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U.S. Debt Now Equal to GDP; IAEA Confirms Iran is Enriching Uranium; Over-the Counter Drugs Being Recalled; Campaigning In New Hampshire; Calls For An Obama-Clinton Ticket; Checking The Truth-O- Meter; Girl Scouts Teach Smart Money
Aired January 09, 2012 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Ashleigh Banfield, in for Suzanne Malveaux.
Let's get you to up speed. Shall we?
We are counting down to the first primary of the presidential race. The New Hampshire primary just a day away, and the Republican candidates are scrambling for those last-minute votes.
All right. Ready to go around the horn.
Mitt Romney campaigning in Hudson, New Hampshire. Polls are showing him with a sizeable lead over his nearest rival.
The latest tracking poll by 7 News and Suffolk University shows Romney at 33 percent, followed by Ron Paul at 20 percent. Jon Huntsman coming in at third, with 13 percent. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum trailing behind them. And then there is, of course, Perry, at one percent. He's not even there.
Gas prices are up. Didn't have to tell you, did I?
Nationwide, the average cost per gallon, $3.36. And that's 12 cents more than it was just about three weeks ago. Analysts say the prices are expected to continue to rise. Sorry. In part because Iran continues to threaten to closing of the Strait of Hormuz, which is a vital waterway for global oil shipment.
Also with Iran still. A court there has convicted an American man of spying. And get this -- they have sentenced him to death.
Amir Hekmati is an ex-Marine born in Arizona, raised in Michigan. His family says the 28-year-old was arrested in August when he was visiting his granny and some other relatives in Iran. And they say his televised confession had to have been coerced.
And let's stick with Iran, shall we? Lots of news about that country.
The president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez today. Despite the cultural differences between the two, Venezuela and Iran have certainly found some common ground. Both of them are among the world's top crude oil exporters, and their leaders are strong allies united by a wicked opposition to what they call American imperialism. The Iranian president is also scheduled to visit Nicaragua, Ecuador and also Cuba a little later on this week.
Got a live event for you. Want to take you to the White House.
I love these pictures and I love these stories.
The NBC Dallas Mavericks champions, they are on their way to the White House today, being honored for their 2011 championship, being recognized for their work with the U.S. armed forces. If you didn't know this, since 2004, the Mavs have been taking part in the annual Seat for Soldiers. It's great. Basically, what they do is they ask season ticket holders to donate their front row seats to the games, and then they give them to the U.S. military personnel, which is very nice.
By the way, at this live event that you're watching, when you see the Mavs all lining up and going in there, this dude is not going to be there. Delonte West says he was "banned" from going to the White House. Apparently, during one of those pesky routine background checks, the president's security team discovered that had he been arrested on weapons charges back in '09.
Bummer. So he won't be going.
All right. Don't know about you, but if you're a thrill seeker, this might change things for you. It might make you forget all about that.
Fantasy of bungee jumping, it looks fun, doesn't it? But watch the cord. Oh, that is not good.
And you can tell that the folks on the bridge are swearing. In Zimbabwe, a woman's bungee cord snapping about 30 yards over the river. This isn't the only scary part. If you think that's bad, she's OK. She actually survived that, but the water was infested with crocodiles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It went black straight away. And I felt like I had been slapped all over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: That's the least of her worries. So she had to swim downstream with her legs still bound together. Look at the injuries that she sustained. But guess what? Nothing major, and she lived to tell us all about it.
If that didn't blow your mind, here's something else. Our national debt is now equal to our GDP. Yeah! You've got to think about it for a second.
Now stop thinking about it, OK? Because the value of all of the goods and services that we produce in a year measures about $15.2 trillion, and that is as of September. But our debt now tops $15.2 trillion.
Got to get Alison Kosik back here from New York. She's at the Stock Exchange.
First of all, that just looks like if you owe $100 on your credit card, and you only make $100, you're in some trouble. Is that what this is all about?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's really good. You hit it right on the head there, Ashleigh.
But I want to tell you, we're at this level, and nothing magically happens when we hit this level. It's not like, you know, Cinderella turning into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight. But what is important is that it's kind of psychologically important.
Really, if you ask me, it should be a kick in the butt for lawmakers, for policymakers, because if you look at the other countries that are sitting in the same situation, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Ireland, do they sound familiar? They should. Greece, Ireland and Italy got bailouts and are dragging down all of Europe. Iceland -- Iceland went bankrupt a few years ago.
