Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

Thirty-Seven Dead in Tornadoes; Obama to Address AIPAC; Vladimir Putin's Rise to Power

Aired March 04, 2012 - 08:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: From CNN's world headquarters, bringing you news and analysis from across the nation and around the globe -- live from Studio 7, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN Center, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is Sunday, March 4th, 2012.

Good morning. I'm Gary Tuchman.

We start with the aftermath, those deadly tornadoes. This is what it looked like in communities from Indiana to Georgia. Winds as strong as 200 miles per hour ripped through towns. At least 37 people are dead. As many as 17 million people were impacted by the storms.

Scores of injured people waking up in hospitals this morning, their homes and the homes of their neighbors gone. People now picking through the rubble to find anything they can salvage.

President Obama is offering federal assistance in the areas battered by the storms.

In the little town of West Liberty, Kentucky, the town felt the full force of a tornado's 135-mile-per-hour winds, it leveled building, uprooted trees.

CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano is there, getting the first look at some of the town's most extensive damage.

Rob, good morning to you.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Gary. They've finally got the roads cleared enough to where larger vehicles can get in here, including obviously rescue and recovery vehicles and our satellite truck. So we're getting now a first look at -- a live look at the main street.

Over my left shoulder, you're seeing some demolished buildings. The corner of this larger brick and mortar, cinder block building, that is a bank probably built in the '60s. But the bank itself has been in business for 100 years. So, this town is an old one and it's the county seat of Morgan County. Off to the right is the municipal building where the police station is, the city hall is.

And in this parking lot is also the -- is the command center. This is a staging area for supplies, for some of the emergency managers, for law enforcement, as well, and obviously there's still some cars that were left here during the storm which came through here at 5:30 Friday night with winds of 140 miles an hour, an EF-3 and just tore apart this area.

This is the mobile teller unit. You see how badly torn up that is. Today, now that they've been able to clear some of the roads -- you know, this town has been on lockdown and haven't allowed business owners or residents in. But now, I think a police officer I spoke to last night will allow folks back into town today.

You know, Kentucky, 17 fatalities so this is a state that's been hardest hit. Four in this county, one right here in town. So, a lot of the fatalities were spread out over the state. So, it's not just the towns that were crushed like this one but the little places in between were hard hit, as well.

So, you're just seeing a smidgen of what this tornado outbreak or this tornado outbreak has done. As I mentioned, this is the county seat. This is a rural county with agricultural business.

So, this is where everybody comes to do their business. Everybody has a bank account in that bank. This is where they come to get their supplies, to get their groceries and it's unusable.

This was a wide tornado, a half mile wide -- so I haven't seen a structure untouched. So, it's going to take them a long, long time to pick up the pieces and recover from this storm, Gary, and it's not only affecting this town, but the entire community that feeds off West Liberty, Kentucky -- Gary.

TUCHMAN: Rob, you were saying earlier that you really have never seen anything like this, these images. Tell me about that.

MARCIANO: Well, you know, every storm is different. But as far as, you know, in a rugged area like this getting close to the Appalachian Mountains which is what made this town so difficult to get to and why you're just now starting to see the vivid pictures of it. And it's just unfathomable to me how the storm came through here on Friday night.

Here's the deal, though -- yes, we've got clear skies, but it's cold. It's 29 degrees right now and there's snow expected. So, we're probably going to get a couple of inches of snow on top of this.

So, can you imagine how much worse that's going to make this entire recovery operation? It's no easy road to ride here for sure. It's going to take them quite some time and some tough folks here in Morgan County. They've been very kind to us and they have an amazing attitude. The morale is surprisingly high considering what they've been through, Gary.

TUCHMAN: They'll rebuild West Liberty, Rob, but it will never be the same. It's just so devastating.

Rob Marciano, thank you very much for joining us. Meteorologist Alexandra Steele joins me now. She's in for Reynolds Wolf today.

Alexandra, we've seen some amazing images from Rob. What made these storms so destructive?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, that was Kentucky. But, of course, what we've seen in Indiana has just been incredible.

So, let me show you some of the video from Indiana. Of course, it was an EF-4 tornado and, you know, this is the tornado scale and the scale is based on damage estimates. So, you can see it's the enhanced Fujita scale, an EF-0 all the way to EF-5.

