "Politico," he is standing by live to break a lot of this down.
We're getting reaction, by the way, from the other Republican campaigns, from sources all over the place. We are going to spend a lot of time taking a closer look at the nature of these allegations, what that mean, what could t could mean for Herman Cain's presidential campaign.
We're all over the day's other important news as well, some dramatic developments happening in Libya, the end of the NATO mission, for example. We're going to Pakistan. So we got some big news, all that coming up, Martin right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
SAVIDGE: All right, we'll come watch. Thanks very much, Wolf Blitzer.
Everybody remembers, you know, the big high school rivals, just who they were. Well, there just isn't any evidence left of the smack talking you did years ago before the big games. Fast forward now to 2011, and you've got the defending Georgia State football champs and they are playing their national ranked rivals in the suburban Atlanta area in a rivalry that has gone absolutely viral. It is trending today.
Lisa Respers France from CNN.com is here with the video. My daughter pointed this out to me. I think it was Saturday maybe. These two videos are great. LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN.COM ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCER: It is a lot of fun. Grayson High school students decided to produce their hip-hop video. And they brought it to their rival high school and it's totally gone viral.
SAVIDGE: Let's take a clip at it right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: That was all done by students.
FRANCE: By students. And it was amazing. I saw you dancing a little bit.
SAVIDGE: First of all, it's very catchy, very well shot. I would say they deliver it.
FRANCE: They absolutely delivered it. Grayson was not to be outdone. They responded and I think we have a little bit of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: If you haven't seen these, I encourage people to go to the web at look at them, because they are really catchy.
FRANCE: A lot of fun.
SAVIDGE: All right, I've got some time, so I want to talk to you about the whole Kardashian thing. She filed for divorce today.
FRANCE: Yes, she has.
SAVIDGE: Is that a heartbreaker for you?
(LAUGHTER)
FRANCE: It was only 72 days. It went by so quickly. And the special was on this weekend of their wedding. So you got to see them get married this weekend.
SAVIDGE: This is the thing. How much money did they make?
FRANCE: Like over $17 million reportedly. They made a lot off of that wedding, a lot. But alas, it did not last at all.
And Kim actually released a statement. She apparently is sad about it. She says that "After careful consideration I have decided to end my marriage. I hope everyone understands this was not an easy decision. I hoped this marriage was not forever, but sometimes things don't work out as planned. We remain friends and wish each other the best." Don't we always though?
SAVIDGE: It was so heartfelt.
FRANCE: Yes, straight from the gut.
SAVIDGE: In fact, let's go back to the football game. There was a -- they actually played the game. Those two teams and I would be remiss if I didn't ask, you have a final score?
FRANCE: Yes, Grayson took it over, they beat them 14-7 in the final moments. Final seconds of the game. Even though I thought, I thought Brookwood was going it pull it out.
SAVIDGE: But thanks to the web, though, their rivalry is going to live on forever. I think they had several hundred thousand hits already.
SAVIDGE: Yes, YouTube is loving it.
FRANCE: I bet they are. That's good. Thanks very much for joining us.
SAVIDGE: Thank you.
FRANCE: Let's go to Karina Huber now. She's at the stock exchange. Karina, what's with the Dow? I thought we were doing good.
KARINA HUBER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, I know. We're seeing a really sharp sell off today, and it's getting worse as the minutes end. We're about four minutes to the end of the trading session. And the Dow is down by 233 points, just a drop of almost two percent, same thing for the other indices.
What's happening, a couple things in plan. First of all we saw that Japan intervened. They want to lower the value of the yen against other currencies because a lot of investors had been flocking toward the yen as a safe-haven bet as would he have uncertainty of the U.S. and Europe.
Of course, that is not good for their manufacturers. So they have stepped in. That caused the dollar it really rise. And that's not good for commodities, which a lot of them are trading in for U.S. dollars. So we are seeing a pull back from commodity related shares like ExxonMobil and Chevron as well as Alcoa.
And the financials are also being hit hard today. This is partial because investors have taken the time to really digest what European leaders said last week about solving the debt crisis in Europe. And not their not convinced that this could be a fix all. So a little bit of uncertainty there.
At the same time, MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection. This is a firm headed by John Corzine. It was really a leader in the derivatives and the commodities trading market. What's happened is they were very exposed to sovereign debt, which they bought last year. And they gambled. They hoped it could pay off to the upside, but in fact it hasn't. So they filed for bankruptcy protection, the first major securities firm to go down due to big write-offs on the value of European bonds. And so that is causing some jitters today. Martin?
SAVIDGE: October was doing really well. Is this down day going to change that.
HUBER: At the beginning of the trading session this morning, we were up for about 12 percent for the Dow, the NASDAQ, and S&P 500. We are down now by about two percent. So we're still going to see a very strong month for October.
And the good news is a lot of the market geeks who look back the stocks traded over 100 years ago, they look at the algorithms throughout history, they say this is a normal year. Based on the economic data, we're continuing to look better than expected, as we saw the gdp data and hopefully the jobs report Friday is a good one. If we seek continued growth in the U.S. then we could November and December could be descent months for the stock market. Traditionally it is a good period, those two months. So hopefully we will see positive gains for 2011.
SAVIDGE: Karina Huber, thanks very much.
Now, tomorrow's news today. Let's fast forward. GOP presidential candidates, pay attention. The deadline to get your name on the ballot for the Republican primary in South Carolina is tomorrow. Mark that on your calendar. Whoever wins that race has gone on to become the nominee for president.
And then coaching legend Pat Summit, begins her 38th season with the University of Tennessee women's basketball team. This summer, Summit, who is 59, reveals she suffers from early onset of dementia.
And then rapper 50 Cent's new book is coming out. Playground is a young adult novel inspired, he says, from the days when he himself was the bully.
"THE SITUATION ROOM" begins right now with Wolf Blitzer, who is standing by. Wolf?
BLITZER: Martin, thanks very much.