Now, it's not expected to get that bad here, Ashleigh, but it shows what is possible when your budget is just not right -- Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: So I have this sinking suspicion that the candidates are going to jump all over this and have some fun with it. But what really got us to this point?
KOSIK: Yes. And you're right about that. They're jumping all over it.
And what got us to this point? You know what? Some of it is habit, too much spending. Some of it is circumstance, the recession.
You look at what happened in the early part of the decade, the Bush tax cuts. They reduced revenue while the war on terrorism and Medicare prescription drug benefits, those increased spending. And of course it was all financed by borrowing.
And then of course the recession hits. The recession hit and bailouts followed. Bailouts for banks, for automakers, for mortgage services. And now, guess what? The U.S. is in debt up to its eyeballs -- Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Boy, I'll say. And so, for those who sort of catch the news now and again, and maybe don't follow it every day like you and I do, Congress has been at it. They have been at each other. They have been taking to the mike about what they are doing or not doing do reduce the deficit.
Where do we stand in those debt reduction efforts?
KOSIK: OK. So here's the first effort that's going to take effect.
One trillion dollars in automatic spending cuts, those kick in next year. That's kind of the byproduct of the super committee from last fall, their failure, sort of the aftermath. But clearly, it's not enough money.
Experts say debt is expected to rise from $15 trillion to $23 trillion in the next 10 years. Clearly, spending needs to be slashed, more revenue needs to be coming in. And experts say it has to be both. You just can't have one without the other. But obviously that's not popular. You know, it would mean higher taxes, and you know how everybody reacts to higher taxes, and overhauling big benefit programs like Medicaid and Social Security.
So those are clearly not popular measures, and that's why it's so difficult to get a handle on this -- Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Well, let's just hope that we gear up that GDP in the next 10 years so it's not quite as tough a pill to swallow.
KOSIK: I hear you.
BANFIELD: Thank you, Alison Kosik. Nice to see you.
KOSIK: Sure.
BANFIELD: This is your chance to "Talk Back."
While Republicans are picking their ticket for the White House, some Democrats are pushing for a very different ticket in 2012, talking about a President Obama/Vice President Hillary Clinton ticket. So what do you think about that?
In today's "New York Times," Bill Keller has an opinion column where he says, "Hillary Clinton would bring a warmth and enthusiasm to the Obama candidacy." And he writes this: "Number one, it does more to guarantee Obama's re-election than anything else the Democrats can do. Number two it improves the chances that come next January, he will not be a lame duck with a gridlocked Congress, but a rejuvenated president with a mandate and a Congress that may be a little bit less forbidding. And number three, it makes Hillary the party's heir apparent in 2016."
Mr. Keller is not the first person to suggest that Hillary Clinton could be on that ticket.
And we definitely want to hear from you. What do you think of that? Do you think an Obama/Hillary Clinton ticket would be good in 2012?
You can leave your comments on Suzanne Malveaux's Facebook page, because I'm just filling in for her. This is her show and that is her Facebook page. So go, Facebook.com/SuzanneCNN. And we're going to air some of your comments a little bit later on in this hour.
And that's not all. We are here for you, my friend.
Coming up in about 20 minutes from now, we are going to actually talk to Bill Keller -- he's the man who actually wrote that column in "The New York Times" -- and get his take, a little bit deeper, on why he thinks this may or may not actually work.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: We have some breaking news just into CNN right now. You have been hearing all along that Iran has been suspected of enriching uranium, and now our Ivan Watson, who is reporting on this.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has actually confirmed to you, Ivan, that Iran is in fact enriching uranium. What have you found out?
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Ashleigh, this is a statement coming from the spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, Gill Tudor. And he just sent me an e-mail saying that the IAEA can confirm "that Iran has started the production of uranium enriched up to 20 percent at some of its centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant." He goes on to say that, "All nuclear material in the facility remains under the agency's containment and surveillance."
Now, this comes after Iranian newspapers reported over the weekend, announced that it would resume, it would begin uranium enrichment at this facility, which is believed to be buried in the mountains in a military facility near the Iranian holy city of Qom. And just coming roughly at the same time that Iran announced that it would be willing to conduct negotiations about its very controversial nuclear program with P-5 plus one countries, Western countries, Europe, the U.S. as well.
The last round of talks between Iran and these governments last year which was held here in Istanbul ended in dismal failure. So Iran sending contradictory messages right now. Again, about its very controversial enrichment program -- Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: But Ivan, my suspicion here --
WATSON: It also says that this is for medical purposes.