And in Henryville, Indiana, an EF-4 tornado is what we saw, and the images are staggering. We had 174-mile-per-hour wind. And, of course, utter destruction with that, of course, brick and mortar buildings completely leveled.

So that's the scale of the tornado and, of course, you know, we are only in March. Now, granted the climatology of what we've seen so far this season with it, being so warm in the South, all that warm, moist, humid air was there and was available. And also, of course, that jet stream, 150-mile-per-hour winds with the jet stream in the upper levels, the cold front coming in. So, really, all the ingredients were there for kind of this perfect storm to set up.

Now, look where we are on the average. Only 92, of course, we haven't neared the peak of May -- April, May and June. Of course, May, we see the most around the country.

But, you know, Rob just mentioned it. It's 29 degrees where he is in Kentucky. The biggest problem of all -- believe it or not, you know, temperatures were so warm that's what exacerbated and really fired off. That was part of the ingredients, right, with the temperatures so warm.

But this cold front moved through, dropped these temperatures from the 60s and 70s where they were to now the 20s and 30s. So believe it or not, we got snow in the forecast. Four places like Henryville, Indiana and, of course, where Rob is in Kentucky, as well.

This is the swath of the snowfall in the next 48 hours. On the whole maybe two to three inches of snow, developing about 11:00 tonight overnight and then, Gary, ending tomorrow morning by about 7:00 a.m.

So, a quick shot but the cold air and the snow on the ground covering everything, everyone out of their hopes without power. It really couldn't be a worse scenario.

TUCHMAN: Alexandra, thank you very much. We'll talk to you later in the program.

Now to some other stories making news this morning. Mitt Romney has added to his winning streak by capturing yesterday's Washington state caucuses. He won Michigan and Arizona earlier last week. This latest win gives him even more momentum heading into Super Tuesday, two days from now.

As you can see Romney captured 38 percent of the vote, Ron Paul second with 25 percent, Santorum, a close third, 24 percent, Newt Gingrich with 10 percent.

In just a few hours, President Obama will address the largest American-Jewish lobbying group in the country, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, also known as AIPAC. Tomorrow, Mr. Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Iran's nuclear ambitions are sure to top the agenda.

CNN foreign affairs reporter Elise Labott joins me now from Washington.

Elise, it's good seeing you. And do we know what the president is going to be saying today?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well, I think in essence, Gary, what he's going to be doing is trying to allay fears of not just Israel but Israel's backers here in the United States -- AIPAC, a very powerful pro-Israel lobby -- that the U.S. is going to be having Israel's back, if you will, in this issue with Iran and its nuclear program.

I think they're looking for a tough message in terms of what are his red lines that he would approve of Israel launching a preemptive strike against Iran to fend off its nuclear program or perhaps even take part in such a program. As you know, the administration has been working on this sanctions campaign, very tough sanctions against the Iranian regime that the administration feels are -- Iran is starting to feel the heat and they hope that that will get around back to the table and try and negotiate an end to its nuclear program.

But Israel is saying, listen, this is an existential threat for Israel. We cannot wait. It's a race against time and I think this is the question now. Is Israel going to take an attack against Iran and can President Obama say, listen, the sanctions are working, diplomacy is working, give me a little bit more time? I think it's very careful line that the president is going to be balancing today.

TUCHMAN: Now, Elise, the Republican presidential candidates have made a big deal about saying on the campaign trail that they don't believe that Barack Obama has been supportive enough to Israel. Do you think Barack Obama will have that in mind when he speaks to AIPAC today?

LABOTT: You know, President Obama gave a very interesting interview with "The Atlantic" magazine over last week. And he said, why is this question always coming up? For the last three years, I've done a lot to help Israel in terms of its security, in terms of military aid. Everything Israel has asked for in terms of security, I've been right there with them. And he wants to, yes, answer these questions to say, listen, the Iranian nuclear threat is not just against Israel, you know, Israel always complains that this is an issue -- Israel versus Iran issue. What President Obama is going to say, no, this is in interests of the United States and the world to fend off a nuclear program and a nuclear program is unacceptable for the United States. I'm not going to let that happen on my watch.

So, he wants to address not just Israel, not just the AIPAC people. But also today, as you said, it's an election campaign. This is a so hot election issue. He wants to be very strong on Israel because that's a popular campaign message.