BANFIELD: I don't want to interrupt you, but my suspicion here, exactly what you were just saying, is that this is not going to be something that's difficult to spin for the Iranians because they've been saying all along that even this second site that has been enriching uranium with its centrifuges have been all for cancer purposes and for medical research.
So this won't be a difficult thing for them to swallow, this news?
WATSON: No. That's right. And this has been a crux of the dispute, really, where Tehran has always insisted that it is conducting uranium enrichment for peaceful civilian needs.
It says this plant, it would be used for treating cancer patients, hundreds and thousands of them. And the issue is that Western governments are very suspicious because Iran has hidden some of these uranium enrichment facilities in the past and fear very much that Iran is trying to build some kind of a nuclear weapon, charges that Iran has consistently denied -- Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: All right. Ivan, excellent work. Nice reporting, and good work getting your contact at the IAEA to give you that confirmation today.
We'll continue check in with you. But right now I want to move way over to the west of you, into Syria, because the opposition activists in Syria are saying that seven more people were killed there just today.
This is some video that was posted online, and it shows anti- government protests on the streets of Homs. That car was in the middle of them, it's supposedly filled with Arab League observers present.
You can see them. They surround the Arab League's own vehicle, and yet the violence continues. Thousands of people reportedly killed by security forces, and all of this despite the increased national pressure to cut this out.
Our Nic Robertson is in Damascus with a look at the mass funerals that have been held in the Syrian capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Passions were very high. People were very angry, they were very afraid. A lot of people were coming and showing us what they said were bullet wounds, bird shot wounds, as well as some people showed us where they said they had been shot by forces loyal to the government.
Yet, at the same time, in the center of Damascus today, we've seen large pro-government rallies. People telling us that they love President Bashar al-Assad.
What is happening here is this country is dividing, it's polarizing. People are believing opposite things.
Some believe that the president is the right man for the country. There are others that don't. They are not talking to each other, and this is really leading to a much more divided country than it was even a few months ago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: And what's incredible about this is that Nic Robertson has been able to actually get into Syria. First of all, that was an accomplishment in itself. He's getting a first-hand look at the situation there because he's accompanying the Arab League monitors as they fan out throughout that country to do whatever it is they are doing and to try to quash whatever violence they can. But as we've been seeing and hearing, that's not going over so well.
Coming up in a minute, we know that driving while drunk is dangerous. But what about driving with a cold? It's a bit weird. We've got some interesting information for you coming ahead. And also, you need to stick around for a recall notification, because the stuff that's being recalled is likely something that you take on a kind of regular basis. You ought to check your medicine cabinet. We'll have it in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: OK. I want to get you back to the White House.
Remember we showed you live pictures just a few moments ago. Look. President Obama has got a jersey from the Mavericks, and he just squashed it up before you had a chance to see it.
But there is Mark Cuban, hoisting the trophy for the Dallas Mavs. These are the 2012 champions.
And remember when I told you that Delonte West had a background check, one of the players who's not in that group right now? He had some gun issues in his past. It turns out that he could be in that picture, but I think there may have been a communication gap between his camp and the White House, because the White House says he could have joined Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, and I'm going to stop there because I don't know the other players. He could have been there, and he's not. He was sending out the tweet saying he was banned, but apparently the White House was going to let him be there.
So, congratulations to the Dallas Mavs. You all look beautiful in your refinery.
And there's Mark Cuban, just so thrilled. Can you imagine being in his position and being all that rich?
All right. Let's move on to a medical story, because this one is really important. Drugs that are probably in your medicine cabinet are being recalled. And Elizabeth Cohen and I were talking about it this morning.
There is actually an update to this story, though, right?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The FDA had a press conference just this morning.
BANFIELD: Oh, OK. What happened?
COHEN: And so when you and I talked earlier, we thought, well, there might be some Bufferin in your Excedrin, or there might be some NoDoz in your GasX, all over-the-counter products. What the FDA said is, at this facility where they might have had these confusions, they were also making a prescription painkiller, an opioid painkiller.
BANFIELD: Oh, OK.
COHEN: And it is possible -- they didn't say it did happen, but it's possible that some of that might have gotten into one of these over- the-counter drugs.
BANFIELD: So I was making this big joke at about 5:00 this morning --
COHEN: Right.
BANFIELD: -- and I said, "Oh, does that mean one of my Xanax is going to be in a Bufferin?" And there was no chance for that, but --
COHEN: It's not Xanax. It's Opana.
BANFIELD: A controlled substance?
COHEN: It's an opioid painkiller. It's a heavy-duty -- you take it for 24-hour, around-the-clock pain relief.
BANFIELD: This is scary.
COHEN: Yes. And again, it may not have happened, but there's a possibility that it might have happened. And so that's one of the reasons they shut down this plant in Nebraska.
BANFIELD: So, I get it when there's a recall, and it could have been just a broken tablet or a mixed up tablet, the GasX got into the Bufferin. But when it's this serious, what can they do short of putting it on the news like this to make sure that someone doesn't get really hurt?
COHEN: Well, you know, what they're supposed to do is the FDA is supposed to inspect these sites and let them know when, hey, things aren't really up to standards. And when we looked back on it, we found documents showing that they have been inspecting these Novartis plants in Nebraska and elsewhere. And the FDA has been citing them and has been saying you're doing this wrong and that wrong.
For example, they said recently that they weren't properly cleaning their equipment so that they couldn't ensure sterility. I mean, they've really been having problems, and a couple months ago, the FDA told Novartis to kind of get their act together but it appears there are issues.
BANFIELD: OK. So if I'm the consumer and I'm definitely planning to take my Bufferin back, will I know the difference in the look of the pill if I see something in there?
COHEN: You know, not necessarily. What you want to go by is the expiration date.
So if you look in your cabinet and you see some Excedrin or some NoDoz, if it expired 12/20/2014, December 20, 2014, or earlier, that means you should take it back to get a refund. I mean, that is pretty far out there in the future, so if you have got it in your cabinet, it's a good chance it's that expiration date or earlier. And for Bufferin and GasX it's December 20, 2013, or earlier.
So, if you have those, take it back. And if you go to the store, don't buy it.
BANFIELD: Don't buy it. And tell the store that they've got to get their act in gear and clear it from shelves.
COHEN: Right. I mean, I was telling you that I actually went to go buy medicine for my daughter once, not this medicine, but another medicine, and recalled products were still on the shelf. I mean, I could have just picked it up and bought it.
BANFIELD: All right. Well, "Empowered Patient." I'm glad you write about it.
COHEN: Right, CNN.com/empoweredpatient. If you didn't get those dates, go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient. It's all there.
BANFIELD: Good. Elizabeth, thank you for that. Thanks for the update. Do appreciate it.
Other news. This is a bit weird.
We all know that you can't drink and drive. If you've been having too much to drink, it's dangerous, it's irresponsible. But had you ever thought about getting behind the wheel when you have a cold?
There's some new research out there. A team, backed by two British insurance companies, claiming that driving with a cold can be equivalent -- are you ready for this? Sit down -- the equivalent of four double shots of whisky.
According to the study, sick drivers have a diminished reaction time and a lot of trouble negotiating curves. Very bizarre. However, we all know there are no laws against driving while sick.
He used to run "The New York Times," and he thinks that it's time for that woman and that man to be on a ticket together for 2012. Is it possible? Bill Keller is going to join me live to talk about what some of the possibilities are for 2012 and what others are calling a dream ticket. It's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Got a rundown for some of the stories that we're working on here at CNN.
Coming up next, the candidates are stumping through New Hampshire a day before the nation's first primary contest. We're going to look at who's ahead, who's catching up, who's kind of not really even there.
And who can you blame for the sticker shock at the gas pump? Well, how about Iran? In part, any way.
Also, later on, some good Samaritans come to the rescue of a drowning driver in Miami's Biscayne Bay. Just the wheels up, folks, and he got out alive thank to some great folks who helped that man out.
I want to take you to a couple of live events that we've been monitoring since this is "America's Choice 2012," the place for politics. Rick Perry, on your left, he is at a live event right now in Greenville, South Carolina. No, my friends, he is not in New Hampshire. He skipped it. He's only at one percent in some of the polls there, so he's in a whole other state getting ready and gearing up for next week's primary there.
But on your right is Tim Pawlenty, who is warming up the crowd for Mitt Romney. Now, he is in New Hampshire, and he is at an event where he's expecting, believe it or not, to do a media availability.
This doesn't always happen, folks. It's usually just for the candidates, and not for the media. But we're expecting Mitt Romney after Tim Pawlenty to perhaps address some of these issues that have been pretty serious about the attacks on his former company, Bain, and the kinds of people that were put out of work.
There's a big old super PAC ad that is coming out, Newt Gingrich just attacking the kind of business that Mitt Romney was involved when he was head of Bain Capital. And I think that may be possibly why Mitt Romney has decided to talk with the press and try to meet that head on.