TUCHMAN: Elise Labott, very interesting. Thanks for talking with us today. Best wishes, Elise.

Well, Russians are picking their president today. But it's probably going to be the same guy they've had before. So, what is it about Vladimir Putin that makes him so popular? We'll talk with the author of a new book on the Russian baron.

Imagine walking away from this. This helicopter crew did just that. We'll tell you what they say saved their lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: People are voting across Russia today for president of that nation. Vladimir Putin is expected to win a new term as Russia's leader. The former president and current prime minister has faced increasing pressure inside the country since December's parliamentary elections. Questions over that vote were followed by weeks of anti- Putin protests.

So who exactly is the man who could potentially become Russia's longest serving leader since Joseph Stalin?

To give us a better understanding I'm joined now by Masha Gessen. He's a Russian journalist, an author of the new book, and it's a fascinating book. It's not sympathetic. It's called "The Man Without A Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin."

Masha, thank you for coming out.

And the first question I'm going to ask you. In recent months, a lot of media coverage of the Russian election has focused on protests against Putin. Some believing he rigged parliamentary elections in December. But by many accounts, he remains extremely popular in Russia.

Why is that?

MASHA GESSEN, JOURNALIST/AUTHOR: Hi, Gary. Thank you for having me.

It's a false kind of popularity. First of all, we can't really trust the organizations which are controlled by the state. Second of all and more important, what Putin has done over the last 12 years since he first came to power is dismantle Russian political institutions, basically dismantle the elections, and destroy the independent media.

So nobody else has an opportunity to speak to the people, nobody else can actually get popular. It's a scorched earth strategy that he's employed.

TUCHMAN: But from what your book says, you believe that his demise is about to begin. How is that?

GESSEN: I do. The movement is huge. I think the movement is much larger than most people here and even than Russia realized. Last time, there were protests in 98 cities across the country. In small towns, population, 140,000, 120 people come out. That's one-tenth of a percent of the population of that city. It's a broad-based protest and people are really fed up with indignity of living in a Russian state.

And I think one other important thing about the protest is that everything that used to play well for Putin, everything that used to work for him like his many vulgar jokes has now really started to really rile people up so it's now working against him. He doesn't realize this.

TUCHMAN: But, Masha, certainly, he's not a dictator like Stalin or Khrushchev or Brezhnev was -- were, right?

GESSEN: It's hard to rank dictators on a scale. It's a country that is dangerous for people who are in opposition. Journalists have been killed. Opposition activists have been called.

And it's a country where there's no real democracy and no independent media.

TUCHMAN: Meanwhile, I was fascinated by the book -- the beginning of it is when you talk about how as a little kid he was kind of a bully, right?

GESSEN: Or at least that's the way he chose to portray himself. The thing about Putin is that before he was in the public eye, he was a secret police agent. His entire early life was secret. So, he got to write his own story which I think is very telling.

If you look at what this man chose to tell the world about himself, he chose to tell the world that he's a street thug basically, who has trouble controlling his temper.

TUCHMAN: Do you think he's done good things for the nation, though?

GESSEN: I don't. He has been extremely lucky. He has ridden the oil boom in Russia.

But along the way, what he has done is he's instituted an extremely corrupt system of state capitalism basically amassing a lot of wealth in his own hands and in the hands of his cronies, and that makes the economy extremely ineffective, so even an oil boom cannot ultimately save it.

TUCHMAN: Final question for you, Masha, are you concerned about your own safety for writing such a book?

GESSEN: I'm hoping that the regime has a lot of fish to fry right now. It is a large movement and I'm one of its members.

TUCHMAN: Masha Gessen, the book is fascinating. Thank you very much for joining us today. It's election day.

GESSEN: Thank you for having me.

TUCHMAN: Thank you.

GESSEN: Thank you.

TUCHMAN: A popular TV show takes a real-life twist. A helicopter filming the show plunges 200 feet to the ground. You hear it, you see it, all caught on tape. We'll show you what happened after the crash, next.

And it was a turning point in the fight for voting rights. Coming up, remembering the event known as Bloody Sunday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: Checking stories across the country.

From Arizona, nerve-racking footage of a helicopter crash captured on tape.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

TUCHMAN: The retired military aircraft was filming a chase in the Korean version of the car show, "Top Gear," and the shopper went down. Amazingly, the pilot and his crew member are OK. They say the chopper's thick exterior saved them.