Boy, these super PACs are ugly, aren't they? But that's politics, folks. Mitt Romney is the odds-on favorite in tomorrow's New Hampshire primary. The polls are giving him a lead with just one day to go.
The latest poll by 7 News and Suffolk University shows Romney at 33 percent, Paul at 20 percent, Huntsman at 13 percent. But Huntsman is in the second-place position in another poll. If you look at Newt Gingrich, he's at 11 and Santorum and Perry bringing up the pack. Perry barely even placing there.
Why don't we go back actually to Hudson because Jim Acosta is live there? He's watching Tim Pawlenty as he warms up the crowd, so to speak.
This is a fabulous race to watch and if you those polls, those polls are getting slimmer and slimmer.
Are you having a tough time hearing me? Why I don't let you go ahead and give me a one-two on what we can expect from Mitt Romney as he -- I think he will take the stage soon.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh, he will be in this factor in just a few moments.
As you mentioned, one of his top surrogates, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is warming up the crowd right now. But make no mistake, the Romney campaign is reeling somewhat from some comments that Romney has made over the last couple of days.
I want to take you back to a comment that he made earlier this morning. He was asked about his health care plan that he passed when he was governor of Massachusetts. It's a plan that requires people in that state to buy health insurance. Mitt Romney was trying to explain why he thinks that's a good system, so people have the ability to choose between the companies that are out there providing insurance.
And then he made a comment that a lot of people are seizing on today. I want to play that for you and then talk about it on the other side. Let's hear what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. It also means that if you don't like what they do, you can fire them.
I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. If someone doesn't give me the good service I need, I want to say that if -- I'm going to get somebody else to provide that service to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now you heard that comment right in the middle there. I like to be able to fire people. His rivals in this race out here, Ashleigh, have seized on that comment even though it's being taken out of context somewhat.
They're seizing on it because of another comment that Mitt Romney said yesterday, where he talked about how he has feared getting a pink slip over the course of his lifetime. Of course, that struck a lot of people as odd because he has had had a pretty privileged life. He's the son of a former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who was a presidential candidate, ran the American Motor Company.
And so Romney has lived a pretty cushy life by most estimates that most Americans would have. Right now his rivals are starting to seize on those comments and Rick Perry earlier today said of course Mitt Romney worried about pink slips and he was worried about running out of them.
Jon Huntsman earlier this morning seizing on those comments about firing people saying that Mitt Romney likes to fire people. Me, Jon Huntsman, I like to hire people. I like to create jobs.
It's been a difficult 24 hours for the former Massachusetts governor. Whether any of this is capable of slowing him down in this state, I think that's a tough challenge. I think he will sake out of here with a victory, could be a slimmer victory than he first anticipated in part because of these comments -- Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Sure. Those polls were upwards of 42 just after Iowa.
I'm always fascinated to watch who is doing the warming up and who is standing side by side on the stump because that former Minnesota governor, Tim Pawlenty, has a real family values bent to his conversations when he goes in front of a crowd with Mitt Romney. His wife, I believe, was wearing a cross at one of the last events and they always use the terms families values.
And I bring that up because this man is doing real, real good in New Hampshire but he is headed to South Carolina and in South Carolina, the Tea Partiers are not big on him and also the evangelicals are somewhat circumspect about the whole Mormon thing. He likes to try to ally himself with the other candidates and call it family values rather than religion.
ACOSTA: Well, I'm not so sure about that distinction, although I think they are talking a lot about family values.
Let's face it, Mitt Romney, he faced this issue four years ago. He made that big speech down at Texas A&M talking about his Mormon faith. I think having been out here covering this campaign, I have not heard this issue come up a great deal. That is not to say that it doesn't come up. It likely will come up down in South Carolina.
But if you look at that recent CNN/"TIME"/ORC poll, Mitt Romney is doing pretty well in South Carolina and also among evangelical Christians. It's possible he's been able to change some of those attitudes about his faith, change some of those questions about whether or not he can bridge that divide between his faith and evangelical Christians. But it's going to be an interesting thing to watch, no question.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: I want to give you a chance to spin around and take a look at the candidate and let's have our viewers listen in on Mitt Romney's campaign stop.
(BEGIN LIVE SPEECH)
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
ROMNEY: Thank you, Jack, for welcoming me here today.
Mrs. Gilchrist (ph).
Now, your son's name was Andrew?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stewart (ph).
ROMNEY: Stewart. That is close.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMNEY: Stewart and Jackson, good to see you guys. And appreciate your being here as well.
I care very deeply about the country and I care very deeply about the people who work in America. I'm very concerned that over the last three years, you have seen America experience a very difficult time.
This has not been a continuation of America's greatness from the past. I think it's been more of a detour than the destiny of America. I actually think the president has tried, but I think he's failed. And I think if you look at what he promised during his campaign and look at what has been delivered over the last three years, you recognize that he has not been able to succeed in helping the American people.
He set the bogey for himself. He said, look, I'm going to borrow $780 billion and I'm going to get the economy going and keep unemployment below 8 percent.
We have had 35 months with unemployment above 8 percent. He has failed to get Americans back to work and the median income in America over the last four years has dropped by 10 percent, middle-income families having a hard time making ends meet because incomes are down and the cost of health care and food and gasoline up.
At the same time, the president has not done much of a job with our government spending. Not only has he failed the American worker. He's failed those who are going to pay the bills in the future, our kids, by racking up larger and larger deficits.
As you know, this marks the day where the total debt of the United States of America now equals the size of our total economy. That means if you add up every dollar that represents a good or service produced in this country, it now equals the debt that we owe.
This president has put in place as much public debt as all the prior presidents combined. Or he will have done that by the end of his first term -- and, by the way, his only term in my view. And...
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: And he said on "The Today Show" just after being inaugurated, that if he couldn't get this economy turned around in three years, he would be looking at a one-term proposition.
Well, we're here to collect. It's time for us to replace this president and get somebody in office who knows how to balance budgets. And I will balance the budget because I fundamentally believe it is wrong, it is not moral for us to keep spending more money than we take in.
(END LIVE SPEECH)
BANFIELD: OK, seriously, if you have covered politics, you have heard that line from Mitt Romney about 40 times since Tuesday, that I'm here to collect. But that's the way it works on a stump. You are going from community to community and you need to sell that message.
And that's what Mr. Romney is doing right now. And Mr. Perry, Rick Perry, is nowhere near that state. He decided to skip New Hampshire altogether. He is Greenville, South Carolina, on the stump down there. He just amscrayed altogether because he's doing much better in that state than he is in New Hampshire. He is polling at about 1 percent in New Hampshire. It might not be such a bad campaign idea to put more eggs in that basket than the basket where Mitt Romney is speaking right now.
And, by the way, you have probably heard people talking about the possibility of a 2012 ticket President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Now they are putting it in print, too. The former executive editor of "The New York Times" wrote a pretty significant column about it and he is my guest coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: You have probably heard the rumors and the buzz, but now the former editor of "The New York Times" says that it's time for some are calling a Democratic dream team, Obama/Clinton 2012.
If that sounds crazy to you, maybe not so much.
Bill Keller joins me live now from New York.
It's nice to see you. Thanks for doing this, Bill.
BILL KELLER, FORMER EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Thanks for inviting me.
BANFIELD: So here's my question to you. For a lot of people that sounds great. And for a lot of people that doesn't sound great. Can you weigh the pros and cons of this for me?
KELLER: Well, you know, the problem is that three of the people that it doesn't sound great to are Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton.
BANFIELD: I had a feeling you would say that.
KELLER: You know, Hillary Clinton grew up a Methodist schoolgirl. She is not going to say no if Obama asks, I don't think. She's a dutiful, loyal person. Biden obviously will do what the president tells him.
So the main obstacle in this is the president himself. But I don't think he much likes the idea so I'm not predicting that it's going to happen, but I think this has been kicking around for more than a year on the blogosphere. Judging from my e-mail inbox, several thousand people thought about it before I did.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: But you wrote beautifully about it. I will say that.
I read your column. And I want to actually read some of this for our viewers who are watching right now, because you say this isn't just about 2012. You say it's about beyond.
"If she can do in 2012 what Obama did in 2008, animate this feeling of historic possibility, the pair can lift some House and Senate candidates along with them."
And then you go on to say that pretty much puts her in a sweet spot for four years down the pike.
KELLER: That's correct.
One of the things -- I talk to a lot of women. I live in a household full of women. One of the things that you hear a lot about Hillary, obviously it would be exciting to have the first woman vice president and the first woman president, but the thing about Hillary is she's actually qualified to be president, leaving aside the first- ness of it all.
And there's something a little extra exciting about having the first woman president be somebody who earned it.
BANFIELD: Yes. You know, you started this segment with me by suggesting that those three people who are currently in these positions may not want the one who want these positions.