Detroit Metropolitan Airport, an arriving Delta airplane hit a parked shuttle bus. You're look at video from inside the plane. One of the wings clipped the bus on the runway. The bus tipped over. You will be happy to know no one was inside the bus. None of the 144 passengers, you'll also be happy to know, were hurt on the plane.

Enjoy an Oklahoma City, 127 members of the 45th Infantry Brigade Support Battalion have returned home from serving in Afghanistan. Heartwarming scenes as they received a warm welcome from family and friends who they haven't seen for nearly a year.

Paid to hurt. Other players, an investigation is found that the New Orleans Saints were actually rewarding some of their players for hurting players on other NFL teams, as much as $1,500 for knocking a guy out of the game. This is sanctioned by an assistant coach. Earlier I talked to former NFL linebacker for Buffalo Bills and Atlanta Falcons, Coy Wire, and asked him about the mentality that leads to this kind of thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COY WIRE, FORMER NFL LINEBACKER: This is a classic case of group think. Group think in psychology is a term describing a group of individuals, a large group of people, will come together and do bad, irrational things -- when as individuals they would see and assess that same situation as being bad and wrong. It's what happens in cults. You get caught up in the moment, in the heat of the moment and something in a sport like football it's an uber-competitive sport. And the chase, the pursuit of the elusive Lombardi Trophy sometimes causes guys to lose their heads a bit. But, you know, that's what makes this game exciting, is the will to win and the guys who are willing to do anything to go out there and succeed.

TUCHMAN: Yes, but you can win without doing stuff like this. And at least my next question: do you think that other teams might also have coaches who were paying players to hurt other players?

WIRE: I hope not. You know, I think that now --

TUCHMAN: I mean, your days with the Bills and in your days with the Falcons, did you ever hear a coach say, "I'll give you money if you knock a player out of the game"?

WIRE: That was the unique experience I had with that and I realize that afterwards when I had other coaches that that wasn't the norm. That's not how things were in the NFL.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: It is now up to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to decide what kind of penalty the Saints will be hit with.

Mitt Romney, he's on a winning streak. Running the table on Super Tuesday is a long shot, but can he pretty much sew it up with a few strong showings a few days from now? We'll take a look next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: Let's get back to politics now and the Republican race for president. We are coming up on a very big day. Two days from now, Super Tuesday. Here are the numbers: 10 states, more than 400 delegates -- 400 is more than 30 percent, about one-third of the delegates needed for the Republican presidential nomination.

Joining me now, Patricia Murphy, founder of "Citizen Jane Politics" and a contributor for "The Daily Beast."

Thank you very much for joining us.

PATRICIA MURPHY, THE DAILY BEAST: Good morning. TUCHMAN: All right. So, how big of a deal is Tuesday? It appears right now we have a two-man race between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. What could shake out after Tuesday?

MURPHY: Yes. Well, they don't call it Super Tuesday for nothing. This is the biggest day of the election season so far because there are 10 states. You already talked about how many delegates there are going to be.

And it's a big opportunity for every person in the race to do what he needs to do.

Mitt Romney needs to break away from the pack, close the door on the other guys.

Rick Santorum wants to keep it a two-man race. He's had five loses in a row. Super Tuesday, he can turn that around, but he needs several victories.

Newt Gingrich has to win Georgia, needs to win some other states to stay in the race and be legitimate. He can stay as long as he wants, but to be a legitimate candidate to continue raising money, he needs to do very well. So, it's a huge day for all of these candidates.

TUCHMAN: I was fascinated two weeks ago when Rick Santorum was getting his momentum, when he had these big wins. Even a man like Ari Fleischer, one of our CNN analysts, said I think Rick Santorum can win this.

MURPHY: Yes.

TUCHMAN: And he made these comments, he was talking about social issues, talking about President Obama being snobby about wishing all kids to go to universities and criticizing JFK's speech from a half century ago.

MURPHY: Yes, he wants to throw up of that speech.

TUCHMAN: Right. So, I'm wondering what you think Rick Santorum has to do to change the tide once again.