But I want to run an ad that was run during the campaign in 2008 just to sort of get people back into the blood that existed between these two. Let's have a listen and talk on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR: It's 3:00 a.m. Time for a president who's ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: You remember that, the 3:00 a.m.? That thing got nasty. That was ugly. And I recall, and I'm trying to take myself back into that horrible time when we could not get off the primaries for six months because these two were at it. It was nasty and it was ugly.
And I'm not so sure a lot of that has abated, even though she's a top secretary. Has it?
KELLER: I think you're right. I think the Obamas -- and I include the first lady in this -- have long tended to regard the Clintons as representing a kind of old-school politics, deal-cutting, schmoozing, always working the room, actually things that Obama probably could have al the done more of his first term.
To an outsider, it looks like a lot of that ill feeling should have abated. She's been an incredibly loyal and useful secretary of state executing his foreign policy for him. But I think any relationship between the Obamas and the Clinton is likely to be a marriage of convenience. That's not to say that there couldn't be such a marriage.
BANFIELD: One thing I was interested when I read your column was that Hillary Clinton would probably never want to take second fiddle in the role of a vice presidential candidate to go and do all the battering on a campaign trail.
But now that we have super PACs, there's someone else that can do that. So it might work out quite nicely for her.
KELLER: That's right. It's one of the collateral effects of the Supreme Court decision allowing independent expenditures is that candidates can now outsource all of the mudslinging.
It's what Romney did in Iowa and pretty successfully demolished Gingrich's rise. And there's certainly no reason that the Democrats wouldn't do likewise, which would allow Hillary to, rather than playing the traditional role of being the attack dog, to just keep to the high ground.
BANFIELD: It is nice to see you and you look well, my friend. You look well-rested.
KELLER: Thanks very much.
BANFIELD: Bill Keller joining us live from New York.
And someone else has also been pushing for Hillary Clinton to get on the 2012 ticket. Robert Reich, they worked together. He was labor secretary under her husband. And he is going to be live in the CNN NEWSROOM coming up next hour. Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: This is the truthiness segment of the show. We heard the presidential candidates throwing around a lot of claims over the weekend, but do they hold water?
Our guest is putting them to the old Truth-O-Meter test.
Bill Adair is the Washington bureau chief for "The Saint Petersburg Times." And he's a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of PolitiFact.com. And he wears great glasses, I'm here to say.
Let's start with this one. Mitt Romney talking about how much repealing health care reform would save. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: The number one to cut is Obamacare. That saves $95 billion a year.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: That's a lot of money. Is it true or false?
BILL ADAIR, EDITOR, POLITIFACT.COM: That one gets a false on our Truth-O-Meter.
What he's doing is cherry-picking a number. That $95 billion that he talked about was for one year in a 10-year period. But when you look at the overall costs, you have to remember that repealing the Democratic health care law would also repeal some things that brought in some revenue and had some savings.
So overall repealing the health care law would cost $210 billion. That would be added to the deficit. That one gets a false on our Truth-O-Meter.
BANFIELD: But not a pants on fire? ADAIR: Not a pants on fire.
BANFIELD: I'm waiting for that. I hope there is one in the segment. I haven't looked ahead yet, so it will be a nice surprise.
Listen to this one from Jon Huntsman who was talking about President Obama's reaction to the debt commission report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When the American people look at the political process play out, they hear all the spinning and all the doctrinaire language, and they still walk away with the belief that they're not being represented in Congress, that there's no trust in the executive branch. And the Simpson-Bowles bipartisan proposal lands right on the desk of Barack Obama, and it lands in the garbage can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Is that really true? Did it go in the circular file instead of a real file?
ADAIR: Well, what we're fact-checking here is whether President Obama imposed any of the recommendations from the Simpson-Bowles commission.
And indeed we gave that a false. Obama actually adopted several of them, put them in his budget, took several others and took pieces of them and incorporated them in his budget. So false like that one.
BANFIELD: I'm just laughing like a schoolgirl because I like the sound effects. I don't know if those are new or just new to me, but they're quite effective.
We have also been hearing from Rick Perry who has been talking about President Obama's politics. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I make a very proud statement and, in fact that we have a president that's a socialist. I don't think our founding fathers wanted America to be a socialist country. So I disagree with that premise that somehow or another that President Obama reflects our founding fathers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Those seem to be the most favorite four syllables of the campaign, socialist. That would be three. Is it true? What does the Truth-O-Meter say about that? Is he truly a socialist?
ADAIR: We gave this a pants on fire.