MURPHY: Well, I think he's already started to try to do that. We have heard him over the last week take a slightly softer tone. We've also seen him reaching out very, very subtly to women voters. He has been losing women voters by gigantic margins in these states, in large part because of the controversies surrounding contraception, and what he said about women in the workplace.

So, he has started reaching out to women voters. Just a slightly softer tone, but he's still going after Obama very aggressively.

He must win Ohio and win it big. That's not the biggest source of delegates on Super Tuesday, but it is the state that tells Republican donors and voters, I can win this thing.

TUCHMAN: So, if we just pay attention to one state of the 10 on Super Tuesday, then Ohio is the key state.

MURPHY: Ohio is the key state.

TUCHMAN: Switching gears a little bit President Obama speaking to AIPAC today.

MURPHY: Yes.

TUCHMAN: How high are the stakes for the president of the United States? We're paying attention to the Republican candidates because they're the ones in this battle. But this is a pretty important speech for President Obama, right?

MURPHY: It is very important political speech, not only to the American Israeli PAC. That is only 14,000 at that conference, but it's a very important question in terms of Obama's foreign policy, his pressure toward Iran.

Iran is trying to get a nuclear weapon. The United States has sanctions against Iran right now.

Republicans in particular and many people around the country want a stronger stance -- especially people in Israel want a stronger stance from Obama.

So, not only is Obama speaking to this group, all three of the top Republicans are speaking to this group, as well. They're all going after this group and trying to prove that their foreign policy is stronger, the one that's going to keep not only Israel but the rest of the world safe against a nuclear Iran. So, it's hugely, hugely important.

TUCHMAN: Patricia, your wisdom and insight are appreciated on this Sunday morning.

MURPHY: Well, thank you. It's great to see you.

TUCHMAN: It's good to see you too.

MURPHY: Thanks.

TUCHMAN: Thank you.

Well, just ahead, the bodies of two journalists killed this that brutal Syrian crackdown are finally headed home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: It's 30 minutes past the hour. Welcome back. I'm Gary Tuchman. Thank you very much for starting your day with us.

Checking "Top Stories": Rush Limbaugh is apologizing for calling a Georgetown law student a quote, "slut". The talk host blasted Sandra Fluke because of her support of an Obama Administration policy that requires employers to offer free contraception coverage. In a statement Limbaugh says he still disagrees with the policy but acknowledged the controversy saying quote, "My choice of words was not the best and in the attempt to be humorous I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices."

The bodies of two journalists killed in Syria are now in Paris. American journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed during an attack in the besieged city of Homs, Syria. An airport source says relatives met the coffins as they touched down.

Early vote totals from Iran suggest Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei may be gaining support from his power struggle with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iranian state TV reporting candidates for Khamenei's party will capture three-quarters of seats in parliament. Khamenei supported Ahmadinejad's 2009 re-election but the two have had strained relations in recent years.

Let's get back now to the tornado damage.

The storms left a path of destruction across the south and the Midwest. One of the hardest hit areas was in southern Indiana.

CNN's Athena Jones is in Henryville, Indiana for us this morning. Athena, good morning. Tell us what's going on there right now.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Gary. Well, authorities here have told us in Henryville that they're going to be focused on cleanup as you can see. There's a lot of debris in this small town, a lot of things to clean up. They're also focused on getting some of the power back, whether to churches or to homes. We saw some electrical workers out late last night already putting up poles to put up power lines.

But even as they focused on cleanup, some of the families here are still grappling with their own losses, whether it's loss of property or injured loved ones.

We spoke with one young mother who's lost her home completely. Let's listen to what she has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUESDAY GUERNSEY, TORNADO SURVIVOR: We have nothing. Our place was completely devastated. And there was nothing left. I mean everything I have on is not mine. It's been borrowed. Probably the worst part was, not knowing if my kids and my husband were ok or any of my family.

I finally made it to my road and right up my road, I found my husband over the debris and then he told me my kids were ok. Well my prayers have been answered. I asked Lord, he can take everything from me but my family.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JONES: And now Tuesday Guernsey, you heard her say that the lord answered her prayers. She actually lived on the same street as the one fatality here in Henryville. We found Tuesday Guernsey at her grandparent's house or her -- her husband's parent's house -- grandparent's house in Maryville nearby, and that's a town that also had a lot of destruction.

We spoke with her father-in-law, Guy Guernsey, who spoke about his stepfather's business. He had a woodworking business where he made those boxes that you see, that hold whiskey bottles, Bourbon bottles where we understand he made bottles for the Kentucky Derby last year. And so his woodworking shop though was completely destroyed. Only one wall left standing. Luckily they have shipped out some of those boxes just earlier that week. And so it's just an example of some of the destruction and some of the rebuilding that's going to have to go on.

Let me just tell you a little bit about what I'm seeing just around here in this immediate area. Over here you have an auto shop. There was a mechanic who had -- he'd been a mechanic for 25 years. It was his dream to open this auto shop and as you can see under the rubble a few vehicles there.

And then, of course, over here to my right is this school bus through this business here that was a cafe. And so just an example of some the cleanup that's going to have to go on here, Gary.

TUCHMAN: Athena Jones, it's the hardest stories for a reporter to cover. Thank you for painting that portrait of tragedy for us. It's nice seeing you today.

Ed Dobson is a pastor who has been diagnosed with ALS better known as Lou Gehrig's disease and the diagnosis came in 2001. Since that time he has written a book about how his faith has been impacted by this life threatening illness. He also made a series of films about his journey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PASTOR ED DOBSON, AUTHOR, "THE YEAR OF LIVING LIKE JESUS": I never thought that my speaking and writing and living would come to an end. Once I realized it's getting close to the end then you begin to realize how fragile life is. And you only do the things that are important. I think humans have this capacity to think they'll live forever. You aren't living forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: We are grateful to have Pastor Ed Dobson with us live today from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Pastor thank you very much for joining us.

DOBSON: Oh, my delight, Gary.

TUCHMAN: Pastor, you've lived with this deadly disease for more than ten years. You write about birds as an inspiration. And you mention this passage that I want to read from Matthew 6, verse 26. It says, "Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store in barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them."

How do birds strengthen your faith, Pastor?

DOBSON: Well, actually every time I see a bird, I'm reminded God will take care of me. And I see a lot of birds every day.

TUCHMAN: Several years ago, Pastor, you spent a year living as you thought Jesus would and you wrote a book about it. How did that come about? And what did you learn?

DOBSON: Oh, wow. What did I learn?

TUCHMAN: I bet a lot.

DOBSON: I learned trying to live like Jesus is rather difficult. I ate kosher, went to the synagogue, lived Jewishly, listened to the Gospels and tried to obey them as literally as possible and what I learned is every day when I got up, I had a purpose for living.

TUCHMAN: Pastor, you've made a series of films about your experience. What do you hope people will get out of watching the films?

DOBSON: Well, I hope that people who've had the air knocked out of them will get a sense of hope from all the films. That's my greatest desire in the films.

TUCHMAN: As a pastor, Pastor, you've given comfort to others throughout your career and who do you reach out to for spiritual support?

DOBSON: Well, obviously the Lord first and foremost, and then my wife who has become my right hand, my left hand and had it not been for her, I wouldn't be here this morning, so I lean on my wife and my kids and grandkids.

TUCHMAN: How many children and grandchildren do you have, Pastor?

DOBSON: We have three children and five grandchildren and I'm hoping to see all of the grandkids grow up, though that's up to God.

TUCHMAN: Well, it sounds like you have a wonderful family. And I must tell you, Pastor, I'm very honored that you chose to join us today on our newscast. Thank you so much.

DOBSON: You're welcome. Thank you, Gary.

TUCHMAN: I wish you the best, Pastor.

You can read more about Pastor Ed's journey on our belief blog. That's at CNN.com/belief. You can also see Ed's film "My Garden" on CNN's believe blog. Super Tuesday, the big Republican contest just two days away, so what's Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich's strategy -- to win more delegates. "STATE OF THE UNION" host Candy Crowley joins me with a preview coming up next.

But first coming up at 2:00 p.m., Eastern Time which is about five and a half hours from now in the "NEXT LIST" meet the founder of an economic initiative that serves 60,000 people in some of the poorest communities in Kenya.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN OGOLA, FOUNDER OF KENYAN INITIATIVE: I founded communities support group to empower the people in Kibera by sharing knowledge and also providing platform for -- for people to exploit their talents. My thinking was that that's also another way of breaking the vicious cycle of poverty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: Huge political week. You'll want to stay with us because "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley is coming up right here at the top of the hour and Candy has two, count them, two presidential candidates on her show. She joins us live with a preview. We'll talk about that in a second Candy.