(CROSSTALK)
ADAIR: Pants on fire, which is the rating we save for the most ridiculous falsehoods.
We looked at this objectively. We looked at the president's tax policy in the stimulus, in the TARP, and in the health care law. There's no reasonable way that you can refer to them as being socialism.
We talk to conservative economists, the kind of people that Rick Perry would support, and asked them and they said it's ridiculously false to say this. So pants on fire on the Truth-O-Meter.
BANFIELD: Can you do a pants on fire who everybody who calls me -- I was born in Canada. And they say you're a bunch of socialists. I would like pants on fire for that, too.
ADAIR: And we need a sound effect. We need some sirens.
BANFIELD: How about this, eh?
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: Bill Adair, it's nice to see you. Thank you for that.
ADAIR: Thanks, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: We just want to remind our viewers as well that your best place for politics is CNN and America's Choice 2012 with Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, Candy Crowley, and John King.
We got live coverage of the New Hampshire primary and it's coming up starting live tomorrow night at 7:00 Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: OK. Be honest. When you think of Girl Scouts, what do you imagine? Brown sashes and cookies? How about careers, mortgages and taxes?
Christine Romans has this week's "Smart Is the New Rich."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amelia and Ava are not saving for toys, they're not saving for games, but something much more important.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: College.
ROMANS: So is five and a half-year-old Emily. Why?
EMILY, GIRL SCOUT DAISY: Because it costs a lot, a lot of money, $138,000.
ROMANS: Meet the modern Girl Scouts, where money smarts count and will earn you a badge.
The Girl Scouts are 100 years old this year and way past the days of cross stitching and sewing. As part of the first badge redesign in a quarter century, 13 new badges reward money savvy.
Amelia, Ava and Emily are daisies. Girls their age learn about savings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five dimes equals a half dollar.
ROMANS: Junior Girl Scouts like Abigail learn what to do with their money.
ABIGAIL, JUNIOR GIRL SCOUT: You save it and then donate (ph) it.
ROMANS: And in the Cadet troop, it's about mortgages, property taxes and careers. Master it, and nab the Financing My Dream badge.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's hold up our dream job. Go ahead, Gabby. Show us your dream job. Lawyer.
ROMANS: Twelve-year-old Gabby is exploring whether she can afford her dream home.
ANNE COFFEY, REAL ESTATE BROKER: If you take your, say, $2. 5 million house that you want, and you put 20 percent down, that means you're going for a $2 million loan.
ROMANS: A real estate broker helps this cadet realize:
GABBY, GIRL SCOUT CADET: I really couldn't afford it. It was a bit too much money.
COFFEY: Well, it's so important because, you know, the largest purchase they're ever going to make is going to be their home and, you know, to learn that at a very young age, that you really need to save your money to purchase that dream home is so important.
ROMANS: Of course, if you've ever bought a box of cookies from an aggressive entrepreneur in a green or brown sash, it's pretty clear these girls know money. Just ask Girl Scouts CEO Anna Maria Chavez.
(on camera): I mean, there are these stereotypes of women and money, but girls have been handling money for...
(CROSSTALK)
ANNA MARIA CHAVEZ, CEO, GIRL SCOUTS OF THE USA: For a very long time.
ROMANS (voice-over): And consider that by the time these girls graduate from college, they'll have, on average, $22,900 in student debt.
(on camera): You can't get around it. You've got to learn about money.
CHAVEZ: Absolutely, and it's so important. It touches everybody's lives. And, again, we're hoping that the girls not only learn those -- those issues for themselves, they understand how to invest their money, but they teach other kids around them and bring them along the path with them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's my girl.
ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: So we asked you to weigh in on a possible President Obama-Hillary Clinton ticket.
And, by the way, Wolf Blitzer blogged about this October 5, so go on, look it up.
Here's what some of you are saying.
Gerald weighed in with this: "I think it's a great idea, but I wonder what Joe Biden thinks of it. There's something to be said for loyalty, no?"
Clarissa writes: "I would be extremely disappointed in President Obama if this were to happen, not because I think that Hillary would be a bad V.P. -- she wouldn't -- but because Biden has done a great job as V.P. A switch just looks desperate on Obama's part."
And Connie says this, "What a great ticket. But why not make it superb...a Clinton/Obama ticket."
Thanks for all your responses, but Connie I don't think that's going to happen. Mm-mm, that's not usually the way.
CNN NEWSROOM continuing right now with Randi Kaye taking over the heavy lifting.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, girl. I will pick it up from here. Hello Ashleigh, thanks you very much.