But first I want to ask your expertise about this. Mitt Romney added to his winning streak yesterday taking Washington State, the caucuses there. What does that mean for him come Super Tuesday?

CROWLEY: Well listen, it means you know he keeps rolling along. I mean it's certainly better than a defeat. You know, we can look at all of these states now, whether they come individually or Super Tuesday when we get ten all at once and say this is no longer about did you win the state. It's about how many delegates do you now have? Mitt Romney is leading in the delegate count by a fair amount. Certainly Washington State adds to that. It's a place where Ron Paul expected to do well. He did come in second.

So it is -- I would say that the losses for Santorum and Gingrich are probably larger than -- mean more than the wins for Romney and Ron Paul. Now, look, Santorum and Gingrich didn't play in Washington State. But nonetheless it sort of continues that story line that Mitt Romney is gathering strength. None of which will matter if he doesn't show some real strength on Super Tuesday.

TUCHMAN: I mean Super Tuesday is huge, Candy. Ten states a third of the delegates, I mean we talk about this every four years but this is a really big day, Tuesday, isn't it?

CROWLEY: It is but let me tell you that my guess is that come Wednesday morning, there will be no real reason for anyone to get out of this race. Newt Gingrich may show some strength in the south, though, his home state of Georgia is there. He wants to win there but he also needs to do well in some of the other southern states that are in play on Super Tuesday.

Mitt -- the big one is Ohio, the crown jewel as we talked about. That now down to looks like between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, but regardless of who wins or loses, again, we're going -- we're looking at the delegate count so either one of them could lose and still have a justification for moving on.

So while Super Tuesday will be the most delegates at stake that we've had thus far and it involves more states than we've had thus far, it still might not be some definitive magic date for deciding this primary. In fact, I think that it will only give folks reason to move on -- the four candidates that are still in it.

TUCHMAN: And we're talking about the beginning Candy of two of the GOP presidential candidates on today. Tell us about that.

CROWLEY: Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich. My guess is that Newt Gingrich has more at stake on Super Tuesday than any of the other candidates. Ron Paul has the constituency and the money to move on and Newt Gingrich has been sort of living on credit cards, not literally but figuratively speaking, he's in debt. He has to play big Tuesday night so we want to talk to both of them about that. But also about lots of issues have come up in the past week so we always like to turn to those and say, "Hey, if you were president, what would you be saying at this point?"

TUCHMAN: Candy, nice seeing you. We will be watching.

CROWLEY: See you Gary, thanks.

TUCHMAN: Thank you.

So keep it here for "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley. It starts 14 minutes from now, 9:00 Eastern time, 6:00 Pacific time, right here on CNN.

Nazi warplanes buried underground in the state of Indiana? The full story ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: My friend and colleague Nadia Bilchik joins me now with this "Morning's Passport". Nadia goes all over the world to get us the greatest stories -- not literally. I mean she considered the computer and explored all over the world and brings us the best stories on our "Morning Passport". So where are we going today in the world?

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: From exotic places, today we're going to Seymour, Indiana.

TUCHMAN: Exotic Indiana. Ok. It is a wonderful state.

BILCHIK: But it's quite a remarkable story because in around the mid-1940s, post World War II, what happened was Americans brought German aircraft -- they shipped them to America to the Freeman Field, which was an air base at the time to study the aircraft because the Germans were so much more advanced when it came to aeronautical engineering.

So they literally took these aircraft and you're looking at the base in around the 1940s and they literally what they did was they did reverse engineering was they took the planes and they dismantled them to see how they were built for study purposes. And you're looking at an exhibition that took place in 1946 at what was then the Freeman Field Air Base.

TUCHMAN: So why Indiana?

BILCHIK: Why Indiana, because that's where the Freeman Field Base was. But what happened after that was some of the large planes were on display but all of the pieces were boxed and then buried, so in around the 1990s they started looking for them but a new company known as the Freeman Field Recovery Team has got together to say, we want to search and see right now what still remains and apparently there are three entire fuselages that are complete, buried underground in this area that is about the size or even bigger then Central Park so there are all these pieces that have been buried.

TUCHMAN: Why were they buried in the first place? This is important information, scientific and curiosity.

BILCHIK: Well, it is seen as scrap at the time. We've dismantled the planes. We've got what we needed to from the Germans, now it's just scrap. So the easiest thing to do is simply bury it underground and the mud has been a good preserver, so to speak.

So what they're finding now you're seeing is things that have come up recently. Now, this particular company has a five-year contract, so any money that is generated from these findings, half will go to Seymour and half will go to this particular company.

They also have brand-new system of tracking which is the Bloodhound and it is a radar unit that connects to a GPS and it's like an ultrasound so they've got state-of-the-art tracking equipment so you can see all kinds of things coming out of the ground at Seymour, Indiana.

TUCHMAN: Like fossils. Fossils from World War II.

BILCHIK: Exactly.

TUCHMAN: Nadia Bilchik, thank you very much. Fascinating, who would have thought?

Nearly 50 years after the event known as Bloody Sunday, one man says the fight for voting rights still is not over. A discussion with NAACP president Ben Jealous is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: Civil rights leaders are gathering in Alabama to relive one of the most turbulent times in American history. This was the scene 47 years ago as hundreds of people fighting for the right to vote tried to cross the Edmond Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, March 1965. Those protesters were beaten back by police officers in a brutal attack that became known as "Bloody Sunday".

Our David Mattingly spoke with NAACP president and CEO, Ben Jealous who was traveling to Selma to help re-enact the event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN JEALOUS, PRESIDENT/CEO, NAACP: This is going to be a march that will go across the bridge and then keep on going all the way to Montgomery. Because this year we don't just go down to remember or to recall, frankly, we go down there to fight and to raise consciousness because right now we are seeing the voting rights act attacked more consistently across the country than we have seen since it was passed following that great day, that really horrible day 47 years ago.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this week the house approved a resolution to obtain oral history, histories about Selma from congress members who were there, among them was Georgia Congressman John Lewis who helped lead the march. How critical are their stories in helping keep the legacy of Selma alive.

JEALOUS: They're key for two reasons. One, we need people to know what happened. We need to know, you know, we need the students of this country to know that people risked their lives. But it's also critical because we need people to understand that not only is this history not very distant, but we stand I guess on the precipice of repeating it.

MATTINGLY: The marches in Selma including one later led by Martin Luther King ensured the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act but in this election year when you're talking about problems with voting rights again, what's the one thing you're focusing on here?

JEALOUS: You know, the real big thing for us right now, the so- called strict voter ID laws. These laws say we're not going to even let you vote unless you have a copy of your driver's license or your passport with you that shows the same address where you live right now.

These put in the first financial barriers since we got rid of the poll tax to voting. They're wholly unnecessary making it difficult or impossible for 5 million people to vote so you can, you know, ward off maybe 25 cases a year doesn't make any sense. We need to stop these laws. We need to make sure that the principle in this country of one person, one vote is respected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Ben jealous says marchers will cover about 60 miles over the next five days.

Well, meteorologist Alexandra Steele has this final check of our forecast. What can we expect for the week ahead? ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. Well, you know, no severe weather today. That is the good news. But we do have some issues for those tornado-ravaged areas.

First off, look at the periphery of the country in the north east, New York, Washington, sunny, seasonable today. Washington has some snow moving in tonight but just about -- not even accumulation. On the southeast, sunny skies from Charlotte to Atlanta but very windy condition; west-northwesterly winds maybe 15 to 25 miles per hour.

Rain moving into Seattle late tonight and tomorrow but this is the quadrant of the country, southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio that tornado-ravaged region that will now see snow. Temperatures are dropping, a little moisture moving in. Maybe 2 inches or so but places from Henryville, all of these tornado-ravaged areas. So Louisville, Evansville, Charleston, you can see West Virginia and Kentucky in this mix so, unfortunately, beginning late tonight by about 10:00, Gary, overnight winding down by 7:00 tomorrow morning, maybe around two inches of snow.

So as difficult as it is now, add that into the mix for all those without homes.

Alexandra, thank you very much. We want to remind you this could be a big week at CNN because Super Tuesday, two days from now. So, watch CNN all week to stay in touch.

Thank you very much for joining us today on this Sunday. We hope you have a great day. "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley starts right now.